On November 7, 2011 · Comments Off
Simple Analysis 4.0 beta draft #1!
100% digital, done with the GIMP this time around. A little tongue and cheek prod at both Apple and Occupy Wall Street’s worship of Apple products while vilifying the very foundation of what Apple is; a multi-national corporation that has outsourced American manufacturing. Yes, Apple builds stuff in China too… They are a regular computer company that imports components and uses cheap labor costing Americans jobs… Just like that evil Microsoft and IBM.
Really, if they truly were devout in their Socialism, they’d run Linux devices. Every single one of them, but they aren’t smart enough to (well, some have got to be… but in general…).
On October 24, 2011 · Comments Off
Once again, GWOT Veterans are in the cross hairs of the very government they served to protect YOUR liberties… When you sit and read the articles, keep in mind how easy it would be to construe a wounded Veteran from recent operations in Iraq who loves to be prepared and live outdoors showing up at a surplus store. Having been wounded, and losing limbs, they can easily be ‘profiled’ according to the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force handout as a domestic terrorist. This after MIAC, and the DHS Report in 2008. BOHICA!
David Codrea’s Gun Rights Examiner article: http://www.examiner.com/gun-rights-in-national/fbi-adds-preppers-to-potential-terrorists-list?CID=examiner_alerts_article
PDF of the FBI handout to Colorado Surplus stores… ColoradoFBISurplusStore
On July 25, 2011 · Comments Off
After listening to President Obama’s speech about the need to increase the debt ceiling today, I’m pretty flabbergasted at the stupidity of some of the things he said. Primarily the idea that money was ‘spending money on tax cuts’. This is the dumbest thing I heard the President say during his speech. How do you spend money on tax cuts? What tax cuts are, is taking in less revenue to begin with, not spending said revenue. How do you spend more by taking in less income? It makes no sense to me, but then I’m not a Washington double speaker from Chicago.
A “Cuts only Approach” is certainly a solid plan. Our tax structure is fine, and if there is reform needed, its a flat tax in which 100% of the working population pays the exact same percentage of their income no matter how much they make… This has worked in European countries rife with corruption and debt to reduce both factors considerably (Estonia for example, less tax evasion as result of everyone paying the same percentage… Its honestly easier to enforce!). But I digress… I’m getting out of my own personal debt. Sure, I tried to increase my revenue by taking another job or two (part time), but that doesn’t work as well, in fact I suffer more tax consequences as a result of that due to the tax bracket I’m in and how much is with-held (or not, and will be due come next April, thank you State of Alaska Dept. of Forestry for not with holding like I filled out on my paperwork for you to do…). Since that didn’t work, I’m taking steps that are nothing less than that evil “Cuts Only Approach” the President so fears. For my personal debt, it makes no sense to keep spending money if I want out of debt and have the same income. The same applies to Governments. Money, unlike Diplomacy, works the exact same be it be the microscopic personal economics of my home budget; or the macroeconomic international economics of the US Government. You are only worth your Income minus Liabilities.
Currently, our nation (and sadly my personal budget) has more liabilities than income. Best way to fix the problem is get rid of the liabilities as increasing the revenue gained will result in more disasters economically. Why do we need so many redundant US government programs? Why not let the States do that much better? Why should the US bail out failed business models such as the US auto and banking industries which would be better left to go ‘bust’ and allow the well built companies to continue to thrive? TARP just drew out the economic pain longer. We should have let them fail, accepted the pain then, and found ourselves recovering now. Any time the government steps in to take over, whatever it touches is tainted.
Honestly, with the mission in Iraq about complete its time to get our guys out of there. In Afghanistan, we should leave a skeleton presence as any nation that has tried to ‘tame’ that nation has ended up collapsing… Time to just let the Afghani’s determine their own fate (and sadly, its going to end up going back to the Warlords, as it has just about every time in that nations history). Another reality, is why are we even bothering with Libya? Really, our NATO allies who have all just about failed in their NATO obligation to spend at least 2% of their GDP can worry about it, or not. Other than letting CIA loose, we need our troops home from that mission as well. If any region in Africa needs our attention, its the piracy problem off the coast of Somalia (fixed by arming the US Merchant Marine Sailors, and letting the Green Berets, Rangers, SEALs and CIA have a heyday in Mogadishu again…). On top of that, the Army and Air Force don’t need NASCAR vehicles running races wasting our dollars on the track for ‘recruiting’. There are indeed places we could cut the military budget without compromising the current operations that are critical to our nation’s security.
This along with other cuts across the board, to include all the pet projects that Congress created for their constituents… No more pork! Cut everything but the REAL essentials! Stop wasting money! Its simple stupid.
On February 15, 2011 · Comments Off
…or MRARANOD (pronounced Murrrahh-NOD)!
15FEB2011
Yet another reason to follow El Al’s example of screening from the moment people show up at the airport and observing their actions up until they board instead of the screening we currently have in place now with the DHS TSA. Corruption was certainly bound to happen, and did in New Jersey.
“Michael Arato, 41, of Ewing also admitted Monday in federal court in Newark that he regularly stole from passengers who went through his checkpoint in Terminal B.
Prosecutors say Arato permitted a worker he supervised to steal between $10,000 and $30,000 in cash from travelers’ bags over a 13-month period. In exchange, the subordinate would give a portion of the money to Arato. The subordinate, who was not named, cooperated with the federal investigation that led to Arato’s arrest in October.”
The Middle East is definitely in the spotlight as of late with Egypt’s coup d’etat. Interesting how when Egypt has turned over the reigns of power to the Military and they suspend both parliament and the Constitution nobody on the Left in this country is screaming foul (like they did in Honduras back in 2009 when the military arrested the President after he attempted to be able to become President for life… parliament actually requested the Honduran military remove him from the country if I recall). However, there is indeed good signs coming out of some of the actions of Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, largely the Parliament was run by Mubarak supporters, and parts of the Constitution worked for Mubarak to rig elections… However, its still a situation to observe closely and skeptically based on historical precedent.
While Rick Francona doesn’t see the same religious undertones he saw in the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran, the possibility still remains for the Muslim Brotherhood to turn Egypt into an Islamic Republic. So far people are pretty positive about the Muslim Brotherhoods sincerity in creating, and allowing, other political parties; however many of us who have read about the Muslim Brotherhood and their history in the region remain skeptical. While they are all about democracy and the ballot box today, when they gain control tomorrow that remains to be seen. Democracy in its truest form is mob rule, whoever has the most votes DICTATES just as much as an autocratic dictator; this is why our country is a Constitutional Republic with a form of Representative Democracy with safeguards to protect minorities. Seeing how Islamic Republics like Iran, or the Taliban, ‘respect’ minorities such as Christians, Jews, tribal sects, and women; I’m remaining cautiously skeptical. Good things can certainly happen within Egypt, so long as the Muslim Brotherhoods dream of an Islamic Republic of Egypt is NOT realized. One of the primary concerns here is the Muslim Brotherhoods demands that the treaty with Israel is not recognized by any new regime… This to me is very telling that the party of reform in Egypt is also the party of war; that is the Muslim Brotherhood. I highly, highly, recommend folks read “The Looming Tower” by Lawrence Wright; the history of modern radical Islam in that book is enlightening (especially the relationship of the Muslim Brotherhood and Al-Qaeda).
This movement has indeed emboldened many across the Middle East to do the same kinds of protests, and its fascinating to see whats going on in Iran. To me the silence of the American media and our current Administration is deafening. On the one hand, they covered Iran’s regimes mass demonstration in support of the Egyptian protests that toppled Mubarak (because Mubarak was an American supporter), yet on the other hand when the ‘chickens come to roost’ in Iran the Iranian government is seeking to crush them completely? Irony. Of course, you never saw the same level of support from Obama and the American Left for Irans protesters back in 2009, nor are we going to see the same level of support they gave Egypt this time as well. I believe that the current Administration needs to come out much more strongly in favor of the protesters in Iran, and do so publicly as a clear message that we aren’t going to play Iran’s nuclear game any more, nor are we going to accept their actions in the form of Hizbollah. We need to send a clear message that the current Islamic Regime is unacceptable and needs to be toppled. But that would require our government to grow a pair and wield the big stick that goes with talking softly. What ever happened to the idea of a war of liberation, or at least the threat of force to ensure liberation? If we do nothing, many more are going to die soon if we do little or nothing.
Got to love Doomsday scenarios… We are now an apocalyptic people, we all see apocalypse around us in our media; be it the zombie apocalypse (Night of the Living Dead, Dawn of the Dead, Return of the Living Dead, and a whole host of clones and remakes), post nuclear apocalypse (Mad Max, Fallout 3, etc.), or biblical apocalypse (Left Behind, End of Days, etc..). New York has finally gone ahead and published a Doomsday ‘manual’! Really, its just a Public Health Legal Manual, a guide for Judges, Attorneys, and Public Health Professionals. What should be done is perhaps teaching their people how to be somewhat self sufficient… Or else when disaster hits the hordes of barbarians will raid and pillage those who have prepared and leave everyone starving. Its likely going to be a bloody mess of mobs and the Judges, Attorneys, and Public Health Professionals will likely be able to do too little to stop the chaos. It’ll be up to the people outside NYC to clean up the mess, most likely a disproportionate amount of American resources will be wasted trying to recover a dead NYC should an event of apocalyptic proportions affect NYC, thats the cost of most of the population not having to leave a three mile radius most of they’re lives (not to mention the proportion of welfare recipients who will suddenly cease to get any of it rather suddenly).
Perhaps what makes my head explode more is the fact that Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) wants to end the practice of US Representatives living in their Congressional offices… Apparently, 33 Representatives who don’t leave the House when they are in Washington DC is ‘un-ethical’. They equate it being dorm rooms and frat houses? Apparently they believe it violates House Rules and and is an unreported tax benefit?! What planet are they on? I’m happy to see Representatives practicing some fiscal sense and not paying $2,000 a month to the Watergate Hotel for a one room suite! How much you want to bet Watergate is behind CREWs investigation?
On a more positive note, Soldiers love the XM-25 25mm ‘smart’ grenade launcher! Nothing like ‘smart’ grenades that explode overhead at specific distances needed by the soldier over the heads of stupid terrorists! Ballistic trajectories just got a heck of a lot more interesting!
For anyone who has paid attention to the health care debate, it is obvious that President Obama’s version of compromise is far different than what the average person’s version of compromise is.
I must admit, I heard this idea on Glenn Beck’s radio show. It was actually his producer’s (Stu) analogy, but I believe it bears repeating.
The recent “Health Care Summit” shows this quite well.
The president basically took the two health care bills passed by the House & Senate, meshed it together as “his plan” (in reality, nothing more than an outline presented 72 hours beforehand), and presented it as a “starting point” for the Summit. Let’s just call this plan the pancakes.
The Republicans have had their own plan online for months for all to see, not to mention Congressman Paul Ryan’s plan as well. Let’s call these plans the grilled chicken.
Now, if you or I were to go out to eat with a friend or family member and one person wanted pancakes and the other, grilled chicken, we would try to think of other things to eat that both of us could agree on.
I think that is what many normal people would think of as compromise and what many had realistically wanted from the Health Care Summit.
With President Obama using the pancakes as a starting point, he was basically asking the Republicans, “Hey, if we just throw some pieces of grilled chicken into these pancakes, then will you vote for it? Will you compromise?”
Sir, that is not compromise.
Getting everything you want, while adding a few things that you may not want is not compromise.
This version of a health care bill would be just as nasty as grilled chicken pancakes.
Time to start over and find a food we can all enjoy.
On January 28, 2010 · Comments Off
Associated Press writer Calvin Woodward takes an interesting look at some of Obama’s comments during the annual State of the Union address.
WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama told Americans the bipartisan deficit commission he will appoint won’t just be “one of those Washington gimmicks.” Left unspoken in that assurance was the fact that the commission won’t have any teeth.
Obama confronted some tough realities in his State of the Union speech Wednesday night, chief among them that Americans are continuing to lose their health insurance as Congress struggles to pass an overhaul.
Yet some of his ideas for moving ahead skirted the complex political circumstances standing in his way.
A look at some of Obama’s claims and how they compare with the facts:
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OBAMA: “Starting in 2011, we are prepared to freeze government spending for three years. Spending related to our national security, Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security will not be affected. But all other discretionary government programs will. Like any cash-strapped family, we will work within a budget to invest in what we need and sacrifice what we don’t.”
THE FACTS: The anticipated savings from this proposal would amount to less than 1 percent of the deficit — and that’s if the president can persuade Congress to go along.
Obama is a convert to the cause of broad spending freezes. In the presidential campaign, he criticized Republican opponent John McCain for suggesting one. “The problem with a spending freeze is you’re using a hatchet where you need a scalpel,” he said a month before the election. Now, Obama wants domestic spending held steady in most areas where the government can control year-to-year costs. The proposal is similar to McCain’s.
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