Does God Help Your Team Win?

We are constantly bombarded by athletes on TV and radio (and the intenet) thanking God. "First of all, I want to Thank God". "I couldn't have done this without God". And on, and on.

Now I really don't have a problem with this. That is, as long as the athlete is thanking God for a proper reason. Thanks for keeping the athlete from injury. Thanks for keeping the competition safe. Thanks for giving the athlete the talent and skill to complete. Thanks for allowing the athlete to be there at all. Really no problem with that at all.

What I don't care for is athletes who Thank God for their victory. Who give thanks for helping them win over their competitors.

Or those who blame God when they don't win ...

Buffalo Bills' receiver Stevie Johnson dropped an easy touchdown catch in overtime this past weekend against the Pittsburgh Steelers. The catch would have won the game. The Steelers went on to win the game on their next possession. The Bills have been a hard luck team this season, and to be honest are just a bad football team. After the game, Johnson Tweeted to his fans and the world his feelings ...

"I Praise You 24/7, and this is how You do me?"

"You expect me to learn from this? How???"

"I'll never forget this. Ever"

Mr. Johnson has some serious problems if he is blaming God for his butter fingers that dropped that pass. I'm not going to criticize his beliefs, but mine tell me that God doesn't take sides in football games. Why should one team be worthy of His Mercy, and not the other?

Johnson has since released additional comments, trying to say the original comments were a joke. Sorry bud, I ain't buying that. If your ego tells you that you are important enough in the grand scheme of things that God takes a personal interest in your performance on the football field, then dude, I suggest you seek out a good therapist ... seriously ... you need some help.

DREAM Act Exposed

Reid and Obama are hurriedly trying to force the DREAM act through Congress' lame duck session. They know that if they wait until Republicans take control of the HOuse, DREAM will not happen - at least not in its current form.

Now I admit to not having known much about DREAM. I had heard some of the mainstream media reports that it establishes a path to legal citizenship for children of illegal immigrants, children who are working towards college degrees or are serving in the military. To me, that actually sounds pretty good.

Republicans have stood against it, and I couldn't understand why, unless it was just from being the Party of NO. It seemed to me that getting behind it would help, at least in small part, the GOP's standing with Hispanics.

Well, details of DREAM are coming out, and it is clear to see why it is objectionable.

Senator Jeff Sessions (R-AL) has authored an excellent article on "10 Things You Need to Know About S.3827, the DREAM Act". This is a real eye opener, and should be read by every American. It shows the real reasons behind DREAM and the Democrat push to get it quickly through Congress.

http://cfif.org/v/index.php/commentary/58-immigration/821-ten-things-you-need-to-know-about-s3827-the-dream-act

In addition, John Romano over at Yes, But However has written a piece exposing how DREAM is actually amnesty for illegals. Well worth the read.

http://yesbuthowever.com/wsj-misses-mark-50000145/

If you aren't fully versed on DREAM, if all you know is what the mainstream media and Democrat Congressional leadership have told you, you owe it to yourself to read these pieces and understand what they are trying to do. Read, then contact your congressional representatives and demand they stop DREAM.

Pissy-Leaks - Why Obama's Outrage Now?

This latest round of Wikileaks has caused the White House and State Department to finally try and get tough with the a*hole who is publishing all of these illegally obtained documents. Hillary Clinton is in full damage control on the airwaves, and flying around overseas like crazy trying to smooth diplomatic feelings over the contents of some of the leaked communications. Eric Holder has come out and sternly stated that if any criminal activity is connected with the leaks, his DoJ will fully invesitigate it. IF?????? Mr. Holder, do you not know that espionage is a crime?

Where have these morons, and their leader His Higness Obama, been? Where was the outrage over the previous leaks, which were centered around defense related documents? Why haven't they captured and jailed the accused rapist who runs the site? Why haven't they killed the site itself? (The technology to do that is certainly available - just ask the Chinese).

The answer is pretty simple, and it is disturbing. The previous leaks actually benefitted Obama and his policies. Anything that embarrasses America's military and the previous Administration is welcome. Those leaks must have had the White House laughing their butts off - and they made no attempt at all to curtail them.

What's changed with this latest round of leaks? Something rather big, it turns out. The majority of the State Department documents leaked have been produced by the Obama Administration and Clinton's Department of State - their efforts, their policies, their personnel. This time, the leaks embarass THEM, and it must be dealt with. Unfortunately for our country, they knew this was coming, they had plenty of warning, and they did nothing to stop it. Now they are in damage control, and not doing a very good job of it.

Some of what I've heard in this round of leaks is actually good information to have out. In no way do I condone the theft, but some of what has come out so far is good for the world to know (a little bit of it, anyway). Some bolsters US stance in the world. Some shows the incompetence of Obama and his policies, and the folks he chose to implement them. They're not laughing now that the egg is on their face, rather than across the Potomac.

They need to find this criminal, get him extradited here, try him, and lock him up for the rest of his life. Espionage. They need to find the person in the State Department that stole all of these documents and gave them to this jerk - and that person needs to rot in jail for the rest of their life. Someone needs to find out how documents classified as SECRET are being swiped by the thousands and provided to someone who uses them to attack our country.

Obama's Administration hasn't been too concerned with stopping this. After all, liberals rejoice in whistle-blowing and illegal information leaks. People who break laws to dump private information, no matter what the consequences, have always been heroes of the Far Left. Now that one of these leakers has hit the hero of the Far Left square in the 'nads, it will be interesting to see the reaction.

Update - Facts are coming to light that indicate Obama and his minions aren't that bothered by the leaks this time, either. The internet servers that mirror the leaker's web site (the locations from which pepople in the Western Hemisphere see the web site) are located in the US and owned by Amazon.com! The DNS that services the site, and the domain name registrar are also located in the US. This means that the DoJ has jurisdiction, and could shut the website down anytime they want to.

The government has proven it has thispower already, when it shut down multiple web sites accused of pirating copyrighted materials last week. They shut down the sites and siezed the domain names.

Apparently, Obama's government thinks protecting a Lady Gaga recording from being reproduced illegally is far more important than stopping this incredible leak of secret government communications and other documents. Says a lot about the Far Left's priorities, doesn't it?

Update II - I saw a comment from John Bolton, former US Ambassador to the UN. His supposition is why should we believe all of those leaked documents? There is nothing that would prevent this criminal and his buddies from throwing in a few fake ones. If they have digital copies of the originals, forging more to say whatever they want would be easy. Hidden amongst all the thousands of other ones, who would know? Their purpose is to embarass and damage the US and its allies - why not add a few fakes ones with really controversial stuff in them to stoke the fires a bit?

Tom Delay Guilty

Tom Delay was found guilty of money laudering by a Travis County jury. He faces up to life in prison.

Delay was a very powerful member of Congress, the Majority Leader. He was a political power broker, proud of his nickname 'The Hammer'. Those who were his friends basked in political power. Those who opposed him felt his wrath.

The incident which brought down his house was an incident where he funneled money from National Republican war chests to state level Republicans for their campaigns. Texas has a law which prohibits corporate money from being used in campaigns. A large amount of the national money was from corporations.

The Travis County DA, Ronnie Earle ( a longtime hated rival of Delay) brought an indictment against Delay for money laundering. Earle's motives were strictly political. The case was brought in Austin, the most liberal city in Texas. Delay fought to have the trial moved from Austin, but lost that effort - which ultimately caused his conviction. No where else in Texas would the Travis County DA have found such an anti-Republican jury pool.

Delay will appeal, and his chances are good to get the conviction overturned. Legal experts had pretty much agreed that it was a trumped up case, the prosecution was making a big stretch trying to apply money laundering charges to political donations. But, who knows. This mess has stretched on since 2002, and could continue for years through the appeal process.

I believe the case was a political strike by vindictive Democrats against a powerful enemy Republican. They were wrong to prosecute this.

However, I am glad Delay has fallen. ????

You may be surprised by that, given my card carrying membership in the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy.

Delay was a political power broker. His goal always was to accumulate more political power, and to exercise that power. He didn't have the State of Texas' interests at heart when he was in Washington. He had Tom Delay's interests at heart. He was a textbook example of a power politician - power junkies who get off on power and control, and will do just about anythying to gain and keep that power.

I can't stand people like that.

That's why I hate the Clintons, and the likes of Nancy Peolsi. These people live and breathe power. They want control. They want to be 'worshipped' (yes, worship is the correct word to use). They want to rule, they want to tell others what they have to do, and they want the means ot punishing anyone who stands in their way. Their ultimate goal is to sit on a throne (real or imagined) and look down on everyone else.

They are elected officials, who are supposed to be serving us and our country. Instead, they use us and the country as a ladder to feed their own egos.

Obama Gets A Fat Lip

President Obama was on the receiving end of an elbow thrown during a basketball game, requiring a dozen stitiches to close.

There is absolutely no truth to the internet rumor (being pushed by MSNBC/Keith Olbermann/Michael Moore/George Soros) that it was a Vast Right Wing Conspiracy behind the attack.

No truth at all that he was playing with Rush Limbaugh, Dick Cheney, George Bush, Glenn Beck, and Sean Hannity in a game of 3 on 3. No truth at all that Sarah Palin and daughter Bristol were on the sideline leading cheers. No truth at all that The Tea Party was selling raffle tickets, winner getting to sub in at the next timeout ....

Photo Credit AP

The Force Is With Us

John Force won his 15th NHRA Funny Car Championship a couple of weekends ago at the season ending event out in Pomona, CA. Force entered the event trailing points leader Matt Hagan by 38 points. Since each round of eliminations is worth 20 points, Force had to go two more rounds than Hagan to come from behind and win the title.

Hagan lost a close race in the first round. Force went on to win the event, clinching the championship in style.

John Force is the most recognizable and most popular driver in drag racing. His boisterous style causes fans to either love him or hate him. His teamates love him, his competitors pretty much all hate him - though there is a lot of respect. You don't have to like someone to respect their accomplishments.

Force runs a racing empire. His son-in-law, Robert Hight, drives one of his team cars, and won the championship last year. His daugher, Ashley, drives a team car, and is a very talented driver. Another daughter, Courtney, is in the sportman categories, and will be testing in a Funny Car soon (a car with her name on it was displayed at Pomona).

Force has also endured a lot ot pain and tragedy. Eric Medlen, a young driver full of promise, died in a Force team car during a practice run. Force himself barely survived a horrific crash in Dallas two years ago. At age 62, John is decades older than almost all of the competitors trying to knock him off. How many more years will he run? He says he will as long as he can still win. The way he's going, retirement won't be for another decade or so!

Force has had more than his share of 'moments' during his career. Here are a couple, leading off with the Dallas crash that came very close to ending that career.

NASCAR Hates This Guy Even More

Jimmy Johnson won his fifth consecutive NASCAR Championship today, defeating his two closest competitors (Denny Hamlin and Kevin Harvick).

Oh boy ...

The NASCAR world goes ... YAWN ...

NASCAR ratings continue to fall. Popularity continues to drop. Fans continue to lose interest. Why? Because a guy most fans can't stand has dominated the sport for 5 years now.

To Mr. Johnson, this is what I think of your achievement - to quote a famous Frenchman (as heard in the classic cinematic masterpiece "Monty Python and the Holy Grail") ...

"I fart in your general direction"

WTF Fashion Statement Seen Today

In my years I have seen some wild fashion trends come and go among teenagers. However, something I saw today outside a Wally World has to take the prize as the strangest I have ever seen. I saw this, had to look again, and had to look a third time to make sure I saw what I thought I saw ...

3 mid-teens, 15 or 16 maybe. Two boys and a girl. Dressed goofy, with Converse high tops, multicolored knee socks, old style beenie baseball caps tilted off to one side. No cigarettes or visible piercings, thank goodness.

All three have pacifiers in their mouths.

Yes, baby pacifiers. Blinkies. Fautzees.

They pull them out to talk to each other, then plug them right back in. I truly wish I had a camera with me, I would have not hesitated.

I really don't know what to say ...

Ready for TSA to Grab Your Junk and Microwave It?

The current outrage over the TSA's new body scanning and pat down regulations has me fuming, but maybe not for the reasons that immediately come to mind.

DHS Nazi-In-Chief Napolitano and TSA Head Inquisitor Pistole are trying to convince us that these more stringent regulations are necessary to keep us safe. Granted, these methods MAY prevent incidents like the underwear bomber ... and notice I said MAY. Threats from terrorists are always evolving - it is a deadly game where they make a move, we counter move. We are always playing catchup, because no matter how much we hate the people who want to kill us, we must realize that they (at least the head guys) are pretty damn smart.

So, do we need more security? More TSA agents standing around looking like potted plants? More old ladies and babies being frisked? Not exactly.

What we need is better security.

Better security requires going after the terrorists themselves, not going after what they are trying to smuggle onto a plane.

How do you do that? Well, besides the spook work that takes place where we don't know about it, there are measures that can actually take place at the airport. What are they?

PROFILING

The fact that we in the US do not legally allow any type of profiling is ludicrous. To say that a young man of obvious Middle-Eastern heritage should receive no more scrutiny than a 90 year old white grandma from Iowa is insane. Yet, we are forced to do it, to remain politically correct. To look at them differently violates civil rights. Just plain insanity ...

We should take hints at air travel security from the Isrealis. They've been doing it seriously for a lot of years now, and they are very good at it. Their primary concern isn't for civil rights, their primary concern is keeping their citizens and their aircraft safe.

Isreali security is in charge of screening for all El Al flights. They are also in charge of screening for passengers bound for or flying out of Isreal. They write and enforce the rules. They use profiling as their primary tool. I have been to Isreal once, on business. I was subjected to a thorough 30 minute 'interview' before I was allowed to get onto a US owned airplane to fly OUT of the country. This wasn't anything special. People who fit certain profiles were automatically pulled aside for such interviews. Certain people who fit more suspicious profiles got longer 'interviews'. There was nothing personal about it. It was not abusive. It was intense, purposeful, and professional. You trip up on your answers, or your answers lead to more questions, and you got taken to another area for a much longer interview (thankfully, I was not selected for this priviledge). These people knew exactly what they were doing, what they were looking for. Every look, every question, every movement had a very specific reason. It all starts with profiling to identify those who should receive this level of screening ...

Now, I'm not saying we should curtail civil rights. I truly hate it when the government tells me to do something, and I would not want to be on the wrong end of profiling. However, what we are doing violates everyone's civil rights equally, and its effectiveness is debatable. I'm not saying we should to to the extreme of the Isreali model, but to handicap our security efforts by not even being able to mutter the word 'profile' is insane. Insane. Insane .....

Common Sense Statement On Government Spending

"The national budget must be balanced. The public debt must be reduced; the arrogance of the authorities must be moderated and controlled. Payments to foreign governments must be reduced, if the nation doesn't want to go bankrupt. People must again learn to work, instead of living on public assistance."

This simple but clear statement regarding the out of control spending going on in our government is right on target. Who said this?

John Boehner
Rush Limbaugh
Sarah Palin
Ronald Reagan
George Bush
Glenn Beck


No on all of the above. This statement is attributed to Marcus Tellius Cicero, a Roman scholar who lived from 106-43 BC. The Roman empire didn't pay much attention to him, and look at what eventually happened to them ...

Hydrogen Car In Your Future? Consider This

Hydrogen powered cars are one of the exciting new oil-free technologies that are being explored right now. Let me say up front that even though I do not consider oil to be evil, it is clear that alternative fuels need to be developed over the coming years. There are billions and billions of barrels of oil still in the ground (more than we've already pulled out is still down there), but eventually it will get too expensive to get to. Clean power will also help our environment considerably.

I know ... those of you who have read this blog for a while may be shocked at those statements, but I truly believe them.

Hydrogen is a gas. It burns clean. It is plentiful, since it is one of the elements that make up water. Many of you will have seen images of cute little cars sporting 'hydrogen powered' decals on them. Like this:


The reality of hydrogen powered vehicles for public use may be more along the lines of this - something big, very well protected, not vulnerable to normal traffic fenderbenders:


Hydrogen is extremely flamable, and very easy to ignite. I have a difficult time seeing a future of small, cute hydrogen powered vehicles filling the highways. They will be involved in collisions. They will be split open, because small cars just don't have much protection around the propulsion system, not matter what the fuel is. What in the world is going to keep the hydrogen fuel cell from cooking off and incinerating everyone within a hundred yards? Drive a huge armored vehicle? That's the only way I'm getting into a hydrogen powered vehicle.

To all you eco-nazis who feel I am being a paranoid tool of big oil, I give you this as a shining example of a hydrogen vehicle's encounter with a spark .... the Hindenburg.

It's Just A House

Can you call an inanimate object a friend? If so, I told one goodbye today.

I set foot in my parent's house of over 40 years for what was probably the last time. My father is no longer with us, my mother has moved to downsize - the house was just too much for her to keep up with. The last several months have seen us cleaning, moving, throwing away, and repairing it in preparation to sell. I never knew how much stuff a family could accumulate over the course of 40 years until it had to all be gone through and distributed/disposed of. It was a long process, sometimes putting us at odds with each other. But it seems to be finished now. The house stands empty, awaiting the final papers to be signed so the new owner can take the keys.

My parents designed the house themselves in 1969. It saw me and my siblings through our formative years. It was our first 'real' home - being Air Force and airline brats, we had spent our lives to that point in apartments or rentals in different locations. 40 Thanksgivings ... 40 Christmas celebrations ... those walls saw an awful lot of joy, and some sadness. My father drew his last breath there, comforted in the knowledge that he was 'home' and not in a hospital bed.

The emotional impact of severing ties with the structure eluded me until today. There has been so much to do that it was easy to not concentrate on what we were actually doing. Until today. The last pieces moved out, I stood alone inside of it, and the impact was suddenly there.

I looked around. It had never looked so empty. I looked outside at the area where we had returned so many of our beloved pets to the earth, and cried. I know in my head that their spirit, their essence, is long gone, but in my heart it hurts.

I close the door and lock it, start the truck, and for one last time, back down the winding, narrow, tree lined driveway way too fast - as I had done a thousand times before. For the last time ...

It's just a house. I keep telling myself, it's just a house ...