Greetings,
I have returned from the great sand box across the pond. Since then life has thrown me many curve balls and therefore I have been distracted. I plan to put some thoughts down on the world in a few days. First I have a test to prepare for and then it will be off to the races. Until then I will monitor the world and continue to shake my head.
Duty Calls!
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Saturday, April 25, 2009
On the Road
I know it has been a while since I last posted, but life has been just too busy to keep up. I am currently writing from the USO as I prepare to head out. So, it may be a long while before I get a chance to post any thought provoking stuff.
Until we meet again, say a prayer for the troops!
Duty Calls!
Until we meet again, say a prayer for the troops!
Duty Calls!
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
A Crying Shame
Last night at the fire station, three of us were huddled around a computer watching the animated, play by play of the World Baseball Classic game between the U. S. Team and Puerto Rico. If you haven’t been living under a rock, you know that the National Team won in walk off fashion with a three run ninth inning.
You may say to yourself that it is really touching the way that this game brought people together. I agree. What I don’t agree with is that one of the most exciting games in recent memory, last MLB season included, was not watched on television, it was read on the internet.
I say shame on ESPN, Fox Sports and even the national networks who chose not to show the National Team play the National Past Time on television. In today’s world we get television shows about “Real Life”, contrived talent competitions but we can’t watch baseball in March. It’s baseball, our game, the perfect game. A game where talent is necessary but not binding. A game where David can slay Goliath. Would you expect to see Northern Illinois beat USC in football? Hardly. But in baseball? That is not only a possibility but even probable in a three game series.
In a time when patriotism is being defined by turning a blind eye to the Democrat Party’s attempt to make America a Socialist State, we need to be reminded that a group of individuals can come together with a common goal and succeed. No government assistance needed, just talent, hard work and the ability to look adversity in the face and smile. This is what America needs.
Will baseball fix the problems of America? Probably not, but reminding our citizens that hard work and dedication has a direct pay off could do wonders. The talking heads at the sports networks constantly talk that the U. S. Players aren’t that interested in the outcome of this event or even if they play, but last night’s game proved them wrong. As I read tonight’s play by play it is the sports networks that seem not interested.
Duty Calls!
You may say to yourself that it is really touching the way that this game brought people together. I agree. What I don’t agree with is that one of the most exciting games in recent memory, last MLB season included, was not watched on television, it was read on the internet.
I say shame on ESPN, Fox Sports and even the national networks who chose not to show the National Team play the National Past Time on television. In today’s world we get television shows about “Real Life”, contrived talent competitions but we can’t watch baseball in March. It’s baseball, our game, the perfect game. A game where talent is necessary but not binding. A game where David can slay Goliath. Would you expect to see Northern Illinois beat USC in football? Hardly. But in baseball? That is not only a possibility but even probable in a three game series.
In a time when patriotism is being defined by turning a blind eye to the Democrat Party’s attempt to make America a Socialist State, we need to be reminded that a group of individuals can come together with a common goal and succeed. No government assistance needed, just talent, hard work and the ability to look adversity in the face and smile. This is what America needs.
Will baseball fix the problems of America? Probably not, but reminding our citizens that hard work and dedication has a direct pay off could do wonders. The talking heads at the sports networks constantly talk that the U. S. Players aren’t that interested in the outcome of this event or even if they play, but last night’s game proved them wrong. As I read tonight’s play by play it is the sports networks that seem not interested.
Duty Calls!
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
BEWARE
I have been thinking. The cost of the Economic Stimulus Package. In all of the phases that have been added to from the previous administration to the current one, we have passed the one trillion mark. In fact, we passed it so quickly and subtly that you can’t even see it in your rearview mirror.
Now we have all been assured that the payment for this will come from tax increases on the fortunate achievers in this country who make a quarter of a million dollars a year. Let’s look at this, these people already pay 41% of the bills for our government. That is almost half. Yes, I can do percentages, even though I am not a Harvard grad. Now if we tax this demographic more, well now they pay 50% or more of the operating costs of our great country.
That leads me to this question, what happens when that is not enough? And anyway you slice it, tear it apart, dissect it, that is not enough money. Do you see where I am going? Yes, then the sector of earners with higher taxes will have to be expanded. Now maybe it falls to anyone earning $150,000 a year. That is still upper middle class isn’t it? Why should those fortunate souls get a free pass? And when that is not enough? A hundred thousand a year? That is a family of two, fifty thousand dollar a year earners who happen to be married. Marriage penalty? The Democrats were not really thrilled about doing away with that.
Many will think that I am just being an alarmist, but with talk of cutting the deficit, does anyone think that more tax increases are on the way? I for one not only believe that more tax increases are on the way but they will be on everyone. There is talk of additional gas taxes, doesn’t everyone buy gas?
This congress and current administration are drunk with power and are writing checks this country can’t cash. Of course we all watch the national news and see that everyone thinks that we are going in the right direction, approval ratings are great and we are all ready to sit around the camp fire and sing Joan Baez songs. I say that the true approval rating lies with the stock market. Let’s look at today, March 3, 2009. The market was up 20 points before the Fed Chair called for higher taxes and more spending and then what happened? A forty point loss in less than an hour and another record low. At this rate, this administration will be calling for taxes on welfare earnings.
Duty calls!
Now we have all been assured that the payment for this will come from tax increases on the fortunate achievers in this country who make a quarter of a million dollars a year. Let’s look at this, these people already pay 41% of the bills for our government. That is almost half. Yes, I can do percentages, even though I am not a Harvard grad. Now if we tax this demographic more, well now they pay 50% or more of the operating costs of our great country.
That leads me to this question, what happens when that is not enough? And anyway you slice it, tear it apart, dissect it, that is not enough money. Do you see where I am going? Yes, then the sector of earners with higher taxes will have to be expanded. Now maybe it falls to anyone earning $150,000 a year. That is still upper middle class isn’t it? Why should those fortunate souls get a free pass? And when that is not enough? A hundred thousand a year? That is a family of two, fifty thousand dollar a year earners who happen to be married. Marriage penalty? The Democrats were not really thrilled about doing away with that.
Many will think that I am just being an alarmist, but with talk of cutting the deficit, does anyone think that more tax increases are on the way? I for one not only believe that more tax increases are on the way but they will be on everyone. There is talk of additional gas taxes, doesn’t everyone buy gas?
This congress and current administration are drunk with power and are writing checks this country can’t cash. Of course we all watch the national news and see that everyone thinks that we are going in the right direction, approval ratings are great and we are all ready to sit around the camp fire and sing Joan Baez songs. I say that the true approval rating lies with the stock market. Let’s look at today, March 3, 2009. The market was up 20 points before the Fed Chair called for higher taxes and more spending and then what happened? A forty point loss in less than an hour and another record low. At this rate, this administration will be calling for taxes on welfare earnings.
Duty calls!
You Just Have to Laugh
I got this from the Glen Beck Blog. I have to admit that reading it made me laugh out loud so I thought I would share it with the rest of the world who may have missed it.
From the Washington Post:
“We’ve already set up a Web site, Recovery.com, which will show where and how the money is being spent,” the vice president told the leaders of the United States Conference of Mayors during a speech in the East Room of the White House. “The public can actually go on a Web site and see how we’re spending this money.”
But the stimulus site is not Recovery.com — it’s Recovery.gov.
From CBS News asking about recovery.gov:
CBS: By the way, do you know the website?
Biden: You know, I’m embarrassed. Do you know the website number? (looking offstage) I should have it in front of me and I don’t. I’m actually embarrassed.
From the Washington Post:
“We’ve already set up a Web site, Recovery.com, which will show where and how the money is being spent,” the vice president told the leaders of the United States Conference of Mayors during a speech in the East Room of the White House. “The public can actually go on a Web site and see how we’re spending this money.”
But the stimulus site is not Recovery.com — it’s Recovery.gov.
From CBS News asking about recovery.gov:
CBS: By the way, do you know the website?
Biden: You know, I’m embarrassed. Do you know the website number? (looking offstage) I should have it in front of me and I don’t. I’m actually embarrassed.
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Pork Anyone?
So is anyone interested in some pork? I don’t mean of the swine variety, I mean your hard earned money as ear marks for the President’s Stimulus Package. I realize that the economy is not what we want it to be. I will even go so far as to say that I am thankful that my job is one that will not be threatened by the recent down turn. It seems as if we see thousands of job cuts coming daily but this proposal by Mr. Obama has little substance and a whole lot of pork.
We can look together at the problems, but lets take the mortgage crisis. Although unfortunate, it could have been avoided. No one in the country was complaining about their property values skyrocketing but it is now our cross to bear. With any part of our market, when prices balloon for no reason there will be a painful correction, remember the dot coms?
Another problem caused by the mortgage crisis, many high priced homes were built by contractors, I too would have been building in that environment and many Americans were moving into their dream homes, only to be unable to afford them when the interest rates went up, we know this because it is history. This also caused another casualty, the existing housing market prices also shot up, homes that were worth sixty thousand dollars were now being offered for over one hundred thousand dollars making that market stagnant. These inflated values, were caused by the mortgage industry. By selecting appraisers that would inflate the value of a home, prices continued to rise and business was booming, but now this is the leading edge of our problem. Countless Americans are upside down in their homes and many have mortgage payments higher than some in homes worth two to three times more.
Now we have massive job losses to compound the problem. Does anyone else think that this will have an adverse affect on the economy and raise the foreclosure rate? Could this add to the woes of the auto makers who now have a large clientele who cannot be financed? The answer to both questions is obviously yes. We could continue to look into the many problems of this economy and debate the need for a stimulus package. There is a need to stimulate our economy, but to do so needs to be done responsibly. It needs to be the minimum size possible to get the job done. Not a grandiose spending spree that we will have to pay back.
This plan is so full of pork that to list it all would be too time consuming and of course take too long to read so I would be the only one to enjoy the project. To keep things brief, lets examine my favorite part of the stimulus package, $345,000,000 for prevention of sexually transmitted diseases. Good lord, I saw a liberal talking head defend this by saying that if Americans are not healthy they can’t work. I do not believe that preventing sexually transmitted diseases will put one more American who has lost their job back to work. If this is the point of the stimulus package, then please let’s study the number of trees that could topple onto houses across America. Yes, it is a large project but it would put more people to work than making sure that all the condom machines in the gas stations across America are well stocked.
Duty Calls!
We can look together at the problems, but lets take the mortgage crisis. Although unfortunate, it could have been avoided. No one in the country was complaining about their property values skyrocketing but it is now our cross to bear. With any part of our market, when prices balloon for no reason there will be a painful correction, remember the dot coms?
Another problem caused by the mortgage crisis, many high priced homes were built by contractors, I too would have been building in that environment and many Americans were moving into their dream homes, only to be unable to afford them when the interest rates went up, we know this because it is history. This also caused another casualty, the existing housing market prices also shot up, homes that were worth sixty thousand dollars were now being offered for over one hundred thousand dollars making that market stagnant. These inflated values, were caused by the mortgage industry. By selecting appraisers that would inflate the value of a home, prices continued to rise and business was booming, but now this is the leading edge of our problem. Countless Americans are upside down in their homes and many have mortgage payments higher than some in homes worth two to three times more.
Now we have massive job losses to compound the problem. Does anyone else think that this will have an adverse affect on the economy and raise the foreclosure rate? Could this add to the woes of the auto makers who now have a large clientele who cannot be financed? The answer to both questions is obviously yes. We could continue to look into the many problems of this economy and debate the need for a stimulus package. There is a need to stimulate our economy, but to do so needs to be done responsibly. It needs to be the minimum size possible to get the job done. Not a grandiose spending spree that we will have to pay back.
This plan is so full of pork that to list it all would be too time consuming and of course take too long to read so I would be the only one to enjoy the project. To keep things brief, lets examine my favorite part of the stimulus package, $345,000,000 for prevention of sexually transmitted diseases. Good lord, I saw a liberal talking head defend this by saying that if Americans are not healthy they can’t work. I do not believe that preventing sexually transmitted diseases will put one more American who has lost their job back to work. If this is the point of the stimulus package, then please let’s study the number of trees that could topple onto houses across America. Yes, it is a large project but it would put more people to work than making sure that all the condom machines in the gas stations across America are well stocked.
Duty Calls!
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Gitmo to the Heartland?
Since the change of power in Washington, we have all noticed some "change" coming. Tax the group of Americans that employ people, not small businesses, large businesses that employ thousands of people. That is only an example of the "change" the President is talking. Although that is a subject we need to explore at length, I will move onto what is really bugging me today. Closing Gitmo so that terrorists can exercise there "rights as Americans."
First, a very close friend of mine spent over four months in Baghdad in late 2003. He told me of seeing a tractor trailer with a flat bed in tow modified to carry prisoners of the previous night's raid of a terrorist stronghold. He spoke of eighty plus terrorists, hands cuffed behind their back's loaded into the back of the truck. His description of these men is chilling. Speaking of the looks on their faces, not fear or regret. The look in the eyes of these men was pure evil and hate. Their only failure was being captured before they could kill more American service people, or just plain old Americans if they could have found a way into our country.
This is a look at the type of people being held at Gitmo, these aren't farmers who were mistaken as terrorists, these are hardened infidel hating jihadists. Now we are told to handle them with kid gloves and move them into the good 'ol USA so that they can be tried as criminals. I am not one to say torture is the way to go, but allowing them council and access to our courts is madness. These people were waging war against us, not hanging out at the local burger stand, they are enemy combatants, period.
Now, we want to move them the federal prison system. One spot is Leavenworth, KS. Now this is a little close to my current home, too close in fact. I mean really the federal prison system, home to people not real happy with our government, maybe not the best place for these guys to be hanging out. I am just saying.
If anyone has any doubt about the type of people being held at Gitmo, let's remember that two of the "innocent" ones have been returned to the Middle East only to show up on Arab television beside themselves with joy to be rejoining the fight. Hey Pelosi, they said rejoining the fight, not I have been turned into a terrorist by the Great Satan.
Closing Gitmo is about as good an idea as going to a memorabilia show with O. J. Simpson. Really, the government has a duty to protect its people, not to protect Islamic Extremists. Closing Gitmo threatens our safety. Can one predict if this will lead to future attacks on our country, no. But one can theorize that there are more "innocent" jihadists there who would love to go home and rejoin the fight.
When will our ruling party learn that there are some truths to this war. Simple truth is we are in one war with multiple fronts. To many liberals I will restate its name so that they might be able to understand, its name is the Global War on Terror. Did we count each front during World War II as a separate war? No. Now to vent a little further, if you just do some research you can find that Islamic Extremists have one goal, a Muslim World. News flash, that world goes from pole to pole and all points in between.
First, a very close friend of mine spent over four months in Baghdad in late 2003. He told me of seeing a tractor trailer with a flat bed in tow modified to carry prisoners of the previous night's raid of a terrorist stronghold. He spoke of eighty plus terrorists, hands cuffed behind their back's loaded into the back of the truck. His description of these men is chilling. Speaking of the looks on their faces, not fear or regret. The look in the eyes of these men was pure evil and hate. Their only failure was being captured before they could kill more American service people, or just plain old Americans if they could have found a way into our country.
This is a look at the type of people being held at Gitmo, these aren't farmers who were mistaken as terrorists, these are hardened infidel hating jihadists. Now we are told to handle them with kid gloves and move them into the good 'ol USA so that they can be tried as criminals. I am not one to say torture is the way to go, but allowing them council and access to our courts is madness. These people were waging war against us, not hanging out at the local burger stand, they are enemy combatants, period.
Now, we want to move them the federal prison system. One spot is Leavenworth, KS. Now this is a little close to my current home, too close in fact. I mean really the federal prison system, home to people not real happy with our government, maybe not the best place for these guys to be hanging out. I am just saying.
If anyone has any doubt about the type of people being held at Gitmo, let's remember that two of the "innocent" ones have been returned to the Middle East only to show up on Arab television beside themselves with joy to be rejoining the fight. Hey Pelosi, they said rejoining the fight, not I have been turned into a terrorist by the Great Satan.
Closing Gitmo is about as good an idea as going to a memorabilia show with O. J. Simpson. Really, the government has a duty to protect its people, not to protect Islamic Extremists. Closing Gitmo threatens our safety. Can one predict if this will lead to future attacks on our country, no. But one can theorize that there are more "innocent" jihadists there who would love to go home and rejoin the fight.
When will our ruling party learn that there are some truths to this war. Simple truth is we are in one war with multiple fronts. To many liberals I will restate its name so that they might be able to understand, its name is the Global War on Terror. Did we count each front during World War II as a separate war? No. Now to vent a little further, if you just do some research you can find that Islamic Extremists have one goal, a Muslim World. News flash, that world goes from pole to pole and all points in between.
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