Captain Brodad Unkahubabuddy

Some things never change . . .

2011-04-28T08:35:00.000-07:00

Obama and his family attended this gentleman's church for Easter services. Wake up, America!

From the mouths of babes . . .

2011-03-24T07:30:00.000-07:00

More Idiots

2011-01-21T07:19:00.000-08:00

Sometimes it's best to just let them speak for themselves.

Idiot Update

2011-01-21T07:17:00.001-08:00

Happy New Year!

2010-12-30T07:17:00.000-08:00

These are the fireworks I'll miss in Amsterdam. I'll also miss the fireworks in Minneapolis. Not because I'm sleeping, but because I'll be somewhere enroute to Amsterdam when each of them happen. So for that reason, I just want to wish my vast readership an early Happy and Blessed New Year and Best Wishes for 2011!!!

Passengers Stranded in Airport Terminals for Days!

2010-12-30T06:43:00.000-08:00

How could such a thing happen? Obviously, the weather has something to do with it. It's something that happens this time of year. But another cause that's not being mentioned is the US Government. It's called the Passenger Bill of Rights. Due to the PBOR and irregardless of the weather, airlines are required to limit the amount of time passengers are stuck on a airplane without either taking off or parking at the gate. (There is no time limit for being stuck in the terminal.) These times are monitored by the government and, if not complied with, the airlines are assessed huge fines. So what was the result? With the storm predictions looming and arrival/departure delays sure to happen, the airlines simply pre-cancelled thousands of flights in order to avoid having to pay possible fines (in addition to safety considerations, etc.) And be advised, the airlines warned Congress that a situation just like this would arise if they went through with the PBOR. Of course, Congress knows best.

Let me ask you this. If you had the choice of being stuck at Newark International Airport for days awaiting a flight or being stuck on a airplane for 4 hours awaiting take off, which would YOU take? It's just another example of the Law of Unintended Consequences when it comes to government meddling in private enterprise.

He didn't KNOW?!!!

2010-12-23T07:23:00.000-08:00

James Clapper, the United States National Intelligence Director did not know about one of the largest counter-terrorism busts ever that occurred last week in Great Britain. The White House Intelligence advisor (oxymoron?), James Brennan, had to brief Clapper after being asked about the bust during an interview with Diane Sawyer. This guy is THE NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE ADVISOR!!!! There are only two scenarios I can come up with to explain this: 1. The Obama administration is CLUELESS when it comes to counter-terrorism. 2. The United States is no longer communicating with Great Britain (or fellow administration staffers) on counter-intelligence. Personally, I believe both are true. Obama has a bunch of buffoons advising him on intelligence and the world knows it. That's why the United States National Intelligence Director has to be informed about one of the most significant terrorist busts since 9/11 by a reporter. We will all suffer the consequences of this administration and their 9/10 attitude about the War on Terror. Reprehensible!

A MNF game you might want to watch

2010-12-20T09:20:00.001-08:00

I'm thinking this game between the Minnesota Vikings and Chicago Bears at the University of Minnesota's outdoor TCF stadium may definitely be worth watching. Why? Because the Twin Cities will be under a winter storm warning. What's that mean? It means 4-7 inches of snow during the game. Should be fun to watch. My prediction? Chicago 56, Minnesota 3.

Tragedy in my old neighborhood

2010-12-14T08:48:00.000-08:00

Around 12:30 a.m., Mark Gaasedelen said his neighbor, Duane Delegard, came over to his house, covered in soot and was frantic.
Gaasedelen said Delegard had crawled out of a second-story window to get out of the burning house. He was not able to get to his wife, Anita.

Firefighters searched through the morning and they were able to find her remains in the basement of the house where the fire started.

Assistant Chief Darrell Todd said the home was engulfed when firefighters arrived and it was too hot for firefighters to enter the house.

We used to live 2 houses away. Mark Gaasedelen was our next door neighbor. Duane and Anita were/are in their late 60s or early 70s. If I recall correctly, Anita was a smoker.

A symbol of the Vikings season this year.

2010-12-13T07:19:00.000-08:00

During this snowstorm on Saturday, I was saying to Debbie and Clay I've never seen a snowstorm like this in my 31 years of living in Minnesota. The media was saying afterwards that it was the 5th worst storm in Minnesota history. What they don't highlight is the amount of snow that fell in such a short period of time - 18 inches in 20 hours! That's never happened before - thus the collapse of the dome. I have a feeling we've seen the last game played at the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome. The Vikings have been pushing hard for a new stadium and if they don't get one soon, I think in the near future they'll be called the Los Angeles Vikings. Should be interesting . . .

Uh, how's that LeBron thing working out?

2010-12-05T12:00:00.000-08:00

I don't mean to be poking at any one team or anything, especially when the Timberwolves are my hometown team, but isn't there a whole lot of underachieving going on in south Florida? Just wondering . . .

If only Brad Childers had thought of this.

2010-12-01T13:18:00.000-08:00

New interim Vikings head coach, Leslie Frazier, has discovered the secret to winning football games - let Brett do what he does best (ahem).

How to spoil a a holiday parade

2010-11-30T13:37:00.000-08:00

This was the first float of Minneapolis' Holidazzle Parade. The celebrity was someone from some year of American Idol that I had never heard of before. We had the best seats possible, except for one thing. See if you can tell what an elementary school age girl did as every float went by that was totally obnoxious. Some people's kids . . .

Even Effie the Super Cat wouldn't do this.

2010-11-18T13:34:00.000-08:00

But what's really amazing to me is the casualness the humans have around the alligators, especially when the kids get close to them.

First taste of why we serve.

2010-11-12T14:49:00.000-08:00

Aspiring veteran-to-be, Clay, got his first taste of what it means to serve in the military. Yesterday, his high school had a Veteran's Day ceremony complete with a color guard and speeches by notable military veterans from the area. At the end of the ceremony, students were asked to stand if they had a parent who was a veteran. Clay stood up with a half dozen other students. There was applause and then everyone was asked to stand to recite the Pledge of Allegiance. A student near Clay refused to stand. When Clay asked him why he wasn't standing, the kid said, "It's my right, dude." Rather than reason with him and explain how veterans serve in order for this pothead to have his rights, Clay responded with the Trace Adkins line, "And it's within my rights to kick your ass." Then walked away. (We're still working on the fine nuances of becoming an officer in the US military) I loved it.

I wonder where the kid got the idea of dis'ing the Pledge of Allegiance.

Now what?

2010-11-05T07:48:00.000-07:00

If, starting in January, the US Congress is not doing the following, we should be asking, "Why the hell not?"

FREEZE AND CUT SPENDING: Congress must immediately freeze discretionary budget authority at 2010 levels; and cut at least $170 billion from the federal budget for fiscal year 2012. This is only a first step. In the past four years, Congress has approved more spending than even the bureaucrats can handle. Congress must immediately survey unobligated balances of all appropriations made in the past four years and should reclaim these unspent taxpayer funds and use them to reduce the deficit.

REPEAL OBAMACARE: Congress must immediately pass a bill that repeals Obamacare. Until Congress is able to get the President to sign a law repealing Obamacare, it must withhold funding, block key provisions and override regulations carrying out Obamacare. Only after Obamacare is rejected, can Congress undertake a careful, thoughtful legislative process to make practical adjustments that allow the free market to provide affordable, effective health care insurance choices.

STOP THE OBAMA TAX HIKES: Congress must immediately reject the Obama tax hikes, and make permanent the tax cuts of 2001 and 2003, thereby helping the economy grow and create more jobs.

PROTECT AMERICA: Congress must immediately pass a budget resolution that won’t put our troops at risk or leave Americans vulnerable. It can do this by providing for defense an average of $720 billion per year (to be adjusted for inflation) for each of the next five fiscal years, in addition to the funding needed for ongoing contingency operations. Congress must make the defense budget as efficient as possible and reinvest dollars achieved from reforms in the military to offset the cost of modernizing and developing next-generation equipment.

GET CONTROL OF GOVERNMENT: Congress must immediately reestablish legislative accountability by posting complete legislation, ending earmarks, reviewing all unauthorized programs and respecting constitutional limits on government. Congress must check executive branch overreach with aggressive oversight, roll back recent government interventions, stop unnecessary administrative regulations and sunset new ones, restrict bureaucrats’ rulemaking authority and override expansive executive orders.

Mayhem

2010-11-04T09:49:00.000-07:00

I'm a Democratic U.S. Senator up for reelection in 2012. I've just watched my state legislature go from blue to red, a Republican governor elected in my state, the Congressmen from my state's Democrat delegation and the other liberal Senator from my state lose their jobs, control of the U.S. House of Representatives go from blue to red, and Democratic control of the U.S. Senate effectively neutered. The Republican Congress sends a bill repealing Obamacare forward to the Senate for a vote. If I want to keep my job, how do I vote?

THIS is what I'm talkin' about!!!

2010-10-28T08:44:00.000-07:00

The President of the United States, the Commander in Chief of the most powerful military in the world where those who serve die every day, the Great Uniter, and to some the new messiah has now resorted to consorting with comedians to make his case for the upcoming election. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! There is no dignity, no shame, no embarrassment. It's all about power and the willingness to do ANYTHING to obtain and retain it. What's really bad about this demonstration of idiocy is he's appearing on "The Dunce's Show" to appeal to YOUNG people. Why? Because he thinks young people are dunces and the only way to reach them is by demonstrating his own idiocy. Young or old, be embarrassed by our leadership and get out and vote. End the lunacy!
. . . I'm going to SO enjoy the Congressional investigations to come.

What if . . .

2010-10-22T08:01:00.001-07:00

someone changed their name to an Islamic name as a joke? What would happen to that person today? Decapitation? Assassination?
Stoning? What if this person changed their name to a Jewish name as a joke? Funny? Despicable? Politically incorrect? Well, that's exactly what Caryn Johnson, an up and coming comedienne, did - changed her name to Whoopi Goldberg because she thought it would be funny. Ms. Johnson then has the gall to storm off a set because O'Reilly said "Muslims" instead of "muslim extremists". By the way, she got the name "Whoopi" from her on set nickname "whoopee cushion". Apparently she had a problem with flatulence, not to mention heroin, back in the "good 'ole days". How quickly they forget . . .

I gave this guy a ride home Sunday night.

2010-10-19T10:41:00.000-07:00

2009 Cy Young winner, Tim Lincecum

Yep, I did - in an Airbus 330. After their 2 game series ended Sunday night in Philadelphia with a 1-1 split, I flew the San Francisco Giants home on a special charter, arriving at 4:20am Monday morning. The Phillies followed us in a Delta 747-400. The Phillies' aircraft received priority handling from Air Traffic Control in the Philadelphia area. We received the good treatment in San Francisco. It was pretty cool - except for being an all nighter. When I met the Giants' manager, I asked him "How's it going?" He said, "More importantly, how're YOU doin'?" I said, "Great!". He said, "Then so am I."

Listen to me, 'cause you'll learn.

2010-10-14T12:23:00.001-07:00

What he should have said is, "Ladies, ladies, if you'll stop your incessant shrieking for a second and let me ask a question. . . How would Americans have reacted in 1950 if the Japanese had wanted to construct a Shinto shrine at Pearl Harbor?"

Where will country be 50 years from now?

2010-10-14T08:58:00.001-07:00

Government support for dependent persons has grown from $7,293 per person in 1962, to $31,950 per person today (adjusted for inflation).

132.5 million Americans either pay no income tax or live in a household that pays no income tax. This is up from just 34.8 million in 1984.

Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid eat up 41% of all non-interest federal program spending. Unchecked, this will grow to 62% over the next decade.

Say again?

2010-10-07T09:24:00.000-07:00

From the Heritage Foundation:

3M announced this week it is getting out of the business of insuring its retirees. Within a couple of years, all of those former employees will be pushed into Medicare or given a payment towards the cost of insurance obtained from the new exchanges established under Obamacare. There is no guarantee that their coverage will be as good as what they have now, and of course no guarantee that they will have the same doctor.

This follows the announcement from The Principal Financial Group that it is exiting the health insurance business, waiving goodbye to its 840,000 covered insureds. Those insureds will not by definition have the same insurance next year, and the impact on their doctor choice is yet to be seen.

Harvard Pilgrim, an uinsurer doing business in New England, told 22,000 seniors last week that they cannot have their old Medicare Advantage plans back as the company is out of that business next year.

And McDonald's is debating whether to continue its "mini-med" policies for its hourly workers.

Busted!!

2010-09-28T08:26:00.000-07:00

Unbelievable! That was my first thought. My second thought was; sure, it's believable. Why should anything surprise me anymore? Bailed out bankers have a three martini lunch. Pilots show up for work drunk. Why not auto workers? Or doctors? Or priests? Or Congressmen? Or Vice Presidents of the United States? Or even Presidents of the United States (ref. admitted cocaine habit)? Nobody's responsible for their actions anymore. These guys will get fired, but I'll bet they'll be back at work within the year.

Some other thoughts on the subject:

Would you see those shenanigans going on at the Subaru, Toyota, or Honda plants? Maybe, but I doubt it.

I loved seeing the one Chrysler worker driving away in his FORD Mustang and another hopping into his CHEVROLET van for the getaway.

I owned a Jeep Cherokee Sport for 10 years. It ran great. I replaced the tires and a water pump. That was it. However, when I ran the AC on RECIRC mode, I did notice that the traffic didn't bother me as much. Far out . . .

Headline - THE OBAMAS GO TO CHURCH!

2010-09-22T08:12:00.000-07:00

President Obama and his family made headlines recently - by going to church! Just the fact that the Obamas went to church is newsworthy says a great deal about our Commander in Chief and his values. Spokespersons for the Obamas say the reason they don't go to church is because it creates a circus atmosphere wherever they decide to "worship". If they were that concerned about not creating circus atmospheres maybe Obama would stop disrupting airspace and airports on his "campaign" tour this election season or maybe they should refrain from taking vacations at resorts for the rich and famous. In fact, now that I think about it, maybe it would be better if he just stays in the White House and practice his golf swing. The country would probably be better off.

The Obamas demonstrate the very attitudes and values that have brought this country down. Secular, self-centered, and directionless, this President, his family, and his administration will all suffer from his narcissism. Barack Obama needs to worship something other than the bathroom mirror if, for no other reason, to provide a positive example for his daughters.

The 'Ole Double Standard

2010-09-20T06:46:00.000-07:00

Let's see, Obama abused cocaine in his past, Barney Frank is gay, the Secretary of the Treasury is a tax cheat, Al Franken is an X-rated comedian, the Chairman of the House and Ways Committee is a tax cheat, a former President of the United States is a perjurer and these left wing hypocrites are all up in the air about Christine O'Donnell's dabbling in witchcraft with her high school girl friends?! Get a life!

I LOVE this commercial!

2010-09-14T14:02:00.000-07:00

I don't know. There seems to be a liberal/conservative element to this commercial that cracks me up. Wonder who's the liberal and who's the conservative? Y'JACK WAGON!!!

I was raised a Muslim, now I'm a Christian. Uh, oh!

2010-09-11T07:39:00.000-07:00

From Mike Adams:

. . . When the Ground Zero mosque controversy broke out, President Obama had this to say about religious freedom:

“As a citizen, and as President, I believe that Muslims have the same right to practice their religion as everyone else in this country. And that includes the right to build a place of worship and a community center on private property in Lower Manhattan, in accordance with local laws and ordinances. This is America. And our commitment to religious freedom must be unshakable. The principle that people of all faiths are welcome in this country and that they will not be treated differently by their government is essential to who we are.”

A few weeks later, when the Koran-burning controversy broke out, President Obama had this to say about religious freedom:

"If he's listening, I hope he understands that what he’s proposing to do is completely contrary to our values as Americans. That this country has been built on the notion of freedom and religious tolerance.”

What the President should have said was that Muslims a) Have a legal right to engage in offensive religious expression by building a mosque near Ground Zero but that b) It would be a very bad idea to do so because it would make Muslims look like uncouth barbarians.

The President could have then maintained consistency by saying that Christians a) Have a legal right to engage in offensive religious expression by burning the Koran but that b) It would be a very bad idea to do so because it would make Christians look like uncouth barbarians.

Instead, Obama took the position that the Mosque building is a form of free religious expression while the Koran burning is an attack on free religious expression. Is there any explanation for holding these two positions simultaneously? Sure there is.

The common thread between Obama’s two positions is favoritism of Islam. Barack Obama was educated in a Koranic school as a child in Indonesia. He subsequently claimed to have rejected Islam in favor of Christianity in what some consider to have been an insincere political move. That may sound harsh but consider this alternative: If Obama actually did convert to Christianity, the document he defends, The Koran, would call for his execution.

Once again, she has a point.

2010-09-09T07:33:00.000-07:00

Concerning General Petraeus' comments about the pastor of a 50 member church plans to burn the Quran:

. . . If the general's main objective is to hamper jihadist recruiting, may I respectfully suggest unconditional surrender? Because on his theory, you know what would really kill the terrorists' recruiting ability? If we adopted Sharia law!

But wait -- weren't we assured by Fire Island's head of national security, Andrew Sullivan, that if America elected a "brown-skinned man whose father was an African, who grew up in Indonesia and Hawaii, who attended a majority-Muslim school as a boy," the terrorists would look like a bunch of lunkheads and be unable to recruit?

It didn't work out that way. There have been more terrorist attacks on U.S. soil by these allegedly calmed Muslims in Obama's first 18 months in office than in the six years under Bush after he invaded Iraq.

Also, as I recall, there was no Guantanamo, no Afghanistan war and no Iraq war on Sept. 10, 2001. And yet, somehow, Osama bin Ladin had no trouble recruiting back then. Can we retire the "it will help them recruit" argument yet?

The reason not to burn Qurans is that it's unkind -- not to jihadists, but to Muslims who mean us no harm. The same goes for building a mosque at ground zero -- in both cases, it's not a question of anyone's "rights," it's just a nasty thing to do. - Ann Coulter

Those wacky liberals!

2010-08-27T10:52:00.001-07:00

Death Threats Force FreedomWorks to Move
Thursday, 26 Aug 2010 03:45 PM Article Font Size
By: David A. Patten

The grass-roots conservative FreedomWorks organization has received so many death threats in the run-up to the midterm elections that the organization is moving its headquarters.

"Yes, it's constant, and we are going to have to move up to Capitol Hill," FreedomWorks spokesman Adam Brandon tells Newsmax.

The threats are coming in via phone and e-mail, and have escalated to the point that the organization has decided it must move into a high-security building near the Capitol building.

Many of the threats are said to involve high-profile FreedomWorks Chairman and former Rep. Dick Armey, who has become a de facto spokesman for the tea party movement.

Sources tell Newsmax some threats are veiled, while others are explicit. Many are profanity-laced telephone calls, and some imply the use of weapons

"It's not like we think there's an imminent threat coming tomorrow," Brandon tells Newsmax. "It's that it just doesn't stop, and we're concerned that somebody someday is going to have a screw loose."

FreedomWorks officials expect the intensity of the threats to increase as the November elections draw near. But the organization, which has played a central role in nurturing the various tea party organizations, is putting off its move until after the elections to avoid any disruption of its activities.

In addition to moving to a more secure building, Brandon says the organization also may hire additional security guards.

Paul Bedard of U.S. News & World Report's Washington Whispers blog reports some calls the group has received even target conservative radio hosts.

One recorded message stated "we are going to destroy and obliterate Rush [Limbaugh] and Sean Hannity," said another. "Those two guys are dead."

Brandon comments: "We've all kind of just gotten used to it to an extent. You just let it go to voicemail and then you move on."

Obama's Christianity

2010-08-27T07:18:00.000-07:00

From President Obama's Cairo speech, June 4, 2009:

. . . So I have known Islam on three continents before coming to the region where it was first revealed. That experience guides my conviction that partnership between America and Islam must be based on what Islam is, not what it isn't. And I consider it part of my responsibility as President of the United States to fight against negative stereotypes of Islam wherever they appear. (Applause.)

David Limbaugh's viewpoint:

. . . he said in his Cairo speech to the Muslim world that Islam is a revealed religion. I'm amazed this didn't get more attention because it is extremely anomalous for a believing Christian to refer to Islam as a revealed religion. The word "revealed" had to have been carefully chosen and was absolutely unnecessary to convey his overtures to the Muslim world. One needn't affirm another person's religion to extend him a hand of friendship and peace.

Words have meaning, and if Obama believes Islam was revealed, then he most certainly believes it was revealed by God. If it was revealed by God more than 600 years after Christ was on earth and contains beliefs wholly inconsistent with doctrinal Christianity -- such as that Christ was not God, but a mere prophet -- then, in that essential particular, it cannot possibly be reconciled with Christianity. If Obama truly believes Islam was revealed by God, I can't fathom how he could be a believing Christian. I don't know that Obama is not a Christian, but I am dubious.

In the same column Limbaugh talks about Obama's self-idolatry. And we all know how well that goes over with God. Just some thoughts . . .

Behind closed doors

2010-08-25T07:02:00.000-07:00

A Democrat Senator faces the truth.

2010-08-25T06:50:00.000-07:00

You go, girl!

How did we get to this point?

2010-08-19T08:56:00.000-07:00

This video scares me. President Reagan seems almost prophetic here. What really frightens me is comparing the dignity of Reagan to the arrogance of Obama. How did we get to this point in just 14 short years?

There's a reason his middle name is "Hussein".

2010-08-13T19:28:00.000-07:00

Obama's comments on the radical Islamic imam's plans to build a mosque near Ground Zero:

" . . . As a citizen, and as President, I believe that Muslims have the same right to practice their religion as everyone else in this country. And that includes the right to build a place of worship and a community center on private property in Lower Manhattan, in accordance with local laws and ordinances. This is America. And our commitment to religious freedom must be unshakeable. The principle that people of all faiths are welcome in this country and that they will not be treated differently by their government is essential to who we are. The writ of the Founders must endure. . ."

And we have a right to Common Sense . . .

How the Obama Family manages money

2010-08-06T10:04:00.001-07:00

I can't help but wonder what Michelle Obama's comment was when some White House staffer afflicted with common sense said, "Uh, what do you think the American people struggling to make ends meet would think of this trip?"

It's not Obama's fault. Or is it?

2010-07-28T08:23:00.000-07:00

From the Heritage Foundation:

What exactly does the administration have to be held accountable for? An environmental disaster made worse by federal incompetence. An unnecessary drilling moratorium that has pulled the plug on a Gulf economy already on life support. A claims process that was negotiated in secret, leaving few answers to why claims aren’t being processed and transparency is lost. A slow response that wasted clean weather days as hurricane season fast approaches, and a decision-making structure led by politics rather than duty.

Environmentally, the President and his eco-left echo chamber consciously chose to ignore the damage caused by the oil in favor of focusing on future tax increases that would expand government largesse. The President’s initial push for cap-and-trade taxes as a response to an oil spill was so disconnected and oblivious that it was quickly brushed off by the Democrat-controlled Senate. Even so, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said yesterday cap-and-trade taxes were still possible this year if any energy legislation passes the Senate and the bill goes to conference.

Details of the Reid-Boxer bill the Senate will market as a response to the oil spill released last night confirm that increased taxes are the Majority Leader's first priority regardless, with a "drastic increase" in the price of oil per barrel that will be paid at your local gas pump, breaking the President's promise that taxpayers would not foot the bill for the oil spill. Senator James Inhofe (R-OK) also said the bill would create a permanent "jobs moratorium" in the Gulf.

And while focus in Washington has remained on legislative matters, the President’s administration failed to issue emergency permits to protect Louisiana’s fragile coastline. Paid-for barriers were delivered, only to sit on the sidelines, as federal bureaucrats spent months debating three-year old emergency operations plans, only to decide not to implement protective measures.

Efforts were stopped to divert oil into more easily skimmed areas. The problem of skimming the oil was made even more increasingly difficult by the questionable dispersants, authorized by the EPA, which either drove the oil under water or diluted it into impossible-to-clean droplets. And even if the oil could’ve been easily skimmed, the skimmers simply weren’t deployed, whether by ignorance of the Jones Act or an unbelievable rigidity to emergency placement. Skimmers sat in ports across America waiting for another disaster while this one went ignored.

The drilling moratorium takes what is a terrible situation for Gulf residents and turns it into a long-term economic catastrophe. President Obama is not listening to any oil and gas experts as he implements a moratorium that could affect our energy production for a decade. Two federal courts have blocked the moratorium, yet the President ignores the rule of law and proceeds with a de facto moratorium regardless. Ports are cutting rental rates, jobs are being lost, rigs are leaving the Gulf in droves and confidence in American energy contracts is being shattered. Meanwhile, this doesn't affect rising demand, meaning an increasing dependence on foreign oil.

Napolitano is on top of things.

2010-07-19T14:00:00.000-07:00

Uh, isn't Haley Barbour the governor of MISSISSIPPI?!!

Large Manatee Discovered in Palm City pool!

2010-07-13T08:00:00.001-07:00

Friday morning, a large male manatee was discovered in the pool belonging to local Palm City, Florida residents, Mike and Mary West. When asked how the manatee managed to get into the pool which was surrounded by a screened enclosure, Mr. West stated, "I have no idea. There's a stream behind our home, but I can't imagine a manatee this size being able to crawl across the yard, not disturb our combat croquet court, open the screen door, and roll into the pool. It's just inconceivable."

West immediately called the Florida wildlife authorities to remove the manatee. However, due to the size of this animal, the FWA was forced to call the highway dept to provide a crane to remove the large animal. "Fortunately there was no damage, other than the amount of water I'll have to replace in my pool. It could've been worse.", said West.

Obama's Leadership Vacuum

2010-06-23T07:52:00.000-07:00

From The Heritage Foundation

More than two years ago, then-presidential candidate Hillary Clinton launched a campaign ad that took direct aim at Senator Barack Obama's inexperience. It painted the picture of a telephone ringing in the White House at 3 a.m. and asked the question, when there is a crisis in the world and your children are safe and asleep, "Who do you want answering the phone?"

Now, two years later, there are several crises confronting America, that telephone is ringing, and President Obama isn't quite sure what to do about it.

The first crisis is the War in Afghanistan, a lynchpin in the War on Terror and a key to ensuring U.S. security. Gen. Stanley McChrystal, U.S. commander in Afghanistan, reportedly tendered his resignation yesterday following a Rolling Stone article that portrayed him and senior aides on his team as dismissive of top Obama administration officials. Apart for being an embarrassing moment for both President Obama and Gen. McChrystal, the story revealed a larger problem for the president -- festering, internal dissension regarding his administration's Afghanistan strategy. As Politico reports, there are divisions among Defense Secretary Robert Gates, Vice President Biden, Gen. David Petraeus, Richard Holbrooke and others.

Those divisions are of Obama's own making, stemming from his lack of leadership and failure to make a firm commitment to victory in Afghanistan. It took the president 10 months to decide on an Afghanistan strategy, he took a middle road in only committing 30,000 additional troops to the mission, many fewer than Gen. McChrystal had requested, and he imposed an artificial timeline for withdrawal that sent mixed signals to the country, the military, our allies and our enemies about America's resolve to win the war. Now, as the president contemplates Gen. McChrystal's potential resignation, it appears he is reaping the bitter harvest of his failure to take decisive action.

Commission on Fiscal Responsibility Going Broke

2010-06-08T06:02:00.000-07:00

From The Heritage Foundation:

President Obama’s bipartisan fiscal commission is operating on a shoestring budget and some panel members and lawmakers worry that it may run short of money.

The 18-member commission faces the daunting challenge of coming up with proposals by Dec. 1 to tame the federal government’s trillion-dollar budget deficit. But the panel’s own budget is only $500,000, barely enough to cover office rent and the salaries of four staff members.

And though the White House and Treasury have loaned the panel experts from their own payrolls, and several think tanks are helping as well, the total full-time staff currently is only about 15 people and not expected to exceed 20. Money is so tight that the commission recently abandoned hopes of holding field hearings around the country to gather views from outside of Washington.

Pick the dummy

2010-06-08T05:43:00.000-07:00

By: Ronald Kessler

The media widely portrayed President Bush and his key appointees as a bunch of dummies. Yet reviewing the Obama administration’s record, you have to wonder who is the dummy.

Since Obama took office:

Eric Holder Jr., his attorney general, said he opposes Arizona’s illegal immigration legislation but has not read the new law.

Janet Napolitano, his secretary of Homeland Security, said she also opposes the immigration law but has not read it.

Holder said he decided to reopen the question of prosecuting CIA interrogators without having read the memos by Justice Department career prosecutors who analyzed the cases and concluded that no criminal violations occurred.

Obama decided to close the prison camp at Guantánamo Bay without having any idea where the prisoners would go.

Holder decided to try Khalid Sheik Mohammed in U.S. District Court in New York without asking the police or the FBI whether that would jeopardize the safety of New Yorkers.

While admitting he did not know “all the facts,” Obama said Cambridge police acted “stupidly” when Sgt. James Crowley, a white police officer, arrested Henry Louis Gates, a black Harvard professor who was being obstreperous when Crowley was investigating a report of a possible break-in.

Holder testified that he believes the CIA’s enhanced interrogation methods such as waterboarding constitute “torture,” but he said he had not read classified reports that describe what those techniques entail.

Neither Obama nor his cabinet officers are dummies, but if Bush or one of his appointees had been involved in any of these decisions without knowing the facts, the press would have pursued the story as relentlessly as Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein pursued the Watergate scandal.

From the way he walked to the way he talked, Bush was the butt of constant derision by the press. Every action he took to protect America was portrayed as a sinister plot.

Bush’s pronunciation of “nuclear” was cause for constant tittering in the media. In fact, pronouncing the word NOO-kyoo-ler is a Southern rendering similar to Jimmy Carter’s NOOK-ee-yuh. The Merriam-Webster Dictionary lists the way Bush pronounced nuclear as an alternate, even including that version in an audio clip on its website.

But the media were instrumental in getting Obama elected, and when he and his appointees seem to have no idea what they are talking about, they give them a pass.

Let me see . . . One is a chain smoker and the other doesn't smoke at all . . . One is born again and one doesn't attend church except for photo ops . . . One lowered our taxes and one is raising our taxes while tripling our debt . . . One kept us safe, while one has put us in more jeopardy than ever before . . . Hmmm, tough choice.

Ronald Kessler is chief Washington correspondent of Newsmax.com.

Have another snort, Paul.

2010-06-03T12:47:00.000-07:00

I love it when a "genius" shows their ignorance. Maybe Paul McCartney should look into how many millions of people were freed from oppression by George W. Bush. Or how about the heavy lifting President Bush has done worldwide fighting AIDS? How about the growing economy and low unemployment rates during the Bush Administration? Hey Paul, how about the 8 years he kept us safe from attack here in the United States? And let's not forget the love the common soldier had for their Commander in Chief during the years "W" was in office. You can find all that information in the Library of Congress, you typical, sanctimonious, misinformed left wing jerk.

"We've been on this since Day One."

2010-06-02T10:33:00.000-07:00

"And we're going to prosecute those responsible for this." Uh, was it the government that inspected this oil rig several times and even gave it a safety award? Hmmm . . .

No honoring the Unknown Soldier for this President

2010-05-26T05:48:00.000-07:00

In a highly unusual move, President Barack Obama is going to skip the traditional Memorial Day event at Arlington National Cemetery to return home to Chicago for the long holiday weekend.

Obama sees it as addressing one of the great broken promises of his administration: his early pledge to return home to Chicago every six weeks or so, according to The Washington Post.

On Monday, Obama will make remarks at the Abraham Lincoln National Cemetery and miss the usual tradition of presidents speaking at Arlington National Cemetery on Memorial Day.

Instead, Vice President Biden and his wife will appear in Obama's place, laying a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, as well as holding a breakfast for Gold Star families -- families whose loved ones died in military service -- at the White House earlier that day.

Bipartisanship at last!

2010-05-20T09:02:00.000-07:00

While most of Washington was focused on Tuesday's election results, the House was busy doing something else: Passing a resolution about beer.

House Resolution 1297, sponsored by Rep. Betsy Markey, supports "the goals and ideals of American Craft Beer Week."

"We've got quite a number of microbreweries and entrepreneurs that are creating jobs, and we wanted to celebrate that this is a craft," Markey told POLITICO.

"I think beer has been a tradition since this country was founded," said Markey. "We wanted to celebrate entrepreneurship — and good beer!"

Markey is obviously partial to brews from her home state of Colorado, but she won't claim a favorite.

"You can't just have one," said Markey. "It really depends on what mood you're in. Sometimes, I like a light beer — I might want a Skinny Dip — or otherwise prefer a heavier brew."

The real question is: Why would anyone vote against this?

"It does seem like a no brainer," said Markey.

It's Obama's fault.

2010-05-18T09:20:00.001-07:00

The federal government is the owner of the waters where drilling takes place and bears ultimate responsibility for what happens on its property. Energy companies seeking to develop our natural resources must survive a phalanx of federal regulations before any action can be taken. For starters, any action taken by the federal government, including offshore drilling leases, requires a detailed environmental impact analysis mandated by the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). But NEPA is such a draconian law, and the process can be so slow thanks to litigation, that to get anything done the federal government often grants waivers to the NEPA process. Which is exactly what happened with the Deepwater Horizon oil rig in question.

Regulations also require the Interior Department to inspect rigs at regular intervals, and the Deepwater rig was supposedly inspected less than two weeks prior to the accident. The rig's emergency shutoff valve, which reportedly had a dead battery, also passed inspection just 10 days before it failed. In addition to these intrusively written but leniently enforced regulations, the Oil Pollution Act (OPA) of 1990 set a $75 million liability cap beyond direct cleanup costs for any offshore oil spill. The net result of all of all these policies is a situation where nobody is responsible for safety because everybody is.

One question. What would the media be saying if this had happened under President Bush's watch?

Honeymoon

2010-05-15T12:21:00.000-07:00

Yes, I'm still alive. Debbie and I returned earlier in the week from an eight day adventure in Italy. We're still on vacation and have been taking some time off from the electronic media. Ahhh . . . We had a great time in Italy. After making six, yes, six connections we made it to the isle of Ischia in the Bay of Naples. For the first five days Ischia was our main base as we took mini cruise tours to the isle of Capri, and the port cities of Amalfi, Positano, and Sorrento. It was a wonderful time and we'll never forget the beauty of the islands and the coastal cities. We then spent the last two days in Rome, which was mind blowing both culturally and entertainment wise. Our return was complicated by the Iceland volcano and we were "privileged" to spend the night at JFK ala Tom Hanks in order to make connections early the next day. But even that wasn't so bad. I guess it's about attitude. Anyway, as we used to say in West Virginia, a good time was had by all. I'll continue the truth crusade in days to come.

It's always something . . .

2010-04-20T14:03:00.000-07:00

The volcano is erupting underneath a glacier, meaning everything kicks up through a hole in the ice. Some scientists are calling it an “ice-hole,” but other scientists are saying the problem is pre-existing ash, therefore it’s more of an “ash-hole.” - Jimmy Kimmel

I came VERY close to being assigned a trip to Amsterdam that would have put me over there after the eruption. Instead I ended up in Bangkok. And I'm glad. Some pilots over there were being assigned test flights to test the performance of the aircraft in the local airspace. I would have demanded time and a half.

Signs of NPD (Narcissistic Personality Disorder) ?

2010-04-09T08:21:00.000-07:00

* grandiose sense of self-importance
* preoccupation with fantasies of unlimited success, power, brilliance, beauty, or ideal love
* belief that he or she is "special" and unique and can only be understood by, or should associate with, other special or high-status people (or institutions)
* need for excessive admiration
* sense of entitlement
* takes advantage of others to achieve his or her own ends
* lack of empathy
* envious of others or believes that others are envious of him or her
* arrogant, haughty behaviors or attitudes

You decide.

Taxes and even more taxes

2010-04-07T08:00:00.000-07:00

From The Heritage Foundation in response to the VAT (Value Added Tax) idea:

Our nation faces a financial crisis. But low revenues are not the problem. Spending is. Heritage fellow Brian Riedl explains:
Real federal spending remained steady at $21,000 per household throughout the 1980s and 1990s, before President Bush hiked it to $25,000 per household (in response to 9/11). Now, President Obama has a proposed a budget that would permanently spend a staggering $32,000 per household annually – and that’s before all the baby boomers retire and add another $10,000 per household in Social Security, Medicare, and Medicare costs to the bottom line.

So the problem is not declining revenues, but rather a spending spree unlike any in American history. If Washington insists on spending $32,000 per household, it will have to tax $32,000 per household – an unaffordable and unfair tax burden regardless what kind of tax collects it.

Rather than tax America into permanent economic stagnation, President Obama and Congress must rein in runaway federal spending. Simply bringing real federal spending back to the $21,000 per household average that prevailed in the 1980s and 1990s would balance the budget by 2012 without raising a single tax on anyone. Even returning spending to the pre-recession level of 20 percent of GDP would eliminate two-thirds of the projected 2019 budget deficit without raising taxes.

Need we say more?

2010-03-26T10:19:00.001-07:00

Cuban leader applauds US health-care reform bill
By PAUL HAVEN
The Associated Press
Thursday, March 25, 2010; 12:11 PM

HAVANA -- It perhaps was not the endorsement President Barack Obama and the Democrats in Congress were looking for.

Cuban revolutionary leader Fidel Castro on Thursday declared passage of American health care reform "a miracle" and a major victory for Obama's presidency, but couldn't help chide the United States for taking so long to enact what communist Cuba achieved decades ago.

"We consider health reform to have been an important battle and a success of his (Obama's) government," Castro wrote in an essay published in state media, adding that it would strengthen the president's hand against lobbyists and "mercenaries."

But the Cuban leader also used the lengthy piece to criticize the American president for his lack of leadership on climate change and immigration reform, and for his decision to send more troops to Afghanistan, among many other things.

And he said it was remarkable that the most powerful country on earth took more than two centuries from its founding to approve something as basic as health benefits for all.

"It is really incredible that 234 years after the Declaration of Independence ... the government of that country has approved medical attention for the majority of its citizens, something that Cuba was able to do half a century ago," Castro wrote.

The longtime Cuban leader - who ceded power to his brother Raul in 2008 - has continued to pronounce his thoughts on world issues though frequent essays, titled "Reflections," which are published in state newspapers.

Cuba provides free health care and education to all its citizens, and heavily subsidizes food, housing, utilities and transportation, policies that have earned it global praise. The government has warned that some of those benefits are no longer sustainable given Cuba's ever-struggling economy, though it has so far not made major changes.

A START towards Undermining Our Nuclear Security

2010-03-26T10:02:00.000-07:00

From the Heritage Foundation:

Yesterday the Kremlin announced that the Obama administration and Russia had reached agreement on a new nuclear arms agreement intended to replace the 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START). The declaration appeared to surprise the White House, as Press Secretary Robert Gibbs could only confirm that the two sides were "close" to a treaty. But U.S. officials confirm that "all major obstacles" in negotiations with Moscow have been cleared.

Russian approval of a new START agreement has been the cornerstone of President Barack Obama's "long road toward eliminating nuclear weapons" policy. President Obama's desire to appease Russia is why he began negotiations by unilaterally surrendering to Kremlin demands that the United States betray our Czech Republic and Polish allies by going back on our promise to build ballistic missile defense facilities in Eastern Europe. Russians took President Obama's easy and early capitulation on missile defense as a sign of naivete and weakness and concluded that the Obama administration was far more desperate for a new nuclear treaty than they were and, as The Los Angeles Times reports, "used that fact in negotiations."

The full text of the new agreement has not been released, but early reports indicate that it will not adequately address three key issues and would therefore compromise U.S. national security:

Verification: The Russians have a long and well documented history of violating arms control agreements. By focusing intently on the reduction in each nation’s strategic arsenal, the U.S. has lost some negotiating ground on the issue of verification. The Senate must ensure that the new treaty is adequately verifiable. There is no reason to sign the treaty if the verification mechanisms fall by the wayside.

Nuclear Modernization: Some arms control advocates insist that the U.S. has a robust nuclear modernization program. This claim is simply inaccurate. The truth is that America’s nuclear infrastructure is rapidly aging, in deep atrophy, and is losing its reliability and effectiveness. The U.S. is not producing new nuclear weapons, and its ICBM force is shrinking and not being modernized. In contrast, Russia and China are engaged in a major modernization effort. On December 16, 41 U.S. Senators voiced their concerns and signed a letter saying they will oppose the new treaty if it does not include specific plans for U.S. nuclear modernization as stipulated in the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2010.

Missile Defense: It is absolutely imperative that a new START agreement not undermine our post-Cold War defensive posture by linking offensive weapons with missile defense. But early reports indicate that the treaty does exactly that. The New York Times reports: "Administration officials describing the draft treaty said its preamble recognized the relationship between offensive weapons and missile defense, but that the language was not binding." But the Times goes on to quote retired major general Vladimir Dvorkin who says Moscow will scrap the treaty if the U.S. pursues missile defense: "If, for example, the U.S. unilaterally deploys considerable amounts of missile defense, then Russia has the right to withdraw from the agreement because the spirit of the preamble has been violated."

The Obama Administration's arms control strategy has been deeply flawed. It is based on outdated 1970s arms control strategy and 1960s idealism and naivete. It will not work because it does not account for Russian nuclear strategy, which is based on approximate parity between the two sides, Mutual Assured Destruction (MAD), denial of missile defenses to the U.S., and nuclear warfighting capability. The U.S. needs to reset the reset before the Obama administration is allowed to seriously undermine our national security.

How do we stop him?

2010-03-26T09:39:00.001-07:00

“In the big lie there is always a certain force of credibility; because the broad masses of a nation are always more easily corrupted in the deeper strata of their emotional nature than consciously or voluntarily; and thus in the primitive simplicity of their minds they more readily fall victims to the big lie than the small lie, since they themselves often tell small lies in little matters but would be ashamed to resort to large-scale falsehoods. It would never come into their heads to fabricate colossal untruths, and they would not believe that others could have the impudence to distort the truth so infamously. Even though the facts which prove this to be so may be brought clearly to their minds, they will still doubt and waver and will continue to think that there may be some other explanation. For the grossly impudent lie always leaves traces behind it, even after it has been nailed down, a fact which is known to all expert liars in this world and to all who conspire together in the art of lying.”
-Adolf Hitler

How are we going to stop them from giving amnesty (buying votes) to the 12-14 million illegal aliens in the country?

How are we going to stop them from passing "Cap and Trade"?

How are we going to stop them from reestablishing the "Fairness Doctrine" and shutting down conservative talk radio?

How are we going to stop them from establishing a Value Added Tax on everything we buy?

How are we going to stop them from destroying this country and forcing everyone to be dependent on the government?

The "reverend" is right! (Sort of)

2010-03-24T12:56:00.000-07:00

The American people got what they voted for. There is no doubt. Unfortunately, what they voted for was a black man. Nevermind what his background was or who his associates were. The media didn't care about fact checking the lies he was continually professing. Everyone wanted to be a part of history. Well, now we're a part of history - the beginning of the end of the US Constitution.

Civil War

2010-03-23T12:53:00.000-07:00

So FAR, it's been nonviolent. What the Social Democrats did this weekend and the collateral damage it will cause our country ranks right up there with 9/11. With the seizure of the health insurance industry using lies, bribery, and non-constitutional trickery, the socialists threw down the gauntlet in violation of the will of the people. As in post 9/11, our rights will be limited. However, this time it's not for the security of all, it's for the control of all. After 9/11, the airline and financial industries suffered immensely, now it's the healthcare and insurance industry. Some experts say with the mandates in Obama's bill, the private health insurance industry will cease to exist in three years time. It is a fact that medical professionals are already bailing out of the medical industry. With the addition of 30 million uninsured to the equation, there is NO way our government which is already broke, will be able to pay the costs. This will lead to long lines and rationing of medical care. I'm glad I've lived a full life, because as I approach my senior years, I will be a victim of the death panels. There is no doubt. That's why I'm more fearful about the future than I was on 9/12. Our only hope is to get off our butts and fight these people with everything we've got.

Is the Dems healthcare bill constitutional?

2010-03-22T11:13:00.001-07:00

Guess who will decide.

It's time to put our money where our mouth is.

2010-03-22T10:40:00.000-07:00

After reading the Heritage Foundation blogs for the last couple of years in order to get the truth, I've decided to become a member. The Heritage Foundation is fighting the fight for us all in order to combat the socialists running our government. If you haven't joined yet and you believe our country is headed into dangerous territory, then a donation to the HF, might be a very good investment.

Should the Senate Obamacare bill become law . . .

2010-03-18T12:18:00.001-07:00

The TRUTH from The Heritage Foundation:

New Middle-Class Taxes:Throughout his campaign, President Barack Obama promised he would not raise taxes on American households making less than $250,000. The Senate bill shatters that promise. For starters, just look at the reason Trumka went to the White House yesterday: the excise tax on high-cost health insurance plans. This tax would overwhelmingly hit middle-class taxpayers. Taxes on prescription drugs, wheel chairs and other medical devices would also be passed on to all consumers, hitting the lower- and middle- classes the hardest.

Increased Health Care Costs: The Senate bill manifestly does nothing to bend the health care cost curve downward. According to the latest CBO report, the Senate bill would actually increase health care spending by $210 billion over the next 10 years. This follows a previous report from the President's own Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) showing the Senate bill would result in $234 billion in additional health care spending over 10 years.

Increased Health Insurance Premiums: The President initially promised that Americans would see a $2,500 annual reduction in their family health care costs. But under the Senate bill, premiums would go up for millions of Americans. In fact, according to the CBO, estimated premiums in the individual market would be 10–13 percent higher by 2016 than they would be under current law.

Increased Deficits: Despite claiming to be comprehensive health care reform, the Senate bill does not address the fact that Medicare's current price-fixing doctor reimbursement scheme is set to reduce doctor payments by 21% this year. That simply is not going to happen. Congress will pass that fix separately. If that cost were included, Obamacare is already $200 billion in the red. Now throw in the fact that the Senate bill is paid for with another $463 billion in Medicare cuts to health care providers. CMS says if these cuts occur, one-fifth of all health care providers will face bankruptcy. That simply is not going to happen. Just like the doctor reimbursement cuts have never happened, the Obamacare Medicare cuts will never happen. So in reality, Obamacare will add almost $700 billion to our national deficit in the next ten years alone.

Increases Unemployment and Puts Millions of Americans on Welfare: According to The Heritage Foundation’s Center for Data Analysis (CDA), a dynamic analysis of the tax hikes and deficits created by the Senate bill shows that an average 690,000 jobs per year would be lost if it became law. In addition, over half of all Americans who would gain health insurance through the bill (18 million out of 33 million) would do so by being placed on Medicaid, which is a welfare program.

Higher taxes, higher health care costs, higher health insurance premiums, higher deficits, more unemployment and more Americans on welfare. That is America's future should the Senate Obamacare bill become law.

Feel free to copy and paste this information, then email it to your address book, encouraging everyone to phone/email their representatives.

Democratic Majority Leader Hoyer on "Slaughter Rule" in 2003

2010-03-17T14:00:00.000-07:00

I'm not laughing.

2010-03-17T09:17:00.000-07:00

Remember what these socialists are about to do is in violation of the US Constitution.

From The Heritage Foundation:

For the first time in history, every American would be forced to buy federally regulated and approved health insurance or face a $750 fine. As the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) wrote in 1994: “A mandate requiring all individuals to purchase health insurance would be an unprecedented form of federal action. The government has never required people to buy any good or service as a condition of lawful residence in the United States.” The individual mandate and other questionable measures in the bill raise serious questions as to whether Obamacare could survive a Constitutional test:

Enumerated Powers: Article I allocates to Congress “[a]ll legislative powers herein granted,” which means that some legislative powers were intended to remain beyond Congress’s reach. The Supreme Court recognized and affirmed this fundamental principle from the earliest days of the republic, as Chief Justice Marshall famously observed: “The powers of the legislature are defined and limited; and that those limits may not be mistaken, or forgotten, the constitution is written.” Nowhere in the Constitution is Congress given the power to mandate that an individual enter into a contract with a private party or purchase a good or service. Democrats have pointed to both the general welfare taxing power and the commerce clause as possible justifications for the mandate, but as a recent Heritage Legal Memorandum details, neither justification withstands scrutiny.

5th Amendment: The Fifth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution reads in part: “No person shall … be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.” Sen. Ensign will argue today: “The Democrats’ health reform bill would require an American citizen to devote a portion of income – his or her private property – to health insurance coverage. … But, Mr. President, if a Nevadan does not want to spend his or her hard-earned income on health insurance coverage and would prefer to spend it on something else, such as rent or a car payment, this new requirement could be a “taking” of private property under the Fifth Amendment.”

Racial Discrimination: On December 10th, the United States Commission on Civil Rights sent a letter to the Senate regarding racially discriminatory provisions in Obama’s health plan. The letter reads: “No matter how well-intentioned, utilizing racial preferences with hope of alleviating health care disparities is inadvisable both as a matter of policy and as a matter of law. … Ensuring that all Americans, regardless of race, have access to quality health care requires both creativity and hard-nosed attention to data. It also requirees staying within the requirements of the Constitution. The current race-based provisions of the Senate Health Care bill display none of these qualities.”

Unequal State Treatment: Speaking to Fox News, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) described Sen. Ben Nelson’s (D-NE) deal to support Obamacare in exchange for a bailout Nebraska’s Medicaid costs as “disappointing, sleazy, unconstitutional.” Graham is not the only one examining Cornhusker Kickback. The Attorneys General of Alabama, Colorado, Michigan, North Dakota, South Carolina, Texas and Washington state are jointly investigating the deal to see if special treatment for only one state in the nation at the expense of the other 49 violates the Constitution.

If you don't want this to happen and have NOT contacted your US Representatives to say so, then you have only yourself to blame for what happens in the future.

Are you KIDDING me??!!

2010-03-16T09:57:00.000-07:00

I haven't posted in awhile because it seems the more I post, the more Alice In Wonderland it becomes with this guy. He not only lies, he lies badly. I figure, based on his comments here, my health insurance will pay me about $12,000.00 next year and if I get sick, it might even be more! This kind of shoot from the hip say anything to anybody anytime to get your way rhetoric from a President of the United States should be prosecuted. We need more Joe Wilsons, especially at these propped up, devious type of events. Just stand up and yell, "YOU LIE!!!"

Is there a change in the air?

2010-03-08T08:56:00.001-08:00

Best Actor - Jeff Bridges
Best Actress - Sandra Bullock (also Best Acceptance Speech)
Best Picture - The Hurt Locker

I'm thinking there might be a change in the air. Last night I watched the Academy Awards with my lovely wife. I have to admit I didn't see it all because I was in and out of consciousness throughout the long, boring program. However, I sat up and took notice when Jeff Bridges took Best Actor. What?! A movie about country singers and blue collar workers winning an Oscar for Best Actor? Wow, quite an accomplishment seeing as how the Academy is not noted for their "Nascar" point of view, if you know what I mean. THEN Sandra Bullock takes the Oscar for playing a white, southern, conservative, very well off, soccer mom whose family does the right thing by helping someone less fortunate. What's with THAT?

I was sure AVATAR was going to win the Best Picture award. It was anti capitalistic. It was all about the environment. It was about discrimination. If there was a movie that fit the criteria for an Academy Award, that was it. But no, a simple movie about a man who loves to serve his country won. No politics, no points of view, just a simple story about a brave soldier. Unbelievable.

Something must be in the air.

The tricks just keep coming.

2010-03-05T11:38:00.000-08:00

I'm for reconciliation.

2010-03-05T11:14:00.000-08:00

Reconciliation generally involves legislation that changes the budget deficit (or conceivably, the surplus). The "Byrd Rule" (2 U.S.C. § 644, named after Democratic Senator Robert Byrd) was adopted in 1985 and amended in 1990 to outline which provisions reconciliation can and cannot be used for. The Byrd Rule defines a provision to be "extraneous" (and therefore ineligible for reconciliation) in six cases:
if it does not produce a change in outlays or revenues; (it does)
if it produces an outlay increase or revenue decrease when the instructed committee is not in compliance with its instructions; (it does)
if it is outside the jurisdiction of the committee that submitted the title or provision for inclusion in the reconciliation measure; (the bill has yet to be submitted)
if it produces a change in outlays or revenues which is merely incidental to the non-budgetary components of the provision; (it does)
if it would increase the deficit for a fiscal year beyond those covered by the reconciliation measure, (it definitely does) and
if it recommends changes in Social Security. (it will)

Reconciliation is a majority rule vote in the House and Senate. In the case of Obamacare, I'm against it. Why? Because when the entire healthcare system of our country is being socialized and one sixth of our economy affected, there should be SOME bipartisan support for legislation of this magnitude. There is none and for good reason. It's seriously flawed.

So why am I for it? Because once the Democrats use the "nuclear option" to pass Obamacare, a lot of them will lose their jobs. Then the Republicans will be in the majority and may very well need the "nuclear option" to roll back this fiasco.

Just a thought.

Does it seem as if there have been several major earthquakes lately?

2010-03-04T11:29:00.000-08:00

Matthew 24:7: Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places.

From USA TODAY:

The Earth is angry.

Or at least it seems that way, with three significant earthquakes in the past week: A 7.0 magnitude quake near Japan last Friday, the huge 8.8 quake near Chile on Saturday, and a 6.4 near Taiwan earlier today. And, of course, there was the devastating 7.0 quake in January in Haiti that killed more than 200,000 people.

So, is there any connection among all the quakes? "No, not that we can see," says Paul Caruso, a geophysicist with the U.S. Geological Survey in Golden, Colo. "We've had quite a few quakes in the past two months, but not more than average."

What has made the recent earthquakes newsworthy is that the earthquakes have hit near populated areas, says Caruso. Another 6.4 quake this morning rattled the tiny Pacific island nation of Vanuatu, but no injuries have been reported.

The Earth is angry?

Paul Ryan for President

2010-02-26T03:21:00.000-08:00

The high point of the entire healthcare summit was Representative Paul Ryan's comments. Common sense prevailed. I believe he represents the up and coming leadership of the Conservative movement.

It was a rainy evening in Amsterdam. . .

2010-02-25T15:17:00.000-08:00

Yes, Amsterdam. That's where I spent the day today, having arrived around 5am EST from Minneapolis. I took a three hour nap, grabbed a bite to eat and tuned in the Health Care Summit on my computer. Normally, I would have been out and about seeing the sights, but, today, the weather did not cooperate.

I really tried to be objective watching this, but it became the Obama show. And it failed miserably on several counts. First of all, it failed for Obama. After over 6 hours of watching him pontificate on health care, I realized this whole thing had a Hugo Chavez/Fidel Castro lean to it. Obama had no inclination towards listening to the Republicans and more importantly, the American people. When Republicans spoke, he argued with them while losing the fact check contest several times. What little Presidential "presence" he had before was lost during this summit. As President, he should have been neutral and taken the role of interested observer. Instead, he was an opinionated facilitator who lost the respect of his fellow participants and anyone who was watching this fiasco.

Secondly, the Democratic leadership failed. If you have any doubt, watch the videos of Pelosi's, Biden's, and Reid's remarks. Rambling, disjointed, and nonsensical come to mind as descriptive adjectives.

Finally, and most important, the American people were made aware of the failure of the Democratic controlled Congress. Republican Representative Cantor's "prop" of bringing the 2,400 page Senate bill to the summit and placing it on his desk illustrated the insanity of the dem's approach to health care. The President of the United States thought it was a Republican political "prop" and repudiated Cantnor for bringing a copy of the current Senate bill, which Obama supports, to the meeting. I believe the reason Cantnor's "prop" irritated the President so much was because it was such an excellent visual in support of the Republican's case for a smaller federal government.

I doubt the media will cover this fiasco as completely as it should. The Democrats were revealed for what they are - socialists. That's a good thing. This could have been Obama's "Waterloo".

Oh, those silly polls . . .

2010-02-22T06:53:00.001-08:00

The CNN/Research Opinion poll found that 52 percent of Americans feel that Obama should be a one-term president. Nearly 44 percent of respondents said that Obama deserves to be reelected, while 4 percent answered that they have no opinion. Of course, the media is all over this. Yeah, right.

More Proof of Global Warming

2010-02-11T10:46:00.001-08:00

NBC/GE has already received billions in TARP bailout cash from the Obama administration. Also, the corporation is actively lobbying for a global warming energy tax bill so that it can receive billions more in government green-energy subsidies on top of the millions it already receives. So look to hear lots from NBC announcers about how the lack of snow in Vancouver is just another reason Washington needs to act now to stop global warming. Count on it.

BO's media protection

2010-02-10T05:27:00.000-08:00

Last week, Sarah Palin spoke at the Tea Party Convention to rousing standing ovations. She apparently had jotted down a couple of the main points of her speech on her hand. Well, when this became known to the mainstream media, she was immediately ridiculed. Why? I'm not sure. Especially when you consider that Obama couldn't even speak to 12 year olds without using a teleprompter! Where was the media coverage there?! If George W. Bush had pronounced corpsman as "corpse man" as Obama has done several times, it also would have been covered coast to coast, but not so with Obama. The protection this less than bright President receives from the MSM is sickening.

Don't ask, don't tell?

2010-02-05T09:07:00.001-08:00

Commander In Chief Obama has decided to undo the "Don't ask, don't tell" policy of the US military. As usual with this administration, the President has not considered the implications involved with his decision. Some questions Colonel Ollie North brought up:

1. If Congress changes the law and allows overtly practicing homosexuals in the ranks, should NAMBLA members be allowed to serve? (NAMBLA is the North American Men/Boy Love Association which believes: "Freely-chosen relationships differ from unwanted sex. Present laws, which focus only on the age of the participants, ignore the quality of their relationships. We know that differences in age do not preclude mutual, loving interaction between persons. NAMBLA is strongly opposed to age-of-consent laws and all other restrictions which deny men and boys the full enjoyment of their bodies and control over their own lives."

2. Will the military have to acknowledge same-sex marriages? If so, will military chaplains be required to perform such rituals?

3. Will same-sex couples be entitled to military housing?

4. Will these couples be allowed to serve in the same unit or aboard the same ship?

Once again our nation's security is jeopardized in the name of political correctness.

The McCain-Feingold Act was based on racism.

2010-02-04T07:01:00.000-08:00

The McCain-Feingold Act severely limited corporate contributions to political campaigns while giving media corporations a pass. McCain-Feingold closed loop holes left available by the Tillman Act of 1907. What's interesting about Senator Ben Tillman, the author of the legislation and a Democrat from South Carolina, was his outright racism. He freely stated that one of his goals in life was the subjugation of the "Negro". He believed corporate America supported the American Negro excessively and needed to be regulated. Thus, the Tillman Act.

Recently, the Supreme Court overturned McCain-Feingold based on the principle of free speech. Guess which party is upset about this ruling? You got it - the Democratic party. President Barack Obama, the first black President, went so far as to castigate the Supreme Court for their ruling during his State of the Union address to Congress. Why would he do that? Two reasons come to mind. First, he's not familiar with the history of the issue and secondly, he blatantly got around the rules of McCain-Feingold by demonstrating incompetent record keeping. I think it's both in his case.

Notably absent from the State of the Union address was Justice Clarence Thomas who recently defended the recent ruling by strictly applying the Constitutional principle of free speech which states there is no numerical limit to the amount of people who want to express a point of view. Justice Thomas went on to say the reason he does not attend the State of the Union address is because it has become too political with the applause, catcalls, murmuring and grumbling.

It makes me wonder who really has concern for the American black man - the liberal Barack Obama or the conservative Clarence Thomas?

Financial geniuses, each and every one.

2010-02-03T06:45:00.000-08:00

From Donald Lambro @ Townhall.com:

[The Heritage Foundation's] Brian Riedl is especially adept at explaining [the Obama budget's] statistical nuances in plain English so that most people can understand. Here are seven points he thinks every taxpayer should know about what Obama's budget would do:

-- Permanently expand the federal government by nearly 3 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) over 2007 pre-recession levels

-- Raise taxes on all Americans by more than $2 trillion over the next decade (counting health care reform and cap-and-trade)

-- Raise taxes for 3.2 million small businesses and upper-income taxpayers by an average of $300,000 over the next decade

-- Borrow 42 cents for each dollar spent in 2010

-- Run a $1.6 trillion deficit in 2010; $143 billion higher than the recession-driven 2009 deficit

-- Leave permanent (annual) deficits that top $1 trillion in as late as 2020 (a time of assumed peace and prosperity)

-- And double the publicly held national debt to over $1.8 trillion

All of this is going to place a huge burden on our economy in the years ahead as more investment capital is siphoned off by Washington to feed the expansion of government at the expense of the private sector, which remains weak and undernourished.

It is the reason, as I reported in my last column, that the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office is forecasting anemic economic growth in the 1.6 percent to 1.8 percent range this year and next.

Not so for the Obama administration. It is exuberantly forecasting better than 4 percent annual growth in the next few years from 2011 to 2014. Not many economists are buying into their claims.

Says University of Maryland economist Peter Morici: "'Rosie Scenario' wrote this budget. A populist government, similar to those that drove Latin American republics into bankruptcy during the 1970s, is in charge," he says.

One other note of interest: ACORN is eligible for up to $4 billion in benefits from this budget.

Obama addresses Congress and lies - again.

2010-01-28T18:24:00.000-08:00

Last September when Obama spoke before Congress, his "misstatements" caused a Congressman to shout "You lie!". Now it's happened again. This time a Supreme Court justice mouths, "Not true." Never before in the history of this nation has the Supreme Court been so disespected in a State of the Union address. It's just not done - until now. Why is Obama so upset? Because now the playing field is level. During the 2008 campaign, John McCain played by the rules. Every penny donated to his campaign was accounted for. All restrictions were abided by. On the other hand, the Obama campaign made no attempt to make the books available to account for the millions of campaign donations received - especially from overseas donors! The Federal Elections Commission has made an attempt to investigate, but is unable to trace the money. And we all know what happens when the government investigates its own. Now the big guns from both sides can go at it. I side with those who create jobs and wealth in the private sector - not those who create jobs and wealth in the public sector. This year's elections are going to be fun to watch.

Greetings from Asia!

2010-01-27T22:44:00.000-08:00

This is a great video. The guy's courage was amazing. Yesterday, we (the copilot and myself) walked down Tiananmen Square in addition to touring the Forbidden City. The immensity of it all was amazing. It's the largest public square in the world. I won't bore you with dimensions, etc, but I will say it's huge. Everything about Beijing is huge. We walked all over yesterday and felt very safe even though at times it seemed like there was no other "round eyes" in the city. If I didn't know better I would have thought the People's Republic of China was just that - a republic with capitalism as it's economic system. There were shopping malls everywhere. Largely in part to the Olympics, Beijing has become a bustling westernized city. The people were very friendly, many spoke English, and it seemed most of them wanted to take us to the Great Wall. There was no time this trip, but maybe I'll do it next time. Overall, I was very impressed with the Chinese and can definitely see why, if we're not careful, they WILL own us. I'm back in Tokyo today and tomorrow I'm off to Bangkok. I'll try to post some personal pictures in the near future. I misplaced my camera for a bit, so all the pictures I took in Beijing are on my phone and I don't know how to download them yet. It's been quite an adventure and I'm really enjoying it despite a bit of homesickness. Sometimes I wonder if I should pay them to do this job . .

DUH?!

2010-01-21T15:22:00.000-08:00

This is just one more example of the total incompetence of the Obama Administration. Hundreds, if not thousands of lives were placed in jeopardy by this terrorist being allowed on that aircraft - not to mention the fact that the first thing done to this monster was to read him his "rights". Obama set up the HIG (High-value Intelligence Group) to interrogate terrorists the NEW way - not the enhanced interrogation techniques of Guantanamo. There's only one problem. THEY NEVER GOT THE HIG UP AND RUNNING! Even if it had been up and running, they wouldn't have been able to use HIG techniques, because the terrorist was Mirandized. Heads should roll.

Obama's One Year Anniversary

2010-01-21T11:52:00.000-08:00

"It’s hard to believe that President Obama has now been in office for a year and it’s incredible. He took something that was in terrible shape and brought it back from the brink of disaster: the Republican Party."
- Jay Leno

Power corrupts.

2010-01-21T09:40:00.000-08:00

Senator-elect Scott Brown is now the toast of Washington,DC. Let's hope and pray he keeps his priorities straight.

The New Senator from Massachusetts

2010-01-20T06:36:00.000-08:00

The American people have spoken. When Republican Lt. Colonel Scott Brown, US Army Reserve, won in the most liberal state in the union, a message was sent to EVERY elected official in this country. On the day Al Franken was sworn in as the junior Senator from Minnesota, I really believed it demonstrated how far this country had fallen since the government started telling banks who to loan money to. The elite left thought Obama's election was finally the opportunity to move this country toward the progressive goals Woodrow Wilson espoused. They literally took the recipe of Sol Alinsky's "Rules for Radicals" and followed it step by step. Unfortunately for them, the "uneducated rednecks" at the Tea Parties recognized the Obama administration for what it is (was) - a major threat to our basic economic freedom. Here's the key to achieving what the American people want:

• Lower our taxes - all of them. It has been proven reduced taxes will generate jobs and revenue for everyone - personal, small business, corporate, and government.

• Freeze government spending. No more earmarks and back room deals.

• Maintain a strong military and intelligence apparatus

• Reform healthcare BY:
- Encouraging competition nationwide across state lines
- Tort reform
- Reducing waste and fraud in current entitlements

• Secure our borders

• Treat terrorists as battlefield combatants not US citizens.

• Drill, baby, drill- as in energy independence and lower fuel prices.

Woe to the elected official who doesn't learn from the election of Senator Scott Brown. We love freedom in America and we bristle at government elites who are in Washington to abuse their power and ignore the will of the people. If they want to keep THEIR jobs, every elected official in this country should be reexamining their motivations and reviewing their responsibilities to their constituencies.

Why we love Brett

2010-01-18T05:37:00.001-08:00

American Idol:

After kicking the Cowboys' butt:

There are no divas on this team and there could be. Favre has set the tone for the Vikings from the very first day he arrived. On one play he'll thread the needle on a 70 yard touchdown pass and on the next play he'll get penalized for cut blocking a lineman twice his size 40 yards down field. Brett's the leader on the field, in the locker room, and on the sidelines. When the defense is on the field, he's almost as active as when the offense is on the field. He's talking with the coaches, his receivers, the linemen, and the backup quarterbacks. He's always having fun. One thing he's noted for by the other Vikings is his butt slap. When Brett Favre slaps you on the butt, you know it. Players with a welt on their backside in the shape of Brett's hand know they've done good. At 40 years old, it's hard to imagine the enthusiasm he has for the game. Brett Favre truly loves the game of football and he's having what many call the best year of his career. A Super Bowl would be a fitting end to a historic career.

NOTHING about this White House is truthful.

2010-01-15T12:59:00.000-08:00

From Entertainment Weekly:

At the beginning of the two-hour “Super Chef Battle” drool fest, Michelle Obama (pictured, with host Alton Brown and Iron Chef Mario Batali) offered the contestants — Batali and his special celebrity partner Emeril Lagasse vs. Iron Chef Bobby Flay and White House executive chef Cristeta Comerford — the use of anything in the White House garden. All items produced by the White House Garden brim with nutrients and magic and sprout up in rich color combos that inspire hope, change, and Michelle Obama’s outfits.

From Michelle Malkin:

Hold on to your hoe. It turns out that the fruits and veggies used in a special edition of the popular Food Network TV show “Iron Chef America” featuring first lady Michelle Obama did not, in fact, come from the White House garden. Could there be a more deliciously fitting symbol of Obama White House fakery than Garden-Gate?

Some may shrug at this tempest in a colander. But as we approach the one-year anniversary of the Hope and Change inauguration, the first lady’s little horticultural hoax serves as a handy metaphor for a cornucopia of Obama fraud. They’ve stocked health care town halls with partisan goons and benefactors. They’ve provided lab coats to doctor donors to make their health care lobbying look more authentic. And they’ve treated soldiers, in President Obama’s own words, as “pretty good photo ops.”

Ringers are what’s for breakfast, lunch and dinner at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.

East Wing apologists are whirling like KitchenAid salad spinners over the Iron Chef-fuffle: "Due to the production delay between the shoot at the White House and the shoot at Food Network, the produce used in Kitchen Stadium during the 'Super Chef Battle' was not actually from the White House garden," admitted a Food Network spokeswoman. But, they stress, the replacement produce consisted of the exact same types of sweet potatoes, tomatillos, broccoli and fennel purportedly picked from the White House garden.

It’s the haute cuisine version of disgraced CBS News fabricator Dan Rather’s fake-but-accurate card. But this is just the latest Potemkin produce from a Potemkin presidency.

From Brodad Unkabuddy (and Wikipedia):

Potemkin villages were purportedly fake settlements erected at the direction of Russian minister Grigory Potyomkin to fool Empress Catherine II during her visit to Crimea in 1787. According to this story, Potyomkin, who led the Crimean military campaign, had hollow facades of villages constructed along the desolate banks of the Dnieper River in order to impress the monarch and her travel party with the value of her new conquests, thus enhancing his standing in the empress' eyes. You know, kind of like "jobs saved or created".

So true!

2010-01-14T07:55:00.000-08:00

Why Hilary wasn't elected

2010-01-12T11:03:00.001-08:00

Although she's light skinned she just couldn't lose the negro dialect!

No Jobs. Why?

2010-01-12T07:39:00.000-08:00

From the Wall Street Journal:

. . . The weak economy is far and away the most prevalent reason given for why the next few months is "not a good time" to expand, but "political climate" is the next most frequently cited reason, well ahead of borrowing costs and financing availability. The authors of the NFIB December 2009 report on Small Business Economic Trends state: "the other major concern is the level of uncertainty being created by government, the usually [sic] source of uncertainty for the economy. The 'turbulence' created when Congress is in session is often debilitating, this year being one of the worst. . . . There is not much to look forward to here."

Government statistics tell a similar story. Business investment in the third quarter of 2009 is down 20% from the low levels a year earlier. Job openings are at the lowest level since the government began measuring the concept in 2000. The pace of new job creation by expanding businesses is slower than at any time in the past two decades and, though older data are not as reliable, likely slower than at any time in the past half-century. While layoffs and new claims for unemployment benefits have declined in recent months, job prospects for unemployed workers have continued to deteriorate. The exit rate from unemployment is lower now than any time on record, dating back to 1967.

According to the Michigan Survey of Consumers, 37% of households plan to postpone purchases because of uncertainty about jobs and income, a figure that has not budged since the second quarter of 2009, and one that remains higher than any previous year back to 1960.

These facts suggest that it was a serious economic mistake to press for a hasty, major transformation of the U.S. economy on the heels of the worst financial crisis in decades. A more effective approach would have been to concentrate first on fighting the recession and laying solid foundations for growth. They should have put plans to re-engineer the economy on the backburner, and kept them there until the economy emerged fully from the recession and returned to robust growth. By failing to adopt a measured approach to economic policy, Congress and the president may be slowing the economic recovery, and thereby prolonging the distress from the recession.

The authors are economists at the University of Chicago. Messrs. Becker and Murphy are also fellows of the Hoover Institution of Stanford University. Mr. Davis is also a visiting scholar at the American Enterprise Institute..

Biden and Reid are racists

2010-01-11T11:51:00.000-08:00

On the first day of his candidacy for President, Joe Biden said, “I mean, you got the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy. I mean, that’s a storybook, man.” In a private conversation, Senator Harry Reid described the Illinois senator (Barack Obama) as a "light-skinned" African-American "with no Negro dialect, unless he wanted to have one." Both of these comments were in "praise" of Obama, so maybe that's why these two clueless idiots are getting away with their remarks. But both of these comments when studied closely reveal a racism from the past. What they infer is that the norm for African Americans is they are dark skinned, speak with a Negro dialect, are inarticulate, unclean, and not very good looking. Because Obama is the exception he stands out and is electable. Of course, no one on the left is going to admit to the truth. Why? Because it's about power and agendas. Although two of the most powerful men in our government are obvious racists, no one, not even liberal African Americans will call them out on it. Why? Because Obama was elected. And that gave power to the far left. So rather than jeopardize their power base, they will let racism take a back seat until it's to their advantage to play the race card. Which is exactly what they did when Senator Lott made his non racist remark and was forced to step down as Senate majority leader. The hypocrisy is overwhelming to me.

Why did Bush treat the shoe bomber as a criminal?

2010-01-10T07:55:00.000-08:00

When criticized for treating the Christmas bomber as a criminal rather than an enemy combatant, the Dems like to make the point that President Bush did the same thing in 2001. Big difference. The following post from the CannonReport sums it up very nicely:

The primary issue of the shoe bomber in 2001 was that up to, and including, that point, the default response of the government was to assign jurisdiction to civilian law enforcement and the civilian courts, under title 18 USC, with out even considering the need for intelligence gathering from these individuals or even considering the concept that a detained terrorist could and quite possibly should, be handled under a different jurisdiction process. Why was this? Because just as the 9/11 Commission pointed out, as a nation as a whole, and as a functioning government, we did not recognize that we were currently, and had been for some time, in a defacto armed conflict (a low intensity war, but still a war none the less) with a properly recognized and lawfully designated trans-national terrorist organization. Even three months after 9/11, when Reid tried to blow up the airliner he was on, we were still looking at the issue of individual terrorists as mear criminals to be arrested. It is no wonder that the federal government defaulted to the previous group think with Reid, when he was caught so close on the heels of 9/11.

Since 2001, the mindset has obviously changed to what was then not intuitively obvious. Today, in 2010, it's mere Common Sense to treat the Christmas bomber as an enemy combatant. However, Common Sense is not something in great supply in the current administration.

Rush is back.

2010-01-07T08:35:00.001-08:00

The following is from Rush's monologue yesterday. Once again, I believe he speaks the truth. Feel free to dispute his claims, if you can. Show us some proof that what he says is a lie. I would be very interested in seeing it.

. . . Now, for those of you who still doubt, who still have trouble putting your arms around the concept that this economic disaster is purposeful, Peter Schweizer has written Architects of Ruin, page eight, this is a look back at Saul Alinsky. Saul Alinsky -- Obama is one of his acolytes -- argued the middle class would have to be brought around slowly to revolutionary change, to radical change, couldn't do it overnight. And that the best way to do it was to take everything away from 'em. This is Alinsky: "Any revolutionary change must be preceded by a passive, affirmative, nonchallenging attitude toward change among the mass of our people. They must feel so frustrated, so defeated, so lost, so futureless in the prevailing system that they are willing to let go of the past and change the future. This acceptance is the reformation essential to any revolution."

Now, speaking for myself, I have no doubt that Obama wishes to remake this country because he finds it guilty, it is immoral, it is colonial, it has been imperialistic, its military is immoral, we have supported the wrong people, we have plundered the earth, we have stolen all these resources for our own benefit and our own lifestyle. He thinks that way of this country, it's what he's been taught, it's what he learned at Harvard, it's what he learned in Hawaii, it's what he's learned everywhere he's been in school and by the people that matter to him. This country is unjust and immoral and he's going to make it right. He was taught Alinsky at the University of Chicago, he lectured on Alinsky. Alinsky is a god to leftist radicals. And so when Alinsky writes that people have to feel so frustrated, so defeated, so lost, so futureless in the current system, i.e, capitalism, that they are willing to let go of the past, capitalism, and change the future, socialism. Well, I don't know if you've seen the economic news. If you haven't, I'll share it with you. But they're talking a double-dip real estate problem, unemployment, no change coming. People are unhappier in their jobs than ever before. There is a lot of frustration. There's a lot of defeat out there, a lot of people feeling lost, a lot of people feeling futureless. And the way Obama and Rahm Emanuel look at this is a crisis to be taken advantage of.

Wake up, America! Let's not make the same mistake this year that was made in '08.

Christianity on Prime Time

2010-01-07T07:55:00.000-08:00

I was watching this segment and literally stood up and cheered. Way to go, Brit! That's what we need! My next thought was he's going to catch hell (literally and figuratively) for what he said. And he has. Liberals are going nuts. (Are there any Christian liberals out there? What do YOU say?) Anyway, I was going to write about his remarks, but I like what Ann has to say better:

If You Can Find a Better Deal, Take It!
Ann Coulter
Wednesday, January 06, 2010

Someone mentioned Christianity on television recently and liberals reacted with their usual howls of rage and blinking incomprehension. On a Fox News panel discussing Tiger Woods, Brit Hume said, perfectly accurately:

"The extent to which he can recover, it seems to me, depends on his faith. He is said to be a Buddhist. I don't think that faith offers the kind of forgiveness and redemption that is offered by the Christian faith. So, my message to Tiger would be, 'Tiger, turn to the Christian faith and you can make a total recovery and be a great example to the world."

Hume's words, being 100 percent factually correct, sent liberals into a tizzy of sputtering rage, once again illustrating liberals' copious ignorance of Christianity. (Also illustrating the words of the Bible: "How is it you do not understand me when I speak? It is because you cannot bear to listen to my words." John 8:43.) In The Washington Post, Tom Shales demanded that Hume apologize, saying he had "dissed about half a billion Buddhists on the planet."

Is Buddhism about forgiveness? Because, if so, Buddhists had better start demanding corrections from every book, magazine article and blog posting ever written on the subject, which claims Buddhists don't believe in God, but try to become their own gods.

I can't imagine that anyone thinks Tiger's problem was that he didn't sufficiently think of himself as a god, especially after that final putt in the Arnold Palmer Invitational last year. In light of Shales' warning Hume about "what people are saying" about him, I hope Hume's a Christian, but that's not apparent from his inarguable description of Christianity. Of course, given the reaction to his remarks, apparently one has to be a regular New Testament scholar to have so much as a passing familiarity with the basic concept of Christianity.

On MSNBC, David Shuster invoked the "separation of church and television" (a phrase that also doesn't appear in the Constitution), bitterly complaining that Hume had brought up Christianity "out-of-the-blue" on "a political talk show." Why on earth would Hume mention religion while discussing a public figure who had fallen from grace and was in need of redemption and forgiveness? Boy, talk about coming out of left field!

What religion -- what topic -- induces this sort of babbling idiocy? (If liberals really want to keep people from hearing about God, they should give Him his own show on MSNBC.) Most perplexing was columnist Dan Savage's indignant accusation that Hume was claiming that Christianity "offers the best deal -- it gives you the get-out-of-adultery-free card that other religions just can't." In fact, that's exactly what Christianity does. It's the best deal in the universe. (I know it seems strange that a self-described atheist and "radical sex advice columnist f*****" like Savage would miss the central point of Christianity,
but there it is.)

God sent his only son to get the crap beaten out of him, die for our sins and rise from the dead. If you believe that, you're in. Your sins are washed away from you -- sins even worse than adultery! -- because of the cross. "He canceled the record of the charges against us and took it away by nailing it to the cross." Colossians 2:14. Surely you remember the cross, liberals -- the symbol banned by ACLU lawsuits from public property throughout the land?

Christianity is simultaneously the easiest religion in the world and the hardest religion in the world. In the no-frills, economy-class version, you don't need a church, a teacher, candles, incense, special food or clothing; you don't need to pass a test or prove yourself in any way. All you'll need is a Bible (in order to grasp the amazing deal you're getting) and probably a water baptism, though even that's disputed. You can be washing the dishes or walking your dog or just sitting there minding your business hating Susan Sarandon and accept that God sent his only son to die for your sins and rise from the dead ... and you're in!

"Because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved." Romans 10:9.

If you do that, every rotten, sinful thing you've ever done is gone from you. You're every bit as much a Christian as the pope or Billy Graham. No fine print, no "your mileage may vary," no blackout dates. God ought to do a TV spot: "I'm God Almighty, and if you can find a better deal than the one I'm offering, take it." The Gospel makes this point approximately 1,000 times. Here are a few examples at random:

"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life." John 3:16.

"For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God." Ephesians 2:8.

"For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans 6:23.

In a boiling rage, liberals constantly accuse Christians of being "judgmental." No, we're relieved. Christianity is also the hardest religion in the world because, if you believe Christ died for your sins and rose from the dead, you have no choice but to give your life entirely over to Him. No more sexual promiscuity, no lying, no cheating, no stealing, no killing inconvenient old people or unborn babies -- no doing what all the other kids do.And no more caring what the world thinks of you -- because, as Jesus warned in a prophecy constantly fulfilled by liberals:

The world will hate you.

With Christianity, your sins are forgiven, the slate is wiped clean and your eternal life is guaranteed through nothing you did yourself, even though you don't deserve it. It's the best deal in the universe.
Copyright © 2010 Salem Web Network. All Rights Reserved.

Federal Revenues vs Entitlements

2010-01-06T07:26:00.000-08:00

Take a moment to click on and study this chart. What's really scary is to note the point where the total federal revenues line meets the entitlements line. Entitlements are just one part of the federal budget. What's not included are defense spending, education, infrastructure, etc. What will our children and grandchildren do in 2052? Think about it.

TSA is not the problem.

2010-01-05T08:27:00.000-08:00

I have a bit of experience dealing with airplanes, airline travel, and airport security. Watching the cable news, reading the newspapers, and the internet, one would think the reason for the successful terrorist attack on NWA 253 was due to problems with TSA and security at the airport. (If you don't think it was successful, watch the cable news, read the newspapers and the internet.) The airport and the TSA screening location are the last line of defense. If an individual planning a terrorist attack gets that far, then the problem was much greater than any mistakes made at the X ray machine or metal scanners.

The REAL problem comes from the leadership. Political correctness and international approval are not reasonable motives for achieving the safety of all Americans as they travel. Giving terrorists the same rights as American citizens is not going to help solve the problem. The world needs to know if YOU attack our country, YOU and YOURS will suffer - big time. I remember in college we used to constantly play little pranks on each other. After awhile, I found it annoying and decided the only way to stop it was to respond massively. If someone put gum in my faucet, I would throw their bed out of the 3rd floor window into the snow. It didn't take long for the pranks to cease.

Obviously, I don't believe terrorist attacks are pranks, but I do believe we should respond massively. Reading the terrorists their Miranda rights only encourages them to continue to "play their pranks". Since the current Occupant took over the White House, those meaning to do us harm know they'll be treated well if captured. Those supporting terrorist activities will be protected and continue their plans to kill us.

Watch Obama continue to play the blame game.

Icicle on my deck

2010-01-02T11:23:00.000-08:00

At the time of filming, this icicle was about 6' long and still growing. It would probably have been 8' long had it not been for global warming.

Happy New Year!

2009-12-30T08:26:00.001-08:00

As 2009 and my 6th decade approaches the end, I find it interesting to think back on where I was at the end of each decade I've spent on this earth. I won't bore you and describe my thoughts at each of those points in my life, but I will say when I looked forward from the end of each of those decades, I thought I had a pretty good idea of what the next decade held for me. Looking back, I realize I didn't have a clue. It reminds me of the story in Exodus when Moses implored God to show himself. God told Moses to shield his eyes as He approached, then He said Moses could watch Him as He passes. That's the way life has gone for me. I've known God was in my life, but I could never see what He had in store for me as He approached. It was only after He passed could I see the many blessings he has provided in good times, but especially in bad times. It bolsters my faith to think of God that way. I know He blesses us all as He approaches. Happy New Year!

Flight 253

2009-12-28T06:07:00.000-08:00

For obvious reasons, the "security incident" that occurred Christmas Day on NWA 253 from AMS to DTW was of particular interest to me. While some say "the system worked" I'll go out on limb and say it didn't work and isn't working yet. I'll even go one step further and say the terrorist attempt was successful.

The system didn't work because today there is no longer the urgency and importance attached to fighting The War on Terror that there was even a year and half ago. Intelligence and security agencies throughout the world are no longer talking to each other or passing information back and forth. Bureaucracies are only growing and becoming more cumbersome. Terror is no longer considered an act of war, but instead treated as a crime. Terrorists snatched off the battlefield are given the same rights as American citizens. The perpetrator on 253 was "charged with a crime" so they could hold him. He should have been arrested, carted off to Gitmo and interrogated to the fullest extent possible in order to prevent future similar attacks. Instead, he is now lawyered up and considered innocent until proven guilty just like the terrorist who attacked Ft. Hood.

Our leaders in Washington (or Hawaii) are already pointing the finger at former President Bush saying the policies in effect that allowed the terrorist aboard 253 were put into place by the previous administration. Never mind the fact that on 9/10/01 there were NO policies in effect. Never mind the fact that Obama's Homeland Security Secretary Napolitano reviewed those policies and saw no reason until now to revise or improve on them. What the current administration needs to do, and do quickly, is stop finger pointing, and move from their current 9/10/01 sense of laisez faire to a 9/12/01 sense of urgency. They need to stop doing the politically correct thing and start doing what's right. They need to show some toughness and common sense.

The terrorist on 253 was successful in one major respect. He succeeded in curtailing our freedom as Americans. After this incident it won't be the terrorist or their network that suffers, it will be airline crewmembers and the traveling public as we deal with more stringent and meaningless security procedures - most of which are put into place to make us believe something is being done even though it isn't. If Al Qaeda can make us afraid and restrict our freedom to move about, the terrorists feel they have succeeded.

What we need to do is treat the terrorists for what they are. When captured, we need to get information from them, not read them their rights. We need to severely punish those that harbor them. That way those around them will cast them out. We need to do much more profiling. We need to get serious again about fighting The War on Terror. Prohibiting pillows on your lap for the last hour of the flight is not serious. If we don't get serious, we have only ourselves to blame for the next 9/11.

Straight Talk from Idaho

2009-12-23T12:41:00.001-08:00

No new taxes? Yeah, right.

2009-12-22T13:37:00.001-08:00

The Senate bill creates a host of new taxes, totaling $370.2 billion in taxes and another $36 billion in taxes from the individual mandate penalty over the next 10 years. The government would start collecting many of these taxes in 2010, even as the economy continues to struggle.

The most significant is a 0.5 percent increase in the payroll tax on earnings above $200,000 for individuals and $250,000 for couples filing joint returns. The new tax provisions would also permanently sever the link between the Medicare payroll tax and Medicare benefits because the additional revenue would go to the general fund for health care instead of directly to Medicare payments.

The Senate bill would also impose an excise tax on "high value" health care plans. This tax is expected to be almost $150 billion and is very similar to the tax reported earlier out of the Senate Finance Committee, but it uses a higher threshold level. While the health benefits packages of corporate plans may be rich, it does not follow that the subscribers are wealthy. This tax will disproportionately affect middle-income households.

The Senate bill would also impose a host of new taxes on the health insurance industry, ranging from a tax on branded drugs to a tax on medical devices. These new taxes would increase medical costs and premiums for individuals regardless of income. They would only raise the cost of health care because companies would pass these tax increases on to health care consumers.

The bill has over a dozen new taxes, including:

A 40 percent excise tax on "high value" health care plans of $8,500 or more for an individual and $23,000 or more for a couple ($149.1 billion in new taxes over the next 10 years);
A 0.5 percent hike in the Medicare payroll tax for single earners over $200,000 and joint earners over $250,000 ($53.8 billion);
Changes in health savings accounts (HSAs), Archer Medical Spending Accounts, health flexible spending accounts (FSAs), and health reimbursement arrangements ($5 billion);
A $2,500 cap on FSAs in cafeteria plans ($14.6 billion);
An increase from 10 percent to 20 percent in the penalty for early non-qualified HSA withdrawals ($1.3 billion);
A tax on branded drugs ($22.2 billion);
An annual tax on the health insurers[31] ($60.4 billion);
A tax on companies that manufacture or import medical devices ($19.3 billion);
A 0.5 percent excise tax on cosmetic surgery ($5.8 billion over 10 years);
An increase in the floor of the medical expenses deduction from 7.5 percent of adjusted gross income to 10 percent, except for seniors, who will stay at 7.5 percent ($15.2 billion);
Elimination of the Medicare Part D (prescription drug) deduction ($5.4 billion);
A $500,000 cap on the tax deduction for the salaries of employees of health insurance companies ($0.6 billion over 10 years)[32]; and
A mandate on companies with more than 50 employees to provide health coverage or pay a $750 penalty per employee for those who obtain coverage through the insurance exchange ($36 billion over 10 years) and a mandate on individuals to obtain coverage or pay a tax penalty.[33]

Sometimes cartoons are better than . . .

2009-12-22T09:29:00.000-08:00

. . . words.

Minnesota Vikings offensive line fails to show up for work.

2009-12-20T20:34:00.000-08:00

Minneapolis, MN - In a bizarre schedule "snafu",several members of the Minnesota Vikings offensive line failed to show up for the Sunday Night Football game on NBC against the Carolina Panthers. Sources say Brian McKinney, the multimillionaire offensive lineman, along with Steve Hutchison, the other multimillionaire lineman, convinced the rest of the line that it would be better to not show up and prevent any possible injuries they may encounter prior to the playoffs. "We realize we may embarrass the Vikings and their fan base by not showing up for a nationally televised game, "said Hutchison, "but we believe it will give 'ole #4 and #28 a chance to see what they're make of." Favre (#4) and Peterson (#28) refused to comment on the absence of an offensive line, but sources close to them stated they did comment on how beautiful the Carolina sky is after having spent considerable time on their backs studying it Sunday night. When asked about the scheduling mixup Sunday night, Coach Brad Childress commented "What game?". Sources are also stating the Vikings offensive line is questionable for the remainder of the season.

Times are tough, unless . . .

2009-12-18T10:29:00.000-08:00

House members this week approved and sent to the Senate a budget resolution that includes a 2 percent raise for federal civilian employees. President Obama, who recommended the raise, is expected to sign it.

While many workers in the private sector have despaired of a pay increase in the past few years, Congress takes care of federal employees with annual raises, awarding 3.9 percent in 2009, 3.5 percent in 2008 and 2.7 percent in 2007.

The average pay for the nation's 1.9 million federal workers is a little over $71,000, with the 372,041 federal workers in the Washington area earning an average of $94,047. The average salary for the nation's 108 million private-sector workers is $50,028.

. . . you work for the Federal Government.

P.S. How much money would be saved if current Federal salaries were frozen for next year to keep the country afloat? I survived (barely) a 40% pay cut to keep my company afloat. Just a thought.

What Copenhagen is REALLY about

2009-12-17T07:34:00.000-08:00

President Chavez brought the house down.

He said the process in Copenhagen was “not democratic, it is not inclusive, but isn’t that the reality of our world, the world is really and imperial dictatorship…down with imperial dictatorships” he got a rousing round of applause.

When he said there was a “silent and terrible ghost in the room” and that ghost was called capitalism, the applause was deafening.

But then he wound up to his grand conclusion – 20 minutes after his 5 minute speaking time was supposed to have ended and after quoting everyone from Karl Marx to Jesus Christ - “our revolution seeks to help all people…socialism, the other ghost that is probably wandering around this room, that’s the way to save the planet, capitalism is the road to hell....let’s fight against capitalism and make it obey us.” He won a standing ovation.