John McCain: Hero or Nero?

John McCain. War Hero? Many Navy veterans don't think so. They believe that he threw that away in 1967. How so? Well let me begin a bit earlier in his naval service, and consider that attempts to subject McCain to a Courts Martial was squelched by high brass because his father had recently been promoted to Commander-in-Chief, U.S. Naval Forces, Europe. Wait, there's more. His grandfather commanded Task Force 38, Halsey's primary weapon in fight against Imperial Japan. 

McCain was believed to have had at least one affair with the wife of a deployed Naval Officer, and he flaunted it openly. The charge? Conduct unbecoming a Naval Officer. Any other officer would have been disgraced and forced out. Throughout his Naval service, McCain used his family reputation to avoid consequences of reckless and bad behavior. He was widely disliked among his fellow officers and pilots. He was considered to be a marginally skilled pilot and was usually dead last on his squadron's greenie board (rating for carrier landing proficiency).

McCain in 1964. It is amusing to note that his

 combination cap is at least two sizes too small.

McCain was a central figure in the disaster aboard USS Forrestal, where 134 sailors died. Quickly transferred to another squadron and carrier, McCain was not generally welcomed.

His story after being shot down has been polished up considerably. To this day, more than a few of his fellow POWs despise McCain for collaborating with his captors in exchange for medical care and better treatment. Surely, this was not out of character for McCain. He made multiple radio broadcasts for the North Vietnamese, some of which were recorded and are available to listen to on the web. McCain's book on his war experiences contains more bullshit than the Chicago stock yards. Contrary to McCain's claim, no POW ever saw him tortured, and the former Vietnamese commander of the prison says that he was never tortured. McCain is reported to have cooperated.

Let's just skip ahead to recent history. His loss to Obama in the 2008 election was devastating to his massive ego. His choice of Sarah Palin as his Vice Presidential running mate is widely thought to have been a crushing blunder. McCain's support for the rebels in Libya and Syria were huge errors in judgement, when one considers that most of the groups he supported morphed into what we call ISIS. His bad decision making cost him dearly. Although many thought that he should have been indicted, McCain escaped the Keating Affair with a rebuke for his very "poor judgment". 

McCain's open hatred for Trump has been his motivation for a number of vile things he has done and said since Trump announced his campaign. He's a very angry man and a leading "never Trump" politician.

Last evening's healthcare vote was his latest back stab to the President, his party and the American people. I suppose that treasonous behavior comes easy to McCain.

I hope, sincerely, that his career goes away as soon as possible. His sell-by date has long since passed. His brain cancer is, I believe, just karma... Reaping what he has sown. At his core, he is a mean-spirited and vengeful troll. I won't miss him for a second.

Bitter McCain Will Say Or Do Anything To Undermine The President

McCain, the "Hanoi songbird", is a bitter, very angry man. He cannot understand how Trump was elected while he tanked in his bid in 2008. It galls him no end. What he doesn't understand is that America didn't want another long career, barn sour politician who was as appealing as burnt toast.

McCain's judgment has been questionable at best, with him being duped into supporting what was the core of what became ISIS being among his most recent errors in reasoning.

When McCain was a naval aviator, he rode the coattails of his famous father, and managed to wiggle out of situations that would have ended the career of any officer without that influence. He has milked his captivity during the Vietnam war for every drop. This, despite some fellow prisoners doubting his claims. Indeed, there is a very concerning recording of McCain being rather complicit in a radio Hanoi interview during that captivity. I simply cannot place any trust in the man. He has always placed himself ahead of his comrades in arms and his constituents.

McCain has stayed on the political shelf far past his sale date. He has no future beyond his current position. His influence has waned and it's unlikely he will get another term, barely surviving a primary challenge last year.

So now, with his career headed down faster than Chris Christie on a greased pole, he wants to be "someone important" again. Thus, in his bitterness he has done anything and everything he can to undermine the man who was successful where he failed.

Trump clearly views McCain in the light of "the friend of my enemy is my enemy". McCain is living up to that opinion as a dedicated "never Trump" Republican. Defenders of the status quo. He has joined forces with the press which is trying desperately to destroy the President. For the first time in this nation's history, the press is actively working to squelch the electorate. Don't misunderstand, the main stream press IS acting like an enemy of the People. McCain is, once again, complicit with those who oppose freedom, hiding behind the Constitution in order to subvert the Constitution.

Arizona has a provision in the State Constitution to allow a recall petition for any elected official, including those in Congress. Since there has never been a recall of a member of Congress or the Senate, this has never been tested in Federal courts, much less SCOTUS. Perhaps the time has come to test it...

False Outrage at Trump's Order to Block Travel to USA From Seven Mostly Muslim Countries

Is it just me, or is the typical left wing American losing his or her mind? Surely, the mainstream media is deliberately distorting facts. I'm sure everyone reading this has seen the outrage over Trump's Muslim ban... Hollywood, the single greatest concentration of dumbass in America, is going off the edge.

I have to ask a simple question.. What Muslim ban?

There's no ban on Muslims coming to the U.S. whatsoever. There is a 90 day immigration ban from seven nations that are avowed enemies or involved in civil wars or where ISIS has a major presence. All seven countries are majority Islam, but the order is not religion specific. No one from these countries, regardless of religion, will be permitted to enter the United States for 90 days, while an adequate vetting methodology is established.

Muslims may enter the U.S. from Tunisia, from Morocco, from Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, Turkey, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Lebanon and a many other nations where Islam is the major religion. Anyone calling this a Muslim Ban is lying to you.

What drives me to distraction, is that liberals ignore Pew polls of Muslims in Middle Eastern nations where 85% of mainstream Muslim men want Sharia law enacted everywhere. They support death to those who leave Islam. They support death for being a homosexual. They support subjugating women. They support beating wives as punishment. They support death for anyone insulting their prophet, or even drawing a picture of Mohammed.

Liberals refer to those who don't want this in America as "fascists" and "Nazis". They don't understand that the real fascism is theocratic Islam, which would strip them of their freedoms and in some cases, their very lives. Europe is learning the hard way, with massive increases in crimes against women and homosexuals since allowing unrestricted Muslim refugee immigration. Whole sections of cities are now no-go areas for non-Muslims. Hungary refused to accept any refugees and they are not suffering this wave of crime nor enclaves of Islamist lunacy, where "infidels" go at their peril. They rightfully refer to the refugee issue as a mass exodus. An invasion.

We don't have a land bridge to the Middle East, but we don't have to accept people who may pose a threat of terror. ISIS has stated that they plan to infiltrate the refugees with terrorists. What Trump is doing is initiating a temporary halt to immigration from where ISIS operates.

There is no Muslim ban... It's a lie, and if you believe it, you do so in spite of the truth.

NY Times Reporter Tweets Fake News

New York Times reporter, Binyamin Appelbaum, tweeted a photo of Obama's 2009 Inauguration crowd alongside a photo of the gathering 10 AM crowd assembling for Trump's Inauguration.

It was a deliberate attempt to deceive by comparing Obama's crowd at the swearing in to the hours earlier crowd gathering for the Trump inauguration. 

Genuine, unabashed, unapologetic, fake news. 

This tweet inspired additional tweets by the Washington Post, showing a park feed image from yet earlier in the morning, which was immediately presented as the true inauguration crowd by dishonest Twitter posters. 

Worse, some National Parks Service official with control of the NPS Twitter account, re-tweeted the Appelbaum post. The NPS tweet was discovered and the NPS account was quickly purged. You can bet that the left wing NPS official responsible for the re-tweet will be applying for unemployment benefits on Monday. This goes to show how deep the progressives have penetrated all levels of government over the past eight years.

So, what is the truth as to the size of the crowd that attended the Trump Inaugural? You can judge for yourself by viewing the composite photo below. I cannot determine if the 2009 inauguration drew a larger crowd than President Trump. However, it is very clear than the Mall was equally full of Trump supporters. 

This type of left wing, progressive propaganda is exactly why we can not place a shred of faith in the mainstream media and liberal press. Their goal is to deceive the public and, whether or not they admit this truth, they want to destroy the values and principles of the Founding Fathers of our republic. They are, in the truest sense, enemies of the Constitution.

Progressive Philosophy in a Single Paragraph

Buzzfeed's take on the film Patriot's Day reveals the left wing mindset, with all of it's anti-American values and massively distorted logic. I still wait to meet a left winger capable of critical analysis and thought...

"Patriots Day crystallizes the ethos of Trump’s America: the normalization of totalitarianism and anti-intellectualism, a return to the delineation of global politics into camps of right and wrong, patriot and terrorist, winners and losers, and an impulse to flatten and otherwise ignore reality in the name of feeling good and guiltless."

According to Buzzfeed writer Anne Helen Petersen, because of my values, I am "anti-intellectual". I would argue that this evening when I have a Warsteiner pilsener with my dinner, that 330 ml of beer will kill more brain cells than Petersen devotes to critical thinking. Why is the left's definition of "intellectual" so utterly devoid of intellect?

She comments about American values including "winners and losers", as if that was somehow morally wrong. A product of participation trophy mindset. In the real world, 2nd place really is the first place loser. Sorry, if that disturbs some, you need to learn that there are people who can accomplish more and better things than you. That's reality and it's the reality of nature.

Then we get to “right and wrong”. Petersen seems to think that these two things are relative. They’re not. A known indication of sociopathic tendency is the inability to separate right from wrong. No moral compass, which invariably leads to justifying virtually anything. Which seems to indicate why the left doesn’t grasp the evil of Islamic Jihad.

The entirety of the quoted paragraph reveals the warped reasoning and fascist bent of Progressive politics. She unwittingly describes the depraved state of those of her ilk in one paragraph. A lesson to those who struggle to tolerate people like Petersen. Somehow, mainstream America has become accepting of progressive, anti-American attitudes. Many just shrug them off, rather than push them to explain their reasoning and their motives. By enabling the enemies of freedom, the Progressive movement has become complicit in the evil.

This absence of a moral compass is directly related to decline of Judeo-Christian values. Rebellion against right, perhaps because wrong is often easier and provides immediate gratification.

This is why Trump resonated. He defined a clear, unambiguous line between what he believed was right and wrong. Professional politicians loath setting clear lines, because they need the ability to straddle or change sides of the fence as required to get reelected. Trump took a stand, a clear and easy to understand demarcation from politics as usual.

Thus, his presence is a direct threat to progressives, who have relied on ambiguous Republican politics to make inroads in society at the cost of civility and kindness. This is why a substantial portion of Americans have joined Trump in drawing a line against the fascism of left wing politics. Perhaps, these folks will develop the courage to take back the nation from those who hate it and its values that made it the greatest bastion of liberty on earth.

https://www.buzzfeed.com/annehelenpetersen/patriots-day?bftw&utm_term=.cqDJXEjVZ#.pc0PxNZVd

Florida Airport Shooter Converted to Islam



ISIS influence is surely there. It will be exposed.

It goes to the irrefutable logic of these two statements. All Muslims are not terrorists. Most terrorists are Muslim. Both are true. All Germans were not Nazis. Most Nazis were German. The world held Germans responsible for atrocities committed by Nazis.

The world will eventually hold Islam responsible for atrocities committed in the name of Allah. Islam must crack down on its own lunatics or the world will eventually crack down on Islam. When any group of people declare that anyone not following their particular form of religion must convert or die... When they commit incredible crimes against innocents. When they would murder your grand children in their sleep and rejoice in it. How do you deal with these people?

They will not change. They will not evolve (strict Islam is still mired in the 7th century). They will not relent. They hate you. They hate me. They hate everything we love and care about. They wish us all dead. So, you deal with these people by killing every last one who would kill you. No exceptions, no mercy, no prisoners. Eradicate ISIS like any other disease. Utterly and completely. Because if we don't, this disease will spread and infect millions more. These people will never, ever change. They frighten moderate and secular Islam into doing nothing....

Because of this, like Germany, Islam will eventually pay the price for their loons....

The New Nazism...

Radical Islamist members of ISIS slaughter bound victims in Iraq

Beginning in December of 1941, the United States found itself in World War Two, fighting Japan and Nazi Germany. It was decided to concentrate first on Germany, viewed to be the greater threat.

For over three years, American men and women risked and often sacrificed their lives to extinguish the horror of National Socialism, aka Nazism. The full extent of Nazi crimes against humanity only became apparent as concentration camps were overrun on the eastern and western fronts. 

The free world recoiled, and vowed to eliminate any and all vestiges of Nazi barbarism. By and large, they succeeded. Today, the swastika is banned in Germany. Should some ignorant teenager paint a swastika on a neighborhood stop sign almost anywhere in America, it is declared a hate crime and makes the local TV news and newspapers. It has become a Pavlov's Dog reflex.

Yet, we see the incredible scenes from the Middle East and Kenya, and no governments vow to crush the radical Islamic Nazism of organized murder and genocide. 

This is the new Nazism. Thousands of innocent men, women and children rounded up and machine-gunned simply for being Christian, Shia or members of the military or government.  

Unlike the Nazis, these murderous lunatics don't make any effort to hide their crimes. Indeed, they make a point of posting photos and videos on the internet to frighten and horrify the world.

ISIS fanatics are proud of their crimes. The above photos shows one waving their ISIS banner as they slaughter bound victims while cheering each other on.

Is this to be tolerated by the world, 70 years after Hitler's crimes were discovered, and 60 years after the equally brutal reign of Joseph Stalin ended with his death?

The people of all nations must recognize that radical Islam is at war with the rest of the world. It will commit genocide in the name of Allah, without hesitation or remorse. It will, without blinking, murder your children in their beds. It is the religion of sociopaths. Radical Islam is a horrific blight on the Islamic world. The failure of Islamic peoples to oppose it with more than words is little more than condoning the genocide. Failure to oppose this type of sick, depraved Islam is indicative of cowardliness. It will not go away by ignoring it. This collective insanity is the single greatest threat to civilization today. Does anyone believe that al-Qaida or ISIS would not use a nuclear weapon if they had one (or more than one)? If you don't believe they wouldn't hesitate to murder millions of infidels at any opportunity, I'd call you a fool.

It is time that peace loving nations of the world deal with Radical Islam exactly as was done with Nazism. Eradicate it by any means available. Bring the leaders to justice. To quote Texas style justice, "give 'em a fair trial, followed by a first class hanging". There is no room for kindness or mercy with these mad dogs. Eradication like it is a plague is the only solution left, by their making.

Someone please inform President Obama that freeing Taliban murderers under any guise is nothing less than foolish, and maybe even criminal and treason to the security of the United States. Now that we have Bergdahl back, we should immediately snatch the five Taliban from Qatar and air drop them back into their Afghan tribal area. Sans parachutes, of course....

Treat any nation who shelters or supports these murderers as a hostile nation, destined for the same fate.

The failure to do this will lead to worse crimes, and eventually, threaten the very existence of non-Islamic culture. Send every one of the bastards to their lofty reward.... In Hell. 

 Being First Lady Carries Responsibility

 Various recent First Ladies on vacation

There has been a minor debate raging between friends and old acquaintances over how Michelle Obama sometimes dresses. Not that how she dresses is the central issue, but it is the catalyst for arguments for and against her vast expenditures and over-the-top lifestyle as First Lady. I find her general sense of entitlement very distasteful.

Michelle's jet setting around the earth on the public's coin only demonstrates a lack of consideration for the nation she so badly represents. Her vacation expenses to date are three times greater than the past five First Ladies combined, adjusted for inflation. Estimates (because the White House will not release exact figures) are as much as 375 million dollars for Michelle's globetrotting and "vacations". Meanwhile, as many as 100,000 military families must rely on food stamps to feed their children, and have seen what meager benefits that they do have, cut. This incredible wasteful expenditure of the "People's" money is beyond outrageous.

In 1862, Congressional Democrats berated Mary Todd Lincoln for spending $6,000 dollars over budget on decorating and much needed repairs and renovations to the White House. Portions of the family residence hadn't been painted or had carpets replaced since Andrew Jackson was in office. Yet, it is almost certain that Michelle Obama will spend more than 1/2 billion dollars on her vacations and personal entertainment during her husband's two terms. Within the context of this extreme ostentatious lifestyle, is it unreasonable to expect that Michelle properly represent the people who have to pay for her extravagance?

That outfit shown in the attached composite photo is certainly acceptable during private time, on a private beach, resort or hotel. It's fine for informal shopping with her children.

Some are making this a "woman's" (aka "feminist") issue. I don't see this as a feminist issue, but a lack of respect for the dignity and decorum of the First Lady's role, both domestically and internationally. I strongly resent the insinuation that expecting a manner of behavior and appearance commensurate with her position is unfair or the view of a some left leaning folks as misogynist thinking. Nonsense.

It is not acceptable when stepping off of Air Force One, which is universally seen as representing the prestige of the President and the nation he supposedly serves. Walking off of that great symbol of American power and prestige; dressed like a 19 year-old Phys-Ed major, stepping off of a Southwest 737 for spring break in Daytona Beach, is not conducive with the role of First Lady of the United States.

Brilliant People Don't Always Have Brilliant Ideas

From Newsday, today, June 5, 2010:
FORGET "top cap" or "junk shot."

How about "seabed retread"?

That's what Northport native Alia Sabur, 21, a college grad at age 14 and youngest-ever professor at 18, calls her plan to stop the gushing BP oil well.

The proposal: Insert a diversionary pipe into the damaged well, then hold it in place by inflating rubber tires fastened around it, creating a firm seal. Sabur went to Louisiana Thursday to discuss the idea with a BP executive and has talks scheduled next with company scientists, she said.

I'm hoping that Alia's solution didn't depend on using compressed air to inflate the tires. Water pressure at 5,000 feet is approximately 2,200 pounds per square inch (psi). For oil to flow out of the broken pipe, its pressure must exceed the water pressure.

So, lets assume that the oil pressure is 2,250 psi. Whatever you pushed into the pipe to be inflated, must be pressurized to something in excess of the opposing oil pressure or it would simply blow back out. To obtain a good seal, the pressure would have be nothing less than 75 to 100 psi greater than the oil pressure. Fairly simple fluid mechanics...

The problem is that you must pressurize the required 5,000 linear feet of 4 inch pipe to approximately 2,350 psi. That volume of air required would be 3,349,530 cubic feet of air.

Therefore, in what pressure vessel do you store this 3,349,530 cubic feet of air, compressed to 2,350 psi? How do you compress such a vast volume to that pressure? What means do you have to maintain that air pressure over time? In short, air pressure cannot succeed.

A possible solution is hydraulic pressure. Although I have not seen any reference to Alia's choice of fluid (gas or liquid). If using liquid, you don't need a vast volume of pre-compressed fluid.

What you need is a carefully designed, multi-o-ring seal plug. This seal would have to be installed on the end of the pipe. The pipe must be thick enough to avoid expanding under pressure, except at the plug end that inserts into the oil pipe. When pressurized, the thinner wall adapter at the end of the pipe would expand, stretching the o-rings until a seal is obtained. An external (around the outer diameter of the pipe) compression seal should be employed as well. Fluid within the pipe (sea water and oil) would be an acceptable pressure medium. The limited volume of natural gas will compress, but will eventually compress into a liquid.

On the outside of the pipe, an externally threaded compression seal ring would be pushed onto the leaking pipe's outside diameter. A compression nut would then be threaded onto the seal ring. This would squeeze onto the pipe very tight, providing a redundant seal and retain the internal plug in place.

The big problem now is that when they failed to cut the pipe cleanly, they used shears instead. This will prevent inserting a plug seal or an external seal because the end of the pipe is no longer round. It was a mistake not to try cutting the pipe again after the saw became jammed. A clean cut would have provided vastly more options.

Likewise, I do not understand why if they were going to shear cut the pipe, why didn't they simply pinch it off as much as possible. If you reduce the orifice, you reduce the volume of flow. Flow velocity would increase at the leak, but the volume of oil would be greatly reduced. A reduction in flow is desirable is it not?

It seems to my reasoning that BP panicked when they realized that the saw had became stuck. Rather than expend a day or two to make another attempt to cut the pipe cleanly, they over-reacted and used shears to sever the pipe. They succumbed to the political pressure rather than use sound engineering judgment.

Having shear-cut the pipe, BP elected to try and contain the leak by capturing the oil with yet another dome.

I'm trying to understand why they didn't try to pinch off the pipe off as much as possible first.

Say goodnight, Nancy

There is now no doubt in my mind that the Democratic Party leadership has completely lost touch with reality. This is a party hurtling down hill at breakneck speed while lacking the basic common sense to step on the brakes.

Obama, Reid and Pelosi must be three of the most myopic politicians ever to hold national office. They continue to push a Senate healthcare bill that is unwanted by the vast majority of Americans. This is not quite like the blind leading the blind. It is the fundamentally stupid leading the blind.

Fundamentally stupid? Think about this....

Fifty-six percent of people questioned in a CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey released February 26th say they think the federal government's become so large and powerful that it poses an immediate threat to the rights and freedoms of ordinary citizens.

This is what happens when the government ignores the will of the people. This is what happens when small-minded, power hungry bureaucrats place their political agenda before the desires of the people they so miserably serve.

Today, government workers on average earn bigger salaries, have better health and retirement benefits than those who work in the private sector. Ponder that for a moment or two.

Government workers are no longer public servants. Indeed, the public has become the servant of the government, who taxes them near to poverty to maintain this ever increasing monolithic menace to the principles of American liberty and freedom.

Why do we tolerate this?

Especially in light of the fact that government jobs simply don't draw the best and brightest. Those folks are in the private sector, they are the ones who actually do create jobs and grow the economy. Government creates nothing beyond more government. They produce nothing, except waste and corruption.

Now, we have the Democrats trying desperately to shove an unwanted healthcare bill down our throats. This is little more than an overt attempt to consolidate even more power in Washington, at the expense of all Americans. Obama believes that his presidency hangs in the balance. He completely misses the point that by passing this bill, he guarantees that the Democrats will lose the House and Senate. That will cement his presidency as the most epic failure in the history of American politics. No other president will have lost so much, so fast. Within that context, you find the root cause as fundamental stupidity.

Former President Clinton's pollster wrote today, "Nothing has been more disconcerting than to watch Democratic politicians and their media supporters deceive themselves into believing that the public favors the Democrats' current health-care plan.

Voters are hardly enthralled with the GOP, but the Democrats are pursuing policies that are out of step with the way ordinary Americans think and feel about politics and government. Barring some change of approach, they will be punished severely at the polls.

Now, we vigorously opposed Republican efforts in the Bush administration to employ the "nuclear option" in judicial confirmations. We are similarly concerned by Democrats' efforts to manipulate passage of a health-care bill. Doing so in the face of constant majority opposition invites a backlash against the party at every level -- and at a time when we already face the prospect of losing 30 or more House seats and eight or more Senate seats.

Unless the Democrats fundamentally change their approach, they will produce not just a march of folly but also run the risk of unmitigated disaster in November."

Come next January, Nancy Pelosi will no longer be Speaker of the House. Harry Reid will no longer be the Senate Majority leader (and likely not even be a Senator). Obama will face his next two years greatly weakened and destined to be a one-term president; the Ebony to Jimmy Carter's Ivory.

Some of the Dumbest People on Earth

Over the years, I have concluded that you can find some of the dumbest people on earth on automotive internet forums. Well, at least the dumbest people on earth who drive.

I was visiting a Jeep forum (dedicated to the newer JK Wrangler) and found a poll had been posted. It was a general interest poll, just to determine who was driving what and with what option packages. Simple enough.

Understand, that unlike owners of a new or late model Benz or Range Rover, Jeep Wranglers draw owners from the full spectrum of society. From CEOs to Blue Collar types, from college professors to guys who missed their 6th grade graduation because they were attending the birth of the 5th child.

Thus, I expected to find the results to be interesting, to say the least.

The first question related to the model year of their Jeep. Check off the box corresponding to the year of your Wrangler.

The second question was, do you own a 2 door or 4 door (Unlimited)? Check off the appropriate box.

Third question was, select the model you purchased. X-Sport, Sahara or Rubicon. Check off the appropriate box.

Fourth question was, select the type of transmission. 6 speed manual or automatic. Check off the appropriate box.

Here's the results:

98.74% of those responding picked a model year. 1.26% apparently didn't know what year their Jeep was made (nearly correlates to the percentage of chrystal meth users in society).

84.17% drive either a two door or an Unlimited. 15.83% drive a mystery Wrangler or never bothered to count the doors (you can leave your shoes on for that exercise). Perhaps they thought that two half doors only add up to one and there was no check box for that option.

82.91% own an X (Sport), a Sahara or a Rubicon. 17.09% own something else, which I assume is that mystery Wrangler again. Perhaps they did what many do and just removed the stickers and forgot what they bought....

92.96% have either the manual or the automatic. 7.04% obviously don't have a transmission. Must be the Flintstone model.

To obtain the above percentages, the person taking the poll would have had to not check boxes to all questions. All they had to do was check any box for each question, simple enough. Guess not.

Internet polls contribute at least one positive... They provide a nearly perfect corollary to the premise that you can't fix stupid.

Charlie Rangel: Poster Boy for Government Corruption?

I think that Congressman Charlie Rangel has crawled into a hole he will never be able to extricate himself from.

Rangel under-reported his income by as much as 1.7 million dollars, and then blamed his accountants for the error. Now there's a surprise, who would have guessed that Rangel would blame someone besides himself.

What makes this revelation so damning is that Rangel is the chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, which is responsible for writing the very tax law that Rangel seems to disregard.

This isn't Rangel's first attempt at evading paying his fair share of taxes. He was caught not reporting income of $75,000 from a rental villa he owns in the Dominican Republic. Rangel was forced to pay the taxes, but only after he denied that the error was his fault. A few weeks later it was discovered that he had under-valued one of his properties by as much as $500,000 dollars.

According to CBS News one year ago, “Rangel, the head of the committee that not only writes the tax code but also oversees the budget, now admits his own tax records are in such disarray, he's had to bring in a forensic accountant to find out just what he owes on items like unreported income on the building he and his wife once owned. Then there is the possible ethical lapses in perhaps getting a favor to combine three condos into one, below-market apartment. Or explaining just how another Dominican condo was financed.”

So, Rangel's major tax problems are not new, nor are they unusual.

Yesterday, the Washington Post, a liberal newspaper if there ever was one, suggested for the second time that Rangel resign his chairmanship of the Ways and Means Committee.

“We called on Mr. Rangel to resign his coveted post last November while the House ethics committee probed his contact with a potential donor to a pet project who also had business before the committee. Mind you, that committee already was looking into his using official stationery to raise funds for that pet project, paying below-market rents on four Harlem apartments, failing to report income from a Florida condominium sale and failing to pay taxes on a home in the Dominican Republic. There's another subcommittee investigation into lobbyist-paid trips by Mr. Rangel and four other members of Congress.”

Another shocking disclosure was released after the Post hit the streets.

After the House Ethics Committee began its investigation of Rangel, he (Rangel) has made large cash contributions to campaign funds of three of the Democratic Congressmen doing the investigation. One of the Democrats returned the $20,000 to Rangel, but there's no report that the other two who received contributions have done likewise.

Has Rangel graduated from tax evasion to thinly masked bribery? It seems that way on the surface, which falls under the adage, “where's there's smoke, there is invariably fire.”

If Rangel does not resign his chairmanship very soon, Pelosi should remove him. Rangel is a prime example of what is wrong with politics these days, particularly within the Democratic Party controlled Congress. However, with Pelosi's credibility being as low as it is, she may not feel that there is anything to lose by not yanking Rangel off of the committee.

Nonetheless, Rangel hurts the Democrats every day he remains in power, even in office. He undermines the Democratic Party's ability to be taken at its word.

Let's be frank, censure and maybe even impeachment hearings should be immediately considered for Rangel. He needs to disappear and do so quickly.

Donkey-Care: Federal Health Care for Fat Asses

While doing my morning reading of the news, I stumbled upon an AP story that brought me endless amusement. Every year, hundreds of thousands of tourists visit an old gold mining town in north-western Arizona. Oatman is a miniscule western town with but one street. In its heyday, it was a booming community of miners and businesses that catered to the mining companies and their employees. Today, it is one of many destinations of visitors touring the “old west”. Oatman was where Clark Gable and Carole Lombard honeymooned in 1939.

Perhaps, Oatman’s biggest attraction these days are the wild Donkeys that live in the surrounding land and often wander through the town looking for food. Descended from Donkeys released into the wild by miners, they have flourished over the years. The many tourists are happy to feed the Burros carrots, apples, “Burro chow” and just about anything else as these Donkeys are not very particular about what they wolf down. Virtually every store in Oatman sells Ass snacks. They also sell snacks for Burros too….

Apparently, these animals are so well fed that many no longer forage for food in the countryside. Indeed, they have become rather bothersome in the town, begging like Beagles for their chow.

AP Story: Click here.

These wild Donkeys are under the protection of the Federal Bureau of Land Management (BLM), Department of the Interior. Herein lies the problem. BLM is very concerned that the animals have become overweight.

I spend a great deal of time tracking the goings on within the Federal Government. Yet, I never realized that there was a Federal agency responsible for managing the health of fat Jackasses.

Can the Jacks and Jennys opt out of the Government program? Is their apparent obesity raising the health care costs of healthy Jackasses? Perhaps the Feds should offer discount gym memberships. ”Dollars for Donkeys”, public assistance in getting the fat off of the Asses.

It does seem ironic that a Federal agency that oversees the well being of fat Asses would not be doing so within the city limits of Washington, DC.

Attention Department of the Interior; your most needy constituency is just a short walk up Constitution Avenue.

Within the context of the current debate on Government run health care, does it not seem reasonable that the Democrats might want to examine the Department of the Interior's program to protect the health of the common equus asinus?

Another thing that I find disturbing is that the Donkeys are in good conformance with the USDA food pyramid. They eat a low fat, high carbohydrate diet with lots of fruit, vegetables and grains. Yet, they are getting ever more fat. A perfect reflection of American society. If the USDA doesn't get a grip on what really makes people obese, than perhaps the Oatman Jackasses will testify to the error of their thinking. At least the Feds can easily relate to the study patients...

USDA Dietary Guidelines

Ted's Dead: What next for the Democrats?

Like that of other famous political families, the Kennedy era is now completely over. The death of Ted Kennedy marks the end of 50 years of family members being significant factors in the Democratic party and in American politics in general. John F. Kennedy Jr’s tragic loss sealed the future of the family, with Ted’s passing marking the closing of the book. There is no obvious heir apparent.

Senator Kennedy will be lionized for his dedication to his liberal principles and to his constituents. Even those who were at the opposite end of the political spectrum found Ted to be a charming, outgoing and generous man. Nonetheless, Kennedy could be as ruthless as they come when he believed that the liberal ideology was in jeopardy. I give you the political lynching of Judge Bork as a typical example of Kennedy’s “gloves off” politics of questionable ethics. No holds were barred when he felt his ideals were being threatened. There is no doubt that Ted Kennedy possessed a complex and sometimes contradictory personality. In spite of that, he was truly sympathetic to the common man.

Senator Kennedy demonstrated his willingness to break with traditional Democratic politics, when he threw his considerable influence behind a party upstart, future President Obama. To say that the Clintons were annoyed would be a gross understatement of the true anger and feeling of betrayal that actually existed. Kennedy was astute enough to recognize that the Clinton years were over and it was time to realign himself. It was his last significant act before his brain cancer limited his participation in the election of 2008.

There can be no doubt that Senator Kennedy’s absence hurt the Democrats during the debate on socialized healthcare. Without Ted’s ability to negotiate, the Democrats were considerably weakened. Conservatives could well argue that Kennedy’s illness may have saved the country from the socio-political nightmare of a Government run, single payer healthcare system.

Given that the Feds just demonstrated their utter inability to manage the ill-conceived “cash for clunkers” program; any thought of them trying to manage the healthcare of 300 million Americans should send a chill up your spine.

Yet, it is apparent that the Democratic Party leadership is now attempting to use Kennedy’s death as a rally point to shove through a non-partisan healthcare bill. It won’t work. It will fail because the American people didn’t view Kennedy in the same light as his Democratic colleagues in Washington. Ted’s scandals and rumored appetite for booze and questionable private behavior have not endeared him to a sizable portion of the American electorate.

Ted’s dead, and Democrat politicians are suffering just as much wrath at town hall meetings as before. If the public sees that the left wing will attempt to use Kennedy’s death as a catalyst to jam their Socialist program down their throats, the din will only get more deafening. The insane deficits resulting from the hijacked stimulus program has already badly damaged the nation’s financial future. Adding the massive tax burden, typical Government waste and mismanagement of Fed run healthcare will truly break the taxpayer’s back. The concentration of power in Washington, and in particular, the Whitehouse, is unprecedented. Few want this, except for the socialist state advocates, and the Whitehouse is, for now, their domain. One of Obama’s healthcare advisors is a proponent of limiting healthcare expenditure on the elderly and disabled. Another advisor is a previously avowed communist and anti-capitalist. Anyone recognize a trend here?

As I have stated many times, don’t look to what a politician says to understand their ideology, but rather examine the ideology of their friends and advisors. As the saying goes, “an apple won’t fall far from its tree”.

It appears obvious that the liberal left are slow learners. If Obama does not move to the political center very soon, he will become yet another Jimmy Carter type failure; four downs and give up the ball.

As it stands now, Harry Reid, the Senate’s majority leader, is trailing badly in polls in economically battered Nevada. It is reasonable to believe that he will not win another term. Several other Democratic Senators are suddenly at risk as well. As many as 30 Democratic House seats are in danger for the mid-term election of 2010. Large Republican gains are more than just possible. The only element missing is a genuine charismatic figure to ascend to party leadership.

If the Democratic Party does not veer away from their leftist, socialist agenda in the immediate future, Obama may be facing the second half of his term without control of the Senate, and only a razor thin majority in the House.

Let’s hope the Democrats stay their self-destructive course… Republicans and Conservatives could not ask for a better opportunity.

Three Lefts Don't Always Make a Right

I never presume to speak for others, but I have no doubt that many people will agree with me that writer/director Michael Moore marches to a different drummer. In fact, I’d say that he may have his own band.

His disassembly of Detroit’s business-as-usual mindset in “Roger & Me” was an instant classic. Brutally honest and funny at the same time, Moore hit America’s auto makers right between the eyes.

It is unfortunate that Moore’s subsequent films wandered away from the intellectual honesty that made “Roger & Me” so good. “Bowling for Columbine”, “Fahrenheit 9/11” and “Sicko” presented something else. One could easily and accurately state that Moore’s follow-on films had digressed to little more that political propaganda for an extreme leftist point of view. Moore was accused of creative editing to make his subjects appear to make statements that they had not made. His blatant political statements at the Oscar ceremony was not less than outrageous.

Would it be far from reality to state that Moore has climbed the leftist ladder to a place not unlike that of Joseph Goebbels, Fritz Hippler and Eberhard Taubert all rolled into one oversized personality? Like these German propagandists, his films are done in the style of a documentary. Moore knows that for some viewers, this adds a air of authority. His soon to be released film, "Capitalism: A Love Story”, is expected to be a new benchmark in Moore’s continued pounding on all things not aligned with his socialist (nearly Marxist) political agenda.

Moore has expressed his support for Obama’s government run health care bill, even if it did lead to health care rationing. I don’t believe that Moore would find himself at odds with the Obama administration unless, perhaps, they rationed cannolies…

This reminds me to make a simple point. If you really want to know the politics of any President, simply take note of their strongest supporters. What they say is less important than who their friends and supporters are.

Moore appears to be a victim of disorganized reasoning. This is a common malady that afflicts many, otherwise highly intelligent people. He can look right past facts and formulate opinions based upon nothing but self-created fantasy.

In a recent interview, Moore lashed out once again at George Bush. When asked what Bush’s worst legacy would be, Moore replied, “That he has yet to be arrested for committing the worst crime the leader of a nation can commit: lie to the people and convince them to invade another country and kill its people with absolutely no provocation.”

Moore wants Dubya arrested for lying to the people. Well, I’m not convinced he lied at all. Moreover, if lying by a politician was a crime requiring arrest, we would have to build more prisons immediately. If the extreme left really believed that lying is criminal, why haven’t they called for the arrest of Rep. Barney Frank? You know Frank, the guy who pressured and coerced banks to make mortgage loans to people who did not have the means to pay them. Frank, the guy who suddenly became stupid when he was fingered as possibly being the person most responsible for the mortgage meltdown. We should not overlook Frank’s partner in this, Sen. Christopher Dodd.

Mr. Moore goes on to say that we invaded and killed Iraqis without provocation. You’re kidding, right Michael? Repeated violations of the cease fire agreement doesn’t constitute provocation? Murdering thousands of innocent Kurds with nerve agents or poison gas does not constitute provocation? Failure to comply with UN weapon inspections isn’t a provocation? Slaughtering thousands of Shiites does not equate to provocation? If not, what does?

If you want to argue whether or not the invasion of Iraq was a good idea, you could make a strong argument for not invading. However, to state that there was no provocation is being obtuse on an epic scale.

If Bush was anything, he was naïve to believe that right and might can change hearts, minds and cultures. Naïveté is not a crime.

Neither is being an world class bullshit artist, because if it was, Michael Moore could be facing 20 to life with no chance of parole or cannolies.

Liberal Outrage Over Guns in National Parks

There appears to be a rather loud outcry from some anti-gun groups over allowing firearms into Nation Parks.

It’s only natural that anti-gun right advocates would howl about firearms being permitted anywhere they were not previously allowed. I don’t believe that anyone would have expected otherwise. Nonetheless, this issue has already been decided at a level above that which can be overturned.

In 2008, the Supreme Court ruled in District of Columbia v. Heller that individual ownership of firearms is guaranteed by the Second Amendment of the Bill of Rights. Thus, denying citizens their right to keep and bear arms would be a clear Constitutional violation. Especially on Government owned land. Our current National Park System was the handiwork of President Theodore Roosevelt. TR was an avid hunter and conservationist. Not being permitted to maintain a loaded firearm in the parks he created would elicit his full and not inconsiderable fury. Previously, guns had to be unloaded and locked up.

For many years, the National Park Service strictly limited private firearms in the parks; unconstitutionally it turns out. As a result, these parks were an ideal environment for thieves and others of the criminal element, who were well aware that those few park goers who had a gun could not access their firearms on short notice. Let’s face facts: Criminals by definition disobey the law. You can bet that many criminals would being carrying loaded “heat” in the National Parks.

In recent weeks, we have seen the liberal left attempt to squelch free speech by classifying health care bill opposition as ignorant and un-American. The radical left believes in freedom, but only as they define it. If it were left to them, your rights would only be those that they find to be politically correct.

Jonathan Dorn, editor-in-chief of Backpacker Magazine was quoted by the AP as stating, "That one just felt like a very political decision that was maybe more about politics than about maybe paying attention to the preferences of the vast majority of people who are frequent park users."

Dorn doesn't realize that all it would take is a suit in Federal Court to force the Parks Department to lift restrictions anyway. Current rules signed by Obama look to the various States for guidelines. If the State permits loaded firearms in their parks, then they are permitted in Federal parks within that State.

As of now, the single biggest whining is coming from the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence. Years ago, this organization went by the name Handgun Control Inc, until their contribution to the backlash that gained the Republicans control of the House and Senate. I guess it was time for a name change, eh?

The facts remains that the Brady group is loaded with myopic hoplophobes who can only react with a knee-jerk.

My view is that if you don't like guns, don't own one. If you don't like guns in National Parks, leave yours at home. You don't own one? Well then, that makes it easy for you.

It's about time that law abiding citizens can fully exercise their constitutional rights on Government land.

Cash for Clunkers: Another Example of Discriminatory Government.

I know a fellow who drives a late 1990s Honda Civic. Even with 193,000 miles on the odometer, his little Honda gets 35 mpg on the highway and 28 mpg around town. It still passes emission testing at levels comparable to when it was new.

For more than a decade, this gentleman has been driving “green”, conserving resources and polluting less than the average car owner.

Despite 11 years of stalwart service, the Honda is growing very weary. It needs struts and new tires. Its radiator has been repaired several times, and the hoses are old and showing signs of cracking. There’s too much play in the steering and the stereo quit working almost a year ago. It’s time to put the faithful Civic out to pasture.

My friend wants to buy a new Civic. Unlike those driving old gas guzzlers, he won’t get any help from the government. Indeed, “green” car owners get nothing should they desire to purchase a new fuel efficient car to replace a like vehicle.

Rather than reward those who have been conserving resources, the Congress and Senate have decided to reward those who have consumed far greater amounts of fuel and generate more pollution.

Why does this not surprise me? There’s nothing unusual in government getting it ass-backwards.

What upsets many is that the feds are taking up to 3 billion of our tax dollars and passing them along to a select class of citizen. It is abundantly clear that the government is discriminating against those citizens who attempted to conserve fuel and reduce pollution by already driving “greener” vehicles. The program is purely arbitrary.

I know of one driver who was turned down for the rebate because his rusty old car was rated 1 mpg too high.

Adding to the silliness of the Cash for Clunkers program is the fact that many of the cars and trucks being traded in are destined for the junk yard in the very near future anyway.

There is a better and very simple solution.

Rather than discriminate against the bulk of the driving population, why not make every taxpayer eligible?

First, allow for a tax deduction of state and local sales taxes on all new vehicle sales. This will stimulate the auto industry and help family budgets.

Second, offer rebates of $1,000 towards the purchase of any new vehicle. If the new vehicle happens to get 5 mpg more than the old one, double the rebate. 10 mpg better? Triple the rebate. Now everyone (consumers and the auto industry) can reap the benefit and tax dollars will be evenly and fairly distributed. Everyone will have an opportunity to use the program. Many will not, because they don’t want or need a new car. Perhaps they don't want to spend money on a new car in the current economy. At least they have an option to exercise. As it works now, the vast majority of taxpayers have no option whatsoever.

What about those “clunkers”? They will be sold or traded in. In a few years, most will find their way to being junked for scrap, and at no taxpayer cost.

So, Now Political Speech is Un-American?

Since when is expressing your view at a town hall meeting become un-American? If you bother to pay attention to Pelosi and Reid, speaking out against the collection of half-assed Healthcare reform bills is just that.

Perhaps, the Democrats in power have lost touch with their past. For generations, the Democrats proclaimed that they were the party of new ideas, the party of the people. God forbid that you disagree with them today, you will be pilloried for the effort.

Lately, Pelosi has come across just short of a raving lunatic. Her outrageous assertions that the CIA lied to her is ridiculous and flies in the face of overwhelming evidence. Her continued public rants are undermining CIA morale.

In recent days, she has attacked ordinary citizens for voicing their constitutionally protected right to free political speech. She has classified these citizens as hooligans and un-American. That is amazing, especially coming as the leader of Congressional Democrats. Outspoken protest has been a cornerstone of societal and political change in American since the middle 18^th Century. Indeed, Pelosi and Reid are sounding very much like King George III’s denunciation of American Colonial protest over heavy-handed English rule. I wonder if the correlation goes as far as the King’s recognized mental illness?

Both Reid and Pelosi are doing their party a great disservice with their assault on ordinary Americans. They are now alienating influential Democrats with some having openly stated that Pelosi should step down as Speaker of the House. There is no doubt in my mind that Pelosi would never relinquish power. It’s not in her nature to surrender authority.

With that in mind, Democrats are beginning to worry about the 2010 mid-term election. All of the gains from the 2008 election could be erased, and even greater damage may result if the party leadership doesn’t recognize that they are not the elite class they seem to believe they have become. Isn’t it trouble enough that Obama’s polling numbers are dropping faster than Joey Buttafuoco’s brain cell count? As it is, both the House and Senate are about as popular as a dead skunk, and a hell of a lot tougher to get rid of.

If the Democrats plan to salvage the 2010 elections, Pelosi and Reid have to go.

In the meanwhile, all current healthcare bills should be withdrawn and a bipartisan committee organized to draft a bill that reflects the will of the people. Moreover, the bill must not give the federal government any bureaucratic authority beyond oversight. All government endorsed health insurance programs must run by public, not for profit companies that can better manage costs. This will force the existing insurance companies to be competitive, both in price and services. Competition always drives down cost and price.

Healthcare reform is only one note of the chord. Without tort reform, cost reduction will be limited. The feds need to examine the Texas model of tort reform that limits punitive awards. It works and it is already driving down medical costs in that state.

Continental Express: Incompetent? Liars? Both?

One of this week’s biggest news stories has been the ordeal of 47 passengers forced to remain on a Continental Express jet for 9 hours overnight. No food, no fresh water and no functioning toilet. Of greater importance, there is no valid excuse.

You may already know this story. Diverted to Rochester due to severe thunderstorms, the Continental Express jet sat on the tarmac for 9 hours. Offers by other airlines to assist in moving the passengers to secure gate area in the terminal were turned down by Continental.

This nightmare scenario could only occur if Continental Express management is myopic , incompetent or uncaring in the extreme. It’s obvious to me that their management is over-qualified in at least one of these areas of expertise.

Continental Express lied when they stated that passengers could not be offloaded as there was no security personnel to re-screen the passengers. I recognized this a pure rubbish. Gate areas of terminals are secured. There is no reason to re-screen passengers who do not venture outside of the designated security area. Every airport has signs warning passengers not to leave the secured gate area or they will have to pass through security a second time. Passengers could have been unloaded at the gate and instructed to remain there. For some unfathomable reason, Continental Express declined to do that, even when Delta offered their bus to transport the 47 passengers. Later, the airport manager confirmed that Continental was not telling the truth. Passengers could have been debarked and reboarded without requiring re-screening by TSA.

Under most circumstances, detaining citizens against their will is a crime. Apparently not in the commercial air transport industry. Airlines can put people at risk to their health; deny them the basics of food, water and sanitation and suffer no consequences other than bad publicity. Federal Prisons can’t get away with this, so how does the airline industry avoid the crushing penalties they deserve? Other than typical politics as usual and a general lack of concern by self-absorbed elected officials, there is really no valid reason.

I think we have come to expect stupidity from airlines. We tolerate it far too much. Those 47 passengers could have gotten off that airplane anytime they decided to. Simply agree among themselves to do so, then inform the flight crew that they “have 30 minutes to get the passengers off of this aircraft. If that is not accomplished, the passengers will open the doors, deploy the emergency slides and get off on their own”.

Believe me, this would have motivated the airline to resolve the issue immediately in some manner. If not, open the doors and get off. This will be a lesson that the airline industry will remember. The cost associated with getting the slides recertified will be very high, and ultimately, needless.

There’s only one real problem with this scenario. Some of the passengers will lack the courage to take a stand against the airline. Of course, these are often the passengers who are first in line to cry to reporters about their ordeal… Go figure.

Ultimately, the 47 passengers, including babies, were kept on the plane simply because no one at Continental Express was willing to make a decision or assume the responsibility for these people. It was simply easier to lock them up on the plane.

This is a failure at the top levels of the company, and there is no excuse for its disregard for the people who keep them in business.

You can bet a wad of cash that one of the corrective actions to be instituted by Continental will be to “retrain personnel.” You can also bet that no one will be retrained. This is a commonly used ploy in many industries for the purpose of creating a false sense that the same error will not happen again. The only way that it won’t happen again is to lop off the head or heads of those who decided to imprison these passengers, rather than offload them. If someone of consequence is not immediately fired, you’ll know that Continental is merely trying to build a smokescreen. You know, ignore the problem and maybe it will go away.

My advice…. Fly some other airline until Continental comes completely clean and makes a serious effort to change their middle management’s mentality.

Texting at the wheel: Extreme risk

On my way home tonight, I stopped at a stop sign and prepared to make a left turn. About 75 yards up the road, a silver Toyota Corolla was approaching the intersection. I noticed that the driver was not slowing for the all-way stop sign. I halted my turn and could clearly see that the 20-something female driver was looking down rather than where she was going. At about 40 mph, she drove right through the stop sign, not even cognizant that there even was a stop sign.

As her Corolla passed in front of my angled Jeep Wrangler, I leaned on the horn.

Startled, eyes wide, she looked up at the towering Wrangler. In her hands she was holding a slide-open cell phone.

This young lady was texting and completely failed to see the stop sign. Had I not anticipated what she was doing and turned, she would have plowed into the side of my Jeep.

I was nothing less than furious. This young lady should consider herself very fortunate to have escaped with a scathing lecture, rather than a wrecked car and a ride to the emergency room.

There is sufficient evidence that texting at the wheel of a car is a high risk task. Several studies and tests have been performed that show texting while driving is far more dangerous than driving with .08 blood alcohol level. Yet, many people, especially younger drivers, think nothing of it. Frankly, it is remarkable.

Nationwide, states and counties need to address this issue immediately. The problem is, until some politicians lose family members to texting related accidents, nothing of consequence will occur. No one in politics ever closes the barn door while the horse is still in it.

Penalties should be no less than for driving while intoxicated. At the minimum, a conviction should require a mandatory license suspension, fine and safety course. Should an accident occur as a result, license revocation and a massive fine should be imposed. Should anyone be injured or killed, the charge should be felony depraved indifference.

The only way to prevent the associated carnage of texting while driving is to make the penalty so severe that normal people will be terrified of the possibility of being caught; or worse, suffering a crash.

Local politicans must address this issue as it is the single greatest risk to road and highway safety that we currently face. Far more people are texting behind the wheel than are driving drunk.