No Flight For You, Achmed

Truly unbelievable!!

Airport body scanners violate Islamic law, Muslims say

"It is a violation of clear Islamic teachings that men or women be seen naked by other men and women," reads the fatwa issued Tuesday. "Islam highly emphasizes haya (modesty) and considers it part of faith. The Quran has commanded the believers, both men and women, to cover their private parts."

The decision could complicate efforts to intensify screening of potential terrorists who are Muslim. After the Christmas Day bombing attempt in Detroit by a Muslim suspect from Nigeria, some have called for the use of body scanners at airports to find explosives and other dangerous materials carried by terrorists. Some airports are now in the process of buying and using the body scanners, which show in graphic detail the outlines of a person's body.

But Muslim groups say the scanners go against their religion. One option offered to passengers who don't want to use the scanners would be a pat down by a security guard. The Muslim groups are urging members to undergo those instead.

The only reason they are installing these body scanners is BECAUSE of the Muslims. If their religion says they can't go through a scanner like the rest of us are forced to do, then the simple solution they don't fly.

Solves two problems at once. They don't have to risk their modesty and I don't have to worry about some towelhead blowing up the plane. Flying is a privilege, not a right, so they can take their fatwa and shove it.

I'm Baaack!!

All is well in my little piece of the world, I just took a break from blogging. The last month has been routine, but interesting.

I can now talk with my son over in Korea over the internet. The time difference is a bitch, but when I work graveyard it's something to do during that 1 to 3 AM lull. If I'm home, and up, we can use the webcams, though the video delay can be a little disconcerting if you pay too close attention.

It's good to be able to see and talk to him again.

My wife came through town a few weeks ago for a couple of days before heading back to Montana. It was good to see her again, but she's better off up there and I ain't going to live anyplace that has temperatures in the single digits. Not to mention there really isn't a thriving oil industry there.

Had to put my poor 19 year old cat "Belly" down. (I didn't name him) Cancer got him. Even though most of the time it was like we were two roosters in the same hen house, I miss the bastard.

Got another dog. A Pit/Lab mix. Sweet as hell, but she's 1 1/2 years old and full of energy. Shannon was loved by the family I got her from, but her training was a bit on the harsh side so she still cowers if I speak loudly to her. She'll fit in as she gets more comfortable. She's smart enough. Ralph, my other dog, was able to teach her the dog door in one day (Thank the gods)

Here is the best pic I've got of Shannon. If I crouch down to try to snap a shot, she's in my lap and all I get is a close-up of a dog nose. Got plenty of those.



Finally, Here's a pic of the mountains over my little valley from my drive home from freezing my butt of at work last night. 35 degrees at 3AM and for a SoCal boy that's more cold than I like.



That's how I like my snow...UP THERE. It's pretty to look at, but getting up and going out to dig my truck out before going to work...I'll pass.

The Rifleman

I finally break down and get a new machine and what do I get hooked on? A black and white TV show from the '50's.



I went to HULU to find a movie to watch but ran into "The Rifleman", a show I loved while I was growing up. Lucas McCain was my hero. In those 30 minute shows I found a man who was fair, honorable, worked hard for what he wanted and above all loved his son.

In all the years I have watched this program, I had never known how Lucas and Mark got to North Fork, now I do.

Did you know Sam Peckinpah wrote and directed the original screenplay and a lot of the first year episode?

And for you rifle purists, I know that the show is set in the early 1880's and the rifle was produced in 1892...I don't care!

There are 50 episodes on Hulu if you'd like to go back down that trail.

New Toy

I've been gone for a while due to getting a new computer. The last one lasted over 9 years, so I was due.

I am now involved in trying to get all the crap transferred from the old machine to the new one plus adding on some new toys.

I should be able to handle phone and video chat over this system, so I can really talk to my boy in Korea for free and if the video works, I can see what he looks like.

When You Think You've Heard It All

From boston.com

But as a progressive, I would sooner lay my child to rest than succumb to the belief that the use of a gun for self-defense is somehow not in itself a gun crime.

DOUG VAN GORDER
Quincy

This idiot is not only a "progressive", he's a teacher! And not only is he a teacher, he's experienced the horror of being a helpless victim.

I AM a math teacher at Brockton High School, the site of a school shooting earlier this month.

I was mugged once. I was scared, and just wanted the situation to be over, but the more I gave into the demands of the mugger, the more he'd demand, until I finally decided that the next step could/would be to get rid of the witness.

That is the one "no holds barred" fight I have ever had in my life...hell, it's the only fight I've ever had, but the one thing I learned from that experience was that the second I fought back, the mugger was the one conceding position.

Current school security procedures lock down school populations in the event of armed assault. Some advocate abandoning this practice as it holds everyone in place, allowing a shooter easily to find victims.

An alternative to lockdown is immediate exodus via announcement. Although this removes potential hostages and makes it nearly impossible for the shooter to acquire preselected targets, it unfairly rewards resourceful children who move to safety off-site more shrewdly and efficiently than others.

Schools should level playing fields, not intrinsically reward those more resourceful. A level barrel is fair to all fish. [emphasis: mine]

If one dies, we all die, that makes life "fair". He recognizes the danger of sitting and hoping the police show up in time, but is willing to sacrifice the many for the few.

This asshole has to be one of those that worked to forbid games like Dodge ball and Musical Chairs because someone loses, either through guile, speed or luck.

Let's go back to the quote I cited at the top:

But as a progressive, I would sooner lay my child to rest than succumb to the belief that the use of a gun for self-defense is somehow not in itself a gun crime.

First off, I going to guess that this asshat has no children of his own. God help you if you did anything to hurt my boy. I don't care if he is 21 years old and bigger, stronger and faster than me, my duty is to protect him and do everything in my power to see that he lives a long life.

That last line is the best:

than succumb to the belief that the use of a gun for self-defense is somehow not in itself a gun crime

Using a weapon to protect the innocent...is a crime itself. (I'll bet a months wages this spineless sheep voted for Obama.) This guy, DOUG VAN GORDER of Brockton High School in Quincy, Mass. is not going to be like Liviu Librescu at Virginia Tech, he's going to be hiding behind your children hoping HE doesn't get shot.

Army Christmas Party

My son posted this on his Facebook page, so I stole it.

This is from his "Office party".

Good Sign or Bad Sign?

With my son being part of the trip wire defense of S. Korea, I try to keep up on what is happening over there. Now, Chris, who is around 100 miles from the DMZ never hears anything about what the North is doing. It seems the only time the camp goes on any type of alert status is when the South Koreans are protesting something (which seems to be a weekly occurrence).

So it piqued my interest when I read this:

N.Korea calls for end to hostile relations with US

SEOUL — North Korea on Friday called for an end to hostile relations with the United States, vowing to work towards a nuclear-free peninsula seven months after its last atomic test angered the world community.

The call was made in a policy-setting New Year joint editorial of the communist country's state newspapers. North Korean people must learn and memorize the editorial, which is seen as ideological guidance for the year ahead.

"The fundamental task for ensuring peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula and in the rest of Asia is to put an end to the hostile relationship between the DPRK (North Korea) and the USA," the editorial said.

"It is the consistent stand of the DPRK to establish a lasting peace system on the Korean Peninsula and make it nuclear-free through dialogue and negotiations," the editorial said, according to Pyongyang's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

On the surface, this looks promising...BUT...I just don't trust them.

Our enemies know all to well that we have a weak administration that is happy to talk and talk, give unilateral concessions and tell us that "progress" is being made. Iran and North Korea have been yanking our chain for years buying time to continue their programs.

The other thing that worries me about this is whether this is a set-up? Life isn't getting better in the North, so why not talk peace and get the ROK to ease up and let us relax, then hit hard and fast.

I've not seen a scenario where the North could win a war, but it would be a bloody mess while it lasted.

On the flip side, it could be real. I would certainly love a very scary situation to go away and allow the families that have been separated for 56 years (my entire life) to be reunified.

That said, what would that mean to the 30,000 U.S. troops stationed there? Would they be pulled and sent other places? It doesn't make me sleep better having Chris in Korea, though I am proud of him. As a Dad, I'd be happier with him at Ft. Rucker in Alabama. It could turn out to be a frying pan/fire thing if he gets moved to the ME. He says he could use a deployment to a hot spot if he decides to stay with the Army and he is Gov't Issue, so where he ends up isn't up to either of us.

It's a new year, so right now I think I'll be a little optimistic and hope that this decade brings a little peace to part of the world.

Happy New Year, Y'all!!!

2010

Damn!!!

I never thought I'd make it to the new century and now we're ten years past it. I've got to thank my son for that, he's the reason I've stuck it out this far. Actually far enough that I now have decided that I want to keep going as long as I can, although with this new Obamacare crap coming down, my waning years may not be so pretty, but I'm going to bitch and moan and tell all the young doctors and nurses that I tried to warn the world that socialized anything doesn't work.

Kicking and screaming, that's how I plan on going out. I'm not afraid of dying, I'll have the rest of eternity to be dead, so I'd prefer to hang around here a bit longer.

ALTHOUGH....

I had one of those songs get in my head for no reason today and if I don't purge it soon, death may not come quickly enough.



Or one of you may track me down and waste me for getting it stuck in your head.

2009: The Year In Review: Betrayal Edition

Below is a pure cut and paste (I even stole the picture)of my friend's Blackiswhite's year end post. I post it here so that I have it preserved for posterity and I may stumble across it years from now.


2009: The Year In Review: Betrayal Edition
December 31, 2009 by Blackiswhite, Imperial Consigliere



Once again, we’re at that time of year when everyone examines the year that was with their clever lists, and wry observations. being neither clever or wry, I’ll simply point out where we weren’t a year ago, before the Dawn of the Age of the HopeyChangeyness (now with Skittles-crapping unicorns.)

A year ago, the government wasn’t the owner of two previously privately held auto companies, the largest insurer in the nation, or a large mortgage bank.

A year ago, our President wasn’t buddy-buddy with Chavez or Castro.

A year ago, we didn’t have a tax-cheat as Treasury Secretary.

A year ago, we didn’t have an Executive Order authorizing the immigration and placement of thousands of Palestinians in the U.S.

A year ago, U.S. taxpayers weren’t funding and facilitating abortions in other countries.

A year ago, five percent fewer federal employees made over $100,000.00 a year. It must be nice to get a raise in the worst recession in my memory…especially when you already have the job security of a federal employee.

A year ago, we had a President who wasn’t on record as thinking that the Constitution is “fundamentally flawed”.

A year ago, we had a President who did not bow deeply to the Saudi King and the Japanese Emperor.

A year ago, we had a President who did not avoid the Senate’s advise and consent role by appointing czars in places where they had never been before.

A year ago, we had a President who did not go out of his way to insult average Americans by casting aspersions on their values and the values of their parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents.

A year ago, we did not have a Supreme Court Justice who completely and utterly disqualified themselves before appointment with repeated statements calling their integrity and impartiality into question.

A year ago, we did not have government officials threatening private investors who were trying to protect their legal rights in bankruptcy.

A year ago, we did not have a presidentially appointed self-admitted Communist in government.

A year ago, a government official would not have dreamt of quoting Mao in public as a favorite philosopher.

A year ago, our elected representatives would not have dared to ask constituents for ID before answering their questions, or used union goons and police to silence and remove constituents from public meetings.

A year ago, the conventional wisdom would have laughed at the notion that we need hundreds of billions of dollars in stimulus spending that stimulates nothing in order to turn the rising tide of unemployment.

A year ago, the government did not deign to set compensation levels for employees of privately held companies.

A year ago, the idea of government health care for all was the punchline of a Hillary Clinton joke.

A year ago, we didn’t have a President who has informed a whole sector of the energy industry that he wants to put them out of business.

A year ago, the EPA was not threatening to regulate carbon dioxide emissions if Congress doesn’t.

A year ago, INTERPOL could not operate on American soil without regard to the American Constitution and American due process.

A year ago, we didn’t have an attorney general who believed it was appropriate or necessary to try foreign terrorists in Article III courts.

A year ago, we had a President and administration that recognized that we were already in a war on terrorism, because the terrorists had already declared war on us.

A year ago, a statement to the nation about a terrorist act committed against Americans by the President was a duty, and not an annoyance.

A year ago, carbon dioxide was good because it helps plants grow, and not a pollutant requiring taxes by Congress that will be paid by energy consumers.

A year ago, in was understood that the government cannot force me to buy a government-approved health care plan with the threat of exorbitant fines and/or jail time.

A year ago, it wasn’t the priority of one political party to funnel hundreds of thousands of dollars to a group of community activists that have engaged in voter fraud and other criminal enterprises…time and again.

A year ago, the government didn’t fire watchdogs who caught influential friends of the government with their sticky fingers in the government till.

A year ago, we had a President and Leader of the Free World who didn’t sit on his hands and “bear witness” to the brutal repression and murder of people resisting a totalitarian regime that is determined to destabilize the region it is in.

A year ago, we had a President who did not support a leader attempting a coup by vilifying the people who lawfully prevented it.

A year ago, we did not face a government that grows fat and belligerent on our tax dollar, while constantly threatening to take more of our money and freedom from us.

A year ago, we didn’t have a President that accused our soldiers of perpetrating war crimes for political gain, or declared police guilty of acting stupidly while admitting in the same breath that he didn’t have all the facts.

A year ago, dissent was the highest form of patriotism; now it’s racist!

MERRY CHRISTMAS

I haven't been posting lately because, even after my insisting I was going to get in the spirit of the season, it still took a couple of days to get out of my normal Grinch mood...I finally did. Just in time for a minor medical problem to crop up, which being a man, I ignored and denied until it became a big minor problem.

I got to visit our excellent local ER (Verdugo Hills Hospital) yesterday morning because I was in intense muscle quaking pain when I stood, sat, walked or lay down, and you should have seen me when I even contemplated transitioning from one phase to the other.

All is okay now, just semi-infrequent minor pains to remind me of what happens with putting off until tomorrow would be best handled today.

As to Christmas, I hope you have all enjoyed a great day with family and friends. I was hoping that Santa would have dropped off a nice shiny new conceal carry piece, but...maybe next year.

In that vein (and the spirit of the season) I'll give you this video (which, of course they won't let me embed):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-TC2xTCb_GU

When Is The War Crimes Trial?

I haven't heard anything about the impending trial at the Hague for Ban Ki-moon, the Secretary General of the Useless Nitwits for waging a war that deliberately targets civilians.

Report: UN-backed Congo troops killing civilians

JOHANNESBURG – A U.N.-backed Congolese military operation to oust rebels from eastern Congo has caused more civilian casualties than damage to rebels, with more than 1,400 people deliberately killed over a nine-month period, human rights groups said Monday.

Well, you know there is always collateral damage, maybe these guys just can't shoot straight or it's hard to tell who the civilians are...Oh wait...

Human Rights Watch said it had documented "vicious and widespread" attacks against civilians by soldiers and rebels between January and September. Soldiers being fed and supplied with ammunition by the United Nations have killed civilians, gang-raped girls and cut the heads off some young men they accuse of being rebels or supporting the enemy, groups said.

"For every rebel combatant disarmed, one civilian has been killed, seven women and girls have been raped, six houses have been burned and destroyed and 900 people have been forced to flee their homes," British-based organization Oxfam said.

I thought the Useless Nitwits were the good guys, the ones we are suppose to turn our sovereignty over to?

"The U.N. peacekeepers are being put in an appalling situation where they are supporting an army that is attacking its own population," it said.

The allegations come the same week the U.N. Security Council is to deliberate on renewing the peacekeepers' mandate.

Kevin Kennedy, spokesman for the U.N. mission in Congo, said the Security Council has repeatedly expressed support for the offensive against the rebels and for the Congolese army despite "all the risks involved and the potential consequences of cooperating with the FARDC (army)."

And yet...there is no condemnation of this august body supporting genocide.

Protecting civilians is the primary purpose of the U.N. peacekeepers, but they have struggled with a contradictory mandate that also requires them to support the Congolese army.

"Struggle" with a contradictory mandate. And what would that be? Look at them disapprovingly then writing a nasty After Action Report?

It shouldn't go on too much longer now:

Congo's President Joseph Kabila has asked the U.N. to draw up a schedule to withdraw its forces, which have been in the country since 1999. The biggest U.N. accomplishment was overseeing Congo's first democratic elections in four decades, held in 2006. Kabila would have the peacekeepers withdraw before new elections scheduled for 2011.

Then the real killing begins.

I"m Going To Enjoy Christmas, Damn It!!!!

A few days ago I dropped in to full Grinch mode for the season...again. I love Christmas..at least I use to, but for the last five or six years, I get so far and the mood falls away. The commercialism, the fights about even recognizing the holiday, the long cold nights all conspire to put me in a bad mood.

I'll still read the news, which is depressing, but try to remember that I have a job, a house, a kid who is doing well and count my blessings instead of what is pissing me off. Congress goes on their vacation soon, so nothing should get passed until next year.

The last couple of years have been particularly bad. No family around to share the season with, and for the first time in five years, I didn't have to work days. This year I have to work night shift, and my friends in Phoenix invited me to share it with them and my Godson, who is coming home from Louisiana, but I can either go out before Christmas and miss him by one day, or I get there a few hours after he flies home.

BUT, I've decided to put all the negatives behind me. When I finish my day shift on Thursday, I'm going to put up my Christmas lights (I may even turn them on) and get a tree, granted, a little tree, my creche, just some things to remind me that this is a special time and I do have a lot of things to be thankful for.

Merry Christmas to one and all!

Now That There Is Just Funny

Got this through an Email and just had to pass it on:



This was this guy's first boat and he was taking it to the lake, but he

wasn't quite sure of the correct procedure for launching a boat off a ramp.

However, he figured it couldn't be that difficult to do, so he stopped by his

Union office for advice, and they just told him...

"Don't let the trailer get too deep in the water when you're launching your boat".

Well later on, he couldn't understand what they meant by that, as he just could

barely get his trailer in the water!

Here's a picture worth a "thousand' words!

Your gonna love this guy!!!

Some people shouldn't be allowed to get married, have children or vote!

Do I Get Credit(s)

Under Cap and Trade Crap and Tax and/or the EPA diktat on reduction of Green house gases along with whatever BS they come up with in Copenhagen, would I get credit for sending my son to a different country and reducing the amount of energy used in the U.S.? Or could I get hit with an tariff from South Korea for exporting a pollutant to their country?

Could the tax credit offset the tariff, or will one be significantly higher than the other and it will cost me anyway?

If CO2 (breathing) is a greenhouse gas, am I going to have to pay a C&T tax/EPA fee on my animals? Food, water and license for them I understand and pay for willingly, but if I have to pay $100/year because they exhale...well, the dog can stay, but the cat goes...the bird...we'll see.

Christmas Comes Early

I'm gonna live forever.

Beer could be the new weapon against cancer

MEN now have another excuse to go down the pub thanks to new research suggesting that a compound in beer may prevent prostate cancer.
Tests showed that the ingredient, xanthohumol, blocked a biological pathway that allows prostate cancer to be fuelled by the male hormone testosterone.

The disease is commonly treated with drugs that act in a similar way.

Xanthohumol is a powerful antioxidant derived from hops. It belongs to a family of chemicals called flavonoids found in fruits and vegetables that are known to have anti-cancer properties.

Previous studies have already suggested that xanthohumol may block the female hormone oestrogen's ability to stimulate breast cancer. Scientists now believe it may have a similar effect in men.

In laboratory tests, the compound blocked the molecular "switch" that allows testosterone to trigger changes in prostate cells that may lead to cancer.

This Is Boid

That is Boid. He's my computer companion. He sit in his cage kinda behind me at my computer desk and talks to me...constantly.

He really isn't "my" bird. My son was working at a pet store a few years ago and even though we had two cats and two dogs, he decided he needed his own pet and brought the bastard home. I was not thrilled.

Like most teenagers, he was never home and we felt sorry for the poor little creature being stuck alone in Chris' room all time, so we hauled him out to the kitchen and stuck him on top of my filing cabinet.

I had never been around birds before and all I knew about them was they crapped a lot and were noisy. Well he does crap a lot, but noisy he ain't. Outside of mild chirping, either at me or his reflection in his mirror, he's pretty sedate.

There is his once a day freak-out. He'll hang upside down from his perch and rapidly "exercise" his wings, then clamber all around his cage screaming, but this last only about 2 minutes and then he just goes back into chirp mode.

He did escape once about 6 months after we got him. Front door open and bird out of his cage, he saw sunlight and headed for it. Gone in 15 seconds. I just wrote him off as crow food.

The next day I was working in my driveway and kept thinking I heard him, so I started calling his name and every time I said it, he'd chirp back, I just couldn't locate where it was coming from. He'd spent the night in our neighbors eucalyptus tree two door down. I got an extension ladder and managed to catch the bastard. I guess once out in the wide open, he decided his cage seemed a lot less confining.

With my boy in the Army for the foreseeable future, I guess the bird is mine. It seems like all my animals somehow just get dumped on me, but I love them all.

Cockatiels live about 25 years, so I don't know who gonna last longer.

I'd bet on Boid.

It's Cold........As Hell!

This SoCal boy just about froze his butt off last night at work. I've said before that having been born and raised here that anything under 65 degrees is heavy jacket weather for me. It got down to 34 last night, so needless to say, my rounds where done at high speed. It was across the yard, check, adjust and scoot back to the office. Luckily nothing went wrong that required hanging around.

There is snow on the mountains over my house which made for a pretty drive home. That is one of the things that I really love about living here. You want snow? From my house you drive up Angeles Crest Hwy and you can visit it within 30 minutes. Decide you've had enough wet and cold...30 minutes and you're home again.

I've actually gone to the snow in the morning and to the beach (about 45 minutes in the other direction) for the afternoon. The water was too freaking cold to go in, but we could lie out on the sand and work on our skin cancer.

I've been home for almost an hour and my toes still hurt.

Next couple of nights are suppose to be the same, then some rain is forecasted to come though, but I don't care about the rain because I'm off.

In Rememberance

So long ago. Oh Lord, may we remember the sacrifices of our Fathers, Grandfathers, and now our Great Grandfathers who stood up to defend this great country and may we prove worthy of that sacrifice.

Amen

Bookmark

Ran across this at Human Events and wanted to have it marked so if/when I cruise by here again I'll run into it.

Want to know what the Founder's thoughts were on the 2nd Amendment, what is a militia, how much they trusted government? Read this:


From the Horses' Mouths: The 'Politically Correct' View of Our Founders
by Bob Heinritz
11/24/2009


A teaser:

"The Constitution shall never be construed to prevent the people of the United States who are peaceable citizens from keeping their own arms."
Samuel Adams, during Massachusetts' U.S. Constitution Ratification Convention (1788).

Is It Still 2009?

Where the hell did I go?

I said I'd be gone for a few days ...18 days ago.

Had a great time in Phoenix. My friend is not a political junkie like me, so we didn't discuss much politics, and the few things I brought up, we agreed on, which made for short conversations on those subjects.

ME: "Congress is screwing this country royal!"

Friend: "Yep."

ME: "Yep. Need another beer?"

When I got home, I still had five days off and I was in a good mood, so I avoided the news and just skimmed blogs for the next week.

Back to work was night shift...long, boring and cold, then 4 days off and the depression of being alone for Thanksgiving set in. My Mom and brother in Oregon, the wife in Montana and my boy in Korea. There was something good to lift my spirit, my neighbor made me a nice pumpkin pie, which I scarfed in one sitting. (Thank you Alexa!!)

Chris did actually call me on Thanksgiving, the first time I've heard his voice since he left, but I was paranoid of how much it cost him to call, so I kind of cut him short. He wants to come home for a friends wedding in May, and even though I'll probably only get to see him a few hours, I want him to have the cash to make the trip.

I'm getting no joy from football (again) this year. My Raiders...suck, ASU...sucks, any team I decided to root for, just to pick a side, they choose that game to play their worst.

This imbecility out of (surprise) Joy Behar,s mouth got me wound up:



While Whoopi was funny, I couldn't believe that none of them (at least in this clip, and NO! I don't watch The View) really didn't understand that this weekend, the "start" of the Christmas shopping insanity, is the point where stores start to make their profit...going from Red ink (loss) to black ink (profit).

The fact that Behar didn't know what it meant and "ASSUMED" it had some deep racial connotation to it just shows this woman knows nothing about bookkeeping or economics.

Damn near 11 months of running a store and you only make profit on that last month of the year. Working around the Christmas holiday and having to open up your business at 4AM to draw in that extra sale to make the rest of the year worth while.

I just wish the damn liberals could grasp the fact that "Black" can mean something other than a racial pejorative. Most of the time "black" is just a color.