President Visits Troops

Just a quick note, there have been more US casualties in Afghanistan since Obama took office, actually this year alone, than in all of the Bush years.

Iraq & Afghanistan casualties

What's the word from the press on this murderous outrage?

yawn

I myself don't blame him. This is a tough war, and no one would have done a whole lot better, though anyone else would have made decisions quicker.

His cheer team must be pretty bummed though.

Anyhoo, I found this nifty animated gif. I don't know who did it or where it originally came from. I'll give credit when I find out.



Now, THAT is funny!

What could possibly go wrong?

Another email.
Got this one back in October 2010,so it's old news and some of the info is out of date before I even posted it here, but it's still a bit of an eye opener and kinda funny.

Let me get this straight . . . .

We're going to be "gifted" with a health care
plan we are forced to purchase and
fined if we don't,

Which purportedly covers at least
ten million more people,
without adding a single new doctor,
but provides for 16,000 new IRS agents,

written by a committee whose chairman
says he doesn't understand it,

passed by a Congress that didn't read it but
exempted themselves from it,

and signed by a President who smokes,

with funding administered by a treasury chief who
didn't pay his taxes,

for which we'll be taxed for four years before any
benefits take effect,

by a government which has
already bankrupted Social Security and Medicare,

all to be overseen by a surgeon general
who is obese,

and financed by a country that's broke!!!!!

'WHAT THE HELL COULD POSSIBLY GO WRONG?'

Around the World All the Time

One day, for no apparent reason, something dawned on me. Now this won't be considered a big deal by most, but I found it a bit of a revelation.

I'm born and raised in the U.S.A, and currently residing there. I work for a U.S. company that covers only a small area of the U.S.
I'm driving a car designed and built in Germany. The car rolls on Italian tires that could have been made in any one of several countries. All the fluids in the car are from American companies, but the source chemicals came from God knows where, though the petroleum for most of it almost certainly came from the Mideast.
I'm listening to a Spanish band singing songs with Celtic and/or British origin or influence. The music is playing on a device invented and sold by an American company but made in China.
I'm wearing a shirt made in Pakistan, but the rest of my clothes are made in various Asian countries such as Vietnam, Indonesia, China, etc.
My wristwatch is made in Japan.
My cellphone is made in Taiwan by a Taiwanese company, but the carrier is American.

So as I drive to work, the space my car occupies basically represents all the world except Eastern Europe. And who knows, perhaps some of the car's parts were made there.
Each of us is a sort of tiny capitalist United Nations.

This is not a rant about the lack of products made in America, though that is a problem. I very much like the fact that we can purchase products from around the world. It's good when everyone gets a piece of the action.

Granted, many of us are at least vaguely aware of where our stuff is made, so this is rather like I'm pointing out the sky is blue. But I never really dwelled on it before this. Never really tried to think about each individual bit & piece around me.

That's really it.

Congressional Reform Act of 2010

I don't know who wrote this, but it is fantastic and I think every US citizen should see it.

1. Term Limits.
12 years only, one of the possible options below..

A. Two Six-year Senate terms
B. Six Two-year House terms
C. One Six-year Senate term and three Two-Year House terms


2. No Tenure / No Pension.

A Congressman collects a salary while in office and receives no pay when they are out of office.


3. Congress (past, present & future) participates in Social Security.

All funds in the Congressional retirement fund move to the Social Security system immediately. All future funds flow into the Social Security system, and Congress participates with the American people.


4. Congress can purchase their own retirement plan, just as all Americans do.


5. Congress will no longer vote themselves a pay raise. Congressional pay will rise by the lower of CPI or 3%.


6. Congress loses their current health care system and participates in the same health care system as the American people.

7. Congress must equally abide by all laws they impose on the American people.


8. All contracts with past and present Congressmen are void effective 1/1/11.

The American people did not make this contract with Congressmen. Congressmen made all these contracts for themselves.


Serving in Congress is an honor, not a career. The Founding Fathers envisioned citizen legislators, serve your term(s), then go home and back to work.

What a wonderful world this could be if the reforms listed were enacted.

McChrystal - Two Interesting Messages

I have recieved two emails with very interesting takes on the Gen. McChrystal vs. The One incident, in which the General and some of his staff spoke ill of our beloved president in front of a lefty "journalist" who of course reprinted every delicious negative comment (yeah, ok, that's his "job").
Naturally, The One had to don his ass kicking testicles for a few moments and boot the General. I do not argue about this, it was the right thing for him to do.

It struck me as odd that such an intelligent person as Gen. McChrystal could be so idiotic, and his staff too!
But here is an interesting opinion on that. It makes complete sense to me. The writer suspects that McChrystal did not want to continue the idiocy in Afghanistan, and was ready to retire, so he decided to make his displeasure public.
I have a link to the article after the reprint here:

The General and the Community Organizer

by Paul R. Hollrah
June 24, 2010

Channel-surfing from ABC, CBS, NBC, and CNN through MSNBC and Fox News, the inside-the-beltway pundits had a field day trying to get inside the heads of Barack Obama, Joe Biden, General Stanley McChrystal, and McChrystal's top aides. The one thing common to all of the analyses, by the most famous and highly-paid talking heads in the Western World, was that they are all wrong… dead wrong. What is certain is that they all owe General McChrystal and his senior aides an apology for assuming that they are lame-brained numbskulls.

The facts of the McChrystal case are not in dispute. General McChrystal and his senior officers allowed a reporter for Rolling Stone Magazine, Michael Hastings, to have almost unprecedented access during an extended stay in Paris . The extended stay was due, in part, to an excess of atmospheric ash from Iceland 's Eyjafjallajokull volcano, keeping the McChrystal party grounded for days.

In an interview with CNN, Hastings reported that he had a tape recorder in his hand most of the time and that McChrystal was "very aware" that his comments would find their way into print. He said, "McChrystal and his people set no ground rules for their conversations, although they did ask that some parts of their conversations were off the record." Hastings subsequently published a lengthy profile of General McChrystal on June 22, titled, The Runaway General.

As Hastings wrote in his profile, McChrystal thought that Obama looked "uncomfortable and intimidated" by the roomful of military brass during their first meeting. Of their second meeting, an advisor to McChrystal quoted the general as saying that it was "a 10-minute photo op." He went on to say, "Obama clearly didn't know anything about (McChrystal), who he was. Here's the guy who's going to run his f_ _ _ing war, but he didn't seem very engaged. The Boss was pretty disappointed."

As General McChrystal flew from Afghanistan to Washington to face Obama in the Oval Office, the almost unanimous opinion of the talking heads was that the comments made by McChrystal and his staff were off the cuff and inadvertent. But to believe that is to totally ignore who these men are.

General McChrystal and his top officers are not simple-minded, knuckle-dragging brutes. To the contrary, they are intelligent, thoughtful, highly educated, patriots… graduates of West Point and other fine universities… who are dedicated to duty, honor, and country. To think that such men would be so careless as to speak unflatteringly of Obama, Biden, and other top administration figures, in the presence of a reporter for a notoriously left wing publication, defies logic… at the very least. To think that men who are trained to be careful and deliberate in everything they do, could do something so careless and so unguarded is simply beyond comprehension.

I would argue that McChrystal and his aides knew exactly what they were doing.

>From the day that he became the handpicked "spear carrier" for Obama's unique brand of warfare… playing at being Commander in Chief while playing to his far left constituency… McChrystal's life had been one of constant frustration. After telling Obama exactly how many troops he needed to carry out his mission, Obama dithered for months before deciding to give him just half the troops he requested. McChrystal could not have been happy about that.

The Obama team insisted on new Rules of Engagement designed to reduce collateral damage (civilian casualties). Obama's ROE required that U.S. troops must be able to see the enemy with weapon in hand before they were allowed to return fire. One videotape circulated on the Internet showed a platoon of Marines pinned down by enemy sniper fire. But since the enemy was firing from some distance behind the open window of a building, the Marines could not actually see the weapon being fired. Although they were taking deadly fire, they were prohibited by the ROE from putting small arms fire or an RPG through the window opening.

Under Obama's politically correct ROE, our soldiers and Marines were required to fight with one hand tied behind their backs. McChrystal could not have been happy about that.

A strict new interrogation policy, dictated by Attorney General Eric Holder, required that prisoners must be delivered to an Interrogation Center within twenty-four hours of being captured or be released. A great deal of actionable intelligence was lost as a result and battle-hardened enemy fighters were returned to the field to kill Americans. McChrystal must have found that to be incomprehensible.

But the greatest insult to our troops in the field, and to the officers who lead them, may be a new battlefield medal designed by the Obama team. It is called the Courageous Restraint Medal and is awarded to soldiers and Marines who demonstrate uncommon restrain in combat by not firing their weapons even when they feel threatened by the enemy. Would we be surprised to learn that the preponderance of these medals were awarded posthumously? McChrystal must have found that to be an insanity.

I suggest that, having his best military judgments subjected to the White House political sieve for nearly a year and a half, McChrystal decided that he'd had enough. And when he announced to his senior staff that he was prepared to retire they decided to push back… to make the most of a bad situation. It was clear that, if McChrystal were to simply take off his uniform and walk away, his retirement would be page-twenty news for a day or two before the mainstream media and the American people forgot all about him.

They had to make the most of his retirement because it provided a one-time opportunity to show the American people, as well as our enemies and our allies, that the man who claims the title of Commander in Chief of the U.S. military does not command the respect of our men and women in uniform. To make the most of that opportunity they had to choose their messenger very carefully.

They knew that, by openly showing their disrespect for Obama in front of just any newsman, they may not attract the attention they desired. Like any astute observer of the MSM, they knew that most reporters would turn on their own mothers if it meant a good story. But they could not take a chance that a mainstream media reporter might suffer a rare pang of conscience when confronted with the prospect of ruining the careers of some of the most senior officers in the War on Terror. They had to fix the odds as much as possible in their favor so they chose to use Michael Hastings and Rolling Stone Magazine.

During the long hours that General McChrystal was in the air between Kabul and Washington , Obama knew that he had just two choices… both bad. He could declare McChrystal to be an irreplaceable asset in the war effort, give him a public reprimand, and send him back to Kabul . Or he could fire McChrystal, sending a clear message that, at least in his own mind, he was the Commander in Chief.

In the former case, he was certain to appear weak and ineffectual… a man not totally in charge. In the latter case, he might at least win a few rave reviews from the Kool-Ade drinkers in the mainstream media. He chose the latter of the two options.

But what is now lost in all of the hand-wringing and speculation is the fact that McChrystal and his people have succeeded in doing exactly what they set out to do. They wanted to plant the seed in the minds of the American people that Obama is not up to the task of being Commander in Chief and that he does not command the respect of the men and women of the uniformed services… from the newest Private E-1 up to the top four-star generals and admirals.

That seed is now firmly planted and it cannot be unplanted.

From this day forward, no one will have to tell the American people that Stanley McChrystal is a true warrior, a man's man, and that Barack Obama is nothing more than a… community organizer. Well done, General!

Here is the original:

Paul Hollrah on Red County

Another message came to me juxtaposing unofficial resumes for the General and The One.
This is a real eye opener. I did not fact check these, and there is no mention in Snopes. Still, one does not reach the General's level of command without accomplishing just the sorts of things listed here.

General McChrystal

Commander, International Security Assistance Force/
Commander, United States Forces Afghanistan
United States Army

SOURCE OF COMMISSIONED SERVICE: USMA EDUCATIONAL DEGREES
United States Military Academy - BS - No Major
United States Naval War College - MA - National Security and Strategic Studies
Salve Regina University - MS - International Relations

MILITARY SCHOOLS ATTENDED:
Infantry Officer Basic and Advanced Courses
United States Naval Command and Staff College
Senior Service College Fellowship Harvard University

FOREIGN LANGUAGES:
Spanish

PROMOTIONS DATE OF APPOINTMENT:
2LT 2 Jun 76
1LT 2 Jun 78
CPT 1 Aug 80
MAJ 1 Jul 87
LTC 1 Sep 92
COL 1 Sep 96
BG 1 Jan 01
MG 1 May 04
LTG 16 Feb 06
GEN 11 Jun 09

FROM TO ASSIGNMENT:
Nov 76 Feb 78 Weapons Platoon Leader, C Company, 1st Battalion, 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 82d Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, North Carolina

Feb 78 Jul 78 Rifle Platoon Leader, C Company, 1st Battalion, 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 82d Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, North Carolina

Jul 78 Nov 78 Executive Officer, C Company, 1st Battalion, 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 82d Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, North Carolina

Nov 78 Apr 79 Student, Special Forces Officer Course, Special Forces School, Fort Bragg, North Carolina
Apr 79 Jun 80 Commander, Detachment A, A Company, 1st Battalion, 7th Special Forces Group (Airborne), Fort Bragg, North Carolina

Jun 80 Feb 81 Student, Infantry Officer Advanced Course, United States Army Infantry School, Fort Benning, Georgia
Feb 81 Mar 82 S2/S3 (Intelligence/Operations), United Nations Command Support Group Joint Security Area, Korea
Mar 82 Nov 82 Training Officer, Directorate of Plans and Training, A Company, Headquarters Command, Fort Stewart, Georgia

Nov 82 Sep 84 Commander, A Company, 3d Battalion, 19th Infantry, 24th Infantry Division (Mechanized), Fort Stewart, Georgia

Sep 84 Sep 85 S3 (Operations), 3d Battalion, 19th Infantry, 24th Infantry Division (Mechanized), Fort Stewart, Georgia
Sep 85 Jan 86 Liaison Officer, 3d Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment, Fort Benning, Georgia
Jan 86 May 87 Commander, A Company, 3d Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment, Fort Benning, Georgia
May 87 Apr 88 Liaison Officer, 3d Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment, Fort Benning, Georgia
Apr 88 Jun 89 S3 (Operations), 3d Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment, Fort Benning, Georgia
Jun 89 Jun 90 Student, Command and Staff Course, United States Naval War College, Newport, Rhode Island
Jun 90 Apr 93 Army Special Operations Action Officer, J3, Joint Special Operations Command, Fort Bragg, North Carolina and OPERATIONS DESERT SHIELD/STORM, Saudi Arabia

Apr 93 Nov 94 Commander, 2d Battalion, 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 82d Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, North Carolina

Nov 94 Jun 96 Commander, 2d Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment, Fort Lewis, Washington
Jun 96 Jun 97 Senior Service College Fellowship, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts

Jun 97 Aug 99 Commander, 75th Ranger Regiment, Fort Benning, Georgia
Aug 99 Jun 00 Military Fellow, Council on Foreign Relations, New York, New York
Jun 00 Jun 01 Assistant Division Commander (Operations), 82d Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, North Carolina to include duty as Commander, Combined Joint Task Force Kuwait, Camp Doha, Kuwait

Jun 01 Jul 02 Chief of Staff, XVIII Airborne Corps and Fort Bragg, Fort Bragg, North Carolina to include duty as Chief of Staff, Combined Joint Task Force180, OPERATION ENDURING

FREEDOM, Afghanistan
Jul 02 Sep 03 Vice Director for Operations, J3, The Joint Staff, Washington, DC
Sep 03 Feb 06 Commanding General, Joint Special Operations Command, Fort Bragg, North Carolina
Feb 06 Jun 08 Commander, Joint Special Operations Command/Commander, Joint Special Operations Command Forward, United States Special Operations Command, Fort Bragg, North Carolina

Aug 08 Jun 09 Director, The Joint Staff, Washington, DC
Jun 09 Present Commander, International Security Assistance Force/Commander, United States Forces Afghanistan, OPERATION ENDURING FREEDOM, Afghanistan

SUMMARY OF JOINT ASSIGNMENTS:
S2/S3 (Intelligence/Operations), United Nations Command Support Group Joint Security Area, Korea (Feb 81-Mar 82, Captain)

Army Special Operations Action Officer, J3, Joint Special Operations Command, Fort Bragg, North Carolina and OPERATIONS DESERT SHIELD/STORM, Saudi Arabia Jun 90-Apr 93 Major/Lieutenant Colonel)

Chief of Staff, XVIII Airborne Corps and Fort Bragg, Fort Bragg, North Carolina to include duty as Chief of Staff, Combined Joint Task Force180, OPERATION ENDURING FREEDOM, Afghanistan (Jun 01-Jul 02, Brigadier General)

Vice Director for Operations, J3, The Joint Staff, Washington, DC (Jul 02-Sep 03, Brigadier General)
Commanding General, Joint Special Operations Command, Fort Bragg, North Carolina (Sep 03-Feb 06, Brigadier General/Major General)

Commander, Joint Special Operations Command/Commander, Joint Special Operations
Command Forward, United States Special Operations Command, Fort Bragg, North Carolina (Feb 06-Jun 08, Major General/Lieutenant General)

Director, The Joint Staff, Washington, DC (Aug 08-Jun 09, Lieutenant General)
Commander, International Security Assistance Force/Commander, United States Forces Afghanistan, OPERATION ENDURING FREEDOM, Afghanistan (Jun 09-Present, General)

SUMMARY OF OPERATIONS ASSIGNMENTS DATE GRADE
Army Special Operations Action Officer, J3, Joint Special Operations Command, OPERATIONS DESERT SHIELD/STORM, Saudi Arabia (Jun 90-Mar 91, Major)

Commander, Combined Joint Task Force Kuwait, Camp Doha, Kuwait (Apr 01-Jun 01, Brigadier General)
Chief of Staff, Combined Joint Task Force180, OPERATION ENDURING FREEDOM, Afghanistan (May 02-Jul 02, Brigadier General)

Commander, International Security Assistance Force/Commander, United States Forces Afghanistan, OPERATION ENDURING FREEDOM, Afghanistan (Jun 09- Present, General)

US DECORATIONS AND BADGES:
Defense Distinguished Service Medal
Defense Superior Service Medal (with Oak Leaf Cluster)
Legion of Merit (with 2 Oak Leaf Clusters)
Bronze Star Medal
Defense Meritorious Service Medal
Meritorious Service Medal (with 3 Oak Leaf Clusters)
Army Commendation Medal
Army Achievement Medal
Expert Infantryman Badge
Master Parachutist Badge
Ranger Tab
Special Forces Tab
Joint Chiefs of Staff Identification Badge

_________________________________________________________________

Obama:
Birthplace: Location remains questionable. Proof of United States Citizenship hasn't been provided.
Education: Columbia University, Harvard Law School. Records never produced, attendance remains questionable.
Military Career: None
Business Career: None
Political Career: Community organizer, Chicago, 1983-86; civil rights attorney, Chicago, 1991-96;
University of Chicago, lecturer, early 1990s-2004; Illinois State Senator, 1996-2005; U.S. Senator, 2005-2008; President 2008-___________________________________________________________________

The wrong guy resigned.

Yep, just like when little Barbie Boxer degraded Gen. Michael Walsh in the Call me Senator incident, pompous, bullshit weasels gets to spank military members infinitely superior to them.

Inherited Deficit eh?

I'm really enjoying some of these emails I get. Sometimes they're a hoax, and sometimes they are incorrect, and sometimes they are right on the money.
Like this one I think.
It appears to be lifted almost directly from Hot Air.

Here it is straight from the email:

Sick of hearing "Inherited"??

The Washington Post babbled again recently about Obama inheriting a huge deficit from Bush, blah blah blah.
Amazingly enough, a lot of people swallow this nonsense. So once more, I'll try a short civics lesson.

Budgets do not come from the White House. They come from Congress, and the party that has controlled Congress since January 2007 is the DEMOCRATIC Party.

They controlled the budget process for FY 2008 and FY 2009, as well as FY 2010 and FY 2011. In that first year, they had to contend with George Bush, which caused them to compromise on spending, when Bush somewhat belatedly got tough on spending increases. For FY 2009, though, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid bypassed George Bush entirely, passing continuing resolutions to keep government running until Barack Obama could take office. At that time, they passed a massive omnibus spending bill to complete the FY 2009 budgets.

And where was Barack Obama during this time? He was a member of that very Congress that passed all of these massive spending bills, and he signed the omnibus bill as President to complete FY 2009. Let's remember what the deficits looked like during that period:



If the Democrats inherited any deficit, it was the FY 2007 deficit, the last of the Republican budgets. That deficit was the lowest in five years, and the fourth straight decline in deficit spending. After that, Democrats in Congress took control of spending, and that includes Barack Obama, who voted for the budgets. If Obama inherited anything, he inherited it from himself.

In a nutshell, what Obama is saying is I inherited a deficit that I voted for and then I voted to expand that deficit four-fold since January 20th.

WAKE UP, AMERICA , BEFORE ITS TOO LATE

Now the very first reply to the Hot Air piece disputes much of this. I leave it to you to kick over there and read it. I respond to that reply here.

I must admit, Bush and the rest of the party did stray far from proper Republican thought by not decreasing spending, and in fact increasing it. This is one of the main reasons I have so little faith in the party now.

But so few people seem to remember or even admit that, like The One, Bush inherited an economy that was on the decline. When did the Internet bubble burst? When did Bush start his presidency? Nuff said about that.

The writer points out that Bush benefited by a housing bubble, which I believe is true. In true Dem fashion however, he touts the Clinton surplus which was, in my opinion, almost entirely a result of the Internet bubble. Both presidents take credit for things that were not their doing.

This in no way changes the fact that The One helped bring about the very deficit we have now. It also in no way changes the graph. The Repubs on their worst day were less spendhappy than the Dems on their best.

When The One says he inherited a deficit from Bush, he is merely being a standard issue Democrat, as "blame Bush" is their mantra.

Muslim Stamps

Once again, I have to part ways with some of my conservative peers.

I have gotten several emails like the one here:

Muslim Stamps

Apparently they think that putting hearts and butterflies on will
make most people not realize that the rest is Arabic and probably
not something we want to support.


New Stamp - the second one!!!



This image is a larger version of the Eid Custom Postage product.
USPS New 44-Cent Stamp Celebrates a Muslim holiday.
If there is only ONE thing you forward today... let it be this!

President Obama has directed the United States Postal Service to REMEMBER and HONOR the EID MUSLIM holiday season with a new commemorative 44-Cent First Class Holiday Postage Stamp.

REMEMBER to adamantly & vocally BOYCOTT this stamp, when you are purchasing your stamps at the post office.
All you have to say is "No thank you, I do not want that Muslim Stamp on my letters!"
To use this stamp would be a slap in the face to all those AMERICANS who died at the hands of those whom this stamp honors.
REMEMBER the MUSLIM bombing of Pan Am Flight 103!

REMEMBER the MUSLIM bombing of the World Trade Center in 1993!

REMEMBER the MUSLIM bombing of the Marine Barracks in Lebanon !

REMEMBER the MUSLIM bombing of the Military Barracks in Saudi Arabia !

REMEMBER the MUSLIM bombing of the American Embassies in Africa !

REMEMBER the MUSLIM bombing of the USS COLE!

REMEMBER the MUSLIM attack on 9/11/2001 !

REMEMBER all the AMERICAN lives that were lost in those vicious MUSLIM attacks!

Pass this along to every Patriotic American that you know and get the word out!
Honor the United States of America !

For cryin' out loud, we are not having problems with ALL Muslims, just the ones that like to blow up civilians (you know as in "man made disasters," formerly known by its correct name "terrorism").
These stamps have nothing to do with terrorism.

Yes, the Koran (Quran?) does teach that all non believers must be eliminated, so yes you could say that we are at war with all of Islam and that this would be rather like having had an Obon stamp during WWII. But only a tiny fraction of Muslims adhere to this particular teaching. We don't kill our kids for disobedience as the Bible dicates either (Deuteronomy 21:18-21). Sadly, the fraction that do follow the children of peace vs children of war idiocy are the ones who wield the most power in the Islamic world, but we still must not punish or hate the entire religion for that.

The stamp celebrates a religious holiday, not terrorists or the actions of terrorists. Of course, if you are a practicing Christian or Jew, you have every right to avoid use of the stamp. But to be upset that it exists, and to try and persuade others to deny it, is to ignore this country's freedom of religion.

Now if you're ticked that our government is using religion on stamps, well yeah I can see your point. But you'll also have to be ticked at any Christian or Jewish stamps too, unless you're a stinking hypocrite.

Being a true believer in the Constitution and individual freedoms, you wouldn't want to deny religious freedom right?

Also, Obama had nothing to do with these stamps, they've been around since 2001 or so. I don't like The One even a little, but folks, let's not lie about this kind of stuff, it does no one any good.

Oops, almost forgot, see that "Zazzle" on the stamps. Here you go:

Muslim Custom Postage

Before you go all medieval on Zazzle, look up Christian Custom Postage and Jewish Custom Postage. They are there too.

Republicans Suck Too

I swear I can't stand either party.

Look at this:

Rejuvinated Conservatives

First of all, the Repubs have been overspending badly themselves, so when they talk about fiscal conservatism, I do NOT believe a word of it.
What have they been doing since the Reagan years really? They spend, spend, spend, and grow the damn government right along with the Dems. Then they get the faithful wound up over abortion, crime, gay rights, and other idiocy in order to divert attention. Sadly, this worked for quite a while, which I admit doesn't exactly show Repub voters to be very bright.
Now it has stopped working, primarily because the Obama/Pelosi/Reid triumviRAT went so overboard with crazy spending and vile socialist schemes and closed door deals that any complacent conservative woke up. The independent voters and the Tea Parties are making it clear that true conservatism is mostly about responsibility and fiscal issues. So the Repub politicians are now banging the drums of smaller government. But their hearts aren't in it.

Second, why are they coming across as so damn happy? It's good that so many people are out of work? It's good that we are sinking into a financial morass that we may never fully recover from?
Oh yeah, it's GREAT! Because the country's troubles will get Republican candidates elected and that's great for the party!
You stinking bastards.
When Dubya was president, the Dems wanted very much for the country to fail so that they could get back into power. The Repubs rightly condemned them for being so selfish and putting their party and desire for power ahead of the well being of the people they are supposedly serving. And now those Repubs are doing exactly the same thing.
So yeah, for a politician, it's a good thing that you are out of work when the opposing party is in power. It's great when you're scared and angry and the economy is tanking. Yessir, that's marvelous!

Screw you dirtbags. Each of you individually. Directly. I say that with malice and hate. A lot.
Yes I am more ticked off at the Dems than the Repubs, but not that much. At least the Dems are doing what they are known for and expected to do. You damn Repubs have been doing the exact opposite.

I have not yet switched from the Republican party to Independent, but I've finally decided to do so. I wanted to stay in the party so that at least I could vote in the primaries and hope for a good candidate to vote for. But when McCain won the primary, it became clear that I was just fooling myself.

I'm glad the Tea Party rejected the Repubs. Steele is not welcome to speak.
Yes he met with representatives of the Tea Party movement, but he didn't get much of anything out of it:

Steele and Tea Party Leaders meet
As a side note, bet you never expected me to link to the Huffington Post huh?

I've heard that the GOP took down their Tea Party web page. Never looked. Hope it's true.

Global Warming is Crap X

Back when I was a kid, a band named Uriah Heep had a song called Stealin' where part of the chorus went "I was stealin' when I shoulda been buyin'"
Well, it has nothing to do with Global Warming, OOPS I MEAN CLIMATE CHANGE (yep, change the name, like from liberal to progressive, cuz you done been found out for what you really are and you need to repackage your crap), but it goes over and over in my head when I read about the lyin' freaks I now collectively refer to as warmies.
Seems like they tried to steal our lives.
More and more, the public is finding out (despite our journalist's best efforts) and we're not buyin' their bull.

OK, lessee, we had the hackers that 'outed' the warmies' lies, and then we find SCIENTISTS, Lord in heaven SCIENTISTS, dumping data!

data dump

Let's consider them as psuedo scientists. They proved that about themselves.

The White House science czar is involved, at least a bit. Who could possibly have seen that coming:

Science Czar

But of course, the warmies are above the truth. And in fact, those bad ol' hackers are just awful criminals:

Won't harm UN

Boxer's comment

(remember that Barbie is the one who went off on a general, demanding "respect" from a person infinitely superior to her, and displaying her appalling lack of knowledge AND decorum in the process)

Gibbs flaps his yap

the Goracle speaks!

As always, the Goracle lies, again and again:

Inconvenient truth for Gore

But what do you expect of people like this. Save the world. The warmies of today are very, very much like the Jim Bakers and Jimmy Swaggarts of yore. Hypocrits and liars.

Private Jets to Copenhagen

I leave you with a funny little fox & chicken coop thing:

University probe

One Crapped Honda - Hello Mercedes

As some may know, I have a 99 Honda Accord. 4 cylinder VTEC, automatic tranny, leather.

Not an exciting car I felt, but a good solid reliable car. Hondas such as mine typically go 200,000 miles or more with little or no problems.
When it got up around 80,000 miles, I used to smile looking at the odometer because if I had an American car, I'd have had to start thinking about getting rid of it. I was so damn happy that I had finally gotten a vehicle that wouldn't start shedding parts before 6 digit mileage.
Well, I guess I have very bad karma, because at about 116,000 miles the tranny started slipping. It was the shift between first and second, no check lights, and the D light does not flash. That means it's not a simple $200 pump, but a rebuild is required.
I kept driving it and now have 120,000 miles.
Then the ignition started acting up. I start the engine, and when I let go of the key, the engine stutters and stalls. It'll stay running after about the third or fourth try.
Also, it just randomly stalls while driving. If I'm going along at road speed, it kicks back in after a couple of seconds, but if I'm going very slowly, say walking speed, it does not.
So now I need a tranny rebuild, which will run me at least $2,300 if I go to a shop many miles away. Close to home, it'll be $2500 minimum and likely more. And that's not including the ignition problem.
Then too, the shocks and brakes need replacing, so by the time it's done, I'm looking at a good $3,000 to get back to reliable running. That's if there's nothing else wrong and if the ignition problem is easy, like the switch or a loose wire or something related to the tranny.

Well, I talked it over with my wife, and we decided that before repairing the Honda, we'd see if any of our friends could lead us to a good used car instead.
One friend told us that his aunt had recently passed and his uncle was selling her 87 Mercedes 300e. I wasn't that interested as I explained to him that I couldn't afford the parts prices and that I wouldn't be able to handle the extreme complexity.
He convinced me to do some research, and I discovered that the car is old enough that I can get most any part after market and don't need to pay OEM nosebleed prices. Also, the thing is old enough that it's not very complicated and I can do much of the work on it myself!
Another problem I had with the Honda was that the trunk wasn't big enough. I carry a lot of equipment around for work quite often, and I'd have to put some of it into the back seat, thus preventing me from taking my kids anywhere. This Mercedes' trunk is so big, I can fit all my stuff in it! That's a big plus.
And the sub $3,000 price was most attractive!

So here is my humble, way lower middle class self tooling around in a Mercedes. All I can say is

I LOVE IT! I LOVE THIS CAR! THIS IS THE GREATEST CAR EVER!

I've never had a European car before, and I must say I do like the overall feel better than the Asian cars I've owned and driven. This thing has a solid, purposeful feel to it that must be experienced to be believed. It handles far better than its smooth ride would suggest. It's amazing how it just glides around fast corners so flat and with little effort. I've got the dinky 6 cylinder, but the engine does love to rev, much like the Honda's 4, though this one is much more torquey.
I am sold. I just love driving this thing, it's a joy!

Now, I will say that it's not perfect. The car only had 84,000 miles on it when I bought it a few months ago, and now there's a bit over 87,000. Still, the years got to it a bit, and I suspect the previous owner fell down on care during the last couple of years of ownership. I've already had to replace the centerlink and one tie rod (there's a story there that I will post later). The valve seals are shot, so oil consumption is high and I found out that this was common on these cars during the 80' as Mercedes used bad material. That's going to set me back about $500.
The shocks are a bit worn, there's a driveshaft coupler that needs replacing, a bad headlight connector, needs front brake rotors, and a glitch in the courtesy lights.
None of this is bad enough to prevent me from driving it though, so I can get it done bit by bit.
All in all, it would have been cheaper to fix the Honda. This was the gamble we took, fix the Honda and hope nothing else is wrong, or buy another used and hope nothing goes wrong.
Well, we're going to fix the Honda later this year anyway as our oldest daughter will be driving. So buying the Mercedes now wasn't totally the wrong thing to do.

Except that I've now completely lost interest in the Accord. All I want is another Mercedes!