Gang members in military...

The NGIC is a multi-agency operation -- federal, state and local – headed up by the FBI to bring together intelligence on gangs and gang activity.

Their latest report devotes four pages to the problem of gang members in the military and lists about 50 gangs with members with military backgrounds.

Younger gang members, who do not have arrest records, are reportedly making attempts to join the military, and also attempting to conceal any gang affiliation, including tattoos, during the recruitment process.

The report also specifically relates the 2010 cases of three former Marines arrested in Los Angeles for selling illegal assault weapons the Florencia 13 gang, and a U.S. Navy SEAL charged in Colorado with smuggling military-issued machine guns and other weapons from Iraq and Afghanistan into the U.S.

"Gang members armed with high-powered weapons and knowledge and expertise acquired from employment in law enforcement, corrections or the military may pose an increasing nationwide threat, as they employ these tactics and weapons against law enforcem4nt officials, rival gang members and civilians," the NGIC report says.

Amazing news : Obama Spoke Without Teleprompter?

Now it makes headlines when President Obama doesn't use his trademark Teleprompter.

Wrapping up his three-day bus tour of North Carolina and Virginia today, the president stopped at a Chesterfield firehouse to promote his jobs bill.

 "It is great to be at Fire Station Number 9 with some of Virginia's finest," the president said without the use of his Teleprompter.[No doubt onlookers were stunned- "hey, where's the teleprompter?]

The press pool present felt it necessary to note the lack of the speech-reading device the president prefers to use over note cards. Said the pool report: "One detail from Chesterfield firehouse event: POTUS spoke without a Teleprompter."

Occupy Wall Street - in a 1,000 countries? WTF!

Showing that the people that sit in front of the cameras at the Networks aren’t really journalists, but are merely pleasant looking readers of Teleprompters, Diane Sawyer of ABC News sonorously informed readers that the Occupy-Whatever protests have now “spread to 1,000 countries.”

Speaking of Wall Street, we thought we’d bring you up to date on those protesters, the Occupy Wall Street movement. As of tonight, it has spread to more than 250 American cities, more than a thousand countries — every continent but Antarctica.

Only there’s a small problem with that claim. There are only 195 countries currently on planet Earth.

The coverage of these disjointed, hollow, and pointless Occupy-Whatever protests have received is far more positive and extensive than the Tea Party protests ever got. This particular report is a perfect example of this bias.

While Diane Sawyer pumps up the viewers into stating that “1,000 countries” are now supporting the Occupy-Whatevers, her report goes on to indulge in class warfare meant to make anyone that doesn’t earn a million dollars hate everyone that does.

This is a perfect example of why I read a lot news sources...someone told me once if you shift thru enough shit, eventually the truth becomes apparent...

Bill Clinton comments

President Bill Clinton appeared on the Late Show with David Letterman last night and discussion of the Occupy Wall Street protests proved to be as interesting a recap as one might expect. The former president was generally very supportive of the movement, however he did not seem entirely impressed with the specific message currently coming from the protestors, summing up by saying “you need to be for something, not just against something,” before drawing comparisons to both the Tea Party and the Arab Spring.

weird...I guess not all Democratic politicians are insane...

Fall Roadtrip

For about the last 15 years, my honey and I take a week off in the fall and again in the spring to travel. This started with us looking for a place to retire to, which now seems like even more of a pipe dream than before.

We have decided we like Flagstaff Arizona, but probably won't move there. We are too addicted to the ocean...wading into the surf, walking on the beach, just falling asleep to the sound of waves(in contrast to traffic noises, sirens, etc.). So we have travelled the west coast, from southern California to the Canada border.

This trip wasn't one of searching, as much as a return to someplace we found relaxing- near Newport Oregon.  Several days there was relaxing, then down the coast to Fort Bragg CA for a couple of days, and then home.

I have to say that as pretty the Oregon coast is, nearly every time we have been there is the same weather, rain, drizzle, rain. Winter, fall, spring, even in July.

So it seems we are leaning more and more towards the northern California coast...

I got to laugh or I'd cry

Obama Hails ‘Intercontinental Railroad’… Again

By Doug Powers  •  September 23, 2011 09:47 AM

Yesterday, President Obama promoted his “jobs bill” at a bridge that might not even be eligible for jobs bill money. Andrew Malcolm at Top of the Ticket noticed something during Obama’s latest “Bridge to Bankruptcy” speech that would be much more widely reported if Michele Bachmann or Sarah Palin had said it: the Transcontinental Railroad has become the Intercontinental Railroad:

“We’re the country that built the Intercontinental Railroad,” Barack Obama.

That’s what the president of the United States flat-out said Thursday during what was supposed to be a photo op to sell his jobs plan next to an allegedly deteriorating highway bridge.

A railroad between continents? A railroad from, say, New York City all the way across the Atlantic to France? Now, THAT would be a bridge!

It’s yet another humorous gaffe by the Harvard graduate, overlooked by most media for whatever reason. Like Obama saying Abraham-Come-Lately Lincoln was the founder of the Republican Party. Or Navy corpseman. Or the Austrian language. Fifty-seven states. The president of Canada. Etc.

The “Intercontinental Railroad” gaffe might be overlooked by most of the media because they’re used to hearing it referred to that way. Back in February, Obama said the same thing. At this point it’s probably easier for Obama’s staff to try and get all the history books changed to match what their boss is saying rather than tell him he’s been getting it wrong.

Speaking of an Intercontinental Railroad, just think about how many jobs could be created by building such a thing to span continents. I know, I shouldn’t joke around like that, lest somebody in power think it’s a good idea.

I guess i just don't care anymore...

So let the complaining begin

What's the point of interacting here with anyone? Trade jokes, recipies, insults, political banter? Is that all this is good for?

I guess so. Nobody leaves comments on my guestbook, and usually not more than 3 people bother to read the postings I make which some of are actually good, even for me. But unlike a few years ago, there seems to be the constant urge to move on to something else.

Technology- we all used to have desktop computers, then laptops were hot, then netbooks, now tablets are the rage. Some people are so addicted they have them all, like me.

Desktop, multiple laptops, a netbook, and tablet...not to mention work provided blackberry...

and as the technology changes, so has the social media, from AOL Homepage, to Yahoo 360, to Multiply and its many siblings, to Facebook and Twitter.

Aging...you know you are old when you dont understand TV commercials anymore. There is a commercial for a smartphone where the guy is changing a baby's diaper and talking w a freind about a football game he didnt see, and he uses the phone to access a video of the game so he can make relevant comments, when his wife appears, and he says to the caller "I gotta bounce"...I understand that to mean "I have to leave",  I have never heard that expression used by real people in conversation though, ergo proof positive I am old...

another sign of aging, I realize I have become a story teller. When an employee comes in and talks to me, I usually have a experience based story, and proceed to tell it, quickly realizing that the glazed look on their face is an indicator they didn't really want to engage in lengthy conversation...so the other day I told them when that happens all they need to do is say they need to go back to work. Although, since the youngest employee I supervise is 49, we are not a young group, so we all sometimes drift into "I remember back in ..."

Health...lets dont go there. Too many pills, aches and pains, etc.