HOME!!!

I just got in. I've been on the road since 12 PM PST. 15 hours of travel time.

The trip was wonderful...stressful at times, but worth the headaches. Right now I am now jet lagged and worn out and surrounded by happy animals.

Back to work tomorrow afternoon (If the company is still there!).

I'll write about my journeys tomorrow (I have pictures, for now the agenda is grab something to eat and sleep.

Travel Stress

I'm sitting at home, I'm packed, showered and ready to go!

The problem is I've still got 3 1/2 hours until the airport shuttle picks me up and I'm a raving maniac!!! I just want to get going. I picked the earliest pick up time they offered so I'll get to the airport way early and get to sit there forever. My fear now is that being I worked graveyard, I'll fall asleep in the terminal and miss my flight.

I most likely won't be by here until Tuesday or Wednesday next week. If I have time, I'll try to check in Sunday or Monday when I visit my friend in Alabama. Like my missing a week is something new. You regular readers will just have to deal with this void in your day.

I still don't know when I'll be where, but once I'm out there, I'll have my own car and I've got a ream of "Mapquests" printed out so I should be able to find my way around.

I know I've said it before, but I can't wait to see Chris! I am dying to see how he's changed since the last time we were together. It only been two months, but it seems like a lifetime to me.

Music Day

I'm just going through getting everything done to leave SoCal for Georgia on Tuesday.

I'm doing laundry and trying to straighten the house up a bit before I go. That's a put on the radio and crank it time. These are just a few songs that went by and I thought I'd pass on to you. I like them, but I may not know what the message is, I just like the music as it goes by.

Sometime Around Midnight - The Airborne Toxic Event



Incubus - Love Hurts



Rise Against - Prayer Of The Refugee



Foo Fighters - The Pretender



No messages here, just music I turn up when it comes on.

4 Work Days To Go

I haven't been around here or any of the other sites I normally visit. I've been tying up all the loose ends I can for the trip to Ft. Benning. It's down to getting my laundry done and final packing.

My major concern the last couple of days was my auto insurance. I'm renting a car out there and needed to be sure I was covered. Something happened about a month ago that got me stuck in a series of cancellations and reinstatement's. It seemed that every third day I'd get a letter telling me to disregard the previous letter. It culminated in getting a cancellation with a check for $272 of unused premium, followed by a letter saying to disregard the cancellation, followed by a bill for $320.

THAT WAS IT!!! No more internet or telephone communications, I needed to talk face to face with someone. Within 10 minutes of sitting down with the very nice lady, it was determined that I owed $240, I should have "Uninsured Motorist" coverage ($21) and if I endorsed the check they had sent me, I would be rebated $11 for overpayment. More coverage and money back...how the hell does that happen?

I now can rest assured that I do not have to pay the $29 per day rental agency insurance...almost 1/4 of my yearly premium to cover 6 days. Can you say usury?

I've got someone to throw food at the animals, new jeans, new tennis shoes, new luggage, cash in my pocket and some money left in the bank.

I wrote Chris a long letter last night, then realized there was no point in mailing it. Chances are I'll get out there before the letter finds him. I won't let all that work go to waste, I'll just hand deliver it.

I Will Work Harder

That is the quote that has stuck with me for over 35 years since I read Animal Farm back in High School.

Back then that was a book on the curriculum. I liked it so much I asked my English teacher for more books on that subject. She pointed me to 1984 and Brave New World. Not only was she a babe, she would point you in a direction you showed interest in.

With Obambi's kinda semi-definition of where he wants the country to go, there has been a lot of talk of socialism. I know I'm not the first to point it out, but I listen to their arguments about how it is for the good of the everyday worker, but I've watched my tax rebate get eaten up by the tax increases.

The gov't allows me to keep $600 of my paycheck this year....then they add $0.10 a gallon tax on gasoline (there's $82), cigs will cost me $550 more a year in added taxes...I don't have to go any farther, I'm already paying more in taxes than I get with the rebate.

I would say my taxes went up.

I just watched both of the movies of Animal Farm. They both leave out something and, of course, leave out or combine things, but between the two of them cover the book adequately.

"Animal Farm" 1954

Animal Farm 1999

Why I'm So Hot To Get This Trip Right

One of my best friends use to plan 5 days of things to do on a three day trip. No matter how many things you go to do, you always felt like the trip missed something because you only had time to do 3 or 4 of the 9 things he had scheduled.

I was always spontaneous and trusted my luck on things working out. They usually did, and still do, but as I've gotten older I don't have the patience to tolerate those little glitches that pop up. The last trip Chris and I took together a couple of years ago is a good example.

Road Trip Report: Tuesday, November 13, 2007

The drive into San Francisco from Portland is the pertinent part:

Bay Area

This will be my last trip there!!! Traffic sucks! We got into the area just after dark, it was foggy and really raining. We could see the freeway well enough, but nothing beyond it so I lost all sense of direction.

After a “brief” meandering tour of the hills of Berkley (I have no idea how we got there), we finally found Oakland. I should mention that I was so disoriented, that I actually stopped and asked for directions at one point, which at least got us headed in the right direction.

Due to a bunch of circumstances, I hadn’t reserved a motel. I paid dearly for this. There really isn’t a hell of a lot of motels in the area, and they’re spread all over the place. We hit six that were booked up, one that had one room at $109.00/night (HA!). We were getting farther and farther away from the stadium and I was just hanging onto my sanity due to fatigue and the stress.

I was really starting to wonder how comfortable the seats in the car were for sleeping when we spotted a Motel 6. Three rooms left and $114 for two nights. SOLD!!!

The place was crazy with Raider fans, but maybe because it was raining, it was quiet and we got a good nights rest.

Due to working with an overly flexible schedule and counting on luck, what was overall a good trip, for about 7 hours (7 PM to 1 AM), I was a raving maniac! Part of the problem was we were in my kid's new car and I didn't want to smoke in it which just added to dealing with the rain, lack of visibility and road fatigue.

I'm just going to reserve a room for two nights around Ft. Benning, if I need a third night, I'll figure that out when I get there. That'll give me a couple of days to deal with the next leg. I really don't want to impose on my friends in Alabama for more than 3 days, but if I need to, I will. I had one of my Frat brothers move in with me for 4 months while he did some underpaid apprentice program, and the guy I'm going to visit actually stayed at our apartment on my wedding night. (He slept on the couch you pervs!)

A bright light when Chris goes to AIT is that he will have internet access and we'll be able to Email each other. I just need to get out there and give him a hug and catch up on his life.

15 days and counting.

The Phone Gods Hate Me

Another Sunday, and another week that I didn't get to talk to Chris.

I don't know what was going on on his side, but I had my phone with me all day. He didn't get his cell phone, but tried to call me three times on a pay phone (I recognized the area code). When I'd answer...it would immediately cut off the call.

I'm really PO'd! It's down to crunch time and I could use some info on when he gets released from Benning and when he has to report to Rucker...how many nights do I have to be where?

I'm trying to get everything for the trip nailed down as much as I can so that we can just relax and enjoy the little time we have without too much stress. I'm flying all the way across the country to spend time with my son, that I haven't seen in over two months, and now I'm getting really stressed.

From his last letter he was in the "elite" platoon, but it sounded like the other platoons were total screw ups and his platoon just didn't screw up as much.

That he didn't get his cell phone today is an indication someone(s) in his platoon screwed up royally. That he was allowed to use the pay phone at the end of the day, says it probably wasn't him.

I've got the flight, I've got the car, I've got new luggage. I'm going to the South regardless of what happen with him. My friends in Alabama may just end up with a guest that will stay with them longer than they were led to believe.

There Are Lies, Then There Are Statistics

Last Tuesday they had the Primaries for the City of Los Angeles. On the Monday preceding, the Mayor (former gang member and 4 time failure at passing the State Bar) Villagiarosa, along with his flunky Chief of Police Bratton, held a press conference to announce that under their leadership that the LAPD had been brought up to just 150 short of the promised 10,000 police officers.

It wasn't until the following Thursday that someone asked who many more cops were on the street?

Turns out that yes, they've got a whole shitload of new cops, but being they've been laying off the civilian workers, the new "cops" are replacing them at the desk jobs with a net gain of ZERO cops on patrol.

G-d Damn lying politicians!! Villagairosa is already called the "11% Mayor" because that is amount of time he devotes to running this disaster of a city and he's got his eyes focused on being Governor in 2011. With the demand on his time to run his campaign, that should reduce his attention to L.A. to 0%.

Headin' South

It was touch and go for a bit, but I've booked my flight to Georgia for the 24th of this month for Chris' graduation from Boot.

I have "AAdvantage" tied to my debit card, so if I select "Credit" instead of "Debit" I get miles on every purchase. It doesn't change the way they rip the money out of my account, but I get "miles". I used some a year ago to fly up to Portland Oregon and I really wasn't impressed with the savings. It may have had something to due with my flights were booked on an affiliated airline (Alaska instead of American Airlines).

This time though, the total cost Bob Hope Airport (Burbank) to Atlanta and back...$31.00!!! $10.00 ticket fee, $20.00 because I had to get something straightened out over the phone instead of the internet and some BS $1.00 fee for who knows what. That's close enough to flying free that I can't bitch.

With this saving, I can afford to rent a car for the week no problem. Not only can I rent a car, but I won't have to go with an econobox for the 500 miles I'll have to cover (Atlanta to Ft. Benning to Ft. Rucker to Tuscaloosa and back to Atlanta). Driving that far on unfamiliar roads in what looks like iffy weather, I'll feel much better in a wide track, heavy sedan rather that an underpowered recycled beer can with skinny tires.

Ft Benning has on base rooms at $37.50/night, but my Army brat foreman pointed out that it's Federal property and "No Smoking In The Rooms!" I'd rather pay an extra $30/night and not have to deal with that.

I asked Chris what he would like to do on his free time and he said "IHOP and Papa Johns Pizza". I'm guessing he's a little tired of Army chow. Even still, he's gone from 142 pounds to 154. When he went in he needed to gain 12 pounds to meet his BMI, so he's cleared that.

From what he tells me, he's going through "Boot Camp Lite". They have made sure he knows which way to point the rifle, he can stand in formation and he can salute. They've done a couple of march and sleep in the field, attack a hill, march back. He's complaining that there are days where they just seem to sit around. His platoon is made up of guys that are going onto technical stuff for AIT, there are no infantry guys with them. When he goes to Rucker for AirOps training, the infantry guys get to enjoy Benning for another 6 weeks.

I had to go back to work today and they tried to depress me with doom and gloom crap going on there, but I'm going to be in a good mood for the next 4 weeks. It's going to be a shock when I get out there, to see my son transformed. He's gone from a slacker to a soldier in just a few months. A few weeks ago he was hot to get rated as a Paratrooper, but now he says that would be nice, but he'd really like to go for Pathfinder (DON'T TELL HIS MOM!!!).

Pure Patriotism

I was thinking about posting on a couple of documentaries I caught over the last couple of nights that I wanted to point out, but I was feeling lazy and thought I could do it tomorrow. Then I got a e-mail from a fellow blogger with a truly beautiful film that I had to post right now.

I'll start with my original videos and save the best for last:

“Speed and Angels” is the real “Top Gun”. It covers the last F-14’s to go through the training, also the only female Tomcat pilot. It covers the training for Navy pilots including Carrier landings. After watching this film, I would love to launch off a flattop, but I would be willing to forgo landing on one, especially at night.


"Fighter Pilot: Operation Red Flag" was an IMAX film, and I don’t care how crappy your monitor is, the photography is phenomenal. It’s got a real good back story and it focuses on my favorite plane (F-15 Eagle, baaybeee!!). The first 30 minutes (of 49) cover dogfights and air command and control… but then it really gets great. They go with a downed pilot exercise that really shows coordination of all the different facets available. They finish with a live bomb exercise that just freaked me out. G-d help anyone that goes against our military is about all I can say.

This last one I just had pop up in my email and I clicked on the attachment..The tears were flowing so bad, that I had to watch it again to pick up the pieces I missed the first time. What a beautiful bird to symbolize such a great nation!

Gemerational Theft Act

A very good article on the folly of the "Generational Theft Act" by Vox Day at WorldNetDaily:

Stimulus spelled out

Amidst the dire predictions of imminent catastrophe if Obama's stimulus package were not passed by the Congress, and equally dismal prophecies of how the stimulus will extend what is looking like a doozy of a depression, there has been a near-complete failure on the media's part to explain the core principles behind the fiscal stimulus to the American people. This is due to the near-complete ignorance of economics on the part of the mainstream media; one can hardly expect them to explain what they do not understand. Some readers may find it useful, then, if I attempt to rectify the situation.

Hey, they just report the news! People certainly don't expect them to do some research and find out if what they are told is true or that their may be people that disagree with what they are being fed.

In 1987, the new Federal Reserve chairman, Alan Greenspan, averted a financial meltdown in the fall when he used a variety of aggressive monetary policies to inject liquidity into the financial system, temporarily driving down the overnight repo rate from 7.5 percent to 5.5 percent in a matter of days. Interest rates, as measured by the effective federal funds rate, were slashed from 8.5 percent in late September to 5.5 percent in mid-December. The success of his actions in stabilizing the financial system gave great credence to the Monetarist school of economics, epitomized by Nobel Prize-winner Milton Friedman, who had long asserted that management of the money supply was the key to preventing the economy from contracting.

Friedman had long blamed the Federal Reserve for failing to respond aggressively enough to the stock market crash of 1929, and in collaboration with his co-author Anna Schwartz, had claimed that a more aggressive lowering of interest rates would have prevented the Great Depression. Greenspan's successful navigation of the 1987 crisis appeared to prove conclusively that the monetarist thesis was correct, and in 2002 led to current Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke making a humorous admission in his speech made in honor of Friedman's 90th birthday.

Let me end my talk by abusing slightly my status as an official representative of the Federal Reserve. I would like to say to Milton and Anna: Regarding the Great Depression. You're right, we did it. We're very sorry. But thanks to you, we won't do it again.

But then something odd happened:

Similar rate-cutting actions were begun in July 1990, February 1995, May 2000 and June 2006 when signs of economic contraction appeared. However, as the cuts came more often and the target rates fell lower, it began to become clear that these liquidity injections were no longer having the desired effect of propping up stock, real estate and commodity prices. Now that interest rates are effectively at zero but the economy is still in the process of shrinking, the failure of the monetarist theory has become obvious, especially given the continued failure of the Japanese economy to respond to extreme interest rate-cutting following its 1989 crash.

It slashing interest rates stopped working, plus we had the example of Japan's economy tanking using this principle, but nobody can put two and two together.

The failure of monetary policy has caused many economists and politicians to return to the Keynesian school, which primarily concerns itself with fiscal policy. Just as the Federal Reserve's control of the price of money – the interest rate – is the primary tool of the monetarists, government spending is the primary tool of the Keynesians, or more properly, Neo-Keynesians, since even the biggest fans of John Maynard Keynes have been forced to acknowledge at least some of the fundamental flaws in his economic theories. The core of the Keynesian theory of economic contraction is a failure of demand to meet supply, or to put it more simply, people are refusing to buy enough stuff to keep the economy growing. This is why Neo-Keynesians like Nobel Prize-winner Paul Krugman worry about "the looming hole in the U.S. economy," by which he means the difference between what could be produced by the economy and what will actually be bought.

So now we go back to the "semi" discredited system that didn't work.

This next quote is long, but explains it with an easy to understand example:

Consider a hypothetical example of an economy in which there are 100 cars. Because a car lasts for 10 years, every year 10 cars wear out and are replaced. But things have been going well and people are getting wealthier, so five of them buy second cars. The three car makers each sell five cars, and there are now 105 cars in the economy. However, in the second year, there is a stock market panic due to the failure of the Madagascar cashew harvest, so the central bank gets nervous and slashes interest rates. Ten cars wear out, and 10 are replaced, but thanks to the low interest rates, the automakers can offer zero percent leases and other creative forms of payment, which encourage 20 people to buy second cars. There are now 125 cars in the economy. Interest rates stay low for the next three years, and people continue to take advantage of the new car-financing deals, until there are 185 cars in an economy that only required 100 five years before.

Then, an Icelandic bank bets heavily on the Norwegian cod harvest and goes under. The global stock markets drop, people feel less wealthy, and car drivers decide to reduce their automotive consumption. Ten cars wear out, as always, but instead of being replaced by new cars, they are replaced by cars that still have seven good years on them sold by two-car owners who decide they really don't need their second car anymore. The car economy shrinks by 10 cars to 175 cars, but even worse, the annual gap between the demand and the supply capacity is 30 cars. So, what is the solution?

The monetarists would recommend cutting interest rates, but since they are already low, that's not a viable option. (And then, there is the fact that because low interest rates caused the problem in the first place, they cannot reasonably be expected to fix it.) The Keynesians would attempt to stimulate the economy by having the government fill in the demand gap by buying 30 cars, but this will only put off the problem for a year since there will be 30 more used cars available to the 10 people who will require replacement vehicles next year. The optimal solution is the Austrian one, which is to leave the economy alone and wait for the extra cars to wear out. This may be frustrating to the would-be hero politician who wishes to solve the problem through decisive legislation, but it is the only solution that will not make things materially worse in the future.

Hey, there are going to be a lot of fancy golf carts on the market next year.

Doing nothing is admittedly difficult in times of crisis. But it is always wise to keep in mind that there is no crisis so severe that government intervention cannot make it worse.

AAAAmen!!!

P.S.: See my new Debt Clock on the sidebar to find out what you owe.

Finally!!!!

I'm not superstitious nor and I a big believer in premonitions...BUT...Chris didn't call yesterday. I carried my damn cell phone with all day and when I went to bed at 5 PM (day shift, up at 3:30 AM), I tried to put my phone so it would wake me (no easy feat, once I'm out, I'm really out)on the off chance he called late.

He didn't, so I figured maybe they got in trouble and were denied phone privileges.

Today when I got to work and being it's one of those "kinda holidays", I closed the gates and decided to leave my phone on the desk. (I had a phone stolen out of the office a couple of years ago, so it usually goes in my locker.) It was one of those feelings of "Well, he works for the gov't, maybe they'll consider it a holiday and he could get his phone".

At 12:42 PST my phone went off, my heart raced a couple of beats, then while reaching for the phone, I'm thinking "It's probably some new bill my wife left me with", I look at the display and it says "CHRIS"!

That was the end of my shift report, I was 2/3's of the way through, but the rest could wait.

I got to talk to him for about an hour. He's doing well, put on 10 lbs., got the hell beat out of him with pugil sticks last Friday and loved it, Tomorrow he goes to the range and tries to qualify as Expert Marksman (two more on target this time and he makes it 36 out of 40, but he's going for 40/40), Friday they get so shoot heavy weapons... .40 machine gun, SAWs, .50 Machine gun and something else I didn't recognize, and he's just short on all the PT stuff they have to pass, but he's still got two weeks to go to get by those.

For a kid whose diet was very "selective", he says he likes the army chow, mostly. There are some things he looks at and won't touch, so he just grabs veggies bread and rice and figures he'll eat more tomorrow when there is something he likes.

God I miss him! Eight months ago, I wanted him to get a job and move out. Now I'm counting the days and pennies so I can fly all the way across country to be able to spend a couple of days with him at his graduation from Boot. Then the Army takes him back for another 6 weeks for training in his specific field. After that he gets 2 weeks off to come home before posting.

Dammit!!!

Out of 23 1/2 hours that Chris could have called, he managed to hit dead center of my 20 minute commute to work. I was at the interchange of two freeways, in the fast lane, with two cop cars traveling along with me. No talking on cell phones while driving and no place to get off.

I carried my phone all day in the hope that he'd get another chance to call, but I guess not. (G-d, I hope he doesn't think I screwed up.)

I'm in a major funk now. I know he's doing well, but I sense an undercurrent of "What the hell did I get myself into?" in his letters. He's all the way across the country, with a bunch of guys he doesn't know. His friends don't know how to write letters. They are so use to cell phones, text and E-mail that to sit down and write a missive is beyond them. Quick bursts of writing on one point, send it off and wait for the instant response, then the next round.

Ah, well. Next Sunday I'm working Days and if he calls about the same time, I'll still be at work.

Yeee-Haw!!!

Chris moved into the next phase of Basic on Friday. That means he should get his cell phone tomorrow and be able to call. It'll be the first time we've been able to talk since he got to Georgia.

I've got my cell phone charging and checked to be sure the bill was paid up so there are no glitches on my end. I try to write him at least every other day, but my life is just so damn exciting! How many times can you tell someone about what the stupid animals did (sleep, eat, poo)? I try not to bitch about work, but it has crept in a couple of times. He's got enough on his shoulders right now.

He just got through the gas chamber and swears that is the major thing that drives him to pass Basic this time. He didn't puke, but said his sinuses where plugged for two days after.

Now that he's in "White Phase" I'm hoping it gets a little easier for a while. I'm not military, but I'd guess this middle section will cover the things that are more specific and technical. Lot's of learning, but Chris is smart and will do fine. My worry is the final phase. I'm guessing again, but I'd bet they put you through the wringer there. You've been taught the basics, shown how everything works, now let's see if you can do it under pressure.

I'm just soooo excited that my boy may call tomorrow, I'm afraid I won't be able to sleep well from worrying about missing his call. He's three hours ahead. What if he get's his phone early and calls at 8 AM my time? I'm on swing shift this week. and 8 AM is like 3 AM to me.

Now my next goal is getting the funds together to go to his graduation. I've already done the hard part and finagled the time off of work, I just have to get the minor things in order, like the flight, car rental, place to stay...how to pay for it.

If It's Friday...

It's raining and this storm pushed some nasty stuff in front of it coming in. It could be a cold that's got me, but it came on in minutes. I had been up for hours, feeling fine, drove to work and about 30 minutes before the rain hit, my sinuses were maxed out.

I'm not posting because the sheer magnitude of ineptness of the new administration just has me reeling. I can't beleive that someone elected President could be so clueless. Obambi can't find a single person for his cabinet, outside of the Republicans he selected, that doesn't have a tax problem.

Our patriotic duty to pay our fair share...yeah, right!

And this "Stimulus Bill"! Obambi thought he could just trust Pelosi to write it without administrative guidelines? 40 years of pent up socialism all rolled up in a bill that is suppose to get the economy under control? Nothing like telling people to work hard so we can tax the hell out you once everything is back to normal. Makes me want to work harder.

Right now I'm just sitting back and smiling at the silence of my lib friends and co-workers who are now realizing what they voted for.

I got a jones on for classical music today and just happened to run across this:

"Guitar: Impossible"

Keep Pressing 1

I ran across this article last night:

Nashville's English-only measure defeated
By Chris Echegaray • THE TENNESSEAN • January 23, 2009

Nashville listened to its leaders — the governor, the mayor, and a vast coalition of churches, businesses and universities — and defeated an English-only measure by nearly 10,000 votes in Thursday's special election.

No one predicted the massive turnout on the special election, one that inspired strong emotion from voters on either side. Ultimately, opponents said, the message that diversity is a good thing came through.

Ahh, yes. That "diversity" thing. The reason people don't bother to learn English while living in an English speaking country. The reason I couldn't communicate with half the people in the neighborhood I worked in, even though they had lived there for 20 years. They didn't need to learn English.

Baron said English-only measures are often veiled attempts against immigrants and non-English speaking groups. The argument over English-only found itself framed around Latinos and illegal immigration, but it also would have affected the thousands of refugees the federal government resettles in Nashville.

Yes, there are some idiots whose whole point is to pick on immigrants, but in my case that is not it. Come here legally, learn to talk to us,and I'll welcome you with open arms.

The problem I have is when I cannot get service or information here in Los Angeles in English.

At my old oil company I drove a small tank truck and needed a commercial drivers license. Having a clean record, I only needed to take the written test every four years, so I decided to swing by the DMV and pick up the commercial handbook and review it. They had it in Spanish and Chinese, no copies in English, so I drove to the next city...Spanish, Korean and Tagalog...no English. I did get a copy in the next city up the road, but now my boss is calling me wondering if I just took the rest of the day off.

There is such an emphasis on bilingual employees now at gov't agencies, that while the civil servant may be able to speak English, you can't understand them and half the time I'm not so sure they really understand what I'm asking.

Just Fun Today

Work is good. I'm on graveyard shift (which I like), and I've just missed the rains that are passing through. Nothing on TV at night so lots of cruising the net and reading between rounds, which are every 20 minutes right now due to trying to sell natural gas and having to manually operate a valve to keep the pressure and flow right. No biggy, it's something to do.

A couple of thing I ran across:

Why engineers have dogs



Just a song that was hanging in my head this morning

Incubus - Love Hurts



Think I'll go buzz the ATM. I'm going to start pulling cash out to shove in an envelope for my trip to Georgia for Chris' graduation from Boot. If I don't start setting the money aside in small chunks now, I'll spend it somewhere else and come March I'll be scrambling.

White Is The New Black

Somehow, I don't think MLK had this in mind.

You don't disqualify someone because the are other than white, you now disqualify them because they are white.



Though the country is deep shit economically, all this taxpayer money being laid out doesn't...shouldn't go to the most qualified workers...it needs to be spent for "high social return".

The official Federal policy now is "It doesn't matter whether you are the most qualified, you just fill the quota of the right number of people of that ethnic slot that needs to be filled.

According to Rangel, the States that have to count on these projects are going to have to abide by the number of minorities and women hired for that project in order to get the money to do the job that needs to be done.

The Feds will have to make sure that the "formulas" are met.

Rangel also pointed out that they don't have to worry about the "Middle Class" as they will be working too hard to pay attention to this boondoggle...until they lose their job due to this reverse discrimination.

A little thing that makes me wonder: Construction worker = Union.

Why would they target one of their base?

Perhaps with the taxes Congress plans to impose, they know these existing middle class workers are going to be a wee bit upset that they are expected to pay more taxes to fund the give-a-ways?

By then, they will be the ones laid off with no job and counting on Gov't largess to get them through. The new guys will just think these taxes (45%...70%) are what we pay to live in this country. (you did know John Lennon moved to the U.S. to avoid the 70% income tax of Great Britain, while telling us what shits we were for having such a capitalistic society?)

Socialism has come to this country. What you earn is not yours. The house you bought can be taken "for the good of the community", the job you've held for the last twenty years may be in jeopardy because your company is a percentile under the minimum of minorities needed to qualify as acceptable.

Fun With Taxes

I had my Geithner moment this year.

My wife did the taxes two years ago, gave me the forms (State and Federal)to sign, and after cringing at the amount due, signed them and I thought that was over.

Last year, with my wife gone, I did the taxes. With only one income, we were getting money back (both State and Federal)for the first time since I can remember. Silly me!!!

Turns out she "neglected" to send in the checks to pay the owed taxes, so I got letters stating not only would they not rebate my overpayment, they were garnishing my wages to collect the past due amounts (plus penalties and interest).

Odd thing though, they garnished the total due (plus penalties and interest).

The State of California, finally realized what they did (overcharge me and forcibly took more money than they were "owed"), so they issued me a credit of $550 on this years taxes for their overcharge (NO interest or penalty to them).

The really fun thing about this is the State of California is broke, so being my financial situation hasn't changed, I should be getting a refund again this year, so I should get another refund of around $500, there is no money in the state treasury to pay me, so they are going to give me an IOU (no penalty or interest).

$1000 owed me by an agency, that refuses to pay me the money they owe me and there ain't squat I can do about it.

That $1000 would pay for my trip to Georgia to see my son's graduation from Boot.

The Feds have done the exact same thing. I just haven't had time to figure out how much they've screwed me for. Rough guess...about $3500.

Phone Call From Boot

He started Thursday, they were suppose to get phone privileges on Sunday, BUT, "someone stole" something so privileges where suspended. Lot's of time standing in formation, after little sleep for 4 days waiting for the thief to fess up to the crime.

Chris sensed that nothing had really happened, it was a test. It was a message that any behavior by one person deemed unacceptable to the Sgt's would be paid for by the whole platoon.

He got his phone back Monday for two hours, but when he tried to call me (4 X's), I was at work, cell phone in my locker, so he'd try my number, call someone else to try to get my work number, then try me again. (I told him to enter my work phone, but...) By the time he finally got me the DI's were yelling at them to turn in their phones.

For some reason about 2 hours later, they were reissued their phones for 2 hours and he called me again.

He's really tired (sleep deprivation), he's pissed at the gung ho assholes, and he's been issued an ancient weapon.

Sleep Deprivation: He remembers my stories from going through "Hell Week" in a Frat (ΘΔΧ), and how they used waking you up constantly with only an hours sleep, kinda screws your reasoning processes. I did it for one week, he has about 4 weeks to look forward to.

gung ho assholes: The guys who are sure the Army is what they are here for...they volunteer for Team Leader duty..."they'll be Sgt. by the end of Boot". The Team Leader's job is to make sure their detail is awake for their 1 hour duty at 0200, but they screw up and get the guys up at midnight. When everyone is up, dressed and ready to report, they realize they don't have to report for 1 1/2 hours, no time to go back to bed, so they're up. What should be a two hour duty is now 4+ hours. We agreed that either the DI will point out the error of his ways, or his "team" will let him know.

issued an ancient weapon: His rifle is old!!! He's already figured out the proper sequence of whacking it on one side during assembly, then whacking it on the other to get the bolt to work properly. He is very happy he spent time learning how to clean my guns.

There is the typical mental BS they put them through, He has to know the SecDef (The Right Honorable Robert Gates) and all the members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He was scared to death that they would change today (the Inauguration of Obambi), but I assured him that with Gates still three, nothing will change for a week or two.

He graduates March 25, I'm trying to find the monies to fly out there to be there, and by G-d, I think I may pull it off. I've got 3 weeks vacation this year and I'd only have to use 3 work days. My Foreman is an Army brat and realizes this is an important day and said he'd do what he can to clear it, even though there is a ban on vacations until June. I have a five day "long change" on the end of his graduation, so as long as I'm in the South, I have a chance to visit a very close friend in Birmingham, Al.