Where Art Thou Now????

In light of our nation's current divisions, and in honor of Thomas Paine's birthday on Jan. 29, let us revisit the great man's extraordinary rhetoric. "These are the times that try men's souls," Paine famously wrote. "The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman."


Those words are from the first of more than a dozen articles in Paine's "Crisis" series, published between 1776 and 1783, each addressing the American Revolution's changing tide.

When that first one was published in December 1776, America was at war, its existence was on the line, and yet the vision of a united republic was beginning to fade.

Heh...Heh...Heh....

In Russia...



The would-be suicide bomber was planning to detonate a suicide belt bomb near Red Square, a plan that was foiled when her wireless carrier sent her an SMS while she was still at a safe house, setting off the bomb and killing her. The message reportedly wished her a Happy New Years,...


Oops is right.

From our FRIENDS in the California 4th Court of Appeals...

We granted review in this case to decide whether the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution permits law enforcement officers, approximately 90 minutes after lawfully arresting a suspect and transporting him to a detention facility, to conduct a warrantless search of the text message folder of a cell phone they take from his person after the arrest.

We hold that, under the United States Supreme Court's binding precedent, such a search is valid as being incident to a lawful custodial arrest.

We affirm the Court of Appeal's judgment.

Deeper and deeper in to the quagmire we fall.....

Sacrifice?????

Seems we're all giving up a piece of our pie (remember this quote?) so that Michelle Obama can say, "Let them eat cake" while she and her husband dine on, well...things like this while on vacation in Hawaii:


* A trio of appetizers: Wong's seafood cake, a tomato with li hing mui dressing and Wong's famous "soup and sandwich," a two-color Big Island tomato soup and foie gras grilled cheese sandwich.


* Lobster lasagna


* Ginger-crusted onaga


* The President's favorite entree, soy-braised shortribs.


* And his favorite dessert, "The Coconut," coconut ice cream covered with dark chocolate, in a shape that looks exactly like half a coconut, served with a colorful array of tropical fruits.

WE NEED ANOTHER AMERICAN REVOLUTION...NOW!!!

What is needed is a 21st Century version of the 1932 Bonus Marchers, to include vets returning from Iraq/Afghanistan who cannot find jobs as well as unemployed civilians. Probably 99% of Americans have never heard of this incident!

Our country, our freedoms, our future has been sold to the highest bidders on Wall Street and in China. We are no longer governed by statesmen or even politicians but elected corporate handlers.

We have run out of time as a country and a people, to reclaim our country, our freedoms and our future. Brute force seems to be the only way because elections are meaningless when both parties represent the same thing: serfdom! Letters and emails to our corporate handlers result in form letter responses. They are out of touch with working Americans but not with the perks and bribes associated with their offices.

Police, at all times, should maintain a relationship with the public that gives reality to the historic tradition that the police are the public and the public are the police; the police being only members of the public who are paid to give full-time attention to duties which are incumbent upon every citizen in the interests of community welfare and existence.

All I can say is....

I WANT !!!!

Paranoia Strikes Deep

Alan, over at SnarkyBytes, points out a link to a report on an internal TSA memo that paints anyone who protests the new security procedures as a domestic extremist. The label is applied to "any person, group or alternative media source that actively objects to, causes others to object to, supports and/or elicits support for anyone who engages in such travel disruptions at U.S. airports in response to the enhanced security procedures."

The 1st Amendment to the U.S. Constitution recognizes my natural (or God given) right to free speech. One of the most protected areas of speech, according to numerous Supreme Court rulings, is political speech. Airing issues in the public arena is was a normal part of the public discourse in America.

In this brave new world, objecting to the loss of your rights ensures that your name will end up on a Homeland Security watch list.

Be careful what you think, be even more careful what you say.

If the freedom of speech is taken away then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter.


--George Washington

WikiLeaks is Now A Terrorist Organization...

I've been critical of WikiLeaks in the past for several reasons, from the fact that they are pursuing a clear political agenda designed to harm the United States to the highly inflammatory language and distorted context of some of the illicitly garnered information under their control.

I've also been quite clear that I consider Bradley Manning one of worse traitor's in American history (easily the worst in terms of volume) who deserves nothing less than the death penalty for passing along classified information during wartime.

I've been a bit more forgiving of Julian Assange, the glory-hounding promoter and leader of Wikileaks, and of Americans invovled with Wikileaks, but now that I've read of their "Doomsday device" containing unredacted information that assuredly will put lives in danger, I view the group—and individuals in possession of the file who intend to release it—as nothing more or less than information terrorists, and urge that our military, intelligence, and law enforcement assets treat them as such.

At over 1.4GB of information, the NSA and other federal agencies should have no problem identifying and tracking who has downloaded the file, the release of which constitutes a clear and present danger to the United States. All overt official and covert extrajudicial remedies should be authorized by the President to reacquire control over this information.

This is classified information that enemies of our nation are threatening to use against us during wartime, risking the lives of our soldiers and operatives worldwide. They should be hunted with the same vigor as al Qaeda, and offered the same mercies if they resist.

Is This a GREAT Country, or What?

As BigGovernment.com reports, the only "proof" required was a form stating that the claimant had "attempted" to farm, perhaps planting tomatoes in the back yard, and to have a family member vouch for that assertion.

The government would then send the aggrieved "farmer" a check for $50,000.

The bill is headed to President Obama's desk for his signature Wednesday or Thursday.

It was then-Sen. Obama who introduced the original Pigford legislation in 2007.

My Family????

This "homeland" crap that suddenly started up in the last couple years pisses me off.

It reeks of the "fatherland" and "motherland" propaganda shit our enemies used throughout the 20th century.

The Nazi regime was "father" to the German people. The Soviet regime was "mother" to the Russian people.


This guy is our uncle and that's as close as I want the pervert.

I don't need the government to be my big brother, my parent, my nanny, or my caretaker.
It needs to maintain public services (roads, etc.), maintain foreign relations and the military, keep the states from squabbling, and stay out of my life.

The Goldberg File

Whoopi Goldberg, she of the manufactured pseudo-righteous outrage at Bill O’Reilly’s entirely factual assertion that Muslims attacked America on 9-11, appeared on the O’Reilly Factor on Fox on November 23rd. While Goldberg might be accorded some degree of acknowledgement for merely appearing on O’Reilly’s show, she revealed, in convenient capsule form, much that is wrong with the contemporary left.

Goldberg’s argument seemed to be that when O’Reilly said that America was attacked by Muslims--an incontestable fact--he was actually saying that all Muslims attacked America and that all Muslims want to attack America and that all Muslims are bad, hate adorable puppies (wait, they do hate adorable puppies)...or something like that.

She also took exception with the assertion that the Japanese attacked America at Pearl Harbor (yes, she actually did).

The RULE of 10'S

So I have been reading this week questions on how prepared people are for emergencies. Everything from a simple power outage, to a pandemic, to a full blown Zombie apocalypse. To measure my level of prep I use the Rule of 10s. Example: If you would lose power and not be able to leave the house due to quarantine. Will you be OK in:


10 minutes - computers crash, clocks blinking

10 hours - freezers begin to thaw

10 days - store shelves are empty

10 weeks - riots, looting, population migrations

10 months - organized criminal ransacking

10 seasons - starvation and ammo worth more than gold

10 years - new civilization begins to formalize

-- How ready are you?

Don't TSA Me Bro!!!!

A friend of mine sent me this about his TSA experience. He, unlike most of us, was coming back into the country from Afghanistan on a military charter.


As the Chalk Leader for my flight home from Afghanistan, I witnessed the following:

When we were on our way back from Afghanistan, we flew out of Baghram Air Field. We went through customs at BAF, full body scanners (no groping), had all of our bags searched, the whole nine yards.

Our first stop was Shannon, Ireland to refuel. After that, we had to stop at Indianapolis, Indiana to drop off about 100 folks from the Indiana National Guard. That’s where the stupid started.

First, everyone was forced to get off the plane–even though the plane wasn’t refueling again. All 330 people got off that plane, rather than let the 100 people from the ING get off. We were filed from the plane to a holding area. No vending machines, no means of escape. Only a male/female latrine.

It’s probably important to mention that we were ALL carrying weapons. Everyone was carrying an M4 Carbine (rifle) and some, like me, were also carrying an M9 pistol. Oh, and our gunners had M-240B machine guns. Of course, the weapons weren’t loaded. And we had been cleared of all ammo well before we even got to customs at Baghram, then AGAIN at customs.

The TSA personnel at the airport seriously considered making us unload all of the baggage from the SECURE cargo hold to have it reinspected. Keep in mind, this cargo had been unpacked, inspected piece by piece by U.S. Customs officials, resealed and had bomb-sniffing dogs give it a one-hour run through. After two hours of sitting in this holding area, the TSA decided not to reinspect our Cargo–just to inspect us again: Soldiers on the way home from war, who had already been inspected, reinspected and kept in a SECURE holding area for 2 hours. Ok, whatever. So we lined up to go through security AGAIN.

This is probably another good time to remind you all that all of us were carrying actual assault rifles, and some of us were also carrying pistols.

So we’re in line, going through one at a time. One of our Soldiers had his Gerber multi-tool. TSA confiscated it. Kind of ridiculous, but it gets better. A few minutes later, a guy empties his pockets and has a pair of nail clippers. Nail clippers. TSA informs the Soldier that they’re going to confiscate his nail clippers. The conversation went something like this:

TSA Guy: You can’t take those on the plane.



Soldier: What? I’ve had them since we left country.



TSA Guy: You’re not suppose to have them.



Soldier: Why?



TSA Guy: They can be used as a weapon.



Soldier: [touches butt stock of the rifle] But this actually is a weapon. And I’m allowed to take it on.



TSA Guy: Yeah but you can’t use it to take over the plane. You don’t have bullets.



Soldier: And I can take over the plane with nail clippers?



TSA Guy: [awkward silence]



Me: Dude, just give him your damn nail clippers so we can get the f**k out of here. I’ll buy you a new set.



Soldier: [hands nail clippers to TSA guy, makes it through security]

This might be a good time to remind everyone that approximately 233 people re-boarded that plane with assault rifles, pistols, and machine guns–but nothing that could have been used as a weapon.

Remember - I'm from the Goverment - I'M HERE TO HELP!

At the heart of the controversy over "body scanners" is a promise: The images of our naked bodies will never be public. U.S. Marshals in a Florida Federal courthouse saved 35,000 images on their scanner.


A Gizmodo investigation has revealed 100 of the photographs saved by the Gen 2 millimeter wave scanner from Brijot Imaging Systems, Inc., obtained by a FOIA request after it was recently revealed that U.S. Marshals operating the machine in the Orlando, Florida courthouse had improperly-perhaps illegally-saved images of the scans of public servants and private citizens.

Urinal protocol vulnerability


When a guy goes into the bathroom, which urinal does he pick? Most guys are familiar with the International Choice of Urinal Protocol. It’s discussed at length elsewhere, but the basic premise is that the first guy picks an end urinal, and every subsequent guy chooses the urinal which puts him furthest from anyone else peeing. At least one buffer urinal is required between any two guys or Awkwardness ensues.

Let’s take a look at the efficiency of this protocol at slotting everyone into acceptable urinals. For some numbers of urinals, this protocol leads to efficient placement. If there are five urinals, they fill up like this:

The first two guys take the end and the third guy takes the middle one. At this point, the urinals are jammed — no further guys can pee without Awkwardness. But it’s pretty efficient; over 50% of the urinals are used.

On the other hand, if there are seven urinals, they don’t fill up so efficiently:

There should be room for four guys to pee without Awkwardness, but because the third guy followed the protocol and chose the middle urinal, there are no options left for the fourth guy (he presumably pees in a stall or the sink).

For eight urinals, the protocol works better:

So a row of eight urinals has a better packing efficiency than a row of seven, and a row of five is better than either.


Guys: if you enter a bathroom with an awkward number of vacant urinals in a row, rather than taking one of the end ones, you can take one a third of the way down the line. This will break the awkward row into two optimal rows, turning a worst-case scenario into a best-case one. On the other hand, say you want to create awkwardness. If the bathroom has an unawkward number of urinals, you can pick one a third of the way in, transforming an optimal row into two awkward rows.

And, of course, if you want to make things really awkward, I suggest printing out this article and trying to explain it to the guy peeing next to you.

"Ladies and gentlemen, we have a president in the White House who referred to Americans who disagree with him as 'our enemies.'

Think about that.

He actually used that word.

When Ronald Reagan, George Bush, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush used the word 'enemy,' they reserved it for global terrorists and foreign dictators -- enemies of the United States. Enemies of freedom.

Enemies of our country.

Today, sadly, we have president who uses the word 'enemy' for fellow Americans -- fellow citizens. He uses it for people who disagree with his agenda of bigger government -- people speaking out for a smaller, more accountable government that respects freedom and allows small businesses to create jobs.

Mr. President, there's a word for people who have the audacity to speak up in defense of freedom, the Constitution, and the values of limited government that made our country great.

We don't call them 'enemies.'

We call them 'patriots.'"

- House Republican Leader John Boehner

Still Valid Today....