2010

Ever notice the TV ads announcing new cars or whatever call it two thousand ten, not twenty ten?
The scifi movie 2010 was called twenty ten...and how lame would it be to walk around saying i was born in one thousand nine hundred and whatever, instead of nineteen whatever..
As of Friday, I am calling it twenty ten...
Ok, now time to say goodbye to 2009

Pre-Christmas Politician Rant

I was sitting in the park today, eating lunch in the warmth of my car, watching the ducks scamper around looking for whatever they eat...and listening to the radio, while snugly sitting there in my car under a cloudless winter sky.

I reflected on how over the summer and through the fall numerous news sources have informed me that " National health care is a tough fight" or on Fox "Health Care bill is dead" and thinking, whats so tough? As soon as they cobble together a big enough, bloated enough, cost ineffective bill, it surely will pass, they have the votes. I did not even contemplate the bribery factor to get the votes. Bribery, pork, whatever...there are otherwise good people in prison from congress for say taking a trip to Cancun in exchange for moving a bill through, or accepting a vacation or whatever. Yet apparently when its indirect, as in your state gets to NOT pay for something, and pass the buck to the other states, that's OK?

Is it any wonder that lately the "give me's" have taken center stage? The commentary on the radio was a repeat of JFK's inaugural speech, the one where he spoke moving words, and we all knew he meant it. Things that inspired us to be proud Americans, "...  Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and the success of liberty." Tough words...and shortly thereafter tested, remember the Cuban Missile Crisis? 

The most recognised phrase, " And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you—ask what you can do for your country." spoke of our need to serve our fellow citizens, to in some way serve our nation, in part to repay for the American heritage of freedom.

Yet by this time tomorrow, that will have ended. That national drive to do for ourselves, to achieve great things is being usurped by a continuous drive of government not of the people, but with a emphasis on what government can do for the people...things we used to do for ourselves...yes, sometimes with government help, but as a hand up, not a hand out.

As my (least) favorite Senator Chuckie Schumer put it so well in the stimulus debate...Americans don't care...Well, Chuck, Nancy and associates, hopefully in November 2010 we Americans will tell you to STFU...maybe. If Chuck is right, if we really don't care, well what can i say? How sad.

 

Swimming in the Snow- Nice France

This swimmer preferred to go for a dip in the snow-covered beach of Nice in southern France - at 6C (about 43F) the water was considerably warmer than the outside temperature

Why I have become a skeptic on Global Warmer/Climate Change

Earth Day 1970:

“The world has been chilling sharply for about twenty years. If present trends continue, the world will be about four degrees colder for the global mean temperature in 1990, but eleven degrees colder in the year 2000. This is about twice what it would take to put us into an ice age.”
• Kenneth Watt, Ecologist

The Malthusian Formula for Destruction is a stubborn theory. It has proven to have great shelf life as most of us are painfully aware. It has only been renamed as the Inconvenient Truth and such. At any rate, many now argue that maybe Malthus’ predictions aren’t wrong, only premature. Of course, growth has to stop when man runs out of arable land, water, oil, and other vital resources that keeps productivity and growth moving forward. Modern doomsday prophets have only upgraded the theory and added to the list of if/thens. All predictions like these (as listed below) usually lead to embarrassment because those who make them underappreciate the role of the market and human creativity in finding ways for better use of scarce resources and finding substitutes in place of them. 

That point is wonderfully illustrated between two professors who engaged in what has been called the Doomsday Bet. The was made between Julian Simon and Paul Ehrlich in 1980. Ehrlich identified five metals that he predicted would become so scarce in just a decade that the loss of them would end economic growth as they knew it. Simon disagreed, and predicted that the price of those medals would actually decline because by then better efficiency and substitutes would increase. When 1990 rolled around, the prices of those medals had fallen and Ehrlich had to pay up. 

I am almost giddy

Giddy with excitement, after reviewing the performances coming up locally, and deciding to see whats available seat wise...and finding some exceptional good seats to see one of my favorite musical pieces, Scherazade by Rimsky-Korsakov...along with Mozart - Concerto for Piano No. 20 in d....next month. I told honey this morning about the tickets I bought, and so now i know of one night i wont have to cook, it will be a dinner out and a show...ahhh, something to look forward to!

 

Anybody reading this stuff???

I mean here's the deal...this is my page, at least the way its populated with my personal thoughts on things, the pictures, music I like, videos I like, etc.. But mostly the blogs. These are sometimes short and pointless, other times not. But its my time and effort, usually after a day of work, after cooking dinner, after doing dishes, when I have MY TIME to collect my thoughts and hopefully put something coherent on here.

I notice that most of the time two or three people are listed as reading the blog, sometimes one or NONE, and when I bash Obama, maybe 9 or more.

So I take from that that there is a lot of interest on here about national politics and how they suck, and not so much about me, my life, etc. Except the only reason I write about Obama is because his activities in office, his "leadership" is impacting my life, and yours.

So today on the drive home I hear that the "plan" is for me to pay taxes on my health insurance if I make a certain amount of money...I don't make that kind of money, but do worry about losing the insurance I have, and knowing my employer, they can't wait to dump the coverage and put it on the taxpayers.

Holiday Bloat

Do you know what the Holiday Bloat is?

 Its when you visit friends and family and get stuffed with food and drink, starting around, oh, Thanksgiving and probably lasting until January 2. Not opnly that, but if you work in a big organization, you get involved in section, unit, division  and HQ parties, and not only for those you work directly in, but ones your friends work in, or ones that have good parties, or like me, mayybe even at other organizations where they are clients...today is the 15th, and I have attended 5 luncheons or parties, and there are two more onmy schedule this week...this last weekend I felt so lousy, I decided to make a effort to eat VERY little and drink only water at these things, otherwise ..BLOAT.

I already am constantly fighting the battle of the flab, I dont need to add to it...I like my clothes and am not really wanting to ever go back to wearing tent sized clothes like 10 years ago..

Have a great time at the parties, just take it easy, and DON't drive if you drink alcohol...

ps- the cartoon isnt really me, but it could be if I didnt watch out...geez

- 2009 IAFF Fallen Firefighter Memorial Pipe Bands in Colorado Springs

My brother Dave and one of his sons are firefighters... he went to this event.
Dave is a deputy chief, and has a firefighter badge tatooed over his heart, and it isnt his badge number...my sister in law says it was a close friend of his badge number...he has been fireman since he was 18 , now he's 52 ...thats dedication... says he might retire at 40 years service

Handal's The Hallejuah Chorus from the Messiah

This is one of my favorite pieces of music for Christmas.

LTC Allen West

Remember hearing this story ? i do. LTC West fire his pistol into the dirt to get a prisoner to rev eal information about a planned ambush, saving countless Iraqi and American lives. In accordance with Army Code of Conduct, he turned himself in for doing so, believing the violation was justified. He nearly was court martialed for misconduct. A public uproar and support from people in the US persuaded the military to just let the guy retire...and  in lieu of a court martial get a  letter of reprimand (which for an officer in the Army is pretty much a career ender)

"...LTC Allen B. West, former battalion commander in the 4th Infantry Division in Iraq, ... will receive a letter of reprimand from his commanding officer, Maj. Gen. Raymond Odierno, and be allowed to retire from the Army with his pension and rank intact.

 An officer of unusually high integrity, the colonel had reported himself to his chain-of-command for firing a pistol near – not at – near, the head of an Iraqi prisoner to “get him to talk.” The tactic worked, and the prisoner divulged plans for an upcoming attack that could have cost several American lives."

Well, now he is retired from the Army, and is running for Congress in Florida>>>

 

A Peace Prize?

I awoke pretty early this morning, and unable to go back to sleep, got up and started getting ready for work...start the coffee, turn on TV...wait, whats this? Live broadcast of President Obama accepting his peace prize is Oslo?

I thought how bizarre the scene was, a man who won the prize a scant 1 month after taking office, and now giving a speech on the meaning of peace and war...

How ironic for him to accept now, just days after ordering a dramatic buildup of our troops in Afghanistan, a move many say was straight out of the previous administrations plans...

Sure, he talked about closing GITMO, and winding down our involvement in Iraq, but he also spoke of the discontent around the world where freedom is denied, and the growing threat of nuclear prolifieration... I how he can figure out how to act on these things, otherwise this was just rhetoric.

Poking the Bear...sort of

Hope all had a good Thanksgiving...

The last blog seems to have either buoyed or pissed off some folks, judging by the exchange.

I am not a repoobican and am thoroughly disgusted by the party I used to belong to, Democrats, so i guess I am independent with Libertarian leanings, or something akin to that.

I do not hate Obama. I am however totally convinced that his conduct in office so far as illustrated how unprepared he was and still is to be Chief Executive and Commander in Chief of the world's dominate economic and military force.

When he ran for office he had three things he kept chanting- Health care for all, Climate change policy, and Education.

1. Health Care Reform
2. Cap and Trade
3. Education Reform

Health care for all as currently constructed is a massive expenditure of taxpayer (me and you) money to cover very few of the uninsured while screwing up a broken system probably for a long time.  Implementing a National Health Care Information System alone will cost plenty and take a decade or more to get in place, if you were going to do it right. But what government program ever starts out right???

Climate change has some convincing stats, but it's hardly a fact, any more than evolutionary theory has been excepted as fact, our aloneness in the universe is fact, etc, etc. Theories remain theories until there is no doubt what so ever...you know, like the world is flat, the sun orbits the earth, stuff like that.

Rumor is that with all that is going on to dispell climate change science, and the economic consequences of the Al Gore Carbon Credit bank, Cap and Trade may not see the light of day in this session of Congress...

I am still waiting to see how Obama plays his hand on the universal college education plan...

Wonder why people are spending like crazy on Christmas...? I don't. People like Christmas, and they want to spend their money on stuff rather than give it to the government...but that's my silly view, whats yours?

 

The Big Know it all (Me)

We in California moved out primary elections up, so instead of being later (June) we voted in February 2008. As a good citizen, i went to the polls, and decided which candidate caused me the least amount of disgust, because i didn't like any of them. The one that I though was the most full of baloney, and was confident would not win the primary, is our current president.

In retrospect I have a theory how he was elected. Its a really simple thing, its called lying. Except in politics it isn't called lying, its called a campaign promise.

I recall that having voted absentee, we took a trip north, and were driving back to our cottage after spending the day in Seattle, and they were saying it was close, but it was still way too early. In the morning I got the paper from outside and was surprise to see the entire first page a photo of Obama...and then that sinking feeling hit my gut.

As i listened to him on the radio, prattling on about everything he wanted to see done, the calculator in my head was adding them up, based on things I already knew, or had read somewhere during the run up to the election. I never suspected what was coming.

Now here we are. We are the largest debtor nation in the world...trillions in debt, interest on the debt growing everyday.

Obama wants to have us pay for insurance in a way that does not sound warm and fuzzy to me, more like a jack boot on my throat, do it or go to jail...The current bill does not cover 100% of the uninsured, and is so packed with "extras" that it has been estimated it will raise costs for everyone. And the coverage does not start until AFTER Obama has been (not) re-elected, yet the taxes start January 1, 2011 when by happy coincidence the previously enacted revisions to our tax code end...

OK, so we know health care reform a load of hooey.  Lets agree thought that I was right- the guy in office now is learning on the job, and isn't doing to well.

Apparently the country has the same doubts as me:

" When it comes to seven specific areas, Obama no longer commands majority support on any. On only two — energy policy and global warming — does he have a net positive rating. On the economy, health care, jobs and Afghanistan, a majority disapprove of how he's doing."

"...26% of the nation's voters Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as President. Forty-one percent (41%) Strongly Disapprove giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -15%. "

Its a topsyturvy world right now...

Remembering JFK

November 22, 2009

Nov. 22, 1963, President John F. Kennedy was shot and killed as his motorcade drove through Dallas. At 12:30 p.m., a bullet struck Kennedy in the back and another killed him with a final shot to the head. The shooter, according to government investigations, was Lee Harvey Oswald. Oswald denied shooting anyone, claiming he was a patsy. Two days later, while being transferred from the city jail to the county jail, Oswald was shot and mortally wounded by Jack Ruby on live television.

I was 10 years old when this happened, and vividly remember the day- mom had brought my brother and I back from the dentist, and was trying to get us to go to school. We made it to the corner, when a lady wearing a polka dot scarf on her head driving a two tone car slammed on her brakes, and started crying. She asked where we were going and we said school and she said "there won't be any school today honey"...which caused us to look at one another and then scurry home, just in time to see our dad, a policeman, swing his police cruiser into the driveway, run into the house to turn on the TV. I thinki I started crying then, and probably cried right thru Thanksgiving....I know dad told us this was history unfolding before our eyes, and giving us a hug...

I always thought this to have happened about 10 AM Pacific time, and the account above says it happened at 12:30 PM Central...so i guess I was pretty close...

For several years, i have tried to post videos of event like this one, mostly because people my daughters age have no idea why people my age get so upset. However the last 40 seconds of this video of Walter Cronkite really get me to cry...that a man who had seen so  much in WW II, including the London Blitz, covered the Korean war and elsewhere,  was force to fumble and quickly regain composure when it was confirmed the president had died. It really was a national day of sadness...

A Bit of Satire...or not???

Squirrel Valley News  - November 2024

Glorious Leader today thanked the electorate for returning him to a fifth term of the Presidency, possible after the Liberal Party rallied the votes to overturn the twenty second amendment to the Constitution. 

Buoyed by the surge in Liberal voters after the implementation of the instant citizen act of 2010, and outlawing the Republican Party as a threat to the republic, our Leader who once had a favorable rating of a mere 14%, garnered 89% of the popular vote, and all the electoral college votes.

Pledging to continue the war, the GL pledged to the nation that the ongoing struggle against the Conservative States of America would end soon. He blamed the unending conflict on the strength and support of the dreaded NRA, which was added to the terrorist organization list early in 2014 after it was linked to supporting the break away Republic of Texas.

 

And Now even MORE nonsense from me...

Why are the TV "news" channels all (yes even Fox) so geared to infotainment instead of presenting the news?
Well, to answer that I had to ponder how the world has changed - increasingly we are attached to technology. Today I brought that up at a meeting, about how everyone (me too) was looking at their Blackberry, and someone told about going to the movies and all the people in the audience having this faint glow on their faces during a  particular scene.

We (collectively, the world, not just USA) have become increasingly dependent on cell phones, the internet, social networking, and has these things move together, so that you can use a smart phone to text scour the web and tell people where you are and what you are doing/thinking (Facebook, Yammer, Twitter, etc, etc) the attention span shrinks...we are all becoming attention deficit, like it or not.

Pandering to that, trying to stay relevant has led, IMHO, to the news channels changing from what I grew up with ( Cronkite, Frank Reynolds, Huntley-Brinkley, Howard K Smith to name a few) to what we have today- if a story lasts more than a couple of minutes, its boring and change the channel...

Me personally I like the in depth exposure, so I tend to seek out things like the Bloomberg news, or Lehrer News Hour on PBS, knowing full well they all have an angle to their reporting...at least some stories get more than 15 minutes

And while I am on the subject, lets hope that Lou Dobbs departure from CNN does not mean he will only be on the radio from now on...

Obama Bows to Foreign Leader- Again

OK, maybe when our fearless leader bowed to the King in Saudia Arabia it was a mistake, or misunderstanding, but  when the LA Times asks "How low will he go?", well , I mean the LA Times gets it...the LA Times for crying out loud...

I know some people really truly like our president, and he probably is a nice man, but I sure wish he was still a law professor and NOT where he is....

 

Governor of Texas on Obama

Find more videos like this on Mywesttexas Chatter

More nonsense from me

For several years( really? years? yes I guess thats right) I tried to post a blog a day, pricipally on my Yahoo 360 page. Well that ended horribly when yahoo dumped 360, well, except for Vietnam, which i understand is still having Yahoo 360Plus (vn.360plus.yahoo.com/ ) 
Any way, so I moved over here to Multiply, and tried to stay up on my blogging habit until about a couple of months age my cousin comes back from Iraq and starts a Facebook page, trying to get the rest of the family to have one as well so we can all "stay connected"...which was really nice for awhile, especially catching up with his half sister, whom i had not seen in 25 years. Then we all got together in October, and there was the whole family again...and looking at the pictures, I realized something obvious..damn we're all old. My uncles are 80 and 75, my mom is 77, I am 56, my brothers at in their 50"s....my cousins are all in their late 40's or early 50's, except the one, she is 38....And then there was my niece and her two brothers..They are all in their 30's and have kids.  And suddenly I felt old, as I checked facebook everyday and found these snippets of life...almost like that insipid Twitter...

And i find myself sounding like a cantankerous oldster, asking my niece why she allowed her 13 years old to pierce her nose, or dye her hair purple, and why does she let her dress like...I dont know what. Pants so tight nothing is imagined, and so low riding that a stiff tug would drop them to her knees.

Or my other niece, who is nearly 18 and thinks everyone older than her is simply so boring, and she has some exclusive view on reality...

And so I gave up on the Facebook page I had for my family, and started to think more about this page. About where i seems to have found a diverse group of people who frequently share, share opinions, views, ideas, and often don't agree, but mostly agree that being disagreeable is unacceptable. (Or you get blocked )

So like a friend of mine said, in this month of Thanksgiving, we have much to  be thankful for.
Thanks for listening and being there..

Can i say something here???

I have refused to comply with political correctness since back at least to 1996...it just started being too weird to not call it as it is, to say something is right when its not, etc, etc.

I started blowing my top probably about 2004, as people i worked with increaseing saw fit to say conservatives and Republicans and even moderate Democrats were evil...Come on, evil??

Well a little over a year ago I wrote some notes while watching the newly elected Obama speak about what he "had to do" and I scribbled down some numbers....program A-400 billion, program b- 650 billion, and then I have "Comprehensive Health Care- 1.5 trillion plus"...I used to be an auditor, and have some idea what these programs cost...well now that he is well underway to trying to get these things, like they used to say, are we better off??

Unemployment not only stubbornly refuses to go down, it goes up, even as GDP goes up. We have a massive amount of borrowing in TARP, and yet hardly any of it has been used to do much of anything except bailout big banks thats are crapping on customers like me

Have you had you credit card lines slashed? i HAVE . Visa account w $5000 line, zero balance, slashed to $200 limit(really); another bank reduced a credit line to balance owed. Interest on all accounts hiked up...and here is a little secret...as the amount you go is compared to the credit available, it effects you FICO score...so the above little shennaigans by the banks caused my credit score to drop from Excellent to Good...thing what its doing to people with Good or Fair credit...its forcing them out of the credit marketplace..making buying things like the Government Motors cars more difficult and yes more expensive...

Lets talk about Government Motors and Fiat Chrysler....sales are dismal, because there is no confidence in their ability to be around, in the fact that buying a cars from them is like lending your crazy uncle money to built a house and then agreeing to buy it from him...at a profit...

What jobs have been created? Government jobs? I have a cousin who is gleefully collecting unemployment (he's a idiot) and is now overjoyed he gets an extension...meanwhile the US government (thats really us taxpayers) paid for him to learn to be a real estate broker...yet he can't find a job since the real estate market still sucks especially here in the west...

Our state of california was the laughingstock for being billions in the hole, yet today 9 more states are lining up to be broke as well...yet Obama says states have to figure it out- Hey, MR President, if the national economy is sucking badly, and there is massive unemployment, and the unemployed pay NO taxes, where are the states going to get the money? I mean after all, they rely on tax income to fund government...hello??? His answer= A Job Summit.

And then there is the so called "good war" in Afghanistan, where Obama has so far failed to lead . I dont know, people used to tell me making a bad decision was better than no decision. I guess they didn't teach that in Chicago. Its called leadership...and I think this country is sorely lacking any. Just watch CPAN, and see how Congress behaves if you think i am wrong.

Thanks for letting me rant here, and have a nice weekend. I am taking a long weekend since I have a salary cut ....what is it, 20% now...guess the government will have less to take anyway

(In a bit of irony, my pay raise became effective the same day they announced increasing the salary reductions for salaried employees- so my raise amounts to .07% (roughly $4.55)- what will i do with all that money? Buy an extra Big Mac?)

Veterans Day 2009

This day is set aside every year to honor those who served in this country's military, or are serving today. There are many expressions such as "If you love your freedom, thank a Vet" that have become fairly common since 9/11. If you should know or meet a veteran, please thank them for their service. I know men of my honeys age, Vietnam vets, are really appreciative, even 40 years later...Canice

YouTube - Moody Blues - Nights in White Satin

One of my favorite songs...I fell for this song as a teen...

Annie Lennox or Procol Harum-Whiter Shade of Pale

Annie Lennox - A whiter shade of pale
Uploaded by Sakasaki93. - Explore more music videos.

Orgins of Halloween

Historian Nicholas Rogers, exploring the origins of Halloween, notes that while "some folklorists have detected its origins in the Roman feast of Pomona, the goddess of fruits and seeds, or in the festival of the dead called Parentalia, [it is] more typically linked to the Celtic festival of Samhain or Samuin (pronounced sow-an or sow-in)".^[4] The name is derived from Old Irish and means roughly "summer's end".^[4] A similar festival was held by the ancient Britons and is known as Calan Gaeaf (pronounced kalan-geyf).

The festival of Samhain celebrates the end of the "lighter half" of the year and beginning of the "darker half", and is sometimes^[] regarded as the "Celtic New Year"

source Wikipedia

The Nobel Peace Prize? For what, slowly losing Afghanistan?

Today was the last day of my annual fall vacation, a wonderful perfect time to get away from work and relax, enjoy the ocean, fresh seafood, etc...as i was packing , I stopped to enjoy a wonderful cup of hot coffee, and flipped on the TV to ee the morning news...and Obama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize???? FOR WHAT?
Bill Clinton did more for world peace as president and as an ex president, and he gets snubbed so the Norwegians can award it to Obama...now I know the world has lost its mind.

Meanwhile...

KABUL - U.S. forces have withdrawn from an isolated base in eastern Afghanistan that insurgents attacked last week in one of the deadliest battles of the war for U.S. troops, the NATO-led coalition said Friday.

The pullout from the Kamdesh outpost near the Pakistani border is likely to embolden insurgent fighters in the region. The Taliban swiftly claimed "victory" for forcing the coalition to leave and said they had raised their flag above the town.

Speaking by telephone from an undisclosed location, Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said the U.S. bombarded the outpost with airstrikes after leaving, as well as the local police headquarters.

"This means they are not coming back," Mujahid said. "This is another victory for Taliban. We have control of another district in eastern Afghanistan."

"Right now Kamdesh is under our control, and the white flag of the Taliban is raised above Kamdesh," Mujahid said.

In a statement Friday, the NATO-led force said troops and equipment were moved "to other locations in eastern Afghanistan in preparation for future assignment to more populated areas."

Iran

May 2009 -  Iran says it has successfully test launched a mid-range surface-to-surface missile, state media have reported.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said the Sajjil-2 missile with a range of 2,000km (1,240 miles), used "advanced technology" and had landed on target.

The US confirmed the launch had taken place, and reiterated that President Barack Obama was "concerned" about Iran's missile development.

Sept 25, 2009  Pressure mounted on Iran yesterday to halt its nuclear program as world leaders at the United Nations warned of the threat posed by Tehran to a global consensus on disarmament.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has said a newly revealed nuclear enrichment plant is "perfectly legal", after criticism from world leaders including US President Barack Obama and French leader Nicolas Sarkozy.

The next day, Iran  tested two short-range missiles during a military exercise, Iranian state television reports.

See a pattern here?

The Clash

Rock the Casbah

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OAkfHShATKY

(Video embedding disabled)

lyrics addressing the Iranian (Islamic Republic of Iran) clampdown on imports of Western music to a bouncy dance rhythm in 1982

Now the king told the boogie men
You have to let that raga drop
The oil down the desert way
Has been shakin' to the top
The sheik he drove his Cadillac
He went a' cruisin' down the ville
The muezzin was a' standing
On the radiator grille

CHORUS
Sharif don't like it
Rockin the casbah
Rock the casbah
Sharif don't like it
Rockin the Casbah
Rock the Casbah

By order of the prophet
We ban that boogie sound
Degenerate the faithful
With that crazy Casbah sound
But the Bedouin they brought out
The electric kettle drum
The local guitar picker
Got his guitar picking thumb
As soon as the sherif
Had cleared the square
They began to wail

CHORUS

Now over at the temple
Oh! They really pack 'em in
The in crowd say it's cool
To dig this chanting thing
But as the wind changed direction
The temple band took five
The crowd caught a wiff
Of that crazy Casbah jive

CHORUS

The king called up his jet fighters
He said you better earn your pay
Drop your bombs between the minarets
Down the Casbah way

As soon as Sharif was
Chauffeured outta there
The jet pilots tuned to
The cockpit radio blare

As soon as Sharif was
Outta their hair
The jet pilots wailed

Chorus

Sharif don't like it
Rock the casbah
(He thinks it's not kosher)
Rock the casbah
Sharif don't like it
Rock the Casbah
(Fundamentally he can't take it.)
Rock the Casbah
Sharif don't like it
Rock the Casbah
(You know he really hates it.)
Rock the Casbah

 

Adware introduced malware

Within the last few days, i have unfortunately found some bad things on 2 of the 4 computers in my home network...all of which are protected by up to date antivirus and multiple firewalls.

How could this happen? Because we are people and innocently clicked on something. I think Honey clicked on an ad for free instant scan of your computer and introduced a Trojan, which unloaded a user logon hijacker, while I must have allowed a popup that introduced a Trojan that unloaded a script that took over my browser. In both cases I found and eliminated the problems with a new software that I am still a little skeptical about, but so far it seems to work.

The Trojans were Vundo (variant 4) and FakeAlert....

It just so happens I discovered this while during the day attending some classes for Information Security professionals, and found that many of the people in class had experienced similar malwares on their home computers and work networks....

The truth is, eternal vigilence is not just a catchy phrase, its the requirement to protect your information and privacy. A momentary lapse on my part reinforced that concept...

Probe shows 9/11 is, sadly, forgotten

What others are saying, in an editorial from the Atlanta Journal Constitution...

It’s very hard to maintain a Sept. 12 view of the world,” says David Nahmias, a thought that well explains why some CIA agents may soon face criminal prosecution.

Nahmias, recently appointed to the Georgia Supreme Court after a career of prosecuting, among others, terrorists after Sept. 11, spoke those words a few days before the Obama administration reopened a criminal probe of CIA interrogators. But his observation about the difference between the raw wounds of The Day After and our more comfortable perspective eight years hence is right on target.

Let’s be honest. Liberals can get away with tsk-tsking about a handful of unauthorized CIA interrogation techniques — some of which would fit right into a Monty Python spoof: “Talk, or I’ll speak ill of your mother! And after that, turn on an electric drill in this very room!” — precisely because the CIA’s interrogations helped to prevent another terror attack on U.S. soil.

Had just one of the foiled terror plots gone off, we wouldn’t be having this conversation.
Some commentators have jumped on the conclusion by CIA Inspector General John Helgerson, in a 2004 report released publicly Monday concurrent to the reopening of the probe, that gauging the efficacy of “enhanced interrogation techniques” (EITs) is a “subjective process and not without some concern.”

Read on, however, and you find that Abu Zubaydah, one of Osama bin Laden’s highest-level henchmen, “appeared to be more cooperative” after going through simulated drowning known as waterboarding. His cooperation included helping to identify Jose Padilla and other terrorists.

You find that another terrorist who provided valuable information, Abd Al-Rahim Al-Nashiri, did so only after “receiving additional EITs.”

And you find that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks and the man who personally beheaded the kidnapped Wall Street Journal reporter Danny Pearl, was “an accomplished resistor” who “provided only a few intelligence reports prior to the use of the waterboard, and analysis of that information revealed that much of it was outdated, inaccurate, or incomplete.” After being subjected to EITs, he became “probably the most prolific” source of good intelligence gathered through interrogations.
The point here is two-fold. First, those who argue against these interrogation techniques on grounds of both morality and their supposed lack of effectiveness cannot have it both ways.

If you want to object to actions such as waterboarding for moral reasons, fine. But don’t pretend that eschewing these techniques wouldn’t have put thousands of innocent American lives at grave risk from terrorists. The inspector general’s report recounts a litany of plots blocked thanks to knowledge gleaned from interrogations, some of which certainly came to light through the use of rougher questioning techniques.

The second point is that the CIA officers who employed these techniques did so at a time when another attack was thought to be imminent. They were, by all accounts, operating on ever-shifting ground in terms of legal authorizations and security imperatives. We cannot treat them as criminals now just because things turned out OK.

In so many ways it is good that we no longer have the Sept. 12 mind-set: That was a mind-set of fear. But the agents working then did not have the luxury of eight years’ worth of security and perspective. Again, we have that luxury only because those agents’ work gave it to us.

Perhaps the saddest commentary in all of this came, those several years ago, from unnamed officers cited in the report. Realizing that the Sept. 12 view would fade away, they feared that the American public that demanded security of them at the time would turn on them in the future. “Ten years from now we’re going to be sorry we’re doing this … [but] it has to be done,” was the way one of them summed up such worries.
Shame on us for proving that officer right.

Pelsoi needs to retire

There are many reasons I think Nancy Pelosi has passed the required retirement age, but certainly this humorous view of her also underscores what a ninny she really is...

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12 yrs for Freedom Tower...Burj Dubai completed before Dec 2009

On September 11, 2001 the World Trade Center Towers 1 and 2 were destroyed.

Once the grieving process for the deceased had moved on, the hundreds of funerals and memorial ceremonies held, some began planning for a tribute to the departed and almost more importantly, a symbolic rebuilding to rebuke the idea that terrorism would prevail over a free people.

The Freedom Tower idea evolved.  A final design for the tower was formally unveiled on June 28, 2006. On December 19, 2006, the first steel columns were installed in the building's foundation. Its projected completion date is currently 2018 – 12 years after the first columns. When completed the entire structure will be 1776 feet tall, although the top floor will be 1,368 feet (417 m)

Half a world away in Dubai, the Burj Dubai project begins in 2003. Construction began on 21 September 2004, and the tower is expected to be completed and ready for occupancy by the end of 2009. The Chicago-based architecture and engineering firm Skidmore, Owings and Merrill (SOM) is in charge of the project.

The building is now the world’s tallest human made structure at 2,684 feet (818 m).

It is due to be completed on time in a little over 5 years, with construction that was managed by Turner Construction of NYC.

OK, so here are my thoughts  

What the heck? How is it American companies can go overseas and go in 5 years from a dirt lot to a center piece of a new city in the desert, but American companies can’t get a tower at ground zero for almost 12 years???

Well, first…it’s not the money. Dubai spent $4 billion on this building, and the budget for what used to be called the Freedom Tower is already at $3 billion…

It has to be what then? Politics? Corruption?  

Has Charlie Watts Quit The Rolling Stones?

Undercover.com.au - Your Daily Music Fix

by Paul Cashmere - September 2 2009
photo by Ros O'Gorman

Undercover has learned that Charlie Watts has quit The Rolling Stones.

A source within the Stones inner-circle says, “Charlie Watts has quit the band. He will never record or tour with the band again”.

The news does not come as a surprise. It was common knowledge that Keith Richards had to talk Charlie into contributing to the A Bigger Bang tour but this time it seems there is no calling Charlie back to active duty.

“The Stones are looking to Keith's Expensive Winos drummer Charlie Drayton to fill the void in all future Stones' callings,” our source says.

With Mick Jagger planning more Stones activity next year, the departure of Charlie will be a huge blow to the band. Charlie was the backbone of the band.

The 68-year old drummer simply doesn't want to do it anymore.

Charlie joined the Rolling Stones in January, 1963. He didn’t expect it would last. In fact, he kept his day job for several months until the band started to feel like a career.

Charlie’s decision to quit the band comes a three years short of the Stones 50th anniversary.

Psychedlic memories

My daughter absolutely loves some of the music I played when she was little, totally aware that when mom was younger (way younger), the music listening experience was augmented by the company of friends and not much else(that came late...Hey, it was the 60's, OK?)..last week she went to see Hall & Oates...good grief, they are still playing?? well what the heck, the Stones are still at it, going on 50 years (they started in 1962...goodness, Charlie Watts is 68???)...

 Anyway, listening to XM radio, i heard this song, which I always thought was beautiful (still do)..

Pretty ballerina

I had a date with a pretty ballerina

Her hair so brilliant that it hurt my eyes

I asked her for this dance

And then she obliged me

Was I surprised, yeah

Was I surprised, No not at all

I called her yesterday,

 It should have been tomorrow

I could not keep

The joy that was inside

I begged for her to tell me

If she really loved me

Somewhere a mountain is moving

Afraid its moving without me

I had a date with a pretty ballerina

Her hair so brilliant that it hurt my eyes

I asked her for this dance

And then she obliged me

Was I surprised, yeah

Was I surprised, no not at all

And when I wake on a dreary Sunday morning

I open up my eyes to find there’s rain

And something strange within said,

Go ahead and find her

Just close your eyes, yeah

Just close your eyes and she'll be there

She'll be there...

******

Here i found the Tobacco Road..

golly i remember dancing to this in the gym during homecoming one year..Aww pleasant memories...

 

Obama gets a earful...if only

(from Glen Beck 912 Project)

9/11 Eight years on...

Honey rises every week day at 5:30, and starts getting ready for work. Wander to the living room, switch on a lamp and the TV, then wander into the kitchen and start the coffee. That morning there was no difference..same routine.

Meanwhile across the country at 8:34: A third transmission from Flight 11: "nobody move please. We are going back to the airport. Don't try to make any stupid moves."

Coffee brewing, the insipid gurgle and burp of a well used coffee maker... slowly the caffeine laden fluid fills a mug, and honey pushes the pot back into the machine, so it can gurgle out more coffee in a urgent spurt..Honey settles in to enjoy the first mug of the day, and catch a little news, usually CNN. Its now about 5:45 Pacific time, 8:45 AM Eastern

8:44: Flight attendant Amy Sweeney, aboard Flight 11, reports by telephone to Michael Woodward at the American Airlines Flight Services Office in Boston, "Something is wrong. We are in a rapid descent... we are all over the place." A minute later, Woodward asks her to describe what she sees out the window. She responds, "I see the water. I see the buildings. I see buildings..." After a short pause, she reports, "We are flying low. We are flying very, very low. We are flying way too low." Seconds later she says, "Oh my God, we are way too low.” The call ends with a burst of very loud, sustained static.

At 8:46:40: Flight 11 crashes at roughly 490 mph ... into the north face of the North Tower (1 WTC) of the World Trade Center, between floors 93 and 99.

A  commercial on debt consolidation is interrupted by Breaking News, and anchor people struggle to explain what has happened (see video)

 

 

Honey comes into the bedroom and flips on the light, tells me to get up, planes are crashing into buildings...I lazily roll over and think "what did i just hear?"

I slip on my slippers and wander out to the couch, blearily looking at a horrific picture of the WTC on fire, building I seen once several years ago reflecting the setting sun as i landed in a flight to Newark airport...

8:58: Flight 175 takes a heading toward New York City. At 9:03: Flight 175 crashes at about 590 mph (950 km/h) into the south face of the South Tower (2 WTC) of the World Trade Center, banked between floors 78 and 85.

My cousin, a financial analyst in NYC for training,  is slowing descending the stairs of 2 WTC, helping a woman make the climb from floor 70. According to him, they are at floor 50 when the building rocked, not unlike the building he used to work in San Francisco during a earthquake, only accompanied by a loud explosion...

Honey and I and a billion other people see the plane fly into the building on TV

We both called work and neither place knew yet what to do, so honey decides to stay home.. my work demanded i come in right away. The roads going into town are pretty empty for a work day...I worked at the time developing a program for a law enforcement agency, and so i went there..I was met at the door by one of the investigators, clad in his "raid" jacket, armed with a sub machine gun...I fumbled for my ID and he smiles, "Canice, I know who you are" reminding me we had been in a meeting last week. Suddenly a F16 streaked overheard, and I remarked it was a very awful day, and he nodded, opening the door for me. It is nearly 7 AM, 10 AM in the east.

Flight 93 slams into the earth in Somerset County, Pennsylvania

The deputy chief of the agency walks up to me as we stare at a TV they have in the conference room, pats me on the shoulder as I and a few others are crying and tells me that if I want he  can have an office take me home, but i insist i am OK and leave...and then proceed to cry for a few minutes alone in my car...I drive by the local airport on my way home, and realize how weird it is to NOT see planes taking off and landing..At home, honey has declares if the president calls up anyone that's able, he would go, where ever, to kill the sons of bitches that did this...a few days late I find out my cousin had been in NY, and was now on his way home.

 We have not forgotten...how could we..

 

(9/11 Time-line from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_for_the_day_of_the_September_11_attacks#8:00_AM)

Gone for now

I am taking a break from maintaining my Mulitply page...other social applications are taking so much time that Multiply has become a distant 3rd

I will be back, but I am thinking i will no longer focus so much on politics, economics and such, since the other apps I am using seem to also be in that vein... I actually would delete this site except I have so many blogs here and i want to maintain those...and likely enough another application will come along that will interest me more than this, and i will move my blogs there..I know this is a boring blog, but I am writing it mostly for me now.

Pelosi Defends Rangel; Washington Post Calls for Rangel to "Step Down"

  Amid his revelation of unreported income, the Washington Post is calling for New York Congressman Charlie Rangel to step down as chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee.

In an editorial in today's edition, the paper calls Rangel's amended disclosure form a “treasure trove of outrage."

Newly-filed disclosures show that Rangel failed to report at least half a million dollars in assets in 2007, perhaps a total of over $1,000,000 during the periods 2002-2006. The paper says, "much more is expected and demanded of those entrusted with chairmanships and the power that comes with them, especially when it involves the nation's purse strings

Rangel heads the powerful House Ways and Means Committee which writes the nation’s tax laws and has major influence over the national budget

Senior's Bill of rights

 

 

 

 

The Republican party does in fact have some ideas that probably would help get Obama's health Care package thru as a bi-partisan bill..question is, will the Democratic Party step up?

 

Warren Zevon

I was just sitting here in my Lazboy, and listening to music...something i do when really want to relax and think about stuff...and I started looking for one song and then another, and eventually ended up with Carmelita as sung by Linda Ronstadt. I too note it was written by Warren Zevon, whom i had listen to many years ago, and it dawned on me this was the month he passed away. For those that don't know, here is what WikiPedia says:

"Warren William Zevon (January 24, 1947 – September 7, 2003) was an American rock singer-songwriter and musician noted for including his strange, sardonic opinions of life in his musical lyrics, composing songs that were sometimes humorous and often had political or historical themes.

Although his was a cult success, Zevon's work has often been complimented by well-known musicians. His best-known compositions include "Werewolves of London", "Lawyers, Guns and Money", "Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner" and "Johnny Strikes Up The Band", all of which are featured on his 1978 release, Excitable Boy. Other well known Zevon songs include "Accidentally Like a Martyr", "Mutineer" and "Mohammed's Radio".

Along with his own compositions Zevon recorded or performed occasional covers, including Bob Dylan's "Knockin' on Heaven's Door" and Leonard Cohen's "First We Take Manhattan"."

I thought it would be nice to play some of his music here, he was a very talented man:

 

:

 

Can i tell you a story?

Most of my blogs for the past several months have been political in nature. Sometimes i just don't want to keep droning on about it all...like today, i came home from work, we had pizza for dinner, and i basically turned off the TV at 7 and have been listening to music from the 60's and 70's.  i thought at the time those were awful times, with the war in vietnam going on and on, never ending, and a government that just seemed stuck thinking like it was the 40's or something.

Parents and grandparents used to chide me and my brothers about being lazy ingrates, which me trying to be liked by my peers got me in hot water with dad, who thought I wanted to be a "hippie whore"...funny, I almost started to believe that's what was expected of me.

One of my first cars (in college) was a Borg-Ward Isabella, made in Germany. I remember painting flowers on the dash, and her name, Isabel. I used to sing along to the radio and ask if it was liking the music- dopey I know. She was a nice little car. I think they called it a squareback, but to me it was a mini station wagon, and fun.

Once at the beach with a friend, we slept in back and looked through the open end door (not really a tailgate) at the stars, and tuned in a radio station in SF. I only mention this because tonight for some reason the name Bread popped into my head, and so i dug around and found a song i remembered by them, which i added to my play-list (posted on my Multiply main page)...and that started this whole dialog in my head about the summers of 30 plus years ago...

Hey, when you have kids that are 40, its time to admit you aren't young anymore according to the calendar...but mom always said stay young at heart, and you'll never grow old...I believe that..

Vet asks: Are we becoming the United Socialist States Republic (USSR)

While my honey and  I were watching the morning news, we both started to ask the same question: Are we becoming the United Socialist States Republic (USSR)? I know that is a provocative thing to say, but step back from recent events and see what has happened:

1. Government relationship to banks moves from mere oversight to financial interest and partial ownership (Central Govt Control of Finance)
   
2. Government assumes a lead role in managing one of the largest industries remaining in the country, the auto industry, assumes control of the largest car maker in world (until Jan 2009) (Central Govt Control of Industry)
   
3. Government attempt to nationalize health care, "for the people" (Control of Health care)
   
4. Government proposes to nationalize energy sector, under guise of environmental friendly legislation known as Cap and Trade (Central Govt Control of Energy)
   
5. Executive branch replaces balance in governance by appointment of "czars" to oversee various sectors of American life, outside the oversight of the peoples representatives, Congress (Central Govt Control)
6. Government seeks to disarm (in violation of Bill of Rights) public under  Health reform, by deeming some citizens medically unfit to own firearms, with no clear definition of what that criteria is
7. Government leaders brand dissenting opinions as "Un-American", a clear violation of Bill of Rights
   

Whats next? As you should readily discern, these actions mirror the basic tenets and structure of the former Soviet Union...or   the early 20th century evolution of National Socialism in Germany, which led to World War II.  Is it fear mongering to note these facts or merely cautious observation?
I wonder...although its clear i am not alone in these thoughts.

Comment from David:"I, David William Hedrick, a member of the silent majority, decided that I was not going to be silent anymore. So, I let U.S. Congressman Brian Baird have it. I was one questioner out of 38, that was called at random from an audience that started at 3,000 earlier in the evening. Not expecting to be called on, I quickly scratched what I wanted to say on a borrowed piece of paper and with a pen that I borrowed from someone else in the audience minutes before I spoke. So much for the planned talking points of the right wing conspiracy."Semper Fi, David

You're Racist - Code for Destroying America

Racism: noun

• Date: 1933

1 : a belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race
2 : racial prejudice or discrimination

 Racist- adjective
Adherent to tenets of racism.

OK, so that's what the words mean..really. Nothing about being white, conservative, fiscally sound, intellectual, a gun owner, a Republican or Democrat, male or female, or anything like that. Simply, a racist is someone who feels their race is superior to others, and discriminates against persons not of their race...
Race by the way is not really a scientifically sound concept anyway, since blending of "race" can lead to people who don't look like the "race" they  may self identify with.

Now here is the definitions according to the Urban dictionary, a free forum of modern language and its meaning:
 "rascist_ what all white people are

P.s I am black and the only reason I didnt rip on whites here is because I couldnt choose my favorite disparaging term for them.(there are sooo many) "

I have worked with, been friends with, currently am friends with, currently work with, many people of all types, making up the entire complexity of peoples ancestry, be it culture, race, age, sex, whatever...
I judge people by how they treat me, as i am sure they judge me by how i treat them. That does not make me a racist. That make me a human.
I don't like everyone i deal with, and I am positive they don't all like me either...again, part of being  a human.

Back in 2003, I attened a rally at the State Capitol supporting the candidacy of Arnold Schwarznegger for governor...mostly to see the man, and hear him speak on what his run was about...a young man nearby as we left confronted my honey, me and my friend Carol that had gone with us, "If you vote for Arnold your a f__king racist"...before honey could speak (according to him) I spun around and yelled, "F---K You ". giving him the finger as i did so...following which my honey hustled me the hell outta there...

Since then I have have bristled at the wanton over misuse of the term racist to define people simply because of differing opinions...and the patently absurd notion that a particular people of a race can not be racist regardless of what garbage they are spouting.

Case in point- A long time back when living across the country,   I had a co-worker/friend who happened to be black. She was a very personable, intelligent young woman. We had a discussion about racism one day. To my astonishment, my otherwise sensible friend informed me: "black people can't be racists, it is just not possible." After I picked myself up off the ground, I asked her if she was serious. She went on to explain that she was quite serious "because blacks don't have any real power in this country--so they cannot really be racists. Only white people can be racists." That was a conversation which has stayed with me for 25 years. While it was rather comical, it spoke to the feeling that many black people have and which creates a justification for their racist ways.

To put this all in context with where we as a society are I can not improve on what former Democratic Colorado Governor Richard Lamm said in either 2004 or2005, and which is making the rounds again on the internet, probably because of his uncanny accuracy. The plan to destroy America :
former Colorado Governor Richard D. Lamm, stood up and gave a speech on ‘How to Destroy America’.  The audience sat spellbound by the eight methods for destruction of the United States.

 

Lamm said, “If you believe that America is too smug, too self-satisfied, too rich, then let’s destroy America.  It is not that hard to do.  No nation in history has survived the ravages of time.  Arnold Toynbee observed that all great civilizations rise and fall, and that, “An autopsy of history would show that all great nations commit suicide.”

 

“Here is how they destroyed their countries,” Lamm said. “First, turn America into a bilingual or multi lingual and bicultural country.  History shows that no nation can survive the tension, conflict and antagonism of two or more competing languages and cultures.  It is a blessing for an individual to be bilingual; however, it is a curse for a society to be bilingual.  The historical scholar Seymour Lipset put it this way, “The histories of bilingual and bicultural societies that do not assimilate are histories of turmoil, tension and tragedy.  Canada, Belgium, Malaysia, Lebanon—all face crises of national existence in which minorities press for autonomy, if not independence. Pakistan and Cyprus have divided. Nigeria suppressed an ethnic rebellion. France faces difficulties with Basques, Bretons and Corsicans.”

 

Lamm continued on how to destroy America, “Invent ‘multiculturalism’ and encourage immigrants to maintain their own culture. I would make it an article of belief that all cultures are equal. That there are no cultural differences!  I would make it an article of faith that the Black and Hispanic dropout rates are due to prejudice and discrimination by the majority. Every other explanation is out of bounds.”

 

Any fool can see that Los Angeles, California or Miami, Florida are no longer American cities.  Chicago, Houston, Dallas, Chicago, New York, Atlanta, San Francisco and many other cities are not far behind.   Immigrants arrive at over four million per year, so fast and so many, that they are not assimilating into the American Dream.  However, they are creating the American Nightmare for Americans.  You would be insulted if you spoke English and you’re not welcome in immigrant enclaves of those cities. 

 

“We could make the United States an ‘Hispanic Quebec’ without much effort. The key is to celebrate diversity rather than unity.  As Benjamin Schwarz said in the ATLANTIC MONTHLY recently: “The apparent success of our own multi-ethnic and multi-cultural experiment might have been achieved not by tolerance but by hegemony.  Without the dominance that once dictated ethnocentrically and what it meant to be an American, we are left with only tolerance and pluralism to hold us together.”

 

Two weeks ago, Muslim students at San Francisco State University charged a student- run Republican voting table.  They knocked it over and threatened to blow up the place.  One Muslim woman vowed to become a bomber martyr.  They did not respect our Republican form of government where each of us is afforded our rights to free speech. Ironically, these are American Muslim student citizens.  Apparently, they didn't’t realize that this is America.  No wonder their counterparts in the Middle East only know how to cock a gun or blow themselves up!

 

Lamm added, “I would encourage all immigrants to keep their own language and culture. I would replace the melting pot metaphor with the salad bowl metaphor.  It is important to ensure that we have various cultural sub-groups living in America reinforcing their differences rather than as Americans, emphasizing their similarities.”

 

“Fourth, I would make our fastest growing demographic group the least educated. I would add a second underclass, un assimilated, undereducated and antagonistic to our population.  I would have this second underclass have a 50 percent dropout rate from high school.”

 

Last year, in Denver, Colorado, 67 percent of the potential graduating class either flunked out or dropped out.    This crisis manifests itself again this year in Denver where Tina Griego, an advocate for illegal immigration and employed by the Rocky Mountain News reported November 15, 2004, “North High School teachers estimate only half the student body of 1,400 regularly attend classes.” 

 

That school system suffers thousands of illegal alien kids who can’t speak English and arrive from functionally illiterate parents.  They can’t perform academically because their parents have no interest or background in viable educational processes.  Those kids think a remote control takes the place of homework.  A similar crisis happens from California to Georgia and from Chicago to Miami.

 

However, democracy requires four disciplines to flourish while remaining viable.  It requires an educated population that possesses a similar moral and ethical foundation while speaking the same language.  The United States, via massive immigration, is losing all four aspects.  It cannot and will not remain viable much longer with the disruption of its educational systems.  Conflicting languages bring a whole new can of worms to the crisis.

 

“My fifth point for destroying America would be to get big foundations and business to give these efforts lots of money. I would invest in ethnic identity, and I would establish the cult of ‘Victimology’. I would get all minorities to think their lack of success was the fault of the majority.  I would start a grievance industry blaming all minority failure on the majority population.”

 

While a few elites in high places make billions of dollars, they corrupt America’s rule of law and undermine the Middle Class.  If you’ll notice—Third World countries DO NOT sustain a Middle Class.  They suffer a high class and a low class.  America moves in that direction every day of this immigrant invasion.

 

“My sixth plan for America’s downfall would include dual citizenship and promote divided loyalties. I would celebrate diversity over unity.  I would stress differences rather than similarities.  Diverse people worldwide are mostly engaged in hating each other—that is, when they are not killing each other.  A diverse, peaceful or stable society is against most historical precedent.  People undervalue the unity it takes to keep a nation together.  Look at the ancient Greeks:  “The Greeks believed that they belonged to the same race; they possessed a common language and literature; and they worshipped the same gods.  All Greece took part in the Olympic games.  A common enemy Persia threatened their liberty. Yet, all these bonds were not strong enough to overcome two factors…local patriotism and geographical conditions that nurtured political divisions.  Greece fell.  In that historical reality, if we put the emphasis on the ‘pluribus’ instead of the ‘unum, we can balkanize America as surely as Kosovo.”

 

“Before we got here, Miami was nothing,” yelled a militant Cuban.

 

Today in Miami, you will be insulted if you are an American.  Point blank reality: Miami is no longer an American city. Neither is Los Angeles.  Every city in America is under assault.  Corruption reigns supreme along with growing Third World Momentum.  Mexico’s Vicente Fox dictates his wishes in our country by spreading the fraudulent Matricular Consular ID card while promoting 46 Mexican consulates in major cities.

 

Lamm continued, “Next to last, I would place all subjects off limits—make it taboo to talk about anything against the cult of ‘diversity’. I would find a word similar to ‘heretic’ in the 16th century—that stopped discussion and paralyzed thinking.  Words like ‘racist’ or ‘xenophobe’ halt discussion and debate.”

 

At every juncture today, anti-American groups like La Raza, MALDEF, LULAC, and MECHA, which are pro illegal alien Mexican groups on U.S. soil--scream ‘racism’ if anyone protests illegal migration.  You have to wonder what will happen when they gain majority populations?  Will they allow us to use the word ‘racism’ as they promote their agenda of ‘Reconquista of Aztlan’ while they break our country into pieces?  At 9.2 million Mexicans now transplanted onto U.S. soil, they are well on their way.

 

“Having made America a bilingual--bicultural country, having established multiculturalism, having the large foundations fund the doctrine of ‘Victimology’,” Lamm said. “I would next make it impossible to enforce our immigration laws. I would develop a mantra:  “That because immigration has been good for America, it must ALWAYS be good.  I would make every individual immigrant sympatric and ignore the cumulative impact of millions of them."

 

In the last minute of his speech, Governor Lamm wiped his brow.  A profound silence swept over the room.  Finally, he said, “Lastly, I would censor Victor Davis Hansen’s book “MEXIFORNIA.”  His book is dangerous.  It exposes the plan to destroy America.  If you feel America deserves to be destroyed, don’t read that book.”

 

A chilling apprehension rose like an ominous cloud above every attendee at the conference.  Every American in that room knew that everything Lamm enumerated was proceeding methodically, quietly, darkly, yet pervasively across the United States today.  Every discussion is being suppressed.  Over 100 languages rip the foundation of our educational system and national cohesiveness.  Barbaric cultures that practice female genital mutilation, terror, horse tripping, cock fighting, dog fighting and worse--grow as we celebrate ‘diversity’.   American jobs vanish into the Third World as greedy corporations create a Third World in America—take note of California and other states—to date, 20 million illegal aliens and growing, fast.

 

That could never happen here...

As children, my brothers and i would gather with the neighborhood kids, and following moms advice to "just go outside and play" we would. Typically the boys would like to play either cowboys and indians or army.  This play was usually inspired by a movie or TV show, and i usually ended up in the role of nurse, or school teacher, or some other dreary role to play out, while the boys got to be commandos. Eventually I convinced them I could be a partisan fighter, since some films depicted women in that role.

As we aged, the play stopped, but the fascination with the horrific wars of the 20th century continued, up to the current day. Events that changed the world were displayed in films and TV shows, with the bad guys always evil, USA and allies heroic. 

Despotic single party regimes came to power, and were eventually destroyed by the mighty allies, illustrating once and for all that democracy was better in every way. Never in a million years could that kind of sinister government arise in America. I remember reading a book several years ago about what if the US had not fought, but accepted German claims in WWII, and eventually settled for a a Nazis world, where even the president was a nazi, global socialism, one world governance, utopia...I threw the book in the nearby thrift store donation box half read, scoffing at the ideas put forward.

I never read the books of Ann Rand, but I did read George Orwell, and again thought it provocative literature that could never apply here, the home of the greatest democratic republic in the world.

Even when the Republican party dominated government in this country, there was a ying and yang, a civil discourse between Democrats and Republicans, as Barry Goldwater once quipped, "To disagree, one doesn't have to be disagreeable.”

Yet here we are, face to face with a government dominated by a single party, exercising its power not for the people, but in spite of the people. Our elected officials are acting as though we the people is a slogan, with no basis in our traditions, our culture, indeed the very foundation of our country and its Constitution. 

I remember learning in school that our republic, our democracy is protected by citizen soldiers. As stated in a history text :

"  In the early years after independence, the concepts of the citizen‐soldier and the standing army also became identified with the larger struggle for political power between the states and the central government. Federalist politicians, ... pressed for the establishment of a strong, standing army under the direct command of the central government. However, Anti‐Federalists claimed that such an army could be used by a national government to oppress the citizenry and argued for the continued maintenance of state‐raised and state‐commanded militias of citizen‐soldiers; their concern was that in a nation as large as the United States, the central government could become dislocated from its citizens and enforce its authority only by use of its army.

A compromise emerged in which the Constitution allows Congress “to raise and support armies” as necessary, but the Second Amendment also allows states to maintain militias."

Yet now our fellow citizens that have served their nation are under watch by their own government? Have we now fulfilled that dire fear our founders had?

Has our government become dislocated from the people?  (I would say SO)

And where is the Fourth Estate, those who wrap themselves in the First Amendment . This freedom was granted to the press, the media, so that the press would be able to inform the people, as to whether or not our government is operating in the interests of common the people.

The press has a duty to examine and investigate government officials and agencies, and to report whether they are acting in the interests of the people. The press is obligated to expose wrong doing or any actions carried out by our government, that are not in the interest of the people of the United States. The press by holding true to their constitutional obligation performs an invaluable service to the nation. The media, however, has lost sight of its purpose. It seems that they have become a part of the government, the propaganda branch, but are acting under a pretense of independence.

Its all pretty disgusting.  Like I said, i never thought this could happen here...