A Complete Pet Peeve

While perusing the local book store recently, I happened across a selection that reminded me of a particular pet peeve I have in relation to printed material, particularly books of a historical nature.

The item that caught my eye was a 100 page magazine format glossy publication entitled 'The Complete History of the F-86 Sabre".

To the non-military and non-aviation fans out there, the F-86 Sabre was a swept winged jet fighter of Korean War vintage. It was a very successful aircraft with a long history in many services around the world.

I skimmed through the book. It did have some very nice material in it. However, it was in no way, shape, or form a 'complete' history of the aircraft. A complete history of the Sabre has never been written. I would estimate that it would take dozens of volumes, thousands of pages, and tens of thousands of photographs to document the aircraft, and then it couldn't be termed 'complete'.

A more accurate title for the book I saw would have been 'Some Nice Stories and Pictures of the F-86 Sabre Jet'.

I know I'm nit picking, but this offends me. I am a big history buff, particularly military history. If I see a book that has 'complete' in the title, I dismiss it - it is not worth looking at, for the author is misrepresenting it. I can't tell you how many efforts entitled 'The Complete History of the United States Air Force' have polluted book store shelves across the years - most of which are well under 200 pages. How can you take a book seriously that spends a whopping 20 pages on the USAF in Vietnam, and dares call itself 'complete'?

Just one of those little things that rubs me the wrong way ...

Now We Know ...

Thoughts on Bin Laden

I am not going to spend a lot of time bloviating about the extermination of Bin Laden. Everything that can be said has been said multiple times already ... but there are a few things I just need to say (and besides ... these are MY electrons!)

Obama:

I watched the news live as this was happening, and saw Obama's address to the country. I will give him credit for an excellent speech. I acknowledge his skillful handling of the situation. I acknowledge that he made a difficult decision, and he made the right one. This is probably the one and only time I will ever be proud of him as our President.

The only problem I had with his speech was his constant 'I, ME, MY' ... but this is normal for him, and expected.

It was a class move for Obama to call President Bush (who was out eating at a Dallas eatery with his wife) and inform him of the action. I would loved to have heard that conversation! It was also a class move to allow President Bush to prepare a statement for immediate release upon the death announcement. (I wonder if Obama, or Hillary for that matter, called Slick Willy before the announcement.)

It was a class move by President Bush to be low key in his statement, and lack of live comments since. This was Obama's moment, even though W played a big part in it.

The next step Obama needs to take (but will not) is to publicly recognize the groundwork that was laid years ago by the Bush Administration that directly led to this moment. Will he recognize that the intel that led to his moment in the sun came from enhanced interrogations that took place at Gitmo - hell no, he won't.

Military Intelligence:

I am impressed with the plan for dealing with this animal after his extermination. I am sure this was thought out long in advance. Gather evidence, take his carcass away, and quickly dispose of it where no one can find it. It's all done and over with before the public (and especially the Muslim world) know it had happened. Perfect.

40 SEALs would seem like overkill to some, but it was appropriate. Even as a non-military person, it is obvious to me you want to go in with overwhelming force to accomplish the mission and minimize (or prevent) casualties on your side. Even the loss of one of the helicopters at the landing site was planned for as a contingency and dealt with efficiently.

I question the amount of information we are being given access too, and how fast. I know the public wants to know every detail (myself included), but some of the things I've heard could prove to put personnel in danger of retribution, and close off future sources of intel. I'm not sure the public's need to know trumps (sorry , no pun intended) OPSEC.

The hints of the intel gathered from Bin Laden's compound are tantalizing. Documents, hard drives, phones, etc. The potential gold mine of information contained in them could lead to wholesale trackdowns of a great deal of Al Qaeda leadership. We can only hope ...

Politics:

Those on the hard right are already screaming that this was justification for enhanced interrogation, the left was wrong to oppose it, and we should use it more. While I agree on that, I find it tasteless to bring it up as a major talking point so soon. 'I told you so' should have come a little later on down the road.

I've heard very little from the hard left about such interrogations and Gitmo in the aftermath. It will be interesting to hear how they counter the cat calls from the right.

How long will it be before the ACLU announces its outrage that Osama wasn't arrested and given his Miranda rights, instead of being executed on the spot? Will Holder and his DoJ launch an investigation into this gross violation of Bin Laden's civil rights?

It wasn't an hour after the announcement that political pundits were analyzing what it would mean for Obama's reelection chances. Republican whiners and mainstream media have been declaring Obama now unbeatable in 2012. Well, a history lesson is in order: President Bush 41 won the most decisive war in our nation's history, and enjoyed 90% approval ratings in the aftermath of Desert Storm. A bit over a year later, he lost reelection to an unknown Governor from Arkansas. Killing one man, even Bin Laden, won't be decisive for Obama's hopes in 2012.

Our government is going to have to tap dance around Pakistan for a while. It is clear to the world that they, or at least a large faction of them, were active in hiding the animal. A million dollar compound built for him in 2005, in a city dominated by an Army base - it would take a true idiot to believe that factions in the Pakistan government and military were not directly involved in shielding him. However, we can't call them out on it too loudly, or we risk losing the cooperation we do get. It is also clear that Pakistan's government isn't exactly thrilled at a US military operation taking place inside of their border.


I truly hope that Bin Laden realized an American was killing him before his brain exploded.

One thing I do know ... Bin Laden is lying in a pile of fish shit at the bottom of the ocean, where he belongs.

Update 5/8 - Juan Williams is a middle of the road liberal who regularly appears on Fox News and elsewhere as a political commentator.This is the same Juan Williams who was fired by NPR for not being liberal enough.

On one of Fox News' Sunday evening shows, Williams was involved in a roundtable discussion with some other commentators. The subject was how Republicans were trying to take too much credit for the Osama resolution for President Bush. Williams was livid, defending Obama. IN the heat of the moment, he lamented that Obama was not getting enough credit for the 'murder of Osama Bin Laden'. YES, he said the MURDER of Bin Laden. You could hear the gasps from the other commentators.

I think this was a slip fo the tongue from him, he's usually not nearly this off the wall. However, for it to have been said, he has to be thinking it. So, Juan must believe that Bin Laden should have been arrested, placed in handcuffs, read his Miranda rights, and brought back here for a civilian trial in NYC, run by Holder's DoJ.

I'm sorry Mr. Williams - you have lost all credibility. Fox News should fire your ass.

Why The Donald Is Good For America

Donald Trump is good for American politics, and good for the Republican Party.

Now, don't get me wrong. I don't think he has a prayer of being elected President. In truth, I hope he doesn't run. However, he is serving an important function, and I believe will continue to do so.

His personality and 'I don't give a damn what people think' attitude allows him to bring up and address subjects that mainstream Republican candidates don't dare touch. Obama's birth certificate, for instance. If Trump hadn't forced this issue, we still wouldn't know for sure. Obama would still be twisting the birther knife into his political opponents. Now, the issue is dead, except for a few diehard conspiracy nuts. If any Republican candidate had pursued it at all, much less with Trump's zeal, their candidacy would have been pronounced dead.

I hope Trump continues bringing up subjects that are sore points to Obama and the left. I hope he keeps punching their buttons and making them respond.

Do You Like What You See At The Pump?

How's that Hope and Change working out for you at the gas pump?

If you are not outraged by what you are paying for a gallon of gas right now, you are either a far left kook eco-Nazi, or President Obama.

There is no legitimate reason for gas to be at 4 bucks a gallon. There is no shortage of gasoline or oil. Even if every drop of oil coming out of Libya was cut off (which it has not been), it would have no tangible effect on the amount of oil available to us.

So, what gives?

Two main forces are at work. First, we have market speculators who are driving up the cost based on fear, imagined shortages, etc. Their motive is stictly profit. This is an unfortunate effect of a free market - people who have no interest in oil per se' are buying and selling it simply to gain profit. I think that there is a simple way this profiteering can be curbed, to slow the wild swings in prices - make speculators hold on to the oil futures they buy for at least a year before they can be sold. That would drive out many of the quick buck hunters.

Second, we have the Obama regime. Normally, the President doesn't have much control over the price of energy, even though the public would think he does. Obama is an exception to that rule. His policies are plain - make the price of fossil fuel so painful that it drives our country to alternative energy. He has said this openly for years, and is proud of it. If you remember in the aftermath of Katrina, he wasn't upset that gas hit 4 bucks a gallon - his problem was that it hit us so fast that it was a shock to us.

Obama and his cronies are blocking new energy exploration at every turn. We can't get to the oil, gas, and coal we have because they won't let us.

There is more oil, gas, and coal in the ground than has been pulled out in all of the years it has been harvested. The largest reserves of these resources in the world are located within our borders or just offshore.

What I can't understand is why Obama is so against us being energy independent, while he gives money to other countries to do exactly what he won't let us do here. 2 billion dolllars to Brazil to help them develop off shore oil drilling. He publicly announced we would be Brazil's biggest oil customer when they got up and running. Huh? Give our tax dollars to another country so that they can sell us oil? Here's an idea - don't give our money away, and let our companies drill here.

Alternative energy is coming, but is decades away from being replacements for oil, gas, and coal. The technology has to mature to make it usable on a large scale. Electric cars with 40 mile ranges aren't usable. Wind power is unreliable, and no one (not even eco-Nazis) want the wind farms in their back yard. Solar is inefficient, the collectors are far too large, and the eco-Nazis don't like them either (remember them objecting to a solar farm in the Mojave Desert?). Nuclear's future is uncertain - it has been almost impossible to get new reactors online in the past 30 years, and now with Japan ....

Drill, baby, drill.

It isn't a Tea Party catch phrase. It isn't crazy right wing extremist hate speech. It is common sense for the survival of our country.

I am sick and tired to paying far too much money for no legitimate reason. Come on, Obama - get the hell out of the way and let us use the resources God placed here for us to use!

As a sidebar to this, do you remember the last time gas hit 4 bucks a gallon? News coverage was non-stop. Our way of life was ending. Thousands were junking their cars and buying bikes. Cash for Clunkers. Worthless SUVs being given away. Waiting lists for hybrid or small cars. Where is that coverage now? Without the mainstream media whipping up a frenzy, we've hit that dollar tip point with little fanfare, and no panic. Did the media do this to spare us? Hell no - they did it because Obama is in office, and they want to do all they can to keep gas prices from being a negative for him as he faces re-election.

Update - Shell Oil has spent 5 years and 4 billion dollars planning to develop offshore oil drilling off the north coast of Alaska. 2.2 billion alone has been given to the Federal Government for the leases to drill on. An estimated 27 billion barrels of oil are within reach - that is 250 percent more than has flowed down the Alaska pipeline in its entire history to date. Shell's plans were to start drilling this summer.

Well, maybe not. Obama's EPA has shut it down. A 4 person EPA appeals board has ruled that drilling would violate air quality rules for a village of 125 people, located 70 miles from the drilling site. The ruling stated that Shell had not figured in emissions from an icebreaker used in exploration when determining the overall environmental impact. A computer model, produced by Earthjustice, an eco-Nazi organization leading the fight to stop the drilling permits, was the sole evidence considered, apparently.

The 4 people on this board are all registered Democrats, all appointed by Obama's EPA leadership, and one is a lead attorney for the environmental activist group Environmental Defense Fund.

4 people, one with an obvious conflict of interest, have stopped a multibillion dollar project that would have assured our independence from foreign oil imports, based on rigged 'science'. Thousands of jobs, and billions of dollars for the Alaska economy have been derailed. I will not put forth my opinion as to what should happen to these four eco-Nazis.

They Just Want To Contribute To American Society

The left in this country, in conjunction with illegal alien advocacy groups, want us all to believe that the flood of illegals coming across our southern border are just normal everyday folks who want to come to our country to contribute to our society. They want to work hard, they want to be part of our country. Their quest is noble. Anyone standing, or trying to stand, in their way is a racist Nazi. Anyone trying to enforce the evil laws of this country is to be chastised and run out of office.

Indeed, Obama's DHS and DoJ have gone to great lengths to neuter our immigration policy. It came to light this week that Border Patrol agents have been instructed not to apprehend anyone caught illegally entering this country - they are simply to be turned back in the other direction and politely asked to leave (and try again later).

A friend who lives in the beautiful desert southwest in Arizona, forwarded me these photos. They are of an area frequented by illegals for their trek northward. This is inside of the United States, approximately 1.5 miles from Tucson itself.

This is what these illegals think of our country and its laws.
If the left is so supportive of these folk's 'right' to come into this country without paperwork, without going through the legal process, then why isn't the left out there cleaning this up? Why aren't all those illegal alien advocacy groups out there taking care of this?

Let me get this across to all of you - I have nothing but respect for immigrants who come here legally, and leave when their time is up, or go throught he process to become a citizen. Can that process be shortened and streamlined - certainly. (I find it ironic that tests given for citizenship contain questions that 80% of high school students in this country can't answer - but that's another subject). If you come to this country with respect and go through the process, then you are welcome.

If you can't be bothered by obeying our laws, if you are too good to submit to the process, then go back home and stay there. I know that statement covers a lot of otherwise good people who just happen to be living here illegally. I'm sorry, but you are criminals, and you shouldn't be here. Especially if you are doing this to our land.

Obama's BP Slush Fund

As we hit the one year anniversary of 11 men losing their lives in the explosion on the Deepwater Horizon oil platform, I heard mention of this. It warrants some attention.

You will remember that Obama demanded that BP establish a $20 Billion fund to assist in the recovery from the disaster. BP had to give the money to the government, where it was to be controlled and dolled out by Obama's hand picked representative. No Congressional oversight, no input from BP itself, no accounting for the money. Obama and his minion had complete control of the money and how it was used.

I guess most of us would have thought that was a small amount of money, not nearly enough to cover the damages from the oil spill. Surely, much, much more would be needed as the Gulf States tried to recover.

As of yesterday, $3.8 Billion of that $20 Billion had been distributed by the government. Yes, less than 20 percent of that money has been distributed by the government.

Not exactly a headline in the mainstream media, is it?

So, what happens to the other 80% of the money that Obama demanded BP give up? Do you think he'll give it back to BP? Not a chance in hell. Will he distribute it completely to residents of the Gulf? No - he has had the chance to do that over the past year, and we see how much he has actually passed out so far.

What he has is a $16.2 Billion slush fund. Money he can do whatever he wants with, without anyone having any say or control over it. Just like the remaining hundreds of billions of dollars in the TARP fund, he's got a huge pile of money to dump on his pet projects and buy votes with.

Now, he won't be so blatant as to give it to his reelection campaign or other outright theft. He will funnel it to 'green' projects, or other social activist projects that line the pockets of his biggest supporters. He will buy votes with the money, plain and simple.

This money, along with the unspent TARP money, should go into the general fund to pay down debt - and not used for any other spending or purpose. We saw how much of an issue Congress and Obama had in cutting a tiny $38 Billion (or $352 million, depending upon who gives the figures) from the budget recently. Surely, cutting a couple of hundred billion out of our debt would be a good thing, right?

Not in Obamaland ...

Update 4/21 - Government officials and BP announced today that Obama and 5 Gulf States have agreed to take another billion dollars from BP to establish a fund to start restoration efforts in those states.

"This milestone agreement will allow us to jump-start restoration," states Ken Salazar, Obama's Interior Secretary.

$100 million will go to each state. $100 million will go to Salazar's Department of the Interior. NOAA will get $100 million. The Federal Government will get $300 million, for 'other projects'.

OK ... I ask again, what happened to the $16.2 billion from the original BP shakedown that hasn't been spent? Isn't restoration and recovery what that money was supposed to be for? Why is Obama sitting on it, and why is he demanding even more from BP?

Your Tax Dollars Paid For This

This is what Obama and his EPA thinks is a good use of our tax dollars. How can anyone in their right mind look (or listen) to this garbage and not understand how our government is throwing our money away? Unbelievable.

The Government Is Too Damned Big

We all know that government in this country has gotten way too big in recent years. Several things came to light this week in the wake of all the budget/shutdown crap flying around that really hit home on this subject:

22 million Americans work for government. The official population of the United States on April 1, 2010 was 308,745,538. That is an overall total, - men, women, and children of all ages. That means that one out of every 14 people in this country works for some form of government. It means that one out of every 8.4 people of working age in the United States works for some form of government.

(Disclaimer - these numbers are quoted as including civilian members of the DoD, but not including actual members of the military.)

The ONLY job sector that has shown growth since Obama has taken office is the Federal Government, which I understand has added approximately 250,000 people to its payroll since he ascended to his throne.

Everyone of these 22 million people draws a salary. They all get benefits - medical and insurance coverage (that exceeds what the vast majority of non-government workes get), retirements plans (which have all but disappeared in the private sector), and job security that has no rival in our society. Every bit of this is paid for by taxpayers.

Now, I acknowledge that these people pay taxes too. So, in essence, they are paying for themselves. Doesn't make it any easier to swallow for the rest of us.

In the hours leading up to the possible shutdown, Federal agencies are going through the motions of starting the shutdown. Folks who are deemed to not be essential will be furloghed. Now, that I find VERY OFFENSIVE. If we have people in the government who are not essential (and we have a great deal of them!) WHY THE HELL ARE THEY IN THE GOVERNMENT? WHY THE HELL ARE WE PAYING FOR THEM? I will agree that the definition of essential is subjective, and I would categorize quite a few more folks as essential in normal government operation than under a shutdown, but still ...

We have too many people in our government. We are spending too much money on those people. If you take the reported average salary of a federal government employee and apply it to those 22 million folks, the taxpayers of this country are outlaying somewhere in the neighborhood of 2.2 TRILLION dollars per year just on those salaries.

Many government employees are members of unions. As we have seen, any attempt to have government employees share some of the burden to rescue the financial disaster Obama has led us into results in immediate war with those unions. Apparently, one of the great perks of working for the government is that you are supposedly immune from what the rest of the country's citizens are suffering through.

There are a lot of generalizations in these statements - I acknowldege this. I have friends and relatives who are working for or have worked for government. I can't take a single brush stroke and categorize all of those 22 million folks. However, the issue is so large and so crippling for our country that it has to be recognized and addressed.

The Aliens Have Landed!

And no, I'm not talking about Obama and the Democrats (at least not this time) ...

Storm Chaser footage captured from South Dakota last July. Just another reminder that Mother Nature can kick our asses pretty much any time she wishes!

The Biggest Thief In The HIstory Of The World

Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) unveiled the Republican 2012 budget proposal. It uses many methods to cut appx. 6 trillion from federal government spending over the next 10 years.

Democrats are howling bloody murder, and they haven't even read it yet. What the proposal says doesn't matter - they will attack it, and they will lie about pretty much all of it to try and scare us of it.

What ought to scare us is the completely unsustainable money hemorrage our government has become. Democrats don't want to address it - they balk at even the smallest of proposed cuts. To them, they can spend whatever they want to, no matter if they can pay for it, and just push it out as debt that is somehow going to magically disappear later on. Paying for special interest programs, giveaways for Unions, explosive growth in government and regulation, more and more people completely reliant upon government handouts - the list of people and organizations they are giving billions of dollars to in order to secure their votes in enormous, and includes everyone except the taxpayers themselves. Apparently, the small minority of us who actually pay taxes in this country are supposed to provide everything for the majority, so they can sit on their asses for the rest of their lives in comfort.

At first glance, the cuts do seem massive, until you look at them overall. This proposal returns discretionary spending (not entitlements like Social Security or Medicare) levels to what we were spending in 2006, before Reid and Pelosi took over Congress. All of these massive cuts simply reverse the criminal theft of our money that has taken place since the mid-term election of 2006. It does not pay down the debt incurred by Reid/Pelosi/Obama. Even with all of these cuts, the debt is not reduced at all. To make meaningful reductions in our $14 Trillion debt (a debt that grows by over $1 Billion PER DAY!) would require spending cuts and tax hikes that would bankrupt the country.

Democrats are going to tell us that taking spending back to 2006 levels is going to kill babies by the thousands. Untold numbers of senior citizens are going to be dumped by the side of the road to die. Republicans are going to turn murder squads loose on poor people all across the country.

The CBO is estimating that even if all the cuts do take place, the country won't have a balanced budget until after 2030, and out debt won't be retired until after 2050. And that presumes the country keeps the will to keep reducing spending levels, instead of what government naturally does - grow.

CBO studies predict that Social Security will be completely broke by 2037. The only way to save it is to make drastic cuts in the entitlements distributed, or fundamentaly change how the system works. There are many more people drawing benefits than are paying into the system. It is completely unsustainable.

Medicare will be completely broke within the time frame of 2017 to 2030, depending upon what experts you listen to. What is certain is that the incredible waste and overpayments being made cannot be sustained. Medicare is a fraud and waste cash cow. Without substantial reform, it cannot survive.

We are in this mess because of Obama, Reid, Pelosi, and the far left lunatics that have been throwing away hundreds of billions of our dollars over the past 4 years. Their behavior is criminal, what they have done is nothing short of stealing money from us, the tax payers.

What do you call someone who steals $6 Trillion dollars from you? In this country, he is known as President Obama.

Dear Ms. Obama - Butt The F*** Out Of My Life

I read today, as I have for months, where all kinds of left leaning organizations are swooning over Michelle Obama's attempts to fight obesity in this country. Mainstream media is losing control of itself (as if it had any control in the first place) trying to heap praise on her.

I have a different take on it.

Dear Ms. Obama, mind your own business.

First, I want to state that I believe obesity is a very big (pardon the pun) problem in this country. The new norm is to be overweight. The supposed reasons for this are many, but pretty much boil down to what we eat and what we don't do (exercise). I am overweight. It is my fault. it is not a disease. It is not a social problem. It is my problem, one that is up to me to correct, if I choose to do so.

The far left in this country believes I am incapable of making that decision. They must take action because I can't make an informed decision. I am not as smart as they are - they know best for me. They will decide how much fat a restaurant serves me. They will decide how much salt I use. They will punish me through taxation if I choose to drink something that has sugar in it. They will monitor my weight through the use of electronic medical records and sharing, and the government monitoring provided for by Obamacare. I truly believe that they will consider my weight in the future when their agencies decide what medical treatments I am approved to have.

Ms. Obama - you can't even control your husband. He smokes, drinks, and grabs a greasy cheeseburger whenever he gets the chance. Hell, his first act as President was to direct the staff of Air Force One to cook him a cheesebuger and fries (recorded for a Discovery Channel special on the airplane). You can't stop him from doing it, and he's your husband, for God's sake ... What in the hell makes you qualified to threaten/regulate/control our entire society if you can't even keep your own family in line?

If you wish to use your position to educate our country, to inform them of the dangers of our weighty situation, that would be great. As First Lady, you have a wonderful platform to do it.

However, when you have made a crusade out of how the government is going to take control over what we eat and how we eat it, you have gone way too far.

Back off ...