Webster

The Constitution was made to guard the people against the dangers of good intentions." --American Statesman Daniel Webster (1782-1852)


Thursday, May 31, 2012

Zimbabwe Mugabe nominated for international Tourism by the U.N?

The U.N nominates Zimbabwe(Rhodesia) president as a symbol of tourism...?  lessee the same Robert Mugabe that has seized most of the white owned farms from the owners, and passed them off to the veterans of his army.  The same person that has turned the breadbasket of Africa into the basket case?  The same person that has thrown his political enemies in prison or killed them is awarded the international tourism award?  The same person that has nationalized the industries in Zimbabwe and turned them over to his political cronies...?   This amply demonstrated the utter ineptness of the U.N among other examples....



Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe addresses his supporters at the party's conference in Mutare about 250 kilometers east of Harare Friday, Dec. 17, 2010. Mugabe vowed Friday to avenge Western economic curbs imposed on his ZANU PF party in measures to include seizures of foreign-owned businesses and mining interests. (AP Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi)
The United Nations’ new international envoy for tourism is none other than Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe, The Guardian reports.
Mugabe has been accused of ethnic cleansing, strictly controlling elections and the press, and ruining Zimbabwe’s economy.
The Zimbabwe president is an unlikely choice for the post of UN ambassador, which normally is reserved for high-profile, do-gooder celebrities such as David Beckham and Ricky Martin. Mugabe is also currently subject to UN sanctions that include a travel ban, making the decision to honor him as a “leader for tourism” even more confusing.
The post involves hosting the UN World Tourism Organization’s general assembly next August and fostering the growth of tourism in Zimbabwe and around the world.
The UN’s World Tourism Organization honored Mugabe’s ally, Zambian president Michael Sata, at the same time. Because the Zimbabwean president is not allowed to leave his country, Mugabe signed an agreement with the UN World Tourism Organization, UNWTO secretary general Taleb Rifai, and fellow ambassador Zambian president Michael Sata at the shared border of Zambia and Zimbabwe at Victoria Falls.
Several human rights group have expressed their outrage at the appointment, including the Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition and Movement for Democratic Change. British MP Kate Hoey, the chair of a parliamentary group on Zimbabwe, called the announcement “an affront to the people of Zimbabwe” and “disgraceful.”
Mugabe and his political party, Zanu-PF, insisted the leader’s appointment was proof of the progress being made in Zimbabwe.
“The situation on the ground in Zimbabwe is not as bad as portrayed,” Rugare Gumbo, a Mugabe spokesman claimed. The UN high commissioner for human rights, Navi Pillay, seems to agree, and is urging countries to lift sanctions on Zimbabwe in order to help the nation’s poor.
The UNWTO states that there is no official ambassador program and that Mugabe has received an open letter from the UNWTO urging him to support tourism and sustainable development for the benefit of the Zimbabwean people

Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2012/05/30/zimbabwean-president-mugabe-named-un-international-envoy-for-tourism/#ixzz1wUYlFnzo

Politically correct school prom


I saw this on Fox News,    You have got to be fricking kidding me...I read this drivel from the school principal and what a joke.  And at the end of the article she states that " this is a non issue and I have more important job to do"  This is the act of a typical leftist, try to assume the moral high ground so they don"t have to lessen themselves in a debate with their social inferiors.  This is political correctness run amuck.  I have a quote of political correctness on my blog by Charlton Heston" Political correctness is tyranny with manners."   When you have government bureaucrats making arbitrary decisions and they have to answer to nobody for their action..something is wrong with this picture.  This prinicpal is using the classic argument that " it is for the Children" as this is the sole justification for her action...the all knowing liberal that knows what is best for the little people and if we would just do as the liberals say, we would find this utopia that is just over the horizon.   School proms have always been a popularity contest..that is the way it has been.  To have it selected by name out of a box..what a way to generate school pride.  Have a government flunky select the process of the king and queen of a prom.  it is a little thing but it is endemic of the culture wars and the problems that we face.


By Todd Starnes
The principal of a Connecticut high school is defending her decision to end the longtime tradition of allowing students to vote for a prom king and queen over fears that the winners might be bullied.
FOLLOW TODD ON FACEBOOK FOR CULTURE WAR NEWS! CLICK HERE!
But students at Kaynor Tech High School in Waterbury, Conn. have accused Principal Lisa Hylwa of bowing to political correctness.
In the past, the prom court was selected by a student vote. But Hylwa said she wanted to keep drama out of the prom and stop bullying. Instead, students who attended prom were invited to put their names in a box and the court was selected randomly.
“A lot of kids just think it’s unfair because you know, it’s a prom tradition,” student Jennifer Buonocore told television station WTNH. The station reported that it was flooded with comments from students wondering why the tradition was changed.
The principal said that all the students deserve an opportunity to participate as prom king and queen.
“This method gives everyone the same opportunity o be a member of the prom court and it supports the positive spirit of our school, period,” Hylwa wrote in a terse email to Fox News Radio. “There is no hidden agenda with this, no reason for ‘hurt feelings’ or adding another issue on to a teenager’s full plate that could ‘spark’ jealousy, ‘mean behavior’ or bullying.”
The principal said the new way of selecting a prom court “eliminates the avenue for the pressure to vote for members of the clique in charge or for any other issues that could open the door to amplified drama which may lead to any type of ‘mean behavior’ or equity controversy.”
She said the traditional method of voting for prom king and king was “beyond obsolete.”
“There was no option for the student or students who did the most for the class to win or a ‘noble’ reason such as a child who was terminally ill winning the prize,” she wrote. “This was a popularity contest with no criteria. The fact is, there are enough popularity contests in high school so why sponsor another one that may have negative consequences?”
“Cliques are real bullies by the way,” she added.
 Hylwa said she feared a “Carrie” incident at this year’s prom, referring to the 1976 horror film.
“A student did complain on Facebook and to the school staff that she/he could not sleep the night before because she/he feared being bullied by being selected as prom queen,” she wrote. “It was going to be a mean spirited prank. She was not sure.”
“I was not taking a chance,” the principal said. “Sounds like ‘Carrie’ but we can’t brush it aside in today’s atmosphere. Connecticut has the CT Bullying Law and we are not playing in the Nutmeg state.”
But students like Buonocore said there’s no bullying at the prom.
“I don’t feel like anyone in our class would ever do something like that or in the junior class, that’s just mean and we’re not mean,” she told the television station.
But the principal said the new rules won’t be changed.
“I have no more time to waste on this ‘non story’,” she wrote. “I have a serious job to do.”

Wednesday, May 30, 2012

R.O.C Wants to purchase F-35's

   With Obungler and his administration fearing to upset the Red Chinese because of the massive debt that we owe the Chinese, they are stalling on selling the Taiwanese more advanced weapons to preclude a Chinese attack on what they call their breakaway province  an internal matter is what Obungler will justify the United States not coming to their aid as called by treaty obligations.  The Red Chinese have stealth fighters in their inventory, I remember the Chinese running all over Bosnia buying up the pieces of that F117 stealth fighter that was shot down in the late 90's.  Why we didn't drop a cluster bomb on the wreckage to vaporize it I don't know...but wait, we had a democratic president in charge back then.  This demonstrates the international problems of the massive debts that we have accrued, this debt hampers the ability of the United States on the international stage, it also doesn't help that we have a vacillating president on the stage representing us.  The Taiwanese government believes that the F-35 will achieve parity with the Chinese J-20 that is believed to be parity to the United States F-22 Raptor

    


F-35 fighters best suit Taiwan's air defense needs: official

ROC Central News Agency
2012/05/29 15:23:29
Taipei, May 29 (CNA) F-35 stealth fighters are the new-generation combat aircraft that best serve Taiwan's air defense needs, a military official said Tuesday, the latest hint that the government may not be as keen to acquire advanced F-16 C/D fighters as once thought.
The F-35s, with their short takeoff capability, would bolster the country's defense capabilities, as airports are likely to be destroyed by enemy forces in the event of war, the official said on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.
The official's remarks came after the U.S. House of Representatives voted earlier this month in favor of the U.S. government selling 66 F-16 C/Ds to Taiwan to help the island close its military gap with China.
Taiwan has long lobbied Washington to sell it the advanced fighters, but the Obama administration decided last year to offer Taiwan a retrofit package for its aging F-16 A/B fleet rather than new F-16 C/Ds.
Since then, the U.S. Congress has pushed the government to also sell Taiwan the more advanced fighters, and following the House vote, the Ministry of National Defense issued a statement thanking it for its support.
But it also noted that Taiwan was reassessing its need for more advanced jet fighters because some of the functions of the upgraded F-16 A/Bs were better than those of the F-16 C/Ds, and it said that Taiwan, like Japan and Australia, would pursue the purchase of new-generation combat aircraft.
Because Japan and Australia have announced plans to buy F-35s, the statement triggered speculation that Taiwan's interest in the F-16 C/D fighters had cooled.
Asked about the issue, the official said the ministry will make an overall assessment of foreign purchases of military aircraft and make sure the defense budget is well spent.
"There are many options on the table," the official said. "These include cutting the number of F-16 C/Ds we have requested."
In an interview with CNA, ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Luo Shou-he reiterated Taiwan's gratitude for U.S. support and urged Washington to continue selling Taiwan defensive weapons based on the Taiwan Relations Act (TRA).
The TRA, enacted in 1979 when Washington and Taipei severed ties, obliges the U.S. to help Taiwan defend itself.
In September 2011, the U.S. approved the sale of a retrofit package for F-16 A/B fighters and related training at an estimated cost of US$5.85 billion.
(By Elaine Hou)
ENDITEM/ls

Iran sends forces to aid Syria

It looks like Iran is trying to become a major player in the region, with Iraq neutralized by infighting Iran is capitalizing on its relation with Syria.  The same Iran that sent revolutionary guards to kill American G.I in Iraq is sending troops to prop up the Syrian president in the fighting that is going on in his country.  This will basically tie Syria closer to Iran especially if Israel have to bomb the Iranian nuclear ambitions, this almost would force Syria to attack Israel to support its treaty obligations along with Syria wanting the Golan Heights back.  With Egypt on the cusp of electing a muslim brotherhood as its president this will force a two front war with Israel and the tepid relations between Israel and its most important ally the United States, with Obungler overt support of the Muslim Brotherhood this makes Israel alone in the middle east, a very dangerous position to be in.
 

Tehran Sent Troops to Syria - Iranian Officer

RIA Novosti
13:35 29/05/2012
MOSCOW, May 29 (RIA Novosti) - A senior Iranian Revolutionary Guards commander has admitted that Iran has sent its troops to help the regime of embattled Syrian President Bashar al-Assad fight opposition forces.
“Before our presence in Syria, too many people were killed by the opposition but with the physical and non-physical presence of the Islamic republic, big massacres in Syria were prevented,” Ismail Gha’ani, the deputy head of Iran’s Quds force, a shadowy branch of the Revolutionary Guards in charge of overseas operations, said in an interview with the semi-official Iranian Student’s News Agency (ISNA), according to a report by the Persian-language GozaraNews website.
ISNA published the interview on Sunday night, but subsequently removed it from its website “under pressure,” the report said.
Syria is Iran’s most important regional ally, and Tehran has long used its neighbor’s territory as a base for operations to maintain a lifeline to militant groups Hezbollah and Hamas, Iran’s proxies in southern Lebanon and Gaza.
Rumors that Iran has provided military support to Assad, to assist his crackdown on the popular uprising that has challenged his family’s 40-year grip on power, have circulated since the outbreak of protests in Syria in March 2011.
The Gha’ani remarks followed the weekend massacre of more than 100 civilians, including dozens of children, in the Houla township in western Syria, which has triggered an international outcry, including a Sunday statement by the UN Security Council describing the massacre as an “outrageous use of force against civilian population.”
Syrian opposition activists have blamed the killings on pro-government fighters, an accusation categorically denied by the Syrian authorities, who said the tragedy was a terrorist plot aimed at undermining the regime.
UN observers working in Syria have confirmed that tanks and artillery were used in the weekend attacks on Houla, as well as that many of those killed were stabbed or shot at point-blank range, raising questions among observers about who could benefit from the tragedy.







Monday, May 28, 2012

Fallen Marine's letter Marks memorial day



Fallen Marine's letter marks Memorial Day in Kabul

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — U.S. Marine Sgt. William Stacey was killed earlier this year by a homemade bomb in southern Afghanistan, a tragedy for which he prepared by writing a letter to his family explaining why he was fighting that was to be read in the event of his death.
The top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, Marine Gen. John Allen, read the 23-year-old's letter during a Memorial Day service Monday in Kabul in memory of all the troops who have died in the country since the war started in 2001.
"Today we remember his life and his words, for they speak resoundingly and timelessly for our fallen brothers and sisters in arms," said Allen, who also leads the NATO coalition in Afghanistan.
Stacey was on his fourth deployment to Afghanistan when he was killed on January 31 in Helmand province. The young Marine from Redding, California, told his family that he was motivated to fight in Afghanistan to protect the country's children and provide them the opportunity to go to school and live out their dreams.
"There will be a child who will live because men left the security they enjoyed in their home to come to his," Stacey wrote in his letter. "He will have the gift of freedom which I have enjoyed for so long myself, and if my life brings the safety of a child who will one day change the world, then I know that it was all worth it."
Stacey deployed to Afghanistan with the 2nd Battalion, 4th Marines, 1st Marine Division out of Camp Pendleton, California.
At least 1,851 members of the U.S. military have died in Afghanistan as a result of the U.S.-led invasion in 2001, according to the latest Associated Press count.
Allen said that since he took over command in Afghanistan in July 2011, at least 251 American troops, 76 other NATO coalition members and 1,296 members of the Afghan security forces have been killed in the country.
Three more members of the NATO coalition were killed Monday, two in a helicopter crash in the east and one in an insurgent attack in the south, the force said.
During Monday's ceremony at NATO coalition headquarters, Allen helped lay a large wreath at the base of a pedestal holding a battlefield cross — the traditional memorial to a fallen soldier, constructed using the troop's boots, rifle, helmet and dog tags. Allen stepped back and crisply saluted as Taps played over a speaker.
Support for the Afghan war has waned in the U.S. and other countries in the coalition as casualties have mounted and progress has seemed elusive. The U.S. plans to transfer security responsibilities to Afghan forces by the middle of 2013 and withdraw most of its combat troops by the end of the following year.
Despite the human cost of the war, Allen said the soldiers who have fallen did not die in vain.
"While our brothers and sisters fell in a place far from home, far from their families, the values for which they stood and for which they lived and for which they died occupy an enduring place in our hearts," said Allen. "Those values: freedom, duty, selflessness and sacrifice."

Saturday, May 26, 2012

Went to the range with the Garand




Well I went to the range on Friday, it is a new location closer to my house.  I took my 9 year old son who was excited to go to the range.  He had done real well, he had the highest score in his 3rd grade class for the year so as a reward, I took him to the range, along with 4 rifles.  I took my AR 15, my M1 Garand, my sons .22 bolt action Marlin and my Remington Nylon 66 .22 rifle.  Well all of the rifles did well, I even let my son fire my Ar-15 and that was a treat for him.  I havn't fired it in a long time. ammo ain't exactly cheap but I have a .22 adapter on the way so I can fire it more.   I bought it back in 1991 when I came back from the Gulf.   The Garand didn't do well, I had the correct ammo for it and I kept having what is called "Short Recoil"

   Here is what my Google search found:  See Below

        I don't know where to start....I don't want to buy parts and trouble shoot it that way.  That will get expensive in a hurry.   I am thinking about trying to find a gunsmith to diagnose the problem for me but that also will add up to a lot of coins.   Yes I am trying to be cheap.

    Does anybody have any ideas to try first?

Short recoil — the bolt is not retracted far enough to complete the cycle. Ammunition does not develop adequate gas port pressure to cycle the action. Gas port pressure should be 6000±2000 p.s.i. Faster-burning powder may not develop adequate port pressure without developing dangerously high chamber pressure.
Always use appropriate ammunition!
Carbon built up in gas port or gas cylinder. Clean the gas port and gas cylinder.
Undersized or out of round operating rod piston. Replace the operating rod.
Oversized gas cylinder. Replace the gas cylinder.
Barrel external diameter too small at gas port, leaking gas. Replace the barrel.
Operating rod is binding, possibly against the stock. Replace the operating rod if it is misshapen, or remove wood from the stock as needed.
Gas cylinder lock screw leaking gas. Clean and tighten gas cylinder lock. If it has a leaking valve, replace it.
Weak or broken operating rod spring. Replace the faulty part.
Burs on bolt binding in the receiver. Remove the burs from the bolt.
Damaged or deformed receiver. Replace the receiver    

Friday, May 25, 2012

Obama second term transformation

I saw this on American Thinker.

   Makes you wonder about all these Czars and the regulations that are being pushed.  Remember Obungler comment to Medavac that"after the election, I will have more flexibility, tell Putin that."


Obama's Second Term Transformation Plans

The 2012 election has often been described as the most pivotal since 1860.  This statement is not hyperbole.  If Barack Obama is re-elected the United States will never be the same, nor will it be able to re-capture its once lofty status as the most dominant nation in the history of mankind.
The overwhelming majority of Americans do not understand that Obama's first term was dedicated to putting in place executive power to enable him and the administration to fulfill the campaign promise of "transforming America" in his second term regardless of which political party controls Congress.   That is why his re-election team is virtually ignoring the plight of incumbent or prospective Democratic Party office holders.
The most significant accomplishment of Obama's first term is to make Congress irrelevant.  Under the myopic and blindly loyal leadership of Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi, the Democrats have succeeded in creating an imperial and, in a second term, a potential dictatorial presidency.
During the first two years of the Obama administration when the Democrats overwhelming controlled both Houses of Congress and the media was in an Obama worshipping stupor, a myriad of laws were passed and actions taken which transferred virtually unlimited power to the executive branch.
The birth of multi-thousand page laws was not an aberration.  This tactic was adopted so the bureaucracy controlled by Obama appointees would have sole discretion in interpreting vaguely written laws and enforcing thousands of pages of regulations they and not Congress would subsequently write.  
For example, in the 2,700 pages of ObamaCare there are more than 2,500 references to the Secretary of Health and Human Services.  There are more than 700 instances when he or she is instructed that they "shall" do something and more than 200 times when they "may" take at their sole discretion some form of regulatory action.  On 139 occasions, the law mentions that the "Secretary determines."  In essence one person, appointed by and reporting to the president, will be in charge of the health care of 310 million Americans once ObamaCare is fully operational in 2014.
The same is true in the 2,319 pages of the Dodd-Frank Financial Reform Act which confers nearly unlimited power on various agencies to control by fiat the nation's financial, banking and investment sectors.  The bill also creates new agencies, such as the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, not subject to any oversight by Congress.   This overall process was repeated numerous times with other legislation all with the intent of granting unfettered power to the executive branch controlled Barack Obama and his radical associates.
Additionally, the Obama administration has, through its unilaterally determined rule making and regulatory powers, created laws out of whole cloth.  The Environmental Protection Agency on a near daily basis issues new regulations clearly out of their purview in order to modify and change environmental laws previously passed and to impose a radical green agenda never approved by Congress.  The same is true of the Energy and Interior Departments among many others. 
None of these extra-constitutional actions have been challenged by Congress.   The left in America knows this usurpation of power is nearly impossible to reverse unless stopped in its early stages.
It is clearly the mindset of this administration and its appointees that Congress is merely a nuisance and can be ignored after they were able to take full advantage of the useful idiots in the Democrat controlled House and Senate in 2009-2010 and the Democrat Senate in the current Congress.   
Additionally, Barack Obama knows after his re-election a Republican controlled House and Senate will not be able to enact any legislation to roll back the power previously granted to the Executive Branch or usurped by them.  His veto will not be overridden as there will always be at least 145 Democratic members of the House or 34 in the Senate in agreement with or intimidated by an administration more than willing to use Chicago style political tactics.
The stalemate between the Executive and Legislative Branches will inure to the benefit of Barack Obama and his fellow leftists.
The most significant power Congress has is the control of the purse-strings as all spending must be approved by them.  However, once re-elected, Barack Obama, as confirmed by his willingness to do or say anything and his unscrupulous re-election tactics, would not only threaten government shutdowns but would deliberately withhold payments to those dependent on government support as a means of intimidating and forcing a Republican controlled Congress to surrender to his demands, thus neutering their ability to control the administration through spending constraints.    
Further, this administration has shown contempt for the courts by ignoring various court orders, e.g.  the Gulf of Mexico oil drilling moratorium, as well as stonewalling subpoenas and requests issued by Congress.  The Eric Holder Justice Department has become the epitome of corruption as part of the most dishonest and deceitful administration in American history.   In a second term the arrogance of Barack Obama and his minions will become more blatant as he will not have to be concerned with re-election.  
Who will be there to enforce the rule of law, a Supreme Court ruling or the Constitution?  No one.  Barack Obama and his fellow-travelers will be unchallenged as they run roughshod over the American people.
Many Republicans and conservatives dissatisfied with the prospect of Mitt Romney as the nominee for president are instead focused on re-taking the House and Senate.   That goal, while worthy and necessary, is meaningless unless Barack Obama is defeated.  The nation is not dealing with a person of character and integrity but someone of single-minded purpose and overwhelming narcissism.   Judging by his actions, words and deeds during his first term, he does not intend to work with Congress either Republican or Democrat in his second term but rather to force his radical agenda on the American people through the power he has usurped or been granted.
The governmental structure of the United States was set up by the founders in the hope that over the years only those people of high moral character and integrity would assume the reins of power.   However, knowing that was not always possible, they dispersed power over three distinct and independent branches as a check on each other.
What they could not imagine is the surrender and abdication of its constitutional duty by the preeminent governmental branch, the Congress, to a chief executive devoid of any character or integrity coupled with a judiciary essentially powerless to enforce the law when the chief executive ignores them
Conservatives, Libertarians, the Republican Party and Mitt Romney must come to grips with this moment in time and their historical role in denying Barack Obama and his minions their ultimate goal.   All resources must be directed at that end-game and not merely controlling Congress and the various committee chairmanships.

The Shredder

I saw this at work and tool took a pic of it.  It is humor but there is truth to this humor.  Don't always let somebody else overide your own good sense and judgment.


When you holding a hammer, everything looks like a nail

saw this on youtube and thought it was pretty neat.


Dragon capsule on course for space station



  
  • This image provided by NASA-TV shows the SpaceX Dragon commercial cargo craft taken from Canadarm2's video camera as Dragon approaches the International Space Station Friday May 25, 2012. In foreground is a portion of Canadarm2. Expedition 31 Flight Engineers Don Pettit and Andre Kuipers will use the Canadarm2 robotic arm to grapple the supply ship early Friday morning with the berthing to the Earth-facing side of the station’s Harmony node following about 11:20 a.m. Dragon is scheduled to spend about a week docked with the station before returning to Earth on May 31 for retrieval. (AP Photo/NASA)
    This image provided by NASA-TV …
  • This image provided by NASA shows the SpaceX Dragon commercial cargo craft as it approaches the International Space Station Thursday May 24, 2012 for a series of tests to clear it for its final rendezvous and grapple on May 25. Expedition 31 Flight Engineers Don Pettit and Andre Kuipers will use the Canadarm2 robotic arm to grapple the supply ship about 8:06 a.m., Friday with the berthing to the Earth-facing side of the station’s Harmony node following about 11:20 a.m. Dragon is scheduled to spend about a week docked with the station before returning to Earth on May 31 for retrieval. (AP Photo/NASAThis image provided by NASA shows …
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — The privately bankrolled Dragon capsule approached the International Space Station for a historic docking Friday after sailing through a practice rendezvous the day before.
The unmanned SpaceX Dragon was right on track to deliver a half-ton of supplies and become the first commercial vessel to visit the space station.
"It's a great view," Dutch space station astronaut Andre Kuipers said as the Dragon drew to within 900 feet, its strobe light flashing. "The solar panels are nicely lit."
On Thursday, the capsule came within 1½ miles of the space station in a practice fly-by. It returned to the neighborhood early Friday so Kuipers and U.S. astronaut Donald Pettit could capture it with a robot arm. First, the capsule had to go through a series of stop-and-go demonstrations to prove it was under good operating control.
A collision at orbital speed — 17,500 mph — could prove disastrous for the space station.
This is the first time a private company has launched a vessel to the space station, an achievement previously reserved for a small, elite group of government agencies.
President Barack Obama is pushing commercial ventures in orbit so NASA can concentrate on grander destinations like asteroids and Mars. Once companies master supply runs, they hope to tackle astronaut ferry runs.
The California-based SpaceX — officially known as Space Exploration Technologies Corp. — is one of several companies vying for the chance to launch Americans from their homeland. That ability ended with NASA's final shuttle flight last summer. To get to the space station, NASA astronauts must go through Russia, an expensive and embarrassing situation for the U.S. after a half-century of orbital self-sufficiency.
SpaceX's billionaire maestro, Elon Musk, who helped create PayPal, said he can have astronauts riding his Dragon capsules to orbit in three or four years. His Falcon 9 rockets lift off from Cape Canaveral, Fla.
Musk monitored Friday's operation from the company's Mission Control in Hawthorne, Calif.
The space station has been relying on Russian, Japanese and European cargo ships ever since the shuttles retired. None of those, however, can bring anything of value back; they're simply loaded with trash and burn up in the atmosphere.
By contrast, the Dragon is designed to safely re-enter the atmosphere, parachuting into the ocean like the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo capsules did back in the 1960s. Assuming all goes well Friday, the space station's six-man crew will release the Dragon next Thursday after filling it with science experiments and equipment

Tuesday, May 22, 2012

IRS being used to go after Obama political opponents



It looks like Obungler is using the branches of government to go after his political opponents.    It is the Chicago way....

Richard Nixon ordered the IRS to conduct tax audits of those on his infamous “Enemies List.” Now, a spate of investigations and leaks coming out of President Obama’s IRS raises concerns that this administration may also be using the power of the nation’s most feared agency to silence its political opponents.
Today, more than six dozen grassroots citizens groups seeking to gain 501(c)(4)—and in some cases 501(c)(3)--tax status today find themselves facing unexpectedly invasive investigations and onerous procedural hurdles. All these groups have received non-profit recognition at the state level. Yet their requests for IRS recognition have been left in bureaucratic limbo for months—in some cases, for more than two years.
Now they are being told to complete long and tortuous questionnaires seeking proprietary, irrelevant and sensitive information such as names and addresses of donors, as well as detailed descriptions of every event the group had held in the past year and transcripts of the remarks of all speakers.
The targets of these investigations have one thing in common: they are exclusively conservative or Tea Party-affiliated organizations. Moreover, the invasive tactics arose shortly after seven liberal senators, including Sens. Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) and Al Franken (D-Minn.), wrote a letter to the IRS claiming the groups were running afoul of their tax-exempt status.
The conservative organizations have sought (c)(4) status to engage in legally permissible grassroots lobbying activities, virtually all of it working against ObamaCare. -- This has apparently generated the intrusive letters from the IRS.
As detailed in an extensive complaint filed with the IRS by Washington lawyer Cleta Mitchell, liberal 501(c)(3) organizations such as CREW are seemingly allowed to violate the federal law’s prohibition of “intervention in political campaigns.” Yet the grassroots efforts of Tea Party organizations opposing President Obama’s signature legislative victory have somehow uniformly triggered the strict scrutiny of the president’s IRS. This selective enforcement in itself justifies a congressional investigation of the IRS.
In a separate instance of bureaucratic malfeasance, it appears that some within today’s IRS are even willing to break federal law to publicly disclose the private donor information of conservative non-profits.
Somehow, the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), a gay advocacy group, got its hands on Schedule B of the tax return filed by the National Organization for Marriage (NOM)—a conservative values organization that has sparred with the administration and liberal groups over homosexual marriage. The HRC – soon followed by scores of left-leaning publications, magazines, and blogs like the Huffington Post and Mother Jones – published the confidential document that revealed the names, contact information, and donation amounts of anyone who had given over $5,000 to NOM.
NOM has called for immediate investigations by the Justice Department and the Treasury Department’s Inspector General to determine how HRC gained possession of this document.
The posted documents contained original, official IRS markings that could only have come from individuals within the agency. Disclosing this confidential information by anyone at the IRS is a felony, punishable by fines of up to $5,000 and/or imprisonment for up to five years. Printing or publishing the schedule is also a crime, similarly punishable, which means that the HRC (and the Huffington Post) are potentially in deep legal trouble.
The original IRS information entered on the Schedule B posted on the HRC website as a pdf document had been artfully obscured. But in a great example of Internet detective work, NOM was able to remove the added layer and uncover the IRS information put on the form by the agency’s computer system. NOM concluded that the only possible source of the illegally published document was the IRS. “Either the [donors list] was deliberately and illegally released by one or more IRS employees or someone has breached the IRS computer system,” NOM observed.
NOM submitted requests for investigation over a month ago, first to the IRS Inspector General J. Russell George, and subsequently to DOJ Assistant Attorney General for Tax, Kathryn Keneally. These investigations are apparently underway, but in the meantime, the confidential tax return information remains posted on the Huffington Post website.
Freedom of association (a basic Constitutional right) and the rule of law (a necessity of free and fair government) are being eroded by these underhanded, Chicago-style tactics. But for the ideological zealots within the federal government and their allies in left-wing advocacy groups, black letter law is apparently just another obstacle to re-election or to attacking one’s public policy opponents.
The IG and the DOJ need to undertake their investigations with utmost seriousness, swiftness and impartiality. And they should bring criminal indictments against anyone inside or outside of the IRS found to be responsible for these abuses of federal tax power. This kind of behavior is simply unacceptable, for it threatens the liberty and freedom of Americans who want to participate in the political process.

Commercial Spacecraft launch to take supplies to space station

NASA is busy doing muslim outreach and private companies are continuing the search for space.  


The first-ever commercial spacecraft bound for the International Space Station blasted into orbit early Tuesday, marking a historic step in opening space to private enterprise.
The test flight of SpaceX's Dragon capsule came three days after a last-second scrub of a launch attempt.
"Every bit of adrenalin in my body released at that point," said SpaceX founder Elon Musk. "It's obviously an extremely intense moment."
And the rocket worked perfectly.
"Today marks the beginning of a new era in exploration," said NASA Administrator Charles Bolden after the SpaceX launch.
NASA has worked closely with SpaceX to prepare for the flight, which will be co-managed by the company and flight directors at Johnson Space Center responsible for the space station.
SpaceX has a $1.6 billion contract with NASA to fly at least 12 unmanned resupply missions to the station, and Tuesday's launch was part of a plan to test the rocket and spacecraft for safety and reliability.
The Dragon spacecraft nonetheless carried more than 1,000 pounds of nonessential food and scientific experiments.
If all goes well the solar-powered spacecraft will attempt to dock with the station on Friday.
Two-week turnaround
About two weeks later, the Dragon will undock from the station and, four hours later, begin a 30-minute fall to Earth before splashing into the Pacific off the West Coast of the United States.
Based in Hawthorne, Calif., SpaceX has a large rocket test facility in the North Central Texas city of MacGregor and is considering building a spaceport near Brownsville.
NASA is counting on the private company to help keep the six-person crew aboard the space station well supplied, especially after the retirement of its space shuttle fleet last summer.
"This is also absolutely critical to the space station," said Bill Gersten­maier, who oversees human spaceflight for NASA. "This cargo resupply is absolutely needed for station to meet its research potential and to move forward."
$400 million invested
NASA, without a system of its own to transport supplies and astronauts into orbit, is now reliant on its international partners from Russia, Europe and Japan.
The agency is seeking hundreds of millions of dollars from Congress to help spur private American companies, such as SpaceX, to build rockets and spacecraft that can both fly food and eventually crew into orbit.
That's why Tuesday's launch, coming after NASA has invested about $400 million into SpaceX, marks an important inflection point in the commercialization of space. A successful mission will validate those who support increased NASA funding for private U.S. spaceflight ventures.
Even those who have questioned whether NASA should become so reliant on commercial companies, such as U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, complimented the company on its launch.
"This launch has been a long time coming, and I am happy to see this very challenging mission begin," the senator said.
"There are many crucial milestones to be reached and capabilities to be demonstrated during this flight, all of which we hope leads to a demonstrated ability to provide cargo service to the International Space Station," Hutchison said.
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — Opening a new, entrepreneurial era in spaceflight, a ship built by a billionaire businessman sped toward the International Space Station with a load of groceries and other supplies Tuesday after a spectacular middle-of-the-night blastoff.
The launch of the Falcon 9 rocket and its unmanned Dragon capsule marked the first time a commercial spacecraft has been sent to the orbiting outpost.
Tracing a fiery arc across the night sky, the rocket lifted off just before 4 a.m. and smoothly boosted the capsule into orbit. The capsule is expected to rendezvous with the space station within days, delivering a half-ton of provisions for its six crew members.
It is considered just a test flight — in fact, the capsule was packed with only nonessential items, in case something went disastrously wrong — but if all goes well with this mission and others like it, commercial spaceships could be carrying astronauts to and from the space station in three to five years.
"Falcon flew perfectly!!" billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk, founder of the SpaceX company, said via Twitter. "Feels like a giant weight just came off my back."
Musk later told reporters: "For us, it's like winning the Super Bowl."
Up to now, flights to the space station were something only major governments had done.
The White House offered congratulations.
"Every launch into space is a thrilling event, but this one is especially exciting," said John Holdren, President Barack Obama's chief science adviser. "This expanded role for the private sector will free up more of NASA's resources to do what NASA does best — tackle the most demanding technological challenges in space, including those of human spaceflight beyond low-Earth orbit."
NASA is looking to the private sector to take over flights to the space station now that the space shuttle has been retired. Several U.S. companies are vying for the opportunity.
"The significance of this day cannot be overstated," said a beaming NASA Administrator Charles Bolden. "It's a great day for America. It's actually a great day for the world because there are people who thought that we had gone away, and today says, 'No, we're not going away at all.'"
Flight controllers applauded when the Dragon reached orbit nine minutes into the flight. Then they embraced once the solar panels on the craft popped open. Many of the SpaceX controllers wore untucked T-shirts, jeans or shorts, a stark contrast to NASA's suit-and-tie shuttle crowd.
A previous launch attempt, on Saturday, was aborted with a half-second left in the countdown because of a bad valve in one of Falcon's nine engines.
Another important test comes Thursday when the Dragon draws close to the space station. It will undergo practice maneuvers from more than a mile out. If all goes well, docking will occur on Friday. Musk will preside from the company's Mission Control in Hawthorne, Calif.
Since the shuttle's retirement last summer, American astronauts have been hitching rides to the space station aboard Russian rockets, and Russian, Japanese and European ships have been delivering supplies.
SpaceX has spent more than $1 billion on the project.
Musk, the 40-year-old entrepreneur who helped create PayPal and runs the electric car company Tesla Motors, has poured in millions of his own fortune, and NASA has contributed $381 million in seed money in a venture that has been likened to the public-private collaboration that built the Internet and won the West.
Even Musk's rivals were rooting for a successful flight.
"The shuttle may be retired, but the American dream of space exploration is alive and well," said Mark Sirangelo, chairman of Sierra Nevada Corp.'s space systems, which is developing a mini-shuttle to carry space station crews in a few years.
The Dragon capsule will stay at the space station for a week and then splash down in the Pacific, bringing back experiments and equipment. None of the other cargo ships now in use are designed to return safely; they burn up on the way down.
Two more Dragon supply missions are planned this year, regardless of what happens this week.
The rocket also blasted into orbit around the Earth the ashes of more than 300 people, including Mercury astronaut Gordon Cooper and actor James Doohan, who played Scotty on "Star Trek." The ashes were in a section of the rocket that was jettisoned during the climb into space.
___
Online:
SpaceX: http://www.spacex.com
NASA: http://www.nasa.gov/offices/c3po/home/
Celestis Inc.: http://www.celestis.com

Counterfeit Chinese parts slipping into U.S. Military equipment




I wonder how many of these parts and chips have a backdoor weakness that could be exploited by a hostile power....like the Peoples Republic of China......or some proxy.
Counterfeit electronic parts from China are "flooding" into critical U.S. military systems, including special operations helicopters and surveillance planes, and are putting the nation's troops at risk, according to a new U.S. Senate committee report.
A year-long investigation conducted by the Senate Armed Services Committee found more than one million suspected counterfeit parts made their way into the Department of Defense's supply chain and were bound for use by "critical" military systems, according to the 70-plus-page document released Monday. In addition to Navy helicopters and surveillance planes, the parts were slated to be put into the Air Force's newest cargo planes.
"The failure of a single electronic part can leave a soldier, sailor, airman, or Marine vulnerable at the worst possible time," the report says. "Unfortunately, a flood of counterfeit electronic parts has made it a lot harder to prevent that from happening."
Chinese companies were identified as the "primary source" of the counterfeit goods and the Chinese government was criticized for its alleged disinterest in cracking down on counterfeiting there. The report said that Chinese companies take discarded electronic parts from all over the world, remove any identifying marks, wash and refurbish them, and then resell them as brand-new – a practice that poses a "significant risk" to the performance of U.S. military systems.
But the committee also pointed a finger at the Pentagon and U.S.-based defense contractors that rely on "hundreds of unvetted independent distributors."
According to the document, the investigation "revealed failures by defense contractors and [the Department of Defense] to report counterfeit parts and gaps in DoD's knowledge of the scope and impact of such parts on defense systems."
"Our committee's report makes it abundantly clear that vulnerabilities throughout the defense supply chain allow counterfeit electronic parts to infiltrate critical U.S. military systems, risking our security and the lives of the men and women who protect it," said Senate Armed Services Committee ranking member Sen. John McCain (R.-Arizona). "As directed by last year's Defense Authorization bill, the Department of Defense and its contractors must attack this problem more aggressively, particularly since counterfeiters are becoming better at shielding their dangerous fakes from detection."
A spokesperson for the Department of Defense did not immediately respond to requests for comment on this report, but another spokesperson told CNN the Pentagon was aware of the report and officials "looked forward to reviewing it."
"The Department takes very seriously the issue about counterfeit parts," Col. Melinda Morgan said. "We are working aggressively to address this issue..."
Months after the Senate committee launched its investigation, the Pentagon said in November it was moving to protect against counterfeit parts by modifying policies and improving its internal process as well as working more closely with private companies in the industry.
Then, Defense spokesperson George Little noted that "there has been no loss of life or catastrophic mission failure as a result of these parts entering the supply chain."
Representatives for the Chinese government at its embassy in Washington, D.C., and consulate in New York, New York did not immediately respond to request for comment on this report.

Monday, May 21, 2012

Gunslinger

The Gunslinger

An old prospector shuffled into the desert town of  Mojave, California leading a tired old mule. The old man headed straight for the only saloon in town, to clear his parched throat.

He walked up to the saloon and tied his old mule to the hitch rail.

As he stood there, brushing some of the dust from his face and clothes, a young gunslinger stepped out of the saloon with a gun in one hand and a bottle of whiskey in the other.

 The young gunslinger looked at the old man and laughed, saying, "Hey old man, can you dance?"

 The old man looked up at the gunslinger and said, "No son, I don't dance... never really wanted to."

 A crowd had gathered as the gunslinger grinned and said, "Well, you old fool, you're gonna dance now!" and started shooting at the old man's feet.

 The old prospector, not wanting to get a toe blown off, started hopping around like a flea on a hot skillet.

 Everybody standing around was laughing.

When his last bullet had been fired, the young gunslinger, still laughing, holstered his gun and turned around to go back into the saloon.

 The old man turned to his pack mule, pulled out a double-barreled 12 gauge shotgun and cocked both hammers.

 The loud clicks carried clearly through the desert air. The crowd stopped laughing immediately.

 The young gunslinger heard the sounds too, and he turned around very slowly.

 The silence was deafening. The crowd watched as the young gunman stared at the old timer and the large gaping holes of those twin 1
2gauge barrels.

 The barrels of the shotgun never wavered in the old man's hands, as he quietly said;

 "Son, have you ever kissed a mule's ass?


 
The gunslinger swallowed hard and said, "No sir... but...but I've always wanted to."
 

There are a few lessons for all of us here:

 
*Don't be arrogant.
 
*Don't waste ammunition.
 
*Whiskey makes you think you're smarter than you are.
 
*Always make sure you know who is in control.
 
*And finally, don't screw around with old folks; they didn't
 get old by being stupid.

Sunday, May 20, 2012

New addition to blogroll

I added a new addition to my blogroll, I had gotten the link from Irish.

     Here is Copious Gasser  He has a lot of irreverent stuff and some NSFW pics.  I enjoyed his website.

      Check out and see if you like him then add him to your blogroll or bookmark.

Lagniappe's Lair

Here is a good blog to check out. Lagniappes lair

    I had posted it a while back and ran across it again so I figured I would repost it.  


I saw this and thought of Murphy of Lagniappes lair

oopsie...somebody screwed up

 His handlers screwed up by not getting rid of all his links to his past...Obunglers carefully crafted story of his life is starting to unravel.




I saw this on big government

     It is nice that this stuff is finally coming out, but I blame the LSM(Lamestream media) for not vetting Obungler, but he is "their man" so they cover for him.


   You can read more here

More cuts in the U.S. Army




I remember coming back from the first Gulf war and the Army was already cutting back because the liberals were looking for their "peace dividend" so they could focus on funding all the social and vote buying schemes that they could.  The Army cut almost half of their strength in 3 years.  My regiment was decimated by the cuts.  Years of experience was dumped in the name of headcount.  The Army had problem going into bosnia in the late 90's because of the level of experience that was lost.   I see the same thing happening again.



Odierno: Sequestration could lead to hollow Army

May 17, 2012
By C. Todd Lopez
WASHINGTON (Army News Service, May 17, 2012) -- It's possible the Army could be cut to 400,000 if the sequestration option spelled out in the Budget Control Act of 2011 goes into effect, the Army's chief of staff said this morning.
The Army is already planning on cutting 80,000 active-duty Soldiers from the force over the next five years, which will bring the active end strength down to 490,000 Soldiers. Were sequestration to kick in, Army leaders expect the cuts it brings could mean the loss of an additional 100,000 Soldiers. Those Soldiers would come from both the active and reserve components.
"If we have sequestration, it will affect both the active and reserve component," said Chief of Staff of the Army Gen. Raymond T. Odierno. "It depends on what balance we pick. But what I talk about a lot is: 70,000 out of the active, 30,000 out of the reserve; 80,000 out of the active, 20,000 out of the reserve. Some number around there is what we would expect."
With that, he said, he expects the active component of the Army could be reduced to anywhere between 400,000 to 425,000 Soldiers. The National Guard might lose an additional 20,000 Soldiers, and the Army Reserve might lose an additional 10,000.
"It would be quite significant," the general said, speaking May 17 on Capitol Hill, before an audience at a Senate Caucus breakfast.
"If we have sequestration, the problem we have is with this balance between end strength, readiness and modernization," he said. "I think it's going to be really hard for us to create this right balance we need, and secondly I think it's going to impact not only end strength, (but) it'll impact our ability to train and be ready. And it will significantly impact our modernization programs. It's a template for hollowing out the force."
As part of the Budget Control Act of 2011, lawmakers who were part of a "super committee" last year were tasked with finding $1.2 trillion in savings, or risk across-the-board reductions in funding. Because a resolution was not reached, as much as half that amount could now automatically be cut from the Department of Defense through sequestration.
"The thing about sequestration that is also bothersome, even though the amount of cuts are in my mind unreasonable, it's the fact that we don't have any choice on where those cuts are directed," Odierno said. "It's a percentage cut out of every line item that we have. And so it would completely have significant impact on our modernization programs."
RESET AND READINESS
The Army's chief of staff also told lawmakers that "reset" is going well. Reset is the process the Army uses for the recovery of personnel, units and equipment from the war that was fought in Iraq, and the ongoing conflict in Afghanistan.
Odierno said equipment that has come back to the United States and has been reset is now being provided to Soldiers back home for training purposes. The availability of that equipment for Soldier training helps those Soldiers and their units increase their readiness level for the next conflicts.
"We now have some (mine resistant ambush protected vehicles) we can train on," Odierno said. "One of the real issues was we weren't having a lot of our counter-improvised explosive device equipment, we didn't have enough, to do training on. So the first time they'd see it was when they got into theater."
But Odierno told lawmakers that there is an "incredible amount" of equipment still in Afghanistan. And until that equipment is back in the United States and made available to Soldiers for training purposes, those Soldiers and their units will face readiness issues.
"When you don't have the equipment, it's more difficult to train, so it is going to take several years to do this," he said.
The general told lawmakers that the Army is going to retool the Army force generation process it used to provide fighting forces to Iraq and Afghanistan to keep forces back in the United States at the appropriate level of readiness for potential future conflicts.
"We are going to modify (ARFORGEN) in such a way that will enable us ... to make sure that we have units at (a) significant high level of readiness -- getting ready to have a high level," he said.
The highest level of readiness, C-1, is for units that are fully equipped and trained to go to a conflict, and who know where they are going and are prepared for deployment to that particular area. The lowest level of readiness, C-5, is for units that are completely unprepared for deployment.
"Some units will be at a C-3 level of readiness," Odierno said. "We are going to direct that to ensure we have ready forces, even as we go through this transition period. Our goal is to get as many into that 'ready category' as possible."
Still, Odierno said there will be some units at a very low level of readiness until equipment comes back from Afghanistan.
SUICIDES AND SEXUAL ASSAULT
Also on the mind of the Army's senior officer is dealing with suicides in the force, and with sexual assault and sexual harassment.
"We are all in on sexual harassment and sexual assault," Odierno said. "We have a lot of work to do. It is a culture. We have to change the culture in our Army. We get people from all over our country. And we are going to bring them into our Army and talk to them about the Army culture -- the Army culture of values and ethics, the Army culture of Soldiers taking care of Soldiers ... we will not allow this type of behavior to permeate our profession."
The number of suicides in the army is up this year, Odierno said, and will perhaps exceed the number of suicides that occurred in any other year. The source of the suicide problem, Odierno told lawmakers, is difficult for the Army to pin down.
"I can't tell you why that is happening and that is what's vexing to me," he said. "There are no trends."
The solution, to the suicide problem, he said, might be clearer.
"I do know it's about intervention, it's about Soldiers knowing Soliders, it's about leaders understanding Soldier issues," he said. "We are going to continue to work this problem as hard as we can."