~ this one sent to me by Ann
Seems a guy runs a stop sign, and gets pulled over by a local policeman. Guy hands the cop his driver's license, insurance verification, plus his concealed carry permit.
"Okay, Mr. Walden," the cop says, "I see your CCW permit. Are you carrying today?"
"Yes, I am."
"Well then, better tell me what you got."
Walden says, "Well, I got a .357 revolver in my inside coat pocket. There's a 9mm semi-auto in the glove box. And, I've got a .22 magnum derringer in my right boot."
"Okay," the cop says. "Anything else?"
"Yeah, back in the trunk, there's an AR15 and a shotgun. That's about it."
"Mr. Smith, are you on your way to or from a gun range...?"
"Nope."
"Well then, what are you afraid of...?"
"Not a damn thing..."
Thursday, December 16, 2010
Thursday, December 9, 2010
Monday, December 6, 2010
WikiLeaks Lessons
From the news this morning
WikiLeaks reveals sites critical to US security
And yet they want us to be OK with putting our medical records into electronic format. Sheeesh
WikiLeaks reveals sites critical to US security
And yet they want us to be OK with putting our medical records into electronic format. Sheeesh
Sunday, December 5, 2010
Monday, November 22, 2010
Air Safety? Yeah Right
In a recent article concerning the feel-up searches of air travelers, I ran across the following apologia from some shallow thinking person .
"The screener, who sits in a different location, does not see the face of the person being screened and does not know the traveler's identity. "
I can't wait to hear this defense the next time I sit on a Peeping Tom jury. "Your honor, I did not know the identity of that hot babe I was watching, and also I could not see her face, so you have to let me go."
The world has gone insane in their thought process. Do people not ever see the end game in the logic that they use as they craft their apologia for these intrusions? Let's see now, bombs are put together in houses, so therefore the police should be able to come into your home to search - I mean after all THAT would keep us safe, right?
Chaining us all up against the wall would keep us all safe too.
The simple fact is that freedom is not free and the threat to liberty outweighs any "need" for this, and many other intrusions of the government. What's next, "body" cavity searches? Camera's in my house, GPS tracking of all vehicles, since after all, the terrorists use cars right? No government would ever want to tighten its grip on the people and use the police power of the STATE (such as $11,000 fines for not allowing yourself to be groped) to then force the people into any totalitarian form of subjugation, right? The fact of the matter is that for many years now, people are being trained to "allow".
Think about that statement that "freedom is not free" and you can understand that the "solution" is to stop doing that which is the threat to freedom and liberty.
BTW - "Public Safety" is the same reason that was used to institute herding the Jews into boxcars.
"The screener, who sits in a different location, does not see the face of the person being screened and does not know the traveler's identity. "
I can't wait to hear this defense the next time I sit on a Peeping Tom jury. "Your honor, I did not know the identity of that hot babe I was watching, and also I could not see her face, so you have to let me go."
The world has gone insane in their thought process. Do people not ever see the end game in the logic that they use as they craft their apologia for these intrusions? Let's see now, bombs are put together in houses, so therefore the police should be able to come into your home to search - I mean after all THAT would keep us safe, right?
Chaining us all up against the wall would keep us all safe too.
The simple fact is that freedom is not free and the threat to liberty outweighs any "need" for this, and many other intrusions of the government. What's next, "body" cavity searches? Camera's in my house, GPS tracking of all vehicles, since after all, the terrorists use cars right? No government would ever want to tighten its grip on the people and use the police power of the STATE (such as $11,000 fines for not allowing yourself to be groped) to then force the people into any totalitarian form of subjugation, right? The fact of the matter is that for many years now, people are being trained to "allow".
Think about that statement that "freedom is not free" and you can understand that the "solution" is to stop doing that which is the threat to freedom and liberty.
BTW - "Public Safety" is the same reason that was used to institute herding the Jews into boxcars.
Sunday, November 21, 2010
Death by a Thousand Cuts
From a news item this morning .....
WASHINGTON – Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula is promising more small-scale attacks like its attempts to bomb two U.S.-bound cargo planes, which it likens to bleeding its enemy to death by a thousand cuts, in a special edition of the Yemeni-based group's English on-line magazine, Inspire.
The editors boast that what they call Operation Hemorrhage was cheap, and easy, using common items that together with shipping, cost only $4,200 to carry out.
Commentary
The thousand cuts started in 2001 and are now being multiplied - and are largely self inflicted. Yes, you read that correctly - self-inflicted.
I always wondered why those planes were flown into those towers. Statistically speaking, in the grand scheme of things 3,000 out of 300 million is insignificant. (Remember that 60,000 were lost in some of the WWII engagements.)
Then, as I saw what started happening in my own country, I realized that perhaps it was not about the 3000, but about the effect that the act would bring about in the United States. Indeed, have they already not already figuratively (and sometimes literally) brought us on our knees as we stand around waiting to be fondled, as we are forced to submit to searches and seizures that violate every tenet of freedom and inalienable right, as we tolerate the imposition of fines of $11,000 for leaving the airport as a way of opting out of the groping.
All this intrusion and over-reaching occuring with bleating citizens standing on the sidewalks cheering on the parade of "Public Safety" .
Now I see what was the real desired aftermath of the 2001 attacks and every attack thereafter - to take America from a land where the people stand against the intrusion of the STATE, and instead meekly stand while the STATE engages in one civil liberty infringement after another. The eventual end game I fear is a STATE where the STATE has us stand in line to take even a shower. (For those of you too young to remember, or for those that miss the reference to "showers", go back to your history books and check out what was happening in 1939.)
Think it can't happen here? They thought it could not happen there either, and indeed, over there, just as is happening over here, it started happening with just a few small infringements, then a few more, and then a few more.
WASHINGTON – Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula is promising more small-scale attacks like its attempts to bomb two U.S.-bound cargo planes, which it likens to bleeding its enemy to death by a thousand cuts, in a special edition of the Yemeni-based group's English on-line magazine, Inspire.
The editors boast that what they call Operation Hemorrhage was cheap, and easy, using common items that together with shipping, cost only $4,200 to carry out.
Commentary
The thousand cuts started in 2001 and are now being multiplied - and are largely self inflicted. Yes, you read that correctly - self-inflicted.
I always wondered why those planes were flown into those towers. Statistically speaking, in the grand scheme of things 3,000 out of 300 million is insignificant. (Remember that 60,000 were lost in some of the WWII engagements.)
Then, as I saw what started happening in my own country, I realized that perhaps it was not about the 3000, but about the effect that the act would bring about in the United States. Indeed, have they already not already figuratively (and sometimes literally) brought us on our knees as we stand around waiting to be fondled, as we are forced to submit to searches and seizures that violate every tenet of freedom and inalienable right, as we tolerate the imposition of fines of $11,000 for leaving the airport as a way of opting out of the groping.
All this intrusion and over-reaching occuring with bleating citizens standing on the sidewalks cheering on the parade of "Public Safety" .
Now I see what was the real desired aftermath of the 2001 attacks and every attack thereafter - to take America from a land where the people stand against the intrusion of the STATE, and instead meekly stand while the STATE engages in one civil liberty infringement after another. The eventual end game I fear is a STATE where the STATE has us stand in line to take even a shower. (For those of you too young to remember, or for those that miss the reference to "showers", go back to your history books and check out what was happening in 1939.)
Think it can't happen here? They thought it could not happen there either, and indeed, over there, just as is happening over here, it started happening with just a few small infringements, then a few more, and then a few more.
Saturday, November 20, 2010
Friday, November 19, 2010
Cornyn Exposed
Well I declare-- be the peeps waking up? Read also the comments and find the one about Fred Thompson and his utttely clueless "Big Magnet" comment
http://www.redstate.com/erick/2010/11/19/john-cornyn-declares-he-will-continue-the-war-against-conservative-candidates/#postcomment
BTW, this entire Seneca blog was started because of Cornyn, Hutchison, and Lamar Smith's vote for the TARP. Good to see that I am not alone.
http://www.redstate.com/erick/2010/11/19/john-cornyn-declares-he-will-continue-the-war-against-conservative-candidates/#postcomment
BTW, this entire Seneca blog was started because of Cornyn, Hutchison, and Lamar Smith's vote for the TARP. Good to see that I am not alone.
Tales from Barbados
ESCAPE FROM AMERICA
Written by Dr. Jack Wheeler
Thursday, 18 November 2010
Folks - get ready for your brain to go on a roller coaster ride. Buckle up...
The best rum punch in the Caribbean is made by Captain George Clarke, who owns the Sweetfield Manor B&B in the Barbados. Late last month (October), I was enjoying his libation while watching a truly glorious ocean sunset when we were joined by a couple who had just arrived from New York. They looked like they needed a drink.
George poured them each a glass from his ever-full pitcher, sprinkled a little grated nutmeg on top, and said, "Welcome to the Barbados. What would you folks like to do on the island?"
They cast a glance at each other. After a long sip and a long sigh, the lady answered, "Escape from America."
In response to my, shall we say quizzical glance, she held up her glass and said, "After two or three of these, maybe I can explain." We enjoyed the sunset quietly. I took a picture of it that was so good George offered to exchange his secret rum punch recipe for it.
There was a rustling in the trees above. "That's a troop of green monkeys," George explained. "They usually come through about now. Green monkeys escaped from Africa on a boat some three hundred years ago..."
George let this comment hang in the twilight air, so I followed it up with, "For centuries, people have been escaping to America. You folks want to escape from it?"
George poured them another rum punch. The lady wiped a tear from her eye. "Yes, from," she answered, "... we can't stand it anymore, we have to get out. What happened to me at the Newark airport coming here was the final straw."
Her husband continued. "We don't want to escape from America. We're Americans - how can we be anything else? We want to escape from America's government, what it's become. We feel like we're Jews getting out of Nazi Germany in the ‘30s."
"What happened at Newark?" George inquired.
The lady grimaced. "We had gone through security, our flight was called, the airline fellow scanned our boarding passes, and we started down the jetway to board the plane. There - in the jetway - were four guards wearing a police-type uniform waiting to pounce on us. One of them barked at me, ‘You, step over here!', and made me come in to this vestibule of the boarding ramp. My husband followed, the guard stopped him, he said, ‘But she's my wife,' the guard ordered him away.
"This goon proceeded to grill me for several minutes Why was I going to the Caribbean? When was I coming back? What was I going to do there? Where was I from? What's my home address? What high school did I go to? What did I do for a living? On and on and on. He wrote my answers down on a clipboard. Finally I asked him what was going on. He said it was just a random security check. So I asked him the purpose for all these intrusive personal questions.
"Believe it or not, he said - with all this truculence in his voice - ‘We want to know who's leaving this country, not just entering! We want to know where our citizens are going, what they're doing, when they're coming back - and we have a right to know!' He made this last point with added forcefulness. Then he dismissed me with a wave of his hand.
"We went to our seats, and I held my husband's hand and cried. It was a beautiful day and you could see Manhattan so clearly out the window as we flew past it on takeoff. I never felt so sad. ‘Goodbye, America,' I thought. ‘I'll come back when it's free again'."
After a few moments of silence, her husband said, "I saw these guards with these big gold badges on their uniforms do the same to several other passengers. We were worried before but this clinched it. We were coming here and a couple of other islands for a vacation but we may not go back now. You see, we are convinced the federal government will before too long require an exit visa - government permission to leave the country - so we're getting out while we still can."
I asked if they had any hope the upcoming November 2nd elections would change anything.
"Hope, yes - sure, we've got plenty of hope, but we're not betting our freedom and life savings on it," came the reply. "We've got enough to retire on. We know this Obama government will try to dig itself out of the hole it's dug by confiscating our and everyone else's savings. Of course we hope a new Republican Congress will prevent it. But it's too risky a bet."
I could not help recalling this sobering conversation in the light of the burgeoning "TSA Revolt," sparked by John "don't touch my junk" Tyner's now-legendary TSA confrontation in San Diego last Saturday (11/13).
After traveling around the world - and through airport security in 18 countries - over the past few months, then returning to the US, I can confirm that no country I know of on earth has airport security as stupid, obnoxious, and intrusive as the US. And yes, that includes North Korea.
Yet who should be surprised that government-conducted airport security now trashes the 4th Amendment and requires sexual assault by bullying perverts? It's the inevitable consequence of combining political correctness and creeping fascism.
Remember that roller coaster ride I promised at the start of this discussion? Hope you're cinched in, ‘cause here we go. We're going to talk about something called historical physics, about what snow avalanches on a mountain, forest fires, earthquakes, economic collapses and political revolutions have in common.
What all of these events have in common is that their historical conditions have reached what is called a critical state. Let's say you make a pile of rice grains. As the pile gets higher and higher, the "angle of repose" gets steeper until it reaches a critical state where any additional grain of rice can cause the pile to collapse.
You can't predict which particular grain when added will precipitate the collapse, because that depends on the unique history of how each previous grain lies on the pile. But you can tell the approach of a critical state and see the odds for collapse getting higher and higher.
The key to understanding where American history is right now, politically and economically, is to grasp that we are in such a critical state of instability.
Politically, there is incredible instability between the producers and the parasites, the makers and the moochers. Just look at how many electoral races on November 2nd were (or are being still) decided by less than 1% of the votes.
Economically, there is incredible market instability - there really aren't any markets anymore - because market signals have been replaced by government signals. Whether it's long term or short term interest rates, food prices, housing prices, gasoline prices - everywhere you look government interference is ubiquitous and calamitously distorting.
When a system, physical or political, reaches a critical state of instability, something out of the blue and unexpected often sets it off. We may have such a "trigger" in the TSA Revolt.
Besides the disgustingly objectionable aspect of their exposing people's genitalia, the backscatter x-rays used in the naked scanners are not safe. The radiation does not penetrate through the skin thus can contribute to skin cancer. Pilots or frequent fliers scanned often will receive radiation levels at the nuclear power plant worker level.
There are quite rational reasons, in other words, for objecting to an airport security naked scan - and equally so, obviously, for being sexually abused by some pervert groper with a badge.
I have to insert a side-bar here, regarding the support for TSA pervert fascism by the biggest jerk on the right, Emmett Tyrrell. How big a jerk? He once told me - no smile, he was serious - in response to the connection between cigarettes and lung cancer, that "anyone who doesn't smoke is chicken s**t."
Evidently, Tyrrell prefers pervert fascism to Moslem profiling, or dealing with terrorists the KGB way (no details here but trust me, it's persuasive).
Will this incipient TSA Revolt widen into a conflagration of opposition to government intrusion into our personal and business lives? Maybe.
The revolt started with the Tyner incident in San Diego on Saturday the 14th. On Monday the 16th, Congressman John Mica (R-FL), who helped write the original TSA bill in 2001 and will soon chair the House Transportation Committee, publicly reminded airports they can opt out of TSA. On Wednesday the 17th, the Orlando Sanford International Airport decided to opt out. Today, Thursday the 18th, airports throughout the South are considering opting out.
A guy in San Diego may have triggered a political avalanche, earthquake, and forest fire. Maybe it will fizzle out. But we can be sure another trigger will be pulled, somewhere, out of the blue, in left field. The last grain of rice will fall on the pile and our current system will be swept away.
What will be swept away, who will be buried, and who will remain standing? That's what can't be predicted. That's in the nature of a critical state collapse. Its unique history in creation means a unique end that cannot be repeated, thus not predictable. All you can do is play the odds.
I personally think the history of America favors the odds for freedom. I respect the way the Barbados couple chose to value their freedom. The lady cried when she left. There are more and more good people leaving America every day - in tears and regret, but leaving nonetheless.
Still, I'm glad for this critical state America is in now, for it's not just "where there is danger there is opportunity" like the Chinese proverb - it's that there must be danger for there to be opportunity.
Only danger can create the possibility for real opportunity. The greater the danger, the greater the opportunity.
Escape from America? It's rational to get out of harm's way. We have to squarely face the truth that our government has become a force for evil. If someone doesn't want to depend on this new "I've seen the light" Republican Party to defend them from this evil, we cannot blame them.
Yet there is too much history of freedom for America's critical state to avalanche in the direction of freedom's destruction. I am confident that the couple I met in the Barbados and all those now escaping from America will before long be returning to an America in which freedom has been reborn - and they will kiss the ground when they arrive.
Ps: The book to read on historical physics and the critical state is Ubiquity: Why Catastrophes Happen, by Mark Buchanan.
Pss: You want the secret rum punch recipe?
Three oz. white rum, three oz. dark rum, three oz. simple syrup, half-cup fresh-squeezed orange juice, half-cup key lime juice (real key limes!), two dashes Angostura bitters. Mix well, serve chilled over ice, grate fresh nutmeg on top.
Written by Dr. Jack Wheeler
Thursday, 18 November 2010
Folks - get ready for your brain to go on a roller coaster ride. Buckle up...
The best rum punch in the Caribbean is made by Captain George Clarke, who owns the Sweetfield Manor B&B in the Barbados. Late last month (October), I was enjoying his libation while watching a truly glorious ocean sunset when we were joined by a couple who had just arrived from New York. They looked like they needed a drink.
George poured them each a glass from his ever-full pitcher, sprinkled a little grated nutmeg on top, and said, "Welcome to the Barbados. What would you folks like to do on the island?"
They cast a glance at each other. After a long sip and a long sigh, the lady answered, "Escape from America."
In response to my, shall we say quizzical glance, she held up her glass and said, "After two or three of these, maybe I can explain." We enjoyed the sunset quietly. I took a picture of it that was so good George offered to exchange his secret rum punch recipe for it.
There was a rustling in the trees above. "That's a troop of green monkeys," George explained. "They usually come through about now. Green monkeys escaped from Africa on a boat some three hundred years ago..."
George let this comment hang in the twilight air, so I followed it up with, "For centuries, people have been escaping to America. You folks want to escape from it?"
George poured them another rum punch. The lady wiped a tear from her eye. "Yes, from," she answered, "... we can't stand it anymore, we have to get out. What happened to me at the Newark airport coming here was the final straw."
Her husband continued. "We don't want to escape from America. We're Americans - how can we be anything else? We want to escape from America's government, what it's become. We feel like we're Jews getting out of Nazi Germany in the ‘30s."
"What happened at Newark?" George inquired.
The lady grimaced. "We had gone through security, our flight was called, the airline fellow scanned our boarding passes, and we started down the jetway to board the plane. There - in the jetway - were four guards wearing a police-type uniform waiting to pounce on us. One of them barked at me, ‘You, step over here!', and made me come in to this vestibule of the boarding ramp. My husband followed, the guard stopped him, he said, ‘But she's my wife,' the guard ordered him away.
"This goon proceeded to grill me for several minutes Why was I going to the Caribbean? When was I coming back? What was I going to do there? Where was I from? What's my home address? What high school did I go to? What did I do for a living? On and on and on. He wrote my answers down on a clipboard. Finally I asked him what was going on. He said it was just a random security check. So I asked him the purpose for all these intrusive personal questions.
"Believe it or not, he said - with all this truculence in his voice - ‘We want to know who's leaving this country, not just entering! We want to know where our citizens are going, what they're doing, when they're coming back - and we have a right to know!' He made this last point with added forcefulness. Then he dismissed me with a wave of his hand.
"We went to our seats, and I held my husband's hand and cried. It was a beautiful day and you could see Manhattan so clearly out the window as we flew past it on takeoff. I never felt so sad. ‘Goodbye, America,' I thought. ‘I'll come back when it's free again'."
After a few moments of silence, her husband said, "I saw these guards with these big gold badges on their uniforms do the same to several other passengers. We were worried before but this clinched it. We were coming here and a couple of other islands for a vacation but we may not go back now. You see, we are convinced the federal government will before too long require an exit visa - government permission to leave the country - so we're getting out while we still can."
I asked if they had any hope the upcoming November 2nd elections would change anything.
"Hope, yes - sure, we've got plenty of hope, but we're not betting our freedom and life savings on it," came the reply. "We've got enough to retire on. We know this Obama government will try to dig itself out of the hole it's dug by confiscating our and everyone else's savings. Of course we hope a new Republican Congress will prevent it. But it's too risky a bet."
I could not help recalling this sobering conversation in the light of the burgeoning "TSA Revolt," sparked by John "don't touch my junk" Tyner's now-legendary TSA confrontation in San Diego last Saturday (11/13).
After traveling around the world - and through airport security in 18 countries - over the past few months, then returning to the US, I can confirm that no country I know of on earth has airport security as stupid, obnoxious, and intrusive as the US. And yes, that includes North Korea.
Yet who should be surprised that government-conducted airport security now trashes the 4th Amendment and requires sexual assault by bullying perverts? It's the inevitable consequence of combining political correctness and creeping fascism.
Remember that roller coaster ride I promised at the start of this discussion? Hope you're cinched in, ‘cause here we go. We're going to talk about something called historical physics, about what snow avalanches on a mountain, forest fires, earthquakes, economic collapses and political revolutions have in common.
What all of these events have in common is that their historical conditions have reached what is called a critical state. Let's say you make a pile of rice grains. As the pile gets higher and higher, the "angle of repose" gets steeper until it reaches a critical state where any additional grain of rice can cause the pile to collapse.
You can't predict which particular grain when added will precipitate the collapse, because that depends on the unique history of how each previous grain lies on the pile. But you can tell the approach of a critical state and see the odds for collapse getting higher and higher.
The key to understanding where American history is right now, politically and economically, is to grasp that we are in such a critical state of instability.
Politically, there is incredible instability between the producers and the parasites, the makers and the moochers. Just look at how many electoral races on November 2nd were (or are being still) decided by less than 1% of the votes.
Economically, there is incredible market instability - there really aren't any markets anymore - because market signals have been replaced by government signals. Whether it's long term or short term interest rates, food prices, housing prices, gasoline prices - everywhere you look government interference is ubiquitous and calamitously distorting.
When a system, physical or political, reaches a critical state of instability, something out of the blue and unexpected often sets it off. We may have such a "trigger" in the TSA Revolt.
Besides the disgustingly objectionable aspect of their exposing people's genitalia, the backscatter x-rays used in the naked scanners are not safe. The radiation does not penetrate through the skin thus can contribute to skin cancer. Pilots or frequent fliers scanned often will receive radiation levels at the nuclear power plant worker level.
There are quite rational reasons, in other words, for objecting to an airport security naked scan - and equally so, obviously, for being sexually abused by some pervert groper with a badge.
I have to insert a side-bar here, regarding the support for TSA pervert fascism by the biggest jerk on the right, Emmett Tyrrell. How big a jerk? He once told me - no smile, he was serious - in response to the connection between cigarettes and lung cancer, that "anyone who doesn't smoke is chicken s**t."
Evidently, Tyrrell prefers pervert fascism to Moslem profiling, or dealing with terrorists the KGB way (no details here but trust me, it's persuasive).
Will this incipient TSA Revolt widen into a conflagration of opposition to government intrusion into our personal and business lives? Maybe.
The revolt started with the Tyner incident in San Diego on Saturday the 14th. On Monday the 16th, Congressman John Mica (R-FL), who helped write the original TSA bill in 2001 and will soon chair the House Transportation Committee, publicly reminded airports they can opt out of TSA. On Wednesday the 17th, the Orlando Sanford International Airport decided to opt out. Today, Thursday the 18th, airports throughout the South are considering opting out.
A guy in San Diego may have triggered a political avalanche, earthquake, and forest fire. Maybe it will fizzle out. But we can be sure another trigger will be pulled, somewhere, out of the blue, in left field. The last grain of rice will fall on the pile and our current system will be swept away.
What will be swept away, who will be buried, and who will remain standing? That's what can't be predicted. That's in the nature of a critical state collapse. Its unique history in creation means a unique end that cannot be repeated, thus not predictable. All you can do is play the odds.
I personally think the history of America favors the odds for freedom. I respect the way the Barbados couple chose to value their freedom. The lady cried when she left. There are more and more good people leaving America every day - in tears and regret, but leaving nonetheless.
Still, I'm glad for this critical state America is in now, for it's not just "where there is danger there is opportunity" like the Chinese proverb - it's that there must be danger for there to be opportunity.
Only danger can create the possibility for real opportunity. The greater the danger, the greater the opportunity.
Escape from America? It's rational to get out of harm's way. We have to squarely face the truth that our government has become a force for evil. If someone doesn't want to depend on this new "I've seen the light" Republican Party to defend them from this evil, we cannot blame them.
Yet there is too much history of freedom for America's critical state to avalanche in the direction of freedom's destruction. I am confident that the couple I met in the Barbados and all those now escaping from America will before long be returning to an America in which freedom has been reborn - and they will kiss the ground when they arrive.
Ps: The book to read on historical physics and the critical state is Ubiquity: Why Catastrophes Happen, by Mark Buchanan.
Pss: You want the secret rum punch recipe?
Three oz. white rum, three oz. dark rum, three oz. simple syrup, half-cup fresh-squeezed orange juice, half-cup key lime juice (real key limes!), two dashes Angostura bitters. Mix well, serve chilled over ice, grate fresh nutmeg on top.
New Disclosure Requirement Porposed for Congressmen
Maybe we should make all of them get hooked up to the "device"
Sunday, November 14, 2010
Movie Quiz
~Sent in by Rick
This is pretty amazing! I was surprised how this worked. Be honest and don't look at the movie list till you have done the math!
Try this test and find out what movie is your favorite. This amazing math quiz can likely predict which of 18 films you would enjoy the most. Don't ask me how, but it really works!
Movie Test:
Pick a number from 1-9.
Multiply by 3.
Add 3.
Multiply by 3 again.
Now add the two digits together to find your predicted favorite movie in the list of 18 movies below.
Movie List:
1. Gone With The Wind
2. E.T.
3. Beverly Hills Cop
4. Star Wars
5. Forrest Gump
6. The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly
7. Jaws
8. Grease
9. The Defeat of Obama in 2012
10. Casablanca
11. Jurassic Park
12. Shrek
13. Pirates of the Caribbean
14. Titanic
15. Raiders Of The Lost Ark
16. Home Alone
17. Mrs. Doubtfire
18. Toy Story
This is pretty amazing! I was surprised how this worked. Be honest and don't look at the movie list till you have done the math!
Try this test and find out what movie is your favorite. This amazing math quiz can likely predict which of 18 films you would enjoy the most. Don't ask me how, but it really works!
Movie Test:
Pick a number from 1-9.
Multiply by 3.
Add 3.
Multiply by 3 again.
Now add the two digits together to find your predicted favorite movie in the list of 18 movies below.
Movie List:
1. Gone With The Wind
2. E.T.
3. Beverly Hills Cop
4. Star Wars
5. Forrest Gump
6. The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly
7. Jaws
8. Grease
9. The Defeat of Obama in 2012
10. Casablanca
11. Jurassic Park
12. Shrek
13. Pirates of the Caribbean
14. Titanic
15. Raiders Of The Lost Ark
16. Home Alone
17. Mrs. Doubtfire
18. Toy Story
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
Heard About Town
Says the man when asked why he voted Democrat ...
"I vote Democrat because I can get more stuff for me at your expense than if I vote Republican."
"I vote Democrat because I can get more stuff for me at your expense than if I vote Republican."
Hacked Off Reader Throws Down on Hack Journalism
From a reader response to a left wind biased article that I saw elsewhere. It was just to good to pass up. I am not an apoligist for Bush, it is just that I am tired of the refrain froim the liberals that " It's Bush's fault"
If George W. Bush had stated that there were 57 states in the United States, would you have said that he is an embarrassment?
If George W. Bush had flown all the way to Denmark to make a five-minute speech about how the Olympics would benefit him, would you have thought he was a self-important, conceited, egotistical individual?
If George W. Bush had been so Spanish-illiterate as to refer to "Cinco de Cuatro" in front of the Mexican ambassador when it was the 5th of May (Cinco de Mayo), and continued to flub it when he tried again, would you have winced in embarrassment?
If George W. Bush had misspelled the word "advice" and mispronounced the word "corps," mistaking it for a dead body, would you have wondered about this man's ability to articulate English and represent his country?
If George W. Bush had burned nine thousand gallons of jet fuel to go plant a single tree on Earth Day, would you have concluded he's a hypocrite?
If George W. Bush's administration had approved of Air Force One flying low and then sending in a jet fighter in downtown Manhattan, thus causing widespread panic, would you have wondered at the lack of sensitivity displayed by the Commander-in-Chief?
If George W. Bush had failed to send relief aid to flood victims throughout the Midwest, with more people killed or made homeless than in New Orleans during Katrina, would you wonder if this lack of assistance had racial overtones? Clearly you would have been incensed by the gross incompetence -- wouldn't you?
If George W. Bush had created the positions of 32 czars who report directly to him, bypassing approval by the House and Senate, would you have begun to wonder if American democracy was being trampled?
If George W. Bush had ordered the firing of the CEO of a major corporation, even though the president has no constitutional authority to do so, would you have worried about the moorings of this country and the abuse of power?
If George W. Bush had ignored outright voting rights violations and did not recommend that the Department of Justice render justice, would you begin to wonder if the man was the president of all the people or just some of the people?
So what is it about Obama that makes him so brilliant and impressive? He's done all this in fifteen months -- and we still have another two years and nine months to go
If George W. Bush had stated that there were 57 states in the United States, would you have said that he is an embarrassment?
If George W. Bush had flown all the way to Denmark to make a five-minute speech about how the Olympics would benefit him, would you have thought he was a self-important, conceited, egotistical individual?
If George W. Bush had been so Spanish-illiterate as to refer to "Cinco de Cuatro" in front of the Mexican ambassador when it was the 5th of May (Cinco de Mayo), and continued to flub it when he tried again, would you have winced in embarrassment?
If George W. Bush had misspelled the word "advice" and mispronounced the word "corps," mistaking it for a dead body, would you have wondered about this man's ability to articulate English and represent his country?
If George W. Bush had burned nine thousand gallons of jet fuel to go plant a single tree on Earth Day, would you have concluded he's a hypocrite?
If George W. Bush's administration had approved of Air Force One flying low and then sending in a jet fighter in downtown Manhattan, thus causing widespread panic, would you have wondered at the lack of sensitivity displayed by the Commander-in-Chief?
If George W. Bush had failed to send relief aid to flood victims throughout the Midwest, with more people killed or made homeless than in New Orleans during Katrina, would you wonder if this lack of assistance had racial overtones? Clearly you would have been incensed by the gross incompetence -- wouldn't you?
If George W. Bush had created the positions of 32 czars who report directly to him, bypassing approval by the House and Senate, would you have begun to wonder if American democracy was being trampled?
If George W. Bush had ordered the firing of the CEO of a major corporation, even though the president has no constitutional authority to do so, would you have worried about the moorings of this country and the abuse of power?
If George W. Bush had ignored outright voting rights violations and did not recommend that the Department of Justice render justice, would you begin to wonder if the man was the president of all the people or just some of the people?
So what is it about Obama that makes him so brilliant and impressive? He's done all this in fifteen months -- and we still have another two years and nine months to go
Sunday, October 31, 2010
Saturday, October 30, 2010
Comments Anybody?
Mayflower Compact
In the name of God, Amen. We whose names are underwritten, the loyal subjects of our dread Sovereign Lord King James, by the Grace of God of Great Britain, France and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith, etc.
Having undertaken, for the Glory of God and advancement of the Christian Faith and Honour of our King and Country, a Voyage to plant the First Colony in the Northern Parts of Virginia, do by these presents solemnly and mutually in the presence of God and one of another, Covenant and Combine ourselves together into a Civil Body Politic, for our better ordering and preservation and furtherance of the ends aforesaid; and by virtue hereof to enact, constitute and frame such just and equal Laws, Ordinances, Acts, Constitutions and Offices, from time to time, as shall be thought most meet and convenient for the general good of the Colony, unto which we promise all due submission and obedience. In witness whereof we have hereunder subscribed our names at Cape Cod, the 11th of November, in the year of the reign of our Sovereign Lord King James, of England, France and Ireland the eighteenth, and of Scotland the fifty-fourth. Anno Domini 1620.
Comments Anybody??? Especially any comments that come to mind after a quick scan of this for seeds of "the collective".
Hint... Who gets to decide what " ....shall be thought most meet and convenient for the general good of the Colony, unto which we promise all due submission and obedience. ???
In the name of God, Amen. We whose names are underwritten, the loyal subjects of our dread Sovereign Lord King James, by the Grace of God of Great Britain, France and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith, etc.
Having undertaken, for the Glory of God and advancement of the Christian Faith and Honour of our King and Country, a Voyage to plant the First Colony in the Northern Parts of Virginia, do by these presents solemnly and mutually in the presence of God and one of another, Covenant and Combine ourselves together into a Civil Body Politic, for our better ordering and preservation and furtherance of the ends aforesaid; and by virtue hereof to enact, constitute and frame such just and equal Laws, Ordinances, Acts, Constitutions and Offices, from time to time, as shall be thought most meet and convenient for the general good of the Colony, unto which we promise all due submission and obedience. In witness whereof we have hereunder subscribed our names at Cape Cod, the 11th of November, in the year of the reign of our Sovereign Lord King James, of England, France and Ireland the eighteenth, and of Scotland the fifty-fourth. Anno Domini 1620.
Comments Anybody??? Especially any comments that come to mind after a quick scan of this for seeds of "the collective".
Hint... Who gets to decide what " ....shall be thought most meet and convenient for the general good of the Colony, unto which we promise all due submission and obedience. ???
Saturday, October 23, 2010
Props to Mr Bill
OK,
I have to give credit to Mr Bill O'Reilly. Here's the quote ...
"Wake up and smell the corruption." - Bill O'Reilly - 10/21/10
I have to give credit to Mr Bill O'Reilly. Here's the quote ...
"Wake up and smell the corruption." - Bill O'Reilly - 10/21/10
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Goin Postal
10/14/2010
About 10 o’clock this morning, I went to my local post office on Broadway Street in San Antonio, Texas. I am proud to report that in conformance with everybody’s expectations there was a line and only one clerk at the front taking care of customers.
From all appearances one could surmise that he really wanted to be there, for he went about his activities with about as much energy as the word apathy implies. Indeed, there was a tenable air of “I am going to be here 8 hours regardless of how many people I help and whether I help them cheerfully or not.” (In retrospect, the term passive-aggressive also comes to mind.)
As I stood there wondering why this employee did not call anybody to the front to help with the backlog - I mean it IS a customer service business isn’t it - an older gentleman finally made his way to the clerk, and handing him a sheet of stamps, stated that he would like to trade them in for a higher denomination and pay the difference. He said that these were sold to him by mistake and that he needed the higher ones for his packages.
Seems simple enough, right? But I was ahead of the game, for I could see that there may be a problem and that this establishment, The Post Office, unlike a Home Depot, or some other for-profit venture, was a Government Entity, and would likely not be able to handle what I would term a “difference” transaction. I figured that instead they would want to refund the money to the customer, and then have him pay full price for the new sheet of stamps. (I have seen this happen in some establishments and indeed sometimes it is a better way to do things and it actually streamlines the transaction - but that is another story.)
The postal clerk, asked the man where he got the stamps, whereupon the man replied that he had gotten them at another Post Office. At this, the clerk told the man that he would have to got back to the other station to get his refund on the stamps from them!
The older gentleman, taken aback as was I, looked that the clerk, and after a moment of processing the incredulity of it all, remarked to the clerk “ What difference does it make? They are Stamps! What difference does it make where I got them, You sold them to me by mistake, and now I want the right ones (and pay the difference).”
Can you guess what the clerk them said? He said that the mistake was made at the other post office and that they are the ones to take care of their own mistake.
Now, I am sure that everybody in line was a dumbstruck by the stupidly of that remark, and dumbstruck at the rudeness and coldness of this encounter and how it was out of line with their experiences in other commercial transactions. Buy a loaf of stale bread from the local grocery store on the south side of town, return it to the one on the opposite side of town for an exchange or a refund.
Incredulously, that clerk, however, acted as if there was absolutely nothing wrong with what he has just said., and with what was, clear as day, a broken Post Office mechanism for doing something as simple as changing out a sheet of stamps. He acted as if the man was crazy in HIS incredulity that he was being told to drive 20 miles away to get a refund on a sheet of US Government Post office stamps, and, as he stood there behind that counter as would an "official" in a tin-horn banana republic, he acted smug in his knowledge that “We are the Post Office and there is nothing you can do about it”, glowering at the poor gentleman as that poor soul walked away ,shaking his head, and probably wondering what 3d world country he was living in.
As I stood there, my mind in shock, I thought to myself “and they wonder what makes people go postal”. Indeed, thinking about it some more, I understood that THAT kind of treatment, by a system out-of -touch (where have we heard that term before), and by the clerk that was representing the system, is EXACTLY the kind of thing that makes people go postal, and on thinking THAT , I started looking to see if that previous customer would be coming back in to even things up with another kind or transaction.
I also thought, as I stood there that I was trapped like a rabbit in a hole, and there was only one exit to the place, and that it would blocked by the guy that that arrogant and dismissive clerk had just pissed off. Indeed, I was getting pretty steamed myself that the arrogance and dismissiveness of the postal clerk may end up getting me killed.
A couple things here, and those are why I am relating this story.
First, the post office mechanisms are broken in more ways than just not being able to handle the requested transaction. Indeed, the inability to handle such a thing is just a symptom, another of which is the aggressive attitude of the clerk that “ We are the Post Office, and there is nothing you can do about it, and I can be as rude as I want to you - and do so in front of others.”
Second, the incident points out an example of what happens when the Government has a monopoly on things and points out what is in store for you if this Health Care Thing comes full bore, for once the government takes over, it will become just like the Post Office.
It has to. It is - The Government.
About 10 o’clock this morning, I went to my local post office on Broadway Street in San Antonio, Texas. I am proud to report that in conformance with everybody’s expectations there was a line and only one clerk at the front taking care of customers.
From all appearances one could surmise that he really wanted to be there, for he went about his activities with about as much energy as the word apathy implies. Indeed, there was a tenable air of “I am going to be here 8 hours regardless of how many people I help and whether I help them cheerfully or not.” (In retrospect, the term passive-aggressive also comes to mind.)
As I stood there wondering why this employee did not call anybody to the front to help with the backlog - I mean it IS a customer service business isn’t it - an older gentleman finally made his way to the clerk, and handing him a sheet of stamps, stated that he would like to trade them in for a higher denomination and pay the difference. He said that these were sold to him by mistake and that he needed the higher ones for his packages.
Seems simple enough, right? But I was ahead of the game, for I could see that there may be a problem and that this establishment, The Post Office, unlike a Home Depot, or some other for-profit venture, was a Government Entity, and would likely not be able to handle what I would term a “difference” transaction. I figured that instead they would want to refund the money to the customer, and then have him pay full price for the new sheet of stamps. (I have seen this happen in some establishments and indeed sometimes it is a better way to do things and it actually streamlines the transaction - but that is another story.)
The postal clerk, asked the man where he got the stamps, whereupon the man replied that he had gotten them at another Post Office. At this, the clerk told the man that he would have to got back to the other station to get his refund on the stamps from them!
The older gentleman, taken aback as was I, looked that the clerk, and after a moment of processing the incredulity of it all, remarked to the clerk “ What difference does it make? They are Stamps! What difference does it make where I got them, You sold them to me by mistake, and now I want the right ones (and pay the difference).”
Can you guess what the clerk them said? He said that the mistake was made at the other post office and that they are the ones to take care of their own mistake.
Now, I am sure that everybody in line was a dumbstruck by the stupidly of that remark, and dumbstruck at the rudeness and coldness of this encounter and how it was out of line with their experiences in other commercial transactions. Buy a loaf of stale bread from the local grocery store on the south side of town, return it to the one on the opposite side of town for an exchange or a refund.
Incredulously, that clerk, however, acted as if there was absolutely nothing wrong with what he has just said., and with what was, clear as day, a broken Post Office mechanism for doing something as simple as changing out a sheet of stamps. He acted as if the man was crazy in HIS incredulity that he was being told to drive 20 miles away to get a refund on a sheet of US Government Post office stamps, and, as he stood there behind that counter as would an "official" in a tin-horn banana republic, he acted smug in his knowledge that “We are the Post Office and there is nothing you can do about it”, glowering at the poor gentleman as that poor soul walked away ,shaking his head, and probably wondering what 3d world country he was living in.
As I stood there, my mind in shock, I thought to myself “and they wonder what makes people go postal”. Indeed, thinking about it some more, I understood that THAT kind of treatment, by a system out-of -touch (where have we heard that term before), and by the clerk that was representing the system, is EXACTLY the kind of thing that makes people go postal, and on thinking THAT , I started looking to see if that previous customer would be coming back in to even things up with another kind or transaction.
I also thought, as I stood there that I was trapped like a rabbit in a hole, and there was only one exit to the place, and that it would blocked by the guy that that arrogant and dismissive clerk had just pissed off. Indeed, I was getting pretty steamed myself that the arrogance and dismissiveness of the postal clerk may end up getting me killed.
A couple things here, and those are why I am relating this story.
First, the post office mechanisms are broken in more ways than just not being able to handle the requested transaction. Indeed, the inability to handle such a thing is just a symptom, another of which is the aggressive attitude of the clerk that “ We are the Post Office, and there is nothing you can do about it, and I can be as rude as I want to you - and do so in front of others.”
Second, the incident points out an example of what happens when the Government has a monopoly on things and points out what is in store for you if this Health Care Thing comes full bore, for once the government takes over, it will become just like the Post Office.
It has to. It is - The Government.
Monday, October 11, 2010
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Just Numbers
1. $11 Billion to $22 billion is spent on welfare to illegal aliens each year by state governments.
Verify at: http://tinyurl.com/zob77
2. $2.2 Billion dollars a year is spent on food assistance programs such as food stamps, WIC, and free school lunches for illegal aliens.
Verify at: http://www.cis.org/articles/2004/fiscalexec.html
3. $2.5 Billion dollars a year is spent on Medicaid for illegal aliens.
Verify at: http://www.cis.org/articles/2004/fiscalexec.html
4. $12 Billion dollars a year is spent on primary and secondary school education for children here illegally and they cannot speak a word of English!
Verify at: http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0604/01/ldt.0.html
5. $17 Billion dollars a year is spent for education for the American-born children of illegal aliens, known as anchor babies.
Verify at http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0604/01/ldt.01.html
6. $3 Million Dollars a DAY is spent to incarcerate illegal aliens.
Verify at: http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0604/01/ldt.01.html
7. 30% percent of all Federal Prison inmates are illegal aliens.
Verify at: http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0604/01/ldt.01.html
8. $90 Billion Dollars a year is spent on illegal aliens for Welfare & social services by the American taxpayers.
Verify at: http://premium.cnn.com/TRANSCIPTS/0610/29/ldt.01.html
9. $200 Billion dollars a year in suppressed American wages are caused by the illegal aliens.
Verify at: http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0604/01/ldt.01.html
10. The illegal aliens in the United States have a crime rate that's two and a half times that of white non-illegal aliens. In particular, their children, are going to make a huge additional crime problem in the US .
Verify at: http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0606/12/ldt.01.html
11. During the year of 2005 there were 4 to 10 MILLION illegal aliens that crossed our Southern Border also, as many as 19,500 illegal aliens from Terrorist Countries. Millions of pounds of drugs, cocaine, meth, heroin and marijuana, crossed into the U. S from the Southern border.
Verify at: Homeland Security Report: http://tinyurl.com/t9sht
12. The National policy Institute, estimated that the total cost of mass deportation would be between $206 and $230 billion or an average cost of between $41 and $46 billion annually over a five year period.'
Verify at: http://www.nationalpolicyinstitute.org/pdf/deportation.pdf
13. In 2006 illegal aliens sent home $45 BILLION in remittances to their countries of origin.
Verify at: http://www.rense.com/general75/niht.htm
14. 'The Dark Side of Illegal Immigration: Nearly One million sex crimes Committed by Illegal Immigrants In The United States .'
Verify at: http: // www.drdsk.com/articleshtml
The total cost is a whopping $ 338.3 BILLION DOLLARS A YEAR.
Verify at: http://www.cis.org/articles/2004/fiscalexec.html
Verify at: http://tinyurl.com/zob77
2. $2.2 Billion dollars a year is spent on food assistance programs such as food stamps, WIC, and free school lunches for illegal aliens.
Verify at: http://www.cis.org/articles/2004/fiscalexec.html
3. $2.5 Billion dollars a year is spent on Medicaid for illegal aliens.
Verify at: http://www.cis.org/articles/2004/fiscalexec.html
4. $12 Billion dollars a year is spent on primary and secondary school education for children here illegally and they cannot speak a word of English!
Verify at: http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0604/01/ldt.0.html
5. $17 Billion dollars a year is spent for education for the American-born children of illegal aliens, known as anchor babies.
Verify at http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0604/01/ldt.01.html
6. $3 Million Dollars a DAY is spent to incarcerate illegal aliens.
Verify at: http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0604/01/ldt.01.html
7. 30% percent of all Federal Prison inmates are illegal aliens.
Verify at: http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0604/01/ldt.01.html
8. $90 Billion Dollars a year is spent on illegal aliens for Welfare & social services by the American taxpayers.
Verify at: http://premium.cnn.com/TRANSCIPTS/0610/29/ldt.01.html
9. $200 Billion dollars a year in suppressed American wages are caused by the illegal aliens.
Verify at: http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0604/01/ldt.01.html
10. The illegal aliens in the United States have a crime rate that's two and a half times that of white non-illegal aliens. In particular, their children, are going to make a huge additional crime problem in the US .
Verify at: http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0606/12/ldt.01.html
11. During the year of 2005 there were 4 to 10 MILLION illegal aliens that crossed our Southern Border also, as many as 19,500 illegal aliens from Terrorist Countries. Millions of pounds of drugs, cocaine, meth, heroin and marijuana, crossed into the U. S from the Southern border.
Verify at: Homeland Security Report: http://tinyurl.com/t9sht
12. The National policy Institute, estimated that the total cost of mass deportation would be between $206 and $230 billion or an average cost of between $41 and $46 billion annually over a five year period.'
Verify at: http://www.nationalpolicyinstitute.org/pdf/deportation.pdf
13. In 2006 illegal aliens sent home $45 BILLION in remittances to their countries of origin.
Verify at: http://www.rense.com/general75/niht.htm
14. 'The Dark Side of Illegal Immigration: Nearly One million sex crimes Committed by Illegal Immigrants In The United States .'
Verify at: http: // www.drdsk.com/articleshtml
The total cost is a whopping $ 338.3 BILLION DOLLARS A YEAR.
Verify at: http://www.cis.org/articles/2004/fiscalexec.html
Monday, September 13, 2010
My Chat with Mitt Romney - Another Republican That's Out of Touch?
“The young people, do you think they have any idea what (Obamunism, destruction of the country, etc) is going on?”, I asked.
“They have no idea of what is going on”, replied Mitt Romney, former governor of Massachusetts, as he sat across from me this afternoon at the local Starbucks in San Antonio, Texas.
From the looks of things being on his way to some event in Nevada, he and his entourage, all with Blackberrys , had stopped in for a break from some activities in San Antonio. TX.
Looking as someone who just stepped out of a GQ magazine, he sat down in the overstuffed chair, and bantered with his posse, telling stories such as one normally tells when they are decompressing. At first, I thought that I was going to hear tales of intrigue and plotting to wrest control from those evil Obamunists, but such was not the case and the stories were of normal people talking about vacations and telling jokes about how people who want to live in a Socialist country are leaving the United States for France because the food is better there than here . (Followed by sincere guffaws all around.)
Looking around at all the people coming and going, none seemed to recognize him. Yet ,there he was, not 8 feet from the table where I was sitting.
Seeing as he was contender for the presidency in 2008, and thinking surely that he must still be on the go for the office, I figured that it was my chance to have direct contact with somebody who may be our future president. Thus it was that I ambled over, to see directly and in real-time, if someone high up in the Republican Party, as a candidate, instead of a mere functionary or talking head mouthpiece of the party administration, was in tune with the ground level state of things, and in particular, in tune with the population at large and how they felt about certain things of which any reader to this site can well imagine had to do with the growth of government - and the role that the Republican Party machine has had itself in promoting such growth and expansion of the State.
Thus my question which is at the lead to this piece. Continuing, I asked if he thought they (the young people), or others, knew what was at stake for the country?
“Absolutely not” is my recollection of his reply “ they have no clue”. Continuing, Romney said, “Our generation will be OK, but they (the young generation) will be the ones that have to pay the price as all the costs later fall on them.”
Thinking “Wow, that is a great reason why no office holder would want to do anything about things”, I replied that it is really sad that so many people seem clueless. I continued, however, that many of us that have voted Republican in the past, do have a concern, and that concern is that there will be really no change in Washington - even if the Republicans take the 2010 or 2012 elections.
As example, I continued that my elected representative (Lamar Smith - a Republican ) voted FOR the TARP bailout - a program that was at about $785 billion and spreads itself at about $3,000 a person for each man woman and child in the United States. (OK maybe I am off a bit but the point is made.)
Now, this mention of the TARP was intentional as I wanted to see if he, one of the standard-bearers for the Republican Party, was clued in to the fact that there are a good many Republicans that are no longer Republicans, instead calling ourselves simply conservatives or Constitutional Conservatives, and that indeed many of us voters feel sold out by the Republican Party and that some even sat out McCain’s run.
Of course, the hidden point that I was trying to broach with Mr. Romney was that the Republican Party may be in for a rude awakening if they think that they can appear to be “just be a little bit better than the Democrats, (i.e., be seen as the lesser of two evils”) and that the Republican voters will "fall in line" with party officialdom. Perhaps that happened in the past, but the voters are angry this time - and not just at the Democrats.
My take on Romney’s reply and reaction, is that he completely missed the point which was that the Republicans need to consider that they are to blame for their own loss in 2008, not having lost to Obama, but having lost all on their own by disaffecting enough voters by their mendacious acts such as shown by the TARP vote where, for example, the Texas Republican contingent of Sen. Cornyn, and Sen. Hutchison, and Rep Lamar Smith all voted in favor of the thing instead of letting the Democrats have the entire thing in their hands, and in doing so showing themselves to many as RINO’s, despite the hue and cry of their constituents NOT to cave in.
My take on Romney’s reply and reaction, is that it is completely off his radar that that the Republicans need to consider that it ( losses at the polls) might be about to happen to them AGAIN.
(Yes, it was a test to see if he, too, was a RINO. Results at the end of the article)
Also, a point that he apparently is NOT clued in on is that the disaffected, are NOT disaffected only because of Obama, but are disaffected because of the way government under either party, Republican Party included, has become a government of intrusion, statism, handout and entitlement, and are disaffected because the Republican Party is out of touch with the people.
I mentioned to Mr Romney that, by design, everybody is on some kind of "entitlement" these days and that accordingly, nobody seems to want to “give up theirs” as they grunt at the government trough. To his credit, he indicated that there are a host of "them" that are doing whatever they can to keep themselves in a (government) job (power) and then to his discredit , after telling him that I was an ordinary Joe, but not a plumber, and that I wrote a political blog and that I was concerned, as many of us are, about the Republican complicity in keeping the status quo, and how the Republican Party is not listening to the people, he changed the subject - which is a first thing one does when they do not want to listen.
Perhaps I should have asked, “The Republican Party Machine (and you), do you think they have any idea what is going on in the mind of the people that used to call themselves Republicans. Do you think that the Party Machine (and you) knows that the people now feel un-listened to by the Republican Party, and that indeed they are NOT listened to. The Republican Party Machine, do they realize that these people have the power to bring the hammer down. The Republican Party, does it realize that it works for the rank-and-file and not the other way around., and that (not to beat a dead horse to death) that there is a growing slice of normal-folks voters that are pissed off that they are not listened to, and that all the Tea Party agitation is NOT just about evil Democrats, but about the business-as-usual big-government attitude in Washington by BOTH parties?
Perhaps I should have further asked - Does the Republican Party machine (and you) realize that the Tea Party attitude is:
SCORECARD/Assessment
The Good
Romney knows that the younger folks are clueless. (Props for that.)
Romney knows that they and many in the country do not know what is really at stake with the Obama policies. (Props for that)
Romney is personable. Good handshake, looks you in the eye, energetic and animated. Doesn't seem to be the type that would have a problem looking Putin in the eye either. (Props)
The Bad
Romney, like the Republican machine, does not have a clue that there are a lot of folks out that are on to the fact that the Republicans are in it for big government and keeping their jobs and status as part of big government - just as the Democrats are in it for big government and back scratching and job security for themselves, and that to either party we, the people, don't really matter except as a vehicle to get them elected. (Uh, Oh)
Romney, even after his loss at getting the nomination, and even after McCain's loss, does not understand that many of us feel that we have not really heard anything that gives us an animating reason to get fired up about them (him), as opposed to getting fired up about the message of the Tea Parties, that message being that the people feel that the Republicans - and the Democrats - are both taking us in the same direction, and that a contingent of people, perhaps large enough to swing another election, would feel just fine if the slate was cleaned entirely so we, the people, can start over with a government that “does the right thing”, instead of persisting in the mindset that we are a people - of the federal government, by the federal government, for the federal government. (Double Uh Oh)
Thus ended my conversation with another Republican that is out of touch with the people. And they wonder what it is that is animating the Tea Parties. Well, here is a clue Republican Party - The Tea Party is composed of reasonable and rational people that are tired of being not listened to.
Dear Republican Party,
We are tired of listening to YOU. You need to be listening to US. If you do not, you will again feel it at the polls as more and more of us who have awakened and unplugged from the matrix find it in our power to keep YOU out of power until you do listen rather than phoo-phoo and patronize and put us to sleep with your trite platitudes.
And no Mr. Republican Party, we are NOT the message of Bill O’Riley, we are NOT the message of Sean Hannity, we are not the message of Michael Savage, we are NOT the message of Glenn Beck. Nor are they our messengers.
We are our own message. We are our own messenger. We are us, we are many, we are growing, and we are fed up not only with the Democrats - but with YOU.
Yours Truly,
One of the awakened
P.S. You saw what just happened in Delaware?? Have you considered that it will happen in other places. You treat us, and ignore us, as if we are little kids sitting in the back seat of the car yammering on about "when are we going to get there", when the truth of the matter is that what we are "yammering about" is that the lid of the trunk has just blown off and all the suitcases are on fire!
“They have no idea of what is going on”, replied Mitt Romney, former governor of Massachusetts, as he sat across from me this afternoon at the local Starbucks in San Antonio, Texas.
From the looks of things being on his way to some event in Nevada, he and his entourage, all with Blackberrys , had stopped in for a break from some activities in San Antonio. TX.
Looking as someone who just stepped out of a GQ magazine, he sat down in the overstuffed chair, and bantered with his posse, telling stories such as one normally tells when they are decompressing. At first, I thought that I was going to hear tales of intrigue and plotting to wrest control from those evil Obamunists, but such was not the case and the stories were of normal people talking about vacations and telling jokes about how people who want to live in a Socialist country are leaving the United States for France because the food is better there than here . (Followed by sincere guffaws all around.)
Looking around at all the people coming and going, none seemed to recognize him. Yet ,there he was, not 8 feet from the table where I was sitting.
Seeing as he was contender for the presidency in 2008, and thinking surely that he must still be on the go for the office, I figured that it was my chance to have direct contact with somebody who may be our future president. Thus it was that I ambled over, to see directly and in real-time, if someone high up in the Republican Party, as a candidate, instead of a mere functionary or talking head mouthpiece of the party administration, was in tune with the ground level state of things, and in particular, in tune with the population at large and how they felt about certain things of which any reader to this site can well imagine had to do with the growth of government - and the role that the Republican Party machine has had itself in promoting such growth and expansion of the State.
Thus my question which is at the lead to this piece. Continuing, I asked if he thought they (the young people), or others, knew what was at stake for the country?
“Absolutely not” is my recollection of his reply “ they have no clue”. Continuing, Romney said, “Our generation will be OK, but they (the young generation) will be the ones that have to pay the price as all the costs later fall on them.”
Thinking “Wow, that is a great reason why no office holder would want to do anything about things”, I replied that it is really sad that so many people seem clueless. I continued, however, that many of us that have voted Republican in the past, do have a concern, and that concern is that there will be really no change in Washington - even if the Republicans take the 2010 or 2012 elections.
As example, I continued that my elected representative (Lamar Smith - a Republican ) voted FOR the TARP bailout - a program that was at about $785 billion and spreads itself at about $3,000 a person for each man woman and child in the United States. (OK maybe I am off a bit but the point is made.)
Now, this mention of the TARP was intentional as I wanted to see if he, one of the standard-bearers for the Republican Party, was clued in to the fact that there are a good many Republicans that are no longer Republicans, instead calling ourselves simply conservatives or Constitutional Conservatives, and that indeed many of us voters feel sold out by the Republican Party and that some even sat out McCain’s run.
Of course, the hidden point that I was trying to broach with Mr. Romney was that the Republican Party may be in for a rude awakening if they think that they can appear to be “just be a little bit better than the Democrats, (i.e., be seen as the lesser of two evils”) and that the Republican voters will "fall in line" with party officialdom. Perhaps that happened in the past, but the voters are angry this time - and not just at the Democrats.
My take on Romney’s reply and reaction, is that he completely missed the point which was that the Republicans need to consider that they are to blame for their own loss in 2008, not having lost to Obama, but having lost all on their own by disaffecting enough voters by their mendacious acts such as shown by the TARP vote where, for example, the Texas Republican contingent of Sen. Cornyn, and Sen. Hutchison, and Rep Lamar Smith all voted in favor of the thing instead of letting the Democrats have the entire thing in their hands, and in doing so showing themselves to many as RINO’s, despite the hue and cry of their constituents NOT to cave in.
My take on Romney’s reply and reaction, is that it is completely off his radar that that the Republicans need to consider that it ( losses at the polls) might be about to happen to them AGAIN.
(Yes, it was a test to see if he, too, was a RINO. Results at the end of the article)
Also, a point that he apparently is NOT clued in on is that the disaffected, are NOT disaffected only because of Obama, but are disaffected because of the way government under either party, Republican Party included, has become a government of intrusion, statism, handout and entitlement, and are disaffected because the Republican Party is out of touch with the people.
I mentioned to Mr Romney that, by design, everybody is on some kind of "entitlement" these days and that accordingly, nobody seems to want to “give up theirs” as they grunt at the government trough. To his credit, he indicated that there are a host of "them" that are doing whatever they can to keep themselves in a (government) job (power) and then to his discredit , after telling him that I was an ordinary Joe, but not a plumber, and that I wrote a political blog and that I was concerned, as many of us are, about the Republican complicity in keeping the status quo, and how the Republican Party is not listening to the people, he changed the subject - which is a first thing one does when they do not want to listen.
Perhaps I should have asked, “The Republican Party Machine (and you), do you think they have any idea what is going on in the mind of the people that used to call themselves Republicans. Do you think that the Party Machine (and you) knows that the people now feel un-listened to by the Republican Party, and that indeed they are NOT listened to. The Republican Party Machine, do they realize that these people have the power to bring the hammer down. The Republican Party, does it realize that it works for the rank-and-file and not the other way around., and that (not to beat a dead horse to death) that there is a growing slice of normal-folks voters that are pissed off that they are not listened to, and that all the Tea Party agitation is NOT just about evil Democrats, but about the business-as-usual big-government attitude in Washington by BOTH parties?
Perhaps I should have further asked - Does the Republican Party machine (and you) realize that the Tea Party attitude is:
"McCain reaching across the aisle??" - Give us a break.
"I create jobs, not the government - So get the hell out of every nook and cranny of my life"
" Local Problems, Local Solutions"
"You, the Federal government are out of control, and we are angry that you have made us have to come out of our farms, and out of our fields, and our homes, and our factories to rein you in and curb you to your proper function."
"We're Coming .... and we're coming for YOU"
SCORECARD/Assessment
The Good
Romney knows that the younger folks are clueless. (Props for that.)
Romney knows that they and many in the country do not know what is really at stake with the Obama policies. (Props for that)
Romney is personable. Good handshake, looks you in the eye, energetic and animated. Doesn't seem to be the type that would have a problem looking Putin in the eye either. (Props)
The Bad
Romney, like the Republican machine, does not have a clue that there are a lot of folks out that are on to the fact that the Republicans are in it for big government and keeping their jobs and status as part of big government - just as the Democrats are in it for big government and back scratching and job security for themselves, and that to either party we, the people, don't really matter except as a vehicle to get them elected. (Uh, Oh)
Romney, even after his loss at getting the nomination, and even after McCain's loss, does not understand that many of us feel that we have not really heard anything that gives us an animating reason to get fired up about them (him), as opposed to getting fired up about the message of the Tea Parties, that message being that the people feel that the Republicans - and the Democrats - are both taking us in the same direction, and that a contingent of people, perhaps large enough to swing another election, would feel just fine if the slate was cleaned entirely so we, the people, can start over with a government that “does the right thing”, instead of persisting in the mindset that we are a people - of the federal government, by the federal government, for the federal government. (Double Uh Oh)
Thus ended my conversation with another Republican that is out of touch with the people. And they wonder what it is that is animating the Tea Parties. Well, here is a clue Republican Party - The Tea Party is composed of reasonable and rational people that are tired of being not listened to.
Dear Republican Party,
We are tired of listening to YOU. You need to be listening to US. If you do not, you will again feel it at the polls as more and more of us who have awakened and unplugged from the matrix find it in our power to keep YOU out of power until you do listen rather than phoo-phoo and patronize and put us to sleep with your trite platitudes.
And no Mr. Republican Party, we are NOT the message of Bill O’Riley, we are NOT the message of Sean Hannity, we are not the message of Michael Savage, we are NOT the message of Glenn Beck. Nor are they our messengers.
We are our own message. We are our own messenger. We are us, we are many, we are growing, and we are fed up not only with the Democrats - but with YOU.
Yours Truly,
One of the awakened
P.S. You saw what just happened in Delaware?? Have you considered that it will happen in other places. You treat us, and ignore us, as if we are little kids sitting in the back seat of the car yammering on about "when are we going to get there", when the truth of the matter is that what we are "yammering about" is that the lid of the trunk has just blown off and all the suitcases are on fire!
News of the Weird
From a news story today 9/13/2010
Wow- Seems that the best way for for the United States to topple communism and socialism around the world is simply to adopt that form for itself.
Here we are adding hundreds of thousands to the government payroll and instituting more government interference so as to kill free enterprise & Cuba returns to a capitalistic form of government and releases government control.
Incredulous
Cuba to cut 500,000 gov't workers; reform salaries (AP)
AP - Cuba says it will fire at least half a million state workers by mid-2011 and will free up private enterprise to help them find new work - radically remaking employment on the communist island.
Wow- Seems that the best way for for the United States to topple communism and socialism around the world is simply to adopt that form for itself.
Here we are adding hundreds of thousands to the government payroll and instituting more government interference so as to kill free enterprise & Cuba returns to a capitalistic form of government and releases government control.
Incredulous
Saturday, September 11, 2010
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Honor
Just Think
While Michelle 0bama frolicked and shopped in Marbella, Spain with 40 friends, 60 rooms @ $2,500 per room, per day, spending YOUR tax $'s on "fluff". . .at the SAME time. . .
THE 12 MEN BELOW GAVE THEIR LIVES FOR YOU - US - THIS WEEK IN THE MILITARY.
Justin Allen 23,
Brett Linley 29,
Matthew Weikert 29,
Justus Bartett 27,
Dave Santos 21,
Chase Stanley 21,
Jesse Reed 26,
Matthew Johnson 21,
Zachary Fisher 24
Brandon King 23,
Christopher Goeke 23,
Sheldon Tate 27
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Sure - Go Ahead and Build that Mosque
From todays news
WOW- I wish I lived in the same place as this. Sure am glad that this that kind of stuff does not happen here .. But Wait ... Coming soon to a NYC street corner near you??
Is THIS what they mean by "multi-culturalism"?
CAIRO – A Saudi judge has asked several hospitals in the country whether they could damage a man's spinal cord as punishment after he was convicted of attacking another man with a cleaver and paralyzing him, the brother of the victim said Thursday.
WOW- I wish I lived in the same place as this. Sure am glad that this that kind of stuff does not happen here .. But Wait ... Coming soon to a NYC street corner near you??
Is THIS what they mean by "multi-culturalism"?
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
A Little Fun
How much of your favorite energy drink, soda, or caffeinated food would it take to kill you?
Take this quick test and find out.
Take this quick test and find out.
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
The Silver Lining
Seneca,
Read the entire article that you sent me and actually I am heartened because if you read carefully you see that in addition to regular societal programs being cut, that the social do-gooder programs are starting to be cut too.
Indeed, the regular programs that are being cut, like that police and fire department cut that "resulted" is some deaths, is a good thing because it forces the issue and eventually make the people mad enough to get their heads out of the fucking sand and adopt the view that these lazy leeches on society should be left to their own and that government has no business in "looking out" for them. That was the entire point of Ayn Rand in her novels - that this altruism is simply unsustainable.
As an example of inappropriate "looking after", I read in this mornings paper that the so bums downtown are pissed off that the shelters are feeding them cold cut sandwiches. Here they are, supposedly starving, and yet they boycott the free food and essentially are all pissed off that I do not dignify the sanctity of their need by paying to have Lubys Cafeteria come down with a 5 course hot meal for them.
My assessment - cut off ALL food and shelter to these lazy fuckers and let them either starve or get some kind of job. I see them every day with their stupid signs, "Homeless Vet Needs Money" ... NEVER an offer to wash my windshield or shine my shoes. Talk about an entitlement society. Sheesh, even the bums are demanding their "entitlement." And these so called Viet Nam Vets are in their 50's - Way to young to be a Vietnam Vet.
Country is on fire and nobody cares. Makes you want to go live on a mountain top, drink some scotch, and eat BBQ.
~Claudius Valerian
Read the entire article that you sent me and actually I am heartened because if you read carefully you see that in addition to regular societal programs being cut, that the social do-gooder programs are starting to be cut too.
Indeed, the regular programs that are being cut, like that police and fire department cut that "resulted" is some deaths, is a good thing because it forces the issue and eventually make the people mad enough to get their heads out of the fucking sand and adopt the view that these lazy leeches on society should be left to their own and that government has no business in "looking out" for them. That was the entire point of Ayn Rand in her novels - that this altruism is simply unsustainable.
As an example of inappropriate "looking after", I read in this mornings paper that the so bums downtown are pissed off that the shelters are feeding them cold cut sandwiches. Here they are, supposedly starving, and yet they boycott the free food and essentially are all pissed off that I do not dignify the sanctity of their need by paying to have Lubys Cafeteria come down with a 5 course hot meal for them.
My assessment - cut off ALL food and shelter to these lazy fuckers and let them either starve or get some kind of job. I see them every day with their stupid signs, "Homeless Vet Needs Money" ... NEVER an offer to wash my windshield or shine my shoes. Talk about an entitlement society. Sheesh, even the bums are demanding their "entitlement." And these so called Viet Nam Vets are in their 50's - Way to young to be a Vietnam Vet.
Country is on fire and nobody cares. Makes you want to go live on a mountain top, drink some scotch, and eat BBQ.
~Claudius Valerian
Monday, August 16, 2010
Out Democrating the Democrats
"To me it demonstrates that Washington, the White House, the administration, the President himself seems to be disconnected from the mainstream of America," Cornyn said. ~John Cornyn - Republican Senator (TX) commenting on one of Obama's recent pronouncements
So says one of those that, in a display of his own disconnectedness from the American People, and over their objections, voted FOR the TARP bailout where $750 billion of taxpayer money went to support the very people that caused the mess in the first place.
They say it is time for a third party - I say it is high time for only one party - the democratic party - until the Republican Party itself gets connected with the American People. And the Republicans wonder why they can't get that last smidgen of voter turnout to put them over the top and take them into power.
News Alert Republican Party - The reason you constantly have lost and the reason you lost the last election is because you alienate those voters that in their disgust at seeing you trying to out-democrat the democrats, decide to stay home. Think of it this way, if John Kennedy were alive today he would say that George Bush was a fine Democrat.
Monday, August 2, 2010
Open Essay - I Remember A Time - A Letter to the Next Generation
~ submitted by Ray M in response to open invitation found here
I Remember A Time - A Letter to the Next Generation
I remember a time when life was so much simpler.
It was a time before video games, cell phones and Facebook. The daytime hours during summer seemed to last forever and in the cool of the evening, the fireflies that we chased and caught in a glass jar to show Mom and Dad were as bright as the stars in the sky.
I remember the days when after breakfast, dad headed off for work, and mom pushed you out the door with orders not to come back until dinner so she could get her work on the house done. Yes, those were the days when the women did house work while the men worked in the factory and a time when each partner pulled their weight. Dad expected and was expected to provide the money and the safety against the external dangers of life, while mom was expected to care and nurture the family and keep the home life on course.
In those times your only fear was being late for dinner – that was the time for family. (You didn't have to worry about predators and kidnappers lurking in the shadows back then.) Daddy didn't leave because he and mom had a fight, or because he found a younger model, or because he had to “find himself”, he only left for work so that he could provide for the family. Differences were worked through, and love for each other prevailed. Divorce was an embarrassment and hard to come by.
Our neighborhood was your basic blue collar neighborhood. Everyone worked Monday through Friday and had weekends off. Our homes and yards had chain link fences instead of privacy fences. You saw your neighbors on a regular basis and always said hello to them. You talked to them and got to know them like family.
Life was much simpler back then because the freedom we enjoyed allowed adventure to be our order of the day. Imagination also played an important part. It was there, in our minds eye, were dreams were born. Those dreams helped you decide what you wanted to be later in life. Adventure included playing games like G I Joe, where you always won the battle of the hill and if you didn't win, you were sure to die a slow, painful, Oscar winning performance death. It was a time when, playing house didn't mean you had sex with the girl next door.
Our adventures included bug hunts, nature trails, camping out and fishing, taking in all of what God has provided for us. Living life by the TV was reserved for the evenings with the family.
It was with the adventures that you learned about life, and usually from the fellows you were with. The bonds you formed then lasted forever. You relied on them as they relied on you. Trust ran deep and was never betrayed for any reason (unless you were caught doing something wrong and you didn't dare lie to your parents, your buddies understood this cause they faced the same music at home)
Growing up you learned that when someone bullied you around you had to stand up for yourself. And you accomplished this man-style which meant you used your fists and personal strength instead of guns and knives. If someone was running their mouth saying things about you, you didn't go shooting up the school or try to commit suicide. You faced them and your fears head on and you let them know they had crossed the line. After the fight, you usually ended up good friends because you both knew where the other guy stood and had respect for each other.
Being from a blue collar family meant you did not always get what you wanted, it had to be earned. It was the only way you appreciated what you had.
Your parents loved you enough to teach you what morals were and to have them. A proper work ethic was instilled upon you.
As you were growing up, when it became time for you to start paying for your own dreams and adventures, you started out simple by collecting glass soda bottles and cashing them in. Later, you moved up working part time at the grocery store stacking and sorting those same bottles. (BTW the soda tasted better back then in those glass bottles) You shoveled snow from peoples driveways in the winter and cut grass in the summer.
We didn't have credit cards and go into debt to get what we wanted.
Being blue collar, we treasured what we had and didn't waste it. You didn't just throw something away because it broke, dad took the time and taught you how to fix it.
Our family vacations consisted of taking two weeks in August, driving in the family car to states we had never been to before. By the time I reached high school I had made it to all 48 states in the continental US. Mom & Dad saved Alaska and Hawaii for themselves.
On those trips we drove past fields of corn taller than six feet high and fields of wheat greener than you can ever imagine. We made stops along the way and learned how other people lived and worked. We visited places like the “Worlds Largest Ball of String” and snake farms. We learned how fudge and candy is made and were able to enjoy it fresh. I even learned how Jack Daniels whiskey is made.
In looking back at things, it appears to me that our nation was once one that consumed only what it produced. Now, it seems, we only consume and want to consume without working. Everything else seems to come from other countries. It seems also that many have become spoiled and now feel that they are entitled to whatever they want without having to work for it and the America I am living in now seems to have turned away from the ethics of working in order to get what you want, Nowadays it seems that the idea is to get the other guy to work so that you can get what you want from him via the power of the government entitlement system. Indeed, it seems that people just think that getting the easy life is supposed to be ..... easy, and I feel really sad for my country when I realize that most of the kids sitting around playing Nintendo or listening to iPods have no idea of what mommy or daddy had to go thru in order to get the money to pay for those things.
Pride and honor, once noble words to live by, have decreased in value.
Morality has been given up for the mantra of “anything goes”.
We seem to have lost our sense of adventure and have lost our imagination. Heck, why imagine anything when you just turn on the TV and have it imagined for you. No need to think becasue you can get all of what passes for "thinking" from the TV.
We whine when we don't get what we want instead of what we need. We dream empty dreams of wants & have nots.
What scares me the most for our country is that we have lost our will, our drive.
We have become complacent to the way things are and have lost our nerve to speak up and put a stop to the people who are destroying our values and our morals. The very guidelines in which we used to teach our children have become diminished and blurred.
We need to learn again the value of what it takes to earn what we need and not what we want. The Bible says “Spare the rod and spoil the child” If we fail to forgo the spoils and entitlement we feel is owed to us, then I think that morally and spiritually we will surely die.
We need to start living again without all the bullshit fertilizers we get from Hollywood and TV. Did you know that TV shows and movies are nothing more than make-believe? That also includes those hot new reality shows everybody loves. It's all phony, unreal, nowhere near the truth. We have been hearing the lies and bullshit they (Hollywood) fed us for so long and I think America needs to get back to our rich soil and the roots that we once grew from.
Wake up America, you need to start to dream again of what YOU can do - and you need to find your sense of adventure and get it back.
As far as Government - Government cannot, nor should it, provide you what you need to live and thrive on, it can only provide a framework so that you can earn it through your own initiative and work, and anything else that the government “gives” has been taken from somebody else. Just think about this when the government is taking YOUR money in taxes to give to somebody else.
Take responsibility, as it is up to you to achieve what you desire out of life. Let no man tell you that they will give you the world. For it is only a scam to cheat you out of your property, and always remember that government has its own agenda and that is one that pads its own wallet and not YOURS. Although, it is supposed to be a government of the people, for the people, and by the people, the truth on the matter seem to be that it is a government of the politicians, by the politicians, for the politicians ( and their special interest group).
If you ask, me, there are far too many politicians who need to be removed from government because they have out served their purpose and are looking toward their own gain and their staying in office.
Wake up America and start to dream again. Get back your sense of adventure. Learn what true freedom really is.
I love You and I only want the best for you.
Signed,
A fellow American who still cares about you!
I Remember A Time - A Letter to the Next Generation
I remember a time when life was so much simpler.
It was a time before video games, cell phones and Facebook. The daytime hours during summer seemed to last forever and in the cool of the evening, the fireflies that we chased and caught in a glass jar to show Mom and Dad were as bright as the stars in the sky.
I remember the days when after breakfast, dad headed off for work, and mom pushed you out the door with orders not to come back until dinner so she could get her work on the house done. Yes, those were the days when the women did house work while the men worked in the factory and a time when each partner pulled their weight. Dad expected and was expected to provide the money and the safety against the external dangers of life, while mom was expected to care and nurture the family and keep the home life on course.
In those times your only fear was being late for dinner – that was the time for family. (You didn't have to worry about predators and kidnappers lurking in the shadows back then.) Daddy didn't leave because he and mom had a fight, or because he found a younger model, or because he had to “find himself”, he only left for work so that he could provide for the family. Differences were worked through, and love for each other prevailed. Divorce was an embarrassment and hard to come by.
Our neighborhood was your basic blue collar neighborhood. Everyone worked Monday through Friday and had weekends off. Our homes and yards had chain link fences instead of privacy fences. You saw your neighbors on a regular basis and always said hello to them. You talked to them and got to know them like family.
Life was much simpler back then because the freedom we enjoyed allowed adventure to be our order of the day. Imagination also played an important part. It was there, in our minds eye, were dreams were born. Those dreams helped you decide what you wanted to be later in life. Adventure included playing games like G I Joe, where you always won the battle of the hill and if you didn't win, you were sure to die a slow, painful, Oscar winning performance death. It was a time when, playing house didn't mean you had sex with the girl next door.
Our adventures included bug hunts, nature trails, camping out and fishing, taking in all of what God has provided for us. Living life by the TV was reserved for the evenings with the family.
It was with the adventures that you learned about life, and usually from the fellows you were with. The bonds you formed then lasted forever. You relied on them as they relied on you. Trust ran deep and was never betrayed for any reason (unless you were caught doing something wrong and you didn't dare lie to your parents, your buddies understood this cause they faced the same music at home)
Growing up you learned that when someone bullied you around you had to stand up for yourself. And you accomplished this man-style which meant you used your fists and personal strength instead of guns and knives. If someone was running their mouth saying things about you, you didn't go shooting up the school or try to commit suicide. You faced them and your fears head on and you let them know they had crossed the line. After the fight, you usually ended up good friends because you both knew where the other guy stood and had respect for each other.
Being from a blue collar family meant you did not always get what you wanted, it had to be earned. It was the only way you appreciated what you had.
Your parents loved you enough to teach you what morals were and to have them. A proper work ethic was instilled upon you.
As you were growing up, when it became time for you to start paying for your own dreams and adventures, you started out simple by collecting glass soda bottles and cashing them in. Later, you moved up working part time at the grocery store stacking and sorting those same bottles. (BTW the soda tasted better back then in those glass bottles) You shoveled snow from peoples driveways in the winter and cut grass in the summer.
We didn't have credit cards and go into debt to get what we wanted.
Being blue collar, we treasured what we had and didn't waste it. You didn't just throw something away because it broke, dad took the time and taught you how to fix it.
Our family vacations consisted of taking two weeks in August, driving in the family car to states we had never been to before. By the time I reached high school I had made it to all 48 states in the continental US. Mom & Dad saved Alaska and Hawaii for themselves.
On those trips we drove past fields of corn taller than six feet high and fields of wheat greener than you can ever imagine. We made stops along the way and learned how other people lived and worked. We visited places like the “Worlds Largest Ball of String” and snake farms. We learned how fudge and candy is made and were able to enjoy it fresh. I even learned how Jack Daniels whiskey is made.
In looking back at things, it appears to me that our nation was once one that consumed only what it produced. Now, it seems, we only consume and want to consume without working. Everything else seems to come from other countries. It seems also that many have become spoiled and now feel that they are entitled to whatever they want without having to work for it and the America I am living in now seems to have turned away from the ethics of working in order to get what you want, Nowadays it seems that the idea is to get the other guy to work so that you can get what you want from him via the power of the government entitlement system. Indeed, it seems that people just think that getting the easy life is supposed to be ..... easy, and I feel really sad for my country when I realize that most of the kids sitting around playing Nintendo or listening to iPods have no idea of what mommy or daddy had to go thru in order to get the money to pay for those things.
Pride and honor, once noble words to live by, have decreased in value.
Morality has been given up for the mantra of “anything goes”.
We seem to have lost our sense of adventure and have lost our imagination. Heck, why imagine anything when you just turn on the TV and have it imagined for you. No need to think becasue you can get all of what passes for "thinking" from the TV.
We whine when we don't get what we want instead of what we need. We dream empty dreams of wants & have nots.
What scares me the most for our country is that we have lost our will, our drive.
We have become complacent to the way things are and have lost our nerve to speak up and put a stop to the people who are destroying our values and our morals. The very guidelines in which we used to teach our children have become diminished and blurred.
We need to learn again the value of what it takes to earn what we need and not what we want. The Bible says “Spare the rod and spoil the child” If we fail to forgo the spoils and entitlement we feel is owed to us, then I think that morally and spiritually we will surely die.
We need to start living again without all the bullshit fertilizers we get from Hollywood and TV. Did you know that TV shows and movies are nothing more than make-believe? That also includes those hot new reality shows everybody loves. It's all phony, unreal, nowhere near the truth. We have been hearing the lies and bullshit they (Hollywood) fed us for so long and I think America needs to get back to our rich soil and the roots that we once grew from.
Wake up America, you need to start to dream again of what YOU can do - and you need to find your sense of adventure and get it back.
As far as Government - Government cannot, nor should it, provide you what you need to live and thrive on, it can only provide a framework so that you can earn it through your own initiative and work, and anything else that the government “gives” has been taken from somebody else. Just think about this when the government is taking YOUR money in taxes to give to somebody else.
Take responsibility, as it is up to you to achieve what you desire out of life. Let no man tell you that they will give you the world. For it is only a scam to cheat you out of your property, and always remember that government has its own agenda and that is one that pads its own wallet and not YOURS. Although, it is supposed to be a government of the people, for the people, and by the people, the truth on the matter seem to be that it is a government of the politicians, by the politicians, for the politicians ( and their special interest group).
If you ask, me, there are far too many politicians who need to be removed from government because they have out served their purpose and are looking toward their own gain and their staying in office.
Wake up America and start to dream again. Get back your sense of adventure. Learn what true freedom really is.
I love You and I only want the best for you.
Signed,
A fellow American who still cares about you!
Friday, July 30, 2010
This Should Creep You Out
It's TRUE. The electric company really does want to have control of your thermostat ... all for a good "social justice" purpose, right???
Click the link to see how sweetly the hook is baited ...
http://www.cpsenergy.com/residential/rebates/Peak_Saver/Peak_Saver_about.asp
Like hell I am going to let them access my thermostat. Do you really think that control of peak demand is the only thing this access into you home eventually be used for? Keep Dreaming.
Click the link to see how sweetly the hook is baited ...
http://www.cpsenergy.com/residential/rebates/Peak_Saver/Peak_Saver_about.asp
Like hell I am going to let them access my thermostat. Do you really think that control of peak demand is the only thing this access into you home eventually be used for? Keep Dreaming.
Countering Islamic Terrorism Ideology
A good 60 Minutes piece on the issue can be found here:
http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=6711907n&tag=contentBody;housing
http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=6711907n&tag=contentBody;housing
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Arizona Law on Illegal Aliens Examined in the Context of Federalism
A great article appropriate to the Arizona Situation*.
http://federalistblog.us/2006/07/delegated_powers_immigration.html
* I just realized that I have been a fool in going along with the immigration patina that has been put on this issue and see that we should jettison linkage of the act of crossing border illegally to "immigration" and start using terms that describe what it actually is - illegal entry or trespass. It is NOT Immigration any more than bank robbery is excess withdrawal.
It is a shame how the left is so adept at co-opting the language and using that to then frame the argument in their favor.
Shame on me for not catching this sooner.
http://federalistblog.us/2006/07/delegated_powers_immigration.html
* I just realized that I have been a fool in going along with the immigration patina that has been put on this issue and see that we should jettison linkage of the act of crossing border illegally to "immigration" and start using terms that describe what it actually is - illegal entry or trespass. It is NOT Immigration any more than bank robbery is excess withdrawal.
It is a shame how the left is so adept at co-opting the language and using that to then frame the argument in their favor.
Shame on me for not catching this sooner.
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds ....California Meltdown Derangement Syndrome Becomes Apparent
A recent article about the California meltdown says
You have to be kidding. Really??? In case you had not noticed, California already is a progressive laboratory for change. That change is what has brought things to their present state. What has become broken, has become broken because do-gooders & progressives hell bent on wanting to control the uncontrollable have broken it trying to fix things that were not broken.
Thus it is that over the background sounds of splat, plop, splat, these California progressives are still heard to cry: “We must save our brother lemmings! Onward, fellow lemmings! More lemmings over the cliff!!
California’s fiscal crisis is just the right time for it to become a laboratory for progressive reform, at least according to according to organizers of this year’s Netroots Nation conference. From the schedule:
This panel will examine how progressives are working to move California from being a failed state to a progressive laboratory for change, consider the opportunities and possibilities for fixing what has become broken and assess the obstacles the state still faces as we seek to restore the California Dream.
You have to be kidding. Really??? In case you had not noticed, California already is a progressive laboratory for change. That change is what has brought things to their present state. What has become broken, has become broken because do-gooders & progressives hell bent on wanting to control the uncontrollable have broken it trying to fix things that were not broken.
Thus it is that over the background sounds of splat, plop, splat, these California progressives are still heard to cry: “We must save our brother lemmings! Onward, fellow lemmings! More lemmings over the cliff!!
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Open Invitation for Submissions By Readers - Topic: "How I See America"
Are you worried, fearful, optimistic, jaded, happy, sad, elated about the American Experience of today?
Want to get it off your chest about how you feel about what is happening these days?
Are you just a regular Joe or Jane?
Well, here is you chance to be published and heard - perhaps by the very politicains that are driving the country off the cliff.
Readers are invited to submit "ordinary man", "ordinary woman" essays concerning the topic "How I See the America of Today." Selected essays will be published on the blog. The content should be as if you were writing a heartfelt letter to your children - one that they will read 50 years from now when they are being asked by their children what it was really like in America in 2010 - as opposed to what the re-educators may place in the school history books.
Essays touching on the main themes of Truth, Freedom, The Relation between Government and the Citizen, Government Growth, Spending, Entitlement Mentality, Social Issues, etc are of particular interest.
Send submissions to submissions@koenig2010.org All submissions are licensed to the Seneca blog owner for publication here and elsewhere. Submissions must contain name and valid contact info. If you want your full name withheld by request please so indicate. Published items will be credited with writer's first name and city. Essays will be reviewed and have some editing for style and content.
You MUST include the word SUBMISSION in the Subject Line of your email.
~ Seneca
Want to get it off your chest about how you feel about what is happening these days?
Are you just a regular Joe or Jane?
Well, here is you chance to be published and heard - perhaps by the very politicains that are driving the country off the cliff.
Readers are invited to submit "ordinary man", "ordinary woman" essays concerning the topic "How I See the America of Today." Selected essays will be published on the blog. The content should be as if you were writing a heartfelt letter to your children - one that they will read 50 years from now when they are being asked by their children what it was really like in America in 2010 - as opposed to what the re-educators may place in the school history books.
Essays touching on the main themes of Truth, Freedom, The Relation between Government and the Citizen, Government Growth, Spending, Entitlement Mentality, Social Issues, etc are of particular interest.
Send submissions to submissions@koenig2010.org All submissions are licensed to the Seneca blog owner for publication here and elsewhere. Submissions must contain name and valid contact info. If you want your full name withheld by request please so indicate. Published items will be credited with writer's first name and city. Essays will be reviewed and have some editing for style and content.
You MUST include the word SUBMISSION in the Subject Line of your email.
~ Seneca
Saturday, July 17, 2010
Those Pesky Gun Laws
From another biased story in the LameStream Media:
The patrols have been occurring on public land, and militia members have no real restrictions on their weaponry because of Arizona's loose gun laws.Uh ... like that "loose" 2d amendment thing???
Friday, July 16, 2010
Oil Spill Timeline
A compelling presentation showing the dilly and dally of the President....
http://vimeo.com/12933322
http://vimeo.com/12933322
Thursday, July 15, 2010
~ Cato
The guiding principle of Donald Berwick, recess-appointed head of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services:
Precisely – that’s why we cannot entrust it to you (or any committee). You are right, health care is a system, an economic system. As such, it is governed by the aggregate decisions of individuals. You are trying to change that system into a bureaucracy.
The guiding principle of Donald Berwick, recess-appointed head of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services:
"The unaided human mind, and the acts of the individual, cannot assure excellence. Health care is a system, and its performance is a systemic property."
Precisely – that’s why we cannot entrust it to you (or any committee). You are right, health care is a system, an economic system. As such, it is governed by the aggregate decisions of individuals. You are trying to change that system into a bureaucracy.
Saturday, July 10, 2010
Real People - Real America
I was driving down the street the other day and this caught my eye. I do think that this is what mainstream America thinks, yet that those in Washington, including even the Republican delegation simply do not care to hear.
Hopefully, that will be at their own peril, and hopefully, after 2010, those newly ushered into power will not turn their own deaf ears to those that put them there.
THAT is what I mean by Hope and Change.
Hopefully, that will be at their own peril, and hopefully, after 2010, those newly ushered into power will not turn their own deaf ears to those that put them there.
THAT is what I mean by Hope and Change.
Friday, July 9, 2010
Thursday, July 8, 2010
BP-Celebrities Refuse to Donate Time To Gulf Spill Victims
A friend of mine says the following:
So where are all the "Save the Gulf" concerts?? Where are the TV benefits with celebrities and musicians giving heart felt speeches on the poor fishermen, wildlife, beaches, loss of income and "destroyed" gulf economy?? I find it rather strange how these people are so quick to "help" Haiti and other countries...but sit on their ASSES for this one.
Monday, July 5, 2010
What a Great Idea
Seneca,
This is the kind of creative thinking we need in our country. Don’t know if you want to blog it, but it will interest you.
~ A concerned Citzen
This is the kind of creative thinking we need in our country. Don’t know if you want to blog it, but it will interest you.
~ A concerned Citzen
I'm just a mom of a soldier, but I sent my advice to the ONE. Dear Barack Obama, I have a simple inexpensive solution to the flow of drugs, and illegal immigrants coming across our southern boarder I know our military is stretched thin, with two wars going on. My son in law just recently got out of the army after two 15 month tours in Iraq. He first went through boot camp, then infantry training in Louisiana (Louisiana? Are we fighting a war in a swamp some where that I don't know about?). What if Infantry training stations were set up all along the southern boarder? The climate and terrain are similar to Afghanistan. When in Louisiana my son in law stayed a lot of his training time in the field, or in tents. What would be the cost to set up tents at these infantry stations for our troops to use while they train to prepare them for the war in Afghanistan? Their time would be extended by (I'm not an expert, by all means, but I would think) one to three weeks, because in their final week of training, they would now spend half of their training time (actively) patrolling our boarder carrying live ordinance!
It would all be worked/planned on a rotation type system of training. Think of what that would do for their morale, knowing they are protecting their own homeland border, and it can't cost too much more than where they train now. The simple Intimidation factor to the Mexicans, would scare at least half of them from wanting to even attempt to cross the boarder of the United States of America! And I honestly doubt that any drug dealer would want to take on the United States Military! Sincerely, A Concerned Mother and Patriotic American
What I didn't add to the letter was, "That is unless you are also on the payroll of the drug cartels (paid to ...
http://comments.americanthinker.com/read/42323/627094.html
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
My 2 Cents
I recently canceled my subscription to what has become the inordinate and tedious " the sky is falling" News Brief emails that I was getting from the American Society of Civil Engineers.
When asked why I was unsuscribing, I clicked the box "information is not relevant to me" and in the comments section I said this:
Makes me want to vomit
When asked why I was unsuscribing, I clicked the box "information is not relevant to me" and in the comments section I said this:
I am tired of reading news items that clearly indicate that the engineering profession is helping hand-in-hand to bring about the rise of the STATE. If it was 1939, ASCE would be running articles about the pressing need for rail infrastructure improvement and the shortage of transport boxcars (for human cargo). All this degradation of my once noble profession by a bunch of jackals because that fits the government agenda and fits the rush for the green ($$$$).
Makes me want to vomit
Friday, June 25, 2010
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
McChrystal, McChrystal Burning Bright
General McChrystal, the dude that is leading the charge in the wasteland called Afghanistan is recently quoted as saying
Is he talking about his vote for Obama?
When my 3 nephews get killed in Omaba's War will it have been worth it?
Do you really think that even if we "win" in Afghanistan that we will not eventually have to have the showdown with Islam?
For more on poor judgment see this.
"It was a mistake reflecting poor judgment and should never have happened"
Is he talking about his vote for Obama?
When my 3 nephews get killed in Omaba's War will it have been worth it?
Do you really think that even if we "win" in Afghanistan that we will not eventually have to have the showdown with Islam?
For more on poor judgment see this.
Monday, June 21, 2010
HOW TO SELL ... TOOTHBRUSHES
The kids filed back into class Monday morning. They were very excited. Their weekend assignment was to sell something, then give a talk on productive salesmanship.
Little Sally led off: "I sold girl scout cookies and I made $30," she said proudly, "My sales approach was to appeal to the customer's civil spirit and I credit that approach for my obvious success."
"Very good," said the teacher.
Little Jenny was next:
"I sold magazines," she said, "I made $45 and I explained to everyone that magazines would keep them up on current events."
"Very good, Jenny," said the teacher..
Eventually, it was Little Johnny's turn.
The teacher held her breath ...
Little Johnny walked to the front of the classroom and dumped a box full of cash on the teacher's desk. "$2,467," he said.
"$2,467!" cried the teacher, "What in the world were you selling"
"Toothbrushes," said Little Johnny.
"Toothbrushes," echoed the teacher, "How could you possibly sell enough tooth brushes to make that much money?"
"I found the busiest corner in town," said Little Johnny, "I set up a Dip & Chip stand, I gave everybody who walked by a free sample." They all said the same thing, "Hey, this tastes like dog shit!"
Then I would say,"It is dog shit. Wanna buy a toothbrush?"
"I used the governmental approach of giving you something shitty that they say is good, and then making you pay to get the shitty taste out of your mouth."
The teacher was speechless. . . . . . . .
Little Sally led off: "I sold girl scout cookies and I made $30," she said proudly, "My sales approach was to appeal to the customer's civil spirit and I credit that approach for my obvious success."
"Very good," said the teacher.
Little Jenny was next:
"I sold magazines," she said, "I made $45 and I explained to everyone that magazines would keep them up on current events."
"Very good, Jenny," said the teacher..
Eventually, it was Little Johnny's turn.
The teacher held her breath ...
Little Johnny walked to the front of the classroom and dumped a box full of cash on the teacher's desk. "$2,467," he said.
"$2,467!" cried the teacher, "What in the world were you selling"
"Toothbrushes," said Little Johnny.
"Toothbrushes," echoed the teacher, "How could you possibly sell enough tooth brushes to make that much money?"
"I found the busiest corner in town," said Little Johnny, "I set up a Dip & Chip stand, I gave everybody who walked by a free sample." They all said the same thing, "Hey, this tastes like dog shit!"
Then I would say,"It is dog shit. Wanna buy a toothbrush?"
"I used the governmental approach of giving you something shitty that they say is good, and then making you pay to get the shitty taste out of your mouth."
The teacher was speechless. . . . . . . .
Saturday, June 19, 2010
Pot Calls the Kettle Black
6/21/2010 - Correction - The 2.5 million gallons/day is a cube that is about... wait for it .... 70 x 70 x70 ... feet. Amazing what some simple napkin math reveals.
Today's headline reads
As oil spews in Gulf, BP chief at UK yacht race
Now, I for one, don't see why anybody would have a problem with this, because after all, that sort of thing is what Obama would have done. Remember when he and his ilk were telling us about how the country was melting down that he and his wife flew off to have their private night on the town costing us taxpayers millions of dollars?
I remember, and I do not recall any of the state run media getting their panties in a wad over that Obama display of bad form.
BTW all the daily oil "gushing" out of that well can fit into a cube measuring about ...... 150' x 150' x 150' - peanuts I say, the proof of which can be seen as the news commentator intones with saddened face how he walked along the oil coated beach and saw, wait for it ...... 10 pelicans coated in oil!
Not to put too fine a point on things, there are more people killed in car crashes every day in practically any state in the union than there are dead freaking birds because of the BP oil spill - no big daily news story over that.
Every day there are more cats run over by cars on residential streets than there are dead pelicans for the BP oil spill - no big daily news story over that.
Lunacy - the entire world seems to have become mired in the greasy slick of simply unsustainable political correctness ... at least so says this heartless bastard.
6/21/2010 Update
Latest Blog Photo showing enviromental balance and health of marsh grasses that have a damage ratio of oil stained to unaffected of approximately .0000000000000000000000000000000000000001%
Call out the National Guard
Photo showing seagulls communicating with each other to stay the hell away from that black stuff and telling each other that there is 18,000,0000,0000,000,000,000 acres of green stuff to nest and fly over.
Good Grief - Give Me a Break - So Says Heartless Bastard
Friday, June 18, 2010
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Another Open Message to ASFE - Association of Socialist Federated Engineers?
This morning, I got an email from one of the professional associations that I belong to - ASFE - and this email animated me to write up this post.
From my understanding of things, in the beginning of this association's life it was all about bringing the owners of geotechnical firms (dirt engineering & testing companies) together so that they could figure out ways to reduce risk and exposure on geotechnical engineering projects. At that time, insurance was very difficult to obtain and these owners saw that if they did not band together and implement industry-wide voluntary practices of "good engineering" that their firms would soon be sued out of existence.
With that initial goal, the association proceeded to develop the best liability and practice guidelines and protocols in the engineering industry and from these initial beginnings, the association has expanded into helping with business practice and management techniques, as these things greatly affect the liability exposure of the firm.
It was at this stage that I directed that my firm join the association, for I wanted to confer with other business owners about problems and solutions that we all - as business owners -faced. This was a good thing for my firm for many years, however, as is common with all associations, this one too has entered a stage of its life-cycle where it seems the purpose of the association is the association, and that the members are used as income units to fund the association and to fund agendas of the ruling politburo that are vastly different than the agenda of sound business practice and liability reduction and which are vastly different than what any individual engineer would privately agree to in his own right mind.
Thus it is that we now have the association sending out emails like the one that I received this morning, an email that is making George Orwell and Ayn Rand either turn over in their graves or roll their eyes as if to say " I told you so".
Here is the text:
[Note that nowhere in the email is it stated that they are interested in cleaning up chemicals in the dirt. ]
This is the email that I sent back [OK maybe with a few edits]:
From my understanding of things, in the beginning of this association's life it was all about bringing the owners of geotechnical firms (dirt engineering & testing companies) together so that they could figure out ways to reduce risk and exposure on geotechnical engineering projects. At that time, insurance was very difficult to obtain and these owners saw that if they did not band together and implement industry-wide voluntary practices of "good engineering" that their firms would soon be sued out of existence.
With that initial goal, the association proceeded to develop the best liability and practice guidelines and protocols in the engineering industry and from these initial beginnings, the association has expanded into helping with business practice and management techniques, as these things greatly affect the liability exposure of the firm.
It was at this stage that I directed that my firm join the association, for I wanted to confer with other business owners about problems and solutions that we all - as business owners -faced. This was a good thing for my firm for many years, however, as is common with all associations, this one too has entered a stage of its life-cycle where it seems the purpose of the association is the association, and that the members are used as income units to fund the association and to fund agendas of the ruling politburo that are vastly different than the agenda of sound business practice and liability reduction and which are vastly different than what any individual engineer would privately agree to in his own right mind.
Thus it is that we now have the association sending out emails like the one that I received this morning, an email that is making George Orwell and Ayn Rand either turn over in their graves or roll their eyes as if to say " I told you so".
Here is the text:
Brownfields [Oh such a nice cuddly name - for a chemical waste containing site] 2011 Call for Session Ideas Is Open!
The U.S. EPA is seeking proposals for educational sessions at the 14th National Brownfields Conference, scheduled for April 3-5, 2011 at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia. ASFE is a sponsor of the event, [you have to be kidding] the nation's largest, most comprehensive conference focused on issues facing brownfields practitioners, policy makers, and communities.
This year, conference organizers are particularly interested in ideas related to green jobs, community engagement and environmental justice, the business of brownfields, green technology and emerging solutions, planning for community revitalization, and sustainability.
[Note that nowhere in the email is it stated that they are interested in cleaning up chemicals in the dirt. ]
This is the email that I sent back [OK maybe with a few edits]:
Got your earlier message about the Brownfields Conference. I note the do-gooder feel good language of the prospectus and wanted to know if you will you please explain to me what "environmental justice" is? I have never taken an engineering or other course in this. I have taken many courses in rationality justice, capitalism justice, personal justice, societal justice, farm animal justice, auto repair justice etc. These were usually styled under the heading LAW. Indeed, the entire purpose of the LAW IS justice, so we do not need "environmental justice".
While you are making up the platitudes to justify the introduction of such Orwellian terms like "environmental justice", terms deliberately introduced so as to engender the collective, be on the lookout for the FedEx package of Kool-Aid that I have sent up to you.
Have you all gone stark raving mad buying into this pathological liberal collectivist mindset and using my dues money to further it - a mindset that is unsustainable for our culture and civilization as a whole?Call to Action - If any of you other engineers out there are fed up with your engineering associations using your dues money to engage in acts like this and to do things such as bringing in speakers trying to push the collectivist socialist green communist save the earth and feed the whales agendas, then kick and scream about it - or just do like John Galt . I did.
Art Koenig, PE
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
BP Spoof
This is a funny clip. Too bad they didn't put in a bit about the administration refusing proffered/requested aid -- booms, sweepers, ship, berms -- becuse of the Jones act and bureaucratic bungling.
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