Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Thursday, December 17, 2009
Most Transparent Administration EVVVAAAAAH!!!
http://mcconnell.senate.gov/record.cfm?id=320943&start=1
‘And here’s the most outrageous part: at the end of this rush, they want us to vote on a bill that no one outside the Majority Leader’s conference room has even seen. That’s right. The final bill we’ll vote on isn’t even the one we’ve had on the floor. It’s the deal Democrat leaders have been trying to work out in private’
And they're trying to slip this through in the dead of night!
http://hotair.com/archives/2009/12/17/merry-christmas-senate-obamacare-vote-may-come-on-december-24th/
"Because Republicans like McConnell and DeMint are promising to delay by every possible means (even Olympia Snowe wants to slow down, believe it or not), the only way to get the bill to the floor by Christmas Eve is to schedule votes at the first possible moment under Senate rules — which means they could be voting on amendments at 3 a.m. this week. That’s how desperate the most transparent administration ever is to get this done before the next round of polls freaks out even more centrists."
Even better.... the Senate just adjourned until 1 a.m. One a.m.
‘And here’s the most outrageous part: at the end of this rush, they want us to vote on a bill that no one outside the Majority Leader’s conference room has even seen. That’s right. The final bill we’ll vote on isn’t even the one we’ve had on the floor. It’s the deal Democrat leaders have been trying to work out in private’
And they're trying to slip this through in the dead of night!
http://hotair.com/archives/2009/12/17/merry-christmas-senate-obamacare-vote-may-come-on-december-24th/
"Because Republicans like McConnell and DeMint are promising to delay by every possible means (even Olympia Snowe wants to slow down, believe it or not), the only way to get the bill to the floor by Christmas Eve is to schedule votes at the first possible moment under Senate rules — which means they could be voting on amendments at 3 a.m. this week. That’s how desperate the most transparent administration ever is to get this done before the next round of polls freaks out even more centrists."
Even better.... the Senate just adjourned until 1 a.m. One a.m.
Friday, November 6, 2009
Nothing To See Here. Move Along.
http://michellemalkin.com/2009/11/06/the-massacre-at-fort-hood-and-muslim-soldiers-with-attitude/
Ft. Hood officials disclose that the murder victims included 12 soldiers and 1 civilian…first responder heroine who shot Hasan is in stable condition…witnesses still being interviewed “all through the night”…they confirm that Hasan was wearing his uniform…
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091106/ap_on_re_us/us_fort_hood_shooting
Soldiers reported that the gunman shouted "Allahu Akbar!"
Ft. Hood officials disclose that the murder victims included 12 soldiers and 1 civilian…first responder heroine who shot Hasan is in stable condition…witnesses still being interviewed “all through the night”…they confirm that Hasan was wearing his uniform…
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091106/ap_on_re_us/us_fort_hood_shooting
Soldiers reported that the gunman shouted "Allahu Akbar!"
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Sick and Tired
I am a professional firefighter. In my 19 years on the job, I have been injured several times. The city has taken away our pension vesting because of a typo, and says we have to negotiate it back. At present, we have been without a contract since 1/1/09. And the city is trying to take away money, benefits and manning. I bust my ass working, both regular shifts and overtime, because the city won’t fill empty positions, all to support my wife and 2 children. We are not poor, but we are not rich, or even what most would consider well-off.
I risk my life everyday I go to work. In most other places, people appreciate the job I do.
But, not around here. Not in the Lehigh Valley. Here, I am just a low-life civil servant. A piece of shit, bottom feeder.
I am sick and tired :
Of people around here looking down their noses at me, because I’m a firefighter and I don’t make enough money for their tastes.
Of people taking us for granted. Of saying they’ll do something and then don’t. Of saying they’ll be somewhere and they’re not. Of putting everyone and everything ahead of us.
Of people always looking for a bigger, better deal. (ie; “sure, we’d love to come over!” then later, “oh, we didn’t come over because our other friends invited us over, and we knew we’d get drunk over there.”)
Of people who think it’s OK to get drunk, high, stoned, etc. while their children are around. (I was a deputy sheriff for awhile. People get their kids taken away for that shit. all it takes is one thing to go wrong.)
Of people looking down their noses at us because of where we live. We live in a small town where my parents were born and raised, and not in some fancy, ultra-ritzy development.
Of people who put on a big show of being Christian, all ‘holier than thou’. They go to church every Sunday and attend all the right events, and look down on us because we don‘t. BUT, in reality, they are some of the most hateful, horrible people in the world. They abuse their husband/wife/children, cheat on their spouses, and think nothing of it. They tease, bully, or mock others because of their job, income, race, religion, the clothes they wear, the car they drive, the house they live in. And even worse, they raise their children to be the same way.
Of people looking down their noses at my wife because I don’t make enough money.
Of people disrespecting my wife because even though she is smart and has successfully run her own business, she chose to stay home and raise our children.
Of people disrespecting my wife because we believe in raising our children and spending time with them instead of going out everyday and have $6 coffees with the “moms”.
Of people disrespecting my wife because she doesn’t down half a dozen Xanax (insert anti-depressant of your choice) and a pint of gin just to get through the day.
Of people disrespecting my wife because she cares about our children and will fight tooth and nail if she thinks someone has wronged them.
Of people disrespecting, teasing, or bullying my daughters because they are smart and have manners.
Of people disrespecting, teasing, or bullying my daughters because they don’t have the ‘right’ labels on their clothes.
Of people disrespecting, teasing, or bullying my daughters because we don’t buy them the latest, newest, coolest videogame on the market.
Of people disrespecting, teasing, or bullying my daughters because they would rather play outside instead of sitting inside being a lazy bums.
Of people complaining that I get paid too much for hardly ever having to work.
Of those same people running around with their NFL/NBA/MLB/NHL jerseys bragging about their season tickets. Most of the players are making more money in one year, than I’ll make in my entire career, playing a kids game! And they gleefully support them.
BUT GOD FORBID I MIGHT ACTUALLY GET A COST OF LIVING RAISE!!!!!!!!!!!
I AM SICK AND TIRED OF THE LEHIGH VALLEY AND THE STUCK-UP PEOPLE HERE!!!!!!!
I risk my life everyday I go to work. In most other places, people appreciate the job I do.
But, not around here. Not in the Lehigh Valley. Here, I am just a low-life civil servant. A piece of shit, bottom feeder.
I am sick and tired :
Of people around here looking down their noses at me, because I’m a firefighter and I don’t make enough money for their tastes.
Of people taking us for granted. Of saying they’ll do something and then don’t. Of saying they’ll be somewhere and they’re not. Of putting everyone and everything ahead of us.
Of people always looking for a bigger, better deal. (ie; “sure, we’d love to come over!” then later, “oh, we didn’t come over because our other friends invited us over, and we knew we’d get drunk over there.”)
Of people who think it’s OK to get drunk, high, stoned, etc. while their children are around. (I was a deputy sheriff for awhile. People get their kids taken away for that shit. all it takes is one thing to go wrong.)
Of people looking down their noses at us because of where we live. We live in a small town where my parents were born and raised, and not in some fancy, ultra-ritzy development.
Of people who put on a big show of being Christian, all ‘holier than thou’. They go to church every Sunday and attend all the right events, and look down on us because we don‘t. BUT, in reality, they are some of the most hateful, horrible people in the world. They abuse their husband/wife/children, cheat on their spouses, and think nothing of it. They tease, bully, or mock others because of their job, income, race, religion, the clothes they wear, the car they drive, the house they live in. And even worse, they raise their children to be the same way.
Of people looking down their noses at my wife because I don’t make enough money.
Of people disrespecting my wife because even though she is smart and has successfully run her own business, she chose to stay home and raise our children.
Of people disrespecting my wife because we believe in raising our children and spending time with them instead of going out everyday and have $6 coffees with the “moms”.
Of people disrespecting my wife because she doesn’t down half a dozen Xanax (insert anti-depressant of your choice) and a pint of gin just to get through the day.
Of people disrespecting my wife because she cares about our children and will fight tooth and nail if she thinks someone has wronged them.
Of people disrespecting, teasing, or bullying my daughters because they are smart and have manners.
Of people disrespecting, teasing, or bullying my daughters because they don’t have the ‘right’ labels on their clothes.
Of people disrespecting, teasing, or bullying my daughters because we don’t buy them the latest, newest, coolest videogame on the market.
Of people disrespecting, teasing, or bullying my daughters because they would rather play outside instead of sitting inside being a lazy bums.
Of people complaining that I get paid too much for hardly ever having to work.
Of those same people running around with their NFL/NBA/MLB/NHL jerseys bragging about their season tickets. Most of the players are making more money in one year, than I’ll make in my entire career, playing a kids game! And they gleefully support them.
BUT GOD FORBID I MIGHT ACTUALLY GET A COST OF LIVING RAISE!!!!!!!!!!!
I AM SICK AND TIRED OF THE LEHIGH VALLEY AND THE STUCK-UP PEOPLE HERE!!!!!!!
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Lovely, Just Lovely....
http://biggovernment.com/2009/10/30/pelosi-health-care-bill-blows-a-kiss-to-trial-lawyers/#more-23042
Section 2531, entitled “Medical Liability Alternatives,” establishes an incentive program for states to adopt and implement alternatives to medical liability litigation. [But]…… a state is not eligible for the incentive payments if that state puts a law on the books that limits attorneys’ fees or imposes caps on damages.
Section 2531, entitled “Medical Liability Alternatives,” establishes an incentive program for states to adopt and implement alternatives to medical liability litigation. [But]…… a state is not eligible for the incentive payments if that state puts a law on the books that limits attorneys’ fees or imposes caps on damages.
May the gods help us!
http://www.reuters.com/article/pressRelease/idUS214784+29-Oct-2009+PRN20091029
"This is why this legislation is important: affordability for our middle-class
that lowers costs for every patient, reins in premiums, co-pays, and
deductibles, limits out of pocket costs, and lifts the cap on what insurance
companies cover each year. Affordability for the middle-class and security for
our seniors." says Pelosi.
Let me go on the record right now:
PELOSI IS A BIG, FAT, LIAR!!!!!
"This is why this legislation is important: affordability for our middle-class
that lowers costs for every patient, reins in premiums, co-pays, and
deductibles, limits out of pocket costs, and lifts the cap on what insurance
companies cover each year. Affordability for the middle-class and security for
our seniors." says Pelosi.
Let me go on the record right now:
PELOSI IS A BIG, FAT, LIAR!!!!!
Saturday, October 17, 2009
Sunday, October 11, 2009
The Nobel Peace Prize?!?!?!?!??!?!??!?!?
See what I mean? Just when you think things can't get any more bizarre, they do.
I am at a loss anymore to even comment about our Glorious Leader.
So here's the acceptance he should give. But of course he never will.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/11/opinion/11friedman.html?_r=1&ref=opinion
“Let me begin by thanking the Nobel committee for awarding me this prize, the highest award to which any statesman can aspire. As I said on the day it was announced, ‘I do not feel that I deserve to be in the company of so many of the transformative figures who’ve been honored by this prize.’ Therefore, upon reflection, I cannot accept this award on my behalf at all.
“But I will accept it on behalf of the most important peacekeepers in the world for the last century — the men and women of the U.S. Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps.
“I will accept this award on behalf of the American soldiers who landed on Omaha Beach on June 6, 1944, to liberate Europe from the grip of Nazi fascism. I will accept this award on behalf of the American soldiers and sailors who fought on the high seas and forlorn islands in the Pacific to free East Asia from Japanese tyranny in the Second World War.
.............
There's more...Go read!
I am at a loss anymore to even comment about our Glorious Leader.
So here's the acceptance he should give. But of course he never will.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/11/opinion/11friedman.html?_r=1&ref=opinion
“Let me begin by thanking the Nobel committee for awarding me this prize, the highest award to which any statesman can aspire. As I said on the day it was announced, ‘I do not feel that I deserve to be in the company of so many of the transformative figures who’ve been honored by this prize.’ Therefore, upon reflection, I cannot accept this award on my behalf at all.
“But I will accept it on behalf of the most important peacekeepers in the world for the last century — the men and women of the U.S. Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps.
“I will accept this award on behalf of the American soldiers who landed on Omaha Beach on June 6, 1944, to liberate Europe from the grip of Nazi fascism. I will accept this award on behalf of the American soldiers and sailors who fought on the high seas and forlorn islands in the Pacific to free East Asia from Japanese tyranny in the Second World War.
.............
There's more...Go read!
Monday, October 5, 2009
The Dalai Lama: A Comparison In Respect
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/barackobama/6262938/Barack-Obama-cancels-meeting-with-Dalai-Lama-to-keep-China-happy.html
President Barack Obama has refused to meet the Dalai Lama in Washington this week in a move to curry favour with the Chinese.
So..... the pussy-in-chief. the leader of the free world, the president of the most powerful nation in history, refuses to meet with a 74 year old monk 'to keep China happy' .
And how did that rude, crude, stupid, ultra-christian, cowboy, George W. Bush treat the Dalai Lama?
George W Bush conferred the Congressional Gold Medal, Congress's highest civilian award, on the Dalai Lama in front of the cameras.
President Barack Obama has refused to meet the Dalai Lama in Washington this week in a move to curry favour with the Chinese.
So..... the pussy-in-chief. the leader of the free world, the president of the most powerful nation in history, refuses to meet with a 74 year old monk 'to keep China happy' .
And how did that rude, crude, stupid, ultra-christian, cowboy, George W. Bush treat the Dalai Lama?
George W Bush conferred the Congressional Gold Medal, Congress's highest civilian award, on the Dalai Lama in front of the cameras.
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Quote Of The Day
"You can say, 'The millionaire is evil,' but they don't just put their money in a coffee can," said Christopher Summers, president of the nonpartisan Maryland Public Policy Institute. "They employ people ... That fact is, you need rich people to keep working hard so they will invest."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090927/ap_on_re_us/us_taxing_the_rich
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090927/ap_on_re_us/us_taxing_the_rich
Just The Top Header At Drudge:
Iran test-fires short-range missiles...
'Could reach Israel'...
Revolutionary Guards begins war games...
Venezuela exploring uranium deposits with Russia...
China to display upgraded missiles in Oct 1 parade...
India raises nuclear stakes; Can make high-yield weapons...
Yep! this is a good time to be talking about reducing our nuclear stockpile.
It's scary that Obama thinks that just beause he says something, everyone is going to obey him.
'Could reach Israel'...
Revolutionary Guards begins war games...
Venezuela exploring uranium deposits with Russia...
China to display upgraded missiles in Oct 1 parade...
India raises nuclear stakes; Can make high-yield weapons...
Yep! this is a good time to be talking about reducing our nuclear stockpile.
It's scary that Obama thinks that just beause he says something, everyone is going to obey him.
Friday, September 25, 2009
I Don't Kow What To Say.....
Things are spiraling out of control, and we are now seeing definitive proof that Obama is over his head.
Iran Discovered To Have An Undeclared, Secret Nuclear Development Site
http://ace.mu.nu/archives/292824.php
'Ahmadinejad has enough uranium to go whole way’
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/nuclear-showdown-with-iran-escalates-1793483.html
This of course backs Israel in a corner even more. They know Obama will not back them. In fact he's doing everything possible to pressure them not to act and even to make concessions.
He has shitcanned Europe's missle defense and did everthing but raised a white flag at the UN.
Israel will be forced to strike Iran before the end of the year (my opinion).
If that happens expect gas prices to hit $5 a gallon which in itself will be bad, but I think with Obama and the Dems reckless spending and socialist policies, will send us into a full-fledged depression with out-of-control inflation.
As John Bolton said "Obama is the first post-American President"
He is destroying our country, and three years from now we will be a Third-World nation who won't be able to even influence our Allies.
Iran Discovered To Have An Undeclared, Secret Nuclear Development Site
http://ace.mu.nu/archives/292824.php
'Ahmadinejad has enough uranium to go whole way’
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/nuclear-showdown-with-iran-escalates-1793483.html
This of course backs Israel in a corner even more. They know Obama will not back them. In fact he's doing everything possible to pressure them not to act and even to make concessions.
He has shitcanned Europe's missle defense and did everthing but raised a white flag at the UN.
Israel will be forced to strike Iran before the end of the year (my opinion).
If that happens expect gas prices to hit $5 a gallon which in itself will be bad, but I think with Obama and the Dems reckless spending and socialist policies, will send us into a full-fledged depression with out-of-control inflation.
As John Bolton said "Obama is the first post-American President"
He is destroying our country, and three years from now we will be a Third-World nation who won't be able to even influence our Allies.
Friday, September 11, 2009
8 Years Ago: 9/11/01
NEVER FORGIVE! NEVER FORGET!
My memories from Septmeber 11, 2001:
A perfect day. That's what I thought of as I reported for duty at 0700 hrs. on Tuesday September 11, 2001. It was a perfect day, a crystal clear blue sky without a single cloud and just a hint of a chill in the air. I shouldn't be at work today I thought, I should be outside enjoying this perfect weather. Oh well, tomorrow should be just as nice, maybe I'd give my Dad a call and take him fishing.
I am a professional firefighter in the City of Easton Pennsylvania, about 60 miles from New York City. After a cup of coffee, we start our day. Drivers check their vehicles, while the riders do housework, mopping floors and such. I take note that I have House Watch from 0900 to 1100.
Around ten minutes before nine, someone yells out to the apparatus floor that a plane has crashed into the World Trade Center. I head to the communications booth thinking that it must have been an accident. Perhaps the pilot of a small plane had a heart attack, or engine trouble. I remember reading that in 1945 a B-25 crashed into the Empire State Building. In the booth I turn on Fox News, and there on the screen is Tower 1 with smoke pouring out of a huge gaping hole the entire width of the building. That was no small plane, it must have been a commercial airliner. Strange, even if the pilot had a heart attack the co-pilot or engineer would be able to avoid hitting a building.
I called my cousin Chris before he leaves for work to tell him what had happened. As I was talking to him, out of the corner of my eye, I catch the image of another airliner cross the TV screen. I say, "Holy shit! Look at this asshole! He must want a better look." As the last word came out of my mouth, I saw the plane disappear into Tower 2 and a fireball erupt out the other side. "Holy shit! Did you see that? Chris, I gotta go." I got on the PA system and announced what I had just saw, and added "This has to be an attack".
As I watched the events unfold on the screen, I thought of people I knew.
Roy, a friend of mine, was on Engine 28 in Manhattan, first due for the WTC. Was he on duty today? Donna, she worked in the WTC, but which building? I hope not the towers, she'd have a hell of a time getting out. Donna is blind. Kenny, Engine 220, Park Slope in Brooklyn, I wonder if they'll end up calling him in?
The Chief comes in and I ask him if he's been following this. He says he has. I say, "Shades of Tom Clancy," referring to the book "Debt of Honor" where a Japanese pilot crashes a 747 into the Capital Building. He says he was thinking the same thing.
From this point on events are blurred and yet clear.
Rumors of more planes hijacked, fighters being scrambled, planes headed for Washington. Watching TV and seeing the people trapped above the fires. Firefighters climbing over 80 flights of stairs, that's gotta suck. Could I do that? "Oh my God! They're jumping!" Tower 2 collapses. The realization that thousands of people have just died. Firefighters, my brothers, hundreds of them would have been in that Tower. They're all dead! Roy. I start to pray. The endless repetition of Tower 2 collapsing. They're showing it again, Holy Shit! That was Tower 1! More people dead. Thousands more.
More rumors. More planes hijacked. Two more. Four more. The Pentagon has been hit. Fighters are searching for others. A plane crashed in western Pa. Shot down?
More headed for Washington? Sorrow. Fear. Rage. Each emotion stronger than the last.
My memories from Septmeber 11, 2001:
A perfect day. That's what I thought of as I reported for duty at 0700 hrs. on Tuesday September 11, 2001. It was a perfect day, a crystal clear blue sky without a single cloud and just a hint of a chill in the air. I shouldn't be at work today I thought, I should be outside enjoying this perfect weather. Oh well, tomorrow should be just as nice, maybe I'd give my Dad a call and take him fishing.
I am a professional firefighter in the City of Easton Pennsylvania, about 60 miles from New York City. After a cup of coffee, we start our day. Drivers check their vehicles, while the riders do housework, mopping floors and such. I take note that I have House Watch from 0900 to 1100.
Around ten minutes before nine, someone yells out to the apparatus floor that a plane has crashed into the World Trade Center. I head to the communications booth thinking that it must have been an accident. Perhaps the pilot of a small plane had a heart attack, or engine trouble. I remember reading that in 1945 a B-25 crashed into the Empire State Building. In the booth I turn on Fox News, and there on the screen is Tower 1 with smoke pouring out of a huge gaping hole the entire width of the building. That was no small plane, it must have been a commercial airliner. Strange, even if the pilot had a heart attack the co-pilot or engineer would be able to avoid hitting a building.
I called my cousin Chris before he leaves for work to tell him what had happened. As I was talking to him, out of the corner of my eye, I catch the image of another airliner cross the TV screen. I say, "Holy shit! Look at this asshole! He must want a better look." As the last word came out of my mouth, I saw the plane disappear into Tower 2 and a fireball erupt out the other side. "Holy shit! Did you see that? Chris, I gotta go." I got on the PA system and announced what I had just saw, and added "This has to be an attack".
As I watched the events unfold on the screen, I thought of people I knew.
Roy, a friend of mine, was on Engine 28 in Manhattan, first due for the WTC. Was he on duty today? Donna, she worked in the WTC, but which building? I hope not the towers, she'd have a hell of a time getting out. Donna is blind. Kenny, Engine 220, Park Slope in Brooklyn, I wonder if they'll end up calling him in?
The Chief comes in and I ask him if he's been following this. He says he has. I say, "Shades of Tom Clancy," referring to the book "Debt of Honor" where a Japanese pilot crashes a 747 into the Capital Building. He says he was thinking the same thing.
From this point on events are blurred and yet clear.
Rumors of more planes hijacked, fighters being scrambled, planes headed for Washington. Watching TV and seeing the people trapped above the fires. Firefighters climbing over 80 flights of stairs, that's gotta suck. Could I do that? "Oh my God! They're jumping!" Tower 2 collapses. The realization that thousands of people have just died. Firefighters, my brothers, hundreds of them would have been in that Tower. They're all dead! Roy. I start to pray. The endless repetition of Tower 2 collapsing. They're showing it again, Holy Shit! That was Tower 1! More people dead. Thousands more.
More rumors. More planes hijacked. Two more. Four more. The Pentagon has been hit. Fighters are searching for others. A plane crashed in western Pa. Shot down?
More headed for Washington? Sorrow. Fear. Rage. Each emotion stronger than the last.
I finally go outside for air. I look up at the sky, that crystal clear, bright blue sky, and realize that the whole world has changed. I say a prayer for those that died. Then I call my parents just to tell them I love them.
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Ditto!
Uncle Jimbo over at AoSHQ says what I've been saying for along time!
Too short to excerpt, so I'll post the whole thing.
But drop by and give Ace some traffic: http://ace.mu.nu/
Why isn't tort reform in play? —Uncle Jimbo
OK I know why tort reform is not in any of the Democratic healthcare proposals currently in play. I mean it's common knowledge that the lawyers hold title on the Democrats. But why aren't the Republicans poking them in the eye with this? Lawyers, especially the ambulance-chasing kind are one of the main reasons healthcare costs so much. Many of the tests that doctors order have no medical purpose whatsoever and are simply to immunize them against a possible lawsuit.
I want Boehner and Cantor and Ryan and the rest of the Republican team standing on their desks hollering about the outrageous cost these frivolous suits add and why the Dems are scared to do anything about them. It is a joke to consider reforming healthcare and still allowing the vultures to feed. Who knows the way things have been going you may shame them into doing something. They need to pass something and the public option is history. I could accept a deal as long as tort reform is part of the puzzle.
Oh yeah and a solid restriction against illegal aliens getting a thing, and written in the bill not left for later.
Too short to excerpt, so I'll post the whole thing.
But drop by and give Ace some traffic: http://ace.mu.nu/
Why isn't tort reform in play? —Uncle Jimbo
OK I know why tort reform is not in any of the Democratic healthcare proposals currently in play. I mean it's common knowledge that the lawyers hold title on the Democrats. But why aren't the Republicans poking them in the eye with this? Lawyers, especially the ambulance-chasing kind are one of the main reasons healthcare costs so much. Many of the tests that doctors order have no medical purpose whatsoever and are simply to immunize them against a possible lawsuit.
I want Boehner and Cantor and Ryan and the rest of the Republican team standing on their desks hollering about the outrageous cost these frivolous suits add and why the Dems are scared to do anything about them. It is a joke to consider reforming healthcare and still allowing the vultures to feed. Who knows the way things have been going you may shame them into doing something. They need to pass something and the public option is history. I could accept a deal as long as tort reform is part of the puzzle.
Oh yeah and a solid restriction against illegal aliens getting a thing, and written in the bill not left for later.
Monday, September 7, 2009
Thursday, September 3, 2009
Sentenced to death on the NHS
And THIS is what Sarah Palin has been talking about.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/6127514/Sentenced-to-death-on-the-NHS.html
Patients with terminal illnesses are being made to die prematurely under an NHS scheme to help end their lives, leading doctors have warned.
Look people, under a national healthcare system, this is inevitable!
The government will need to control costs and so will end up having to ration money for procedures. Terminally ill patients with no hope of recovery (like Ted Kennedy) will no be treated since it will be deemed "a waste of resources". They will be made comfortable and kept sedated. And since they have no hope for recovery, it will also be inevitable that this will happen:
Under NHS guidance introduced across England to help doctors and medical staff deal with dying patients, they can then have fluid and drugs withdrawn and many are put on continuous sedation until they pass away.
Read that again. Doctors and medical staff can withhold water and medication until the patient dies.
“As a result a national wave of discontent is building up, as family and friends witness the denial of fluids and food to patients."
Now read this last paragraph, and if it doesn't send chills up your spine then there's something wrong with you!
Many people receive excellent care at the end of their lives. We are investing £286 million over the two years to 2011 to support implementation of the End of Life Care Strategy to help improve end of life care for all adults, regardless of where they live.”
Instead of funding research for new treatments or meds, they are willing to spend almost $500,000,000 to help end peoples lives.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/6127514/Sentenced-to-death-on-the-NHS.html
Patients with terminal illnesses are being made to die prematurely under an NHS scheme to help end their lives, leading doctors have warned.
Look people, under a national healthcare system, this is inevitable!
The government will need to control costs and so will end up having to ration money for procedures. Terminally ill patients with no hope of recovery (like Ted Kennedy) will no be treated since it will be deemed "a waste of resources". They will be made comfortable and kept sedated. And since they have no hope for recovery, it will also be inevitable that this will happen:
Under NHS guidance introduced across England to help doctors and medical staff deal with dying patients, they can then have fluid and drugs withdrawn and many are put on continuous sedation until they pass away.
Read that again. Doctors and medical staff can withhold water and medication until the patient dies.
“As a result a national wave of discontent is building up, as family and friends witness the denial of fluids and food to patients."
Now read this last paragraph, and if it doesn't send chills up your spine then there's something wrong with you!
Many people receive excellent care at the end of their lives. We are investing £286 million over the two years to 2011 to support implementation of the End of Life Care Strategy to help improve end of life care for all adults, regardless of where they live.”
Instead of funding research for new treatments or meds, they are willing to spend almost $500,000,000 to help end peoples lives.
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Now That's Funny, Right There...
I almost fell off my chair reading this about the Trilateral Commission:
The underlying claim behind both is that these groups of wealthy men have been working to create the infamous One-World Government that you'll see pop up in most of these conspiracy theories. They want a totalitarian regime that will enslave all of mankind, all at once.
Of course these guys have had decades to establish their plan, but instead they apparently opted for plan B, One-World Clusterfuck. Europe hates America; the Middle East is more fucked than a German whore on coupon day; all China cares about is exporting delicious lead paint; and North Korea is still run by that crazy fucker with the big granny glasses. It's almost as if the result of their "one-world government" conspiracy looks exactly like the random chaos of geopolitical events we've seen for the last few thousand years.
http://www.cracked.com/article_17469_5-pathetic-groups-that-people-think-rule-world.html
The underlying claim behind both is that these groups of wealthy men have been working to create the infamous One-World Government that you'll see pop up in most of these conspiracy theories. They want a totalitarian regime that will enslave all of mankind, all at once.
Of course these guys have had decades to establish their plan, but instead they apparently opted for plan B, One-World Clusterfuck. Europe hates America; the Middle East is more fucked than a German whore on coupon day; all China cares about is exporting delicious lead paint; and North Korea is still run by that crazy fucker with the big granny glasses. It's almost as if the result of their "one-world government" conspiracy looks exactly like the random chaos of geopolitical events we've seen for the last few thousand years.
http://www.cracked.com/article_17469_5-pathetic-groups-that-people-think-rule-world.html
Monday, August 31, 2009
Why I hate Liberals: Reason #7953
What to get an idea of how much of a worthless tool Melissa Lafsky is? Go read her article about her boy Ted.
Warning: Remove all breakables from near by your computer before you do!
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/melissa-lafsky/the-footnote-speaks-what_b_270298.html
But in all the florid or scalpel-sharp prose, there's one constant: Peeking out from the center of the story is the matter of his playing a major part in the death of a 28-year-old woman.
Mary Jo wasn't a right-wing talking point or a negative campaign slogan. She was a dedicated civil rights activist and political talent with a bright future -- granted, whenever someone dies young, people sermonize about how he had a "bright future" ahead of him -- but she actually did. She wasn't afraid to defy convention (28 and unmarried, oh the horror!) or create her own career path based on her talents. She lived in Georgetown (where I grew up) and loved the Red Sox (we'll forgive her for that). Then she got in a car driven by a 36-year-old senator with an alcohol problem and a cauldron full of demons, and wound up a controversial footnote in a dynasty.
We don't know how much Kennedy was affected by her death, or what she'd have thought about arguably being a catalyst for the most successful Senate career in history. What we don't know, as always, could fill a Metrodome.
Still, ignorance doesn't preclude a right to wonder. So it doesn't automatically make someone (aka, me) a Limbaugh-loving, aerial-wolf-hunting NRA troll for asking what Mary Jo Kopechne would have had to say about Ted's death, and what she'd have thought of the life and career that are being (rightfully) heralded.
Who knows -- maybe she'd feel it was worth it.
(emphasis added)
So apparently, the death of a bright, attractive young woman with her whole life ahead of her is nothing but "a controversial footnote in a dynasty".
And suggests that maybe she wouldn't have minded dying for fat, drunken Ted's career.
I guess we could go ask her..... Oh wait, we can't....
SHE'S DEAD !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
And to think these people go into PSH over the fact that Sarah Palin killed a few moose!
THESE ARE THE ASSHOLES THAT SAY WE CAN'T WATERBOARD TERRORISTS!!!!!!!!
The irony! The hipocrisy! I haven't the words.
Oh and she's wrong about one other thing. We do know what Ted thought about Mary Jo Kopechne's death.
http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=M2M2YWQ1ODQwNjZiOGVmZWU3MzQ2MmZmMDk4MWExZGY=
I don't know if you know this or not, but one of his favorite topics of humor was indeed Chappaquiddick itself. And he would ask people, "have you heard any new jokes about Chappaquiddick?"
AFTERHOUGHT:
I think I'll run for political office. I hereby choose Melissa Lafsky as my human sacrifice, to die while slowly sufficating in a darkened, 2 square yard box, as it slowly fills with water.
Warning: Remove all breakables from near by your computer before you do!
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/melissa-lafsky/the-footnote-speaks-what_b_270298.html
But in all the florid or scalpel-sharp prose, there's one constant: Peeking out from the center of the story is the matter of his playing a major part in the death of a 28-year-old woman.
Mary Jo wasn't a right-wing talking point or a negative campaign slogan. She was a dedicated civil rights activist and political talent with a bright future -- granted, whenever someone dies young, people sermonize about how he had a "bright future" ahead of him -- but she actually did. She wasn't afraid to defy convention (28 and unmarried, oh the horror!) or create her own career path based on her talents. She lived in Georgetown (where I grew up) and loved the Red Sox (we'll forgive her for that). Then she got in a car driven by a 36-year-old senator with an alcohol problem and a cauldron full of demons, and wound up a controversial footnote in a dynasty.
We don't know how much Kennedy was affected by her death, or what she'd have thought about arguably being a catalyst for the most successful Senate career in history. What we don't know, as always, could fill a Metrodome.
Still, ignorance doesn't preclude a right to wonder. So it doesn't automatically make someone (aka, me) a Limbaugh-loving, aerial-wolf-hunting NRA troll for asking what Mary Jo Kopechne would have had to say about Ted's death, and what she'd have thought of the life and career that are being (rightfully) heralded.
Who knows -- maybe she'd feel it was worth it.
(emphasis added)
So apparently, the death of a bright, attractive young woman with her whole life ahead of her is nothing but "a controversial footnote in a dynasty".
And suggests that maybe she wouldn't have minded dying for fat, drunken Ted's career.
I guess we could go ask her..... Oh wait, we can't....
SHE'S DEAD !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
And to think these people go into PSH over the fact that Sarah Palin killed a few moose!
THESE ARE THE ASSHOLES THAT SAY WE CAN'T WATERBOARD TERRORISTS!!!!!!!!
The irony! The hipocrisy! I haven't the words.
Oh and she's wrong about one other thing. We do know what Ted thought about Mary Jo Kopechne's death.
http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=M2M2YWQ1ODQwNjZiOGVmZWU3MzQ2MmZmMDk4MWExZGY=
I don't know if you know this or not, but one of his favorite topics of humor was indeed Chappaquiddick itself. And he would ask people, "have you heard any new jokes about Chappaquiddick?"
AFTERHOUGHT:
I think I'll run for political office. I hereby choose Melissa Lafsky as my human sacrifice, to die while slowly sufficating in a darkened, 2 square yard box, as it slowly fills with water.
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Sorry About My Absence
The long and short of it is that I have been overwhelmed.
Everyday I read the headlines and I am amazed of the things being said and done in Washington!
It has rendered me speechless. (those that know me, know how difficult that is)
It's that simple.
Those in DC have become charactures of themselves. Really, if this shit was in a movie script, it would be shitcanned because no one would believe it.
I am in fear for our country. And our way of life.
Everyday I read the headlines and I am amazed of the things being said and done in Washington!
It has rendered me speechless. (those that know me, know how difficult that is)
It's that simple.
Those in DC have become charactures of themselves. Really, if this shit was in a movie script, it would be shitcanned because no one would believe it.
I am in fear for our country. And our way of life.
Now That That's Out Of The Way........
Go read this to see how I feel about Ted;
The fact is, Teddy was a mess in virtually every way. But as a Kennedy he was so anointed, so privileged, and so exempt from the rules that hold sway over we peasants, that he could have raped an 11 year old boy on national TV, and the next day the NYTimes above the fold headline would have read that he ‘Cares for Children’. His was a life filled with the kind of excesses that only get excused for royalty. And in that way, he and his fawning media sycophants represent everything that this country was supposed to not be about.
He practiced the politics of self congratulation. And so long as you do that, the reliably leftist media won’t have anything bad to say about you… maybe ever. No matter who you hurt, who you slander, or who you leave to drown in your car at the bottom of a pond. Had Mary Jo Kopechne been able to walk on water like the media is pretending Ted could, then maybe she would still be alive today.
Where is her eulogy?
Ted Kennedy, RIP
Before I say anything else let me quote the Rott: http://nicedoggie.net/
To the loved ones and family of Ted Kennedy,
Ted was something to you which he will never be to me or the majority of the rest of us; he was blood. He was family. Today, you are left with a hole inside of you because of his passing. Having lost loved ones of my own, I know what that means and I do truthfully, honestly grieve with you for that. I will not hypocritically lionize or make up excuses for a politician that I despised, but I will also not deny that there are people left behind to whom he was more than just a politician, nor will I withhold my sympathy from them just because I loathed him.
It is a painful time you’re going through right now, but I hope and pray that you’ll remain strong. I want you to hold on to the joyful memories that you have of him, not only to grant you solace in your time of grief, but also because that is what will remain with you once the grieving period is over. That is what must remain for, in time, those memories will fill the void that you find within you now. And what’s better, unlike the mortal man who is now gone, those memories will never die. You will never need to fear that they will grow old and infirm and pass away.
I, personally, will never be able to even pretend that I’ll miss him or that he was a loss to our nation but, again, I don’t know him like you do. I do not have any happy memories of days gone by with him, as I’m sure that you must have. You have my sincere condolences for your personal loss, and I pray that G-d grant you strength to work your way through this.
To the loved ones and family of Ted Kennedy,
Ted was something to you which he will never be to me or the majority of the rest of us; he was blood. He was family. Today, you are left with a hole inside of you because of his passing. Having lost loved ones of my own, I know what that means and I do truthfully, honestly grieve with you for that. I will not hypocritically lionize or make up excuses for a politician that I despised, but I will also not deny that there are people left behind to whom he was more than just a politician, nor will I withhold my sympathy from them just because I loathed him.
It is a painful time you’re going through right now, but I hope and pray that you’ll remain strong. I want you to hold on to the joyful memories that you have of him, not only to grant you solace in your time of grief, but also because that is what will remain with you once the grieving period is over. That is what must remain for, in time, those memories will fill the void that you find within you now. And what’s better, unlike the mortal man who is now gone, those memories will never die. You will never need to fear that they will grow old and infirm and pass away.
I, personally, will never be able to even pretend that I’ll miss him or that he was a loss to our nation but, again, I don’t know him like you do. I do not have any happy memories of days gone by with him, as I’m sure that you must have. You have my sincere condolences for your personal loss, and I pray that G-d grant you strength to work your way through this.
Saturday, August 15, 2009
"I'd do it again if I had to."
http://www.nypost.com/seven/08152009/news/regionalnews/id_shoot_again_if_i_had_to_184655.htm
So Augusto, 72 -- known to most as "Gus" -- channeled his inner Dirty Harry and pulled out the Remington shotgun he had hidden under his desk for 20 years. He opened fire three times, peppering all four men with buckshot.
Augusto and his employees tried to get back to business as usual yesterday, although it wasn't easy. When a woman came to place a candle outside the shop, J.B. angrily kicked it across the pavement.
"Who's this for?" he demanded of the startled woman. "For the guy who died? F- - - him!"
http://www.nypost.com/seven/08152009/news/regionalnews/id_shoot_again_if_i_had_to_184655.htm
So Augusto, 72 -- known to most as "Gus" -- channeled his inner Dirty Harry and pulled out the Remington shotgun he had hidden under his desk for 20 years. He opened fire three times, peppering all four men with buckshot.
Augusto and his employees tried to get back to business as usual yesterday, although it wasn't easy. When a woman came to place a candle outside the shop, J.B. angrily kicked it across the pavement.
"Who's this for?" he demanded of the startled woman. "For the guy who died? F- - - him!"
Thursday, August 6, 2009
I'm Back
I Haven't posted in awhile simply because I've been overwhelmed with what has been happening lately.
Saturday, July 11, 2009
The Question
You wish to take our guns
Very well, you may wish away
But would you really dare
To do the taking yourself?
Whom would you send in your place
To do the perilous deed
Some cop who has wife and kids
Or soldiers with tanks in the lead?
Would you slaughter your countrymen
To fight the menace of guns
That stand inertly in safes
Threatening no one
Would you risk your life for the cause
Or put other people at risk
You, the noble crusader
For safety, quiet and peace
Oleg Volk http://olegvolk.livejournal.com/
Very well, you may wish away
But would you really dare
To do the taking yourself?
Whom would you send in your place
To do the perilous deed
Some cop who has wife and kids
Or soldiers with tanks in the lead?
Would you slaughter your countrymen
To fight the menace of guns
That stand inertly in safes
Threatening no one
Would you risk your life for the cause
Or put other people at risk
You, the noble crusader
For safety, quiet and peace
Oleg Volk http://olegvolk.livejournal.com/
Friday, July 10, 2009
Radio Free NJ on Bernanke
Great essay, go read.
http://freenj.blogspot.com/2009/07/lynching-ben-bernanke.html
In the coming months the consequences of the government’s irresponsible spending will begin to arrive in the form of higher interest rates, and economic growth will begin to slow because of it. And when that unavoidable consequence occurs, the Whitehouse is going to try do what leftists ideologues have always done in circumstance like that… they will want to monetize the debt. They will pressure the Federal Reserve to print more money and to use it to buy the newly issued debt to keep rates down. This will seem like a perfect solution to the Obama team because it will solve the short term political issue, so they won't give the long term consequences even a second thought. And the last thing they will want in that situation is an intelligent and independent Federal Reserve chief standing in the way of their plans.
http://freenj.blogspot.com/2009/07/lynching-ben-bernanke.html
In the coming months the consequences of the government’s irresponsible spending will begin to arrive in the form of higher interest rates, and economic growth will begin to slow because of it. And when that unavoidable consequence occurs, the Whitehouse is going to try do what leftists ideologues have always done in circumstance like that… they will want to monetize the debt. They will pressure the Federal Reserve to print more money and to use it to buy the newly issued debt to keep rates down. This will seem like a perfect solution to the Obama team because it will solve the short term political issue, so they won't give the long term consequences even a second thought. And the last thing they will want in that situation is an intelligent and independent Federal Reserve chief standing in the way of their plans.
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
A Rant:
I am sick and tired of hearing about Michael Jackson!
He was a FREAK!
He was a DRUG ADDICT!
He was a CHILD MOLESTER!
He was a PEDOPHILE!
He was not great! This is NOT a great loss!
Thank the GODS he is DEAD!!!!!!!!!!
And he sure as hell isn't in Heaven leading a choir.
Do you know this man?
No, of course you don't.
This is 1st Lt. Brian N. Bradshaw.
Lt. Brian Bradshaw, 24, died in Kheyl, Afganistan, of wounds suffered when an improvised explosive device detonated near his vehicle.
Bradshaw, of Steilacoom, Wash., was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment, 4th Airborne Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division in Fort Richardson, Alaska.
He was one of at least 13 U.S. soldiers to die in Afghanistan since Jackson's death on June 25.
He was a FREAK!
He was a DRUG ADDICT!
He was a CHILD MOLESTER!
He was a PEDOPHILE!
He was not great! This is NOT a great loss!
Thank the GODS he is DEAD!!!!!!!!!!
And he sure as hell isn't in Heaven leading a choir.
Do you know this man?
No, of course you don't.
This is 1st Lt. Brian N. Bradshaw.
Lt. Brian Bradshaw, 24, died in Kheyl, Afganistan, of wounds suffered when an improvised explosive device detonated near his vehicle.
Bradshaw, of Steilacoom, Wash., was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment, 4th Airborne Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division in Fort Richardson, Alaska.
He was one of at least 13 U.S. soldiers to die in Afghanistan since Jackson's death on June 25.
Saturday, July 4, 2009
IT'S INDEPENDENCE DAY.
And I'm at work. I wish I could be home to enjoy a friend's picnic with my family, but such is life.
And anyway, my family will stop by to see me today, and I will go home and spend tomorrow with them.
Take some time today and remember those who can't be with their families and loved ones.
Those who stand guard over our freedom. Whether overseas, or in the states. Servicing aircraft in Alaska or Guam, standing watch over the 38th Parallel in a far off land called Korea, on patrol in the mountains of Afghanistan, or on ASW patrol in the Med.
And remember a group of men that took a huge gamble 233 years ago and signed a treasonous document called the Declaration of Independence and pledged to each other "our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor."
And those who gave the last full measure, their lives, for Liberty.
http://www.ushistory.org/declaration/document/index.htm
When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. — Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.
He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.
We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these united Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States, that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. — And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.
— John Hancock
New Hampshire:Josiah Bartlett, William Whipple, Matthew Thornton
Massachusetts:John Hancock, Samuel Adams, John Adams, Robert Treat Paine, Elbridge Gerry
Rhode Island:Stephen Hopkins, William Ellery
Connecticut:Roger Sherman, Samuel Huntington, William Williams, Oliver Wolcott
New York:William Floyd, Philip Livingston, Francis Lewis, Lewis Morris
New Jersey:Richard Stockton, John Witherspoon, Francis Hopkinson, John Hart, Abraham Clark
Pennsylvania:Robert Morris, Benjamin Rush, Benjamin Franklin, John Morton, George Clymer, James Smith, George Taylor, James Wilson, George Ross
Delaware:Caesar Rodney, George Read, Thomas McKean
Maryland:Samuel Chase, William Paca, Thomas Stone, Charles Carroll of Carrollton
Virginia:George Wythe, Richard Henry Lee, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Harrison, Thomas Nelson, Jr., Francis Lightfoot Lee, Carter Braxton
North Carolina:William Hooper, Joseph Hewes, John Penn
South Carolina:Edward Rutledge, Thomas Heyward, Jr., Thomas Lynch, Jr., Arthur Middleton
Georgia:Button Gwinnett, Lyman Hall, George Walton
And anyway, my family will stop by to see me today, and I will go home and spend tomorrow with them.
Take some time today and remember those who can't be with their families and loved ones.
Those who stand guard over our freedom. Whether overseas, or in the states. Servicing aircraft in Alaska or Guam, standing watch over the 38th Parallel in a far off land called Korea, on patrol in the mountains of Afghanistan, or on ASW patrol in the Med.
And remember a group of men that took a huge gamble 233 years ago and signed a treasonous document called the Declaration of Independence and pledged to each other "our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor."
And those who gave the last full measure, their lives, for Liberty.
http://www.ushistory.org/declaration/document/index.htm
IN CONGRESS, JULY 4, 1776
The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America
The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America
When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. — Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.
He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their Public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected, whereby the Legislative Powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
He has obstructed the Administration of Justice by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers.
He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.
He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.
He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power.
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:
For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
For protecting them, by a mock Trial from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefit of Trial by Jury:
For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:
For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies
For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & Perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.
In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.
Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.
We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these united Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States, that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. — And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.
— John Hancock
New Hampshire:Josiah Bartlett, William Whipple, Matthew Thornton
Massachusetts:John Hancock, Samuel Adams, John Adams, Robert Treat Paine, Elbridge Gerry
Rhode Island:Stephen Hopkins, William Ellery
Connecticut:Roger Sherman, Samuel Huntington, William Williams, Oliver Wolcott
New York:William Floyd, Philip Livingston, Francis Lewis, Lewis Morris
New Jersey:Richard Stockton, John Witherspoon, Francis Hopkinson, John Hart, Abraham Clark
Pennsylvania:Robert Morris, Benjamin Rush, Benjamin Franklin, John Morton, George Clymer, James Smith, George Taylor, James Wilson, George Ross
Delaware:Caesar Rodney, George Read, Thomas McKean
Maryland:Samuel Chase, William Paca, Thomas Stone, Charles Carroll of Carrollton
Virginia:George Wythe, Richard Henry Lee, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Harrison, Thomas Nelson, Jr., Francis Lightfoot Lee, Carter Braxton
North Carolina:William Hooper, Joseph Hewes, John Penn
South Carolina:Edward Rutledge, Thomas Heyward, Jr., Thomas Lynch, Jr., Arthur Middleton
Georgia:Button Gwinnett, Lyman Hall, George Walton
Friday, July 3, 2009
Sarah Palin Steps Down!?!?!?!?!?!?!
She is resigning as Governor of Alaska.
I don't know what to make of this.
I'm holding my breath.
Hopefully it's to focus on national politics.
I don't know what to make of this.
I'm holding my breath.
Hopefully it's to focus on national politics.
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Lionesses!
Over at AoSHQ: http://ace.mu.nu/archives/289208.php
Female Marines.
In the macho Arab world, an assertive female with an assault rifle is sort of a man's worst nightmare.
Heh! Go read.
Female Marines.
In the macho Arab world, an assertive female with an assault rifle is sort of a man's worst nightmare.
Heh! Go read.
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Godspeed Colonel!
http://www.philly.com/philly/obituaries/20090629_Kenneth_L__Reusser___Marine_aviator__89.html
Kenneth L. Reusser Marine aviator, 89
Retired Marine Corps Col. Kenneth L. Reusser, 89, a highly decorated aviator who was shot down in three wars, died June 20. He lived in the Portland, Ore., suburb of Milwaukie.
Col. Reusser flew 253 combat missions in World War II, Korea, and Vietnam. He was shot down in all three, five times in all.
His 59 medals included two Navy Crosses, four Purple Hearts, and two Legions of Merit.
In 1945, while based in Okinawa, he stripped down his F4U-4 Corsair fighter and intercepted a Japanese observation plane at high altitude. When his guns froze, he flew his fighter into the observation plane, hacking off its tail with his propeller.
In 1950, he led an attack on a North Korean tank-repair facility at Inchon, then destroyed an oil tanker, almost blowing himself out of the sky.
In Vietnam, he flew helicopters and was leading a rescue mission when his Huey was shot down. He needed skin grafts over 35 percent of his badly burned body. - AP
Kenneth L. Reusser Marine aviator, 89
Retired Marine Corps Col. Kenneth L. Reusser, 89, a highly decorated aviator who was shot down in three wars, died June 20. He lived in the Portland, Ore., suburb of Milwaukie.
Col. Reusser flew 253 combat missions in World War II, Korea, and Vietnam. He was shot down in all three, five times in all.
His 59 medals included two Navy Crosses, four Purple Hearts, and two Legions of Merit.
In 1945, while based in Okinawa, he stripped down his F4U-4 Corsair fighter and intercepted a Japanese observation plane at high altitude. When his guns froze, he flew his fighter into the observation plane, hacking off its tail with his propeller.
In 1950, he led an attack on a North Korean tank-repair facility at Inchon, then destroyed an oil tanker, almost blowing himself out of the sky.
In Vietnam, he flew helicopters and was leading a rescue mission when his Huey was shot down. He needed skin grafts over 35 percent of his badly burned body. - AP
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Is This Repesenative Government?
What has OUR government become?
The House passed a royal piece of shit that is the 'cap and trade' bill. This is a horrible piece of legislation which I'll get to in a minute, but first take note of this:
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/blogs/beltway-confidential/wheres-the-bill-49208987.html
Through a series of parliamentary inquiries, the Republicans learned that the 300-plus page managers' amendment, added to the bill last night in the House Rules Committee, has not even been been integrated with the official copy of the 1,090-page bill at the House Clerk's desk, let alone in any other location. The two documents are side-by-side at the desk as the clerk reads through the instructions in the 300 page document for altering the 1,090 page document.
But they cannot be simply combined, because the amendment contains 300 pages of items like this: "Page 15, beginning line 8, strike paragraph (11)..." How many members of Congress do you suppose have gone through it all to see how it changes the bill?
Global Warming is apparently so urgent that we can't even wait until members of Congress know what they're voting on.
As with the 'Stimulus' bill, they have voted on and passed a document that NO ONE has read in it's entirety!
This bill will be signed into law WITHOUT US KNOWING WHAT'S IN IT UNTIL AFTER IT BECOMES LAW!
Now, what is this bill about? Well, from the WSJ:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124588837560750781.html
Under a cap-and-trade system, government sets a cap on the total amount of carbon that can be emitted nationally; companies then buy or sell permits to emit CO2. The cap gets cranked down over time to reduce total carbon emissions.
So what does that mean for us?
It will impose crushing costs on their home-district businesses and consumers.
the Congressional Budget Office did an analysis of what has come to be known as the Waxman-Markey bill. According to the CBO, the climate legislation would cost the average household only $175 a year by 2020.
That is pure unadulterated BULLSHIT!
The CBO acknowledges this in a footnote: "The resource cost does not indicate the potential decrease in gross domestic product (GDP) that could result from the cap."
The WSJ continues:
The hit to GDP is the real threat in this bill. The whole point of cap and trade is to hike the price of electricity and gas so that Americans will use less. These higher prices will show up not just in electricity bills or at the gas station but in every manufactured good, from food to cars. Consumers will cut back on spending, which in turn will cut back on production, which results in fewer jobs created or higher unemployment. Some companies will instead move their operations overseas, with the same result.
Read that again:
The whole point of cap and trade is to hike the price of electricity and gas so that Americans will use less.
The bottom line:
Americans should know that those Members who vote for this climate bill are voting for what is likely to be the biggest tax in American history.
Let's take a little trip, shall we? Let's go to the supermarket to buy a nice fresh Valencia Orange in April.
OK, first I live about 5 miles from the nearest grocery store, so I have to drive there. That takes gasoline, so let's go fill up. Not only will the price of gas have gone up because of taxes levied on the oil company, but remember the gas station uses fuel oil for heat and electricity for lights and to run the pumps. All energy sources that produce carbon will be taxed, so the station owner is going to pass those costs onto me.
Next we go to the store. The store itself is well lit with electric lights. And of course, the store is climate controled by electric heat pumps. As I walk to the fresh produce isle, I pass the frozen foods section, lined with freezers run by electricity. Then I go by the fresh meats, kept fresh in open-topped coolers, run by electricity. Finally I get to the fresh produce isle, filled with open-topped coolers, where the Valencia Oranges are.
Valencia Oranges are grown in Florida and I live in Pennsylvania, so how did they get here?
The Orange Grower in Florida used a mechanical harvester that runs on diesel fuel. They are then taken by truck, also using diesel fuel, to a warehouse lit by electric lights, to be sorted. From there, they go, by diesel truck to a distribution warehouse, lit by electric lights and cooled by electric air conditioners. Then they are loaded on diesel trucks to be shipped north.
My point is that ALL of the extra taxes, on fuel and electricity, will be passed on to me.
When the CBO did their study, they are only considering the taxes on the energy I'm using. But in fact, every single thing I buy will cost me more.
In reality, this will end up costing me THOUSANDS of dollars more a year. And that's before inflation hits.
One further quote from the WSJ:
During the brief few days in which the bill was debated in the House Energy Committee, Republicans offered three amendments: one to suspend the program if gas hit $5 a gallon; one to suspend the program if electricity prices rose 10% over 2009; and one to suspend the program if unemployment rates hit 15%. Democrats defeated all of them.
UPDATE: Don't believe me?
The House passed a royal piece of shit that is the 'cap and trade' bill. This is a horrible piece of legislation which I'll get to in a minute, but first take note of this:
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/blogs/beltway-confidential/wheres-the-bill-49208987.html
Through a series of parliamentary inquiries, the Republicans learned that the 300-plus page managers' amendment, added to the bill last night in the House Rules Committee, has not even been been integrated with the official copy of the 1,090-page bill at the House Clerk's desk, let alone in any other location. The two documents are side-by-side at the desk as the clerk reads through the instructions in the 300 page document for altering the 1,090 page document.
But they cannot be simply combined, because the amendment contains 300 pages of items like this: "Page 15, beginning line 8, strike paragraph (11)..." How many members of Congress do you suppose have gone through it all to see how it changes the bill?
Global Warming is apparently so urgent that we can't even wait until members of Congress know what they're voting on.
As with the 'Stimulus' bill, they have voted on and passed a document that NO ONE has read in it's entirety!
This bill will be signed into law WITHOUT US KNOWING WHAT'S IN IT UNTIL AFTER IT BECOMES LAW!
Now, what is this bill about? Well, from the WSJ:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124588837560750781.html
Under a cap-and-trade system, government sets a cap on the total amount of carbon that can be emitted nationally; companies then buy or sell permits to emit CO2. The cap gets cranked down over time to reduce total carbon emissions.
So what does that mean for us?
It will impose crushing costs on their home-district businesses and consumers.
the Congressional Budget Office did an analysis of what has come to be known as the Waxman-Markey bill. According to the CBO, the climate legislation would cost the average household only $175 a year by 2020.
That is pure unadulterated BULLSHIT!
The CBO acknowledges this in a footnote: "The resource cost does not indicate the potential decrease in gross domestic product (GDP) that could result from the cap."
The WSJ continues:
The hit to GDP is the real threat in this bill. The whole point of cap and trade is to hike the price of electricity and gas so that Americans will use less. These higher prices will show up not just in electricity bills or at the gas station but in every manufactured good, from food to cars. Consumers will cut back on spending, which in turn will cut back on production, which results in fewer jobs created or higher unemployment. Some companies will instead move their operations overseas, with the same result.
Read that again:
The whole point of cap and trade is to hike the price of electricity and gas so that Americans will use less.
The bottom line:
Americans should know that those Members who vote for this climate bill are voting for what is likely to be the biggest tax in American history.
Let's take a little trip, shall we? Let's go to the supermarket to buy a nice fresh Valencia Orange in April.
OK, first I live about 5 miles from the nearest grocery store, so I have to drive there. That takes gasoline, so let's go fill up. Not only will the price of gas have gone up because of taxes levied on the oil company, but remember the gas station uses fuel oil for heat and electricity for lights and to run the pumps. All energy sources that produce carbon will be taxed, so the station owner is going to pass those costs onto me.
Next we go to the store. The store itself is well lit with electric lights. And of course, the store is climate controled by electric heat pumps. As I walk to the fresh produce isle, I pass the frozen foods section, lined with freezers run by electricity. Then I go by the fresh meats, kept fresh in open-topped coolers, run by electricity. Finally I get to the fresh produce isle, filled with open-topped coolers, where the Valencia Oranges are.
Valencia Oranges are grown in Florida and I live in Pennsylvania, so how did they get here?
The Orange Grower in Florida used a mechanical harvester that runs on diesel fuel. They are then taken by truck, also using diesel fuel, to a warehouse lit by electric lights, to be sorted. From there, they go, by diesel truck to a distribution warehouse, lit by electric lights and cooled by electric air conditioners. Then they are loaded on diesel trucks to be shipped north.
My point is that ALL of the extra taxes, on fuel and electricity, will be passed on to me.
When the CBO did their study, they are only considering the taxes on the energy I'm using. But in fact, every single thing I buy will cost me more.
In reality, this will end up costing me THOUSANDS of dollars more a year. And that's before inflation hits.
One further quote from the WSJ:
During the brief few days in which the bill was debated in the House Energy Committee, Republicans offered three amendments: one to suspend the program if gas hit $5 a gallon; one to suspend the program if electricity prices rose 10% over 2009; and one to suspend the program if unemployment rates hit 15%. Democrats defeated all of them.
UPDATE: Don't believe me?
Friday, June 26, 2009
What Really Grinds My Gears...
The Norks have the Bomb, are threatening to shoot a missile at Hawaii, are cooperating with Iran on their nuclear program, and will probably have the Bomb within a year. Israel, not wanting Iran to have a nuclear weapon, is no doubt planning a surprise strike to take out Iran's nuke facilities before that happens. Oh, and let's not forget the protesters getting massacred in Tehran, which our Dear Leader appears not to give a damn about.
And all the networks have to talk about is that Michael Jackson died.
WHO CARES!?!?!?!?!?
One less pedophile to worry about.
And all the networks have to talk about is that Michael Jackson died.
WHO CARES!?!?!?!?!?
One less pedophile to worry about.
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Now That's My Kind Of Hybrid
An 800bhp engine operates as the starter motor, fuel pump and APU. That starts an afterburning EJ200 reheated turbofan .....................
and then they they light the rocket!.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/news/5550082/Building-the-fastest-car-in-the-world.html
Monday, June 15, 2009
Happy Birthday To The Love Of My Life!
My wife is perfect!
And I mean that in more ways that you can imagine. We complement eachother in everything we do. She supports me, and I support her. She is smart, beautiful, and sexy. She is a fantastic lover. We enjoy going out, when we get the chance, and can have a great time having a gourmet meal at a five star restaurant or having $1 dbl. cheeseburgers at McDonalds. We love to sip martinis in a high class lounge or beers and rum and cokes in a local bar. We talk about religion and politics and current events. Though we don't agree on everything, we do on most things. We both love our daughters and share equally in raising them and their welfare and education take priority in our lives.
The bottom line is that I love my wife and I want the whole world to know!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY HUNNY!
And I mean that in more ways that you can imagine. We complement eachother in everything we do. She supports me, and I support her. She is smart, beautiful, and sexy. She is a fantastic lover. We enjoy going out, when we get the chance, and can have a great time having a gourmet meal at a five star restaurant or having $1 dbl. cheeseburgers at McDonalds. We love to sip martinis in a high class lounge or beers and rum and cokes in a local bar. We talk about religion and politics and current events. Though we don't agree on everything, we do on most things. We both love our daughters and share equally in raising them and their welfare and education take priority in our lives.
The bottom line is that I love my wife and I want the whole world to know!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY HUNNY!
Friday, June 12, 2009
Palin vs Letterman
I think Sarah Palin is right to push this. Letterman is a dried up has-been that ceased to be even remotely funny years ago.
This is a clear case of PDS.
The bottom line is this:
What if Letterman had said this about one of Obama's daughters? What if he had said that Natasha got knocked up by A-Rod?
CBS would have shit-canned him so fast he'd have left a vapor trail!
Not a word from a single woman's rights group?
Because it's Palin, Sarah's 14 year old daughter is fair game?
This is a clear case of PDS.
The bottom line is this:
What if Letterman had said this about one of Obama's daughters? What if he had said that Natasha got knocked up by A-Rod?
CBS would have shit-canned him so fast he'd have left a vapor trail!
Not a word from a single woman's rights group?
Because it's Palin, Sarah's 14 year old daughter is fair game?
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Monday, June 8, 2009
Saturday, June 6, 2009
6 JUNE 1944
Overlord. Normandy. Utah. Omaha. Gold. Sword. Juno. Ouistreham. St. Mère Église.
Anyone familiar with military history will recognise those names.
At this moment 65 years ago, "The Longest Day" was drawing to a close. But the the future was far from certain. The Normandy landings were a huge gamble, nothing of this scale had ever been attempted before. A German armored counterattack would probably push the landing force into the Channel.
Saving Private Ryan probably comes the closest to portraying horror of 'Bloody Omaha' without actually being there. But my favorite D-Day movie is still "The Longest Day" because it tries to portray overall scope and grand scale of the operation.
But one thing I have always been amazed by was the assault on Pointe du Hoc.
Below is Pointe du Hoc today. Those cliffs are 100 feet high.
http://www.normandybattlefields.com/img27_pointe_du_hoc.htm
Now imagine having to scale those cliffs while German soldiers threw grenades and sprayed heavy machinegun fire down on top of you.
A battery of 6 155mm guns mounted in heavy concrete implacements on the top would be able to decimate the invasion fleet. The pock-marked landscape in the image above is testament to the attempts to knockout the position with aerial bombing. But the risk was too great if even one gun remained operational, and so they sent in the Rangers.
Companines D, E, and F of the 2nd Ranger Battalion were assigned to take out the gun emplacements at Pointe Du Hoc.
In 1984, President Reagan gave a speech there and said:
"The Rangers looked up and saw the enemy soldiers--the edge of the cliffs shooting down at them with machine guns and throwing grenades. And the American Rangers began to climb. They shot rope ladders over the face of these cliffs and began to pull themselves up. When one Ranger fell, another would take his place. When one rope was cut, a Ranger would grab another and begin his climb again. They climbed, shot back, and held their footing. Soon, one by one, the Rangers pulled themselves over the top, and in seizing the firm land at the top of these cliffs, they began to seize back the continent of Europe. Two hundred and twenty-five came here. After two days of fighting, only 90 could still bear arms."
The rest of the speech is here: http://www.reaganlibrary.com/reagan/speeches/dday_pdh.asp
Ironicly, the guns weren't there. The heavy bombing kept them from ever being mounted.
BUT, the Rangers found them a few miles inland, just before they were to open fire, and destroyed them with thermite grenades.
Read more about Pointe du Hoc :
http://www.worldwar2history.info/D-Day/Pointe-Du-Hoc.html
http://www.msplinks.com/MDFodHRwOi8vd3d3Lm1pbGl0YXJ5aGlzdG9yeW9ubGluZS5jb20vd3dpaS9kZGF5L3BvaW50ZWR1aG9jLmFzcHg=
Many men came here as soldiers
Many men will pass this way
Many men will count the hours
As they live the longest day
Many men are tired and weary
Many men are here to stay
Many men won't see the sunset
When it ends the longest day
The longest day the longest day
This will be the longest day
Filled with hopes and filled with fears
Filled with blood and sweat and tears
Many men the mighty thousands
Many men to victory
Marching on right into battle
In the longest day in history
Anyone familiar with military history will recognise those names.
At this moment 65 years ago, "The Longest Day" was drawing to a close. But the the future was far from certain. The Normandy landings were a huge gamble, nothing of this scale had ever been attempted before. A German armored counterattack would probably push the landing force into the Channel.
Saving Private Ryan probably comes the closest to portraying horror of 'Bloody Omaha' without actually being there. But my favorite D-Day movie is still "The Longest Day" because it tries to portray overall scope and grand scale of the operation.
But one thing I have always been amazed by was the assault on Pointe du Hoc.
Below is Pointe du Hoc today. Those cliffs are 100 feet high.
http://www.normandybattlefields.com/img27_pointe_du_hoc.htm
Now imagine having to scale those cliffs while German soldiers threw grenades and sprayed heavy machinegun fire down on top of you.
A battery of 6 155mm guns mounted in heavy concrete implacements on the top would be able to decimate the invasion fleet. The pock-marked landscape in the image above is testament to the attempts to knockout the position with aerial bombing. But the risk was too great if even one gun remained operational, and so they sent in the Rangers.
Companines D, E, and F of the 2nd Ranger Battalion were assigned to take out the gun emplacements at Pointe Du Hoc.
In 1984, President Reagan gave a speech there and said:
"The Rangers looked up and saw the enemy soldiers--the edge of the cliffs shooting down at them with machine guns and throwing grenades. And the American Rangers began to climb. They shot rope ladders over the face of these cliffs and began to pull themselves up. When one Ranger fell, another would take his place. When one rope was cut, a Ranger would grab another and begin his climb again. They climbed, shot back, and held their footing. Soon, one by one, the Rangers pulled themselves over the top, and in seizing the firm land at the top of these cliffs, they began to seize back the continent of Europe. Two hundred and twenty-five came here. After two days of fighting, only 90 could still bear arms."
The rest of the speech is here: http://www.reaganlibrary.com/reagan/speeches/dday_pdh.asp
Ironicly, the guns weren't there. The heavy bombing kept them from ever being mounted.
BUT, the Rangers found them a few miles inland, just before they were to open fire, and destroyed them with thermite grenades.
Read more about Pointe du Hoc :
http://www.worldwar2history.info/D-Day/Pointe-Du-Hoc.html
http://www.msplinks.com/MDFodHRwOi8vd3d3Lm1pbGl0YXJ5aGlzdG9yeW9ubGluZS5jb20vd3dpaS9kZGF5L3BvaW50ZWR1aG9jLmFzcHg=
Many men came here as soldiers
Many men will pass this way
Many men will count the hours
As they live the longest day
Many men are tired and weary
Many men are here to stay
Many men won't see the sunset
When it ends the longest day
The longest day the longest day
This will be the longest day
Filled with hopes and filled with fears
Filled with blood and sweat and tears
Many men the mighty thousands
Many men to victory
Marching on right into battle
In the longest day in history
Friday, June 5, 2009
The June 4 Incident
I apologize for not posting this yesterday, I had a busy day at work.
Twenty years ago, cries for Freedom rose up among oppressed peoples the world over. Many of them were successful.
One, infamously, was not.
In Tiananmen Square, the world watched as Chinese cried out and were crushed.
Most remember this image:
One man, standing alone against hundreds of tons of steel.
Alas, it was for naught. The protests and the protesters were crushed. As for this man, some say he was killed. Some say he was pulled out of the line of fire before the shooting started.
Once it did, the casualities were 241 dead, and 7,000 wounded.
And there are STILL people in rotting in prison since then.
Yesterday, the Chinese government banned reporters from the square and no mention is made of 'The June 4 Incident'. Wiped from history, wiped from memory.
Don't let it be. Remember those brave souls that cried out for Freedom.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiananmen_Square_protests_of_1989
Twenty years ago, cries for Freedom rose up among oppressed peoples the world over. Many of them were successful.
One, infamously, was not.
In Tiananmen Square, the world watched as Chinese cried out and were crushed.
Most remember this image:
One man, standing alone against hundreds of tons of steel.
Alas, it was for naught. The protests and the protesters were crushed. As for this man, some say he was killed. Some say he was pulled out of the line of fire before the shooting started.
Once it did, the casualities were 241 dead, and 7,000 wounded.
And there are STILL people in rotting in prison since then.
Yesterday, the Chinese government banned reporters from the square and no mention is made of 'The June 4 Incident'. Wiped from history, wiped from memory.
Don't let it be. Remember those brave souls that cried out for Freedom.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiananmen_Square_protests_of_1989
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
If Only I Could Write Even Close To This.......
A small plot of land in the Midwest,
where time is measured in suns.
From dawn to dark, you give only your best
with tools, some toil and your guns.
You're a merchant of wind, tender of grain,
work and risk both have their price.
Only a stop for a quick prayer for rain,
watching seasons rolling like dice.
The land calls to you, as if it could talk,
speaking fragmentary whispers, true.
Touching a soul's soft under stalk,
confirming that which you knew.
You belong on this piece of flat land,
dark soil to be thy future grave.
A farmers life, the patriot's stand,
for it upholds the strong and the brave.
- Brigid 2009
http://mausersandmuffins.blogspot.com/
where time is measured in suns.
From dawn to dark, you give only your best
with tools, some toil and your guns.
You're a merchant of wind, tender of grain,
work and risk both have their price.
Only a stop for a quick prayer for rain,
watching seasons rolling like dice.
The land calls to you, as if it could talk,
speaking fragmentary whispers, true.
Touching a soul's soft under stalk,
confirming that which you knew.
You belong on this piece of flat land,
dark soil to be thy future grave.
A farmers life, the patriot's stand,
for it upholds the strong and the brave.
- Brigid 2009
http://mausersandmuffins.blogspot.com/
I Have No Words..............
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/06/02/AR2009060200947_pf.html
President Barack Obama suggested that Iran may have some right to nuclear energy
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/8078217.stm
"The danger, I think, is when the United States, or any country, thinks that we can simply impose these values on another country with a different history and a different culture," he said.
President Barack Obama suggested that Iran may have some right to nuclear energy
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/8078217.stm
"The danger, I think, is when the United States, or any country, thinks that we can simply impose these values on another country with a different history and a different culture," he said.
Domestic Terror
From DrewM over at AoSHQ:
http://ace.mu.nu/archives/288030.php
Man Arrested For Shooting Two Soldiers In Arkansas Is "A Muslim Convert" Who Doesn't Like The US Military UPDATED And BUMPED: Suspect Traveled To Yemen, Was Under FBI Investigation
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/story?id=7730637&page=1
The suspect arrested in the fatal shooting of one soldier and the critical injury of another at a Little Rock, Ark., Army recruiting booth today was under investigation by the FBI's Joint Terrorist Task Force since his return from Yemen, ABC News has learned.
According to a police report, Muhammad told police he saw two uniformed U.S. soldiers in front of the recruiting office before he shot and killed Pvt. William Long, 23, and wounded Pvt. Quinton Ezeagwula, 18, while they were taking a break outside the U.S. Army recruiting station where they both worked.
http://ace.mu.nu/archives/288030.php
Man Arrested For Shooting Two Soldiers In Arkansas Is "A Muslim Convert" Who Doesn't Like The US Military UPDATED And BUMPED: Suspect Traveled To Yemen, Was Under FBI Investigation
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/story?id=7730637&page=1
The suspect arrested in the fatal shooting of one soldier and the critical injury of another at a Little Rock, Ark., Army recruiting booth today was under investigation by the FBI's Joint Terrorist Task Force since his return from Yemen, ABC News has learned.
According to a police report, Muhammad told police he saw two uniformed U.S. soldiers in front of the recruiting office before he shot and killed Pvt. William Long, 23, and wounded Pvt. Quinton Ezeagwula, 18, while they were taking a break outside the U.S. Army recruiting station where they both worked.
Friday, May 29, 2009
Obama Blocks Sale of Replacement Apaches to Israel
http://www.worldtribune.com/worldtribune/WTARC/2009/ss_israel0424_05_27.asp
Government sources said the administration has held up Israel's request for the AH-64D Apache Longbow attack helicopter. The sources said the request was undergoing an interagency review to determine whether additional Longbow helicopters would threaten Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip.
Israel's Defense Ministry and air force have discussed procurement of additional Longbows with the U.S. firm Boeing. But the sources said the Longbow as well as other defense requests have been shelved by the administration amid its review of the potential use of American weapons platforms by Israel.
And so it begins.
Government sources said the administration has held up Israel's request for the AH-64D Apache Longbow attack helicopter. The sources said the request was undergoing an interagency review to determine whether additional Longbow helicopters would threaten Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip.
Israel's Defense Ministry and air force have discussed procurement of additional Longbows with the U.S. firm Boeing. But the sources said the Longbow as well as other defense requests have been shelved by the administration amid its review of the potential use of American weapons platforms by Israel.
And so it begins.
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
You Won't See This In The MSM!
http://www.tellcasey.com/
Dear Senator Casey,
Because the Obama administration is committed to the slaughter of children in utero - and this Supreme Court nominee reflects that intention - I appeal to your heart: filibuster Sonia Sotomayor, and do everything you can to overturn Roe vs. Wade
Norma McCorvey, former "Roe" of Roe vs. Wade
BTW, opposition to abortion doesn't have to and shouldn't be based on religious grounds. I believe it is just plain wrong!
Dear Senator Casey,
Because the Obama administration is committed to the slaughter of children in utero - and this Supreme Court nominee reflects that intention - I appeal to your heart: filibuster Sonia Sotomayor, and do everything you can to overturn Roe vs. Wade
Norma McCorvey, former "Roe" of Roe vs. Wade
BTW, opposition to abortion doesn't have to and shouldn't be based on religious grounds. I believe it is just plain wrong!
Does Barkey Have Any Clue How Serious This Could Get?
NKorea warns of military action against SKorea
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D98EBO2G1&show_article=1
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - North Korea's military says it considers South Korea's participation in a U.S.-led program to intercept ships suspected of spreading weapons of mass destruction tantamount to a declaration of war against the North.
The statement, carried by the North's Korean Central News Agency, said North Korea no longer considers itself bound by the armistice that ended the Korean War, as a protest over the South's participation.
SEOUL, South Korea (AP)—North Korea has restarted a weapons-grade nuclear plant and fired five short-range missiles in two days, news reports and South Korean officials said Wednesday, deepening the North's standoff with world powers following its latest nuclear test.
North Korea is believed to have enough plutonium for at least half a dozen atomic bombs. The North also has about 8,000 spent fuel rods which, if reprocessed, could allow the country to harvest 6-8 kilograms (13-18 pounds) of plutonium—enough to make at least one nuclear bomb, experts said.
To quote Admiral Painter: This business will get out of control! It will get out of control and we'll be lucky to live through it!
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D98EBO2G1&show_article=1
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - North Korea's military says it considers South Korea's participation in a U.S.-led program to intercept ships suspected of spreading weapons of mass destruction tantamount to a declaration of war against the North.
The statement, carried by the North's Korean Central News Agency, said North Korea no longer considers itself bound by the armistice that ended the Korean War, as a protest over the South's participation.
SEOUL, South Korea (AP)—North Korea has restarted a weapons-grade nuclear plant and fired five short-range missiles in two days, news reports and South Korean officials said Wednesday, deepening the North's standoff with world powers following its latest nuclear test.
North Korea is believed to have enough plutonium for at least half a dozen atomic bombs. The North also has about 8,000 spent fuel rods which, if reprocessed, could allow the country to harvest 6-8 kilograms (13-18 pounds) of plutonium—enough to make at least one nuclear bomb, experts said.
To quote Admiral Painter: This business will get out of control! It will get out of control and we'll be lucky to live through it!
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Will The Left Apologize To Bolton?
http://legalinsurrection.blogspot.com/2009/05/will-left-apologize-to-bolton.html
On May 20, 2009, John Bolton wrote an op-ed for The Wall Street Journal titled "Get Ready for Another North Korean Nuke Test" in which he noted that the complacency of the Obama administration about North Korea's nuclear ambitions (and Iran's) was misplaced:
"The curtain is about to rise again on the long-running nuclear tragicomedy, "North Korea Outwits the United States." Despite Kim Jong Il's explicit threats of another nuclear test, U.S. Special Envoy Stephen Bosworth said last week that the Obama administration is "relatively relaxed" and that "there is not a sense of crisis." They're certainly smiling in Pyongyang."
Of course the short answer is "NO".
And now we have this:
Defying world powers, N. Korea conducts nuke test
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090525/ap_on_re_as/as_koreas_nuclear
SEOUL, South Korea – North Korea defied world powers and carried out an underground test Monday of a nuclear bomb Russian officials said was comparable to those that obliterated Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The incident drew condemnation from Washington to Beijing and set the communist regime up for a showdown with the United Nations.
And this:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090525/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_iran
TEHRAN, Iran – Mahmoud Ahmadinejad proposed on Monday a face-to-face debate with President Barack Obama at the United Nations if he is re-elected next month as Iran's president.
But he balanced the offer with a sharp rebuke to Washington and its allies over Iran's nuclear program. He reiterated that Iran would never abandon its advances in uranium enrichment in exchange for offers of easing sanctions or other economic incentives.
The nuclear issue "is closed," he told a news conference.
In the real world, talking and a reluctance to fight means 'weakness'.
I hope and pray that Obama will learn this lesson before it's too late.
On May 20, 2009, John Bolton wrote an op-ed for The Wall Street Journal titled "Get Ready for Another North Korean Nuke Test" in which he noted that the complacency of the Obama administration about North Korea's nuclear ambitions (and Iran's) was misplaced:
"The curtain is about to rise again on the long-running nuclear tragicomedy, "North Korea Outwits the United States." Despite Kim Jong Il's explicit threats of another nuclear test, U.S. Special Envoy Stephen Bosworth said last week that the Obama administration is "relatively relaxed" and that "there is not a sense of crisis." They're certainly smiling in Pyongyang."
Of course the short answer is "NO".
And now we have this:
Defying world powers, N. Korea conducts nuke test
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090525/ap_on_re_as/as_koreas_nuclear
SEOUL, South Korea – North Korea defied world powers and carried out an underground test Monday of a nuclear bomb Russian officials said was comparable to those that obliterated Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The incident drew condemnation from Washington to Beijing and set the communist regime up for a showdown with the United Nations.
And this:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090525/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_iran
TEHRAN, Iran – Mahmoud Ahmadinejad proposed on Monday a face-to-face debate with President Barack Obama at the United Nations if he is re-elected next month as Iran's president.
But he balanced the offer with a sharp rebuke to Washington and its allies over Iran's nuclear program. He reiterated that Iran would never abandon its advances in uranium enrichment in exchange for offers of easing sanctions or other economic incentives.
The nuclear issue "is closed," he told a news conference.
In the real world, talking and a reluctance to fight means 'weakness'.
I hope and pray that Obama will learn this lesson before it's too late.
Monday, May 25, 2009
Sunday, May 24, 2009
So...How's That Treaty Coming along?
First, I read this article in my local paper:
Obama push for nuclear test ban hinges on network that has quietly wired the world since 1990s
http://www.newser.com/article/d98c5j880/obama-push-for-nuclear-test-ban-hinges-on-network-that-has-quietly-wired-the-world-since-1990s.html
Geophysicist Raymond Jeanloz, chairman of the National Academy's Committee on National Security and Arms Control, favors conducting a new study of a system now nearing completion.
"Very reasonably, a political leader might ask, 'Is it performing up to standards?'" he said. "The scientific community is in a position to give an answer."
And just a moment ago I went on Ace's site and found this:
North Korea Claims To Have Conducted A Nuclear Test
http://ace.mu.nu/archives/287722.php
Original article here:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090525/ap_on_re_as/as_koreas_nuclear
SEOUL, South Korea – North Korea announced Monday that it successfully carried out an underground nuclear test, weeks after threatening to restart its rogue atomic program.
The country's official Korean Central News Agency called Monday's test "part of measures to bolster its nuclear deterrent for self-defense."
More: Just for fun, I checked to see if N. Korea was part of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. They were, until they go caught in 2003 and then they bailed out.
It's almost like treaties don't, you know, stop countries from doing whatever they want.
Obama push for nuclear test ban hinges on network that has quietly wired the world since 1990s
http://www.newser.com/article/d98c5j880/obama-push-for-nuclear-test-ban-hinges-on-network-that-has-quietly-wired-the-world-since-1990s.html
Geophysicist Raymond Jeanloz, chairman of the National Academy's Committee on National Security and Arms Control, favors conducting a new study of a system now nearing completion.
"Very reasonably, a political leader might ask, 'Is it performing up to standards?'" he said. "The scientific community is in a position to give an answer."
And just a moment ago I went on Ace's site and found this:
North Korea Claims To Have Conducted A Nuclear Test
http://ace.mu.nu/archives/287722.php
Original article here:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090525/ap_on_re_as/as_koreas_nuclear
SEOUL, South Korea – North Korea announced Monday that it successfully carried out an underground nuclear test, weeks after threatening to restart its rogue atomic program.
The country's official Korean Central News Agency called Monday's test "part of measures to bolster its nuclear deterrent for self-defense."
More: Just for fun, I checked to see if N. Korea was part of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. They were, until they go caught in 2003 and then they bailed out.
It's almost like treaties don't, you know, stop countries from doing whatever they want.
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