Sunday, July 31, 2011

Today in American History

 1971:  The Apollo 15 astronauts take a drive on the moon in their land rover.

Saturday, July 30, 2011

Today in American History

And so it began

1965: Lyndon Baines Johnson signs Medicare bill, which goes into effect in 1966

Friday, July 29, 2011

Sometimes "NO" is not only good, but necessary

Just because they can do something, does not mean that they should do something.

All governments derive their authority from the "Consent of the Governed".

Therefore, I suggest that in all matters concerning those who  govern:
The answer is NO! now ask the question.

Today in American History

1975: Gerald Ford became 1st U.S. President to visit Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz

Thursday, July 28, 2011


In praise of easy targets and knee jerk reactionary politicians.

A very wise woman (my wife) says this as her mantra:

After more than 50 years of institutional, nationwide forced government education we have produced a country of followers. A Slice of lemmings being led off the cliff by politicians and political correctness.

Today in American History

1868: The 14th Amendment to the Constitution, which guarantees citizenship to all those born or naturalized in the United States, is adopted.

Wednesday, July 27, 2011

If Mothers and Fathers knew what was hunting their children, they would never let them out of the house

Natalie Holloway, Lieby Kletzy, JonBenet Ramsey, BTK and the Atlanta Chlid murders
Chicago, New York, Norway or Miami

The location is irrelevant, but the outcome is the same. Bad people are out there and they are coming for us. Predators that live at the fringe of society see the general populous as sheep. They feed on those who take comfort in the herd mentality. If you act like food, You will get eaten!
Teach yourselves and your children to be hard targets. Learn to trust your instincts and pass that on to them. An ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure.

Unfortunately, there will always be those who do harm to others and we do not know the evil that lurks in the soul of some people; but we can prepare. If we don’t, the tragedy is not that the children die, but that they die like sheep.

Today in American History

1909: Orville Wright sets a world record for staying aloft in an airplane–one hour, 12 minutes and 40 seconds

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Scarcity of leadership in American Government

A personal prospective on the current Debt debacle:
It can be best summed up by these excerpts from a movie, The American President:

“…They (the American people) want leadership. They're so thirsty for it they'll crawl through the desert toward a mirage, and when they discover there's no water, they'll drink the sand”
Government’s response:

Please stop insulting our intelligence! We get it! You have done a poor job as stewards of this great republic. The only thing you seem to value is getting reelected.

For years “I've been operating under the assumption that the reason (Politicians devotes so much time and energy to shouting at the rain was that he simply didn't get it. Well, I was wrong. (The) problem isn't that (he) doesn't get it. (The) problem is that he can't sell it!
We have serious problems to solve, and we need serious people to solve them. And whatever your particular problem is, I promise you, (a Politician) is not the least bit interested in solving it. He is interested in two things and two things only: making you afraid of it and telling you who's to blame for it. That, ladies and gentlemen, is how you win elections"

Today in American History

1790: The U.S. passes Assumption bill making Federal Government responsible for State debts

Monday, July 25, 2011

Today in American History

1861: The Crittenden Resolution, calling for the American Civil War to be fought to preserve the Union and not for slavery, is passed by Congress.

Terrorism by the Numbers

Scientists use mathematical models to predict many things, why not apply it to terrorist activities? The fact that the DOD contacted them and is interested its viability as a predictive tool is encouraging and disappointing. It’s encouraging, because they are looking for ways to anticipate incidents, disappointing because ten years after 9/11 they still don’t have any better method of predicting these events.

OBTW, why has this fallen to the DOD; shouldn’t the CIA, FBI, NSA be handling this stuff? And if they are, why aren’t they sharing their modeling/profiling programs with each other? 

Unfortunately, I feel that the intelligence community has reverted to the pre-WTC mindset. This means they will again be reactive, not proactive.

Sunday, July 24, 2011

Side Notes

Today in American History:

1925: Scopes guilty of teaching evolution in a Tennessee High School, fined $100 and costs.

Friday, July 22, 2011

Open Season on ... Parents???

What is up with this recent spate of parenticide?
Pembroke Pines man arrested in Mothers murderSon crash plane into mothers house

Are we too touchy feely? Parents are not friends; they are, well, parents. We do our children no favor by NOT preparing them for the harsh realities of the world we live in. Our parents, their parents and the ones before them all learned the lessons necessary to cope and survive as well as how to overcome adversity. It’s not how many times you fall; it’s how many times you get up. Just one of life’s little Idioms & Axioms that everyone from my generation heard a million (how many times have I told you not to exaggerate) times growing up.

I spent many of my formative years playing sports. I learned many lessons and it built character, confidence and pride in accomplishments. I needed to experience losses to learn and appreciate winning. It taught me to “tough it out”, even if there was no hope of winning. You play the full 60 minutes, rain or shine; win or lose. One of the primary lessons I learned was that losing is no fun. Therefore I had do all that I could to prepare myself to win. If that meant extra laps or more time with the Coach, so be it. A small sacrifice now could payoff big later on. Sometimes even working harder than the next guy might not get the desired result, but you were better off for trying.

Now days it seems that the “everyone gets a trophy” crowd folds their tent at the first sign of adversity. What happened to “it’s the journey not the destination”? The struggle to overcome adversity “that which does not kill me makes me stronger” is far more satisfying than instant gratification. Parents need to teach their children to handle losses at an early age. When kids don’t have things go their way, they react impulsively and irrationally without regard to the consequences of their actions. They are kids; that’s how they are supposed to react. Parents can help them deal with the frustration and learn how to properly channel it into productive and acceptable behavior; a trait that will serve them well for the rest of their lives.

If you look at the three links above you may see that they all have at least one thing in common. The actions of the child were irrational, impulsive; disproportional to the perceived injustice and showed very little regard to the consequences of those actions. In short, like an infant’s temper tantrum gone awry.

Thursday, July 21, 2011

Say what you mean and mean what you say

In an age of PC think & speech, the unfettered truth shines like a beacon of hope illuminating our path out of the darkness.

Quote of the Day

"The recidivism rate of a room temperature violent criminal with a sucking chest wound is 0%."

Can this guy turn a phrase or what?

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

The fine art of saying nothing in 30 seconds

I am getting tired of the ridiculous claims made on TV, radio and the Internet. It appears that they aren’t even trying to hide the exaggerations (lies) anymore.

Some examples are: Weight loss “I’ve lost 110lbs and you can too” the disclaimer at the bottom of the screen is so small (even on my big screen TV) that it cannot be read. Automotive: This “widget” can increase gas mileage by up to 20%, your mileage may vary. The list goes on and on.

The straw that broke the camels back for me is that it is now a common practice in regular journalism. Yesterday, while waiting in the Barber shop, I read an article in Men’s Journal. It claimed that 50% of the people reading this article could get up “right off the couch” and run a sprint triathlon, the rest could do it in just eight weeks by following this training schedule. Really…Really? That means that they believe that 100% of the people who read the article could complete a sprint triathlon. INCONCEIVABLE!

When someone uses numbers that are unsubstantiated and/or worse un-provable, it undermines their credibility and calls into question their motives. I think that all numeric claims should be based on a minimum guarantee. I.e. this will increase your (wherever) by at least X; rather than the current “up to” method of beautiful stuff. Keep in mind; if it may work “up to” X better, than it can also be zero percent effective, or worse. Do you really want to be sold aspirin for cancer? (Old man’s speak for something that is totally ineffective).

Unfortunately, my BS meter is overwhelmed these days. It has caused me to dismiss information at the first whiff of an odoriferous offering and diminishes the viability any further offerings. These days it is so unusual to hear someone speak the truth; and not some PC watered down version of the truth. It is like a breath of fresh air, not the kind you get in Gary Indiana, but real fresh air like in New Jersey or something.

Anyway, just to bring it all back on point:
By just reading this, you may have increased your chances of winning the lottery by up to 100%.
I hope you sleep better knowing that, I know I will.

I’m a giver, what can I say. ;-)

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Influencing Democracy around the Globe

Vital to American interests:
Regime change along the border or how Obama brightens the World’s view of the U.S.

Monday, July 18, 2011

Water, water everywhere, and not a drop to drink...

Another example of just how tenuous our link to civilization is...

Major City boil water order in effect until at least Monday

Sunrise water supply has e coli

Accidental or intentional contamination of the water supply cannot and should not be this easy.

Proper planning prevents poor performance. Standard hurricane or storm preperation will easily get you through this type of situation. Be prepared before the SHTF.

OBTW: the specific instructions for handling water during this event is:

"bring water to a rolling boil for at least 1 min before using it for drinking, cooking or washing".

Do you think any of the restaurants in the area boiled the water used wash the dishes and glasses? I believe they just ran them through the regular "washers" and crossed their fingers.

Ignorance is not bliss

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Still seems like the fox guarding the hen house

I feel that they will get to the bottom of this mess; but once there, what will happen or will anyone still care.

Fast & Furious

Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Consequences of Fast and Furious

Took my eye off the ball to attend a family function this past week and look what they snuck through...

Four States to be forced into Increased Reporting

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

Hurricane Prep 101 SODIS Water

Water can be disinfected and in this way made drinkable using the rays of the sun. "Solar water disinfection" - SODIS for short - thus offers a solution for preventing diarrhea, one of the most common causes of death among people in developing countries.

Clean drinking water in 6 hours

The SODIS method is ideal for treating water for drinking in developing countries. All it requires is sunlight and PET bottles. How does it work? Clear PET bottles are filled with the water and set out in the sun for 6 hours. The UV-A rays in sunlight kill germs such as viruses, bacteria and parasites (giardia and cryptosporidium). The method also works when air and water temperatures are low.

People can use the SODIS method to treat their drinking water themselves. The method is very simple and its application is safe. It is particularly suitable for treating relatively small quantities of drinking water.


Many scientific studies confirmed the effectiveness of the SODIS method. It kills germs in water very efficiently. The method has even been shown to improve the health of the population. Research into training strategies gave insight about which communication methods are most suitable. It has also been proven that the use of PET bottles in the SODIS method is harmless.

International recognition

The World Health Organization (WHO), UNICEF, and the Red Cross therefore recommend the SODIS method as a way to treat drinking water in developing countries.

Tuesday, July 5, 2011

Back from the holiday weekend and it’s time for a little prospective.

After watching the events of the past several months the following has come into very specific relief:

I believe The Second Amendment makes all the other Amendments possible.

The most recent example of this is comes from no less likely source than the “Arab Spring”. Access to guns, by the general population, is the only thing that prevented the Ruling Governments from crushing these uprisings. Again, Libya is where armed rebels are fighting the official government. In Egypt, the decision of the military to not engage the crowds reduced the need for armed conflict; however the residents still needed to protect themselves when the “Police” could not or would not do their job.  In Syria where the rebellion is being effectively crushed, private gun ownership is below 4% as compared to Libya at over 15%.  

This seems to point to a fact: A man with a gun is a citizen. A man without a gun is a subject.

I’m just saying…

Monday, July 4, 2011

Happy 4th of July!!!

IN CONGRESS, July 4, 1776.

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,



For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences




Friday, July 1, 2011

Sad but true

Americans aren't stupid?

This is painful to watch. Freedom and Democracy requires an informed and engaged citizenry to flourish.

I learned early on that an "education is something that can never be held against you".  These people are not stupid, merely ignorant of the basic knowledge concerning the physical world they occupy. The sad part that is that even when these glaring deficiencies are exposed, none of them will take up the challenge to improve themselves and by extension others.

This wasn't a funny snapshot of "Americans on the street", it was a sad commentary on how far we have fallen.

If knowledge is power, then we are  very weak indeed.