Have a Tissue Handy ....

This has to be one of the most powerful, saddest images I've ever seen ...

Petty Officer Jon Thomas Tumilson was one of the service members who lost their lives when the Chinook helicopter was shot down in Afghanistan on Aug. 6. Tumilson was a SEAL.

Petty Officer Tumilson's funeral was this past Friday. From The Des Moines Register:

"Family members followed Tumilson's ribbon winning Labrador retriever, Hawkeye, into the service. Hawkeye later accompanied his new owner, Tumilson's close friend, to the stage, where the Lab dutifully dropped to the floor to listen."



I'm having a hard time writing this ...

Courtesy of This Ain't Hell, via Outlaw13 ...

Maxine Waters - Racist Hate Monger

Maxine Waters (D-CA) is a real piece of work.

Last week, she verbally attacked her savior, President Obama, for not being liberal enough to satisfy the people she cares about - blacks, latinos, and union members.

She also used a 'rally' to voice her opinion of the Tea Party. Notice that a good number of people in the audience are wearing purple SEIU (union) T-Shirts. This little gem was recorded on Aug. 20 at a 'community rally' in Inglewood, CA.

And Democrats have the gall to complain that the Tea Party's complaints about government size and spending are 'hate speech'?









Oh ... a question for Maxine. If you hate white people and conservatives so much, why do you insist on wearing that stupid looking white lady's wig?

Update - Mainstream media coverage of this incident has not exactly covered this up, but neither has it come down on Waters hard. Most talking head pundits on the left try to explain it away as understandable rage against the evil Tea Party and how its radical hatred of all minorities is somehow equal to Nazi Germany. Its like 'yes, she shouldn't have said that, but we understand why she did'.

More double standard. Can you imagine what we would be hearing if a conservative, white Republican stood up in front of a bunch of supporters and yelled "The NAACP can go straight to Hell"?

NOTE: I don't mean this posting to sound racist. It is very difficult to complain about a racist and the injustice of a double standard, without sounding like a racist in the process. I don't care who it is or what they are attacking, speech like this from any elected politician is unacceptable. It just really pisses me off that the left gets away with it, with just a nod and a wink,wink from the media that loves them so much. If a Republican had done something like this, every media outlet in the country except for Fox News would be screaming in outrage for their immediate resignation.

A Real Man's Car, Updated

As I posted back in March, Steve McQueen's Porsche 911 was put up for auction. It sold at a Monterey, CA auction on Aug. 19th. The selling price was $1,375,000.

Similar cars, without McQueen's pedigree, sell in the $50,000 range.

The car appeared briefly at the beginning of McQueen's movie Le Mans, with him driving it through the French countryside.

This continues to prove the perceived worth of McQueen's legacy. 4 years ago, a 1963 Ferrari 250 once owned by the late actor sold for $2,300,000, about five times what it would have sold for without his name connection.

Men on Football - Rejoice, Football Is Back!

Several cable channels have been showing reruns of 'In Living Color', Keenan Ivory Wayans' comedy sketch program from the early 90s. A lot of it looks juvenile now, but there was some serious comedic insanity turned loose on us back then. Homey the Clown ... if you don't know who that character is, you owe it to yourself to go out and youtube him.

For daughter unit, who had never seen the program and didn't understand it, I present the funniest comedy sketch I believe I have ever seen. Damon Wayans and David Alan Grier starring in "Men on Football", January 1992.

This skit aired during halftime of Superb*wl XXVI, on a competing network. I couldn't believe what I was seeing when it was live.

Welcome back football, it's good to see you again!

Perry For POTUS

I am ecstatic that Rick Perry is running for President. Republicans all over this country should be as well. Having this man in the White House would go a long way towards getting our country back on the road to recovering from Obamageddon.

We're going to learn a lot about him over the coming months. We're going to hear a lot of negative about him, mostly made up political bullshit. Count on it - Dems are already attacking him, for they know he is a serious threat to them.

I invite you to read the text of his announcement speech in South Carolina. It is just a speech, but it is a very good one. (Don't discount the impact of speeches in this campaign - remember, an empty suit talked his way into the White House in 2008 by reading pretty speeches someone else wrote off of a teleprompter!)

Here's a snippet:

"In America, the people are not subjects of the government. The government is subject to the people. And it is up to us, to this present generation of Americans, to take a stand for freedom, to send a message to Washington that we're taking our future back from the grips of central planners who would control our healthcare, who would spend our treasure, who downgrade our future and mico-manage our lives."

full text at:

www.rickperry.org/news/text-gov-rick-perry-presidential-announcement-remarks/

Is Ethanol Turning NASCAR Green?

NASCAR is using an ethanol blend fuel this year at its races. A special blend of high octane E85 (15% ethanol, 85% gas) is being used. It is being touted as part of NASCAR's push towards a more green footprint. That push is part legitimate effort, part public relations.

An expected, but not publicized result of this has been a reduction of fuel mileage by about 15% in NASCAR races. A car that used 100 gallons of gasoline last year uses 115 gallons of E85 this year to go the same distance.

NASCAR will start using fuel injection next year. After decades of staying with antiquated, but well understood carburetors on its engines, teams will be forced to go to the large expense of changing to injectors. One of the selling points the series is using for this change is an increase in fuel mileage of about 15%.

So, fuel consumption comes out as the same as it was last year, before E85 signed a marketing agreement with NASCAR. A 'greener' solution would have been to use gasoline with injection, resulting in higher mileage ad lower fuel use.

It just strikes me as ironic that with all this green and high technology going into the sport, the end result is a wash, fuel wise ...

Some Suggestions For The Super Committee

The members of the Super Committee, the folks who are tasked with coming up with 1.5 trillion dollars in spending cuts before Thanksgiving, have been announced:

Senate:
John Kyl (R-AZ)
Rob Portman (R-OH)
Pat Toomey (R-PA)
Patty Murray (D-WA)
John Kerry (D-MA)
Max Baucus (D-MT)

House:
Chris van Hollen (D-MD)
Xavier Beccera (D-CA)
James Clyburn (D-SC)
Jeb Hensarling (R-TX)
Dave Camp (R-MI)
Fred Upton (R-MI)

Their task is monumental, and they have been set up for failure before they even start. Failure is what Democrats are hoping for - if an agreement does not come out of the committee that cuts the requisite amount of spending, then that much gets cut automatically, with about half of it coming out of the Pentagon.

Well, not that they will pay attention, but here are some common sense items that would serve well as a starting point. I don't know if doing these would add up to 1.5 trillion, but they certainly are a waste of our money. I'm going to put these in general categories:

Foreign Relations:

Cut contributions/payments to the United Nations by 50%. Half of the money we give to that corrupt den of thieves is lost to waste, fraud, or outright theft. If they complain, invite them to leave and find somewhere else to infest.

Cut off all foreign aid to any country that is recognized as a state sponsor of terrorism, a violator of human rights, or is actively engaged in efforts detrimental to United States' interests.

Cut off all aid to any country that invests in United States' debt. It is simply a waste for us to give money to countries that turn right around and loan it back to us, with interest.

Cut off all humanitarian and monetary aid to countries like those in Africa, who constantly drain millions of dollars from us without any tangible result. Aid can be restarted when governments of those countries prove that the aid is being used for its intended purpose.

Elimination of all overseas grants/payments to any country or entity supporting the exploration or production of energy resources, unless the United States is guaranteed dollar for dollar compensation in free energy supply, plus interest.

Federal Government:

Immediate cut of 10% of the Federal Government work force, excluding uniformed military personnel.

Immediate 10% pay cut for all Federal Government employees, excluding uniformed military personnel.

Immediate rollback of all pay increases and bonuses received by Federal employees over the past 3 years, excluding uniformed military personnel.

Immediate staff reduction for all members of Congress by 25%. Elimination of all publicly funded positions related to political affiliation, electioneering, and fund raising.

Elimination of all personnel and expenditures in NASA on projects not specifically related to AERONAUTICS and SPACE.

Elimination of the National Endowment for the Arts.

National Institute of Health - strict oversight by an independent, bi-partisan, even split Congressional panel that will specifically authorize any and all expenditures for research and other programs. Complete elimination of any expenditures for anything outside United States' borders.

Elimination of all subsidies provided to manufacturers of any product, unless that product is declared to be an essential foodstuff. No more oil and gas subsidies, no more dollars for corn/ethanol producers.

Elimination of the Department of Homeland Security. Get the functions back to the organizations where they can be done correctly and efficiently. Stop wasting tons on money on this bureaucratic mess.

Elimination of the TSA. Replace with proven, private security contractors for a much more cost effective, efficient security screen.

Elimination of all funding/aid for illegal aliens.

Eliminate taxpayer funding for fundraising/electioneering trips by politicians. If a trip by a politician contains ANY fundraising efforts, the cost of the entire trip, including support and security, must be paid for by that politician or his/her party.

Overseas trips by Executive and Congressional staff members to be limited to essential personnel only at taxpayer expense. Subject to independent audit by Congress, with prison based penalties for infractions.

Limits on the number of vacation days the President/Vice President can take per year. Limits on the number of those days that can be spent outside United States' borders. Violations to be paid for in their entirety by the politician or his/her party.

Elimination of tax payer funded vacations by White House staff or families, unless the President is participating.

Top to bottom review of Defense, with a mandatory cut of 10% of total spending. There is that much or more waste and rendundancy in that budget that can be eliminated.

Complete elimination of base line budgeting and automatic COL increases to any Federal budget department/item.

Elimination of cost plus contracts signed by the government and contractors. All contracts should be fixed price, with bonuses and penalties for early/late delivery.


Entitlements:

Increase Social Security and Medicare retirement ages to 67.

Increase the dollar cap on Social Security payroll taxes to 200,000.

Immediate rollback of Obamacare in its entirety. A few of the provisions in it are worthy of consideration - they should be brought before Congress for debate and vote as seperate legislative items.

Taxes:

Complete overhaul of the US Federal tax code. Lower tax rates across the board, with elimination of almost all deductions. Increasing the tax base into lower income brackets, so that the 50% of the population that currently pay no income tax will pay a proportionate level of tax. Elimination of any tax 'refunds' to anyone that does not pay any tax. Elimination of loopholes that allow individuals and corporations to avoid paying all or a mojority of the taxes they should. Elimination of offshore tax shelters and entities that allow money to be improperly shileded from taxes.

Cut the IRS by 50%. Aggressive simplification of the tax code and enforcement will make half of that agency redundant.

That is by no means a complete list, but just a starting point to the cuts that need to be made to get our fiscal house in order. Being realistic, almost none of these items would make it through the committee.

The Most Intelligent Thing To Ever Come Out Of Barney Frank

Listen closely at the 4 second mark of this clip. 'Nuff said ...



Update - Somehow Barney the dinosaur convinced youtube that the video was a hoax. Info I have seen indicates it is not. In any case, Barney got his panties in a wad enough to convince them to pull the video. You can still see it if you want to, just go to youtube and search "Frank Farts". I do have one question - if it is a fake, why did MSNBC pull the original as well?

Mr. Obama, Please Listen To This

Mr. Obama, if you are out there, please listen to this lady. She is one of those small business owners you are targeting with taxes, regulations, oversight, and threats. She is one of those you demand start hiring and spending money in order to bail out your economic mess. Listen to her. She's not a political hack. She is someone trying to survive in your economy. Listen to her and please understand that hers is the message of small business in this country.

Economic Meltdown?

A couple of years ago I ventured in this blog that a financial day of reckoning for this country was approaching. Well, it may not be a single day occurence, but it may indeed have just arrived.

S&P's decision to downgrade the US debt rating from AAA to AA+, in spite of the 'bipartisan' deal to expand the debt ceiling, has shocked the Obama Administration, and is shaking world financial markets to their foundations. Economists all across the globe are now seriously concerned about another recession, perhaps depression. If you listen to them, the message is clear - the United States government has to cut spending. This is the first time in history that US debt is not held the top rating available.

Obama's gang has accused S&P of misrepresenting Obama's debt projections in reaching their decision. What S&P did was not fall for the smoke and mirrors bullshit that Obama has been feeding to the country.

All we hear about in the mainstream media about the debt ceiling deal is how Republicans shafted
Democrats and the people by cutting spending drastically. Republicans raped the country, and is was only through Obama's bipartisan super-heroics that a deal was made. We are being led to believe that Democrats across the country are pissed at Obama for caving in. This is crap, formulated to win over independent voters by convincing them Obama is the voice of reason.

What the deal did was this: raise the debt ceiling by 2.4 trillion dollars. This is money Obama can spend immediately, and without control. Indeed, almost half of that money was spent THE VERY NEXT DAY!

It also gives the illusion of meaningful spending reductions. 1.2 trillion cut over the next 10 years, none of which is guaranteed to happen - since all of those cuts must be enacted by future versions of Congress. Even if fully enacted, this amounts to considerably less than a 10% cut.

The overall effect of the 'spending cuts' and raised debt limit reached in this deal is to add 7.4 trillion in debt to this country over the next 10 years, according to the CBO.

It also drops the spending cut ball into the lap of 12 Senators and Representatives, the Super Committee, which is charged with finding 1.5 trillion dollars in additional spending cuts by this coming Thanksgiving. Given that Dems and Republicans will stack this committee with folks who will be inflexible in their beliefs, guaranteeing that the committee will deadlock and not get anything done. If that happens, if the committee does not come up with the full amount of cuts, then an automatic cuts will occur. The automatic cuts will cut an immediate 500,000,000,000 from the Pentagon budget (not quite half of the Pentagon's entire budget), and cut Medicare reimbursement payments to providers by almost that much. (These automatics were inserted into the deal by Democrats). Dems are salivating over this - there is nothing more they could ask for than having Defense eviscerated in order to fund their social programs. Dems also love the idea of sticking it to doctors and hospitals by cutting medicare reimbursements (again), while keeping coverage requirements the same.

The whole world, even Vladimir Putin, is now telling Obama that what he is doing is insane and needs to be reveresed immediately. His Higness won't listen. His ego won't let him. His liberal indoctrination won't let him. His economic advisors, made up of academic eggheads with no real world experience, refuse to admit that their brand of economics has never worked, and can never work.

There is no question that serious adjustments to how this country operates must be made. The only question is how much longer will we leave these a*holes in power, where they will continue to block any serious attempt to turn us around.

Update - Amid GOP demands for Tim Geithner's resignation in the wake of this downgrade, Obama has come out with a strong endorsement of his Secretary of the Treasury. Unbelievable. Geithner is inept, pretending he has the knowledge and wisdom to control this country's economy. He is way out of his league. He couldn't even keep track of his own taxes, and now he's running our economy? We'd do better with no leadership rather than this 'leadership'.

Update II - Noted economic wizard Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) came out over the weekend and blamed the S&P downgrade on Tea Party extremism. Wow ... just what the hell is this idiot smoking? Actually, he's like all Democrats - complete denial that their policies are the cause of the problem. This is a perfect indicator of why there will be no meaningful attempt to correct this mess as long as they are in power.

S&P is predicting that the US national debt will reach $21 trillion in less than 10 years, if spending continues at the current pace. That does not factor in Obamacare or any additional spending Congress comes up with in the next decade. If S&P does not see significant effort by the US government to cut spending, further reductions in credit ratings are assured. One very nice byproduct of a lowered rating is that the US government will have to pay more in higher interest on the money that it continues to borrow - thereby increasing the debt even further.

Update - On a day that saw the Dow drop 633 points, Democrats, led by the Obama Administration, are putting up a united front. The S&P downgrade and all the results are completely due to the Tea Party. They don't for a minute believe that, they just will not admit they are wrong. There is nothing in their makeup or ego that will allow them to admit they are wrong. So, they blame the folks who actually are trying to do something about it.

Listen to what the S&P folks stated as to their reasoning for the downgrade. It is because of out of control spending by our government. They didn't put the Tea Party's insistence on spending cuts to be part of the debt ceiling negotiation anywhere on the list of reasons. They didn't list the debt ceiling limt as a factor at all - it is simply because Obama is completely out of control.

John Boehner and the Republicans in the House should immediately start impeachment proceedings in order to stop this lunatic.

Update - Obama's word has come down from his throne. The Tea Party is completely and totally to blame for this. Every Democrat and left wing politician, political hack, talking head, and kook in the country has been told to blame the Tea Party, and they are doing it. Hell, even world economic authority Al Sharpton led off his MSNBC program today with the headline 'It's the Tea Party's Fault, and we have to stop them'. (Yes, Al Sharpton has a show on MSNBC - you are forgiven if you did not know that - no one knows it except for the MSNBC viewing audience, which was under a half dozen people nationwide as reported during the last ratings period).

Obama's America - In A Nutshell

During a recent lunch with daughter unit at a Subw*y, I saw a small incident that really epitomized Obama's vision of America - the America he is well on his way to creating, the America he thinks is utopia.

African-American lady in her mid to late 20s walks in. She is dressed in business attire, and is carrying what appears to be her lunch in a sack. She walks directly to the cash register, bypassing the line of folks waiting for their sandwich orders. "Gimme a glass of water," she states to the lady behind the register. No 'please', no 'may I have' ...

Subw*y employee lady hands her a clear plastic cup, the one they use for water. "Gimme a lid," is the next demand. She is handed a lid, at which point she walks to the drink machine, fills the cup with ice and water, and walks out. No thank you for the employees, no recognition they did her a favor by providing her a drink without her purchasing anything.

Here you have a person who thought she was entitled to walk in and demand that someone else provide them something without paying anything for it, or even recognizing the effort to provide it to them. No recognition that Subw*y had spent money providing that cup of water to her - not much money, granted, but money nonetheless.

This is what Obama and his 'progressive' Democrats have created and continue to pursue in this country. An attitude borne by about half of the citizens (and non-citizens) that they are entitled to receive money, goods, and services without charge. An attitude, a way of life that tells them that if its free to them, they don't care who pays for it.

Way to Man Up, Cowgirls!

Rob Ryan, Defensive Coordinator of the Dallas Cowboys, stirred up a controvery this week. In response to the hated Philly Iggles signing some top rated players recently, Ryan (without specifically naming the Iggles) stated to the press that the Cowboys would beat the asses of the 'All Hype' team.

Everyone in the Cowboys organization, from the owner on down, have distanced themselves from that comment. Apparently in this new post lockout NFL, you are not actually allowed to say anything that might possibly be misinterpreted as a slight/insult/inflammatory comment towards any of your competitors.

Rob and his brother Rex (head coach of the Jets) are loud mouthed, opinionated, honest to a fault, in your face competitors. These twins are the sons of ex-coach Buddy Ryan, one of the most hated, reviled competitors the Cowboys ever faced. They are very much their father's sons. The things that make them hated if they are against you are what make you love them if they are on your side.

The Cowgirls need some attitude. They sucked last year, in large part because of a 'who gives a shit' cupcake attitude that started with their head coach. Now they've got someone with a proper 'football attitude', and they're acting as if he is a leper.

I want to see more of this. I want to see more of the attitudes from the glory days, where Cowboys hated Iggles, hated Redskins, hated Gignats. By God, this is supposed to be football, where you are trying to destroy the other team physically, and then score points to win. It is not supposed to be playing tea party, with pink tutus and pinkys extended while sitting across the table from your enemy.

Photo credit AP