Friday, August 31, 2012

US Versus Them.....

I will tie this in with a post I did a couple of days ago with the "Radical Muslim T-shirt"   I had used this picture shortly after I had started blogging.  It is in one of my folders that I keep all the pics that I use when I post.
     The difference between us and them, We as Western based culture will try to save the women and children, it is on our culture.  the other cultures view women and children as 2nd class citizens and how they fight reflects this.

Would a Taliban or Al-quaeda member do this?   


   










U.S. soldier dies saving Afghan girl
March 28th, 2012
04:45 PM ET

U.S. soldier dies saving Afghan girl

By Larry Shaughnessy
After the news of a U.S. soldier charged with murdering Afghan civilians, mostly women and children, the story of Spc. Dennis Weichel of the Rhode Island National Guard bears telling.
The official Pentagon news release says he died "from injuries suffered in a noncombat related incident." But there is much more to the story. Weichel, 29, of Providence, died saving the life of a little girl.

According to the Rhode Island National Guard and the U.S. Army, Weichel was in a convoy a week ago with his unit in Laghman Province, in northeast Afghanistan. Some children were in the road in front of the convoy, and Weichel and other troops got out to move them out of the way.
Most of the children moved, but one little girl went back to pick up some brass shell casings in the road. Afghan civilians often recycle the casings, and the girl appeared to aim to do that. But a Mine-Resistant Ambush-Protected vehicle was moving toward her, according to Lt. Col. Denis Riel of the Rhode Island National Guard.
MRAPs, as they are known, usually weigh more than 16 tons.
Weichel saw the massive truck bearing down on the girl and grabbed her out of the way. But in the process, the armored truck ran him over, Riel said.
The little girl is fine. Weichel died a short time later of his injuries.
"He was a big kid at heart. He always had a smile on his face, and he made everyone laugh," 1st Sgt. Nicky Peppe, who served with Weichel in Iraq, is quoted as saying in an Army story.
"But as much as Weichel was funny, he was also a professional. When it was time to go outside the wire for a combat patrol, he was all business."
Rhode Island Gov. Lincoln Chafee has ordered flags in the state lowered to half-staff until Weichel, who was posthumously promoted to sergeant, is laid to rest Monday.
Weichel is survived by his parents, his fiancee and three children. His family will be awarded a Bronze Star and other awards for his sacrifice.

Democratic mispellings...and other manner issues......

I saw this while surfing the blogosphere,  I am not a grammer-Nazi but I do try to use English in the proper way.  I remember something my Dad told me many years ago, "The written word is how you will represent yourself, that will be other people will perceive you..."  I make a point when I do a posting that the spell check doesn't find anything.  It is a matter of pride especially when I see how atrocious the younger generation spell and it is ok....to them.
    I also remember something else that it is a matter of courtesy that when one party is having a convention, the other party abstains from campaigning...especially in the same area.   But we have the classy democrats breaking the courtesy....like when they had Vice President Biden show up in Tampa on Monday to give a speech.  

     Yep Democrats......Class acts.....

Doh: Democrats Flying Grammatically Incorrect Banners Around Republican Convention

birther-550x363
 
Written By:
Rob Port


The Democrats hired a plane to fly anti-Romney banners around the Republican National Convention this weekend, but they may be inspiring more mirth than thoughtful opposition to Republicans.
Here’s a picture of the banner being flown around today, which mistakenly uses the singular “woman” instead of the plural “women.”
Last week, while Romney was appearing in Ohio, Democrats flew another banner around which also had an error using “then” (which relates to time) as opposed to “than” (which is a word used in comparisons).
I work without an editor, and make my fair share of typos and spelling/grammar mistakes, but then I’m not hooking my blog posts up to the back of an airplane and flying them around.

Thursday, August 30, 2012

T-Shirts for radical Muslims

This is humorous in a warped way,  But on a serious note when you have a culture that believes in self-destruction of the young for political gain, it goes against the my western based thought.  Granted in other parts of the world, they believe differently...but I have said it more than once...On most places life is really cheap.

"YOU WATCHED THEM GROW UP...
NOW WATCH EM BLOW UP."
***Available in the Gaza Strip and other fine Middle Eastern locations.
***Also available is the new book, "Learning how to crash and burn while screaming Allah Akbar," by I-Zheet M'Drawz. Coming soon, "Killing innocent people in the name of Islam and How to Justify it," by Ally Ben Fartine, and "I was a Teenage Homocide Bomber," by Apoul Madeek A-Lot.

Wednesday, August 29, 2012

My opinion from the RNC

I decided to take a break from going through the stuff in the attic,  and decided to catch the convention in Tampa, I turned the TV on just in time to catch Condi Rice's speech,   I always like Condi Rice, she always exuded calm professionalism. For a person who stays out of the limelight, she gave a good speech about the promise of America and the unlimited opportunities of America.
    She was followed by the  New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez who talked about starting as a prosecutor and later switching party after realizing that they were Republicans not Democrats.  She also gave a good speech.
    Paul Ryan gave a stem winder speech.  He was humble, gave a good oratory speech, dogged the President for lack of leadership and after 4 years...still trying to blame the past administration.  And the kicker line was to the 20 something that after graduating from college, had to move back to their childhood home because they can't find a job and look at the fading poster of Candidate Obama in their room and wonder what had happened.  I though that was the most telling.

    It will interesting to see what happens.....

White House raises the CAFE Standards....

I believe that this is political pandering to his base.  I used to build cars and the automakers shave ounces everywhere they can to lighten the cars.  Computers have helped with engine management and fuel economy.  The free market tells the automakers that they need to build more fuel efficient vehicles and the automakers respond because they want to stay in business...unless they are government motors.  Now they have this artificial standard that they have to meet.  It will force them to cut weight along with the composites that are being used.  People wonder why cars cost more and more.    The cars will also become more dangerous because in a collision the lesser weight becomes a liability.


New Rule Raises Costs

White House’s fuel rules will raise car costs by $2,000
AP Images
AP Images
BY:

The White House finalized its new fuel efficiency standards Tuesday. The new standards are designed to double the miles-per-gallon of consumer vehicles by 2025, and will raise the average cost of a car by $2,000.
The Obama administration’s finalized Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) fuel standards rule will require cars and light trucks to achieve fuel efficiency of 54.5 mpg by model year 2025. The standards will also cost up to an estimated $157 billion and add $2,000 to the price of passenger automobiles, according to two federal agencies.
“These fuel standards represent the single most important step we’ve ever taken to reduce our dependence on foreign oil,” President Obama said in a statement Tuesday. This reduction comes with a cost, however.
Republicans have panned the rule changes. Rep. Darrell Issa (R., Calif.), who chairs the House Oversight Committee, has questioned whether the rules were rushed and could jeopardize safety by reducing the weight of cars.
“The rule finalized today by the Obama Administration will hurt American consumers by forcing them to drive more expensive and less safe automobiles,” Issa said in a statement. “The Administration drafted these standards in secret, strong-arming automakers and short-circuiting the deliberative regulatory process to achieve a purely political result, abandoning sound science and objectivity to appease its political allies in the extreme environmentalist lobby. I support the goal of higher fuel efficiency, but this rule will only add to the burdens American small businesses and middle class families face under the heavy hand of the Obama Administration.”
In an analysis of the rule posted on their websites last summer, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) predicted the administration’s new CAFE standards would add an average of $2,000 to the price of each new passenger vehicle sold by 2025. The NHTSA attributed the increased costs to the price of developing new fuel-saving technology.
However, the highway agency predicted the costs of the new standards will be offset by benefits of $419 billion to $515 billion. The Obama administration also claims the rules will save consumers $8,000 in reduced gas costs over the lifetime of a vehicle by 2025, ultimately reduce oil consumption by 2 million barrels a day, and reduce carbon emissions by six billion metric tons over the course of the program.
The rules were first drafted in July 2011 with the cooperation of 13 major auto manufacturers, and will go into effect in 2017

Tuesday, August 28, 2012

Repercussions of Dodd-Frank....

When Dodd-Frank was crafted by 2 of the people widely believed responsible for the housing sub prime market crash, they targeted executives, but the banks are having to apply the penalties across the board due to possibilities of lawsuits for discrimination.  Another unintended consequence of Government regulations.


   I saw this on Yahoo News.


Richard Eggers (ABC5 News)DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Wells Fargo Home Mortgage (WFC) has fired a Des Moines worker over a 1963 incident at a Laundromat involving a fake dime in the wake of new employment guidelines.

Richard Eggers, 68, was fired in July from his job as a customer service representative for putting a cardboard cutout of a dime in a washing machine nearly 50 years ago in Carlisle, the Des Moines Register reported Monday.

Warren County court records show Eggers was convicted of operating a coin-changing machine by false means. Eggers called it a "stupid stunt," but questions his firing.

Big banks have been firing low-level employees like Eggers since new federal banking employment guidelines were enacted in May 2011 and new mortgage employment guidelines took hold in February, the newspaper said. The tougher standards are meant to clear out executives and mid-level bank employees guilty of transactional crimes — such as identity theft and money laundering — but are being applied across the board because of possible fines for noncompliance.

Banks have fired thousands of workers nationally, said Natasha Buchanan, an attorney in Santa Ana, Calif., who has helped some of the workers regain their eligibility to be employed.

"Banks are afraid of the FDIC and the penalties they could face," Buchanan said.

The regulatory rules forbid the employment of anyone convicted of a crime involving dishonesty, breach of trust or money laundering. Before the guidelines were changed, banks widely interpreted the rules to exclude minor traffic offenses and misdemeanors.

Wells Fargo confirmed Eggers' termination.

"The expectations that have been placed on us and all financial institutions have never been higher," said Wells Fargo spokeswoman Angela Kaipust.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. provides a waiver process employees can follow to show they're still fit to work at a bank despite a past criminal conviction, but it usually takes six months to a year to be approved. There is also a process for automatic waiver that works more quickly but is limited to people who were sentenced to less than year of jail time and never spent a day locked up.

Eggers, who was jailed two days, doesn't qualify.

American Bankers Association spokeswoman Carol Kaplan said the public clamor for tighter regulation also is responsible for the stricter interpretation of the rules. The safest route is to fire the employee and let them pursue an FDIC waiver.

"There's no question that there was an appetite for tighter bank regulation as a result of the global financial crisis," Kaplan said.

There is no government or industry data on the number of bank firings due to criminal background checks. The FDIC is on pace to grant 74 waivers, up from 21 waivers approved in 2009. The agency was not able to provide any information on annual waiver application data.

Des Moines attorney Leonard Bates is helping Eggers navigate the FDIC waiver application process.

"These guidelines are really meant for executives and people who can perpetuate widespread fraud," Bates said.

What a difference a century makes..NYC 100 years

I saw this on one of the newspapers that I read.  I thought it was pretty neat.

What a difference a century makes: Pictures of New York skyline from 1876 show how it has been transformed with skyscrapers

The future: From next year this is how we can expect to see the New York skyline with the Freedom Tower reaching towards the sky in place of the Twin Towers
The changes are shown in a startling composite picture of the skyline over the decades, starting with 1876, going into 1932 and 1988 and finishing in 2013. All that remains from the hustle and bustle of the 19th century is the iconic Brookly Bridge which was just being built to connect the district with Manhattan.

The Joyless Campaign.......

I saw this on one of the foreign newspapers that I read online.   I was kinda surprised to see this featured since the average European still likes President Obama.  There have been comments across the blogosphere that this is the nastiest campaign in modern history and seeing how the democrats are playing Chicago politics and we have the various talking heads trying to link the RNC in Tampa with the impending tropical storm that is supposed to hit the gulf coast, I have heard things about "Republicans are partying while people are suffering in New Orleans"  trying to tie the RNC to the Bush/Katrina back in 2005.    I have also heard that while in the past when one party has their convention, the other party would abstain from campaigning out of respect.   This year we have no slowdown of the DNC efforts...we even have Joe Biden in Tampa at the same time....that is kinda tacky.



Barack Obama was swept to the White House in 2008 by a wave of idealism and inspirational campaigning in which he encapsulated the mood of the nation with his slogans of ‘Hope’, ‘Change’ and ‘Yes we can’.
Then, his message was a fundamentally positive one. Americans wanted an end to the Bush era but that almost went without saying. Obama pointed to his own vision of the country; a post-partisan, post-racial America in which gridlock in Washington was ended and common-sense centrist solutions were adopted.
What a difference four years makes. Obama is campaigning ferociously for a second term – and he is a candidate who would have probably have been disdained by the Obama of 2008.

Illinois Senator Barack Obama speaks at a town hall meeting at the Mississippi University for Women in Columbus, Mississippi, March 10, 2008
President Barack Obama speaks during a campaign stop, Wednesday, Aug. 22, 2012, in North Las Vegas, Nevada
Four more years? President Obama, pictured left in March 2008, and right, at an event in Las Vegas earlier this week; the Commander-in-Chief is waging a relentlessly negative campaign for the White House
Drawing crowds: While many came to hear Obama speak Wednesday at Canyon Springs High School in Las Vegas, it's nowhere near the numbers he was reaching in 2008
Drawing crowds: While many came to hear Obama speak Wednesday at Canyon Springs High School in Las Vegas, it's nowhere near the numbers he was reaching in 2008
Obama is waging a relentlessly negative campaign of changing the subject from the one that, overwhelmingly, most Americans care about – the economy. Every week there is a new issue his campaign seizes on, preferring to talk about something, anything other than jobs and 8.3 per cent unemployment.
While Obama is still drawing sizable crowds, they are nothing like the size of those who flocked to see him in 2008. In Las Vegas, Obama held a rally in a high school before more than 2,000 people but there was space for plenty more.
On the outskirts of Manchester, New Hampshire on Monday morning, Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan attracted more than 3,000 people who patiently queued in lines across a field to be searched by the Secret Service.
 
Crowd size is not everything – as Obama himself could attest after losing in the 2008 New Hampshire primary to Hillary Clinton even though he had attracted unprecedented numbers to his events, eclipsing the former First Lady by two or three to one.
But the difference between the numbers Obama is attracting now compared to four years ago should be a cause of deep concern to his campaign. 
More significantly, the mood of the crowds is different. There is a sullenness, even resentment, that was not present in 2008. Ask an Obama supporter about their man and as often as not you will get a few words about him and then a demeaning attack on Romney or Ryan.
Bright eyes: Then-senator Obama is pictured speaking during a town hall meeting in San Antonio, Texas in March of 2008
Bright eyes: Then-senator Obama is pictured speaking during a town hall meeting in San Antonio, Texas in March of 2008
Popularity: The president's likability surged during his speech at the Victory Column in Berlin in 2008
Popularity: The president's likability surged during his speech at the Victory Column in Berlin in 2008
They are taking their cue from the candidate himself. Obama used not to mention Romney by name. In Las Vegas, he did so nine times.
And while he was careful to call him ‘Governor Romney’ and not stoop to the kind of attacks he has left to his campaign and its allies (such as accusing him of being a felon or linking him to the death of a woman from cancer), the contempt he has for his opponent was almost visceral.

Significantly, the mood of the crowds is different. There is a sullenness, even resentment, that was not present in 2008. Ask an Obama supporter about their man and as often as not you will get a few words about him and then a demeaning attack on Romney or Ryan.
The crowd sensed it. When Obama mentioned ‘Republicans in Congress’, they began to boo loudly. Obama attempted to quiet them: ‘No, no, no, no, no, don’t boo – vote,’ he said. ‘That’s right. Vote.’
But the crowd had taken their cue from Obama – the booing reflected the tone he had adopted. It was clever politics – whip up the crowd, then make a high-minded appeal for civility while at the same time trying to turn their anger into action.
Obama has taken on Ryan by name – presidential candidates, never mind incumbent presidents, don’t normally stoop to mentioning the bottom half of the opposing ticket.
In 2008, the Obama campaign was full of endless possibilities and expectations of a bright new horizon. This time, it’s a joyless slog. And there’s something else: Obama now tends to look emptily past rather than at his audiences. It’s as if the light in his eyes has gone out.
Obama has seized on the bone-headed 'legitimate rape' remarks of Todd Akin, a previously obscure figure running for the US Senate in Missouri, to try to make them central to his campaign.
At a New York fundraiser on Wednesday, Obama joked about referred 'the Senator of Missouri, Mr Akin' (he's a congressman) who 'sits on the House Committee on Science and Technology but somehow missed science class'.

The Obama campaign appears intent on turning the Democratic convention into one long gloat about Akin's comments in the hope of driving women voters away from Romney. Obama advisers are even talking of Akin being "on the ticket" with Romney and Ryan.
In Las Vegas, a campaign event and a stridently partisan one at that, Obama’s lectern was decorated with the presidential seal. Back in 2010, Obama’s then press secretary Robert Gibbs said that ‘at strictly political events we would not use’ the seal, which is a symbol of the office of the presidency not of a political candidate.
Another remarkable thing is that many of those at Obama’s events – like many people across the country - are not listening to him. In Reno on Tuesday evening, it was at times hard to follow what Obama was saying because of the chatter.
Knowing smile: Then-presidential hopeful Obama attends a rally at the Community College of Beaver County in Pennsylvania in 2008
Knowing smile: Then-presidential hopeful Obama attends a rally at the Community College of Beaver County in Pennsylvania in 2008
A number of those attending seemed only to want to get a picture of themselves with Obama speaking in the background. In 2008, audiences would be rapt, almost mesmerised, when Obama spoke. At Romney and Ryan events there is near silence and many an intent, furrowed brow as the case for change is made.
In Las Vegas, the crowd chanted ‘Yes We Can’ before Obama appeared but it sounded like a dirge rather than the perky, upbeat chant of 2008. It was so different that one local reporter even walked over to me to ask what they were chanting.
Behind Obama was emblazoned the word ‘Forward’, a slogan once used by Josef Stalin. But at the core of Obama’s case is the notion that President George W. Bush’s policies are responsible for the mess America is in. Listening to him at times it is as if the last four years never happened.
Obama’s campaign schedule reveals a lot about how he seeks victory in November. Last week, he spend three days in Iowa and held nine events. Iowa has six electoral college votes of the 270 Obama needs to win.
Easy does it: President Obama gestures as he is interrupted by a protester as he speaks at a campaign event at Canyon Springs High School in Nevada earlier this week
Easy does it: President Obama gestures as he is interrupted by a protester as he speaks at a campaign event at Canyon Springs High School in Nevada earlier this week
50 shades of grey: The president shows signs of wear and hair with white and grey strands
50 shades of grey: The president shows signs of wear and hair with white and grey strands
On Saturday, Obama held two events in New Hampshire, which has four Electoral College votes and on Tuesday and Wednesday he was in Nevada, which has six. Obama, moreover, won Nevada by more than 12 percentage points in 2008.
What does this tell is? That Obama is on the defensive and knows the only way he can win re-election is by the narrowest of margins, by ‘slicing and dicing’ – his own pejorative term – and eking out a 51 to 49 per cent victory, crawling across the line to 270 electoral college votes.
Perhaps the most striking thing of all is Obama’s demeanour. He has visibly greyed over the past four years but that happens to most world leaders. What is more noteworthy is his lugubrious expression and the fact that he grimaces much more often than he smiles

Read more: Here

Monday, August 27, 2012

Monday Music



Another video of my recently restarted "Monday Music".  What can I say...I like Music video's...I remember MTV when they actually played music video's.  Mostly from the 2nd British invasion like flock of seagulls, Dexy's midnight runner, ABC, and many of what is called "New Wave". 

     

Sunday, August 26, 2012

Obama and the middle class..

I saw this from the WSJ


The Presidential race is boiling down to one dominant issue: which party's policies will do more to help the financially stressed American middle class. President Obama's campaign theme is that Mitt Romney and the Republicans cater to the rich, while Mr. Obama cares about struggling families.
He may care, but he sure hasn't done much for them. New income data from the Census Bureau, tabulated by former Census income specialists at the nonpartisan economic consulting firm Sentier Research, reveal that the three-and-a-half years of the Obama Presidency have done enormous harm to middle-class households.
image
In January 2009, the month President Obama entered the Oval Office and shortly before he signed his stimulus spending bill, median household income was $54,983. By June 2012, it had tumbled to $50,964, adjusted for inflation. (See the chart nearby.) That's $4,019 in lost real income, a little less than a month's income every year.Add the authors: "The overall decline since June 2009 was larger than the 2.6 percent decline that occurred" during the recession from December 2007 to June 2009. For household income, in other words, the Obama recovery has been worse than the Bush recession.
     It's true that the Bush years overall were also not great for household incomes. According to Sentier's analysis, real median household income is down about 8% from $55,470 in 2000 before the dot-com bubble burst. Some of this decline is due to the continuation of a trend of smaller family size, lower fertility rates and more Americans living alone. But some was also due to the subpar economic growth across the 2000s.
That slow growth trend has become worse since the latest recession, and this is where Mr. Obama is implicated. The President portrays the financial decline of American families on his watch as part of a decades-long trend. He's wrong. Real income for middle-income households rose by roughly 30% from 1983 to 2005, according to the Congressional Budget Office. The political left likes to blame the ebbing of union power. But nongovernment unionization fell dramatically in the 1980s and '90s, and incomes rose.
     So what does explain falling real incomes? Slow growth, yes, but another culprit has been rising prices—especially for food, gasoline, medical procedures and college tuition—that have eroded worker purchasing power. The Federal Reserve claims this is no problem because "core inflation" has been relatively contained. But core inflation excludes food and energy prices, which are two of the biggest components of consumer budgets.
image
The big pay freeze is also the bitter fruit of public schools that have failed to teach the basic skills and knowledge needed to succeed in a competitive global economy. Rising health-care costs have also forced employers to take money that used to go into higher wages to pay higher premiums.
A key driver of higher wages in the 1980s and 1990s was a surge of capital investment in computers, plant and equipment, which made Americans workers more productive. When Mr. Obama pledges to raise taxes on investment income (capital gains, dividends and small-business profits), he is making it costlier to innovate and modernize. That plays out over time into slower gains in productivity and wages.
Consider the toll from America's corporate tax rate, which is the highest in the industrial world. A 2011 study by economists at the American Enterprise Institute found that because of the capital flight from the U.S. as a result of this high rate, "every additional dollar of tax revenue [from the corporate tax] leads to a $4 decrease in aggregate real wages." American workers would be the biggest beneficiaries of tax reform.
The new income data reveal other eye-opening trends. The group that has suffered the most during the Obama Presidency has been black Americans, whose real incomes have fallen by more than 11%.
Mr. Obama also likes to say that government workers like teachers are hurting and the private economy is doing "just fine." But the data indicate that over the past three years households with government workers saw their incomes decline less than households with private workers. The public-private pay gap is now wider than ever ($77,998 government versus $63,800).
Every age group has seen a decline in income—except the elderly. Those between the ages of 65 and 75 saw an average 6.5% gain in income, though most are not working and collect Medicare and Social Security.
The last time incomes fell this fast was during the late 1970s under Jimmy Carter, and it's no coincidence that economic policies then and now are so similar. If Mr. Obama succeeds in convincing voters that he really is the tribune of the middle class, it will be the political conjurer's trick of the century.

EU emission Cap and Trade under assault from Australia.




   More and more people are realizing that cap and trade is just a scheme for the government to find another income stream.  This cap and trade nonsense only seems to afflict the western based societies.  the other areas of the globe like China and India basically tell the global warming dingbats to piss off.   I gues the enviro-wacko's like the rule of law that is prevelant here and it protects them, and not the rule of man that is
used elswhere that would make them disappear into a prison or "vanish" like other people that criticize the powers that be.

EU Emissions Trading System Under Attack From Australian Lawmakers

By Madhu Unnikrishnan


August 21, 2012
The EU emissions trading system (ETS) is facing a fresh challenge, this time from Australia­—an unexpected move by a country that also considers cap-and-trade systems a viable option to mitigate carbon dioxide emissions.
Australia was not involved in a meeting last year in Delhi and this year in Moscow that resulted in declarations of opposition to the ETS, but was one of 17 countries that met earlier this month in Washington to discuss ETS. Unlike the Delhi and Moscow meetings, the Washington meeting was convened to find a consensus approach to ETS rather than merely a statement of opposition.
But this weekend Australia’s House of Representatives passed a non-binding resolution calling on the Australian government to use all legal and diplomatic means to stop the application of ETS to international airlines. The resolution has the backing of both the conservative National Party of Australia and the ruling Labor Party.
The resolution, which has yet to be considered up by the upper house of the legislature, argues that either the International Air Transport Association or the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) should broker any international deal on aviation’s role in climate change, says Bill Hemmings, program manager for aviation and shipping at the Brussels-based Transport & Environment advocacy group.
The opposition to Europe’s ETS comes as Australia considers its own legislation to establish a country-wide cap-and-trade system, a measure which has broad support, says Hemmings. Before the EU’s ETS applied to aviation, EU officials pointed to Australia’s plans for a cap-and-trade system as a possible equivalent measure that might be exempted from the ETS.
Countries or regions can apply to be exempted from the EU’s ETS if they have equivalent emissions-reduction measures in place.
Similar to legislation pending in the U.S. Senate, the resolution passed by Australia’s lower house objects to the EU charging for emissions for the entire length of a flight. This measure, and the participation in the Washington meetings, suggest that Australia’s stance is converging with that of the U.S. on climate change and aviation, environmental groups say.
This has been a disappointment to the environmental community. “Australia has been a constructive voice in ICAO,” says Pamela Campos, attorney for the Environmental Defense Fund. “We sincerely hope Australia will continue to be active as all eyes turn toward ICAO.”
ICAO has said it could have a proposal for market-based emissions-mitigation measures by the end of the year.

5 ways Obama is killing the middle class....


I saw this here and thought the information was relevant...and when the old print media starts to turn on you...you are in trouble.

Five Ways Obama Is Hurting the Middle Class

Economic challenges persist despite presidential claims to the contrary
President Obama and Vice President Biden (AP Images)
President Obama and Vice President Biden (AP Images)
BY:

Vice President Joe Biden claims that the middle class is mounting a comeback—and will continue to do so unless the GOP bumps Democrats from office.
“Folks, the middle class is coming back,” he told a crowd of supporters in Minnesota. “They have been ravaged, but they’re starting to come back.”
President Obama attempted to paint a similarly rosy picture in June after disappointing jobs reports showed unemployment ticking up.
“The private sector is doing fine,” he said.
Unemployment has risen from 8.1 percent at the time of Obama’s statement to 8.3 percent when Biden spoke. The Republican National Committee (RNC) has jumped on the statement and pointed to four additional signs that the middle class is far from a comeback during the Obama recovery.

1. Prices are up

AP Images
The average American family is spending an extra $40 per month on food under Obama, according to data from the Department of Agriculture. Gas prices have also skyrocketed since 2008, rising from $1.78 per gallon under President George W. Bush to $3.72 per gallon and climbing as Labor Day approaches. College tuition, meanwhile, has jumped 25 percent. Health care costs continue to rise.

2. Decreased savings

Bank of America / Wikimedia Commons
Americans are struggling to manage their day-to-day expenses, leading many to abandon the savings that have been an entryway to the middle class. Nearly 1 in 4 Americans have reported no savings, a five percent jump since Obama took office.

3. Record-high Handouts

AP Images
Nearly half of all Americans—49.1 percent—received some form of government assistance in 2011, including unemployment, Medicaid, and welfare. Food stamp recipients jumped 45 percent over the past three years. Means-tested government transfer payments can act as marginal tax increase, studies show.

4. Wealth Has Vanished

AP Images
Median income has plummeted since the start of the recession. Wages remain stagnant. The average household has lost $4,300 from its annual income since Obama took office. Average wealth fell 40 percent during the weakened recovery. Nearly one in three mortgages are now underwater.

5. Joblessness

AP Images
The root cause behind all of these issues is unemployment, which has remained above 8 percent for the past 42 months, despite Obama’s assurances. People are also staying unemployed for longer periods of time: The average jobless person can expect a nearly 40-week wait in between jobs, double the 20-week rate when Obama took office.

Wednesday, August 22, 2012

Ryan's Plan VS Obama's Plan

This video was done last year by Andrew Klaven,  With Ryan being the GOP Veep nominee, I gave the video a new look.   It explains the Ryan plan and the Obama plan in humorous detail. 


The Story of LEGO's

I was cruising through my blogroll and visited The blog of Irish  as I tend to do everyday since he has a lot of good stuff on it.  I saw this video.  I took the time to watch it and remember back in the 70's my Dad was stationed in Germany in the Frankfurt area and he had purchased for my brother and myself a bunch of LEGO stuff for it was very popular in Germany.  When we came back to the states, the people here didn't know what those little plastic blocks were.  My brother and I built many things with those blocks...from cities and towns where our toy soldiers would engage in urban warfare to airplanes and boats....that had guns on them of course.   My brother and I were the terrors of our neighborhood as far as "kiddie" warfare went.  We would engage in set place battles with other kids after the rules of engagements have been formalized with our toy tanks, toy airplanes and toy soldiers.   We were undefeated:)  That is what happens when we studies the rules of warfare and the tactics of Rommel  and Patton and using historical precedents.   We would crush the other kids battle plans.   Nowadays that would have gotten us referred to some shrink or something.  But this was the 70's and it was a different time.

     

"A great way to Win...or Lose"...With Bill Whittle

I saw this video while surfing youtube.  Besides finding old TV shows that I like plus the Saturday morning cartoons that I used to watch...with all the gratuitous violence a la The Roadrunner and Wile E.
     Bill Whittle released another video and it is informative and humorous.   Well worth the watch.


                                                                       

Repeal Obamacare Billboard vandalized

Yes.... the Chicago way of politics have made its way to Florida....Remember a while back there was a DNC headquarters with the American flag with Obungler's face in the Star Field.......?


Repeal Obamacare' Billboard Vandalized


 

Vandals defaced a Sarasota County Republican Party anti-Obama billboard over the weekend in Venice, Florida, according to the Sarasota Herald-Tribune.

Vandals this past weekend extensively damaged a Sarasota County Republican Party billboard with the message “Repeal Obama.”
At about 8 a.m. Sunday, Sarasota GOP Chairman Joe Gruters said he received an email notifying him about the damage to the sign at the U.S. 41 Bypass and Center Road.
Someone with a cutting instrument removed the word “Repeal,” the GOP's website address and its financial disclosure statement but left the word “Obama.”
...
“This wasn't kids,” Gruters said. “It wasn't an easy job.”
On Monday afternoon Gruters told Breitbart News:
It's extremely disappointing when you work hard as a group to build a sign... we raised contributions... and to have it destroyed by vandals is disappointing. This Chicago style politics coming to Florida is disgusting. This is new to Sarasota. We've never had this type of incident.
This job could not have been done by kids. You had to have a box truck or a ladder. For them to have dissected the sign as they did, it was pretty obvious it was a planned attack. It wasn't just a few minutes work. It took them at least fifteen minutes to do it. The police said they're actively engaged in the investigation. If they catch them, they're going to be charged with felony mischief.
The good news is we've raised enough money to replace the billboard.
On Monday Breitbart News called Sarasota County Sheriff's Department Public Information Officer Wendy Rose for an update on the investigation into this act of vandalism but has not yet received a response.

Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Oldest Airworthy Boeing Airliner






The airplane is in Spokane, WA and is the oldest airworthy Boeing in the World.
After eight years of repair and rebuilding and 8,000 hours of toil the Boeing 40C rolled out last winter as a finished airplane.
They had to wait a few weeks for the snow to melt to fly this baby. They received their Standard Airworthiness Certificate from the FAA and completed the engine pre-oil and fuel flow tests for the first of the taxi tests.
Facts for the Boeing 40 project:
The airplane weighs 4,080 lbs empty and has a gross weight of 6,075 lbs.
It is 34 feet long and 13 feet tall with a wingspan of over 44 feet.
Wing loading is 10 lbs per sq ft and power loading is 10 lbs per HP.
The wings have 33,000 individual parts in them.
It should cruise at 115 mph using 28 GPH and 32 GPH at 120 mph.
It carries 120 gallons of fuel in three tanks.
Over 221 gallons of dope/reducer and 120 yards of 102 ceconite fabric; twelve gallons of polyurethane paint for the sheet metal; and three-hundred-and-fifty 2" brushes were used to apply six gallons of West Systems epoxy.
One-hundred-eighty-one rolls of paper towels were needed for cleanup.
There were a total of 62 volunteers who worked on the project to some degree. Twenty-one of the volunteers did a significant amount of the work and nine of the volunteers worked continuously during the eight-year project

What if....?

I have thought about it more than once..I have severe doubts that Obungler will step down...I keep thinking that if he refuses to step down, the senate by law would impeach him and remove him from office.  That being said...this is the same senate that refuses to fulfil its constitutional duty and pass a budget.  I can't see the spineless pukes in the senate doing that.   Also I believe that if Obama loses...he will invoke the race card and the cities will burn and riot as the urban class believe that their messiah Obama is being "hemmed in by da man"  and explode in fury in support of "their own".   The election this year will be very interesting.


Let's go there: if Obama thinks he's losing, will he allow safe and fair elections on November 6?  And if he does lose, will he peacefully turn over power to Mitt Romney on January 20, 2013?  Or will he cling to power "by any means necessary," as a highly placed insider alleges?
Now, I'm truly sorry to raise such disgusting, un-American, crazy-sounding questions, but, alas, they're not crazy, and I've got a disquieting amount of evidence.  The Democrats have already accused Romney of murdering a woman with cancer, financial felonies, and not filing taxes for ten years -- the last charge delivered by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid on the Senate floor, on the basis of absolutely no evidence whatsoever.
By Democrat standards, I've got enough proof to put away Obama, et al. for life without parole.
Whatever chicanery Obama and his investors may be contemplating, it will probably unfold against some gargantuan crisis, manufactured or otherwise.  So cast your mind back to September 11, 2001, the day of the New York mayoral primary. 
In the chaos after the attacks, Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, who was term-limited from running, pleaded that his leadership was essential and that he should be granted an extra three months in office after his term ran out on January 1.  Giuliani's unprecedented power-grab was rightfully scorned by his eventual successor, Michael Bloomberg.  So what did Bloomberg do when he ran into term limits?  He deployed his multi-billion-dollar fortune to manipulate the law and buy himself a quasi-legal third term, claiming that only he had the expertise to handle the 2008 financial crisis.
My point?  Politicians a great deal more conventional than Obama have loathed giving up power, and they have used crises and unethical machinations to try to keep it.
Now, let's look at just some of the disturbing evidence that indicates that Obama and his investors are plotting something big:

DNC Stiffs another town on overhead.

Somehow I am not surprised....I could make the comment that they should have been honored to host the Chicago Messiah.   It is like the DNC to stiff people....after all freeloading and mooching is what democrats are best at.

President Barack Obama's motorcade arrives at movie producer Harvey Weinstein's beachfront property in Westport, Conn., for a campaign event on Aug. 6, 2012. (credit: JIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images)
President Barack Obama’s motorcade arrives at movie producer Harvey Weinstein’s beachfront property in Westport, Conn., for a campaign event on Aug. 6, 2012. (credit: JIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images)
WESTPORT, Conn. (CBS Connecticut/AP) — Westport’s first selectman says the town has been informed it will not be reimbursed thousands of dollars for President Barack Obama’s visit for a fundraiser earlier this month.
First Selectman Gordon Joseloff says the Democratic National Committee notified the town it will not pay police and fire overtime costs totaling $14,812.
The town asked the DNC and Obama for America to pay the overtime costs incurred when the president arrived at Sherwood Island State Park on Aug. 6 to attend a fundraiser in Stamford and a $35,800 per person dinner at the Westport home of movie producer Harvey Weinstein.
The New Register reports that an executive of the Democratic National Committee wrote that as a private organization it did not participate in security, traffic control, fire or emergency planning. She referred questions to the Secret Service.
“I didn’t expect that we would get repayment, but it was worthwhile to ask,” Joseloff told the Register.

Monday, August 20, 2012

Political Supporters

How can one distinguish a Romney supporter from an Obama supporter?
"Elementary, my dear Watson."
Romney supporters sign their checks on the front;
Obama supporters sign theirs on the back."

Our Next VP?

OUR NEXT VICE PRESIDENT???




Well, early one Saturday morning we learned that Congressman Paul Ryan, Republican from Wisconsin , is to be Mitt Romney's pick for the next Vice President of The United States.

What are we to think of this selection? He's not a graduate of Columbia University . He's not a graduate of Harvard. He wasn't selected as the President of the Harvard Law Review. He didn't get a special free quota scholarship ride to any prestigious university and, instead, had to work his way through Miami University of Ohio...the man drove the Oscar Mayer Wiener Truck one summer and waited tables another!

One morning when Paul Ryan was sixteen years old he went in to wake his father and found him dead of a heart attack. He didn't write two books about that experience. Instead, he assumed the role of adult at an early age, never having the luxury to pursue youthful drug use and the art of socialist revolution.

Instead, Paul Ryan and his mother took his grandmother, suffering from Alzheimer's, into the household and served as the primary care provider for his grandma. His grandma wasn't the Vice President of the Bank of Hawaii so she could offer nothing in return, except the element of "need".

Once Paul Ryan got his BA in Economics from Miami University of Ohio he was hired as a staff economist in Wisconsin Senator Kastin's office. The job must have not paid well because young Ryan moonlighted as a waiter and fitness trainer. No one offered him a "token honor" position at the University of Chicago and a $200,000 dollar a year salary.

When a still young Paul Ryan returned to Wisconsin to run for Congress, he didn't demonize his opponent and dig up dirt to shovel against him. He waited until the standing Congressman vacated the office before seeking the office. In Janesville , Wisconsin they don't have a big political machine to promote you, to criminalize your opponent; instead Paul Ryan had to go door to door and sit at kitchen tables and listen to his future constituents.

After getting elected to Congress, Paul Ryan didn't triumphantly march into Washington , buy himself a Georgetown townhouse and proceed over to K Street to rub elbows with lobbyists. He bunked in his Congressional office and used the house gym for showers and a fresh change of clothes.

Paul Ryan then married and took his bride back to Janesville . He lives on the same street he lived on as a kid and shares the neighborhood with eight other members of the Ryan clan. He hunts with the local Janesville hunt club and attends PTA meetings and other civic functions.

For those who can't make those public functions, Paul Ryan bought an old bread truck, converted it into a "mobile constituent office" and drives around to meet with those who need his help and attention.

No, I don't know if we can vote for a guy like this. He doesn't have a regal pedigree; he's Irish! No one awarded him a Nobel Peace Prize two months after getting elected. No one threw flowers or got "chills down their leg" as he took his seat in Congress.

What is most despicable about Paul Ryan is that he has had the nerve to write the House Budget for three years in a row. He is brazen and heartless in advocating in that budget for a $5 trillion dollar reduction in federal spending over the next ten years! The House passed his budget three years in a row and three years in a row the Democratically controlled Senate has let it die in the upper house, without ever proposing a budget of their own. What is wrong with this guy? If Congress were to cut $5 trillion dollars from the budget where would the President get the money to give $500 million dollars to a bankrupt Solyndra? Or $200 million dollars for bankrupt Energy 1? Or $11 billion dollars to illegal aliens filing INIT, non-resident tax returns to claim $11 billion big ones in child tax credits, even for their children living in Mexico ?

I don't know. Paul Ryan seems heartless to me. He keeps wanting to cut government waste, he keeps wanting to put a halt to those big GSA conventions in Vegas and, worse, he keeps trying to make people look at that $16.7 trillion dollar deficit! The guy's no fun at all!

Who wants a numbers cruncher? Who wants someone spoiling the party by showing folks the bill? Nothing will spoil a party quicker than sending the host the bill before the party's over.

Party Hearty folks! At least until November.

Monday Music

This episode of Monday Music features the "Foo Fighters"  and their song "Learn to fly"


Friday, August 17, 2012

U.S.S. Constitution to sail again

   We saw the Constitution last year in Boston and took a tour of her, her mast were off during that time as they were being overhauled.   This is my son visiting the Oldest commissioned warship in the world.   I loved visiting Boston,  "B" town was my favorite while I was stationed at Fort Devens in MASS for 9 long months during A.I.T.  I hated Massachusetts because of the way I was treated, but I loved Boston going where all the historical figures had walked was thrilling.  Seeing Boston Commons,  Fanual Hall, Quincy Marketplace and of course "Cheers"

Navy's oldest commissioned warship to sail again

BOSTON (AP) — The U.S. Navy's oldest commissioned warship will sail under its own power for just the second time in more than a century to commemorate the battle that won it the nickname "Old Ironsides."
The USS Constitution, which was first launched in 1797, will be tugged from its berth in Boston Harbor on Sunday to the main deepwater pathway into the harbor. It will then set out to open seas for a 10-minute cruise.
The short trip marks the day two centuries ago when the Constitution bested the British frigate HMS Guerriere in a fierce battle during the War of 1812. It follows a three-year restoration project and is the first time the Constitution has been to sea on its own since its 200th birthday in 1997.
Before that, it hadn't sailed under its own power since 1881. The Constitution is periodically tugged into the harbor for historical display.
Chief Petty Officer Frank Neely, a Constitution spokesman and crew member, said the crew wants to honor and preserve the Constitution with Sunday's sail.
"This ship is a national icon to us. ... She's very special to us. We think she's very special to the United States," he said.
The Constitution was under the command of Capt. Issac Hull when it engaged the Guerriere off Nova Scotia on Aug. 19, 1812. The young war was not going well for America, which had surrendered Detroit to the British with basically no resistance a week earlier.
But the Guerriere proved no match for the Constitution, which was heavier and longer. The vessels blasted away at each other at close range, even colliding at one point, during the 35-minute battle. The Constitution's 24-pound cannonballs felled the Guerriere's mast, while the British vessels' 18-pound cannonballs had trouble penetrating the Constitution's two-foot thick live oak hull, said Matthew Brenckle, a historian at the USS Constitution Museum.
Brenckle said a sailor's memoirs recorded how one cannonball seemed to slightly penetrate the ship, before dropping into the sea. The sailor then called out the quote that would give the Constitution its nickname, "Huzzah, her sides are made of iron! See where the shot fell out!"
It wasn't the first naval win in what would be a divisive, expensive war, but it set off celebrations around the country, Brenckle said.
"Strategically, it really did nothing to change the course of the war," he said. "But the morale boost that that provided for the American cause, I think was quite important."
During Sunday's sail, the Constitution's crew of about 65, accompanied by 150 sailors selected to be part of event, will unfurl four of its 36 sails, Neely said. The tugs will stand by as a precaution when the Constitution sails on its own. And the trip can't happen unless the weather conditions are right.
The ship won't move in winds less than five mph and anything over about 15 mph would put too much stress on the vessel, Neely said. But the forecast looks favorable.
The lengthy work in preparation for Sunday's sail was largely on the Constitution's aesthetics, though the masts were restored, Neely said. The crew also underwent extensive training on how to handle a vessel that's unlike any other in the U.S. Navy.
"A lot of hours of work went into this one day right here," Neely said. "I wouldn't be surprised if I broke a couple of tears after this."