The Philistine Theory

Neo-Nazi Couple Find Out They're Jewish

2010-09-29T02:23:00.001+08:00

Two Polish neo-Nazis who were childhood sweethearts and later became skinheads have discovered what for them a shocking family secret is: They're actually Jewish. Pawel and Ola, identified only by their first names, is the subject of a CNN documentary about Poles rediscovering their Jewish roots generations after their ancestors hid their religious identities to escape persecution during World War II. A few years ago, Ola found out from Warsaw's Jewish Historical Institute that both she and her husband are technically Jews. Source: Polish neo-Nazis

This shows how false this whole neo-Nazi crap really is. The fact is they can give up they're previous beliefs so quickly once the tables turn against them. And that'll sure screw up a nice healthy hatred, won't it? God does have a sense of humor...and sometimes it isn't all that friendly.

MICRO INNOVATIONS MM745H Voicemaster Foldable Headset

Ferry from Danao City to Camotes

2010-09-28T15:43:00.001+08:00

Next time your on Camotes Island and if you have the money and energy and some remaining liver and then knock out a few bottles of San Miguel, spend some time with the pretty girls... oh yeah... and if you have the get-up-and-go then catch up on you’re diving in between.

In the South Seas

Doused a fire with a giant bucket of water

2010-09-28T07:03:00.001+08:00

This morning I awoke feeling like Conan the Barbarian with a big S taped to my chest then I realized I was trapped in a 74 year old body. God I needed to laugh. Awaking to my laughter my wife turned in bed in the meantime I can't help myself and let go again. No I wasn’t dreaming I was plain ass happy to be next to my wife here in Danao. Worried Beng ask me was I in trouble? I gave her some halfhearted excuse and she probably thought her old Kano was momentary mad and then she sighed and then going back to sleep. Or maybe she thought my mind was cluttered with some dreams of a neurotic nymphomaniac I knew back in my younger days. NO, I was happy.

Beng is darn smart I have to tell you guys. Junior and I are at loggerheads most the time lately. Whenever we’re playing 20 questions, such as; why weren’t you on time for dinner or where have you been? You guys know what it is like dealing with a 15 year old teenager. Well, don’t you? When we’re finished playing our 20 question game of cat and mouse my adolescence son and I generally end up being pissed off at each other. It’s sort like banging my head against a stone wall. My smart and very patience wife explained to me extremely carefully so I wouldn’t feel like a like a complete idiot, whenever Junior speaks he mumbles and me I am almost stone deaf – it’s like two guys walking through a minefield. WE HAVE NO COMMUNCATION. After Beng told me this bit inform I felt as if I had just been doused with a giant bucket of water. Then her shoulders relaxed and she smiled like Gwyneth Paltrow does in the movies.

It Takes a Village (Hardcover)

Those were the Days

2010-09-27T15:24:00.001+08:00

WE ALL have had the best possible ride anyone could ever have had. Because most of us were born after the “New Deal” had become a done deal, we all enjoyed incredible opportunities. Thanks to the Fair Labor Standards Act, we didn’t have to work ourselves into the ground for a poor man’s wage. We all could actually live on what we made. And thanks to widespread unionization, even if we were in a non-union shop, we still got taken care of better-because a good employee might have jumped to a union shop if he or she wasn’t treated well. Your and my parents, who suffered through both a awful Depression and then WW 2, did everything in their power to make sure that we all never had to suffer what they had gone through. The post-WW 2 era saw American opportunity for everyone who was willing to work for the chance, including minorities and women in due time.

Fired!: Tales of the Canned, Canceled, Downsized, and Dismissed

Stream Ship, Trains to Kansas

2010-09-27T09:34:00.000+08:00

Pictured is my grandfather – this photo of him was taken around 1900 in Texas. My grandmother Grace Brown married James Curtis "Jewel" Allen on October 3, 1904, in Denton County, Texas. At the time of his death the family was living in Clearwater, Florida. James died in 1913. After the death of her husband, she with her three small caught a steam ship from Tampa, Florida to Galveston, Texas. Once arriving in Galveston she caught a train to West Texas where she and her three children visited with her late husband's relatives. And then the widowed Grace returned to Kansas where she and her three children lived with her mother Ann in Hutchinson, Kansas. To earn a living and to support her three minor children Grace built and opened a rooming house in Pratt. While the new house was being build my Dad along with his two sisters, Marguerite and Maureen, would dig up old buried Indian arrowheads.... A childhood treasure!

The Official Overstreet Identification and Price Guide to Indian Arrowheads 10th Edition (Official Overstreet Indian Arrowhead Identification and Price Guide)

Two Young Divers in Bogo

2010-09-26T22:12:00.000+08:00

A performer takes part in the Carnival

2010-09-26T15:32:00.001+08:00

A performer takes part in the Notting Hill Carnival as hundreds of thousands celebrate in the streets of London soaking up the Caribbean spirit at Europe's biggest street party..(AFP/Carl Court) Source: Yahoo.News

DK Eyewitness Travel Guide: The Caribbean

Double-amputee back on duty

2010-09-26T15:11:00.002+08:00

In this Sept. 14, 2010 photo, U.S. Capt. Dan Luckett, 27, of Norcross, Ga., talks to fellow soldiers at Forward Operating Base Wilson in Afghanistan'sKandahar province. Luckett lost his left leg and part of his right foot in a bomb blast in Iraq in 2008. The Pentagon says 41 American amputee veterans are now serving in combat zones worldwide.
Source:Yahoo.News

In the Graveyard of Empires: America's War in Afghanistan

Me and San Miguel

2010-09-25T13:39:00.002+08:00

Ah yes, I remember the day of drinking my first San Miguel. It was the beer of choice of the navy in my sailor days. Back in 1956 I was introduced to San Miguel in Puerto Rico while stationed at Roosevelt Roads and immediately I enjoyed the taste as much as any other blue blooded bell bottom sailor or sea going marine. It was available wherever the navy fleet went, Puerto Rico, Hong Kong, Guam and of course the Philippines. Even to this very day I remember that first beer that had been chilled and the sweet taste to my thirsty throat. I hit the jackpot!

How to Make Perfect Wines and Spirits From Home: A Recipe Book

Poll shows over half of voters dislike both Dems and GOP

2010-09-25T09:03:00.002+08:00

I'm happy to see that people appear to be seeing through the Republican Party. Neither party is really looking out for the interests of the people nor do they both really oppose each other on issues that are relatively unimportant. Take immigration for instance, on the surface, it would appear that both parties are not willing to do anything to stem the tide, despite what the Republicans say. It's real easy; you enforce border security and go after the companies who are illegally hiring these illegal immigrants. Both parties are for big government and uncontrolled spending, while neither party is willing to do anything to stop the corruption, despite what they say.

There seems to be a pattern where we keep trading the Democrats for Republicans and then the Republicans for Democrats, with the same anti-freedom and anti-liberty policies being set. I'm surprised that it is taking so long for the American people to realize that we are no better off with the Republicans than we are with the Democrats and vice versa. They both push the same agenda that benefits interests that are contradictory to our own interests. When the Republicans rule the roost, we get screwed over so we trade them out for the Democrats, only to continue to get screwed over. We repeat this cycle every 6 years or so, meanwhile it is only the American people losing out and the same interests winning. How much longer are we willing to trade one obnoxious party for another?

When You Ride Alone You Ride with Bin Laden

US walks out on Ahmadinejad's UN speech

2010-09-24T07:38:00.001+08:00

UNITED NATIONS – The U.S. delegation walked out of the U.N. speech of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Thursday after he said some in the world have speculated that Americans were behind the Sept. 11 terror attacks, staged in an attempt to assure Israel's survival. He did not explain the logic of that statement that was made as he attacked the U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Source: Yahoo.News

Delegates from the US walked out of the UN during a speech by the Iranian President, after he suggested 9/11 was the work of America to save

Israel

. Diplomacy doesn't appear to be on Ahmadinejad's agenda, does it? I'm not sure he even knows diplomatic speech and behavior exist. Anybody knows not to go into a foreign land and be so harsh with unsubstantiated claims and accusations. He's an asshole, but what do you expect from someone who denies the holocaust happened? Not surprising, really. Some would say he speaks the truth unfettered by the hand of the elite. Others that he is just pushing his luck! Either way this can’t lead to anything good, given the current climate, I am sure this will lead to further diplomatic wrangling and saber rattling. I feel this is just a further escalation in the charade that is global geo-politics.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

2010 Danao City Fiesta

2010-09-23T08:18:00.000+08:00

Another Politician Snow Job

2010-09-23T00:41:00.005+08:00

While it may sound like a great idea to have our President sponsor more Government jobs such as building roads and things of that nature, believe me, that's not what we need. The Government doesn't have any more money to spend. The money they do spend is money they have borrowed from overseas. Borrow, borrow, borrow, and then borrow some more. Meanwhile I can just imagine the Washington politicians saying to each other, “That's awesome! That's progress. What a huge step!”

The country was in the great depression in time of FDR but we didn't have the kind of debt we have today. What we need is for our Government to lure back private businesses! When businesses feel like they can grow again, that's when we will see jobs on the rise. Government hand-outs in the form of sponsored projects or welfare, or anything else is like paying a credit card with yet another credit card. Eventually it will lead us to spiral down all the way to the bottom of the hole.

Unbelievable to some, I can almost hear the squeals of politicians as they are voted out of office in the November election.

There is a great deal in this country that truly think like that unfortunately. They have no qualms about spending massive amounts of money to build the infrastructure or provide healthcare to foreign countries. The policy makers in Washington give the impression that the US and its present currency system are toast, along with all pensions, savings, and everything else...Give me a break!

It appears that our lawmakers of today are doing absolutely nothing. And that goes for both Democrats and Republicans.

Does Anybody Have a Problem with That? The Best of Politically Incorrect

BREAKING NEWS - Va can execute woman

2010-09-22T18:32:00.001+08:00

RICHMOND, Va. – A woman convicted of two hired killings is scheduled to die by injection Thursday and become the first woman put to death in Virginia in nearly a century, after the U.S. Supreme Court refused to block her execution. Teresa Lewis, 41, was sentenced to death for providing sex and money to two men to kill her husband and stepson in October 2002 so she could collect on a quarter-million dollar insurance pay out. The nation's high court refused Tuesday to intervene. Va. could execute 1st woman in nearly a century
Source: Yahoo.News

Up to 50% Off Halloween Costumes

2010-09-22T17:25:00.001+08:00

You need a Halloween Costume? For your Kids? With great Savings. Check out Amazon's costumes.

Mexico, Drugs and the Recession

2010-09-22T00:06:00.001+08:00

I wonder sometimes what the politicians in Washington might do in this great recession; they might be able to deflect the jobless recovery for several years by waging war on the drug cartels. Would Mexico allow to a takeover by the cartels or would they willingly turn to the US for guns and butter? Some African nations might go along for the economic benefits.

Invading Mexico would truly bring the drug wars to the US. The Mexican people and the world will not stand by if the US repeats its adventures into Mexico as we did so many years ago. The previous wars were not that popular, except in some regions of the South West. I’m there will be always someone who cheers that. When people in the US start dying because of the stupidity of a leadership that chooses to ignore the reality of what happened with regards to prohibition, the consequences to the cost will be enormous.

The careless attitude expressed about war, suggests someone more interested in a political agenda than anything to benefit Americans, and the misreading of history is enormous. Which is exactly right is saying - worked out in the rise of something similar to Nazism. I can imagine that if the government was looking to take the pressure off the working class they would round up the illegals and send them packing.

In the short-term the government will need some policy to pretend at leadership. I just think that, looking at the prospects, I guess waging a real shoot-em up war with the cartels would be their best shot while waiting out the recession.

I often wonder how the Afghan and Iraq wars have lasted far longer than WWII. Did it take that long to restore the oil fields and get oil flowing again? Didn’t the Al-Queda leave the battle field years ago?

AMAZING Halo Reach Gameplay

2010-09-21T15:52:00.001+08:00

This is a sweet Halo Reach Powerhouse King of the Hill gameplay from SkyD0g in which he gets an Invincible, an overkill, a perfection, and a game win to top it all off. Enjoy!

TO BUY GO TO Halo Reach

Tools & Home Improvement This Fall

2010-09-21T09:41:00.001+08:00

In October, Get Your Home Ready for the Holidays page will feature items to help you prepare for upcoming company. They'll find ideas for refreshing the bathroom, making the kitchen sparkle, and sprucing up the front entryway. Also featured will be great savings on select power tools up to 40% off and select designer lighting by Candice Olson up to 25% off.

In addition to project ideas, Amazon is featuring a number of sizzling deals in September, such as an extra 25% off eligible American Standard faucets sold and shipped by Amazon.com, including kitchen sink faucets, bathroom sink faucets, and shower and tub faucets, while supplies last.

General Powell’s remarks about the President

2010-09-21T00:20:00.001+08:00

Here are retired General Powell’s remarks about President Barack Obama on NBC’s “Meet the Press” on last Sunday:

Powell said; “You can't just sit around beating up the President. But the President also has to I think shift the way in which he has been doing things. I think the American People feel that too many programs have come down. There are so many rocks in our knapsack now that we're having trouble carrying it. I think the President has to like a like a razor blade, just go right after the single issue that is uppermost in the minds of the American People and that's employment. And he's done a lot with health care, with cap and trade, with education. And I understand the importance of all of that. But as far as the American People are concerned, the main attack is employment. … I think he has lost some of the ability to connect that he had during the campaign. And it is not just me picking on the President. It's reflected in the polling. Some of the anxiety and anger that you see out there, I think comes from a belief on the part of the American People, whether it's correct or incorrect, and the White House would say it's incorrect, that not enough attention, his singular focus should be on employment…”

President Obama is all these things and more, that's why the confusion. People are left going in all kinds of different directions at once, and aside from being against Obama, there’s nothing new, nothing fresh for Republicans to be for. The Republicans can’t keep their emotional rant against Obama and the Democrats up forever. Sooner or later the anger and fear won’t have the punch they once did, and the Republicans won’t be the party that can take things in new directions. They’ll be the party of tired old rivals. For how can America go forward to reclaim being number one in the world? Given that Smaller Government and Less Spending cannot be the only answer.

But are those jobs quality jobs that a person can support themselves on or low paying service sector minimum wage jobs? We used to make steel in America, now we make happy meals.

Should we listen to the tea party movement?

2010-09-20T08:53:00.000+08:00

President Clinton says, “We should all listen to the tea party movement.”

I sometimes wonder if Sarah Palin supporters, and some tea-partiers, really want to have an actual candidate, or just someone that tells them exactly what they want to hear. Even if it is complete rubbish about Kenya Birth Certificates, Sharia Law, Antichrists and secret Muslims. As far as Palin goes, I personally think it is all an act. Not the fact that she isn't the brightest bulb in the box, that much is true, but I don't think she believes or practices half the stuff that comes out of her mouth. This “mama grizzles, prayer warriors, guns guns guns” crap is just so shameless, because I know the lady is just selling a game to get elected. Here is my message to Palin and the Tea Party; Stop claiming Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Pain and Patrick Henry as your own. They were Libertarians, not theocratic college professors. Stop degrading their name.

Like Bill Maher said, you don't argue with these people. It's like trying to convince a devoted Catholic that there's no God and Evolution is no longer a theory. It's IMPOSSIBLE to get through these folks. But to each their own...if they want to live the lives of bigots, so be it. I'm just afraid of them getting into the White House.

He refused to regard himself as disabled

2010-09-20T00:59:00.008+08:00

Terry Fox statue in Beacon Hill Park, Victoria, British Columbia

Terrance Stanley "Terry" Fox; (July 28, 1958 – June 28, 1981) was a Canadian humanitarian, athlete, and cancer research activist. In 1980, with one leg having been amputated, he embarked on a cross-Canada run to raise money and awareness for cancer research. Although the spread of his cancer eventually forced him to end his quest after 143 days and 5,373 kilometers (3,339 mi), and ultimately cost him his life, his efforts resulted in a lasting, worldwide legacy. The annual Terry Fox Run, first held in 1981, has grown to involve millions of participants in over 60 countries and is now the world's largest one-day fundraiser for cancer research; over C$500 million has been raised in his name. Fox ran with an unusual gait, as he was required to hop-step on his good leg due to the extra time the springs in his artificial leg required to reset after each step.

Fox was a distance runner and basketball player for his Port Coquitlam, British Columbia high school and Simon Fraser University. His right leg was amputated in 1977 after he was diagnosed with osteosarcoma, though he continued to run using an artificial leg. He also played wheelchair basketball in Vancouver, winning three national championships.

In 1980, he began the Marathon of Hope, a cross-country run to raise money for cancer research. Fox hoped to raise one dollar for each of Canada's 24 million people. He started with little fanfare from St. John's, Newfoundland in April and ran the equivalent of a full marathon every day. Fox had become a national star by the time he reached Ontario; he made numerous public appearances with businessmen, athletes, and politicians in his efforts to raise money. He was forced to end his run outside of Thunder Bay when the cancer spread to his lungs. His hopes of overcoming the disease and completing his marathon ended when he died nine months later.

In the following months, Fox received multiple chemotherapy treatments; however, the disease continued to spread. As his condition worsened, Canadians hoped for a miracle and Pope John Paul II sent a telegram saying that he was praying for Fox. Doctors turned to experimental interferon treatments, though their effectiveness against osteogenic sarcoma was unknown. He suffered an adverse reaction to his first treatment, but continued the program after a period of rest.

Fox was re-admitted to hospital on June 19, 1981, with chest congestion and developed pneumonia. He fell into a coma and died at 4:35 a.m. PDT on June 28, 1981, with his family by his side. The Government of Canada ordered flags across the country lowered to half mast, an unprecedented honor that was usually reserved for statesmen. Addressing the House of Commons, Trudeau said, “It occurs very rarely in the life of a nation that the courageous spirit of one person unites all people in the celebration of his life and in the mourning of his death ... We do not think of him as one who was defeated by misfortune but as one who inspired us with the example of the triumph of the human spirit over adversity.”

Fox was the youngest person ever named a Companion of the Order of Canada, the highest rank of the nation's highest civilian award. He won the 1980 Lou Marsh Award as the nation's top sportsman and was named Canada's Newsmaker of the Year in both 1980 and 1981. Considered a national hero, he has had many buildings, roads and parks named in his honor across the country.

Terry Fox: A Story of Hope

Breaking News - YOUR MONEY

2010-09-19T09:27:00.000+08:00

Los Angeles spent $70 million in stimulus funds to create 7.76 jobs
A new piece of evidence has emerged in the debate over the effectiveness of President Obama's 2009 stimulus package, and it's not good for Democrats. According to two newly released audits performed by the Los Angeles controller, L.A. spent enormous portions of the $594 million in stimulus funds it received on projects that created or saved just a handful of jobs. All told, the audits - available - examined $111 million in stimulus spending by the city's Department of Transportation and Department of Public Works, and found that the money went to projects that created or retained just 54 jobs. That works out to roughly $2 million per job.

The $71 million that went to the Department of Public Works, which funded 15 road-surfacing and similar projects, was projected to save or create 238 jobs. But according to the audit, the money created just 7.76 jobs or slightly more than $10 million per new job and saved 37.7 (the fractions are a result of calculating the number of jobs by hours worked). The Department of Transportation's $40 million created or retained just nine jobs, the audit found.

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin

2010-09-19T01:17:00.002+08:00

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin speaks at the International Council of Shopping Centers' annual global retail real estate convention, at the Las VegasConvention Center May 2010 in Nevada. The White House Friday called Palin a "formidable force" within the Republican party at a time when she is showing signs of interest in running for president in 2012. Source: Yahoo.News

Sarah Palin, Faith Family Country

Opening this year's annual Oktoberfest in southern Germany

2010-09-19T00:36:00.003+08:00

Munich Mayor Christian Ude waves during the opening ceremony for the 177th Oktoberfest in Munich September 18, 2010. Millions of beer drinkers from aroundthe world will come to the Bavarian capital over the next two weeks for the world's biggest and most famous beer festival, the Oktoberfest, which celebrates its 200th anniversary this year. Source: Yahoo.com

Felix & Theo Oktoberfest (German Edition)

Sore Loser

2010-09-19T00:22:00.002+08:00

US Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska has announced she will run as a write-in candidate to keep her Senate seat after losing her bid to be the Republicanparty's nominee in the primary. Source: Yahoo.News

United States Senators From Alaska: Mike Gravel, Ted Stevens, Mark Begich, Lisa Murkowski, Frank Murkowski, Ernest Gruening, Bob Bartlett

Meat Packers we love them – well maybe

2010-09-19T00:06:00.003+08:00

In 1906, Upton Sinclair released his classic muckraking novel The Jungle. It exposed conditions in the U.S. meat packing industry, causing a public uproar that contributed in part to the passage a few months later of the 1906 Pure Food and Drug Act and the Meat Inspection Act. According to Sinclair’s novel, the packing industry was run in an utter condition of squalor, where packers frequently sold rancid and diseased meat to the public in order to cut costs.

Those of you who were educated in public schools are probably familiar with this myth, since this is what you were told was the truth by your teachers. Many of you may have even been forced to choke down the lies Sinclair spewed forth in this novel by having it included in your education as mandatory reading.

A note on Sinclair himself, he was a dedicated socialist who actually ran for Congress on the Socialist Party ticket. The guy was a complete mental case. I’m sure that wasn’t mentioned though in your history classes, where he is typically presented as a simple man who only wanted the best for America.

The Pure Food and Drug Act and the Meat Inspection Act were HEAVILY lobbied for by the large meat packing producers over the course of several decades. There was very little diseased meat being processed, and Sinclair’s novel is nothing but a bunch of total baloney. The mega meat packing corporations took advantage of the hype Sinclair had created with his novel of lies and finally rammed through a bill they had been trying to pass for decades.

The large meat packing corporations wanted this regulation for several reasons.

a) Government inspections added a large fixed operating cost to producers due to the administrative overhead. While this may sound counter-intuitive, this effectively serves as a large barrier to entry into the meat packing business. The smaller packers do not have the economy of scale to be able to absorb this fixed cost so they end up being run out of business by the large producers because the small guys necessarily need to raise the price of their meat higher to account for the additional cost.

b) The Europeans at the time had begun barring meat imports to protect their own meat producer’s profits under the guise of “diseased meat” being imported. So the Europeans were requiring that imported meats undergo an inspection process. Thus, the US meat packers had to have their meat inspected anyways by private inspectors if they wanted to be able to export their meat. By lobbying the US government to inspect their meat, the large US meat packers could pass the cost of this inspection process that had to happen anyways, on to US tax payers. This served to socialize inspection costs for the large US meat exporters.

Since the smaller producers did not generally engage in export, they didn’t bother to have their meat inspected – thus, the smaller producers were able to compete with large producers in local markets. By forcing all meat packers to undergo inspection, the government basically ran the small meat packing operations out of business.

c) The inspection seal effectively serves as a fantastic marketing gimmick. It provides a false sense of security to US consumers and legitimizes the meat processed as being approved by the US government.

Jonathan Ogden Armour, President of Armour and Company, one of the largest meat packing corporations in America, wrote the following in a March 1906 Saturday Evening Post article:

“To attempt to evade government inspection with beef from a purely commercial viewpoint is suicidal. No packer can do an interstate or export business without government inspection. Self-interest forces him to make use of it. Self-interest likewise demands he shall not receive meats or byproducts from any small packer either for export or other use unless that small packer is also official (under government inspection.) This government inspection thus becomes an important adjunct of the packer business from two view points. It puts the stamp of legitimacy and honesty the packer’s product, and so is to him a necessity, and to the public as an assurance against diseased meats.”

Folks we have to wake up… The government can’t keep you safe from anything and is ALWAYS used by big business as a tool to suppress competition, enact monopoly privileges, and otherwise loot the public to no end. It should be blatantly obvious to anyone with half a brain that as government has grown, so has the wealth disparity. There is a clear reason for this. Government creates the wealth disparity by granting monopoly privileges to corporations through contracts and patents, by subsidizing industry and bailing them out, and by enacting regulations which serve as barriers to entry.

Go TO: Toxin

The Escape of Dieter Dengler USN

2010-09-18T00:40:00.002+08:00

On February 1, 1966, the day after the carrier began flying missions from Yankee Station, Lieutenant, J.G. Dengler launched from Ranger with three other aircraft on an interdiction mission against a truck convoy that had been reported in North Vietnam. Thunderstorms forced the flight to divert to their secondary target, a road intersection located west of the Mu Gia Pass in Laos. At the time, U.S. air operations in Laos were classified "secret." Visibility was poor due to smoke from burning fields, and upon rolling in on the target, LTJG Dengler and the remainder of his flight lost sight of one another. Dengler was the last man in and was hit by anti-aircraft fire. He managed to crash-land his Skyraider in Laos. When his squadron mates realized that he had been downed, they remained confident that he would be rescued. Dengler had a reputation from his experiences at the Navy survival school, where he had escaped from the mock-POW camp run by SERE instructors and Marine guards three times. The day after being shot down, Lt. Dengler was seized by Pathet Lao troops. Bound, he was led through several villages. Escaping once he failed to signal a passing aircraft. He was later recaptured while drinking from a spring. In retaliation, he was tortured numerous ways while in captivity.

Except for Duane Martin, who was an Air Force helicopter pilot who had been shot down in North Vietnam nearly a year before, the other prisoners were civilians employed by Air America, a civilian airline owned by the C.I.A. The civilians had been in Pathet Lao hands for over two and a half years when Dengler joined them. The day he arrived in the camp, Dengler advised the other prisoners that he intended to escape and invited them to join him. They advised that he wait until the monsoon season when there would be plenty of water.

While the guards were eating, the group slipped out of their hand and foot restraints and grabbed the guards' unattended weapons, which included M1 rifles, Chinese automatic rifles, an American carbine and at least one submachine gun. Dengler went out first followed by two of the Thais. He went to the guard hut and seized an M1 for himself, and passed two Chinese automatic rifles to the Thais. The guards realized the prisoners had escaped and five of them rushed toward Dengler, who shot at least three with the M1. One of the Thais shot a popular guard in the leg. Dengler and Martin found themselves in a jungle filled with leeches, insects and other creatures that made life miserable. They made their way down a creek and found a river, but when they thought they were on their way to the Mekong, they discovered that they had gone around in a circle. They had spotted several villages but had not been detected. They set up camp in an abandoned village where they found shelter from the nearly incessant rain.

A 2-ship flight of Air Force Skyraiders from the 1st Air Commando Squadron happened to fly up the river where Dengler was. The pilot of the lead plane and the squadron commander spotted a flash of white while making a turn at the river's bend and came back and spotted a man waving something white. The pilot and his wingman contacted rescue forces but were told to ignore the sighting, as no airmen were known to be down in the area. The Air Force pilot persisted and eventually managed to convince the command and control center to dispatch a rescue force. Fearing that Dengler might be a Viet Cong soldier, the helicopter crew restrained him when he was brought aboard. one of the flight crew who was holding him down pulled out a half eaten snake from underneath Dengler's clothing and was so surprised he nearly fell out of the helicopter. See Dengler and Rescue Dawn

Go To: Rescue Dawn [Blu-ray]

My opinion – Candidates

2010-09-18T00:05:00.001+08:00

What does a campaign truly demand of a candidate? To become president or congress member, or even the local dogcatcher you must love talking about yourself: Talk, talk, brag and talk, every day, every evening, on national or on the local television, in the company of newspaper reporters, in every spare moment, and not just for a few days or weeks but for years and years on end. If you don't crave attention, if you don't long for admiration if you don't, and at some level, feel you are God's gift to the American people. Nonetheless in order to become the candidate, each also had to make a series of utterly ruthless decisions, choices that most nice guys would find revolting. Any person who was ever closely connected with any politic candidate is at risk of unpleasant media exposure. No one who works for any candidate has job security, and none can expect any favors. In the meantime, they can put the finishing touches on the office bathroom with a checklist that might rival a roll of toilet paper in length.

USS Forrestal not forgotten

2010-09-17T12:32:00.001+08:00

The grand old lady USS Forrestal was launched 11 December 1954 by Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Co., Newport News, Virginia, , sponsored by Josephine Forrestal, widow of Secretary Forrestal; and commissioned 1 October 1955, Captain R. L. Johnson in command. She was the first American aircraft carrier to be constructed with an angled flight deck, steam catapult, and landing signal lights, as opposed to having them installed after launching.

In succeeding tours of duty in the Mediterranean, the Forrestal visited many ports to "show the flag" and take on board dignitaries and the general public. For military observers she staged underway demonstrations to illustrate her capacity to bring air power to and from the sea in military operations on any scale. She was open for visitors at many ports, as well as taking part in the patrol and training schedule of the 6th Fleet. The grand old lady made history in November 1963 when on Lt. James H. Flatley III and his crew members, Lt. Cmdr. "Smokey" Stovall and Aviation Machinist's Mate 1st Class Ed Brennan, made 21 full-stop landings and takeoffs in a C-130 Hercules aboard the ship.

The USS Forrestal was decommissioned 11 September 1993 at Pier 6E in Philadelphia, and was stricken from the Naval Vessel Register the same day. After being stricken, she was heavily stripped to support the rest of the carrier fleet. On June 15, 2010 the Forrestal departed Naval Station Newport in Newport, Rhode Island, where she had been stored since 1998, under tow for the inactive ship storage facility in Philadelphia. The Forrestal is now tied up at Pier 4 in Philadelphia, next to the USS John F. Kennedy, and it is expected the ship will remain there until the Navy decides her final disposition which will consist of either being sold for scrap or sunk as a target and/or an artificial reef.
Sailors to the End : The Deadly Fire on the USS Forrestal and the Heroes Who Fought It

Where Did President Roosevelt Go?

2010-09-17T00:04:00.004+08:00

Since I was born in the depths of the Great Depression and today’s recession reminds me of my early years…which brings me to my parents, Ed and Maybelle. Since they knew ‘hard times’ both my Mom and Dad were New Deal Franklin D. Roosevelt Democrats. Yes I remember the days when my shoe soles had holes, a nickel ice cream cone was a big treat and there never seem to be enough money in the family money glass jar. In those days there was no such thing as a mid-day snack attack. Of we knew that President Herbert Hoover and his political party were for the rich Wall Street bankers, while President Roosevelt was for the common man, the working man... at least that’s what my Dad had told me. There was no such thing as special interest or focus groups... or computers, TVs, MTV, etc. My folks and their friends all idolized the president. And no one knew our president then was wheel chaired bound. As a young boy I listened faithfully along with my parents to the president’s fireside chats as he cheered on Americans to better times whether it was in the depths depression or in dark days of wartime. What wisdom this man had! In my young mind he seemed to know all the right answers and it seemed as if he was talking directly to my family but of course he wasn’t. I now recall no one much liked his wife Eleanor since was too socialist for Americans taste. Besides she was a busybody and wore silly looking hats. Plus she talked strange to most and had socialist ideas! With a charisma president encouraging them on everyone rolled up their shirt sleeves to win a war and to build a prosperous and a confident America. Since I was in childcare as my folks worked for the navy I can remember the unforgettable “Rosy the Riveter” doing her job - building tanks, airplanes and ships while her men folks were far away from America’s shores. When I was a young second grader I did my part by collecting scrap metal for the war effort and saving my nickels and dimes to buy War Bonds... and metal drives to build the tanks, ships...

Of course there was no war on drugs – only air warrens that come by in the darkness of the night and then inform my Dad to pull down the air raid curtains which were very heavy and made of the color green and sometimes the neighbor’s dog trashing his Victory Garden and boy there was hell to pay. Furious and shaking his head my old man somehow gotten his hands on a one shoot BB Gun and lay in wait for wandering dog. I now can recall he’d have me as his lookout as he hid from sight from our trespasser, when I spotted this ‘god damn dog’ as my old man called him like an alien spaceship flew down from the sky my Dad would take aim with his trusty BB Gun and shot the dog in the rear. Guys remember this was long before TV and the radio entertainers were either drafted or entertaining the troops. But sometimes we would gather around the family radio and listen to Tokyo Rose...Looking back 60 some years I guess it was our entertainment. Then, no TV to watch or hot pizza to be delivered – can you imagine that! Oh before I forget to tell you the BB Gun had been given to me but I was never allowed to use it because it might put out my eye.

Since the Great Depression had passed and the war was on it’s last breath and then the day came when I was nine years old seeing the American flag flying at half-mast. Looking up to the 48 stars flag I wondered why this was so; as I had always seen our flag flying at the very top. Upon reaching home both my parents were sadden, my Mom in tears and my Dad who had gotten the day off from work at the Mare Island Navy Shipyard, he was wondering what the country would do without the common man President Roosevelt. The good news was by then we were out of the hard times, we were winning the war against our enemies and better times were ahead. And by the way who was this new fellow Harry S. Truman? There was a happy ending coming soon – the war would be over!

Amazon Fall Blowout Sale

2010-09-16T18:54:00.000+08:00

As we head into the holiday season, we wanted to offer you a special promotion on Amazon. Check out Amazon's Fall Blowout Sale.

Small and Priced Right

2010-09-16T12:10:00.005+08:00

A Tata Motors’ Nano car stands displayed at the company's plant in Pimpri, 160 km (100 miles) southeast of Mumbai, India, Wednesday, March 25, 2009. Engineers stripped away everything they could on Tata Nano, the $2,000 automobile designed for poor Indians, which goes on sale in India next month. The car is 10.2 feet (3.1 meters) long, 4.9 feet (1.5 meters) wide, and 5.6 feet (1.7 meters) high, and gets an impressive 55.5 miles to the gallon (23.6 kilometers per liter). Tata Motors says it emits 12 percent less carbon dioxide than two-wheelers made in India. Source: Yahoo.News

Castro discusses “Nuclear Winter”

2010-09-16T12:00:00.005+08:00

HAVANA – Fidel Castro has participated in a scientific conference with a

U.S.

researcher, discussing the threat of a "nuclear winter." Alan Robock, a professor in the Department of Environmental Studies at Rutgers University, spoke with Castro during a Tuesday meeting in Havana. The pair talked about the catastrophic effects on global climate change that could be unleashed by nuclear war, state media said. Castro has spent months warning of a nuclear war pitting the U.S. and Israel against Iran and could also involve an attack on North Korea. He said fighting should have begun in July but has since said he may have been premature. Source: Yahoo News

Iowa Class Battleship -

2010-09-16T00:39:00.001+08:00

The Iowa Class Battleships were 4 battleships built between 1939 and 1942. These ships were ordered by the United States Government in 1939 to be the escort vessels for the fast carrier task forces that would operate and control the bulk of the Pacific during World War II. The original order was placed for 6 ships but, in a gigantic waste of money, metal, and man hours, two were canceled before completion and scrapped. These Goliath blow-your-ass-out-of-the-water mean machines were commissioned on February 22, 1943 where they began an impressive career through the end of the century, to retire from service in March of 2006. While we could not locate an exact price for the ship construction at the time, a time when Coca-Cola cost a nickel, bread a penny, and your uncle walked 5 miles uphill both ways to school, Consumerist estimates that with inflation factored in, each vessel would have cost approximately 1.8 billion dollars. That makes the total cost for the four ships roughly in the neighborhood of 7.4 billion dollars

Police: Naked Woman Stole Taxi

2010-09-16T00:06:00.001+08:00

Covington cops say alcohol and drugs may have been a factor in a modern-day version of "Lady Godiva."

According to a Covington Police spokesman, a cab driver picked up 29-year-old Jennifer Gille from a local motel, after she asked to be taken to an address off Harrison Avenue.

Covington Police Capt. Jack West said that upon arrival at the address, the woman refused to exit the cab. Further complicating matters, the cab driver said the woman "began acting crazy," taking off her clothing and demanding the cab driver take her to Michigan.

Instead of driving her to The Wolverine State, investigators say the cabbie drove her to the Covington Police department to try to get help removing her from the vehicle. When the driver went inside to get the assistance of police, cops say the naked woman jumped into the front seat of the cab and sped off. Police say she didn't get far; cops located the parked cab in a parking lot about a block from the police station, where the woman was again in the back seat, naked.

Officers say after they forcibly removed the naked woman from the cab, they "pulled her dress on so she would be properly dressed," according to the police report. To read more please go HERE.

The Worst Environmental Disaster in U.S. History

2010-09-16T00:03:00.001+08:00

The BP spill was called the worst environmental disaster in U.S. history. President Obama called it the worst. And I am not singing Yankee Doodle Dandy in Portuguese either. Of course, everything is unparalleled to the folks in Washington. How embarrassing that it has become hard to find the oil. Google says “where is the oil?” I guess probably the powers to be in Washington are frequently yelling the same thing in four-letter words.

So are we left with the anti-scientific precautionary theory – dreamt up by the very same guys who caused this disaster? Isn't that an appropriate question? We don’t know what could happen so it must be worse than anything we could think of. I’m sure the American people patience is wearing pretty thin when it comes to the politicians, chair warmers quirks.

Will the Gulf ever return to “normal?” No, I don’t think so since in the environment there is no normal. Ecology is the story of constant change. What scientists have found is those microorganisms are eating up the spilled oil. These organisms are naturally present in the Gulf because oil has been naturally leaking into the Gulf since the creation of the Gulf in deep geological time. They quickly multiplied as their food supply increased. I can bet their population will crash when it is gone. In the meantime, they will do their job at the bottom of the food chain. And sure enough I’ll bet that a couple of years from now people will discover that the fish and shrimp population has increased. Why? More food. The oil spill has essentially fertilized those waters. When the effect is over, there will be complaints.

BREAKING NEWS - Obama Tells Students to Work Hard, Dream Big

2010-09-15T17:46:00.000+08:00

Delivering a tough-love message, President Barack Obama told students in a back-to-school speech that their job was to show up on time, pay attention in class, do their homework, study and stay out of trouble. (Sept. 14) HOME RUN for the President!

AmazonWireless Sale is Now Extended

2010-09-15T15:22:00.000+08:00

What is AmazonWireless?

Amazon is excited to announce the extension of the AmazonWireless Associate offer! Now through December 31, 2010. Customers can shop for phones by carrier, phone feature, price, color, and brand.

BREAKING NEWS - Boeing tearing down historic Plant 2

2010-09-15T10:31:00.001+08:00

In this March 31, 1944 photo from the Boeing Co. archive, a B-17G Flying Fortress airplane is shown at Boeing's historic 'Plant 2' in Seattle, with camouflage used to hide the building from aerial attacks during World War II visible on the roof. After giving birth to some of the world's most significant aircraft, the outdated facility is scheduled to be torn down in the fall of 2010.

SEATTLE – The dilapidated factory that helped make Seattle a high-tech town is being demolished after 75 years, a casualty of time, technology and tails that grew too tall.

Boeing's Plant 2, a sprawling but long outdated building between Boeing Field and south Seattle's Duwamish River, gave birth to some of the world's most significant aircraft. It was the site of Seattle's biggest disappearing act and a home to "Rosie the Riveter," women who built thousands of World War 2 planes.

It's also where the mostly unskilled workers of a fish-and-timber town first learned the art of assembling aluminum, engines and electronics into sophisticated flying machines.

As the danger of global conflict grew, Boeing opened the factory in 1936 to build the prototype for the B-17 Flying Fortress. Eventually, nearly 13,000 of the bombers would be built, half of them at Plant 2.

Later in the war, it was where Boeing developed the B-29, a revolutionary plane with advanced radios, radars and computer-aided machine guns that dropped the atom bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. (Source: Yahoo. News) To read article go to HERE

Plant 2 will soon be gone but it’s product still lives in restored B17's, so long as one plane still flies or remains on display plant 2 will live. GOOD JOB BOEING!

Rebuild a Jeep under 4 minutes

2010-09-15T00:33:00.001+08:00

These gentlemen are Canadian Army, part of the 3 Area Support Group Technical Services Division, and apparently had a lot of time on their hands while at Canadian Forces Base Gagetown in New Brunswick. This performance was part of an army services parade in Halifax. Impressive...I wouldn't have believed it if I didn't see it for myself.

YOUR MONEY - $800,000 of stimulus funds goes to teaching African's how to wash their man junk

2010-09-15T00:08:00.003+08:00

(NIH), spent $823,200 of economic stimulus funds in 2009 on a study by a UCLA research team to teach uncircumcised African men how to wash their genitals after having sex. The genitalia-washing program is part of a larger $12-million UCLA study examining how to better encourage Africans to undergo voluntary HIV testing and counseling – however, only the penis-washing study received money from the 2009 economic stimulus law. The washing portion of the study is set to end in 2011.

“NIH Announces the Availability of Recovery Act Funds for Competitive Revision Applications,” the grant abstract states. “We propose to evaluate the feasibility of a post-coital genital hygiene study among men unwilling to be circumcised in Orange Farm, South Africa.” Because AIDS researchers have been unsuccessful in convincing most adult African men to undergo circumcision, the UCLA study proposes to determine whether researchers can develop an after-sex genitalia-washing regimen that they can then convince uncircumcised African men to follow.

The National Institute of Mental Health spent money on finding ways how to teach men from another nation to clean their stuff? I can't believe for ten seconds that there are still humans on Earth that don't know how to wash and need to be taught... and if there is... we could probably stand to be without them. Ridiculous!

Amazon's Fall Blowout Sale

2010-09-14T18:43:00.000+08:00

Start the fall season off right with great deals on thousands of items featured during Amazon’s Fall Blowout Sale. The event will include sale prices on a great selection of items, including electronics, sporting goods, clothing, home furnishings, and more... Please click HERE

Is President Clinton a freeman?

2010-09-14T16:09:00.005+08:00

I can't help myself and here I go again. “Was Bill Clinton is a freemason? Twenty years ago, this kind of claim was difficult to check. These days, you ask Google and you discover that Clinton was a member of a Masonic youth movement, the Order of DeMolay, and, indeed, is a member of the DeMolay Hall of Fame, although he apparently never joined the adult organization.

So, might Clinton be a secret adult Mason? Given the estimated 50 million dollars the Republicans spent poking through Clinton’s life during the so-called Whitewater affair of the early 1990s, this strikes me as unlikely. Nor is it really intelligible. In the USA as in Germany, the Masons aren’t a secret organization. Some members wear lapel pins on holiday in the States – and a Masonic Website will take you to the sites of the various Grand Lodges of the USA. Is it any more interesting that Clinton joined a Masonic youth group than if he’d joined the youth movement of – say – the Elks, another of these American fraternal organizations? Who really cares? Besides I'd rather be doing fun Stuff!

Man Arrested After Bragging About 14-Year-Old Girlfriend on Facebook

2010-09-14T08:19:00.001+08:00

(Sept. 13) -- There's always a risk of oversharing on Facebook -- especially when you're a 27-year-old man attempting to illegally marry a 14-year-old girl. Police arrested Robert Nickson Jr. of Delaware County, Pa., earlier this week after learning of his alleged sexual relationship with a teenager through the couple's Facebook postings. Nickson and the underage girl haven't exactly been hiding their relationship, according to cops. They have both uploaded Facebook profile photos showing them together, and posted status updates noting they are "in love" and "engaged," police told the Philadelphia Daily News. They also allegedly sent text messages saying they were afraid the law might get in the way of their relationship. Court documents quoted in the paper reveal that the couple knew that the age of consent in Pennsylvania is 16, but they "didn't think they would get caught."

Nickson was charged with statutory rape, aggravated indecent assault and corruption of a minor after the girl told law enforcement officials that she had sex with the suspect at least four times in the apartment he shares with his father. ♫ Who let the dogs out? Who? Who? Who? Who? Who? ♫

Small arms are the REAL weapons of mass destruction

2010-09-14T00:04:00.002+08:00

A journey into the small arms trade...

It’s obvious we don't need all these guns. But I can't come up with a solution as to how the weapons' trade could even be touched. But it would have to include some sort of legislation, and it should be impossible to buy any gun which isn't to be used for hunting or competitions. In Canada there are just as many guns per person as in USA, due to the US gun culture; USA has way more deaths connected to such firearms. It should also be laws forcing people who have guns to have them in locked safes with the bolt in another locked place. And people should rather learn defensive marshal arts if they are so paranoid that they feel a need to own guns for protection. That's a few ideas, and I guess it won't be popular among most people on this board.

We can wish all we want that guns never existed, though that won't change the reality. As long as there is one group arming themselves, then we too have to arm ourselves to stay relevant and obstruct any kind of attempts at dominating and taken advantage of us. That is just the cold, hard reality…

As long as humans exist, war and violence will follow. If there were no guns, people would resort to spears, swords, rocks, and their bare hands. People fight for a number of reasons, such as resources, land, religion, etc. I respect the anti-war movement, but unless these organizations examine the causes of war rather than blame the weapons being used in them, they won't be able to stop the violence. Not all wars can be stopped, but the total number can be reduced.

Florida Pastor and Muslims

2010-09-13T17:10:00.003+08:00

NEW YORK – Nine years of denouncing terrorism, of praying side-by-side with Jews and Christians, of insisting "I'm American, too." None of it could stop a season of hate against Muslims that made for an especially fraught Sept. 11. Now, Muslims are asking why their efforts to be accepted in the United States have been so easily thwarted. "We have nothing to apologize for, we have nothing to fear, we have nothing to be ashamed of, we have nothing that we're guilty of — but we need to be out there and we need to express this," said Imam Mohammed Ibn Faqih in a sermon at the Islamic Institute of Orange County in Anaheim, Calif., the day before the 9/11 anniversary. There is no simple way for American Muslims to move forward. Yahoo.News

It appears to me that Pastor Terry Jones, of Gainesville, Florida, could be just a genuine nut job, no point in even giving him the attention he wants as that could help fuel his evangelical feelings even more. He is a bad example to other Christians…I feel this man is giving Christians a bad image. And with the current political climate in the United States getting more and more hateful and extreme... Just maybe the Rev. Jones could be elected president of the US of A.

Video of San Bruno fire after gas pipe explosion in California

2010-09-13T00:30:00.002+08:00

At least one person has died and around 30 are injured after a massive fire in a residential district near San Francisco. It's believed to have been caused by a gas pipe explosion. Residents heard a loud blast before dozens of homes were engulfed. Firefighters are trying to contain the 20-metre high flames and stop them from spreading to nearby buildings.

The Day My IBM Laptop Died

2010-09-13T00:23:00.003+08:00

Sometimes I think I am going through a mid-life crisis… but I am too old. However, I am sure my trusty laptop computer has just gone it’s through a mid-life crisis. Horrified last Sunday morning my IBM tiny laptop died. Just died on the spot! The only word I could murmur was SHIT… here we go again. I tried to restart it but nothing happened. I know it seems ridiculous to people who don't have a computer but it’s like having a trusting pet dog is the best way and only I can describe it. Besides I missed browsing the Internet for the straight scoop or looking for Filipino star filled gossip. Now you guys who don’t live in a third world country it is no easy task to repair or find a replacement part for your computer - believe me. To me it seemed as if IBM had planned the whole thing. It is absurd not being able to run to the local corner computer store and having it fixed on the spot – of course not. As the result in the meantime my laptop laid cold stone dead until today. I know my mind is clutter with useless information and at times doesn’t make much sense. God, I need my computer I thought out loud and I knew I would never make any headway unless I went to Cebu some 50 km away to have the dead laptop repaired by my friend who happens to be the best computer technician in this part of the Philippines. Upon arriving at his business located downtown this morning around 11 Am and then with one glance like some ancient magician he performed his bag of magic tricks. An unexplained miracle happened before my eyes, my computer was booted up and purring like a happy cat. Rick (Isn’t it an easy name to remember?) knew the problem before I could speak - the electric connection transformer had been burnt out because the poor quality control by IBM and our local electrical system spikes in it’s even present electric currency.

Clinton: Plan to Burn Quran 'disgraceful Act'

2010-09-12T16:51:00.002+08:00

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton last Tuesday called a Florida church's threat to burn copies of the Muslim holy book to mark the ninth anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks a "disrespectful, disgraceful act." SORRY FOR BEING LATE FOR THIS VIDEO TO YOU ALL.

Dreams and Beyond and Politicians

2010-09-12T16:09:00.006+08:00

I awoke this morning from a interesting dream, during the night. The dream is either so amazing or absurd that I can't help myself and here I go again. I'm going to write about my dream... I dreamt that America’s super action hero and governor Arnold Schwarzenegger had became the president and his vice president was no other then ex-governor the sometimes zany Sarah Palin. She said to the president setting next to her, “Mr. President…Mr. President.” There was no responds as Arnold looked at the window on the aircraft they both were aboard flying to Asia. The vice president cleared her throat and said, “I recently read a report that said a study of thousands of men and women conducted over a period of like 25 years that showed a direct relationship between meat consumption and increased mortality rates…” taking breather she continued, “shorter life spans.” By now she had his full attention… “I was just wondering do you still have those very big thick hamburgers.” He stopped staring out of Air Force One’s window. It was totally ridiculous. And besides his stomach was upset from the hamburger he just polished off. Since the plane ferrying the president and sometimes wacky vice president to Asia passed over southern Alaska. "I can see Russia from my house!" she exclaims seeing that they were flying over Anchorage. America’s super action star turned to her and then said, "Looking everywhere but can't see Russia from here.” Suddenly the flight attendant came up to the pissed off president and the smiling vice president and said, “Tea anyone?”

Is there any way we can call off the election??

2010-09-12T11:08:00.002+08:00

A Day when the World stopped on 911

2010-09-12T00:04:00.007+08:00

Since I’m 74 years old and always seem to be flooded with memories, back to the day I was horrified as I watched on my television leaving me with many sleepless nights ahead. And giving me an uncomfortable feeling, “just how safe are we?” I asked myself. On that morning, 19 al-Qaeda terrorists hijacked four commercial passenger jet airliners. Today is the 9th Anniversary of the Jihadist Attacks on America and the murder of almost 3,000 innocent people in the name of Allah. The hijackers intentionally crashed two of the airliners into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City, killing everyone on board and so many others working in the buildings. Both buildings collapsed within two hours, destroying nearby buildings and damaging others… hundreds were killed instantly by the impact, while the rest were trapped and died after the towers collapsed.

Yes I was horrified watching two hijacked planes plow straight into both buildings. I uttered to myself, “Those damn God sons-of-bitches!” then the tears flowed down my face as I witnessed innocent people jump out of the two burning tall buildings… and then hearing their bodies’ crash to the ground. I could heard on my TV extremely loud and incredibly sounds as their bodies smashed into the ground. And then the clock seemed to stop to catch the sight as the Twin Towers crashed to the ground leaving both rescuers and survivors to flee for their lives. Leaving only a cloud of hazardous lung dust and the disappearance where once two proud buildings had stood. To me it was like the Universe had stood still. The world had gone off on a tangent!

Then like some evil movie the hijackers crashed a third airliner into the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, just outside Washington, D.C.

Now guys, I know my mind is clutter with useless information and at times doesn’t make much sense. But on that particular morning I didn’t feel like Conan the Barbarian with a big S taped to my chest but I was pissed-off and furious at those who could carry out such awful hideous terrorist attacks on America and her citizens.

Later I learnt that during the hijacking of the airplanes, the hijackers used weapons to stab and kill aircraft pilots, flight attendants and passengers. Reports from phone callers from the planes indicated that knives were used by the hijackers to stab attendants and in at least one case, a passenger, during two of the hijackings. Some passengers were able to make phone calls using the cabin air phones service and mobile phones, and give details, including that several hijackers were aboard each plane, that mace or other form of noxious chemical spray, such as tear gas or pepper spray was used, and that some people aboard had been stabbed.

On United Airlines Flight 93, black box recordings revealed that crew and passengers attempted to seize control of the plane from the hijackers after learning through phone calls that similarly hijacked planes had been crashed into buildings that morning. According to the transcript of Flight 93's recorder, one of the hijackers gave the order to roll the plane once it became evident that they would lose control of the plane to the passengers. Soon afterward, the aircraft crashed into a field near Shanksville in Stonycreek Township, Somerset County, Pennsylvania. What a brave and unselfish act these very courageous these Americans were!

The United States responded to the attacks by launching the “War on Terror” it invaded Afghanistan to depose the Taliban, who had harbored al-Qaeda terrorists. A war that goes on to this very day.

Remember

2010-09-11T09:36:00.002+08:00

Remains of World Trade Center

The remains of the World Trade Center stands amid the debris following the terrorist attack on the building in New York, Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2001.… (AP Photo/Alex Fuchs)

China's UN diplomat in drunken rant against Americans

2010-09-11T00:15:00.007+08:00

The outburst by Sha Zukang at a retreat for top UN officials in the Austrian ski resort of Alpbach left senior UN officials cringing in embarrassment as others tried to convince him to put down the microphone, according to Washington-based Foreign Policy magazine.

"I know you never liked me Mr. Secretary-General – well, I never liked you, either," said Mr Sha as Mr Ban looked on, smiling and nodding awkwardly during the 15-minute toast attended by the UN's top brass.

Mr Sha, who was appointed the UN undersecretary general for Economic and Social Affairs in 2007, also made no secret of his fractious relationship with Mr Ban, although did say he'd grown to respect the South Korean.

"You've been trying to get rid of me," said 62-year-old Mr Sha according to the senior UN official present, "You can fire me anytime, you can fire me today." Later in his impromptu speech Mr Sha turned to an American colleague, singling out Bob Orr, from the executive office of the secretary-general. "I really don't like him: he's an American and I really don't like Americans," he said.

It is not the first time that Mr Sha, a career diplomat, has let the mask of diplomacy slip. In a BBC interview in 2006 he was goaded into a furious, shrieking attack on American criticisms of China's rapidly growing defense budget. "It is much better for [America] to shut up, keep quiet. Are you the number one? Is it true that the US has almost 50 per cent of the world's military budget?" Source: YahooNews

Nothing like stepping into a hot frying pan! What an ASSWIPE! Please take your tom-foolery elsewhere. And then hold the mirror up to your lunacy. Need one more reason to dislike this guy. Yeah, didn't think so. Say goodnight, Mr. Sha....

A Visit to the White House

2010-09-11T00:08:00.003+08:00

Turning the pages of time back when America was innocent when I fulfilled a longtime dream of mine. A time when my only worry was what was for chow that evening. Bored seeing New York City or even New Jersey, Paul Huff and I decided to drive from where we were stationed then, McGuire AFB to Washington, DC. The city of government where carved stone buildings that reflect architectural styles neoclassical, Georgian, gothic, the White House, Thomas Jefferson Memorial, the US Capitol and many other well-known structures. After an eight hour drive we reached our destination, as we drove closer to DC back in the Spring of 1956 I could see the rows of Japanese cherry blossom trees. Not surprising as two young sailors we weren’t interested in the performing arts and music but really keyed up to take in the sights and if we were very lucky spare time with any girls who might spend time with young over sexed sailors. Somehow the girls avoided us like the plague. Please remember this was time before video tapes, freeways, fast food restaurants, speedy TV dinners, or big government, big corporations, Space Needle, Space Shuttle… but when gasoline cost 0.25 cents per gallon, and you could have a decent hamburger cost less than one dollar, which included a coke and french fries… no chaos in our lives.

Finding a modest hotel room without a bathroom we checked in for the night… after a good night’s sleep we were ready to sightsee our country’s capitol. Jumping out of bed I knew it was going to be a very long day. No Internet to browse – if you’d had ask someone then they’d probably answered then, “What the hell is an Internet!” After having breakfast Paul and I went to the White House – it was then the home of President Eisenhower. Yes, as I recall now he was a bit hard headed nevertheless, his two terms were peaceful, and the country was prosperous. Why? Ike let the country run itself… Nothing like stepping into a hot frying pan! He was no dummy. As we approached the White House it was an scene to remember now, there were no fences, gates, metal detectors, no silent alarms, no guys we didn’t find guards like our now action heroes Arnold Schwarzenegger or Jackie Chan guarding the president. As set here 50 some years later I am sure the president was totally safe. Besides it was the weekend and the US government was closed for the weekend. The word infrastructure was not invented yet.

US Marines take back pirate-held ship off Somalia

2010-09-10T09:12:00.000+08:00

The U.S. Navy, Marines assigned to the U.S. Marine Corps 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit, Maritime Raid Force approach the MagellanStar during a board and seizure operation Thursday, Sept. 9, 2010, in the Gulf of Aden off the Somalia coast. Marine commandos stormed the pirate-held cargo ship Thursday, reclaiming control and taking nine prisoners without firing a shot in the first such boarding raid by the international anti-piracy flotilla, U.S. Navy officials said. (Source: YahooNews)
US Marines take back pirate-held ship

Fidel where have you been?

2010-09-10T09:08:00.003+08:00

Castro said, "The Cuban model doesn't even work for us any more..."

Talk about the understatement of the century.

Didn’t he lead the transformation of Cuba into a one-party socialist republic? Guys, I know that’s a shocker, it takes my breath away… maybe he’s going through male menopause? But let’s a few breathes and bring everything into focus.

What has happened to the hate America Fidel Castro? Is this man getting deathbed religion? Is he afraid to meet God with so much blood on his hands? In Cuba, where the state controls 90 percent of the economy, human civil rights and whatever the government can dream up – the fiasco of the day. Yes we agree, Comandante en Jefe steered the government since January 1959. And now he suggests it’s NOT working anymore.

What is happening here? Up is down, black is white, and suddenly communism doesn't even work for Cuba? As if Cuba is special and it should work for them, but refuses?

If Castro really wanted to blow our minds, he and his revolution have inflicted upon his country’s men and women all these years. He wouldn't cloak the truth of a Communist FAILURE with the words even for us. He'd offer the actual truth and not some made-for-the-communist-party-line after school special bullshit. The people of Cuba pay dearly for every free item they receive at Castro's hand.

The only "free" thing I expect from my government is freedom. Period!

I have to wonder if Cubans are as surprised as Castro – and I wonder if Castro is as surprised as he moans and grumbles.

Political Fable Tales

2010-09-09T15:26:00.002+08:00

Politically weakened but refusing to bend, President Barack Obama insisted Wednesday that Bush-era tax cuts be cut off for the wealthiest Americans, joining battle with Republicans — and some fellow Democrats — just two months before bruising midterm elections.

Singling out House GOP leader John Boehner in his home state, Obama delivered a searing attack on Republicans for advocating "the same philosophy that led to this mess in the first place: cut more taxes for millionaires and cut more rules for corporations."

Like any slick lawyer President Barack Obama boldly proclaims, "The buck stops here!" But, whenever his policies are criticized, he acts as if the buck stopped with George W. Bush.

The smooth talking party line that we are likely to be hearing from now until the November elections is that Obama "inherited" the big federal budget deficits and that he has to "clean up the mess" left in the economy by the Republicans. This may convince those who want to be convinced, but it will not stand up under scrutiny.

No President of the United States can create either a budget deficit or a budget surplus. All spending bills originate in the House of Representatives and all taxes are voted into law by Congress.

Democrats controlled both houses of Congress before Barack Obama became president. The deficit he inherited was created by the Congressional Democrats, including himself, Senator Barack Obama, and who did totally nothing to oppose the runaway spending. He was one of the biggest of the big spenders.

The last time the federal government had a budget surplus Bill Clinton was president, so it was called "the Clinton surplus." But Republicans controlled the House of Representatives, where all spending bills originate, for the first time in 40 years. It was also the first budget surplus in more than a quarter of a century.

A Tribute to our Fallen Soldiers In Iraq

2010-09-09T11:25:00.000+08:00

BREAKING NEWS - DeLay trial to stay in Travis County

2010-09-09T00:15:00.005+08:00

A judge has denied former U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay's request to have his money laundering trial moved from Austin.

Tom DeLay Goes to Trial

2010-09-09T00:09:00.003+08:00

Former U.S. House Majority Leader, Tom DeLay (R) of Texas, is scheduled to stand trial in Austin, Texas. The charge states he illegally sent $190,000 in corporate money through the Republican National Committee to help elect GOP Texas legislative candidates in 2002.

DeLay is asking the court for a change of venue, from Austin to his home County where he served as Congressman. The former congressman said, "I doubt I can get a fair trial here in Travis County. I think I'm more hated in Travis County than any other politician." He called Austin the "last bastion of liberalism" in the Republican-leaning state. Mr. DeLay's request raises serious issues if the court honors his request for a change of venue to a place where jurors will be more favorable to him on political grounds.

These are tough questions in a society that revolves around political warfare between the two major Parties, and friends and associates are chosen or rejected by many on the basis of what Party they belong to or sympathize with. Isn't justice supposed to be blind to such issues? Whether or not it is supposed to be, he clearly believes justice is not blind to politics and wants to take advantage of that.

The ex-congressman request assumes that Americans in Austin and his home County are prejudiced along political lines and he cannot, therefore get a fair trial in Austin, and can received favored treatment in his conservative home county, Fort Bend, North of Houston. Is DeLay's assumption correct? And if so, what does that say about America, and its people, and its judicial and justice systems?

Most people would agree that a murderer's or rapist's politics would have no meaning to a jury hearing the facts of the defendant's case in most places in America. Why should it be different in a case of money laundering for Tom DeLay? Is there a threshold of severity of the crime that has to be reached before politics no longer becomes a factor?

If a judge should take such considerations into account, then what is to stop a judge from allowing their own politics to determine just where DeLay is to be tried? Is that just? Judges routinely instruct the jury that their decision is to be based exclusively on the facts of the case presented to them. Don't judges have the same responsibility in determining where the case is to be tried? Should politics even enter into the decision of a judge as to where the case should be tried?

There is nothing perfect about America's judicial and justice system, but, it is the best system ever devised, even with its warts and flaws. If in a judge's opinion, a defendant will not likely receive a fair and impartial decision by the jurors in one location, that judge has an obligation to consider another place where that defendant can be more assured of a fair and impartial decision by the jurors.

I don’t believe his request is not to be tried where he is likely to receive a fair and impartial decision. His request is to be tried where he is likely to receive a biased and politically prejudiced decision in his favor; his home County where voters overwhelming elected him, again and again. Like many politicians, this ex-congressman is not concerned with fairness or justice. He is concerned with twisting events to his own personal advantage and saving his skin. He does not seek fairness in his trial as sought by the founding principles of our nation. He seeks partiality and bias from our justice system, in his favor.

BREAKING NEWS - Troops Endangered By Quran Burning Says White House

2010-09-08T15:36:00.005+08:00

The White House says an American church's threat to burn copies of the Muslim holy book could endanger U.S. troops serving overseas. (Sept. 7)

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Battle on Haifa Street

2010-09-08T14:49:00.002+08:00

American infantry and snipers from the U.S. Army's 3rd Stryker Brigade team up with Iraqi soldiers from the 6th Iraqi Army Division during a firefight on Baghdad's notorious Haifa Street, January 2007.

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Burning Quran Endangers Troops

2010-09-08T14:29:00.001+08:00

The top American and NATO commander in Afghanistan warned last Tuesday an American church's threat to burn copies of the Muslim holy book could endanger U.S. troops in the country and Americans worldwide.

As far as free speech goes, yes it’s protected, as it should be, but is it wise to simply use it as an excuse to be patently offensive towards others? Many imagine it is making a political statement of some kind to our own government to followers of Islam, but in my own opinion all it is saying is that people who aren’t going to have to bear the responsibility of their own words and actions find some virtue in being patently offensive and insensitive, even if it leads to violence.

The problem is that it's going to be a very small group of Americans participating in this event, just like it’s a very small group of Muslims who turn to extremism to make political statements. I find this act that the participants are labeling as a "Protest" to be basically abhorrent and insane, yet there is no mechanism that allows me to prevent it, any more than there is a mechanism for me to prevent the small group of Muslim extremists from committing their own abhorrent and insane acts.

So what we see on both sides of the coin is how the perverse and angry actions of a few then paint and tarnish the whole. That's the most troubling thing, is that the most extreme elements in both cultures then get to set the agenda through action to prompt reaction, instead of the moderate and rational elements. It seems to illustrate to me that all religious extremists are dangerous.

Now when you get to the very fact that Christianity preaches charity and these particular congregants would rather spend money on a book they see no value in and have no respect for, and to burn it, rather than taking that same money to provide charity to the needy in their own community and congregation tends to speak volumes about just how they interpret their own gospels. They will hide behind the American Flag, twisted versions of Jesus and God, the Constitution and the right to free speech, but it really is just the politics of hate and fear no matter what kind of ribbon you wrap it in or bow you stick on top. GIVE ME A BREAK! And they might consider crawling around in the dirt as they’re being shoot at mumbling, "PLEASE God I don’t want to be here."

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Culture Shock

2010-09-08T11:24:00.001+08:00

This is a series of comments of things that have come to the point of really giving me unease feeling about the American society today. But before you reject me as just another angry “old fart” doing a lot of complaining about the modern world that seemed to passed me by, you might want to consider that a great many good things were done for this country through the hard work and sacrifice of many millions of people who are now old and more than a "little restlessness discontent." At least some of us had intelligence, common sense, and a long series of educational experiences, so it’s quite possible that some of what I have say could have value.

Yes, I'm 74, who started my working career at age of 9 or 10 helping my Dad with his trailer house building business in Salem, Oregon - this was serious to my little family. Why? It put food on our dinner table every night. I worked through high school, and every summer vacation, painting houses, setting bowling pins at the neighborhood bowling alley, as quite a few did in those days. The Korean War was going on back then I joined the Army National Guard to stand guard against the Red Threat. I didn’t need a jaunt to Europe to find myself, I joined the Navy to travel and see the world. Most already knew a lot about who we were, and what we wanted to do. Although I didn’t vote for John Kennedy - I loved his inaugural address and cried like an Irishman that I am when he fell to an assassin’s bullet.

I'm fed up with people who are walking hair triggers, waiting eagerly for someone to say something that they can choose to interpret as a slight against their particular in-group, whether denoted by race, gender, religion, or any other characteristic. Our national motto is "E Pluribus Unum." This is how our Founders finally got 13 different and often fractious colonies to come together, in the idea that it is smarter and more effective to concentrate on those things which bind us together rather than those which separate us.

I'm fed up with immigrants who come to our country, but not to really become Americans and assimilate to some reasonable extent to the society as it existed here before they came. Instead, some insist on not only maintaining every bit of the culture and customs of their birth land, but also that this society must tolerate, support, and honor those customs no matter how foreign they are to us. In effect, they demand the right to transport their way of life here, and their true loyalties are to that way of life, that homeland, while they live a better life here than they ever could there, by taking full advantage of every facet of our society. All who came here in the past found it possible to maintain their cultures within the framework of our laws and social contract; you can find Italian, Greek, Polish, German, Cuban, Vietnamese, Filipino, etc, in neighborhoods scattered throughout our cities. In these places the people celebrate their native holidays, food, and social customs, without any conflict with the rest of society, and without any demands for special treatment. Anyone who has a heart they keep closed against America should go and live where their heart really belongs.

I'm fed up above all with the creation and growth of the all powerful, faceless, arbitrary bureaucracy. I’m sure everyone has a story or two of absolute frustration trying to deal with some federal, state, or local bureau, and how eventually they had to accept their own powerlessness and just endure the situation.

After all has been said and done, my great-grandfather come to America, through the system of the time, filling out the paperwork, sweltering in steerage, standing in line at Ellis Island and answering all the questions. His first job - he worked building railroads across the dusty plains of Texas. And he probably didn’t understand the American society at first, and was certainly subject to all the prejudices and discrimination that most Irishmen immigrants faced; yet he worked hard and prospered on his homestead in Kansas, and gave his children and grandchildren a much better life, and many more opportunities, than they would of had in Ireland. Here’s to Archy Brown my Irish great-grandfather!

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HAPPY UNEMPLOYMENT DAY, USA!

2010-09-07T15:08:00.003+08:00

Another New Obama Stimulus Plan

2010-09-07T09:47:00.001+08:00

Seeking to boost the sluggish economy, President Barack Obama used a Labor Day appearance in Milwaukee to announce he will ask his pals in Congress for another $50 billion to kick off a new infrastructure plan designed to expand and renew the nation’s roads, railways and runways. Using tough tones, he assailed Republicans as the party of “No, we can’t” – a play off his campaign slogan “Yes we can” and then accused his critics of talking about him like a “dog.” But he said he’d keep fighting “every single day, every single hour, every single minute” to turn the economy around. But those same Republicans said they had no interest in Obama’s new plan – a sign that it would face an uphill battle in Congress. In his speech to the Milwaukee Area Labor Council, Obama laid out the goals of his new program: Rebuild 150,000 miles of roads; construct and maintain 4,000 miles of rail, enough to go coast to coast; and restore 150 miles of runways, while putting in a next generation air traffic control system to reduce travel time and delays.

Obama and Democrats are under pressure to show voters they are trying to do something about the sluggish economy, with unemployment still hovering around 10 percent. Their options are limited, but some economists have said that another infrastructure plan… along the lines of the first stimulus package of more than $800 billion — would be a way to infuse cash into the economy to stimulate hiring.

Sometimes the most appropriate thing to do is nothing. The system already has better solutions without the Federal big bucks. All the cash and energy will just keep lots of consultants in business and make lots of politicians happy. It is a full employment plan for them and for the guys who make those signs bragging about our stimulus dollars at work. This is the problem with most Obama plans. They sound good until you actually look at the results. Like any good lawyer he is a good talker and he is smart enough to take credit up front - before the results come in. He should stick to talk. That is what he is good at. Maybe life will be better for everybody when he goes back to talking for a living after the 2012 elections.

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Off on a Tangent

2010-09-07T00:06:00.001+08:00

Have you guys ever seen a whole bunch of monkeys masturbating? Sometimes I think to myself why did move to third world country and retire. I think I need my head examined as all the madness races though my mind. It’s like having chicken pox and you can’t reach the itch to scratch or a contagious disease. And at other times I’d like to be my Dad who used to throw rocks at cars parked in front of his house. For the past few months inevitably we seem to be experiencing brownouts almost daily without any good reason that can be explained. THE ELECTRIC COMPANY SCREWS ITS CUSTOMERS ONCE AGAIN. I’m thinking to myself - bullshit here we go again! I clench my jaw… the ridiculous Electric Company strikes again. I live in fear every day for a life without air conditioning four to eight hours. Without the air con running and bathing me in cool air... most days I spend the entire time hot and instantly become sweaty and grumpy, ah yes sometimes neurotic. And suddenly I go off on a wild tangent as I become more difficult to live with and my ever patience wife who is filled with fortitude will tilt her head just like Samuel L. Jackson and then she gives me her laser stare just like her Mother "Mama Vera." Without any doubt she instills me that old feeling, "I'm trouble in trouble." In the middle of all the chaos she has my full attention. And then suddenly I hear a click and once again I feel the rush of cold air bathing my body. I'm backing to my fumbling Barney Fife self again.

Today after breakfast my headed off in the direction of Cebu the cloud of exhaust to play BINGO for a few hectic hours. She and her sister Neng-Neng just love to play BINGO both are like two serious stock brokers when they arrive at the SM mall’s Bingo Parlor. I don’t know what I’d do if she ever won the big jackpot. I think her favorite pastime is chatting with her friends from the four corners of the world Facebook. Ah yes, at times she’s chatting with old friends living now in the States, Hong Kong, Australia or somewhere in between. Ah yes, I forgot to say Canada. Ah yes once again, she loves hearing the fogs singing at bedtime every night. Me, I happy they’re eating that damn mosquitoes.

I spend much of the day yesterday adding and updating my sponsor and merchant list for the simple reason - my family has food to eat. My wife Beng and our son Junior give me the strength and motivation to continue working my butt off.

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Jimmy Buffett Margaritaville

2010-09-06T07:04:00.000+08:00

HAPPY LABOR DAY TO YOU ALL

My image of my banker

2010-09-06T06:24:00.002+08:00

Somedays I try to imagine people on the other end of the phone. Pictured here is my banker.
In my dreams!

Enjoying the Labor Day Weekend?

2010-09-06T00:30:00.001+08:00

It is Labor Day Weekend here in the US and I think we should celebrate by understanding the origins of the holiday. It was made a Federal holiday in 1894 by President Grover Cleveland and passed unanimously by Congress in 6 days. Why such a record breaking time? There were fears of general unrest about the deaths of 13 individual workers and the wounding of 57 others by the US Military and Federal Marshals over the Pullman Strike as well as the then questionable Constitutionality of the President sending in Federal forces to break up a strike.

The Pullman Strike was a refusal to move trains pulling Pullman Railcars in sympathy for the workers in the company owned town of Pullman, Illinois who had their wages cut due to the slow down in purchases a result of the Gold Panic of 1893 plus they still had 12 hour workdays and no decrease in rent of their homes in the company owned town. As an aside, you may understand this a little better if you consider the lyrics of Tennessee Ernie Ford's song Sixteen Tons.

Many of the workers that built the Pullman Railcars were members of the American Railway Union, which led to the switch operator’s refusal to switch the trains, effectively shutting down the entire West Coast traffic. The threat was then made that if any punishment were to come to the switch operators, the entire ARU would walk.

Look at the people today that have to work the holiday. With the exception of necessary services of fire, police and medical care; the majority of those that have to work are the low paid that could not afford the day off without pay. The majority of those that could afford an unpaid day off are the ones that receive it as a paid holiday.

It should be pointed out the ones being honored by the Labor Day Holiday are the ones that could most likely afford to arm themselves and create the civil unrest that both President Cleveland and the Congress at the time feared could happen.

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Clogged Pipes

2010-09-05T17:23:00.001+08:00

The big problem with rapidly increasing government spending is that it cannot be done. Think of it like a plumber fixing a plumbing problem in your house. The poor guy can only push so much through the pipes. The system is essentially wasteful. Smart folks have been trying to make government less wasteful for centuries and the current American system is actually very good in relation to past or world standards. But friction is inherent in any government system because we have empowered our representatives to make rules. Change take time and people respond to changing conditions in unexpected ways. The fundamental failure of much of congress ignores drive and time lags. And to think they really think they can manage the closely manage the economy. That is why government’s job is to create the conditions that allow the people to make choices that create prosperity, and why it is not the government’s job to manage prosperity. If you ask the government to do it for you, it has to go through the sausage making and what comes out is not always what you think you asked for.

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Did I say Gridlock?

2010-09-05T09:21:00.000+08:00

For 6 months after Iraqis had a successful election, Americans have watched as ordinary Iraqis waited and waited with increasing anguish because the leaders they voted for can’t get together to form a government. And America’s knowledgeable whiz kids discuss this situation with alarm. This is baffling. U.S. has been in an economic situation that is worse than gridlock for a lot more than 6 months and the experts don’t seem to care.

Practically everyone agrees this is a good thing. If only the Shiite and the Sunni leaders would stop thinking only of themselves and get together to work with each other to build their country, it would be great for Iraq and for us.

Just wonderful! How come we don't follow this same logic in the U.S.? Under the present dysfunctional congressional system that is worse than any gridlock I have ever seen, has produced less in 2 years – since the times of FDR.

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It Could Be Worst

2010-09-05T01:03:00.004+08:00

President Obama’s fall from grace is unbelievable. If Obama becomes a one-term President that will be a good sign that the voting public is wiser than voters in the days of FDR. During our 1930s depression the people were so afraid to vote for change that FDR was able to hang in for near four terms in office. Now, we are looking at a double dip and a jobless recovery and people want this administration gone. And, by the time 2012 elections roll around I believe they will want Obama gone more so than they wanted Bush gone.

I have to wonder what the Republican’s will do to improve their lot should they return to power in 2012. Can they take back the White House on the swan song of lower taxes and limited government? If they do and inherit this failed government - Okay let’s stop right here and determine what this failed government is. If the majority of the American people don’t want Democrats or Republicans returned to power then what do you call it? The economic situation is part of the government failure, I do believe. Add in some minor underpinning such as debt or legislation to go no where, plus more illegals than you can shake a stick at, and drug wars busting out all over, which I don’t believe I could find anyone who would argue otherwise.

FDR was able to shake the depression with the advent of WWII. It might be a long shot but the Republicans could declare war on the drug cartels. If fought like the Iraq/Afghan wars it could last longer than WWII giving political cover for a good number of years. They could drag it beyond Mexico to Venezuela, Columbia and points South, even to Africa.

It seems believable that war could be brought to the drug cartels in the same venue that we took on the Taliban and Al-Qaeda. It doesn’t have to be against the foreign governments. War against terror should fit the drug cartels nicely.

I could see the Republicans setting up a number of Arpaio type tent city jails and take the war to the cartels. I see nothing to gain re recovery from the great recession unless some protectionist's measures are taken. I can’t see that happening under the Republicans. But, they very well could score some points with the voting public by taking on the cartels as terrorist organizations.

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Bye Bye Recovery Summer

2010-09-04T21:38:00.000+08:00

Here it is almost Labor Day, the end of the ‘Recovery Summer’ that President Obama promised. How did that all work out? From June-August, we lost 283,000 jobs. Recovery? Just maybe the consequence of recovery is wrong or maybe Obama will next promise “recovery winter” or should we just assume that he meant next summer? Wait long enough and the economy will recover. If you perform an Indian “rain dance” long enough, eventually it rains and the wizard can claim his magic did it. Whenever this happens, we will sure give Mr. Obama the credit he deserves.

To me it seems Mr. Obama takes credit up front and then shifting the blame elsewhere when the expected results fail to materialize. His advisers promised that unemployment would not exceed 8% with the stimulus, but could go up to above 9% if nothing was done. And then when actual unemployment hangs around at almost 10% for a year, now they claim they never said that the stimulus would keep it low and besides it was Bush’s fault.

The economy was sick in 2008; Stimulants and stabilization were applied. And they were needed. Yet before they had a chance to work Mr. Obama and his political cronies pumped in more stimulus. Of course this was more a political move than an economic one. The new stimulus didn’t perform as promised. Now the guys setting in the White House want to pump in more stimulants. Maybe it is time to let the patient recover and stop with the artificial stimulating.

Mr. President, no more short-term stimulants are needed, nor will they do any good except to provide some political cover for the chair warmers in congress. It might be better to create the long-term conditions of prosperity – create stability and predictability in laws and regulations - and let the people get back to business.

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Senator Barbara Boxer: in her own words

2010-09-04T08:41:00.000+08:00

This woman is such a pathetic, insular, self-important, unthinking politician.. This is why we are having these kinds of unending problems, now. This type of pompous fool who cares more about her title than the American people; who thinks it's cute to disrespect the military which risks their necks for our freedoms everyday. Boxer MUST be booted out this election. And sometimes, a politician can't seem to recognize when it is better to apologize for a remark, and simply stop digging a deeper hole. See, for example, Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) during a debate earlier this week.

Gaddafi: Europe will 'turn black' unless EU pays Libya

2010-09-04T00:11:00.001+08:00

Col Muammar Gaddafi has warned that Europe runs the risk of turning “black” unless the EU pays Libya at least €5 billion (£4.1 billion) a year to block the arrival of illegal immigrants from Africa.His remarks, made during a controversial three day visit to Italy, were condemned as “unacceptable blackmail” by Italian MPs, who likened the demand to the protection money that mafia gangs demand from businesses. Speaking at a ceremony in Rome while standing next to Silvio Berlusconi, Italy’s prime minister, Col Gaddafi, 67, said that unless his request for money was met, Europe would otherwise become “another Africa” as a result of the “advance of millions of immigrants.” Go To: millions of immigrants

Here we go. If true it sounds like blackmail to me. To tell the truth I wasn't aware that he had his hands on the valve of the flow of illegals into the EU. But I have wonder why the US made a Sadam/Hitler out of him and then all of the sudden he was an friend again. He has always a little nuts.

Joe DiMaggio where have you gone?

2010-09-04T00:07:00.002+08:00

I remember in my boyhood I collected baseball cards of Joe DiMaggio and all the baseball heroes of that day. I carefully stored my treasure collection in a shoe box under my bed. As we readied to move from Salem, Oregon to Seattle, Washington and then one day after school I discovered it was gone! It was no longer under my bed's hiding place! My treasure collection had been given to the son of a neighbor. Oh, Joe DiMaggio where have you gone?

Krugman: Let congress pass another 800 billion stimulus package

2010-09-03T17:56:00.003+08:00

Guys, Stimulus did not fail it helped keep the economy afloat for the past two years. Now that money has run out, and everything is falling back into the pit it was in. I don't think there is any other solution other than to do another bailout. Yes, the bottom will fall out eventually, but it’s so far gone now that we can't fix it. So all we can do is last as long as possible. The next bailout might last us another 2 years. Either way, the economy is doomed it’s just a matter of when. They played with the numbers for the last two years? And manipulated the stock market and did all sorts of tricks with the FED to make believe in a “recovery” when it is absolute bullshit from the start. And yes the bailouts did too fail, and miserably failed…

Gaddafi tells Italian women to convert

2010-09-03T17:24:00.000+08:00

Libya's Muammar Gaddafi provoked outrage in Italy on Monday after trying to convert hundreds of Italian women to Islam. Gaddafi was in Italy as part of a two-day visit. Some 700 young women, drafted in by a hostess agency, were invited to two separate events in Rome to listen to the Libyan leader's religious views.

Each was reportedly paid 70 euros. There are unconfirmed reports that three of the guests had undergone "spontaneuous conversions." The move has led to an angry reaction in Italy's press and people on the streets of Rome were also displeased. ''It's not as though we take Gaddafi that seriously. He comes from a particular culture that treats women in this way. It's pathetic,'' one woman said.

The End Of The World

2010-09-03T07:53:00.000+08:00

Mass Extinction Threat

2010-09-03T07:50:00.001+08:00

Mass extinctions have served as huge reset buttons that dramatically changed the diversity of species found in oceans all over the world, according to a comprehensive study of fossil records. The findings suggest humans will live in a very different future if they drive animals to extinction, because the loss of each species can alter entire ecosystems. Some scientists have speculated that effects of humans - from hunting to climate change - are fueling another great mass extinction. A few go so far as to say we are entering a new geologic epoch, leaving the 10,000-year-old Holocene Epoch behind and entering the Anthropocene Epoch, marked by major changes to global temperatures and ocean chemistry, increased sediment erosion, and changes in biology that range from altered flowering times to shifts in migration patterns of birds and mammals and potential die-offs of tiny organisms that support the entire marine food chain.

Scientists had once thought species diversity could help buffer a group of animals from such die-offs, either keeping them from heading toward extinction or helping them to bounce back. But having many diverse species also proved no guarantee of future success for any one group of animals, given that mass extinctions more or less wiped the slate clean, according to studies such as the latest one. (Source: Yahoo News)

GO TO: Mass Extinction

Blackwater Leader Flees the United States

2010-09-03T00:19:00.002+08:00

In August, to no one’s surprise - no one except for maybe the two people and ah yes, the founder of the largest U.S. State Department private security contractor moved himself and his family to the United Arab Emirates, court papers pointed out recently.

Erik Prince -- whose private military business Xe Services LLC, is for sale - moved to Abu Dhabi after a series of civil lawsuits, plus faces criminal charges and congressional investigations singled out the company, formerly known as Blackwater Worldwide, and its former executives and other personnel.

Prince, 41, said in court papers he relocated to Abu Dhabi last week in time for his children to begin school there Sunday. The United Arab Emirates has no extradition treaty with the United States. However, Mr. Prince I've heard that kind of tension is good for make-up sex.

Prince, a former member of the U.S. Navy Seals elite principal special operations force, hopes to focus on African and Middle Eastern government security work, current and former colleagues told The New York Times, which first reported the move. Prince is also bitter about the legal Xe Services and a Prince lawyer had no immediate comment on his move. His scenario more than is fair to a single human being the script started running through his head involuntarily I WILL NEVER GET OVER THIS. I WILL NEVER GET OVER THIS. I WILL NEVER GET OVER THIS.

Prince faces no criminal charges, but five former top company executives are indicted on federal weapons, conspiracy and obstruction charges. Here, Erik is a little map of the immediate area so you’ll know where you’re at. Just look at the map and you’ll be fine but stay the hell out Afghanistan and Iraq.

Two guards who worked for a Blackwater-related company face murder charges in a 2009 shooting in Afghanistan, and the U.S. Justice Department hopes to revive its prosecution of five former Blackwater guards accused of killing 17 Iraqi civilians in 2007, the Times said. I wonder how many Iraqis said, “No guys, that's not some new ice cream truck. Hurry inside and hide."

Xe has earned more than $1 billion doing security work for the U.S. government in Iraq and Afghanistan since 2001. With scrutiny and destructive publicity his company received Prince put the company up for sale in June.

Blackwater on Trial: Murders, drugs & alcohol

2010-09-03T00:18:00.003+08:00

Philistines Strike Again

2010-09-02T08:53:00.000+08:00

The litigation currently going on in the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy case reveals just how uninformed the risk managers at Lehman were on the eve of the firm blowing up. Bloomberg says

"Lehman’s books were in such a mess that I don’t think they knew where they were,” Elizabeth James, a director of Barclays’s futures business, testified in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan. James worked on Barclays’s purchase of Lehman’s brokerage during the 2008 financial crisis.

And the dog ate my homework - all bullshit!

Breaking News at Discovery Channel HQ

2010-09-02T08:29:00.001+08:00

WASHINGTON - One hostage has been taken by a man with a handgun at the Discovery Channel headquarters building in suburban Washington, Montgomery County police told ABC television Wednesday.

Police Corporal Dan Friz said the building in Silver Spring, Maryland, was on lockdown but he could not confirm gunshots were fired as a Discovery employee had told ABC television. Go To: James Jay Lee

Tribute Song - 10,000 Miles Away

2010-09-02T00:14:00.001+08:00

Politicians Truth or Consequences

2010-09-02T00:12:00.002+08:00

This morning I awoke feeling like Conan the Barbarian with a big S taped to my chest then I realized I was trapped in a 74 year old body… after several months being absent from this blog I’m back. I have retooled the forum to meet my opinions and hopefully your insights. So please leave your comments, whether they be good – the bad – and so-so. Originally I thought my blog was going to be another strange and extraordinary bizarre blog. But in the meantime the dim-witted members of congress who represent us pissed me off! It’s like having Gomer Pyle as my neighbor and then reminding me and saying, “Surprise, surprise, surprise!” Life continues on with their stupid of surprises… and I know I’m not Barney Fife. Always to my amazement they will never give us a straight answer here but they're good giving us a beautiful song and dance. Sometimes I feel as if the Universe is screwing with me… I wander why THEY still give out the same bullshit, I am totally mystified. I could raise my index finger to my mouth and that popping nose as it pops out.

Something I’ve observer over the years that most politicians are a slimy, slippery bunch, aren’t they? No wonder no one trusts them. Most are a master warding off the truth even though it is obvious to everyone; and they probably think they are telling it like it is. It must be difficult deluding themselves every day that they are actually on the people’s side. I’m 74 years old and through the years I’ve seen politicians come to bad ends. I’ve seen them become drunks, I’ve seen them become crooked, have sex scandals, have money scandals, abuse of their power – one after another they’ll eventually hit the dust. Some are caught and then become embattled and made uncomfortable by their confessions that they fathered a child from an extramarital affair, while always stressed “family values.”

It sounds like a broken record I wish the politicians in Washington would get their heads out of they’re asses and help people would really need it.

No Anonymity in the future of the INTERNET says Google CEO

2010-09-01T10:15:00.002+08:00

Schmidt's message at the Techonomy Conference was that anonymity is a dangerous thing and governments will demand an end to it. No anonymity is the future of web in the opinion of Google's CEO Eric Schmidt. He said many creepy things about privacy at the Techonomy Conference. The focus of the conference was how technology is changing and can change society. Schmidt's message was that anonymity is a dangerous thing and governments will demand an end to it. GO TO Techonomy Conference

Google CEO is cleverly passing the blame on Government while pushing for no anonymity on the interwebs. Who has to gain more from no anonymity? It's companies like Google who uses personal information to horde ads on your face. I don't like where this is going. I love how he tries to make the distinction between anonymity and privacy. I'm very certain that they will be the ones to decide which is which and what it entails and not us the average internet users.

Furthermore Eric Schmidt says privacy isn't important, and if you want to keep something private, "maybe you shouldn't be doing it in the first place" in other words, innocent people have nothing to hide. I hate that type of thinking! Someone tell this idiot that nobody likes a nosy neighbor.

Greed Is Good from the Wall Street movuie

2010-09-01T00:18:00.000+08:00

Wall Street Philistines

2010-09-01T00:08:00.004+08:00

"Financiers, like bank robbers do not create wealth. They merely distribute it. While the mob may idolize holdup men in good times, in the bad times it lynches them. What they will do to the new money men when their blood is up, we wait eagerly to find out." Mobs, Messiahs and Markets

As our economy hurtles towards its meeting with destiny, the political class seeks to assign blame on their enemies for this Greater Depression. The Republicans would like you to believe that Bill Clinton, Robert Rubin, Chris Dodd, and Barney Frank and their Community Reinvest Act caused the collapse of our financial system. Democrats want you to believe that George Bush and his band of unregulated free market capitalists created a financial disaster of epic proportions. The truth is that America has been captured by a financial class that makes no distinction between parties.

These Philistines have sucked the life out of a once productive nation by raping and pillaging with impunity while enriching only them.

It seems that Lloyd Blankfein, the CEO of Goldman Sachs, may have been overstating the case in saying his firm is doing God's work. With his $67.9 million compensation in 2007 and payment of $20.2 billion to his co-conspirators, Blankfein appears to be a proverbial camel trying to pass through the eye of a needle. This compensation was paid in the year before the financial collapse brought on by the criminal actions of Lloyd and his fellow henchmen. After having his firm bailed out by the American middle class taxpayer at the behest of fellow Goldman alumni Hank Paulson, Lloyd practiced his version of austerity by cutting compensation for his flock to only $16.2 billion ($500,000 per employee) in 2009. I'm all for people making as much money as they can for doing a good job. But, I ask you - What benefits have Goldman Sachs, the other Wall Street banks, and hedge funds provided for America?

Never have so few, done so little, and made so much, while screwing so many. In 2005, the top 25 fund managers "earned" $9 billion, or an average of $360 million. One year after a financial collapse caused by the financial innovations peddled by Wall Street, the top 25 “hedge” fund managers paid themselves $25 billion or an average of $1 billion a piece. For some perspective, there were 7 million unemployed Americans in 2006. Today there are 14.6 million unemployed Americans. While the country plunges deeper into Depression, the Philistines pick up the pace of their plundering and looting of the remaining wealth of the nation. Bill Bonner and Lila Rajiva pointed out a basic truth in 2007, before the financial collapse.

From 1980 onward, the top one percent wealthiest Americans have progressively taken home a greater and greater percentage of all income. It peaked at 22% in 1999 at the height of the internet scam. Wall Street peddled IPOs of worthless companies to delusional investors and siphoned off billions in fees and profits. The rich cut back on their embezzling of our national wealth for a year and then resumed despoiling our economic system by taking advantage of the Federal Reserve created housing boom.

By 2007, the top one percent once again was taking home 24 percent of the national income, just as they did in 1928. When the wealth of the country is captured by a small group of ruling elite through fraudulent means, collapse and crisis becomes imminent. We have experienced the collapse, while the crisis deepens.

Capitalism is supposed to be an economic system in which the means of production and distribution are privately owned and operated for profit; decisions regarding supply, demand, price, distribution, and investments are not made by the government; Profit is distributed to owners who invest in businesses, and wages are paid to workers employed by businesses.

The American economy is in no way a free market capitalistic system. It has become an oligarchic consumer capitalist society that is manipulated, in a deliberate and coordinated way, on a very large scale, through mass-marketing techniques, to the advantage of Wall Street and mega-corporations.

The Depression that currently is engulfing the nation was 30 years in the making. The criminal Wall Street financiers are the modern day John Dilingers. The truth is that the poor have no chance of joining the rich. The game is rigged. The poor have admired the rich for decades. But, hard times have arrived.

Source: CONSPIRACY PLANET

Tribute to Fallen Marines

2010-08-31T14:46:00.001+08:00

Man fires pepper spray on protesters

2010-08-31T14:30:00.001+08:00

What exactly is one's belief that leads them to a funeral to protest? How many other funerals were that day? What of those families and their right to return their loved one to the earth. Protest is a fashion statement these days. Our troops follow orders, bad or otherwise. There is nothing that can justify a protest at a funeral. Those people should have been arrested for disturbing the peace.

I can't believe this ! I looked around as I am amazed at what people will do these days. I am glad from what I can tell no kids were hurt. I see the pros and cons from each side because of what this church stands for. I am not all for wars but I think that the dying soldiers deserve some more dignity. Hopefully everyone fully recovers from this incident and hopefully the "church members" think twice about making noise where there should be silence and respect. Very bad situation all the way around.
Go To Man fires pepper spray on protesters

The sixth man to walk on the Moon comes clean

2010-08-31T01:44:00.001+08:00

A national hero and the sixth man to walk on the moon said that your government and others have been in contact with ET’s for over 67 years. That’s an incredible statement. It was buried on page seven the next day in the NY Post…” Commercial Airline Pilot, Jim Courant. Our government has learned how to keep “Secrets” successfully for a very long time. Go to man who walked on the Moon comes clean

Amazon Books to Read

2010-08-31T00:33:00.003+08:00

Fidel Castro Comes Clean

2010-08-31T00:16:00.001+08:00

HAVANA, Cuba — Fidel Castro says al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden is a bought-and-paid-for CIA agent who always popped up when former President George W Bush needed to scare the world, arguing that documents recently posted on the Internet prove it. Go To bin Laden is a CIA agent

As far as I can tell, Osama bin Laden has been a CIA asset for quite some time. He was one of the 'generals' in the Afghan/Russian resistance back in the 70s and at that time Afghanistan resistance was receiving weaponry from western arms dealers, along with advice and intelligence. If that incident was a micro USA/USSR border skirmish Osama bin Laden would have been consulting with US/NATO advisors. Just like our supplying/funding the border conflict in Iraq/Iran.

It's quite disgusting how our supposed 'role models' of global diplomacy, trust, and unity have become the back alley boys in a corrupt infrastructure packed in influentially negative world policy of profit and greed. As for Castro, he has survived many assassination attempts to silence him. I'm guessing he knows a great deal of geo-political corruption, and he wishes to clean out his closet before his final days.

Charlie Wilson's War

2010-08-30T17:57:00.000+08:00

Iraq War Footage

2010-08-30T10:11:00.000+08:00

Iraq War Fraud Grosses $100 Million More

2010-08-30T09:22:00.002+08:00

Even though another $100 million is "missing" in so-called "reconstruction" funds, it may never be known how much Paul Bremer's Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) actually skimmed in Iraq War Fraud. An audit by Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction Stewart Bowen found that officers "cannot properly account for or support $96.6 million in cash and receipts." "There was no assurance that fraud, waste, and abuse did not occur in the management and administration of cash assets," the May 2005 audit concludes. The latest black hole of Iraq War fraud is the Rapid Reconstruction Response Program (R3P) which let the Coalition Provisional Authority, headed by Paul Bremer, dispense cash with little or no oversight. Indeed the audit concluded that RSP officials did not "properly document transfers of cash," or reconcile the amount disbursed and the amount received by its agents. These monies were part of "Development Fund of Iraq," (DFI), entrusted to the CPA by the United Nations.

I find it disturbing to see videos of Donald Rumsfield shaking hands with Saddam Hussein 20 years ago. It just goes to show you how you cannot trust anybody. If that can happen then anything is possible. It just goes to show how the leaders of our countries today that make out they are there to care and to protect us could also change and in the future become our enemies. I believe that the whole American Government is a fuck up. Democrats and Republicans don't seem to know what they are doing. America has been in debt for well over 20 years. Of course, I am not a conservative nor am I a liberal. I just want to preserve our constitutional rights.

Video Games from Amazon

2010-08-30T01:41:00.001+08:00