Spunky Texan, proud VRWC member

2011-09-08T12:36:00.002-05:00

My own thoughts on last night's debate.

First, I am kicking myself for missing the first 20 minutes of it.

Beyond that, what I am going to do is assemble a dream team based on those that were on stage last night.

President: Perry

VP: Cain/Bachman

Chief of Staff: Santorum/Cain

Still working on what to do with Newt.

2011-08-23T13:31:00.001-05:00

THIS JUST IN!

OBAMA ON GOLF COURSE WHEN 5.9 MAG QUAKE SHOOK DC.

HEY, GOD'S TALKING TO YOU, BOY!

2011-08-22T16:26:00.000-05:00

GRAPHIC: Air Show Crash Caught On Tape - Video - KMBC Kansas City

2011-08-22T16:21:00.002-05:00

My Father in Law and one of my nephews were at the Downtown KC Air Show and saw the crash first hand. Terrible.

2011-08-17T16:00:00.000-05:00

A MUST READ:

NEW WARNING ABOUT MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD’S INFLUENCE ON WHITE HOUSE FROM…LIBERAL MARXIST MUSLIM

2011-08-16T13:27:00.002-05:00

As the 2012 Presidential race gets underway, I have something to say.

I want a candidate (and I hope Perry is it) who will not pull any punches, be brutally honest, consequences be damned.

Let me be clear, (HEHE), WE HAVE A COUNTRY TO SAVE, AND LESS THAN 2 YEARS TO DO IT IN!

2011-08-12T20:50:00.000-05:00

The Obama Economic Plan: Purposely Overwhelming the System To Cause Crisis And Destroy Capitalism

Here’s an article by Wayne Allen Root, a former classmate of Barry Obama:

Barack Obama was my college classmate (Columbia University, class of '83). I tried to warn the country that virtually all of my classmates and professors were marxist, despised America, and wanted to bring down capitalism.

I tried to warn the country that Obama would follow the detailed plan of two Columbia professors named Cloward and Piven — a plan designed to destroy capitalism by overwhelming the U.S. economy with government spending, regulations, entitlements, taxes, and debt.

That is precisely why I authored one of the most popular commentaries on the entire Internet in 2010 entitled, “The Obama Economic Plan — Purposely Overwhelming the System to Cause Crisis and Destroy Capitalism.” I predicted Obama’s radical tax and spend policies were designed to crash the system with debt, bring us to our knees, starve business owners (the biggest contributors to his political opposition), make us all doubt capitalism, and dependent on big government.

It’s all come to pass.

I’ve written about this plan for 2 ½ years now. My commentaries have predicted the destruction of the U.S. economy under Barack Obama, the decimation of small business and the middle class, and the start of not only the Obama Great Depression, but what I called “the greatest depression ever.”

Afterall, when the first Great Depression began in 1929, our country had very little debt. We had no obligations for welfare, food stamps, Social Security, Medicare or Medicaid. We had no illegal immigrants bankrupting our public schools and hospitals. We didn't have 21 million government employees with bloated salaries and unfunded $100,000 pensions. We had no Obamacare with an obligation to pay for the medical bills of every American.

Back in 1929, we also had a nation filled with hard-working citizens who believed in personal initiative and personal responsibility. All of that has changed dramatically. Those modern government programs, entitlements and obligations add up to national catastrophe as we enter this new Obama Great Depression.

I wrote the commentary entitled, “Obama, the Great Jobs Killer.” Time magazine quoted my line “Obama has killed so many jobs, he should be on top of the FBI's Most Wanted List.” That was well over a year ago. What is happening today makes the economy and unemployment picture back then look like child’s play.

I wrote “Obamageddon” a year ago about the wreckage of the U.S. economy from sea to shining sea. Today that wreckage is larger than even I imagined back then.

I wrote “The Unraveling of a Ponzi Scheme," “Obama — the Marxist in the Mirror,” and “The Obama Teleprompter Depression.” All of them had a common theme: Obama’s goal was to target, demonize, and punish the wealthy and small business owners- the very groups that pay all the taxes and create all the jobs. I predicted that the result would be economic crisis and collapse.

I wrote “The Strike — Why the Rich Are Going on Strike Against Obama.” I explained why as a result of Obama’s rhetoric and policies against the rich, America’s job creators were going on strike. I predicted the economic decline would accelerate because business owners would stop producing, stop hiring, in response to being punished for their success. Each day these predictions are confirmed by alarming new economic reports.

I wrote that Obama’s debt rampage wasn’t just suicide for Obama's political career. It would bring us all down in a murder/suicide. The entire U.S. economy would come down upon not only taxpayers today, but our children and grandchildren for decades to come.

I wrote a commentary many months ago entitled “The Greatest Depression of All Time Has Begun.” And so it has.

It’s true that the odds of Obama’s re-election just went down in a ball of flames, along with the Dow Jones Industrial Average. But no matter — Obama has accomplished his goal. He has taken down the entire U.S. economy with him. He has trashed the political opposition, small business owners who fund conservative candidates and causes. He has overseen the decimation of the middle class homeowners and stock owners who vote conservative.

He has left retirees with few assets, bank savings eroded by massive inflation. He has made 50 states into welfare queens begging for bailouts from the federal government. The nation is severely overwhelmed, right out of the playbook of Cloward and Piven.

Obama has left in his wake a U.S. economy in ruins. He has made many of us doubt capitalism. He has turned the American dream into a nightmare. He has brought tens of millions in society to their knees begging for government to save them. Even though it is government that made them dependent in the first place. He has convinced the masses that government feels their pain, even though it is government that caused it. He has enslaved us all under an avalanche of debt so massive it’s unimaginable, and of course unsustainable. He has turned hope into a 4 letter word.

Congratulations Mr. Obama. Mission accomplished.

Wayne Allyn Root is a former libertarian vice presidential nominee. He now serves as chairman of the Libertarian National Campaign Committee. He is the best-selling author of "The Conscience of a Libertarian: Empowering the Citizen Revolution with God, Guns, Gold & Tax Cuts." His web site: ROOTforAmerica.com and blog.

Stolen from SmashABanana

2011-08-09T18:06:00.002-05:00

"The danger to America is not Barack Obama but a citizenry capable of entrusting a man like him with the Presidency. It will be far easier to limit and undo the follies of an Obama presidency than to restore the necessary common sense and good judgment to a depraved electorate willing to have such a man for their president. The problem is much deeper and far more serious than Mr. Obama, who is a mere symptom of what ails America . Blaming the prince of the fools should not blind anyone to the vast confederacy of fools that made him their prince. The Republic can survive a Barack Obama, who is, after all, merely a fool. It is less likely to survive a multitude of fools such as those who made him their president."

2010-04-21T15:40:00.002-05:00

Barry Sorento's Eligibility question:

I am NOT a birther.
To me, it is not a question of where ol Chairman Zero was born, but rather the question of "Is he a natural born citizen of the United States"?

This article bottom lines it for me:

Here are tasty snippets:

"“All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States;” However, the XIV Amendment makes no mention of “natural born citizen” as it was written to address issues of “immigration” and “naturalization,”—which excludes any redress regarding “native” or “natural born” citizens of the Unites States. In short, “natural born” is the exact opposite of “naturalized.” They are two completely different subjects and as we know, “naturalized citizens” cannot hold the office of President, though they are indeed “citizens” with otherwise equal rights. As Barack Hussein Obama’s stated birth father, Barack Hussein Obama, Sr. was at no time in his life a citizen of the United States, but rather a British subject and native citizen of Kenya, it is not possible for Barack Hussein Obama, Jr. to be a “natural born citizen” of the United States. It is therefore not possible for Barack Hussein Obama Jr. to be a constitutionally qualified resident of the people’s White House. Does it matter? Does the “will of the people” trump the US Constitution via the outcome of an election which happened as a result of fraud, in which the candidate concealed the fact that he is not a “natural born citizen?”

More goodness

2010-03-25T07:54:00.003-05:00

So, leaving a message on a congressman's vmail calling him a piece of shit is a threat now?

Um, again, where were you people the last 8 years???????????

And for the record:

I THINK EVERYONE THAT VOTED FOR 0bamaCare is a HUGE, SMELLY, PILE OF HUMAN DEBRIS!

Stick that in your pipe and smoke it!

Swiped from

2010-03-09T08:29:00.001-06:00

What in the world is this crap?

Culled out
Obama administration will accept no more public input for federal fishery strategy

By Robert Montgomery
ESPNOutdoors.com

The Obama administration will accept no more public input for a federal strategy that could prohibit U.S. citizens from fishing the nation's oceans, coastal areas, Great Lakes, and even inland waters.

This announcement comes at the time when the situation supposedly still is "fluid" and the Interagency Ocean Policy Task Force still hasn't issued its final report on zoning uses of these waters.

That's a disappointment, but not really a surprise for fishing industry insiders who have negotiated for months with officials at the Council on Environmental Quality and bureaucrats on the task force. These angling advocates have come to suspect that public input into the process was a charade from the beginning.

"When the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) completed their successful campaign to convince the Ontario government to end one of the best scientifically managed big game hunts in North America (spring bear), the results of their agenda had severe economic impacts on small family businesses and the tourism economy of communities across northern and central Ontario," said Phil Morlock, director of environmental affairs for Shimano.

"Now we see NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) and the administration planning the future of recreational fishing access in America based on a similar agenda of these same groups and other Big Green anti-use organizations, through an Executive Order by the President. The current U.S. direction with fishing is a direct parallel to what happened in Canada with hunting: The negative economic impacts on hard working American families and small businesses are being ignored.

"In spite of what we hear daily in the press about the President's concern for jobs and the economy and contrary to what he stated in the June order creating this process, we have seen no evidence from NOAA or the task force that recreational fishing and related jobs are receiving any priority."

Consequently, unless anglers speak up and convince their Congressional representatives to stop this bureaucratic freight train, it appears that the task force will issue a final report for "marine spatial planning" by late March, with President Barack Obama then issuing an Executive Order to implement its recommendations — whatever they may be.

Led by NOAA's Jane Lubchenco, the task force has shown no overt dislike of recreational angling, but its indifference to the economic, social and biological value of the sport has been deafening.

Additionally, Lubchenco and others in the administration have close ties to environmental groups who would like nothing better than to ban recreational angling. And evidence suggests that these organizations have been the engine behind the task force since before Obama issued a memo creating it last June.

As ESPN previously reported, WWF, Greenpeace, Defenders of Wildlife, Pew Environment Group and others produced a document entitled "Transition Green" shortly after Obama was elected in 2008. What has happened since suggests that the task force has been in lockstep with that position paper.

Then in late summer, just after he created the task force, these groups produced "Recommendations for the Adoption and Implementation of an Oceans, Coasts, and Great Lakes National Policy." This document makes repeated references to "overfishing," but doesn't once reference recreational angling, its importance, and its benefits, both to participants and the resource.

Additionally, some of these same organizations have revealed their anti-fishing bias by playing fast and loose with "facts," in attempts to ban tackle containing lead in the United States and Canada.

That same tunnel vision, in which recreational angling and commercial fishing are indiscriminately lumped together as harmful to the resource, has persisted with the task force, despite protests by the angling industry.

As more evidence of collusion, the green groups began clamoring for an Executive Order to implement the task force's recommendations even before the public comment period ended in February. Fishing advocates had no idea that this was coming.

Perhaps not so coincidentally, the New York Times reported on Feb. 12 that "President Obama and his team are preparing an array of actions using his executive power to advance energy, environmental, fiscal and other domestic policy priorities."

Morlock fears that "what we're seeing coming at us is an attempted dismantling of the science-based fish and wildlife model that has served us so well. There's no basis in science for the agendas of these groups who are trying to push the public out of being able to fish and recreate.

"Conflicts (user) are overstated and problems are manufactured. It's all just an excuse to put us off the water."

In the wake of the task force's framework document, the Congressional Sportsmen's Foundation (CSF) and its partners in the U.S. Recreational Fishing & Boating Coalition against voiced their concerns to the administration.

"Some of the potential policy implications of this interim framework have the potential to be a real threat to recreational anglers who not only contribute billions of dollars to the economy and millions of dollars in tax revenues to support fisheries conservation, but who are also the backbone of the American fish and wildlife conservation ethic," said CSF President Jeff Crane.

Morlock, a member of the CSF board, added, "There are over one million jobs in America supported coast to coast by recreational fishing. The task force has not included any accountability requirements in their reports for evaluating or mitigating how the new policies they are drafting will impact the fishing industry or related economies.

"Given that the scope of this process appears to include a new set of policies for all coastal and inland waters of the United States, the omission of economic considerations is inexcusable."

This is not the only access issue threatening the public's right to fish, but it definitely is the most serious, according to Chris Horton, national conservation director for BASS.

"With what's being created, the same principles could apply inland as apply to the oceans," he said. "Under the guise of 'marine spatial planning' entire watersheds could be shut down, even 2,000 miles up a river drainage from the ocean.

"Every angler needs to be aware because if it's not happening in your backyard today or tomorrow, it will be eventually.

"We have one of the largest voting blocks in the country and we need to use it. We must not sit idly by."

Source

2010-02-18T13:21:00.000-06:00

from:

http://www.embeddedart.com

Supposedly from the guy who flew his plane into the IRS building in Austin, TX on 02/18/2010

If you’re reading this, you’re no doubt asking yourself, “Why did this have to happen?” The simple truth is that it is complicated and has been coming for a long time. The writing process, started many months ago, was intended to be therapy in the face of the looming realization that there isn’t enough therapy in the world that can fix what is really broken. Needless to say, this rant could fill volumes with example after example if I would let it. I find the process of writing it frustrating, tedious, and probably pointless… especially given my gross inability to gracefully articulate my thoughts in light of the storm raging in my head. Exactly what is therapeutic about that I’m not sure, but desperate times call for desperate measures.

We are all taught as children that without laws there would be no society, only anarchy. Sadly, starting at early ages we in this country have been brainwashed to believe that, in return for our dedication and service, our government stands for justice for all. We are further brainwashed to believe that there is freedom in this place, and that we should be ready to lay our lives down for the noble principals represented by its founding fathers. Remember? One of these was “no taxation without representation”. I have spent the total years of my adulthood unlearning that crap from only a few years of my childhood. These days anyone who really stands up for that principal is promptly labeled a “crackpot”, traitor and worse.

While very few working people would say they haven’t had their fair share of taxes (as can I), in my lifetime I can say with a great degree of certainty that there has never been a politician cast a vote on any matter with the likes of me or my interests in mind. Nor, for that matter, are they the least bit interested in me or anything I have to say.

Why is it that a handful of thugs and plunderers can commit unthinkable atrocities (and in the case of the GM executives, for scores of years) and when it’s time for their gravy train to crash under the weight of their gluttony and overwhelming stupidity, the force of the full federal government has no difficulty coming to their aid within days if not hours? Yet at the same time, the joke we call the American medical system, including the drug and insurance companies, are murdering tens of thousands of people a year and stealing from the corpses and victims they cripple, and this country’s leaders don’t see this as important as bailing out a few of their vile, rich cronies. Yet, the political “representatives” (thieves, liars, and self-serving scumbags is far more accurate) have endless time to sit around for year after year and debate the state of the “terrible health care problem”. It’s clear they see no crisis as long as the dead people don’t get in the way of their corporate profits rolling in.

And justice? You’ve got to be kidding!

How can any rational individual explain that white elephant conundrum in the middle of our tax system and, indeed, our entire legal system? Here we have a system that is, by far, too complicated for the brightest of the master scholars to understand. Yet, it mercilessly “holds accountable” its victims, claiming that they’re responsible for fully complying with laws not even the experts understand. The law “requires” a signature on the bottom of a tax filing; yet no one can say truthfully that they understand what they are signing; if that’s not “duress” than what is. If this is not the measure of a totalitarian regime, nothing is.

How did I get here?

My introduction to the real American nightmare starts back in the early ‘80s. Unfortunately after more than 16 years of school, somewhere along the line I picked up the absurd, pompous notion that I could read and understand plain English. Some friends introduced me to a group of people who were having ‘tax code’ readings and discussions. In particular, zeroed in on a section relating to the wonderful “exemptions” that make institutions like the vulgar, corrupt Catholic Church so incredibly wealthy. We carefully studied the law (with the help of some of the “best”, high-paid, experienced tax lawyers in the business), and then began to do exactly what the “big boys” were doing (except that we weren’t steeling from our congregation or lying to the government about our massive profits in the name of God). We took a great deal of care to make it all visible, following all of the rules, exactly the way the law said it was to be done.

The intent of this exercise and our efforts was to bring about a much-needed re-evaluation of the laws that allow the monsters of organized religion to make such a mockery of people who earn an honest living. However, this is where I learned that there are two “interpretations” for every law; one for the very rich, and one for the rest of us… Oh, and the monsters are the very ones making and enforcing the laws; the inquisition is still alive and well today in this country.

That little lesson in patriotism cost me $40,000+, 10 years of my life, and set my retirement plans back to 0. It made me realize for the first time that I live in a country with an ideology that is based on a total and complete lie. It also made me realize, not only how naive I had been, but also the incredible stupidity of the American public; that they buy, hook, line, and sinker, the crap about their “freedom”… and that they continue to do so with eyes closed in the face of overwhelming evidence and all that keeps happening in front of them.

Before even having to make a shaky recovery from the sting of the first lesson on what justice really means in this country (around 1984 after making my way through engineering school and still another five years of “paying my dues”), I felt I finally had to take a chance of launching my dream of becoming an independent engineer.

On the subjects of engineers and dreams of independence, I should digress somewhat to say that I’m sure that I inherited the fascination for creative problem solving from my father. I realized this at a very young age.

The significance of independence, however, came much later during my early years of college; at the age of 18 or 19 when I was living on my own as student in an apartment in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. My neighbor was an elderly retired woman (80+ seemed ancient to me at that age) who was the widowed wife of a retired steel worker. Her husband had worked all his life in the steel mills of central Pennsylvania with promises from big business and the union that, for his 30 years of service, he would have a pension and medical care to look forward to in his retirement. Instead he was one of the thousands who got nothing because the incompetent mill management and corrupt union (not to mention the government) raided their pension funds and stole their retirement. All she had was social security to live on.

In retrospect, the situation was laughable because here I was living on peanut butter and bread (or Ritz crackers when I could afford to splurge) for months at a time. When I got to know this poor figure and heard her story I felt worse for her plight than for my own (I, after all, I thought I had everything to in front of me). I was genuinely appalled at one point, as we exchanged stories and commiserated with each other over our situations, when she in her grandmotherly fashion tried to convince me that I would be “healthier” eating cat food (like her) rather than trying to get all my substance from peanut butter and bread. I couldn’t quite go there, but the impression was made. I decided that I didn’t trust big business to take care of me, and that I would take responsibility for my own future and myself.

Return to the early ‘80s, and here I was off to a terrifying start as a ‘wet-behind-the-ears’ contract software engineer... and two years later, thanks to the fine backroom, midnight effort by the sleazy executives of Arthur Andersen (the very same folks who later brought us Enron and other such calamities) and an equally sleazy New York Senator (Patrick Moynihan), we saw the passage of 1986 tax reform act with its section 1706.

For you who are unfamiliar, here is the core text of the IRS Section 1706, defining the treatment of workers (such as contract engineers) for tax purposes. Visit this link for a conference committee report (http://www.synergistech.com/1706.shtml#ConferenceCommitteeReport) regarding the intended interpretation of Section 1706 and the relevant parts of Section 530, as amended. For information on how these laws affect technical services workers and their clients, read our discussion here (http://www.synergistech.com/ic-taxlaw.shtml).

SEC. 1706. TREATMENT OF CERTAIN TECHNICAL PERSONNEL.

(a) IN GENERAL - Section 530 of the Revenue Act of 1978 is amended by adding at the end thereof the following new subsection:

(d) EXCEPTION. - This section shall not apply in the case of an individual who pursuant to an arrangement between the taxpayer and another person, provides services for such other person as an engineer, designer, drafter, computer programmer, systems analyst, or other similarly skilled worker engaged in a similar line of work.

(b) EFFECTIVE DATE. - The amendment made by this section shall apply to remuneration paid and services rendered after December 31, 1986.

Note:

· "another person" is the client in the traditional job-shop relationship.

· "taxpayer" is the recruiter, broker, agency, or job shop.

· "individual", "employee", or "worker" is you.

Admittedly, you need to read the treatment to understand what it is saying but it’s not very complicated. The bottom line is that they may as well have put my name right in the text of section (d). Moreover, they could only have been more blunt if they would have came out and directly declared me a criminal and non-citizen slave. Twenty years later, I still can’t believe my eyes.

During 1987, I spent close to $5000 of my ‘pocket change’, and at least 1000 hours of my time writing, printing, and mailing to any senator, congressman, governor, or slug that might listen; none did, and they universally treated me as if I was wasting their time. I spent countless hours on the L.A. freeways driving to meetings and any and all of the disorganized professional groups who were attempting to mount a campaign against this atrocity. This, only to discover that our efforts were being easily derailed by a few moles from the brokers who were just beginning to enjoy the windfall from the new declaration of their “freedom”. Oh, and don’t forget, for all of the time I was spending on this, I was loosing income that I couldn’t bill clients.

After months of struggling it had clearly gotten to be a futile exercise. The best we could get for all of our trouble is a pronouncement from an IRS mouthpiece that they weren’t going to enforce that provision (read harass engineers and scientists). This immediately proved to be a lie, and the mere existence of the regulation began to have its impact on my bottom line; this, of course, was the intended effect.

Again, rewind my retirement plans back to 0 and shift them into idle. If I had any sense, I clearly should have left abandoned engineering and never looked back.

Instead I got busy working 100-hour workweeks. Then came the L.A. depression of the early 1990s. Our leaders decided that they didn’t need the all of those extra Air Force bases they had in Southern California, so they were closed; just like that. The result was economic devastation in the region that rivaled the widely publicized Texas S&L fiasco. However, because the government caused it, no one gave a shit about all of the young families who lost their homes or street after street of boarded up houses abandoned to the wealthy loan companies who received government funds to “shore up” their windfall. Again, I lost my retirement.

Years later, after weathering a divorce and the constant struggle trying to build some momentum with my business, I find myself once again beginning to finally pick up some speed. Then came the .COM bust and the 911 nightmare. Our leaders decided that all aircraft were grounded for what seemed like an eternity; and long after that, ‘special’ facilities like San Francisco were on security alert for months. This made access to my customers prohibitively expensive. Ironically, after what they had done the Government came to the aid of the airlines with billions of our tax dollars … as usual they left me to rot and die while they bailed out their rich, incompetent cronies WITH MY MONEY! After these events, there went my business but not quite yet all of my retirement and savings.

By this time, I’m thinking that it might be good for a change. Bye to California, I’ll try Austin for a while. So I moved, only to find out that this is a place with a highly inflated sense of self-importance and where damn little real engineering work is done. I’ve never experienced such a hard time finding work. The rates are 1/3 of what I was earning before the crash, because pay rates here are fixed by the three or four large companies in the area who are in collusion to drive down prices and wages… and this happens because the justice department is all on the take and doesn’t give a fuck about serving anyone or anything but themselves and their rich buddies.

To survive, I was forced to cannibalize my savings and retirement, the last of which was a small IRA. This came in a year with mammoth expenses and not a single dollar of income. I filed no return that year thinking that because I didn’t have any income there was no need. The sleazy government decided that they disagreed. But they didn’t notify me in time for me to launch a legal objection so when I attempted to get a protest filed with the court I was told I was no longer entitled to due process because the time to file ran out. Bend over for another $10,000 helping of justice.

So now we come to the present. After my experience with the CPA world, following the business crash I swore that I’d never enter another accountant’s office again. But here I am with a new marriage and a boatload of undocumented income, not to mention an expensive new business asset, a piano, which I had no idea how to handle. After considerable thought I decided that it would be irresponsible NOT to get professional help; a very big mistake.

When we received the forms back I was very optimistic that they were in order. I had taken all of the years information to Bill Ross, and he came back with results very similar to what I was expecting. Except that he had neglected to include the contents of Sheryl’s unreported income; $12,700 worth of it. To make matters worse, Ross knew all along this was missing and I didn’t have a clue until he pointed it out in the middle of the audit. By that time it had become brutally evident that he was representing himself and not me.

This left me stuck in the middle of this disaster trying to defend transactions that have no relationship to anything tax-related (at least the tax-related transactions were poorly documented). Things I never knew anything about and things my wife had no clue would ever matter to anyone. The end result is… well, just look around.

I remember reading about the stock market crash before the “great” depression and how there were wealthy bankers and businessmen jumping out of windows when they realized they screwed up and lost everything. Isn’t it ironic how far we’ve come in 60 years in this country that they now know how to fix that little economic problem; they just steal from the middle class (who doesn’t have any say in it, elections are a joke) to cover their asses and it’s “business-as-usual”. Now when the wealthy fuck up, the poor get to die for the mistakes… isn’t that a clever, tidy solution.

As government agencies go, the FAA is often justifiably referred to as a tombstone agency, though they are hardly alone. The recent presidential puppet GW Bush and his cronies in their eight years certainly reinforced for all of us that this criticism rings equally true for all of the government. Nothing changes unless there is a body count (unless it is in the interest of the wealthy sows at the government trough). In a government full of hypocrites from top to bottom, life is as cheap as their lies and their self-serving laws.

I know I’m hardly the first one to decide I have had all I can stand. It has always been a myth that people have stopped dying for their freedom in this country, and it isn’t limited to the blacks, and poor immigrants. I know there have been countless before me and there are sure to be as many after. But I also know that by not adding my body to the count, I insure nothing will change. I choose to not keep looking over my shoulder at “big brother” while he strips my carcass, I choose not to ignore what is going on all around me, I choose not to pretend that business as usual won’t continue; I have just had enough.

I can only hope that the numbers quickly get too big to be white washed and ignored that the American zombies wake up and revolt; it will take nothing less. I would only hope that by striking a nerve that stimulates the inevitable double standard, knee-jerk government reaction that results in more stupid draconian restrictions people wake up and begin to see the pompous political thugs and their mindless minions for what they are. Sadly, though I spent my entire life trying to believe it wasn’t so, but violence not only is the answer, it is the only answer. The cruel joke is that the really big chunks of shit at the top have known this all along and have been laughing, at and using this awareness against, fools like me all along.

I saw it written once that the definition of insanity is repeating the same process over and over and expecting the outcome to suddenly be different. I am finally ready to stop this insanity. Well, Mr. Big Brother IRS man, let’s try something different; take my pound of flesh and sleep well.

The communist creed: From each according to his ability, to each according to his need.

The capitalist creed: From each according to his gullibility, to each according to his greed.

Joe Stack (1956-2010)

02/18/2010

2010-01-28T15:37:00.002-06:00

Spending Freeze

2010-01-26T10:34:00.001-06:00

The Decompensation of a President

By Joy Tiz Sunday, January 24, 2010
“The beauty of being a narcissist is that even when disaster stares you in the face, you feel neither doubt nor remorse.”-Carl Vogel, “A Field Guide to Narcissism”
Telegraph reporter Stephanie Gutmann describes her reaction to Barack Obama’s appearance in Berlin: “After it was over I picked up the phone and called a friend back home. ‘It’s worse than we thought,’ I told him. ‘The guy’s actually crazy.’”
Guttman was talking about candidate Obama’s agenda as he presented it that day, in which he promised to take on the terrorists in Afghanistan, take on the drug dealers, rebuild Afghanistan, eliminate the building nuclear threat, secure all loose nukes, decrease arsenals from another era, form a new global partnership that will end terror networks, redistribute wealth, save the planet, withdraw all troops from Iraq, keep the oceans from rising, end famine, and reduce carbon output.
Incredibly, there are Obamanutz among us who honestly don’t realize that Barack Obama is a narcissist of the worst kind. Most people erroneously presume that narcissism is something akin to egomania or an unusually high sense of self-esteem. The truth is the reverse. Narcissists suffer from self-loathing, not too much self-love.
It takes a bit of narcissism to wake up in the morning and think, “Hey, I really ought to be leader of the free world.” Coming to such a conclusion in the fourth grade is a bit bombastic. Having some narcissistic traits does not a narcissist make. However, according to the Encyclopedia of Mental Disorders (DSM IV-TR), grandiosity is the most important single trait in narcissism.
For all of the narcissist’s grandiosity, he is driven by a relentless need to pursue and maintain a source of narcissistic supply. A narcissist is at his most menacing when he perceives a threat to his perpetual supply of admiration and affirmation. No drama Obama showed early on the truculence typical of narcissists when they sense a threat to supply. The same president who remains steadfast in his willingness to meet with Iran’s barbarian in chief, Mahmoud Ahmedinejad, bleats about imagined desecration by Fox News.
“The normal person is likely to welcome a moderate amount of attention - verbal and non-verbal - in the form of affirmation, approval, or admiration. Too much attention, though, is perceived as onerous and is avoided. Destructive and negative criticism is avoided altogether.”
“The narcissist, in contrast, is the mental equivalent of an alcoholic. He is insatiable. He directs his whole behaviour, in fact his life, to obtain these pleasurable titbits [sic] of attention. He embeds them in a coherent, completely biased, picture of himself. He uses them to regulates his labile sense of self-worth and self-esteem.“
To maintain a constant flow of narcissistic supply, he must project a confabulated version of himself as omnipotent, intelligent, or in some way superior.
“The narcissist then proceeds to harvest reactions to this projected image from family members, friends, co-workers, neighbours, business partners and from colleagues. If these - the adulation, admiration, attention, fear, respect, applause, affirmation - are not forthcoming, the narcissist demands them, or extorts them. Money, compliments, a favourable critique, an appearance in the media, a sexual conquest are all converted into the same currency in the narcissist’s mind.”
For the narcissist, nothing matters more than maintaining his supply. From Obama’s perspective, being chided by a cable news commentator really is a more pressing exigency than the possibility of Iran amassing nuclear weapons.
After twelve months of unabated blundering, the president just suffered an especially mortifying series of narcissistic injuries. The election of Scott Brown last week was a body blow to Obama. Time and again, his specialness has failed to translate into success for his fellow democrat candidates. Add to the Brown victory the recent Supreme Court decision to uphold free speech; a ruling that Obama says he is going to “fight”? Did this man actually go to law school at all?
“The narcissist is constantly on the lookout for slights. He is hypervigilant. He perceives every disagreement as criticism and every critical remark as complete and humiliating rejection - nothing short of a threat. Gradually, his mind turns into a chaotic battlefield of paranoia and ideas of reference.”
“Most narcissists react defensively. They become conspicuously indignant, aggressive, and cold. They detach emotionally for fear of yet another (narcissistic) injury. They devalue the person who made the disparaging remark, the critical comment, the unflattering observation, the innocuous joke at the narcissist’s expense.”
This time, the American people are the ones who must be devalued.
The pundit community is all atwitter. Will he or won’t he? Will Obama do a Clintonesque tack to the center following such harsh wallops to his ego and agenda?
No. He won’t. Not even if we assume Obama can find the center at all; nothing in his history suggests he is anything other than a radical socialist. There is virtually nothing to indicate that he knows or cares very much about the country he is supposed to lead.
Just a day after the dazzling and emblematic Brown victory in Massachusetts, Obama demonstrated how tenuous his hold on objective reality is. Rather than acknowledge the clarity of the message sent by the people in their rejection of his agenda, most particularly the monstrous health crimes legislation; a visibly choleric Obama postulated the preposterous and offensive theory that Americans simply don’t understand the genius of his plans. Hack sawing his friable connections to external reality, Obama came to the astonishing conclusion that what he must do now is make more speeches.
When Obama gives the State of the Union next week, anticipate the platitudinous gibberish we’ve come to loathe. Whoever loads the teleprompter twaddle will make sure it’s at least coherent. His demeanor and body language will be far more instructive than what he says. Obama is in the full grip of narcissistic rage. He is also prone to emotional leakage, which should get worse with as his ire escalates.
David Axelrod seems to be trying to pre-spin the image of a very damaged president by forewarning that we will be seeing a “feisty” president.Thus, they turned to David Plouffe, his 2008 campaign manager who will increase his role in the Obama administration. Recall that after the Brown victory, Obama went back on the campaign trail in Ohio, looking and sounding dreadful. He promised twenty times to “fight” for America.
Plouffe has the onerous task of protecting democrats from Obama’s toxic touch. Plouffe has announced his winning strategy for democrats in November: “No bed-wetting.”
Obama is not fighting for America, his grand jeremiad is with the American people. He wasted no time after his Massachusetts loss to declare war against the banks. The current leader of the free world is not in touch with reality. The toady press keeps accepting his fabrications and denials. And mental health professionals have shown a remarkable lack of curiosity about the mental health of the President of the United States.
It’s not in the nation’s best interest to put a narcissist in the White House. Bill Clinton’s debauchery demonstrated his willingness to put his need for narcissistic supply ahead of the well-being of the country he was hired to serve. Clinton’s narcissism was manifestly less toxic than Barack Obama’s.
Clinton was able to take in new information and change direction because his narcissism is less pathological than Obama’s. It is important to understand that we all have narcissistic traits; the quality of self sufficiency, for example, can be highly adaptive. We all need a degree of self-reliance. It’s more useful to consider narcissism and its elements as a continuum rather than a yes-or-no matter.
Blissfully unburdened by any core principles or values; it was easy for Bill Clinton to shift to the center if that was what it took to be adored. For all of his many flaws, at least Clinton was a known quantity with roots firmly planted in America.
For all of the narcissist’s grandiosity, he is driven by a relentless need to pursue and maintain a source of narcissistic supply. Clinton was driven by polls; he made major policy decisions based on poll data. His sexual acting out is also typical of narcissists.
Of course, Obama could surprise us all with a well crafted speech signaling that he has heard the message loud and clear that America does not want what he wants. Or, more importantly, what George Soros wants.
I wouldn’t bet the farm on it.

2010-01-22T07:55:00.000-06:00

AMERICA: ALIVE AND WELL

A couple of very inspiring things happened on the way to this column. First, a reminder. One year ago this week President Obama was sworn into office. Rather than recap what's been written during the last year within the confines of this column, I'll take the opportunity to plug the website. plattecountylandmark.com, click on “Straight From Stigall” and you can bone up on some of my thoughts. If you're one of those goofballs that still have the creepy stickers with “Dear Leader's” Warhol-esque picture on your bumper, I'll save you the time. You won't enjoy the reading.
Meanwhile, as this paper goes to print early in the week, the special election in Massachusetts to fill Ted Kennedy's seat is underway. The early stories and polling, it can be said at the very least, have Democrats nervous about the prospects of losing this election to a Republican. Should it happen the “liberal lion” of the Senate godfather of “health care reform” the last living member of Camelot will be put to political rest forever.
No matter a Republican victory or loss, that it's even close is all you need to know about a year of President Obama. Massachusetts created the single biggest political story of a generation.
As the press and the Democrats tie themselves in knots at the prospect of an entirely blue state turning half red. As the country's electorate rages at tea parties, town halls, and protest rallies outside congressional offices to stop government overreach. I couldn't help but smile this week and think, “This is just as our Founding Fathers envisioned our system working.”
This feeling was only reaffirmed when I received a copy of an email this week by a listener to our radio show. This individual works for Commerce Bank, and he wanted me to read and even share the contents of the email with our audience (and Landmark readers, too). The email was an internal communication to all Commerce Bank employees from their CEO David Kemper.
What little I know of Mr. Kemper, I can tell you the email was unusual for its candor and direct message aimed at Washington. In a day and age of political correctness, and at the risk of offending Obama-loyal customers and employees, Mr. Kemper felt it was time to stand up and speak his mind on behalf of his company. The subject of the email addressed President Obama's new plan to levy a tax on financial institutions. Suffice it to say, Mr. Kemper felt this was the last straw. He offered some comments, and 6 points-of-fact he felt his employees needed to know. Some abbreviated highlights:
“I am writing to you to keep you informed concerning the current highly politicized debate in Washington concerning additional taxes and regulation on the banking industry. It is becoming increasingly obvious that the Obama Administration has chosen to vilify the banking industry as a politically expedient way of boosting their standing in light of a very difficult economy.…The Obama Administration, the media, and some members of Congress have been making some incorrect and very misleading comments concerning the cost of the financial crisis and governmental losses on the TARP program… saying that the industry "owes" further taxes to the governmenton moral grounds or to make up for losses the government will take on advances to other industries is a very dangerous precedent and further contributes to a populist anti-business feeling that could be very harmful in the long run.
The facts are:
1) Commerce Bancshares luckily did not take any TARP funds because we did not need it, did not want to be beholden to the government and did not want to pay a very expensive rate on the money.
2) $700 billion was appropriated for the fund of which $250 billion was advanced to the banking industry. Nearly 75% of that money advanced to the banks has already been paid back.
3) It is estimated by the US Treasury that the government will make a profit on their TARP advances to commercial banks of around $19 billion. This profit is not being mentioned by politicians who are implying the government will lose money on the bank portion of this program. This is patently incorrect.
4) The government will lose money (perhaps a lot of money) on its TARP advances to AIG, GMAC and the auto companies. The government made aconscious decision to subsidize the auto industry and AIG - that is their choice but has little to nothing to do with main stream commercial banks…
5) The banking industry will pay for the losses of failed banks through the industry's recapitalization of the FDIC fund. Last year we paid $28 million into the FDIC fund, an increase of $24 million over 2008: that $24 million comes directly out of our profits… This is very expensive but the industry (not the government) is paying for the failure of poorly run banks.
6) We welcome higher capital ratios and strong regulation because we do not like paying for the failure of weak banks. We all know we have a tough economy and high unemployment and are working closely with our customers through this challenging period. We also need to communicate that weakening the banking system through unfair taxation and excessive regulation is going to severely damage our industry and economic recovery."
Now that's leadership.
America is being awakened and engaged in their country en masse for the first time in generations. Voters who would traditionally vote party line, or with their union, or with that familiar family name on the ballot know this week's vote is about something much more. The traditional assumptions about blue states and red states are dead this week. Executives and CEOs are standing up, speaking out, and even pushing back when free markets and their very livelihoods come under attack from Washington.
It's truly inspiring to watch. It's just what our Constitution ordered.
(Be inspired by Chris Stigall each week only in The Landmark. And listen to him each morning on 710 KCMO. Email him at stigall@710kcmo.com)

ONE YEAR GONE: President George W. Bush Answered the Calling of Our Time

2010-01-21T13:29:00.000-06:00

Adam Baldwin has always been one of my favorite actors. Loved him on Firefly!

ONE YEAR GONE: President George W. Bush Answered the Calling of Our Time

2010-01-20T09:56:00.005-06:00

Preserved here to make sure it stays:

http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2010/01/19/jeffrey-scott-shapiro-bush-obama-president-betrayed/

America Betrayed President Bush

It's almost hard to believe but Wednesday, January 20 marks exactly one year since President Bush left the White House.

During his last public ceremony as commander in chief, he was booed by thousands of Americans who simutaneously cheered for Barack Obama as he was sworn into office on the steps of the U.S. Capitol.

Except for a June 17 speech in Erie, Pennsylvania in which Bush defended his policies and criticized Obama’s, the former president has been remarkably silent about his successor. He has not fired back at Obama despite the new administration inappropriately blaming Bush for all of their failures.

One year after taking office however, Obama has done a total reversal on his isolationist, non-interventionist foreign policy, and is now pushing President Bush’s neo-conservative philosophy as a justification for starting a new war in Afghanistan. What the Democratic Party once criticized as an over-simplified good vs. evil argument has become the cornerstone of Obama’s reasoning.
“Evil does exist in the world,” Obama recently admitted. “A nonviolent movement could not have halted Hitler’s armies. Negotiations cannot convince al-Qaeda’s leaders to lay down their arms. To say that force is sometimes necessary is not a call to cynicism – it is recognition of history; the imperfections of man and the limits of man.”

In the wake of this stunning adoption of the Bush foreign policy doctrine, there is little, if any dissent. The same people who crucified Bush for liberating Iraq are hardly criticizing Obama for using force to promote democracy in Afghanistan.

Recent Gallup polls find that 62 percent of Americans think Obama’s war in Afghanistan “is the right thing” whereas only 39 percent of Americans think Bush made the right decision by sending troops to Iraq.

Any American who thinks that Bush was misdirected when he sent troops to Iraq in 2003 can’t possibly deny that renewing war in Afghanistan in 2009 to hunt Al Qaeda, eight years after the Sept. 11 attacks is, at the least, equally fallible.

Still, Obama is receiving the kind of public support that an American president, any president, deserves during wartime. Many anti-war activists, journalists and elected officials have been remarkably quiet, affording the new commander in chief the opportunity to launch a successful war campaign.

Very few Americans showed the same faithfulness to President Bush, including members of his own party. Republicans who favored non-interventionism to nation building abandoned Bush, and Democratic senators like John Kerry, John Edwards and Hillary Clinton who voted for the war turned against it before the 2004 elections so they would have the ammunition they needed to criticize their incumbent opponent.

America quickly forgot about how President Bush charismatically lifted our spirits during some of the darkest moments of our nation’s history when the Twin Towers collapsed. After all, even Senator Kerry admitted Bush’s handling of the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks was “terrific,” during the 2004 presidential debates.

But after President Bush successfully secured America in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks, he was rewarded with accusations of committing human rights violations and war crimes – an incredible irony since his policies were responsible for liberating tens of millions of people in Afghanistan and Iraq. Some Americans accused Bush of lying and starting a war under false pretenses simply because our troops never found actual weapons of mass destruction.

Despite what Michael Moore implied in his film "Fahrenheit 9/11," Congress did not base their 2002 authorization for the Iraq War solely on the premise that Saddam Hussein either had or was trying to acquire weapons of mass destruction. Their legislation reads very clearly that America’s purpose in sending troops back to Iraq was to enforce U.N. resolutions, some of which were violated in the 1990’s and probably should have been enforced by President Clinton. Whether actual weapons were found or not, the war in Iraq was legally and morally justifiable, and necessary.

In addition to enduring criticism for his war policies, millions of Americans demanded the new Obama administration prosecute Bush for his decision to indefinitely holding detainees charged with war crimes. When President Obama signed an executive order in May that reinforced that same Bush policy, the far left was mute.

Almost no one said a word. Apparently, its acceptable for Obama to indefinitely hold detainees, just not Bush.

As Obama continues to make decisions that mirror the Bush doctrine, it is becoming apparent that the former president was not ignorant or irrational in his foreign policy decisions despite the harsh criticism and disloyalty he endured. He was in fact, ahead of his time, a visionary who understood politics and warfare in the modern age of terrorism.

That is why Obama is now following his lead.

It should be obvious now, even to Obama’s most passionate supporters that shielding the free world requires more than mere words like “hope” and “change.” Bush’s detractors should be embarrassed having arrogantly thought they could do it better, and those Republicans who abandoned Bush when he needed them most should take a moment to reflect on their fortitude or lack thereof.

Americans who chastised President Bush for removing Saddam Hussein from power in Iraq should apologize and show him the same respect they are now showing President Obama as he neutralizes the Taliban in Afghanistan.

George W. Bush seemed to have an almost mystical understanding of what the American people needed when we needed it most. He reminded all of us of why we should be proud to be Americans at a time when there was a whisper that we brought the Sept. 11 attacks upon ourselves for promoting democracy abroad.

President Bush deserves our respect, not our betrayal.

Another awesome article:

2010-01-20T07:31:00.004-06:00

I know it has been a while since I last posted.
First off, Yeah Brown!
But that is not what I want to blog about this morning.
On my way in to work today, I was listening to Chris Stegall.
He played a clip of John Freaking Kerry during the concession speech last night.
OMFG.
I SCREAMED at the radio.
He said, I am paraphrasing here:
Tax cuts are not targeted.
If you give a tax cut to an individual, or small business, then there is no guarantee they will invest the money. There is no guarantee that they will invest it in the United States, or at all. Government, yes Government, is the only one who can make sure the money is invested in programs that work......
HE DOES NOT GET IT. THEY STILL DO NOT GET IT!
It's called Liberty, Freedom Senator. I earned that money. It is MY money, not yours. If I want to spend it on a big mac, porn magazine, or set it on fire, guess what I SHOULD be able to. Because it is MINE. Not yours. That is what the US is all about. It's none of your damned business what I do with it.
When I find the exact quote, I will post it here.

2009-12-07T17:41:00.000-06:00

2009-12-02T15:46:00.002-06:00

Climategate.
It’s time to put my 2 cents worth in.
First of all, let me say this.
I believe the Bible. In it we are put in charge of the Earth. We are given dominion over the animals, the sea and the land. However, we are also charged with being good stewards of what we control.
To me, that means: Do not pollute the air, water or soil. Recycle when possible. Do not litter. Simple as that. Beyond that, we are to use the resources of the Earth as we see fit to the betterment of humanity. Of course it makes sense to use the resources conservatively to ensure abundant resources are available to future generations.
HOWEVER. To suggest that we have been responsible for global temperature increases is complete boobery. We have had a wealth of evidence to prove the opposite. It has been purposely ignored by the scientists who benefit from huge grants (your and my tax dollars), and by the politicians who are also stealing our tax dollars, and purposefully, for whatever reason, have been actively engaged in seeing the US’s stature and wealth redistributed across the globe. They have used it to stop Capitalism, Free Market, and National Defense. They have impeded the US Military by not allowing them to build new structures anywhere in the US, and curtailing where they are allowed to conduct exercises.
Now the US Media is proving they are nothing more than an echo chamber and puppets as they REFUSE to give this breaking story any creditable coverage.
Hopefully though, it looks like this one is going to go beyond their control.

2009-11-25T11:15:00.003-06:00

From my family to yours

Happy Thanksgiving

2009-11-25T07:49:00.001-06:00

Healthcare.

I have not blogged about my views on it yet.

Because it is simple.

NO GOVERNMENT RUN HEALTHCARE.

No Government interference in Healthcare.

PERIOD.

2009-11-14T14:39:00.002-06:00

When will this national nightmare end?

Who will stop it?

Is it already too late?

2009-11-10T14:15:00.004-06:00

It breaks my heart that you 13 were murdered by one of your supposed own.

We will never forget the 13 casualties from the War on Terror from Ft. Hood.

Thank you for your sacrifice. We all pray it will not be in vain.

2009-11-06T13:51:00.002-06:00

Louisiana Atttorney General's agents raid New Orleans ACORN office; Investigators have executed a search warrant at ACORN office on Canal Street... Developing...

In a fast-breaking development comes word that agents of the Attorney’s General office in Louisiana have raided ACORN’s offices in New Orleans. ACORN’s New Orleans was, for decades, the headquarters of the national community organizing association. News of the raid comes from Marcel Reid and her colleagues at ACORN 8, an association of former ACORN leaders and board members. Many of the individuals involved with ACORN 8 were fired from ACORN for demanding a forensic audit following an embezzlement scandal involving Dale Rathke, brother of ACORN co-founder Wade Rathke

2009-11-06T07:51:00.002-06:00

Our heart goes out to those who have lost loved ones and/or family members in the terror attack on Ft. Hood. May those injured have a speedy recovery.

2009-11-04T15:03:00.002-06:00

Comming Soon:

2009-11-02T07:52:00.001-06:00

WHAT A CROC

2009-10-27T15:02:00.001-05:00

Obama's True Lies

By Pamela Geller

If Barack Obama would release his Columbia thesis, this latest media pseudo-controversy would never have happened. But now the tittering hyenas on the left are howling at the moon over the satire of Obama's thesis that was taken for the real thing by Rush Limbaugh, Michael Ledeen at Pajamas Media, as well as by Denis Keohane at The American Thinker.
The fake thesis has Obama criticizing the Constitution, saying that "the so-called Founders did not allow for economic freedom. While political freedom is supposedly a cornerstone of the document, the distribution of wealth is not even mentioned. While many believed that the new Constitution gave them liberty, it instead fitted them with the shackles of hypocrisy."
That sounded to me like something Obama would have said, so I cited it and ran it with it at my blog AtlasShrugs.com. But when I couldn't find the actual link to what purported to be the "first ten pages" of Obama's thesis, I took it down.
But bear in mind one thing: as Michael Ledeen says, "it worked because it's plausible."

Read the rest

2009-10-23T13:17:00.004-05:00

10/27/2009
I found out this was not true.
As much as I dislike Obama, I will not spread lies.
There's plenty wrong with this guy for real anyway.
I do not believe Rush would knowingly pass false info either.

I will post (repost) an article from Today's American thinker with more info on this.

I love the fact that our President, BHO, refers to the frames of the US Constitution as "So Called Founders"

Obama and the Constitution; He Has His Doubts

I missed this first time around. Brian Lancaster at Jumping in Pools reported on Obama’s college thesis, written when he was at Columbia. The paper was called “Aristocracy Reborn,” and in the first ten pages (which were all that reporter Joe Klein–who wrote about it for Time–was permitted to see), the young Obama wrote:
“… the Constitution allows for many things, but what it does not allow is the most revealing. The so-called Founders did not allow for economic freedom. While political freedom is supposedly a cornerstone of the document, the distribution of wealth is not even mentioned. While many believed that the new Constitution gave them liberty, it instead fitted them with the shackles of hypocrisy.”

2009-10-23T13:09:00.002-05:00

I have to share this, or I will go crazy:

Barack Obama is tired of your motherfucking shit

If you’ve ever read President Obama’s Dreams From My Father, good for you. I couldn’t get past the foreword.
I wish I had. Because today I discovered that there’s a fairly juicy little subplot in the book, involving one of Obama’s high school friends.
Ray, a fellow classmate of Obama’s, was also bi-racial, and also trying to define himself. But what set him apart was his colorful manner of self-expression. Ray cursed like a motherfucker.
This would all be snickerworthy enough, but it turns out that Obama actually read the audiobook version of Dreams From My Father.
And that means he read Ray’s quotes.

And that means you’re about to hear the President of United States using language that would finish Cheney off once and for all.

2009-10-23T11:38:00.003-05:00

Senate Judiciary Chairman Unable to Say Where Constitution Authorizes Congress to Order Americans to Buy Health Insurance

Source: CNSNews.com

(CNSNews.com) – Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) would not say what part of the Constitution grants Congress the power to force every American to buy health insurance--as all of the health care overhaul bills currently do. Leahy, whose committee is responsible for vetting Supreme Court nominees, was asked by CNSNews.com where in the Constitution Congress is specifically granted the authority to require that every American purchase health insurance. Leahy answered by saying that “nobody questions” Congress’ authority for such an action. CNSNews.com: "Where, in your opinion, does the Constitution give specific authority for Congress to give an individual mandate for health insurance?" Sen. Leahy: "We have plenty of authority. Are you saying there is no authority?" CNSNews.com: "I’m asking--" Sen. Leahy: "Why would you say there is no authority? I mean, there’s no question there’s authority. Nobody questions that."

Wrong, butthead.

But then again, just because it's unconstitutional has never stopped you guys before.
All one has to do these days is look at the White House...

For posterities sake, I will say it:

THERE IS NO CONSTITUTIONAL SUPPORT TO MANDATE THAT U.S. Citizens buy ANYTHING.

2009-10-22T11:09:00.003-05:00

Anybody paying any attention to the march to communism our country is on?

First the banks, then the automakers, then the big push for social medicine, then dictating terms on salaries, now this:

Bill giving FDA new powers to oversee food supply has wide support

This has got the scare the crap out of you.

2009-10-21T14:56:00.001-05:00

This is the way the world ends.
This is the way the world ends.
This is the way the world ends.
This is the way the world ends.
This is the way the world ends.
This is the way the world ends.
This is the way the world ends.
Not with a bang, but with a whimper:

US plans big pay cuts at US bailout firms
AP source: Administration to order big pay cuts for top US executives at bailout companies

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Obama administration plans to order companies that received huge U.S. government bailouts last year to sharply cut the compensation of their highest paid executives.
A person familiar with the decision, who spoke on condition of anonymity because it has not been announced, says the seven companies that received the most assistance will have to cut the annual salaries of their 25 highest-paid executives by an average of about 90 percent from last year.
This person says the Treasury Department will announce the deep pay cuts within the next few days.
The seven companies are: Bank of America Corp., American International Group Inc., Citigroup Inc., General Motors, GMAC, Chrysler and Chrysler Financial.

2009-10-21T14:31:00.002-05:00

I am blessed to have a job. Look at this:

Source: House Committee on Ways and Means

The Jobs Search
7 Months After Stimulus 49 of 50 States Have Lost Jobs
America Now Over 6 Million Jobs Shy of Administration's Projections
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
The table below compares the White House's February 2009 projection of the number of jobs that would be created by the 2009 stimulus law (through the end of 2010) with the actual change in state payroll employment through September 2009 (the latest figures available). According to the data, 49 States and the District of Columbia have lost jobs since stimulus was enacted. Only North Dakota has seen net job creation following the February 2009 stimulus. While President Obama claimed the result of his stimulus bill would be the creation of 3.5 million jobs, the Nation has already lost a total of 2.7 million – a difference of 6.2 million jobs. To see how stimulus has failed your state, see the table below. Click on it for full size

2009-10-20T13:12:00.001-05:00

Gotta put this out before it disappears:

Excuses wearing thin for Obama, media pals

October 20, 2009
BY STEVE HUNTLEY
Have you heard the news? President Obama inherited an economic mess from the Bush administration.
You say that's hardly news? But it's been the message sounded over and over by the White House. Top Obama adviser David Axelrod said on one of the Sunday news shows, "He walked in the door, we had the worst economy since the Great Depression." In San Francisco, Obama talked of being "busy with our mop." White House heavy hitter Rahm Emanuel used the worst-economy-since-the-Depression line on a public TV news show.

You'd think it's October 2008, the final month in the Obama presidential candidacy, rather than October 2009, nine months into the Obama presidency. Yet the Obama White House is in full campaign mode -- maybe because it needs to mask the shortcomings of the Obama presidency.
Take, for example, all the talk of inheriting the worst economy since the 1930s crisis. That came in response to the news that the federal deficit hit $1.4 trillion.
Yet just a few months ago, the Obama camp was singing a little different tune. It was under criticism for the $787 billion stimulus package it bulldozed through Congress on grounds that massive spending was needed to keep the unemployment rate from breaching 8 percent. When joblessness hit 9.5 percent in June, Vice President Joe Biden said, "We misread how bad the economy was."
They inherited the worst economy since the Great Depression, or the economy turned out to be worse than they thought. Which is it? It can't be both -- unless your brain is completely addled by the Obama charisma.
Obama is still popular, but polls show the public losing faith in his policies. Another indicator was a ''Saturday Night Live'' skit lampooning Obama for the major accomplishments of his administration -- "jack and squat." If the honeymoon is ending with the American voter, it isn't for obsequious elements of the mainstream media. CNN prostrated itself by fact-checking the ''SNL'' comedy skit.
But that's harmless compared to the virulent campaign against Obama critics carried out by the denizens of MSNBC. Its Obama acolytes seek to demonize opponents of Obama's policies by focusing on most marginal corners of right-wing politics like, for example, the "birthers" who deny Obama is a natural born citizen. The larger scheme is to imply Obama critics are racists.
That's the backdrop to the story of Rush Limbaugh getting booted from a group bidding to buy the St. Louis Rams. He was smeared on CNN and MSNBC with false accusations of making two racist comments. He is an abrasive critic of Obama, so he must be racist, or so goes the left-wing story line. I wouldn't defend everything Limbaugh has ever said, but lies were used to blacklist him from professional football for his political views.
Recently an MSNBC personality accused the U.S. Chamber of Commerce of lobbying for policies that amount to being "treasonous to this country." Remember how liberals roared in outrage at any hint of their patriotism being questioned for criticizing the Iraq War? Well, it's the left that doesn't shy from attacking the patriotism of those it dislikes. Recall the repulsive Moveon.org "General Betray-us" ad against Iraq commander Gen. David Petraeus. Recent opposition to Chicago's Olympic bid was cast as a sign of a lack of patriotism among Obama critics.
The MSNBC blast against the chamber appears to dovetail with what the Politico newspaper reports is a White House and Democratic effort "to marginalize" the business organization. That echoes the administration assault on the Fox News Channel: It says Fox isn't a news organization.
The White House trying to dictate who's a news organization. Democrats out to gut a business group. Obama media allies damning Americans as racist, unpatriotic and treasonous. Is this the America Obama promised when he campaigned to end the cynical and divisive politics of the past?

2009-10-20T09:35:00.001-05:00

I think this has been the goal all along.
I think this is what the left have been going for since Clinton was in office.
They want the bring the US down to "size".

Yes, I think they want this:

Higher jobless rates could be new normal

That's why they have been cramming this global warming crap down our throats for years.
That's why they are so mad at Bush over the Kyoto treaty.

2009-10-20T08:38:00.003-05:00

Trick or treat!

Immigrants Not Amused by ''Illegal Alien'' Halloween Costume

Oh boo frickin hoo. Get over yourself.

"He didn't just cross a border, he

crossed a galaxy!"

2009-10-09T08:09:00.002-05:00

'FOR WHAT'?

2009-10-02T11:46:00.002-05:00

Oh, one more thing...

I am no longer Unemployed!

Tomorrow makes exactly 90 days since I got laid off.
I start my new job with VML on Wendsday!

2009-10-02T10:12:00.002-05:00

Obama Nation Billboard Draws Attention
New Sign Along I-70 Has Motorists Talking

BLUE SPRINGS, Mo. -- Drivers on Interstate 70 can barely see the billboard but once they do the message has been gaining attention.
The billboard is located along I-70 between the Adams Dairy Parkway and the Grain Valley exits. The billboard reads, "How do you like your change now? Obama Nation. They are coming for you! The Taxpayer. First and Second Amendments are in jeopardy. Live free or Die." There is also a hammer and sickle on the sign.
People said they might not agree with the sentiment of the sign, but they felt it was a matter of free speech. Others that KCTV5 talked to said it is offensive and should come down.
A pastor who drives by the sign during his daily commute to his church said he lived in England for years and he agreed with the message.
"We lived in a socialist society and I guess what I am seeing in America is that we are pushing to some of those ways now," he said. "Especially the hospitalization. It's taken away some of our freedoms as Americans."
KCTV5 could not reach the owner of the billboard. The mayor of Blue Springs said his office has gotten calls and e-mails about the sign.

2009-09-29T09:50:00.002-05:00

Since I am currently unemployed, I have time to stew and rant.
So that's what I'm going to do.

Has anyone been to the grocery store lately?

$1.69 for a Banquet Pot Pie

What do you expect when you keep raising minimum wage?
Lower employment for the part time teenagers, higher costs.
I understood that concept when I was 16.
That "rising tide raises all boats" concept is true.
The tide in this case is wages. You up the wages, then everything else goes up with it.
So the ones that are making minimum wage do not have increased buying power, even though income is higher.

It's always been a political ploy to fool the unintelligent masses.
And it is running this country into the ground.

2009-09-28T10:21:00.003-05:00

Take a hint socialists, we don't want your stinking healthcare!

Health Care Reform
Support for Health Care Plan Hits New Low

41%!

2009-09-27T10:08:00.009-05:00

Now it is time for a rant.

My eldest daughter is in the 10th grade. She has been in school for 5 weeks. She has only brought homework home twice, and each time it took her less then 15 minutes to complete. Meanwhile, my 4th grader has had homework almost every night except Fridays, starting the first week of school. At least 30 minutes each night, plus 30 minutes reading time a night.

Bear in mind, I do acknowledge the fact that she might be, you know, stretching the truth. But her school does use PowerSchool, which allows parents to see what's going on. And it appears she is telling the truth. One class, Biology I believe, has only 5 grades posted. 5-10 question quizzes. That's it. Oh, did I mention no text book in Algebra?

Couple that with the fact that they allow cell phone (text) usage in class, and some classes even allow mp3 players. MP3 players!

Oh, and when I was in school, an ISS meant 0's for everything that day, even if you had an exam, and just did "busy work" assigned by your teachers all day. Not now, now they bring the work to you.

She has been allowed to use calculators in math since the 7th grade. Now, even after the endless work I did with her back in the 6th and 7th grade, she cannot even do a simple double digit subtraction problem on paper without the help of a calculator and tears. In the 8th grade the English teacher urged the students to use Word for their papers to make sure the spelling and grammar were correct (like Word can even get the grammar part). I cannot even, for the life of me, to get anyone at the school, not the principle, vice principle, not any of the 5 counselors, or the 2 administrators (yes, all from one school, in the Midwest, where the entire student population doesn't even approach the graduating class of an LA school) to return a single phone call.

They spend way too much time teaching the kids how to put condoms on cucumbers and bananas, telling them how much the US is raping from the planet, and to turn off the water faucet while they brush their teeth. Oh, and never forget they are UNDERFUNDED!

So now when you go through a drive through lane and the pimple faced kid working the window cannot figure out how to count change, you know why. Maybe that is why HP, Dell, IBM, and Intel have to go overseas to find talent. Oh, and I think it also sheds some light on how an inexperienced, obviously unqualified person like BS could get elected.

Here's some HØpe and Change for you:

The dead end kids
Young, unemployed and facing tough future

The unemployment rate for young Americans has exploded to 52.2 percent -- a post-World War II high, according to the Labor Dept. -- meaning millions of Americans are staring at the likelihood that their lifetime earning potential will be diminished and, combined with the predicted slow economic recovery, their transition into productive members of society could be put on hold for an extended period of time.
And worse, without a clear economic recovery plan aimed at creating entry-level jobs, the odds of many of these young adults -- aged 16 to 24, excluding students -- getting a job and moving out of their parents' houses are long. Young workers have been among the hardest hit during the current recession -- in which a total of 9.5 million jobs have been lost.

2009-09-27T09:42:00.006-05:00

Something is going to have to be done about Iran, and YESTERDAY:

Iran to test-fire missile that could reach Israel

TEHRAN (AP) - Iran said it successfully test-fired short-range missiles during drills Sunday by the elite Revolutionary Guard, a show of force days after the U.S. and its allies condemned Tehran over a newly revealed underground nuclear facility that was being secretly constructed.
English-language Press TV reported the Fateh-110, Tondar-69 and Zelzal were test fired in a missile defense exercise, but did not give specifics on range or other details. All are short-range, surface-to-surface missiles.
Gen. Hossein Salami, head of the Revolutionary Guard Air Force, told reporters Iran tested a multiple missile launcher for the first time. Press TV showed pictures of at least two missiles being fired simultaneously and said they were from Sunday's drill in a desert in central Iran. In the clip, men could be heard shouting "Allahu Akbar" as the missiles were launched.

Venezuela Says Iran Is Helping It Look for Uranium

If only he would just unclench his fist!

And meanwhile, the 0ne is showing his incompetence at being the Commander in Chief:

US drone crashes into Iraqi party offices: military

Pakistan blasts show Taliban's ability to strike

2009-09-25T07:53:00.001-05:00

Rush was awesome on Jay last night.
Loved watching him run over Algore, then back up and do it again!
That is all, carry on.

2009-09-23T17:45:00.005-05:00

The NEA scandal
The Right's complaints about an Obama administration request for art supporting the president's agenda

'Gay' activist to oversee public classroom 'safety'

Pelosi Seeks to Make Health Reform Bill More Liberal

FBI Terror Probe Expands, Intensifies
Investigation Into Alleged NYC Bomb Plot Includes Nearly All of the Bureau's U.S. Field Offices
Criminal Complaint Suggests Cops May Have Tipped-Off Zazi By Questioning New York Imam, Seizing Car

Police warned of high-profile terror targets

Obama Will Spend More on Welfare in the Next Year Than Bush Spent on Entire Iraq War, Study Reveals

2009-09-17T17:59:00.000-05:00

Stolen from my friend Roger

2009-09-13T10:50:00.007-05:00

I have been on a hiatus for a bit, but that is about to change.

There is too much going on to keep quiet about.

Between the economy, and resulting layoffs (mine included), and forced social medicine, this country, the country I love and have defended, is dying.

Let's get started shall we?

From the WaPo:

Lashing Out at the Capitol

Tens of Thousands Protest Obama Initiatives and Government Spending

By Emma Brown, James Hohmann and Perry Bacon Jr.Washington Post Staff Writers

Sunday, September 13, 2009

Tens of thousands of conservative protesters, many complaining that the nation is racing toward socialism, massed outside the U.S. Capitol on Saturday, angrily denouncing President Obama's health-care plan and other initiatives as threats to the Constitution.
The crowd -- loud, animated and sprawling -- gathered at the West Front of the Capitol after a march along Pennsylvania Avenue NW from Freedom Plaza. Invocations of God and former president Ronald Reagan by an array of speakers drew loud cheers that echoed across the Mall. On a windy, overcast afternoon, hundreds of yellow "Don't Tread on Me" flags flapped in the breeze.
"Hell hath no fury like a taxpayer ignored," declared Andrew Moylan, head of government affairs for the National Taxpayers Union, urging protesters to call their representatives. The demonstrators roared their approval.
"We own the dome!" they chanted, pointing at the Capitol.
The demonstrators are part of a loose-knit movement that is galvanizing anti-Obama sentiment across the country, stoking a populist dimension to the Republican Party, which has struggled to find its voice since the 2008 elections.
With Democrats in control of Congress, battling the president legislatively has been difficult. But after a spring of anti-tax rallies and summer health-care protests proved to be effective, a growing number of GOP leaders are dropping their wariness and seeing the political possibilities of latching onto this freewheeling coalition. Others are cautious about embracing views that can be seen as extremist.
The protests in recent months come as Obama is trying to regain control of the health-care debate and bolster public confidence in his leadership.
Authorities in the District do not give official crowd estimates, but Saturday's throng appeared to number in the many tens of thousands. A sea of people surrounded the Capitol reflecting pool, spilling across Third Street and along the Mall. The sound system did not reach far enough for people at the edges of the rally to hear the speakers onstage.
"You will not spend the money of our children and our grandchildren to feed an overstuffed government," Rep. Tom Price (R-Ga.) said of the Obama administration, drawing raucous applause.
"Our history is decorated by those who endured the burden of defending freedom," Price said. "Now a new generation of patriots has emerged. You are those patriots."
The group's sponsors included FreedomWorks, a Washington-based group headed by former House majority leader Richard Armey (R-Tex.), and the groups Tea Party Patriots and ResistNet. They and others involved in the rally comprise a loose coalition of conservative groups that helped organize the health-care and anti-tax demonstrations in the spring and summer.
"Health care is not listed anywhere in the Constitution," said Brian Burnell, 45, who owns an insurance company on Maryland's Eastern Shore. His placard read, "How Is That Hopey Changey Thing Workin' Out For Ya?"
"You want socialism?" said Susan Clark, a District resident marching with a bullhorn. "Go to Russia!"
The huge turnout indicated the growing frustration with Obama among conservative activists and showed that his nationally televised speech Wednesday did little to move his political opponents on health care.
Although it is unclear whether the demonstrators represent a large segment of voters or even of Republicans, Saturday's march illustrated that activists, some of whom are not enthusiastic about the GOP, have been galvanized.
The White House declined to comment on the demonstration, but Democrats said the rally and other protests in recent months represent a small minority of voters and will not slow Obama's proposals.
"There is a lot of intensity on the far right to defeat the president's agenda, but I am not sure that holding up signs that say we have to bury health reform with Senator Kennedy will go over well with moderates and independent voters," said Doug Thornell, an adviser to Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.).
Saturday's demonstrators spanned the spectrum of conservative anger at Obama, including opponents of his tax, spending and health-care plans and protesters who question his U.S. citizenship and compare his administration to the Nazi regime.
Most signs were handmade: "Socialism is UnAmerican," "King George Didn't Listen Either!" "Terrorists Won't Destroy America, Congress Will!" and "The American Dream R.I.P." Many protesters carried the now-familiar poster of Obama made up to look like the Joker, captioned "Socialism."
"Nobody's standing up for us, so we have to stand up for ourselves," said Phil Chancey, 66, who drove to Washington from Clinton, Tenn.
"We're all endangered!" shouted Dave Rue, 67, a retired Mobil Oil employee who traveled to Washington from New Jersey. "We're endangered because they're pushing socialism on us."
Some came to protest what they see as government interference with gun ownership. Shaun Bryant, 40, a leadership trainer, was among eight people who flew in from Salt Lake City. They fashioned a sign with a drawing of an AR-15 assault rifle and the words, "We came unarmed from Montana and Utah . . . this time!"
Debbie Wilson, 51, of Apollo Beach, Fla., flew to Washington a week ago, driving to Colonial Williamsburg with her husband for sightseeing before the rally.
"We want our country to go back to the roots of doing what our Founding Fathers wanted us to do -- less government in every aspect of my life," she said. "We walked the streets of Williamsburg, and it felt like we were learning how to be a patriot."
Dozens of signs mentioned Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.), who heckled Obama during a Wednesday night speech to Congress. Dee Meredith, 62, of Callao, Va., said she had never heard of Wilson before he shouted at the president, "You lie!" At the rally, Meredith waved a placard: "Thank You Joe Wilson."
"We're the forgotten people," she said, "and he's given us a voice."
When Armey, speaking to the crowd, referred to Obama having pledged to uphold the Constitution, the protesters shouted at the president in absentia: "Liar! Liar!"
Jeff Mapps, 29, a stagehand and labor union member from South Philadelphia, left home about 6 a.m. to attend the protest. He said he had not been involved in previous demonstrations but that he watches Fox News host Glenn Beck "all the time" and wanted to be part of an event that he thinks will be historic. Beck had drummed up support for the march.
Holding a sign that said "Preserve, Protect, Defend" on a Red Line Metro train packed with conservative activists, Mapps fretted over a "blatant disregard for the Constitution."
"We've been watching it for six to eight months," he said. "It was finally an opportunity to get involved. It's been boiling over. . . . It's not just about health care. It's about so much more than that."
Anna Hayes, 58, a nurse from Fairfax County, stood on the Mall in 1981 for Reagan's inauguration. "The same people were celebrating freedom," she said. "The president was fighting for the people then. I remember those years very well and fondly."
Deriding what she called "Obamacare," Hayes said: "This is the first rally I've been to that demonstrates against something, the first in my life. I just couldn't stay home anymore."

2009-05-13T17:00:00.000-05:00

Source

2009-05-08T15:29:00.001-05:00

2009-04-22T12:45:00.004-05:00

Happy Earth Day

2009-04-14T09:03:00.001-05:00

God Bless Texas

WAKE UP CALL: TEXAS GOV. BACK RESOLUTION AFFIRMING SOVEREIGNTY
Tue Apr 14 2009 08:44:54 ET

AUSTIN – Gov. Rick Perry joined state Rep. Brandon Creighton and sponsors of House Concurrent Resolution (HCR) 50 in support of states’ rights under the 10th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

“I believe that our federal government has become oppressive in its size, its intrusion into the lives of our citizens, and its interference with the affairs of our state,” Gov. Perry said. “That is why I am here today to express my unwavering support for efforts all across our country to reaffirm the states’ rights affirmed by the Tenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. I believe that returning to the letter and spirit of the U.S. Constitution and its essential 10th Amendment will free our state from undue regulations, and ultimately strengthen our Union.”

Perry continued: "Millions of Texans are tired of Washington, DC trying to come down here to tell us how to run Texas."

[VIDEO]

A number of recent federal proposals are not within the scope of the federal government’s constitutionally designated powers and impede the states’ right to govern themselves. HCR 50 affirms that Texas claims sovereignty under the 10th Amendment over all powers not otherwise granted to the federal government.

It also designates that all compulsory federal legislation that requires states to comply under threat of civil or criminal penalties, or that requires states to pass legislation or lose federal funding, be prohibited or repealed.

Developing...

2009-04-10T13:53:00.001-05:00

I tell you, Barak, the Priate Ship was this big! Did you know they captured the Captain again? Oh, we are talking about housing right now, I forgot...

2009-04-09T14:37:00.000-05:00

2009-04-08T17:14:00.000-05:00

BEST. PRESIDENT. EVER

2009-03-27T12:15:00.008-05:00

OH MY G0D!

Check this crap out!

Forget that he has only been in office for a little over 60 days now, so most people have not decided if he deserves thanks or not anymore..

There are, however, some good entries in it, like this:

FRI MARCH 27, 08:53 AM

By Dave Oviatt

in Grand RApids

I thank Obama because ... his far left socialist agenda is igniting people to action so that the next president will be a Republican. No more "false HOPE", "loose CHANGE", and bad ideas !!!! America was founded upon freedom, not socialism.

FRI MARCH 27, 07:38 AM

By John Jakley

in Fort Wayne

I thank Obama because ...
I will now have the government decide how much money I can work for, where I can invest my money, what my themostat is set at, and when I shouldn't get health care anymore because it's to costly. I also don't need to know what the consitution means, because the government will do what ever it needs to make things better for the serfs that it's creating. After all, serfs don't need the troubles that freedoms that they can't fully understand.

These people make me feel much, much better. Most of the posts on that site scare the sh*t out of me. I was going to post something until the site asked me to register, and way too much info was required, so I skipped.

So here is my Message:

I thank Obama because ...

I get to be on the opposite side this time, and show you the respect, understanding and patience your followers showed your predecessor. Only you have already earned it. Ours will be thoughtfull and accurate. Not hate filled and irrational.

Hat Tip: Lindasog

2009-03-25T12:36:00.007-05:00

Internet Shenanigans:

Try this:

I have only tried it so far in IE 8, but I have found this very interesting:

Type www.obamasucks.com in the address bar:

And then you get this:

Try this yourself.

At least who ever did this cannot spell Barack!

2009-03-17T12:34:00.003-05:00

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

I am not Irish, but my lovely wife is.

Here are some funnies for today:

LETTER FROM THE BOSS.....

As the CEO of this organization, I have resigned myself to the fact that Barack Obama is our President and that our taxes and government fees will increase in a BIG way. To compensate for these increases, our prices would have to increase by about 10%.

But since we cannot increase our prices right now due to the dismal state of the economy, we will have to lay off six of our employees instead. This has really been bothering me, since I believe we are family here and I didn't know how to choose who would have to go.

So, this is what I did. I walked through our parking lot and found six 'Obama' bumper stickers on our employees' cars and have decided these folks will be the ones to let go.. I can't think of a more fair way to approach this problem. They voted for change, and I gave it to them.

I will see the rest of you at the annual company picnic.

2009-03-09T15:10:00.000-05:00

2009-03-05T10:23:00.005-06:00

This was emailed to me, and I loved it:

DIVORCE AGREEMENT

THIS IS SO WELL PUT I CAN HARDLY BELIEVE IT'S BY A YOUNG PERSON, A STUDENT!!! IF HE EVER RUNS OR ANY OFFICE, I'LL VOTE FOR HIM.

OUTSTANDING.

Dear American liberals, leftists, social progressives, socialists, Marxists and Obama supporters, et al:

We have stuck together since the late 1950s, but the whole of this latest election process has made me realize that I want a divorce. I know we tolerated each other for many years for the sake of future generations, but sadly, this relationship has run its course. Our two ideological sides of America cannot and will not ever agree on what is right so let's just end it on friendly terms. We can smile and chalk it up to irreconcilable differences and go our own way.

Here is a model separation agreement:

Our two groups can equitably divide up the country by landmass each taking a portion.
That will be the difficult part, but I am sure our two sides can come to a friendly agreement. After that, it should be relatively easy! Our respective representatives can effortlessly divide other assets since both sides have such distinct and disparate tastes.

We don't like redistributive taxes, so you can keep them. You are welcome to the liberal judges and the ACLU. Since you hate guns and war, we'll take our firearms, the cops, the NRA and the military. You can keep Oprah, Michael Moore and Rosie O'Donnell (You are, however, responsible for finding a bio-diesel vehicle big enough to move all three of them).

We'll keep the capitalism, greedy corporations, pharmaceutical companies, Wal-Mart and Wall Street. You can have your beloved homeless, homeboys, hippies and illegal aliens.
We'll keep the hot Alaskan hockey moms, greedy CEO's and rednecks. We'll keep the Bibles and give you NBC and Hollywood.

You can make nice with Iran and Palestine, and we'll retain the right to invade and hammer places that threaten us. You can have the peaceniks and war protesters. When our allies or our way of life are under assault, we'll help provide them security.

We'll keep our Judeo-Christian values. You are welcome to Islam, Scientology,
Humanism and Shirley McClain. You can also have the U.N., but we will no longer be paying the bill.

We'll keep the SUVs, pickup trucks and oversized luxury cars. You can take every Subaru station wagon you can find.

You can give everyone healthcare if you can find any practicing doctors. We'll continue to believe healthcare is a luxury and not a right. We'll keep The Battle Hymn of the Republic and the National Anthem. I'm sure you'll be happy to substitute Imagine, I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing, Kum Ba Ya, or We Are the World.

We'll practice trickle-down economics, and you can give trickle-up poverty your best shot.
Since it often so offends you, we'll keep our history, our name and our flag.

Would you agree to this?

If so, please pass it along to other like-minded liberal and conservative patriots and if you do not agree, just hit delete.

In the spirit of friendly parting, I'll bet you ANWAR which one of us will need whose help in 15 years.

Sincerely, John J. Wall
Law Student and an American

P.S.
Also, please take Barbara Streisand & Jane Fonda with you.

2009-03-04T15:53:00.004-06:00

DJIA since Election Day:DJIA since Coronation:

'It's only your life savings'

Rick Moran

Jennifer Rubin writing at Commentary takes the president to task for his cavalier attitude toward the destruction of wealth his policies are causing.

Here's the president telling Americans who have invested in the stock market to suck it up and stayout of his way :

What I’m looking at is not the day-to-day gyrations of the stock market, but the long-term ability for the United States and the entire world economy to regain its footing. And, you know, the stock market is sort of like a tracking poll in politics. You know, it bobs up and down day to day. And if you spend all your time worrying about that, then you’re probably going to get the long-term strategy wrong.

How dishonest is that? Rubin:

To be clear: there is no bobbing here. It is sinking like a stone. And unlike polls the markets are "real" in the sense that they are tied to real money, real earnings, and real economic behavior. His glib waive of the hand - too busy to worry about the market because he's busy remaking society - is the perfect example of precisely what this administration is getting wrong. Unless the administration starts focusing on the wealth destruction underway now, there won't be much of the American economy left to reinvent. Nor will there be many voters left to support a president who's not all that interested in the destruction of their life-savings.

In a related rant, CNBC's Jim Cramer took a strap to the president's backside:

Until the Obama administration starts listening, until they start paying attention to what you're watching, to the stock market, until they realize that their agenda is destroying the life savings of millions of Americans, then all I can give you is caution. ... I just want some sign that Obama realizes the market is totally falling apart. And that his agenda has a big hand in that happening.

I have written before that it is appearing more and more probable that Obama sees economic recovery as a secondary goal, that his real agenda is remaking America into a liberal paradise in the midst of a severe recession - even if those policies exacerbate the downturn.

I would say that ordinarily, this would be a sure sign of megalomania and perhaps even madness. But in Obama's case, we have to start worrying whether there isn't some kind of messianic impulse driving him - and us - off a cliff. His sky high approval ratings, an adoring media, millions of citizens who view him as more than human, - pretty heady stuff for a former community organizer and non-entity state senator.

Source

2009-02-06T12:52:00.001-06:00

OH NO.

No words for this.

Charges Dropped Against USS Cole Bomber

WASHINGTON - The Pentagon’s senior judge overseeing terror trials at Guantanamo Bay dropped charges Thursday against an al-Qaida suspect in the 2000 USS Cole bombing, upholding President Barack Obama’s order to freeze military tribunals there. The charges against suspected al-Qaida bomber Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri marked the last active Guantanamo war crimes case.

The legal move by Susan J. Crawford, the top legal authority for military trials at Guantanamo, brings all cases into compliance with Obama’s Jan. 22 executive order to halt terrorist court proceedings at the U.S. Navy base in Cuba.

Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell said Crawford dismissed the charges against al-Nashiri without prejudice. That means new charges can be brought again later. He will remain in prison for the time being.

“It was her decision, but it reflects the fact that the president has issued an executive order which mandates that the military commissions be halted, pending the outcome of several reviews of our operations down at Guantanamo,” Morrell said late Thursday night.

The ruling also gives the White House time to review the legal cases of all 245 terror suspects held there and decide whether they should be prosecuted in the U.S. or released to other nations.

Obama was expected to meet with families of Cole and 9/11 victims at the White House on Friday afternoon to announce the move.

Seventeen U.S. sailors died on Oct. 12, 2000, when al-Qaida suicide bombers steered an explosives-laden boat into the Cole, a guided-missile destroyer, as it sat in a Yemen port.

The Pentagon last summer charged al-Nashiri, a Saudi Arabian, with “organizing and directing” the bombing and planned to seek the death penalty in the case.

In his Jan. 22 order, Obama promised to shut down the Guantanamo prison within a year. The order also froze all Guantanamo detainee legal cases pending a three-month review as the Obama administration decides where—or whether—to prosecute the suspects who have been held there for years, most without charges.

Two military judges granted Obama’s request for a delay in other cases.

But a third military judge, Army Col. James Pohl, defied Obama’s order by scheduling a Feb. 9 arraignment for al-Nashiri at Guantanamo. That left the decision on whether to continue to Crawford, whose delay on announcing what she would do prompted widespread concern at the Pentagon that she would refuse to follow orders and allow the court process to continue.

Retired Navy Cmdr. Kirk S. Lippold, the commanding officer of the Cole when it was bombed in Yemen in October 2000, said he will be among family members of Cole and 9/11 victims who are meeting with Obama at the White House on Friday afternoon.

Groups representing victims’ families were angered by Obama’s order, charging they had waited too long already to see the alleged attackers brought to court.

“I was certainly disappointed with the decision to delay the military commissions process,” Lippold, now a defense adviser to Military Families United, said in an interview Thursday night. “We have already waited eight years. Justice delayed is justice denied. We must allow the military commission process to go forward.”

Crawford was appointed to her post in 2007 by then-President George W. Bush. She was in the news last month when she said interrogation methods used on one suspect at Guantanamo amounted to torture. The Bush administration had maintained it did not torture.

Last year, al-Nashiri said during a Guantanamo hearing that he confessed to helping plot the Cole bombing only because he was tortured by U.S. interrogators. The CIA has admitted he was among terrorist suspects subjected to waterboarding, which simulates drowning, in 2002 and 2003 while being interrogated in secret CIA prisons. (AP)

2009-02-03T13:38:00.004-06:00

I think I might die laughing:

Obama spokesman defends ethics standards

WASHINGTON (AP) - Despite the tax problems faced by high-level nominees, and the exceptions made to the no-lobbyists pledge, President Barack Obama's spokesman is defending the administration's ethical standards.

Robert Gibbs told reporters Tuesday, "The bar that we set is the highest that any administration in the country has ever set."

During a briefing filled with questions about Tom Daschle's decision to withdraw from consideration to be Health and Human Services secretary, Gibbs pointed to experts who describe the administration's ethics rules as the strongest in history.

He also said those experts recognized that Obama would need to make exceptions to his pledge to run an administration free of former lobbyists.

Obama's choice to become the No. 2 official at the Defense Department recently lobbied for military contractor Raytheon. And his choice as deputy secretary at Health and Human Services, lobbied through most of last year as an anti-tobacco advocate.

2009-02-03T11:11:00.002-06:00

Since the Obamamessiah was anointed the following things have happened, none of which our MSM could be bothered to report on because they were more concerned about the Obamamessiah's opinion on Jessica Simpson.

-North Korea has scrapped all it's agreements with South Korea and has placed itself on a war footing. They have enough weaponized Plutonium for 5-6 warheads and missiles that can deliver those warheads to Seattle and San Francisco.

-The Iranians publicly pimp slap the Obamamessiah and the Corruptocrats for being the wimps they are. They are laughing because they know they have gotten their fondest wish-a weakling in the White House and their Corruptocrat allies in power here. They will have their nukes by the end of the year and they will make their move when ready because there is no one to stop them now.

-Russia is starting to disintegrate-economically, politically and geographically. There are mutinies in the east, a widening rift between Medvedev and Putin and their economy is in chaos.

-Civil unrest is spreading in China. Bankruptcies, unemployment and protests against the government are increasing. There is a mass migration of people back to the countryside from the cities. The government will have to act soon or give up control of the country. We all know which one they will choose.

-Across Europe there are strikes and rioting. Some countries want out of the EU and the Euro. Trade is being blocked, and Russia is using petroleum as a weapon against them. In many countries their Muslim populations are becoming increasingly strident and violent and the native Europeans are getting fed up with them despite being calld the equivalent of "redneck racist morons" by their Marxist elitists in the government and the media.

-The Indians have had just about enough out of Pakistan. They have moved military assets along the border and Pakistan has done likewise. Pakistan is barely functioning as a country at the moment, it has no control of large swaths of the country and that which they do not control the Islamofascist do.

-The Corruptocrats are using the uproar over that flaming fudge bag aka the "stimulus" package to sneak things into law that should make any freedom loving American's blood run cold. Ever hear of H.R.645 aka the `National Emergency Centers Establishment Act'? It is a bill introduced by Alcee Hastings (D-FL) to create no fewer then six detention centers in the US for housing massive amounts of citizens the government wants to "detain" during a "national emergency". One does have to laugh because the Corruptocrats want Halliburton to build these concentration camps for them.

The bill also gives the president the authority to declare an emergency and take over the direction of all federal, state, local, territorial and tribal governments without even consulting Congress. Hope and Change indeed.

Source

Why oh why are these things not on CNN? MSNBC? ABC, CBS or NBC?

Why would they not report on it?

Why not ask the simple "All of this, and the Military Budget is being cut by 10%?

We don't want anyone feeling worried now that the 0ne has assended.....

We are in TROUBLE.

2009-01-27T08:13:00.003-06:00

Last week I wanted to concentrate on looking back, looking on what was possitive about the last 8 years. No, President Bush was not perfect, but a hell of a lot better then the alternatives.

Now, it's time to turn our attention forward.

I stole this from here:

A young student friend e-mailed me on Tuesday night.

"Have locked myself in my room because the place is full of little idiots -- who cannot spell Barack Obama's name and could not name one of his foreign or domestic policies -- running around screaming obscenities about George Bush, conservatives and how Sarah Palin is a bitch. I love democracy!"

Even so, the people spoke. A victory for the hysterical Oprah Winfrey, the mad racist preacher Jeremiah Wright, the mainstream media who abandoned any sense of objectivity long ago, Europeans who despise America largely because they depend on her, comics who claim to be dangerous and fearless but would not dare attack genuinely powerful special interest groups. A victory for Obama-worshippers everywhere.

A victory for the cult of the cult. A man who has done little with his life but has written about his achievements as if he had found the cure for cancer in between winning a marathon and building a nuclear reactor with his teeth. Victory for style over substance, hyperbole over history, rabble-raising over reality.

A victory for Hollywood, the most dysfunctional community in the world. Victory for Streisand, Spielberg, Soros and Sarandon.

Victory for those who prefer welfare to will and interference to independence. For those who settle for group think and herd mentality rather than those who fight for individual initiative and the right to be out of step with meagre political fashion.

Victory for a man who is no friend of freedom. He and his people have already stated that media has to be controlled so as to be balanced, without realizing the extraordinary irony within that statement. Like most liberal zealots, the Obama worshippers constantly speak of Fox and Limbaugh, when the vast bulk of television stations and newspapers are drastically liberal and anti-conservative.

Senior Democrat Chuck Schumer said that just as pornography should be censored, so should talk radio. In other words, one of the few free and open means of popular expression may well be cornered and beaten by bullies who even in triumph cannot tolerate any criticism and opposition.

WEAK TOWARD ENEMIES

A victory for those who believe the state is better qualified to raise children than the family, for those who prefer teachers' unions to teaching and for those who are naively convinced that if the West is sufficiently weak towards its enemies, war and terror will dissolve as quickly as the tears on the face of a leftist celebrity.

A victory for social democracy even after most of Europe has come to the painful conclusion that social democracy leads to mediocrity, failure, unemployment, inflation, higher taxes and economic stagnation. A victory for intrusive lawyers, banal sentimentalists, social extremists and urban snobs.

Also a defeat for one of the weakest presidential candidates in living memory.

Why would anyone vote for a man who seemed incapable of outlining his policies and instead repeatedly emphasized a noble but, if we are candid, largely irrelevant war record?

He was joined by a woman who was defended so vehemently by her supporters when it was cuttingly evident that she is years away from being, and perhaps never will be, a serious candidate for senior national office.

Most of all it was a terrible defeat for democracy and the United States. A politician of nothing defeated a nothing politician and a credulous electorate screamed in adoration. I fear we will all suffer very much indeed.

2009-01-22T08:40:00.004-06:00

Source: The People's Cube

2009-01-21T08:19:00.002-06:00

Thank You, President Bush

Found this on American Thinker:

January 21, 2009

Dalai Lama: Terrorism resistant to non-violence

Ethel C. Fenig
The Dalai Lama, living in exile since the Chinese Communists brutally took over his hereditary kingdom of Tibet, revered for his wisdom and adherence to peace and non violence startlingacknowledged some tough realities.

Speaking at a public lecture in India he told his audience

terrorism cannot be tackled by applying the principle of ahimsa because the minds of terrorists are closed.

(According to Wikipedia ahimsa means "to do no harm (literally: the avoidance of violence - himsa). It is an important tenet of the religions that originated in ancient India (Hinduism, Buddhism and especially Jainism). Ahimsa is a rule of conduct that bars the killing or injuring of living beings." ECF)

"It is difficult to deal with terrorism through non-violence," the Tibetan spiritual leader said delivering the Madhavrao Scindia Memorial Lecture here.

He also termed terrorism as the worst kind of violence which is not carried by a few mad people but by those who are very brilliant and educated.

"They (terrorists) are very brilliant and educated...but a strong ill feeling is bred in them. Their minds are closed," the Dalai Lama said.

How to tackle terrorism? "Prevention." So, does he advocate the let's engage terrorism and terrorists policy of the new US administration by talking to Iran, Hamas, Shining Path or even the Chinese Communists? He didn't exactly say that but he

left the audience stunned when he said "I love President George W Bush." He went on to add how he and the US President instantly struck a chord in their first meeting unlike politicians who take a while to develop close ties.

Hopefully our new president, Barack Hussein Obama (D), will continue these ties with the Dalai Lama and the many world leaders who learned to love America under his predecessor, George W. Bush (R). And hopefully Obama will continue to protect the USA by putting the Dalai Lama's message, learnt from bitter experience, into practice.

hat tip: Steven Plaut

2009-01-20T13:12:00.004-06:00

When I saw the bit about 40 +/- Al Queda Terrorists dying of the plague, I was wondering if it was a botched attempt at messing with Biological Weapons, and it appears I am not the only one...

2009-01-20T08:41:00.002-06:00

OBAMA’S “VICTORY”

A victory for the hysterical Oprah Winfrey, the mad racist preacher Jeremiah Wright, the mainstream media who abandoned any sense of objectivity long ago, Europeans who despise America largely because they depend on her, comics who claim to be dangerous and fearless but would not dare attack genuinely powerful special interest groups. A victory for Obama worshippers everywhere. A victory for the cult of the cult. A man who has done little with his life but has written about his achievements as if he had found the cure for cancer in between winning a marathon and building a nuclear reactor with his teeth. Victory for style over substance, hyperbole over history, rabble-raising over reality.

A victory for Hollywood, the most dysfunctional community in the world. Victory for Streisand, Spielberg, Soros and Sarandon. Victory for those who prefer welfare to will and interference to independence. For those who settle for group think and herd mentality rather than those who fight for individual initiative and the right to be out of step with meager political f ashion.

Victory for a man who is no friend of freedom. He and his people have already stated that media has to be controlled so as to be balanced, without realizing the extraordinary irony within that statement. Like most liberal zealots, the Obama worshippers constantly speak of Fox and Limbaugh, when the vast bulk of television stations and newspapers are drastically liberal and anti-conservative. Senior Democrat Chuck Schumer said that just as pornography should be censored, so should talk radio. In other words, one of the few free and open means of popular exp ression may well be cornered and beaten by bullies who even in triumph cannot tolerate any criticism and opposition.

A victory for those who believe the state is better qualified to raise children than the family, for those who prefer teachers’ unions to teaching and for those who are naively convinced that if the West is sufficiently weak towards its enemies, war and terror will dissolve as quickly as the tears on the face of a leftist celebrity.

A victory for social democracy even after most of Europe has come to the painful conclusion that social democracy leads to &nbs p; mediocrity, failure, unemployment, inflation, higher taxes and economic stagnation. A victory for intrusive lawyers, banal sentimentalists, social extremists and urban snobs.

Congratulations America!
SOURCE

Hat tip: RedState

2009-01-19T11:25:00.004-06:00

Good Bye, President Bush.

Thank you for 8 years of service, and thank you for keeping me and my family safe for these past 7 + years since 9/11.

No matter what crap the media threw at you over the past 8 years, you stuck to your guns in regards to the War On Terror.

No matter what, that makes you only second to Ronald Reagan in my book.

Oh, and thank you for finally doing something about Ramos and Compean's sentances. You were right in making them serve some time for trying to cover up the incident.

2009-01-15T09:03:00.003-06:00

I am keeping this here so there is more then one copy out and about.

Socialism is on it's way folks. UNLESS WE STOP IT!

Source of picture

Gateway Pundit: Now You See Them--Now You Don't... Illinois Governor's Website Deletes Obama-Blago Photo

2008-12-17T11:03:00.000-06:00

Gateway Pundit: <em>Now You See Them--Now You Don't...</em> Illinois Governor's Website Deletes Obama-Blago Photo

2008-12-17T10:56:00.002-06:00

Via Gateway Pundit:

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 16, 2008

Now You See Them--Now You Don't... Illinois Governor's Website Deletes Obama-Blago Photo

The Illinois State Governor's own newsletter the "Governor's Gazette" published on November 11, 2008 pictured Barack Obama holding a private conversation with Governor Rod Blagojevich.
The Governor's Gazette reported:

Governor Blagojevich Congratulates President-Elect Obama and Starts Selection Process For Replacement

After congratulating President-elect Barack Obama on his Nov. 4 victory, Governor Rod Blagojevich now begins the difficult task of finding a replacement for Illinois Senate Seat.

I warned you all to keep a copy of it!

2008-12-11T10:36:00.001-06:00

Keep this:

http://www.illinois.gov/PressReleases/ShowPressRelease.cfm?SubjectID=1&RecNum=7260

I have printed a PDF version of it in case it goes away.

How can the One get away with saying he had no contact with Hot Rod?

Come one people!

2008-12-10T11:37:00.002-06:00

BWAHAHAHAHA

Don't even try to tell me the One did not know anything about it.

Looks like instead of Carter 2, we have Clinton 2.

2008-12-09T10:19:00.002-06:00

I know, I have been absent a while (not like anyone read it anyway) but as we move toward the Obamination, I am going to start at least typing out my thoughts here.

Hang on America, and buckle in. We are in for one hell of a bumpy ride.
But, don't blame me, I did not vote for the man, you did.

2008-12-09T10:17:00.002-06:00

2007-09-10T16:49:00.000-05:00

Things are going to heat up again on my blog, with the '08 elections looming.

WTF happened in '06?

2006-05-04T18:05:00.000-05:00

After yesterday's tantrum, I thought I would post something positive.

Pictures from Iraq.

2006-05-04T18:00:00.000-05:00

2006-05-04T17:38:00.000-05:00

2006-05-03T16:28:00.000-05:00

"Moussaoui Gets Life for Role in Sept. 11"

BULLSHIT!

If anyone deserved death, it is this man.

We are a nation of pussies.

2006-03-31T10:58:00.000-06:00

I stumbled across this at

This was taken by an 18 year old boy out in Colorado. It is amazing.,

Oscars

2006-03-06T21:25:00.000-06:00

First off, this is not about John Stewart. For his part, I think he did just fine.
There were not any surprises as far as Actor’s comments either.
I did get a laugh out of the parody of the moveon.org political ads.

My thought was this, through our media, is how we present America to the world.
We celebrate homosexuality, we call our leaders Bigots and xenophobes. The song we celebrated the most appeared to sympathize for the plight of a Pimp. We chastise Israel for defending herself. We question defending ourselves against a fascist regime.
We truly are showing our ugly side to the world.

WAY TO GO HOLLYWOOD!

Oh, and one last thing. I noticed how they appeared to be whining about the lack of tickets sold to the movies...

You want me to buy a ticket, stop insulting my way of life and my values, and come up with some new material!

Port Part 3

2006-02-23T21:53:00.000-06:00

Port Part 3

Please be patient with me, I am still working on this….

I am just curious about something. Has anyone considered what the consequences of pulling out of this deal with Dubai might be? At the very least, I would think we could say bye-bye to any hope of using their airspace in case we decide to do something about Iran. You could probably forget any cooperation on the GWOT.

Most likely, those would be the smallest consequences. It might get worse, like the UAE actively helping Al-Qaeda…

Look what I just found:

DP WORLD EXECUTIVE NOMINATED FOR PRESITIGOUS US GOVT
POSITION

Dubai, 24 January 2006: - Global ports operator DP World today
welcomed news that one of its senior executives, Dave Sanborn, has been
nominated by US President George W. Bush to serve as Maritime Administrator a
key transportation appointment reporting directly to Norman Mineta the Secretary
of Transportation and Cabinet Member.

The White House has issued a statement from Washington DC
announcing the nomination. The confirmation process will begin in
February.

Mr Sanborn currently holds the position of Director of
Operations for Europe and Latin America for the Dubai-based company.

Further:

For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
January 17, 2006

......
The President intends to nominate David C. Sanborn, of Virginia, to be Administrator of the Maritime Administration of the Department of Transportation. Mr. Sanborn currently serves as Director of Operations for Europe and Latin America at DP World. Prior to this, he served as Senior Vice President for North America Service Delivery at CMA-CGM (America) LLC. Mr. Sanborn also served as Vice President for Network-Operations for American President Lines, Pte. Ltd. Earlier in his career, he served as Director for Operations for Sea-Land Service, Inc. Mr. Sanborn is a retired Lieutenant Junior Grade for the United States Naval Reserve. He received his bachelor's degree from the United States Merchant Marine Academy.

Looks like Mr. Sanborn is qualified, but the timing of his nomination right before DP World is to assume P&Os ports is odd...

Now this is starting to bother me again...

Port Part 2

2006-02-22T07:48:00.000-06:00

Port Part 2

I am ashamed of myself. I should have seen right through Schumer and realized that this was a cheep political shot at the president.

President Bush is being a leader here, and not a politician. Politicians stick their finger in the wind and follow the direction in which it blows. Leaders make rational decisions based on facts. Allowing the UAE to run ports in the US is not as bad of an idea as it sounds. It is politically dangerous, yes, but not a bad decision when you step back and look at it again. We have a chance to form an economic partnership with the UAE that would help persuade them to keep their radicals at bay. And we will have more leverage to punish the UAE if they do not tow the line in that respect. The Coast Guard will still be in charge of Security, and the ports will be filled with other companies as well, who would be more likely to notice when something is off then your average street cop. The current employees of these births in the ports will continue working for the new managers, so there should not be much risk there.

All in all, not a bad idea at all. But it might already be too late.

2006-02-21T09:03:00.000-06:00

Any Port in a storm???

I thought letting the UAE take control of six major ports in the US was a bad idea, and this just proves my point:

Carter backs Bush's stand on seaport-operations deal
Former
President Jimmy Carter downplayed criticism of White House support of an
Arab-owned company's purchase of a major seaport-operations firm.

And to make matters worse, the Dems have realized they now have something real to grab ahold of:

Hillary bids to stop port takeoversBy David Litterick in New York (Filed:
18/02/2006)
Hillary Clinton is to introduce legislation in the US which would
block the take-over of P&O by Dubai Ports World.

What in the hell was the Administration thinking? This really bothers me. It just goes to show that the only thing the Government gets right is the US Millitary.

2006-02-17T22:33:00.000-06:00

"I suspect what they're thinking and not saying is, If Dick Cheney weren't vice president, who'd be a good vice president? They're thinking, At some time down the road we may wind up thinking about a new plan. And one night over drinks at a barbecue in McLean one top guy will turn to another top guy and say, "Under the never permeable and never porous Dome of Silence, tell me . . . wouldn't you like to replace Cheney?""

Shame on you Peggy. And Shame on anyone else thinking this.
This makes me sick. I do not think I will read anything else you have to say.
And if you were thinking of McLame, you really have sunk to new lows.

To quote a response posted on Opinion Journal:

You Surrendered Much
Scott Lane - San Pedro, Calif.

I have read and appreciated so much of what you have written in your career. This column on Dick Cheney will go down as the most foolish, silly and yes cruel things you have ever written. You kicked one of our own, a great one of our own, on nothing, when he was down, in a deeply personal way. And you owe him an apology. I simply couldn't believe what I was reading. You surrendered much. I doubt I'm alone.

You are not, Scott.

2006-02-15T14:47:00.000-06:00

Response to my email.

I had a post I was ready to make about the anger I felt with the media over Cheney, but was stopped cold when I received a reply to an email I sent to the soldier who wrote the article I posted here a couple of days ago:

Sir-

Thank you for your kind thoughts. Unfortunately, I have received an overwhelming volume of mail and have been able to respond to just a few letters individually. My boss actually has work for me to do.

However, I want to let you - and everyone who responded to my article in Sunday's LA Times - know that I truly appreciate you taking the time to read of our experiences and write back to me. I am reading and printing each note, and collecting them for keepsakes. I have been especially touched by the veterans of Viet Nam and World War II who have reached out as fellow warriors to give their support, as well as those from the Muslim faith who have expressed their appreciation. This has been a wonderful experience.

Please keep your faith in the young men and women who serve our country. Their values are of a rare breed in today's day and age.

Thanks again. If you'd like to hear more of my thoughts on the war, I am scheduled to be on the John Ziegler Show on KFI radio, 640 AM, in Los Angeles at 8:00 tonight. Hopefully some of my fellow soldiers will be joining me.

Also, I will be on KLBJ

All the best,
Robert
--
Robert C. J. Parry
Senior Account Manager
The Pollack PR Marketing Group
1901 Avenue of the Stars, Suite #1040
Los Angeles, CA 90067
t:310-556-4443
m:310-651-0231
f: 310-286-2350
rparry@ppmgcorp.com
http://www.ppmgcorp.com
Partner, The WORLDCOM Public Relations Group
http://www.worlcomgroup.com

2006-02-14T22:32:00.000-06:00

Some Dorky Computer Tests

2006-02-13T07:47:00.000-06:00

The war you didn't see
A controversial National Guard unit's heroics got lost in the hype and scandal.

By Robert C.J. Parry, ROBERT C.J. PARRY, a first lieutenant in the California Army National Guard's 1-184 Infantry, is a senior account manager for a Century City public relations firm. Contact him at rparry@ppmgcorp.com.

Reprinted here to help spread good news about the War on Terror.

LAST MONTH I returned from Iraq, swapping my desert camouflage for a suit and tie to resume my desk job at a Century City firm. For the first time in 18 months I was separated from my battalion, the 1st of the 184th Infantry Regiment, which was among the first California Army National Guard units to be sent into combat since the Korean War.

From the first weeks of our mobilization in August 2004, we were in the spotlight. We were the battalion "mired in scandal." We were, according to the disgruntled, poor in training and morale. Once in Iraq, we were the battalion that suffered casualties seemingly faster than anyone could count: 17 killed in action and nearly 100 wounded in 12 months. We were the battalion whose commander, Col. William W. Wood, became the highest-ranking soldier to die in action. Our previous commander was relieved of duty after a scandal involving the abuse of Iraqi prisoners. Even as we rolled out each day to confront terrorists, we were known at home primarily for things that had nothing to do with the job we did or how we did it.

Over the course of 18 months, the 600 soldiers of the 184th experienced almost every high and low a band of brothers could, from great distinction to shocking heartbreak. But what never made it into print were the things that will mark our hearts until well after we become the old-timers down at the VFW.

We served with honor. We served with valor. We earned distinction.

Google us to find the litany of supposed woe. But if you want to know the real story of our battalion, go find Sgt. Thomas Kruger and ask him about April 5, 2005.

On that bright spring morning, with his legs shattered, Kruger dragged himself across 100 feet of debris and shrapnel to reach Cpl. Glenn Watkins, who had been mortally wounded moments earlier by the same ghastly roadside bomb.

You might also ask anyone from our ranks about Staff Sgt. Steve Nunez. Broken and bloodied by an IED, he was ordered home to recuperate after refusing to go voluntarily. He rejoined us to carry the fight forward, refusing the chance to stay home.

There were no front-page headlines for Kruger, Nunez or even Sgt. 1st Class Tom Stone, who covered a wounded subordinate's body with his own to protect that soldier from a secondary attack that could have come at any moment.

Stone, a Los Angeles Police Department officer, and Kruger, a paramedic on movie sets, were awarded Bronze Stars for their valor. Nunez, a Riverside metalworker, received our awe and admiration, and I hope yours too.

Equally deserving of recognition were Sgt. 1st Class Chris Chebatah and 1st Lt. Ky Cheng. One terrible September night, an armored personnel carrier in their patrol was destroyed by a tremendous blast and flipped, pinning a soldier. Even while taking enemy fire and directing the care for casualties around them, they rigged a chain to pull the 10-ton vehicle off him. The effort was successful but ultimately futile.

So far, 14 of our soldiers have been decorated for valor and another 48 have earned the Bronze Star for service. But that cannot be found in print.

Our unit — supposedly just a band of weekend warriors from the National Guard — was selected by the Army's renowned 3rd Infantry Division to take on its primary challenge: taking control of a sector of south Baghdad that was home to leading Baathists and Al Qaeda fanatics. In that capacity, we conducted more than 7,000 combat patrols totaling nearly half a million man-hours. We captured more insurgents in one month than did whole brigades. We stand nominated (with the rest of our brigade) for a Valorous Unit Award.

But instead, people who didn't know the first thing about us trumpeted the misdeeds of a handful of young men who scoffed at the concepts of honor and duty that our commander invoked.

At dawn on the June day that that story broke, we awakened to the deep reverberation of a complex attack — five car bombs and at least three subsequent ambushes designed to hit those who responded — in an adjacent sector. The 3rd Battalion, 7th Infantry Regiment was in a hot fight. Our Alpha Company — a part of our battalion, based in Fullerton — rallied to 3-7's aid. The company fought through ambushes to find, kill and capture terrorists. For a few hours, the men of Killer Company, as we call Alpha, were heroes.

But that night, amid rumor and whisper, the Alpha soldiers were taken off patrol and isolated. Within days we knew the ugly story. Months earlier, it seems, shortly after we arrived in Iraq, a few of Alpha's young NCOs had abused a group of Iraqi detainees.

It was immature, nasty, stupid stuff — using stun guns on the genitals of men allegedly caught trying to attack a power plant. The men they tortured were later released, as are so many of the suspected terrorists caught in country. In the investigation that followed, nine others were accused of lesser misdeeds — taking photographs of themselves with detainees and the like — in which no physical harm came to anyone.

The Army PR machine touted the news, almost proudly, much like "Access Hollywood" touts B-list celebrity gossip: "Baghdad Troops to Face Court-Martial for Detainee Abuse." Before long, word leaked out that they were ours. What was not said was that it was one of the soldiers in our own battalion who had found the video of the abuse and turned it in to our commander.

Lots of folks had lots of theories about why the Army made such a big deal of it. Mine is that the Army wanted to get out in front of "another Abu Ghraib," and a group of "nasty Guard" soldiers made good poster children. It was sound PR, but lousy teamwork.

Whatever the case, in the end, only three went to prison for their role in the abuse, all for short terms. The others received minor administrative punishments, and our commander — a schoolteacher, poet and a man of noble values — was sent elsewhere. The facts did not live up to the hype, but the hype was what we, and you, were left with.

While our Delta Company patrolled a stretch of Baghdad road where five of our soldiers were eventually killed, people who had never set foot in Iraq were quoted about our performance. People who rarely left the safety of an operations base damaged our reputations. We never flinched in a fight, but we were smeared nonetheless.

What none of us could explain was why no reporter actually met a single 184th soldier in Iraq until November. Even that only came after the tragic death of our new commander, Col. Wood, an amazing active-duty officer who held us together and made us strong again. Whether it was some form of politics or simply the realities of journalism in war, I do not know. The hype was all that mattered.

During my tour, I was blessed — or perhaps cursed — with a "utility infielder" role, serving in a variety of positions that gave me a diverse look at the lives of soldiers and Iraqis alike.

I patrolled the streets of Baghdad's elite Karrada neighborhood and its insurgent-rich Doura sector, shaking people's hands and learning their problems. I lived and worked alongside American contractors upgrading a key power plant. I trained Iraqi police, saw their enthusiasm and came to understand their different approach to things. I worked as a junior officer on our battalion staff, witnessing how the decisions governing the street fight were shaped. I was shot at and attacked with IEDs.

I saw the successes. I struggled with the failures. But most important, I saw people who once had nothing now bursting with hope and thanks.

While I was in Iraq, I read Walter Isaacson's remarkable biography, "Benjamin Franklin: An American Life." I was reminded of the passion and determination of our founding fathers, and of the long years they experienced between independence and the founding of the government we enjoy today. Franklin and company recognized the importance of having a fully informed American constituency involved in making the decisions of government.

When it comes to Iraq, in my experience, that constituency is poorly served.

2006-02-13T07:31:00.000-06:00

Vice President Dick Cheney accidentally wounded a companion with shotgun pellets on a weekend quail hunt in Texas, his office said on Sunday.

Cheney's companion, Austin lawyer Harry Whittington, 78, was listed in stable condition after being brought in on Saturday night, said Yvonne Wheeler, a spokeswoman for the Christus Spohn Hospital in Corpus Christi, Texas.

Cheney's office said Whittington had been sprayed by birdshot while hunting at the Armstrong Ranch in south Texas, about 200 miles south of San Antonio.

She said Cheney, an experienced hunter, did not realize Whittington had rejoined the group without announcing himself, which is proper protocol among hunters.

"They had no idea he was there," Armstrong said.

"A bird flew up, the vice president followed it through around to his right and shot, and unfortunately, unbeknownst to anybody, Harry was there and he got peppered pretty good with a spray of 28-gauge pellets," Armstrong said in a telephone interview.

2006-02-09T03:18:00.000-06:00

Religion of Peace:

A bloodied Iraqi Shi'ite devotee brandishes his knife during the Ashura ritual ceremony at the Imam Hussein shrine in Kerbala, 110 km (70 miles) south of Baghdad, February 9, 2006. Hundreds of thousands of Shi'ite pilgrims converged in Kerbala to mourn the death of the Prophet Mohammad's grandson here 1,300 years ago.

And he's smiling about it!