I ran into this over the weekend and I think it explains a lot about my state. These are the politically active people?
Now you know how Pelosi, Boxer and Waxman keep getting elected.
Yeas, she does praise Bush for his stance on small businesses, but if she's a Republican then I'm sure the party left me. _______________________________
The Oscar Mayer Wienermobile's recent O'ahu visit did not cut the mustard with the Outdoor Circle.
The nonprofit Outdoor Circle, best known for helping push Hawai'i's strict billboard ban through the 1927 Territorial Legislature, said the Wienermobile violates a recently enacted state law that bars vehicles used primarily to advertise or promote a service or product.
I swear that people like this are just trying to suck all the fun out of life. I can remember when I was a kid counting the days until the Wienermobile was going to show up at our local supermarket. I got to meet "Lil Oscar" (bet he's gone...it's so non-PC to hire midgets now) and I got a Wienerwhistle.
Black and white hound Clyde is totally blind and relies on his partner and fellow collie Bonnie to guide him everywhere.
She stays inches from Clyde's side while guiding him on walks or to food or water, and lets him rest his head on her haunches whenever he becomes disorientated.
I woke up early this morning (3AM) so I could IM with my son in Korea. He did have two E-mails waiting for me when I got up:
I just read that Gates is canceling the F-22 program. Really??? He said that we are just going to use the F-35 and because the 35 is based a lot off of the 22, we don't need to put that much more into the program. And other countries want to buy the 22 but Congress has put it into law and kept it that we can't sell it to other countries. A lot of other countries want to wait out for the 35 now. If we are going to export that and not the F-22... I just don't get it. But whatever.
How Chris ended up in the Army is beyond me. For as long as I can remember, he was always about aircraft. When the F-22 first came out I hated it...it was going to replace my beloved F-15, Chris just couldn't understand my attachment to "archaic" technology.
I was convinced (grudgingly) he was right when we saw the Raptor fly at Edwards Air Force Base at an Air Show with AFJROTC. In 20 years of Air Shows, I'd never seen a jet that maneuvered like that, and coupled with the stealth technology and the "super cruise", I was sold.
We knew that we had maintained air superiority for the next 20+ years. Of course the gov't doesn't see it that way. His second Email had some conflicting news articles:
To me this is the typical short sightedness the gov't usually displays, just like the kerfuffle over body armor at the start of the Iraqi war. The gov't decides we can cut the military budget by getting rid of something "not needed" right now, then screaming to high heavens that they "Shocked!, Shocked!!! I tell you!!!" that the needed equipment isn't there when required.
The Russians have 2 versions of Next Generation jets in production right now, and the WILL sell versions of it to get cash, not to mention the Chinese getting one and reverse designing it.
In about 10 years, our jets are going to be blown out of the sky, and congress and everyone who is saying we can't afford it now is going to be the first screaming about "How come someone didn't see this coming?" and this won't be just about old body armor or Humvees that aren't upgraded, this will mean major battles lost being the guys we're fighting have better planes than we do.
Air superiority is not something we can just ignore for years and then crank out a bunch of planes when we need them. In 10 years when the should have been there...the company that made them, the people that knew how to put them together, and the pilots that know how to fly them are gone.
The F-35 is a fine plane...for what it was designed to do. Land attack missions. which is fine if you're fighting the Taliban, but when we have to face the new Russian designed planes and their knockoffs, we're going to lose a lot of 35's.
I received an Email from Chris a week ago. After all his moaning about being posted to Korea, he's was considering committing himself to staying in Korea for an extra year.
It's not that he's any happier about being there, but if he signs on to stay there he gets a significant pay raise starting the day he signs the contract. He's got things he wants to buy and that cash will come in handy.
He asked me my opinion and I gave him a couple of pluses and minuses that I could see to start with and told him to work it through and figure out if he could be content stuck there...and to keep in mind when it's time to move, they could send him ANYWHERE. Of course being the Army they could send him anywhere at any time anyway.
For me, it would be great! I would love to see part of Asia and another year would help getting some money together to travel there comfortably.
I didn't hear from him for a week.
Last night he called. He still hasn't decided, but is leaning strongly in favor of the extension. His buddy from Ft. Rucker is posted at Camp Humphrey and they are rooming together. Their first order of business, get internet hookup.
After all those weeks of training in AirOps, the job they are looking to slot him into is...Driver for a Staff Sergeant. (G-d I love the military.) I don't know what this duty would entail, but someone has to do it, I guess.
UPDATE: Please read the first comment. My son informs me of my lack of knowledge of how the military operates. (I wondered why a lowly SSgt. would get a personal driver) I figure I'll grasp all the nomenclature and rules of the Army at about the end of his enlistment.
Before I get started some good news. Chris is finally at his base in Korea. He's a little miffed because he's on standby status, which means he isn't doing what he was trained for and he gets to occupy his time mopping a lot of floors. He hated being in Alabama because of the weather, so he goes half way round the planet and it turns out Korea in July is just like Alabama. Temps in the high 80's with 60 to 100% humidity and Thunderstorms every couple of days.
The reason I know this is although he doesn't have a phone he can get on the internet with a Wifi signal so we can IM over AIM. Even though he's 16 hours ahead of me, being I'm up most nights, we can communicate regularly.
I knew you were dying to know what is up with him, so I wanted to get that out of the way. (mheh)
Now, important stuff.
Have you bought any of those florescent light bulbs they are foisting on us? My local DWP sends me one every 6 months to get me going on being green.
I'll admit, they work fine, using less energy and they last longer that incandescent bulbs, we use them at work and even with vibration we've only had one or two out of about 35 go out over the last year and a half. But like all mandated "green" laws there is something they forgot to mention.
The congressional authors of the law understood they were, in essence, phasing out incandescent bulbs.
They did this, they said, to help save the planet from overheating. But the light-bulb left did not weigh -- or care about -- the unintended consequences of their crusade.
One of these consequences is the potential for an environment disaster in your family room.
You see, fluorescent bulbs contain mercury -- a bad, bad pollutant and health hazard that the Environmental Protection Agency has been sounding alarms about for years.
Well, isn't that special.
The first section is titled: "What Never to Do With a Mercury Spill."
It says: "Never use a vacuum cleaner to clean up mercury (but see the 'What to Do if a Fluorescent Light Bulb Breaks' section below for more specific instructions about vacuuming broken fluorescent light bulbs). The vacuum will put mercury into the air and increase exposure."
To vacuum, or not to vacuum? That is the question.
Idiots! Energy has to be produced somewhere to power the damn things. I guess they just thought that electricity is created at that thingy you put the plug in.
For the last few days I've been listening to this story of some black kids getting kicked out of a swimming pool.
I hope the SOB's running the pool are ashamed, embarrassed and even their dogs won't talk to them. If they want to do right, they should let these kids have their swim day for free for the rest of this summer and offer them a 75% discount to come back next year.
But there are some racist things going on out there that aren't getting any national coverage.
Akron police say they aren't ready to call it a hate crime or a gang initiation.
But to Marty Marshall, his wife and two kids, it seems pretty clear.
It came after a family night of celebrating America and freedom with a fireworks show at Firestone Stadium. Marshall, his family and two friends were gathered outside a friend's home in South Akron.
Out of nowhere, the six were attacked by dozens of teenage boys, who shouted ''This is our world'' and ''This is a black world'' as they confronted Marshall and his family.
I don't believe in "Hate Crimes". It a stupid concept. The idea that it can be proven exactly what a persons thoughts were while committing a crime is ludicrous. I've had some things pop out of my mouth that amazed myself when I've been nervous, scared or mad, but if the crime is agaist some minority group, it is always the first thing they say, "We are investigating this as a "hate crime", yet when it's a "minority group" committing the crime and racial things are said...well, "We don't want to jump to conclusions and get anyone upset". Bullshiite!!
They are going to have figure out how to level these laws if they want them to work.
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Obambi has broken another campaign promise. (Bet you're surprised)
Forced abortions. Mass sterilization. A “Planetary Regime” with the power of life and death over American citizens.
The tyrannical fantasies of a madman? Or merely the opinions of the person now in control of science policy in the United States? Or both?
These ideas (among many other equally horrifying recommendations) were put forth by John Holdren, whom Barack Obama has recently appointed Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, Assistant to the President for Science and Technology, and Co-Chair of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology — informally known as the United States’ Science Czar. In a book Holdren co-authored in 1977, the man now firmly in control of science policy in this country wrote that:
• Women could be forced to abort their pregnancies, whether they wanted to or not;
• The population at large could be sterilized by infertility drugs intentionally put into the nation’s drinking water or in food;
• Single mothers and teen mothers should have their babies seized from them against their will and given away to other couples to raise;
• People who “contribute to social deterioration” (i.e. undesirables) “can be required by law to exercise reproductive responsibility” — in other words, be compelled to have abortions or be sterilized.
• A transnational “Planetary Regime” should assume control of the global economy and also dictate the most intimate details of Americans’ lives — using an armed international police force.
Impossible, you say? That must be an exaggeration or a hoax. No one in their right mind would say such things.
Well, I hate to break the news to you, but it is no hoax, no exaggeration. John Holdren really did say those things, and this report contains the proof. Below you will find photographs, scans, and transcriptions of pages in the book Ecoscience, co-authored in 1977 by John Holdren and his close colleagues Paul Ehrlich and Anne Ehrlich. The scans and photos are provided to supply conclusive evidence that the words attributed to Holdren are unaltered and accurately transcribed.
This man is adviser to the pResident on health and science? Things like the "The development of a long-term sterilizing capsule that could be implanted under the skin and removed when pregnancy is desired opens additional possibilities for coercive fertility control. The capsule could be implanted at puberty and might be removable, with official permission, for a limited number of births" was just a fantasy back when he wrote this, now the product exists. Good thing huh girls, otherwise you'd have to report to a gov't sanctioned station and take your pill under supervision every 24 hours.
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Now that I'm in a bad mood, and I hope these thing worried you too, I'll put something that while it's another little degradation that we are forced to deal with, but this guy got his revenge.
Good PR United!!! A few hundred to fix or replace the guitar or 2 million people laughing at you and booking on Delta or American, because you admit you don't care whether possessions entrusted to you get there in one piece or not...if they get there at all.
They've got that fancy plane to jet around in and if they ain't traveling to far they got that whirlybird to like jump them up to New Yawk for a night out. And hell, it's free!
The fashion mags were telling us for the longest time about how stylish Michelle dressed "on a budget" using common designers like J.Crew and The Gap, but now that they're in, they've started to give up the pretense of being just like us.
Earlier this week (while strolling the wooded landscape outside of Moscow), she carried a sexy black clutch, which Italian luxury house VBH boasts is their shiny black alligator manila bag – with a retail sticker price of $5,950.
$6000 for clutch!!! First, it's a clutch, not even a real purse. This is something that can hold a few non-bulky items (like Michelle needs to have a few bucks on hand to tip the doorman or something). You could survive a nuclear strike with the crap my wife could cram into a normal medium sized purse. I'd be willing to bet there isn't even anything in it. Second, what the hell does she need it for? She doesn't have a personal Aide or two that could carry what she requires?
Of course, the explanation given by the White House makes it all better.
The White House says she was carrying the $875 VBH patent leather clutch.
Oh, O.K.! She only spent $900 on something she doesn't really need outside of an accessory.
Back in April she wore a pair of $540 Lanvin sneakers at a Washington food bank.
What is it that someone can design into a pair of sneakers that makes them worth $100, let alone $550? I bet that these "Lanvin" sneakers were made by workers that got a major share of the profit assembling them.
Now that it's long after the election and Obama has won, it's cool for Michelle to spend $5000 for a clutch handbag and $550 on a pair of sneakers...She's the height of fashion!
Unemployment is at 9.5% and expected to climb, taxes are going up on everything, States are bankrupt or right on the edge, but hey, the Obama's care about the people.
Let's not forget how the left treats what they consider unwarranted expenditures on clothing.
In case you haven't heard, Michael Jackson died two weeks days ago.
I was never a hard core MJ fan (I think I have one of his albums, inherited from a friend who died) but I enjoyed his music with the Jackson 5 and in the 80's.
For about two days I put up with the 24 hour coverage of his death. I'll admit I was curious about the cause and what would happen to his children, but once it devolved into just opinions then the opinions of the opinions, I got disgusted with the coverage. If I flipped by a news channel and anything about MJ came on, I moved on immediately.
Hence, I haven't seen much news for the last week and a half. With all the important things going on in the world, that the MSM would drop everything just because some has been celeb of dubious character OD's makes me furious.
It seems like the Centennial was just yesterday. We are going through really tough times today, economically and politically, but I can't beleive that the people of this country will let the sacrifices of all those who fought to get us here will allow us to throw away all the rights handed to us, nor the benefits of those rights.
I speak as someone who didn't enlist because of political reasons, I've covered this before, but now has a son sitting in Korea as a trip wire against the oppression of even the most basic dignities of life.
May your steaks come out grilled to perfection and your beer be cold.
Set your beer down before clicking this link. It starts with the "Star Spangled Banner" so I don't want you spilling anything when you stand proud for the anthem of this country that has given us so much.
Make sure you are displaying the flag today, just make sure it's far enough away when you light the BBQ (don't want to get people confused about your patriotism or that those last 3 beers you had).
I'm going to spend the 4th watching the aerial display of the fireworks show at the the High School just up the street in a lawn chair in my front yard and thinking about my boy and all the other soldiers away from home this day protecting us so that we can sit in our lawn chairs and truly appreciate what this date signifies.
I wasn't going to post this morning...not enough sleep yesterday and a long boring night at work, but I found this over at Hot Air. It appears to be some unknown life form found in a North Carolina sewer.
I can't say I'm surprised. With the interesting cocktail of drugs and ...the normal stuff that pass through a sewer, it only seems natural that some of these things would get together and find a nice moist temperature consistent crevice to hang out in.
