Costco is advertising a computer with an Intel Q8200 processor running at 2.33 GHz, 4gig of memory and a 1TB hard drive, all for $499.99.
I don't know about you, but I can't seem to gey my head around the idea of a machine with 1 Terrabyte of mass storage on my desktop.
Seems like yesterday I was getting my first hard drive - a Seagate ST-225 with 25Megs of storage. It cost almost $800.00 just for the drive. I also had 640K ram at a cost of around $700.00.
I remember Bill Gates telling averybody the reason he maxed out his software for ram at 640K... Nobody will ever need more than 640K ram.
They were saying the same thing about a 25Meg hard drive... Who would ever need it?
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Incredible Photos
A volcano on an uninhabited Russian island popped its cork recently, just as the space station zoomed overhead and took some amazing photos of the event.
A sample below:
left click to enlarge
You can easily see two pyroclastic flows, one on the upper right of the cone, the other on the lower right... lighter in color.
Previous flows can be seen settling on and under the water.
A sample below:
left click to enlargeYou can easily see two pyroclastic flows, one on the upper right of the cone, the other on the lower right... lighter in color.
Previous flows can be seen settling on and under the water.
The Sun also Rises...
... And with it comes the light of day. But some folks still can't see the forest for the trees.
The below photo is of a self-proclaimed homosexual after he mouthed off and got his lights punched out. He calls himself Perez Hilton, but his real name is Mario Lavandeira. Perhaps hiding behind a pseudonym makes him feel somehow safe from physical retaliation when he gets in somebody's face. Well guess what? Not always.
Looks like it will take another few lumps from other fed-up citizens who also won't tolerate personal verbal insults in public for this mouthy and childish individual to see the light of day, since he apparently wants to continue to be obnoxious and disgusting.
I recall that the fine for public fisticuffs in my once hometown of Santa Fe was $150.00. The satisfaction gained by shutting up this public nuisance would be well worth the money.
Perhaps he should become a United States Senator like Barney Franks. Then the Secret Service would have to protect him, and like fellow openly homosexual Franks, he could then "mouth" off endlessly... at taxpayer expense.
The below photo is of a self-proclaimed homosexual after he mouthed off and got his lights punched out. He calls himself Perez Hilton, but his real name is Mario Lavandeira. Perhaps hiding behind a pseudonym makes him feel somehow safe from physical retaliation when he gets in somebody's face. Well guess what? Not always.
Looks like it will take another few lumps from other fed-up citizens who also won't tolerate personal verbal insults in public for this mouthy and childish individual to see the light of day, since he apparently wants to continue to be obnoxious and disgusting.
I recall that the fine for public fisticuffs in my once hometown of Santa Fe was $150.00. The satisfaction gained by shutting up this public nuisance would be well worth the money.
Perhaps he should become a United States Senator like Barney Franks. Then the Secret Service would have to protect him, and like fellow openly homosexual Franks, he could then "mouth" off endlessly... at taxpayer expense.
Ribbit
Wyoming is receiving $100,000 in taxpayer money for their "Toad Recovery Program".
No, I'm not kidding. Wyoming actually has a toad recovery program, so obviously it's not only the lunatics in Washington that are out of control, Wyoming has a few of it's own to get a rope around.
So whats the deal here? Must be that folks in Wyoming have fewer warts than their neighbors, and have no intention of being labeled as Verruca Vulgaris* Disadvantaged.
*The virus that causes warts.
No, I'm not kidding. Wyoming actually has a toad recovery program, so obviously it's not only the lunatics in Washington that are out of control, Wyoming has a few of it's own to get a rope around.
So whats the deal here? Must be that folks in Wyoming have fewer warts than their neighbors, and have no intention of being labeled as Verruca Vulgaris* Disadvantaged.
*The virus that causes warts.
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Blocked!
Holy cow...
I have another blog called "The Iron Horse", consisting of photographs(my own, drawings(my own), and hundred-year-old railroad postcards from a personal collection I purchased some years back.
It's about as non-political as a blog can get, and it's been blocked by Google!
Turns out it was identified as "Spam". I have followed Google's prompts to request that they do not delete the blog in twenty days as they intend.
Bummer.
I have another blog called "The Iron Horse", consisting of photographs(my own, drawings(my own), and hundred-year-old railroad postcards from a personal collection I purchased some years back.
It's about as non-political as a blog can get, and it's been blocked by Google!
Turns out it was identified as "Spam". I have followed Google's prompts to request that they do not delete the blog in twenty days as they intend.
Bummer.
Saturday, June 20, 2009
What's In A Name
Suspected unconstitutional president Obama, all the news channels - even FOX - refer to the Iranian Ayatollah as the "Supreme Leader".
This Ayatollah, this old man who hates all things modern and western, claims that everything he does and says is divinely directed.
Well. If he's being divinely directed, then he's not the supreme leader. He's just what he appear so be... a religious hardliner with way too much unchallengeable authority.
What we should be calling him is what he really is... a religious dictator.
So why aren't we?
Because Obama calls him "The Supreme Leader", and our fellating national press says whatever he says. The president of the United States - legal or not - constantly refers to the dictator of an enemy state as "The Supreme Leader".
Does that bother you? That our president, who claims to be a Christian... but having known Muslim roots, having been taught in Muslim schools as a child, a man who bows to Muslim authorities, does it bother you that he refers to an Ayatollah as "The Supreme Leader"?
It ought to.
No one in our government should ever refer to this guy as a "Supreme" anything.
Why?
A billion and a half Muslims listen every day to the president of the United States referring to their Ayatollah as "The Supreme Leader". Every time Obama does this, he further empowers them, he re-enforces their attitudes of them being right and us wrong. It strengthens their view that Obama is nothing more than another subordinate and the we - as his subjects - need "correcting".
Obama is just being polite, you say. He's being civil to the head of another nation. Chamberlain treated Hitler with respect... You know how that worked out.
Words do have meaning in the rest of the world and carry consequences.. even if they don't appear to in the United states.
This Ayatollah, this old man who hates all things modern and western, claims that everything he does and says is divinely directed.
Well. If he's being divinely directed, then he's not the supreme leader. He's just what he appear so be... a religious hardliner with way too much unchallengeable authority.
What we should be calling him is what he really is... a religious dictator.
So why aren't we?
Because Obama calls him "The Supreme Leader", and our fellating national press says whatever he says. The president of the United States - legal or not - constantly refers to the dictator of an enemy state as "The Supreme Leader".
Does that bother you? That our president, who claims to be a Christian... but having known Muslim roots, having been taught in Muslim schools as a child, a man who bows to Muslim authorities, does it bother you that he refers to an Ayatollah as "The Supreme Leader"?
It ought to.
No one in our government should ever refer to this guy as a "Supreme" anything.
Why?
A billion and a half Muslims listen every day to the president of the United States referring to their Ayatollah as "The Supreme Leader". Every time Obama does this, he further empowers them, he re-enforces their attitudes of them being right and us wrong. It strengthens their view that Obama is nothing more than another subordinate and the we - as his subjects - need "correcting".
Obama is just being polite, you say. He's being civil to the head of another nation. Chamberlain treated Hitler with respect... You know how that worked out.
Words do have meaning in the rest of the world and carry consequences.. even if they don't appear to in the United states.
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Surface Water On Mars...
... A very long time ago.
A University of Colorado at Boulder research team has discovered the first definitive evidence of shorelines on Mars, an indication of a deep, ancient lake there and a finding with implications for the discovery of past life on the Red Planet.
If Mars had liquid water on its surface in the past, then it had to have an atmosphere at the same time.
Speaking of large meteors, look at the below rendition of Mars produced by the Mars Orbital Laser Altimeter, MOLA. The lower the elevation, the darker the color.
left click to enlarge
That big, deep blue area is a spot where a very large body impacted Mars. It is called Hellas impact basin. It is nearly six miles deep and 1,300 miles across.
It most likely blew away all of the atmosphere that allowed liquid water to remain on the surface. Once the atmosphere was gone, the surface water just evaporated away into space.
That impact would have been incredible to witness. Unfortunately, any life form that did witness this impact did not survive very long, perhaps only seconds.
Better hope nothing that size has us in it's sights.
A University of Colorado at Boulder research team has discovered the first definitive evidence of shorelines on Mars, an indication of a deep, ancient lake there and a finding with implications for the discovery of past life on the Red Planet.
If Mars had liquid water on its surface in the past, then it had to have an atmosphere at the same time.
Planetary scientists think the oldest surfaces on Mars formed during the wet and warm Noachan epoch from about 4.1 billion to 3.7 billion years ago that featured a bombardment of large meteors and extensive flooding. The newly discovered lake is believed to have formed during the Hesperian epoch and postdates the end of the warm and wet period on Mars by 300 million years.Does that mean there could have been an atmosphere and liquid water on Mars for those 300 million years? That's enough time to get a lot of life forms up and running.
Speaking of large meteors, look at the below rendition of Mars produced by the Mars Orbital Laser Altimeter, MOLA. The lower the elevation, the darker the color.
left click to enlargeThat big, deep blue area is a spot where a very large body impacted Mars. It is called Hellas impact basin. It is nearly six miles deep and 1,300 miles across.
It most likely blew away all of the atmosphere that allowed liquid water to remain on the surface. Once the atmosphere was gone, the surface water just evaporated away into space.
That impact would have been incredible to witness. Unfortunately, any life form that did witness this impact did not survive very long, perhaps only seconds.
Better hope nothing that size has us in it's sights.
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
All New Scam
Just got a check for $27.68 in the mail supposedly as my part of a settlement in a case involving the FTC (Federal Trade Commission) against Kenneth and Teresa Taves, and Dennis Rappaport and their businesses J. K.Publications, Inc. KJD Service Corp., Herbal Care, Inc., and "Discreet Bill, Inc".
Hmmm... that "Discreet Bill, Inc." sounds a lot like a porno collection agency. Had I ever used a credit card on a porno website sometime in my past? Not only no, but hell no.
I was supposedly charged on my credit card by "Netfill", or "N-Bill", or "Mid Services corp.", or "Webtel".
The attached letter explains:
There is a website to go to for more info: http://www.ftc.gov/os/caselist/9823616.shtm
So I went, and it contains a bunch of scanned records of a case in 2000 against the above mentioned folks and companies, finding them guilty, fining them millions, and ordering them to not engage in this sort of stuff for ten years.
Guess what? It's been ten years. I had a Colorado address ten years ago, but this "check" came to me, correct name, correct address, correct Zip, here in Texas.
My conclusion... They are up to something again, and are willing to pay anybody $27.00 - apparently with a real check - to get your bank, your bank account number, your bank routing number, and your signature.
Along with a correct name and current address, what could a few professional scammers do with that sort of information?
Hmmm... that "Discreet Bill, Inc." sounds a lot like a porno collection agency. Had I ever used a credit card on a porno website sometime in my past? Not only no, but hell no.
I was supposedly charged on my credit card by "Netfill", or "N-Bill", or "Mid Services corp.", or "Webtel".
The attached letter explains:
The unauthorized charges were incurred by you many years ago, and you may no longer have the credit card that was charged.Oh well of course! No description of the charge, no date of the charge, no identifying the credit card involved. Further I am directed to:
Please cash this check no later than August 10, 2009. After that date , your check could bounce and you could be charged a bank fee.You betcha.
There is a website to go to for more info: http://www.ftc.gov/os/caselist/9823616.shtm
So I went, and it contains a bunch of scanned records of a case in 2000 against the above mentioned folks and companies, finding them guilty, fining them millions, and ordering them to not engage in this sort of stuff for ten years.
Guess what? It's been ten years. I had a Colorado address ten years ago, but this "check" came to me, correct name, correct address, correct Zip, here in Texas.
My conclusion... They are up to something again, and are willing to pay anybody $27.00 - apparently with a real check - to get your bank, your bank account number, your bank routing number, and your signature.
Along with a correct name and current address, what could a few professional scammers do with that sort of information?
Monday, June 15, 2009
Biden Admits Guesswork
Biden tells "Meet the Press" that "everyone guessed wrong" on the impact of the stimulus, economy was worse off than anyone thought.
"everyone guessed wrong". Trillions of dollars thrown away on guesses.
When you are up to your neck in a cesspool, saying "I told you so" has little value... When you realize you're about to be in over your head.
"everyone guessed wrong". Trillions of dollars thrown away on guesses.
When you are up to your neck in a cesspool, saying "I told you so" has little value... When you realize you're about to be in over your head.
Sunday, June 14, 2009
The Long Slide Downward...
... is accelerating.
Once a powerhouse of industry, Michigan is now the poster child for the federal governments disastrous trade policies, the wholesale giving away of our industries to foreign competitors, and the bribe-taking habits of our esteemed Congress and its temple monkeys who fellate business tycoons on a daily basis.
Jobs, businesses and industries go away... tax base collapses.
One more result: Gravel roads.
It always amazes me to repeatedly see how those those bribe-grasping temple monkeys in Washington could not see how giving away millions and millions of jobs and how allowing thousands and thousands of American factories and industries to collapse would result in anything other than the economic upheaval we are witnessing.
Obama and Congress just sold Crysler to Fiat and the Union bosses. Who will they sell Chevy to? What does it take to wake Americans up?
This recent "recovery" of the stock market? Don't let that fool you. Our collapsing eeconomy will ultimately take its legs out completely.
LANSING, Mich. (AP) - Some Michigan counties have turned a few once-paved rural roads back to gravel to save money.Another one of those "unanticipated consequences" the government is so famous for not seeing. See where this is happening? Michigan.
More than 20 of the state's 83 counties have reverted deteriorating paved roads to gravel in the last few years, according to the County Road Association of Michigan. The counties are struggling with their budgets because tax revenues have declined in the lingering recession.
Once a powerhouse of industry, Michigan is now the poster child for the federal governments disastrous trade policies, the wholesale giving away of our industries to foreign competitors, and the bribe-taking habits of our esteemed Congress and its temple monkeys who fellate business tycoons on a daily basis.
Jobs, businesses and industries go away... tax base collapses.
One more result: Gravel roads.
It always amazes me to repeatedly see how those those bribe-grasping temple monkeys in Washington could not see how giving away millions and millions of jobs and how allowing thousands and thousands of American factories and industries to collapse would result in anything other than the economic upheaval we are witnessing.
Obama and Congress just sold Crysler to Fiat and the Union bosses. Who will they sell Chevy to? What does it take to wake Americans up?
This recent "recovery" of the stock market? Don't let that fool you. Our collapsing eeconomy will ultimately take its legs out completely.
Saturday, June 13, 2009
Typical Federal Government Solution
June 12 (Bloomberg) -- Health-care overhaul legislation being drafted by House Democrats will include $600 billion in tax increases and $400 billion in cuts to Medicare and Medicaid, Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles Rangel said.Oh well hell yes... Making our health care more affordable... by switching more of the cost directly to the taxpayer.
But you shouldn't mind... you still have a few bucks left over at the end of the month, don't you?
OK, be kind to your less fortunate neighbors, that obese broad toting around that half-gallon diet drink, the burnt-out druggie that couldn't afford new needles, that sick illegal loaded with those exotic South American diseases... them. Be nice to them and fork over whats left to the feds.
Whether you want to or not, Uncle is going to make sure you do.
The Israeli Solution, Or A Foot In The Door
Dozens of US cities may have entire neighbourhoods bulldozed as part of drastic "shrink to survive" proposals being considered by the Obama administration to tackle economic decline.
Sounds great, right? Bulldoze all those slums, all those abandoned factories and all those neighborhoods full of empty sub-prime homes. Turn them into beautiful park-like green belts full of natures wonderful creatures, with cobblestone paths leading from one idyllic viewpoint to the next. Blues skies, peppered with white, puffy, happy clouds, bluebirds singing everywhere. Happy, wooden-shod, ruddy-cheeked peasants dotting the landscape, watering, trimming, gathering flowers for your table.
No more rust belt industrial eyesores. No more barrios or hoods full of minorities peddling drugs to our blue-eyed and blond-haired innocent progeny. No more streets piled high with garbage and dog poo.
Once they start bulldozing, Where will they stop? In Israel, they bulldoze houses endlessly because the wrong people live in them.
The beautiful people, living in their walled-off neighborhoods; the Jews, living in their walled-off cities; the environmentalists, living in their green dream world; The college professors, living in their Ivory Towers; they must all love this idea.
Speaking of Ivory Towers, did you know we have a "Shrinking Cities in a Global Perspective programme" at the University of California, Berkeley?
Berkeley... Who would have guessed... The epicenter of America's crackpots.
This is Obama's solution for an economy torpedoed by a stupid federal government and it's insane trade theories and unworkable policies? Bulldoze until whatever left looks like progress and prosperity? What about all those less-than-totally beautiful Citizens living in those less-than-totally beautiful places that will lose their property and everything on it? Will they all be heading for Mexico for a place to work and live?
Bulldoze down the inevitable results of foolish, stupid and unworkable federal policies. "Shrink to survive" they say. More like "bury their mistakes".
This our government think-tank solution to an economy in decline? Bulldozers?
Good grief, what sort of monsters have we sent to Washington?
Sounds great, right? Bulldoze all those slums, all those abandoned factories and all those neighborhoods full of empty sub-prime homes. Turn them into beautiful park-like green belts full of natures wonderful creatures, with cobblestone paths leading from one idyllic viewpoint to the next. Blues skies, peppered with white, puffy, happy clouds, bluebirds singing everywhere. Happy, wooden-shod, ruddy-cheeked peasants dotting the landscape, watering, trimming, gathering flowers for your table.
No more rust belt industrial eyesores. No more barrios or hoods full of minorities peddling drugs to our blue-eyed and blond-haired innocent progeny. No more streets piled high with garbage and dog poo.
Once they start bulldozing, Where will they stop? In Israel, they bulldoze houses endlessly because the wrong people live in them.
The beautiful people, living in their walled-off neighborhoods; the Jews, living in their walled-off cities; the environmentalists, living in their green dream world; The college professors, living in their Ivory Towers; they must all love this idea.
Speaking of Ivory Towers, did you know we have a "Shrinking Cities in a Global Perspective programme" at the University of California, Berkeley?
Berkeley... Who would have guessed... The epicenter of America's crackpots.
This is Obama's solution for an economy torpedoed by a stupid federal government and it's insane trade theories and unworkable policies? Bulldoze until whatever left looks like progress and prosperity? What about all those less-than-totally beautiful Citizens living in those less-than-totally beautiful places that will lose their property and everything on it? Will they all be heading for Mexico for a place to work and live?
Bulldoze down the inevitable results of foolish, stupid and unworkable federal policies. "Shrink to survive" they say. More like "bury their mistakes".
This our government think-tank solution to an economy in decline? Bulldozers?
Good grief, what sort of monsters have we sent to Washington?
Friday, June 12, 2009
Rat Out My Buddies...Lose your Job
Our probably unconstitutional president has just fired an Attorney General that uncovered the fraud and misuse of government funds being committed by one of Obama's buddies.
At the rate this administration is going, it will go down in history as the most rotten and corrupt ever foisted on the American people.
Obama's claim that he has "lost confidence" in this AG is pure Chicago politics at its worst.
Get used to it... Neither Congress nor the Court are going to lift a finger to stop this cocky, strutting Chicago gangster.
At the rate this administration is going, it will go down in history as the most rotten and corrupt ever foisted on the American people.
Obama's claim that he has "lost confidence" in this AG is pure Chicago politics at its worst.
Get used to it... Neither Congress nor the Court are going to lift a finger to stop this cocky, strutting Chicago gangster.
Another Freak Show
Celebrity daughter Chastity Bono is undergoing a sex change to become a man, her publicist announced Thursday.
The above photo, with Chaschaz on the right, gives a possible clue for the decision.
Said her publicist:
If I were to cut off both arms at the shoulder and attached two equine legs, would that make me a horse?
Of course not, even if I believed my "true identity" was that of a horse. I would still be what I was born, a human, but now one with surgically attached horse legs, a true candidate for a circus freak show.
Oh well, you say... These folks were born with a mixed up DNA or whatever, and besides, horse legs are not sex organs. OK, it's all about the sex organs. If I had a horse penis and scrotum surgically attached, would I then be a horse? Bull. If nature had intended Chastity to be a male, she would have been born a male.
Confused people like this need counseling, not surgery.
Gay leaders hailed Bono's decision as courageous and "an important step forward."
Of course they did. Anything that helps to justify - in their own eyes - their unnatural* and deviant** lifestyles they hail as something it is not. It's not courageous, it's pointless and foolish. It will not make her a man. She will only end up as others before her, still a female, but with screwed up plumbing.
*Unnatural... In this context, any sexual conduct contrary to the survival of the species.
**Deviant.... Conduct that is markedly different than the norm.
It is not "an important step forward". Step forward to what? The day when any and all sexual activity produces no offspring? That's called mass suicide, and beyond a doubt, a giant and completely fatal step backwards.
I could care less what Cher's daughter does to herself surgically. It's a personal decision, and I'm fine by that. But don't try to peddle this sort of thing off as some sort of giant leap forward for humanity. It's not. It's just another sad moment in the history of the mentally confused and sexually deviant in our society.
The above photo, with Chaschaz on the right, gives a possible clue for the decision.
Said her publicist:
Chaz, after many years of consideration, has made the courageous decision to honor his true identity.He is proud of his decision and grateful for the support and respect that has already been shown by his loved onesHim? His? What a pitiful joke.
If I were to cut off both arms at the shoulder and attached two equine legs, would that make me a horse?
Of course not, even if I believed my "true identity" was that of a horse. I would still be what I was born, a human, but now one with surgically attached horse legs, a true candidate for a circus freak show.
Oh well, you say... These folks were born with a mixed up DNA or whatever, and besides, horse legs are not sex organs. OK, it's all about the sex organs. If I had a horse penis and scrotum surgically attached, would I then be a horse? Bull. If nature had intended Chastity to be a male, she would have been born a male.
Confused people like this need counseling, not surgery.
Gay leaders hailed Bono's decision as courageous and "an important step forward."
Of course they did. Anything that helps to justify - in their own eyes - their unnatural* and deviant** lifestyles they hail as something it is not. It's not courageous, it's pointless and foolish. It will not make her a man. She will only end up as others before her, still a female, but with screwed up plumbing.
*Unnatural... In this context, any sexual conduct contrary to the survival of the species.
**Deviant.... Conduct that is markedly different than the norm.
It is not "an important step forward". Step forward to what? The day when any and all sexual activity produces no offspring? That's called mass suicide, and beyond a doubt, a giant and completely fatal step backwards.
I could care less what Cher's daughter does to herself surgically. It's a personal decision, and I'm fine by that. But don't try to peddle this sort of thing off as some sort of giant leap forward for humanity. It's not. It's just another sad moment in the history of the mentally confused and sexually deviant in our society.
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Missing Bodies
PORT ORCHARD, Wash. - A severed foot was found inside a hiking boot Saturday at a construction site in Kitsap County, but officials have no idea how it got there.Further:
Deputy Scott Wilson of the Kitsap County Sheriff's Office said the foot had a sock on it, and it was wearing an athletic style hiking boot.
A number of severed feet have been found inside athletic shoes up and down the shorelines of lower British Columbia in recent months, but there was no indication whether this foot was linked to them in any way.I love the way they bend over backwards to avoid admitting these are results of wild animal attacks, mostly bear, almost always on hikers wending their way through the back woods and forests of America, communing with nature, hoping to come across one or more of mother natures and Gaia's lordly creatures. The shoes with no bodies attached are from those nature lovers that succeeded in doing exactly that. The vast majority of these witless fools had a Disney-like attitude about these creatures, thinking of them as noble, caring, friendly and harmless creatures, to be hugged, petted and baby-talked to. More than a few have been women in the middle of their monthly, permeating the smell of blood throughout the forest for miles around. Now that's beyond stupid, since wild animals have a sense of smell far better than ours.
Be bad for tourism to admit the truth, I suppose. Worse for the bears, etc., if the general public stared realizing that our forests are once again - thanks to these animal lovers -filling up with deadly predators that see humans as just another food item on the menu. These people are the nitwits that would re-introduce Tyrannosaurus Rex back into the environment if they could. After all, T-Rex was here first!
Our predecessors, understanding the deadly threat to any human these beasts were, simply got rid of them. The forest, the ecology, all that stuff that supposedly depends on bear droppings or whatever, suffered not one whit at their disappearance. Even the prey animals did fine, to the point that annual deer, elk, moose and mountain goat hunts became a way of life for many.
But no, we had to have these nature loonies re-introduce grizzly bear, black bear, brown bear, cougars, mountain lion, wolves - all those carnivores that also eat humans - back into the forests.
So now we have shoes with feet still in them showing up on a regular basis, and nobody wants you tell you why.
The forest don't belong to the bears and the wolves and the mountain lions any more... they are all lifeforms that have lost the race for supremacy. Nature has it's own way of dealing with such also-rans... they become extinct, just like 99% of all the lifeforms that have ever existed on this world. Those are our forests now to enjoy. That's the way it really works.
But, sadly, there's still a lot people who think that a grizzly bear cub is so cute and cuddly, needing to be nurtured and protected. That it might someday end up eating your kid on a camping trip is just too damn bad... stay out of their forest! I bet they would change their minds in a heartbeat if they were faced with the prospect of being dinner for a hungry 1,000 pound adult grizzly.
They will say differently - you bet - but they will say that from a position of total safety in the middle of civilization. Toss them out into the middle of grizzly country, with a grizzly breathing down their necks smacking his lips, and then ask them how they feel about it being their turn to be the main course for dinner.
If they balk at the idea, you can always console then with the fact fhat the bears don't want their expensive custom hiking shoes.
72 Year-Old Woman Tazed
Yes, she was mouthy and dared the cop to taze her... after he shoved her and then threatened her with his super-macho tazer gun.
Let's look at the combatants here.
In one corner is a 72 year-old grandmother, 4' 11" tall, less than a hundred pounds dripping wet. Old, cranky, not particularly impressed with today's cops, these snazzily uniformed and outfitted ticket writers that have "protect and serve" plastered all over their cruisers, but in reality are nothing more than heavily armed revenue enhancers.
In the other corner is one of those young, physically fit 200+ pound revenue enhancers, armed to the teeth, Automatic pistol, Mace, Tazer, Billy Club, Shotgun, hidden boot revolver, supposedly trained to handle weaponless, unarmed and generally law-abiding civilians in any situation that might arise.
The video shows he started the shoving match, followed immediately by her starting the shouting match. He made only one half-hearted attempt to handcuff her before deciding his tazer was the weapon of choice. So he tazed the mouthy old bag.
Call for backup? No. Give her a moment to calm down before starting to threaten her with a tazer? No. Use his training to quickly subdue this 98 pound weakling? No.
Tazer her - face first - into the ditch and continue threatening her unless she put her hands behind her back? Yes.
I can just imagine the conversation back at the station with his like-minded buddies:
"Hey, I wasn't about to risk having this suspected perpetrator (read as mouthy old bitch) kick me in the shins or knee me in the groin... so I just put the old bag down with the tazer... No problem, Man. She went down face first into the dirt like a sack of flour. Bet she don't mouth off to any of us again!"
My conclusion is he did not want to muss up his uniform or his hair, or have his athletic support device rearranged. That, or he's just another unprofessional and brutish amateur hiding behind the authority of a badge.
My other conclusion is I would not be surprised that if some members of Granny's family and circle of friends shadowed this cop until he was alone, punched his lights out and (when he came around) used his own tazer on him... until he put his hands behind his back.
Austin, Texas... No country for old women.
Let's look at the combatants here.
In one corner is a 72 year-old grandmother, 4' 11" tall, less than a hundred pounds dripping wet. Old, cranky, not particularly impressed with today's cops, these snazzily uniformed and outfitted ticket writers that have "protect and serve" plastered all over their cruisers, but in reality are nothing more than heavily armed revenue enhancers.
In the other corner is one of those young, physically fit 200+ pound revenue enhancers, armed to the teeth, Automatic pistol, Mace, Tazer, Billy Club, Shotgun, hidden boot revolver, supposedly trained to handle weaponless, unarmed and generally law-abiding civilians in any situation that might arise.
The video shows he started the shoving match, followed immediately by her starting the shouting match. He made only one half-hearted attempt to handcuff her before deciding his tazer was the weapon of choice. So he tazed the mouthy old bag.
Call for backup? No. Give her a moment to calm down before starting to threaten her with a tazer? No. Use his training to quickly subdue this 98 pound weakling? No.
Tazer her - face first - into the ditch and continue threatening her unless she put her hands behind her back? Yes.
I can just imagine the conversation back at the station with his like-minded buddies:
"Hey, I wasn't about to risk having this suspected perpetrator (read as mouthy old bitch) kick me in the shins or knee me in the groin... so I just put the old bag down with the tazer... No problem, Man. She went down face first into the dirt like a sack of flour. Bet she don't mouth off to any of us again!"
My conclusion is he did not want to muss up his uniform or his hair, or have his athletic support device rearranged. That, or he's just another unprofessional and brutish amateur hiding behind the authority of a badge.
My other conclusion is I would not be surprised that if some members of Granny's family and circle of friends shadowed this cop until he was alone, punched his lights out and (when he came around) used his own tazer on him... until he put his hands behind his back.
Austin, Texas... No country for old women.
Tuesday, June 09, 2009
Apparently A Pretty Good Choice
Vancouver is the world's easiest city to live in while Harare is the toughest, a survey said Monday putting Europe and north America at the top while many African and Asian cities struggle behind.I had selected Perth as a target city for possible immigration some years back, and was wondering how it fared today.
Canadian and Australian cities hold six of the top 10 slots in the Economist Intelligence Unit's liveability poll, which ranks cities on five factors: health-care, stability, culture and environment, education and infrastructure.
In ratings ranging from zero (intolerable) to 100 percent (ideal), Vancouver scores 98 percent, followed by Vienna in second place, then Melbourne, Toronto, Perth, Calgary, Helsinki and Geneva, with Sydney and Zurich in joint ninth place.
At the other end of the ranking, most of the poorest-performing locations are in Africa or Asia, where civil instability and poor infrastructure present significant challenges," said the surveys authors.
Perth comes in at 5th place, in the top ten most livable places on earth. Not bad.
However, a real sobering reality is that none of America's once "Shining cities on the hill" made the cut. Not one.
Health-care, stability, culture and environment, education and infrastructure.
All items that have been overstressed and overwhelmed by those millions and millions of uneducated and disease-carrying illegals that have been given Carte Blanche privileges to our safety nets and public services.
Just another one of those "unanticipated consequences" politicians can never see... And never want to talk about.
Monday, June 08, 2009
Another Reason For An Open Border
The man who has the brain - And takes it out every morning and plays with it - comes up with another beauty:
Our open border is a two-way street... One way allows millions of those poor, uneducated, disease-bearing illegals that need all that free medicine and doctoring in, the other way is an express lane for America's wealthy to get the hell out. (That would include the majority of our bought-out politicians in the near future)
So he has all these acclaimed communication skills, this great speech making talent. Unfortunately, he uses them to talk of stupid things, half-baked ideas, and unworkable schemes.
And this one, this tax the wealthy to heal the poor, is another lulu. The wealthy in America will simply vanish, leaving the rest of us here, stuck with this smooth-talking pawn and his unaffordable and unworkable schemes, a man that can't even prove his birthright to the presidency.
Many of our really intelligent Citizens, those capable of real leadership, have already left, taking their wealth with them. They saw this all coming long ago.
Guess who that leaves to run the country? People like:
Barney Franks, America's number one rump ranger.
Nancy Pelosi, California's number one power-crazed lunatic.
Ben Bernanki, Brussels obedient alter boy.
Barak Obama, emerging Champion of the Muslim world.
And:
The whole batch of those Washington temple monkeys.
All of them would be "also-rans" in a real contest, the laughing stock of an educated populace, but are heroes to this unthinking, supposedly educated bunch of idol-worshiping voters we suffer today.
You know what? A large portion of those people Obama and the Congressional temple monkeys consider "Wealthy" are the very same Doctors and Physicians that will be needed to take care of us poor folk. Supposing they just get up and leave? Go someplace where their skills and talents will be appreciated... And not be taxed to death? That's another one of those "unanticipated consequences" Washington is famous for not seeing.
Obama and this lap dog Congress are about to make things worse... Much worse.
June 7 (Bloomberg) -- President Barack Obama wants Congress to consider taxing the wealthy instead of workers to pay for a health-care overhaul, as House Democrats discuss a plan to require health insurance for most Americans.What's that got to do with an open border?
Our open border is a two-way street... One way allows millions of those poor, uneducated, disease-bearing illegals that need all that free medicine and doctoring in, the other way is an express lane for America's wealthy to get the hell out. (That would include the majority of our bought-out politicians in the near future)
So he has all these acclaimed communication skills, this great speech making talent. Unfortunately, he uses them to talk of stupid things, half-baked ideas, and unworkable schemes.
And this one, this tax the wealthy to heal the poor, is another lulu. The wealthy in America will simply vanish, leaving the rest of us here, stuck with this smooth-talking pawn and his unaffordable and unworkable schemes, a man that can't even prove his birthright to the presidency.
Many of our really intelligent Citizens, those capable of real leadership, have already left, taking their wealth with them. They saw this all coming long ago.
Guess who that leaves to run the country? People like:
Barney Franks, America's number one rump ranger.
Nancy Pelosi, California's number one power-crazed lunatic.
Ben Bernanki, Brussels obedient alter boy.
Barak Obama, emerging Champion of the Muslim world.
And:
The whole batch of those Washington temple monkeys.
All of them would be "also-rans" in a real contest, the laughing stock of an educated populace, but are heroes to this unthinking, supposedly educated bunch of idol-worshiping voters we suffer today.
You know what? A large portion of those people Obama and the Congressional temple monkeys consider "Wealthy" are the very same Doctors and Physicians that will be needed to take care of us poor folk. Supposing they just get up and leave? Go someplace where their skills and talents will be appreciated... And not be taxed to death? That's another one of those "unanticipated consequences" Washington is famous for not seeing.
Obama and this lap dog Congress are about to make things worse... Much worse.
Sunday, June 07, 2009
Exit Strategy: Chapter Two
Reviewing the things I said in "Exit Strategy" previously, brings the realization that what I talked about was hardly more than an extended vacation south of the border.
A pickup truck and camper - outfitted with the basics needed for a few weeks in the wild (such as a Mexican KOA campground) - Is only a mechanism to temporarily escape from some local or national upheaval, allowing one to safely return... When things settle down.
An exit strategy to permanently immigrate to another country would mean that I and my immediate family have concluded that living conditions in one - or any - of the sovereign states of the United States[3] has become untenable.
That's a whole 'nuther ballgame.
Some background:
When I was younger - and single - and working on the various missile ranges, I was introduced to a then current immigration offer of the Australian government.
After communicating with them, I discovered they would pay my way there, locate me in a satisfactory city/town/area that had employment in my field of specialty, and re-locate me up to two times if things weren't working out. It would be a signed agreement between me and the Aussie Government lasting 36 months. They would fly me back to the United States as necessary to maintain my U.S. Citizenship. When the 36 month contract ended, either I would be returned to the U.S., or become a landed immigrant.
They preferred married men for this program, since married men are more stable and less likely to use up the re-location options. You were guaranteed a three-bedroom brick residence in your area of employment to rent or buy.
This was - of course - a program designed to entice persons - married or single - having critically needed skills to head down under.
One rock-hard requirement was that you be completely debt-free. Another was that you were of European descent, code term for WASP.
My first choice of cities was Perth (below photo), a remarkably modern and clean city that had accepted all the conveniences of a modern civilization, but had said no to the ills and evils usually with associated with it,and demonstrated so amply by cities like Detroit or Los Angeles.
There was little doubt to me that Australia was a totalitarian society, neither a Republic nor a Democracy, but the other side of that coin was that the rules did not change every other day.
Well, the first time I looked into this, I owed money on my fancy "single-guy" car, so nothing ever jelled. The second time was when a position opened up in Perth for a field service engineer schooled in radiation therapy equipment. This time I was married and stable, but had my Mom living with us... And she did not want to leave the United States[3].
Australia is a different place today, so would I have more freedoms there now than here? I have no idea, but the fact remains I almost went twice.
Would I go today? Probably not, since their total ban on the personal ownership of guns is indicative of a government that - like ours - has lost its way.
So. My only viable exit strategy is one designed for a short-term upheaval. At my age and with my financial situation, I have no other option but to sit tight and keep my head low.
Of course, posting in this blog is not part of a "keep yer head low" policy, but so what... I'm too old to care.
A pickup truck and camper - outfitted with the basics needed for a few weeks in the wild (such as a Mexican KOA campground) - Is only a mechanism to temporarily escape from some local or national upheaval, allowing one to safely return... When things settle down.
An exit strategy to permanently immigrate to another country would mean that I and my immediate family have concluded that living conditions in one - or any - of the sovereign states of the United States[3] has become untenable.
That's a whole 'nuther ballgame.
Some background:
When I was younger - and single - and working on the various missile ranges, I was introduced to a then current immigration offer of the Australian government.
After communicating with them, I discovered they would pay my way there, locate me in a satisfactory city/town/area that had employment in my field of specialty, and re-locate me up to two times if things weren't working out. It would be a signed agreement between me and the Aussie Government lasting 36 months. They would fly me back to the United States as necessary to maintain my U.S. Citizenship. When the 36 month contract ended, either I would be returned to the U.S., or become a landed immigrant.
They preferred married men for this program, since married men are more stable and less likely to use up the re-location options. You were guaranteed a three-bedroom brick residence in your area of employment to rent or buy.
This was - of course - a program designed to entice persons - married or single - having critically needed skills to head down under.
One rock-hard requirement was that you be completely debt-free. Another was that you were of European descent, code term for WASP.
My first choice of cities was Perth (below photo), a remarkably modern and clean city that had accepted all the conveniences of a modern civilization, but had said no to the ills and evils usually with associated with it,and demonstrated so amply by cities like Detroit or Los Angeles.
There was little doubt to me that Australia was a totalitarian society, neither a Republic nor a Democracy, but the other side of that coin was that the rules did not change every other day.
Well, the first time I looked into this, I owed money on my fancy "single-guy" car, so nothing ever jelled. The second time was when a position opened up in Perth for a field service engineer schooled in radiation therapy equipment. This time I was married and stable, but had my Mom living with us... And she did not want to leave the United States[3].
Australia is a different place today, so would I have more freedoms there now than here? I have no idea, but the fact remains I almost went twice.
Would I go today? Probably not, since their total ban on the personal ownership of guns is indicative of a government that - like ours - has lost its way.
So. My only viable exit strategy is one designed for a short-term upheaval. At my age and with my financial situation, I have no other option but to sit tight and keep my head low.
Of course, posting in this blog is not part of a "keep yer head low" policy, but so what... I'm too old to care.
Saturday, June 06, 2009
The Tenth Amendment
The 10th Amendment to our Constitution says:
Which United States is the Tenth Amendment referring to?
The standing 1945 Supreme Court definition of the term United States:
Which one are you a Citizen or citizen of?
You are a Citizen of the United States[1] like you are a Citizen of China. Here you have defined yourself as a National from a Nation with regard to another Nation. It is perfectly OK to call yourself a "Citizen of the United States[1]." This is what everybody thinks the tax statutes are inferring. But notice the capital "C" in Citizen and where it is placed.
You are a United States[2] citizen. Here you have defined yourself as a person residing in the District of Columbia, one of its Territories, or Federal enclaves (area within a Union State) or living abroad, which could be in one of the States of the Union or a foreign country. Therefore you are possessed by the entity United States[2] (Congress) because citizen is small case. This is the "United States[2]" the tax statutes are referring to, Unless stated otherwise, such as 26 USC 6103(b)(5).
You are a Citizen of these United States[3]. Here you have defined yourself as a Citizen of all the 50 States united by and under the Constitution. You are not possessed by the Congress (United States[2]). In this way you have a national domicile, not a State or United States[2] domicile and are not subject to any instrumentality or subdivision of corporate governmental entities.
It is unfortunate that Americans are no longer taught the basic difference between Citizen and citizen, the significance of where the word is positioned in a sentence, or how the United States of America and THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA are two completely independent and different entities.
It is noticeable that Possessions of the United States[2] and sovereign states of the United States[3] of America are NOT joined under the title of "United States." The president represents the sovereign United States[1] in foreign affairs through treaties, Congress represents the sovereign United States[2] in Territories and Possessions with Rules and Regulations, and the state citizens are the sovereignty of the United States[3] united by and under the Constitution.
So, The tenth amendment is referring to the United States[2] (Congress).
Simply put, The Congress of the United States{2} has no authority over the United States[3] other than those powers granted it by the Constitution of the United States[3]. Laws and regulations created by Congress beyond the powers granted are valid and legal only in the United States[2], namely the District of Columbia, and a few territories and possessions like Guam or Johnston Atoll.
It would then seem that all those tax statutes authorized by the United States[2](Congress) are only valid and enforceable in The United States[2] and its possessions... The District of Columbia, its Territories, and its Federal enclaves.
Fascinating.
The Congress of the United States[2} has no authority whatever to be doing what is is doing today. The president of the United States[1] has none either. The sovereign Citizens of these United States[3] should stand up and tell them so.
The above is my interpretation of how things are, based on a few articles I have read... nothing more.
I may be right, I may be wrong...
But I know your gonna' miss me when I'm gone.
(part of an old boot camp marching ditty)
The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.Sounds straight forward and simple, but it is far from that.
Which United States is the Tenth Amendment referring to?
The standing 1945 Supreme Court definition of the term United States:
The term "United States" may be used in any one of several senses:The president represents the sovereign United States[1] in foreign affairs through treaties and such.
[1] It may be merely the name of a sovereign occupying the position analogous to that of other sovereigns in the family of nations.
[2] It may designate the territory over which the sovereignty of the United States[2] (Congress) extends.This federal zone, over which the sovereignty of the United States[2] (Congress) extends, is the District of Columbia, the territories and possessions belonging to Congress, and a limited amount of land within the States of the Union, called federal "enclaves". These "enclaves" must have been officially "ceded" to Congress by an explicit act of the State Legislatures involved. A good example is a military base within a state. Congress does not have exclusive jurisdiction over the 50 States. Within the 50 States, Congress only has exclusive jurisdiction over the federal enclaves inside the boundaries of the 50 States.
[3] it may be the collective name of the states which are united by and under the Constitution.
[Hooven & Allison Co. vs Evatt, 324 U.S. 652 (1945)]
Which one are you a Citizen or citizen of?
You are a Citizen of the United States[1] like you are a Citizen of China. Here you have defined yourself as a National from a Nation with regard to another Nation. It is perfectly OK to call yourself a "Citizen of the United States[1]." This is what everybody thinks the tax statutes are inferring. But notice the capital "C" in Citizen and where it is placed.
You are a United States[2] citizen. Here you have defined yourself as a person residing in the District of Columbia, one of its Territories, or Federal enclaves (area within a Union State) or living abroad, which could be in one of the States of the Union or a foreign country. Therefore you are possessed by the entity United States[2] (Congress) because citizen is small case. This is the "United States[2]" the tax statutes are referring to, Unless stated otherwise, such as 26 USC 6103(b)(5).
You are a Citizen of these United States[3]. Here you have defined yourself as a Citizen of all the 50 States united by and under the Constitution. You are not possessed by the Congress (United States[2]). In this way you have a national domicile, not a State or United States[2] domicile and are not subject to any instrumentality or subdivision of corporate governmental entities.
It is unfortunate that Americans are no longer taught the basic difference between Citizen and citizen, the significance of where the word is positioned in a sentence, or how the United States of America and THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA are two completely independent and different entities.
It is noticeable that Possessions of the United States[2] and sovereign states of the United States[3] of America are NOT joined under the title of "United States." The president represents the sovereign United States[1] in foreign affairs through treaties, Congress represents the sovereign United States[2] in Territories and Possessions with Rules and Regulations, and the state citizens are the sovereignty of the United States[3] united by and under the Constitution.
So, The tenth amendment is referring to the United States[2] (Congress).
Simply put, The Congress of the United States{2} has no authority over the United States[3] other than those powers granted it by the Constitution of the United States[3]. Laws and regulations created by Congress beyond the powers granted are valid and legal only in the United States[2], namely the District of Columbia, and a few territories and possessions like Guam or Johnston Atoll.
It would then seem that all those tax statutes authorized by the United States[2](Congress) are only valid and enforceable in The United States[2] and its possessions... The District of Columbia, its Territories, and its Federal enclaves.
Fascinating.
The Congress of the United States[2} has no authority whatever to be doing what is is doing today. The president of the United States[1] has none either. The sovereign Citizens of these United States[3] should stand up and tell them so.
The above is my interpretation of how things are, based on a few articles I have read... nothing more.
I may be right, I may be wrong...
But I know your gonna' miss me when I'm gone.
(part of an old boot camp marching ditty)
Friday, June 05, 2009
Mull This Over
A quote from a blogger:
So what's this guy saying? He's saying that even if the mortgage interest rate was ZERO, these folks can no longer make the payment.
No jobs = money = no house. Over the last couple of decades, George W. Bush, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton and Congress have allowed for tens of millions of our decent, family-providing jobs to evaporate. They have watched as thousands of our factories and manufacturing outlets shut their doors forever, sending millions of Americans out into the streets... While all the time allowing ten of millions of illegals to invade and take whatever jobs these newly jobless American citizens would have been glad to have. Was this all by accident? Hell no, these sons-of-whores have always known exactly what they were doing.
A better formula for total disaster cannot be found.
Those unforeseen consequences can be a real bitch. But I contend those in Washington have known all along what the results of their actions would be.
Why did Congress allow this? Remember what Fred called Congress?
The consequences for this unbelievable sell-out is just now starting to be seen and felt, and a good clue as to when the hammer is about to fall - for real - will be seen when presidents and Congressmen alike start scheduling offshore jaunts of some sort to get their soon-to-be-exposed butts out of the country.
Will these Alt-A and Option-ARM resets be the final straw? Maybe the insane throw-away-our-money polices of our Kenyan (perhaps Indonesian) pretender-to-the-throne President may may just beat them to the draw.
Unfortunately, we have no voice in the matter - since Congress no longer represents us - so we are going to find out, like it or not.
Then, if we are still capable - and not yet taken over by a foreign power - we're going to have to re-organize ourselves and our national government. We will have to purge all these dual-citizenship traitors out of the body politic, back away from all those foreign intrigues as George Washington advised, declare all those unconstitutional treaties and accords as null and void, stop the money giveaway to all these international leeches and bloodsuckers, return our hundreds of thousands of troops home. We will need to tell the rest of the world they are on their own, that's it time they financed, protected and policed themselves... We are no longer in the business.
Allow those nations and peoples that cannot - or will not - provide for themselves to fail. Failed countries and failed peoples are nothing new to this world. It is not - and has never been - our duty to plunder our treasure to provide for them, and it has NEVER been our duty to send our sons and daughters to die for them, particularly when they will not do it for themselves.
It's pretty simple... we have no business telling other peoples and other nations how to conduct their affairs, any more than you have the right to go to your neighbors house and - at gunpoint - start telling them how to run their lives.
However, the problem was NEVER subprime. Subprime loans were just the tip of the iceberg. Subprime loans as an issue are indeed over. But we're just in a lull right now. Alt-A and Option-ARM resets start taking off early next year and are FAR BIGGER than subprime loans ever were.If this is even close to the mark, times are about to get really exciting.
Most people simply don't understand the problem at all. They also don't understand that even if interest rates were ZERO, it wouldn't change things.
Next year is HUGE. 2011 is EVEN BIGGER.
So what's this guy saying? He's saying that even if the mortgage interest rate was ZERO, these folks can no longer make the payment.
No jobs = money = no house. Over the last couple of decades, George W. Bush, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton and Congress have allowed for tens of millions of our decent, family-providing jobs to evaporate. They have watched as thousands of our factories and manufacturing outlets shut their doors forever, sending millions of Americans out into the streets... While all the time allowing ten of millions of illegals to invade and take whatever jobs these newly jobless American citizens would have been glad to have. Was this all by accident? Hell no, these sons-of-whores have always known exactly what they were doing.
A better formula for total disaster cannot be found.
Those unforeseen consequences can be a real bitch. But I contend those in Washington have known all along what the results of their actions would be.
Why did Congress allow this? Remember what Fred called Congress?
Congress, 535 commoditized temple monkeys pawing through the ruins of America in search of bribes.He's absolutely correct... and that explains it all. The last three presidents - Bush, Clinton, Bush lite - and the 535 Cretins in Congress have sold us all down the river. Remind yourself that these Washington grubs are all millionaires - many of them multi-millionaires - all of them no doubt with offshore and hidden bank accounts and assets. Supposedly being bought off with piddly campaign donation is a media inside joke. Think a $10,000 donation to a campaign fund would impress one of these multi- millionaires? Get serious. Try a million or so into that offshore bank account.
The consequences for this unbelievable sell-out is just now starting to be seen and felt, and a good clue as to when the hammer is about to fall - for real - will be seen when presidents and Congressmen alike start scheduling offshore jaunts of some sort to get their soon-to-be-exposed butts out of the country.
Will these Alt-A and Option-ARM resets be the final straw? Maybe the insane throw-away-our-money polices of our Kenyan (perhaps Indonesian) pretender-to-the-throne President may may just beat them to the draw.
Unfortunately, we have no voice in the matter - since Congress no longer represents us - so we are going to find out, like it or not.
Then, if we are still capable - and not yet taken over by a foreign power - we're going to have to re-organize ourselves and our national government. We will have to purge all these dual-citizenship traitors out of the body politic, back away from all those foreign intrigues as George Washington advised, declare all those unconstitutional treaties and accords as null and void, stop the money giveaway to all these international leeches and bloodsuckers, return our hundreds of thousands of troops home. We will need to tell the rest of the world they are on their own, that's it time they financed, protected and policed themselves... We are no longer in the business.
Allow those nations and peoples that cannot - or will not - provide for themselves to fail. Failed countries and failed peoples are nothing new to this world. It is not - and has never been - our duty to plunder our treasure to provide for them, and it has NEVER been our duty to send our sons and daughters to die for them, particularly when they will not do it for themselves.
It's pretty simple... we have no business telling other peoples and other nations how to conduct their affairs, any more than you have the right to go to your neighbors house and - at gunpoint - start telling them how to run their lives.
Thursday, June 04, 2009
A Bright Flash Of White Light
A Spanish newspaper said a transatlantic airline pilot reported seeing a bright flash of white light at the same time the Air France flight disappeared.
My immediate thought was of a barometrically triggered bomb, one that would arm itself when the plane passed up through a certain altitude, and then detonate when the aircraft started back downward, like in trying to get below a bad thunderhead and/or vicious high-altitude winds.
So far, I haven't believed a thing I've heard or read, because the plane - and it's black boxes - are now in two miles of water, and nobody knows what happened. For certain, this 14 minutes of terror story is pure fabricated nonsense. We will get some solid clues when the black boxes are recovered - if ever.
But the eyewitness account - from a seasoned pilot - sure sounds like a bomb, and the making a barometric trigger from the altimeter in a Cessna 150 - or some such airplane - is child's play.
"Suddenly we saw in the distance a strong, intense flash of white light that took a downward, vertical trajectory and disappeared in six seconds," the pilot of an Air Comet flight from Lima to Madrid told his company, the El Mundo newspaper reported. "We did not hear any communication on any emergency or air to air frequency either before or after this event."That was from a Spanish news paper. Most of our American newspaper and media outlets are reporting something like 14 horrible minutes of terror as a storm slowly demolished the aircraft, a version that does not support the final transmission from the aircraft of a sudden, catastrophic loss of cabin pressure.
My immediate thought was of a barometrically triggered bomb, one that would arm itself when the plane passed up through a certain altitude, and then detonate when the aircraft started back downward, like in trying to get below a bad thunderhead and/or vicious high-altitude winds.
So far, I haven't believed a thing I've heard or read, because the plane - and it's black boxes - are now in two miles of water, and nobody knows what happened. For certain, this 14 minutes of terror story is pure fabricated nonsense. We will get some solid clues when the black boxes are recovered - if ever.
But the eyewitness account - from a seasoned pilot - sure sounds like a bomb, and the making a barometric trigger from the altimeter in a Cessna 150 - or some such airplane - is child's play.
Wednesday, June 03, 2009
The X37-B
What is probably the worlds most expensive radio-controlled model airplane ever - actually about the size of a Piper Cub, just fatter - is about to make its debut in Florida.
Following along faithfully with the aerospace industries philosophy that "More expensive is better", this so-called "Space Plane" is the latest to come down the pike as a potential replacement for the shuttle.
Not really:
As a reusable space plane, the intent of the craft is to serve as a testbed for dozens of technologies in airframe, propulsion and operation, and other items in the hopes of making space transportation and operations significantly more affordable.Can you just dig it? They "hope" to make things better.
The intent of the X-37B mission is to try out a wide variety of experiments and technologies, including a highly durable, high-temperature thermal protection system; storable, non-toxic liquid propellants; and important new aerodynamic features - all of which are applicable to future reusable space vehicles.Storable, non-toxic liquid rocket fuel. Now there's a non-starter. I'll just bet there's some hot-shot and highly expensive research team somewhere trying to make plutonium non-toxic and safe, while the temple monkeys in Washington can still be talked into believing it's possible... with just a bit more funding.
Future reusable space vehicles. You bet. And - of course - any "unmanned vehicle" that just might be capable of delivering nuclear warheads, reusable of course. After all, this is an air force "vehicle", and the air force's real mission is to blow up stuff with very big civilization-ending bombs, not haul freight.
Important new aerodynamic features. Like what? Streamlining? Have the laws of aerodynamics changed on us suddenly? Or are these guys just now learning about them?
It's not really a model airplane. It's a drone. Sort of like the old supersonic firebee drones we used to shoot at back in my White Sands Missile Range days. Airplanes carry people, drones are unmanned.
This thing is a classic sixties design you could find in the comic books of the day. More and more, it looks like our new batch of aerospace engineers can't seem to get their heads - and their design philosophies - out of the sixties and seventies. Making these fragile little toys smaller, more exotic, more expensive and taking much longer to build - is not a substitute for new ideas.
Dang... I was hoping we would have the Aurora by now, and a real space station. But the Aurora is sitting away in some warehouse collecting dust, and the space station couldn't build a wind-up model of a moon buggy if it's life depended on it. Like the Supercollider, the money needed to make those projects live up to their expectations was used to buy votes from residents - legal and illegal - in places like our American ghettos and barrios. So the Aurora's fate became like the Ark's fate in the Indiana Jones movie, and the space station is just a glorified work bench - with some really snazzy test equipment - but incapable lifting a single finger to assist us in our exploration efforts.
The whole original idea behind the space station was to use it as a place to build our interplanetary vehicles, not as a place to see how a candle burned in zero gravity.
At least in the movie, Jones got the girl, but here all we're getting is a high-priced version of a freight car and an orbiting test bench, full of unbelievably expensive equipment, busily testing itself, while astronauts dutifully take notes.
I used to be 100% pro-space research and development. But as I have watched the bureaucrats and second-string engineers turn our whole space effort into an expensive, slow-motion version of incredibly expensive, over-designed and obsolete ideas, I have felt like pulling my hair out, but I have no hair left to pull.
At least we got the Hubble out of all this essentially wasted time and effort, and the now once-upon-a-time ability to repair it.
Beware the Greeks bearing gifts? Small potatoes.
The modern version:
Beware the bureaucrats offering to run things.
Tuesday, June 02, 2009
Exit Strategy
A couple of posts down I had mentioned that I sure hoped you had your "exit strategy" ready, to which Astrosmith responded...
I think that Fred Reed has done the best one can with limited assets. He now lives in Mexico near Guadalajara, having found burros preferable to bureaucrats. Says Fred:
Fred maintains his American citizenship and visits often, but he is indeed all set up... if the America we all know starts to truly vanish, if the Marxists of the world like Obama and Pelosi cannot be de-fanged.
If things got to the point that getting the hell out was our only option, I'd need several things prearranged:
-1) Valid passports all ready to go.
-2) Having an account with a bank that has branches in Mexico, and verify that my debit and credit cards would work there, at least as long as they were worth anything.
-3) Have a good knowledge of an area in Mexico where many retired Americans already live(English is still my first language), what's available for sale or rent, how long and how much gas it would take to get there. Have a route already chosen, where to stop, where to keep moving. It would need to be an area that one could mostly walk to whatever store for the supplies they needed, stores in which communictaion was not impossible, a place where us gringos already have a substantial presence, sort of like the Mexicans do in Los Angeles.
-4) Make contact with people in the target area and get as much advice as I can from them.
-5) How much stuff I could actually get across a border checkpoint headed south.
-6) Get fluent in Mexico's version of Spanish, which sure as hell ain't what they speak in Spain.
-7)Keep tabs on the money exchange rate, where I can get the most pesos for a dollar, and stay aware of which currency is more desired in the target community.
Lastly, find out where I could rent something like an RV to head south in, and live in for awhile if necessary. I presently own a Chevy Cavalier, definitely the wrong vehicle for this kind of thing.
On our honeymoon, we had a full-sized pickup with a small camper containing camping equipment, ice chest, storage spaces and a 4'x 8' four-inch-thick piece of foam as a mattress with pillows, blankets, etc. It Worked out fine. something like that would make much more sense than our Cavalier.
Beside valid passports, what else would I need? Auto Insurance good in Mexico. Perhaps a Mexican Drivers license?
Since I'm in the same boat as Astrosmith, heading south is my only available option, if something like a terrorist nuke hits Dallas... with the fallout thoroughly dusting my little acre.
Whether it be for a month or two, or much more permanent, most of of this could be easily handled in advance. The vehicle, what to take with us, the money/cash/bank situation would take more planning and preparation.
It would be like planning for a long vacation in Mexico, but ready to go in 48 hours... with the idea that it might become a long stay.
But... what none of us can tell... Is if skipping to Mexico would be any better than just digging in where we are, and just taking on the bastards that would see us - and our nation - go down in flames.
Exit strategy?That got me seriously thinking about the whole thing, about a plan I've been halfway mulling over for some time.
I keep seeing our favorite bloggers talk about expatriating, but just where does one go? Especially if, like me, you don't have a lot of extra money.
I think that Fred Reed has done the best one can with limited assets. He now lives in Mexico near Guadalajara, having found burros preferable to bureaucrats. Says Fred:
My hobbies are wind surfing, scuba, listening to blues, swing-dancing in dirt bars, associating with colorful maniacs, weight-lifting, and people of the other sex.I'm retired here in Texas and can't afford any of that. Fred sounds like he's doing OK, and we do live within running distance of our open border with Mexico.
Fred maintains his American citizenship and visits often, but he is indeed all set up... if the America we all know starts to truly vanish, if the Marxists of the world like Obama and Pelosi cannot be de-fanged.
If things got to the point that getting the hell out was our only option, I'd need several things prearranged:
-1) Valid passports all ready to go.
-2) Having an account with a bank that has branches in Mexico, and verify that my debit and credit cards would work there, at least as long as they were worth anything.
-3) Have a good knowledge of an area in Mexico where many retired Americans already live(English is still my first language), what's available for sale or rent, how long and how much gas it would take to get there. Have a route already chosen, where to stop, where to keep moving. It would need to be an area that one could mostly walk to whatever store for the supplies they needed, stores in which communictaion was not impossible, a place where us gringos already have a substantial presence, sort of like the Mexicans do in Los Angeles.
-4) Make contact with people in the target area and get as much advice as I can from them.
-5) How much stuff I could actually get across a border checkpoint headed south.
-6) Get fluent in Mexico's version of Spanish, which sure as hell ain't what they speak in Spain.
-7)Keep tabs on the money exchange rate, where I can get the most pesos for a dollar, and stay aware of which currency is more desired in the target community.
Lastly, find out where I could rent something like an RV to head south in, and live in for awhile if necessary. I presently own a Chevy Cavalier, definitely the wrong vehicle for this kind of thing.
On our honeymoon, we had a full-sized pickup with a small camper containing camping equipment, ice chest, storage spaces and a 4'x 8' four-inch-thick piece of foam as a mattress with pillows, blankets, etc. It Worked out fine. something like that would make much more sense than our Cavalier.
Beside valid passports, what else would I need? Auto Insurance good in Mexico. Perhaps a Mexican Drivers license?
Since I'm in the same boat as Astrosmith, heading south is my only available option, if something like a terrorist nuke hits Dallas... with the fallout thoroughly dusting my little acre.
Whether it be for a month or two, or much more permanent, most of of this could be easily handled in advance. The vehicle, what to take with us, the money/cash/bank situation would take more planning and preparation.
It would be like planning for a long vacation in Mexico, but ready to go in 48 hours... with the idea that it might become a long stay.
But... what none of us can tell... Is if skipping to Mexico would be any better than just digging in where we are, and just taking on the bastards that would see us - and our nation - go down in flames.
I Have The Solution To Our Educational Challenges
A couple of items below I posted a bit from Vox as to how the highly regarded Minnesota public school system is solving their inability to teach anything... They had the Minnesota Legislature pass a Law that if the uneducated oafs can fail three times, they get their diploma.
What does that really mean?
It means the Minnesota government - and the Minnesota school system - has concluded that a school child really does not need to learn anything in today's America. Just flunk them three times, any of our kids can do that... and send them off... diploma in hand, self-esteem on max, ready to rap their clueless way into what will most certainly be a dismal future.
OK, if they are not required to learn anything, why even bother to send them to school? Close the schools, they're proving themselves as useless anyway, give every child a high school diploma at birth, and just declare them "educated".
Better yet, give them a college degree at puberty, declare them - as college graduates - to be well above the average in "intelligence", and send out letters to HR departments throughout America, naming them as prime and choice candidates for upper management and critical decision-making positions in government and business.
We are already seeing the results of such a nationally promulgated policy, why not make it official? Minnesota has...
Imagine a fly-over place like Minnesota coming up with this fabulous solution to teachers that can't teach, school systems that can't educate, and college professors that want only to give your daughter Herpes, and a Marxist attitude towards everything.
And property owners? No more school taxes.
Everybody wins... Right?
After all, most of our jobs that required brains have been shipped overseas, and nobody needs any schooling to flip hamburgers.
What does that really mean?
It means the Minnesota government - and the Minnesota school system - has concluded that a school child really does not need to learn anything in today's America. Just flunk them three times, any of our kids can do that... and send them off... diploma in hand, self-esteem on max, ready to rap their clueless way into what will most certainly be a dismal future.
OK, if they are not required to learn anything, why even bother to send them to school? Close the schools, they're proving themselves as useless anyway, give every child a high school diploma at birth, and just declare them "educated".
Better yet, give them a college degree at puberty, declare them - as college graduates - to be well above the average in "intelligence", and send out letters to HR departments throughout America, naming them as prime and choice candidates for upper management and critical decision-making positions in government and business.
We are already seeing the results of such a nationally promulgated policy, why not make it official? Minnesota has...
Imagine a fly-over place like Minnesota coming up with this fabulous solution to teachers that can't teach, school systems that can't educate, and college professors that want only to give your daughter Herpes, and a Marxist attitude towards everything.
And property owners? No more school taxes.
Everybody wins... Right?
After all, most of our jobs that required brains have been shipped overseas, and nobody needs any schooling to flip hamburgers.
Monday, June 01, 2009
Good Ole Fred
You just gotta love Fred. Heres his latest definition of our Congress:
Congress, 535 commoditized temple monkeys pawing through the ruins of America in search of bribes. The bicameral whorehouse on Capitol Hill works like a vending machine. You put coins in the slot, select your law, and the desired legislation slides out.Now it all seems so much clearer.
Comedian Geither
Banty rooster and Obama rubber stamp pad Tim Geithner went to China to try to wrangle more money from the Chinese. I don't know if he got any money, but he got a roomful of laughter after trying to convince Chinese college students (who actually study and learn) that their money was safe with America.
Only in America, where we have totally clueless "graduates" wandering around completely involved in self and thoroughly committed to self indulgence, would a jackass like Geithner be listened to, while the rest of the world looks on in disbelief at America's supersonic dive into Marxism and third-world status.
I sure hope you have developed your exit strategy.
"Chinese assets are very safe," Geithner said in response to a question after a speech at Peking University, where he studied Chinese as a student in the 1980s.You see, the Chinese have not spent five decades trying to dumb down their students like the United States and the NEA have been doing.
His answer drew loud laughter from his student audience, reflecting skepticism in China about the wisdom of a developing country accumulating a vast stockpile of foreign reserves instead of spending the money to raise living standards at home.
Only in America, where we have totally clueless "graduates" wandering around completely involved in self and thoroughly committed to self indulgence, would a jackass like Geithner be listened to, while the rest of the world looks on in disbelief at America's supersonic dive into Marxism and third-world status.
I sure hope you have developed your exit strategy.
Failing Your Way Thru School
This jewel from Vox:
And you still wonder why we have a nation of idiots that would elect a hack like Obama?
.... Spacebunny was amused to pass along the following news about the changing graduation requirements for the highly regarded Minnesota public school system:Isn't that marvelous? Fail three times and you graduate, from a school in the highly regarded Minnesota public school system.
[T]he Legislature recently decided that students no longer have to pass the 11th-grade math test -- many educators think it's too difficult -- and would have caused a precipitous drop in graduation rates next year.... The solution passed by the Legislature and signed by Gov. Tim Pawlenty, however, could raise a few eyebrows: Students either have to pass the test once, or fail it three times, to graduate.
And you still wonder why we have a nation of idiots that would elect a hack like Obama?
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