The Violence Worker!

We have Gone Too Far!

A few weeks ago, my oldest son and I were having a discussion about airline security and I kind of half argued that it was good that we are more vigilant.  Well, I was wrong.  This whole TSA thing has just plain gotten out of hand.

We all want to travel safely.  When we get on an airplane, we want to be reasonably assured that when we take off from the airport, we will land safely at our destination with nothing more distressing than a case of jet lag.  That means we hope the crew is competent, the aircraft is well maintained and the weather doesn't interfere.  Also in there is the hope that some jihadist with a bomb or a weapon isn't also on the passenger manifest. 

My job requires that I travel from time to time.  Had I not injured my right index finger a couple of months ago, I would be in Alaska right now.  I've put up with the metal detectors, bag screening and the inherent lines it all causes and I have to say that adding one more element that will provide absolutely no real addition to secure travel is enough. 

There is real concern about radiation by frequent travelers and air crew members.  If you don't like the radiaton, you can opt out to be patted down by someone whom you don't know who will run his or her hands all over your body including your private areas.  They will do this even with small children!

We need to rethink this process.  We need to figure out a better way.  It's telling that the Administration could not or would not hear us when it came to the elctions of 2012.  We are starting to raise our voices again and the administration is covering their ears again.

Instead of three year olds and grandmas in wheelchairs, we should take a long tough look at who really has hijacked airplanes over the years.  I know, it's profiling and that is supposed to be racist...or something.  Common sense should prevail.  This shotgun approach to security does not make us safer and it takes up way too much time and money.

I'm no security expert, but there seems like there should be a better way to provide a reasonable amount of security without compromising our privacy and our dignity.

VW

Is It Over?

One of the first things that pop up when the subject of health care is where the is the money coming from.  With trillions already spent, there is no extra money.  None. As a matter of fact, I read a rather doom and gloom scenario that is quite sobering.  The author by the name of Pete Morin ( I don't know much about him) wrote an article in the American Thinker titled, "Is The US Government Bankrupt?"

Mr. Morin lays out his case and presents a pretty scary scenario.

First he points out that our debt is actually much higher then the few trillion we normally see mentioned.  Many times higher.  It's called "unfunded mandates" and we are on the hook for over 100 Trillion dollars.  Yes, You read that correctly.  It's $100,000,000,000,000.  That's what we are obligated for future Social Security, pensions and Medicare.  If something isn't done by 2050, Medicare and Social Security will consume our entire budget.

It's time for Americans to realize that the good times have stopped rolling. There may be no return to a robust economy. Our future can take only one of two possible paths; either we accept our unsustainable debt and reduce government spending and taxation accordingly with a structured refinancing of the Federal debt, or face the prospect of a chaotic bankruptcy with a massive collapse of the dollar on the world market followed by a severely reduced standard of living. If it's any indication of the way government has approached past difficulties, I'm betting on the chaotic. Stagflation on a large scale may well make the 1970's look like high times. Job losses that will occur may well make the 1930's look like a picnic.

This brings us to the question of healthcare. Why would anyone with a sound mind want to entrust a bloated, fiscally irresponsible government with the job of restructuring 17% of our economy? The Feds have proven, time and again, that trusting them to run a program based on sound fiscal policy is nearly impossible.

There is no accountability.  We are borrowing money from the Chinese and even ourselves.

"If they keep printing money to buy bonds it will lead to inflation, and after a year or two the dollar will fall hard. Most of our foreign reserves are in US bonds and this is very difficult to change, so we will diversify incremental reserves into euros, yen, and other currencies," [Cheng Siwei, former vice-chairman of the Standing Committee and now head of China's green energy drive] said.

That's right, with money we print, or most likely with a few key strokes across a spreadsheet somewhere, we've bought the bonds.  No need to spend money we don't have onink and paper, ya know.

It's not just the Democrats who've put us here.  It's every self-serving career politician and their sycophantic special interest groups.  The only special interest group left out of all this is me and you

The cure is an austerity no politician is willing to prescribe.  They are gutless, the lot of them.  If we go bust, it's going to be a very long winter -- if we survive it intact as a nation.

VW

Lech Walesa Thanks Ronald Reagan

 Obama is dithering over the events in Iran, afraid to support the protesters too much in case they fail.  His reasoning, I guess,  is that the Iranian Mullahs will hate us if he shows any kind of solidarity with the protesters..  The truth is that they will hate us anyway.

In the 1980s, another President sat in the White House and he was not afraid to act and sided early on with the independent Polish tade Union, "Solidarity".  From it's start in 1981 untill 1989 when the Communists were finally overthrown, Reagan supported the struggle for freedom in Poland.  In a radio address given on October 9th of 1982,  Ronald Reagan said this:

I am, therefore, today directing steps to bring about the suspension of Poland's most-favored-nation-tariff status as quickly as possible. This will increase the tariffs on Polish manufactured goods exported to the United States and thus reduce the quantities of these goods which have been imported in the past.

The Polish regime should understand that we're prepared to take further steps as a result of this further repression in Poland. We are also consulting urgently with our allies on steps we might take jointly in response to this latest outrage. While taking these steps, I want to make clear, as I have in the past, that they are not directed against the Polish people. We will continue to provide humanitarian assistance to the people of Poland, through organizations such as Catholic Relief Service and CARE, as we have since the beginning of martial law.

At the same time, I stand by my earlier offer to provide recovery assistance to help the Polish economy back on its feet, once Warsaw restores to the Polish people their human rights.

There is no equivocation, hesitation or PC diplomatic prattle in that speech.  President Reagan drew the line and said this is where we stand.

Last Friday, on in op-ed for the Wall Street Journal, Lech Walesa wrote an eloquent essay thanking president reagan for his unwavering support.

When talking about Ronald Reagan, I have to be personal. We in Poland took him so personally. Why? Because we owe him our liberty. This can't be said often enough by people who lived under oppression for half a century, until communism fell in 1989.

Poles fought for their freedom for so many years that they hold in special esteem those who backed them in their struggle. Support was the test of friendship. President Reagan was such a friend. His policy of aiding democratic movements in Central and Eastern Europe in the dark days of the Cold War meant a lot to us. We knew he believed in a few simple principles such as human rights, democracy and civil society. He was someone who was convinced that the citizen is not for the state, but vice-versa, and that freedom is an innate right.

How unlike the spineless individual who now sits in the oval office!  Obama is no statesman.  He would most likely have sided with the Polish Communists because, after all, if Walesa and his movement failed, the Polish thugs in charge might have become upset with us.

Mr. Walesa concludes:

As I say repeatedly, we owe so much to all those who supported us. Perhaps in the early years, we didn't express enough gratitude. We were so busy introducing all the necessary economic and political reforms in our reborn country. Yet President Ronald Reagan must have realized what remarkable changes he brought to Poland, and indeed the rest of the world. And I hope he felt gratified. He should have.

I'm sure he still does.  I think he knew and he still knows just how big an impact he had upon the United States, Poland and the entire world.

Please read the entire piece.  You will not be disappointed.

It's pathetic how far we've fallen from the days of the Gipper. 

VW

Goodbye Pontiac

Say it isn't so!  GM may be planning to shut down Pontiac Motors according to CNNMoney.

I grew up in Pontiac.  I remember that old engine foundry off of Montcalm Ave. coating everything within a mile with a fine brown dust.  When it came time for shift change, we never called it "rush hour", it was always called "factory traffic" and we would time our errands around it.

I remember when Pontiac GTOs were THE muscle car and  Firebirds were even better looking then its Chevy Camaro siblings.

When I was a kid, I thought it was pretty special that a car brand was named after our town.  It was unique.  Chevys and Buicks were made in Flint, Caddys were made in Detroit and Olds were made in Lansing, but Pontiacs were made in Pontiac.  Or at least they used to be.  None are made there today.

It is indeed the end of an era.

VW

Highway To Hell

The Financial Times is reporting that China's Central Bank is calling for a "reserve currency".  It would be a currency not from an individual country, but one managed by the International Monetary Fund or IMF.

In an essay posted on the People’s Bank of China’s website, Zhou Xiaochuan, the central bank’s governor, said the goal would be to create a reserve currency “that is disconnected from individual nations and is able to remain stable in the long run, thus removing the inherent deficiencies caused by using credit-based national currencies”.

Oddly enough, this is a Keynesian concept and the ironic thing about this idea is that it's Obama's Keynesian economics that is causing the Chinese to explore this idea. 

Analysts said the proposal was an indication of Beijing’s fears that actions being taken to save the domestic US economy would have a negative impact on China.

“This is a clear sign that China, as the largest holder of US dollar financial assets, is concerned about the potential inflationary risk of the US Federal Reserve printing money,” said Qu Hongbin, chief China economist for HSBC.

This should scare the blue-living hell out of you.  If this doesn't worry you, then you are either completely devoid of any common sense, or your transportation to and from school was primarily the short bus.  I have a 15-year-old Autistic son and I can tell you, he has little understanding of money.  He doesn't get it it.

If the economic forecast goes as the Congressional Budget Office is now predicting, we are in some serious trouble.  The debt we are incurring is unsustainable.

The new Congressional Budget Office figures offered a far more dire outlook for Obama's budget than the new administration predicted just last month -- a deficit $2.3 trillion worse. It's a prospect even the president's own budget director called unsustainable.

What that means is that we are on the road to bankruptcy as a nation.    We will no longer be the preeminent power in the world.  We may not even be a power and worst case scenario is that the United States of America may very well cease to exist as we know it.  For certain, our currency will become worthless; requiring trillions of dollars just to buy a loaf of bread - if you can find one.  It's a superhighway to chaos.

This may please some of you more rabid anti-American types, but trust me, you aren't going to want to live in a world without a strong and stable United States.  If there is any post-apocalyptic books to be written about America's last days, Obama's name will be like a curse word.

Change we are getting, it's the hope part that seems to be severely lacking.

VW

Of Course They Cheer: Money Will Flow Like Water

Scientists cheer Obama’s stem cell reversal

Scientists are cheering President Barack Obama’s lifting of federal funding restrictions on embryonic stem cell research, hopeful the move will open the financial floodgates to speed new treatments.

“It’s wonderful. We are elated,” said Jan Nolta, who directs the stem cell research program at the University of California at Davis. “Now that we can use the federal funds, it will just go so much more quickly.”

Directors of university programs in stem cell research said that money would mean more jobs at labs, especially for students just starting their careers. Researchers and biotech entrepreneurs also expect more work.

If Embryonic Stem Cell research is so promising, don’t you think private enterprises (pharmaceutical companies) would already be funding its research to the max? What about foreign governments that fund everything like Germany or France, wouldn’t they be light years ahead in research and cures? To listen to people talk on TV, you would think that if this had been funded by the government for the past 5 years, most diseases would have been cured. Think of this, did the government fund research that discovered of Viagra?

There is no law against the research or nothing to stop it. If it was so promising, why isn’t research already going ahead full steam in the private sector? In over 23 years of research with embryonic-stem-cells not one single cure has been obtained.

Just say that the government funds the research and some cures are found. Since the taxpayers of the United States funded the research, will they get free access to these cures? If not free, how about very reduced costs, like a couple cents on the dollar? I think we all know better.

The bottom line is: it’s a cash cow. There are millions to be made in this research, all at taxpayers expense. With government funding there are no checks and balances, no one to answer to on how the money is spent. When private industry does research, there’s a Board of Directors and Stockholders to answer to…every penny is accounted for. The sad thing is many good people have been duped into believing that this research will provide the necessary cures for their loved ones.

Umbilical cord and adult stem cell transplants have been around for quite some time. My former wife had a bone marrow transplant which is a stem cell transplant. Unfortunately, due to other complications, she did not survive. Stem cells research is nothing new but the killing of unborn children for this research is.

ELOI Alert: File this under "YGTBSM"

Teacher placed on leave for questionable Facebook posting

http://www.wkowtv.com/Global/story.asp?S=9781795&nav=menu1362_10 

You know what?  Present-day parents, and especially modern teachers and media types never cease to amaze me with just their....Eloi-like outlook on things.  The fact that people, anywhere, are "surprised" by acts of violence, with that stupid, vacant puppy-dog look that says "What is this 'violence' of which you speak?" God Almighty! (this little bit was not inspired so much by the story  itself, but by the station editor's blog entry and the perspective of some of the parents).  I call people like this the "first to be eaten" when XYZ disaster  (Posleen, Zombies, whatever) happens, because that's what their mentality has made them perfect for.

Lt Col Dave Grossman wrote a book recently called "On Killing" and he's also one of the guys behind the "Sheep, Sheepdogs and Wolves" meme that runs around the net.  I've bought his book but haven't started reading it yet, but I think I already disagree with his fundamental thesis - I think EVERY human being walking the planet, or the vast majority at least, has it in them to kill, or commit serious acts of violence given the right motivation and set of circumstances.  Even the Eloi-parents mentioned in the story, I'm willing to bet, would go to ANY lengths necessary to protect the lives of their kids, and I'm willing to be the moms would be willing to commit acts 10 X WORSE than anything the dads could come up with, if push came to shove.

Now if you want to argue that the photo, with the teacher sighting up the camera, is a little over the top, I think that's just arguing semantics, something else that the three groups I mentioned in the intro seem really good at.

Here’s something else: I see this story as somewhat similar to this one.

And here’s the worst part.  This will NOT change unless people like the woman in the original story, or Carol Thatcher in the second one, FIGHT BACK.  As long as they keep taking the easy way out – the “it’s not worth it” approach to fighting back, it’s going to get worse, and worse.

I’ve had it with the damn Eloi running the show.  It’s why I mean it, if I ever have children of my own, I’m homeschooling them, or at least sending them to a private school, Catholic or otherwise, that ain’t “ate up” like this.

Jeez Louise on a Sunday.

And if I seem disrespectful towards parents or what have you, bite me.  Any parent who teaches their child to be a drone, not even capable of defending themself or naive enough to think they can kumbaya their way out of every situation is a failure.  Teachers who do the same are grossly negligent in my book too.

Satire? Yeah right....

Thanks Instapunk.

THE AMERICANS WITH NO ABILITIES ACT

Washington, DC - Congress is considering sweeping legislation that will provide new benefits for many Americans.

The Americans With No Abilities Act (AWNAA) is being hailed as a major legislative goal by advocates of the millions of Americans who lack any real ambition or skills...

'Roughly 50 percent of Americans do not possess the competence and drive necessary to carve out a meaningful role for themselves in society,' said California Senator Barbara Boxer.

'We can no longer stand by and allow People of Inability to be ridiculed and passed over. With this legislation, employers will no longer be able to grant special favors to a small group of workers, simply because they have some idea of what they are doing.'

In a Capitol Hill press conference, House Majority Leader Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid pointed to the success of the Transportation Security Administration, which has a long-standing policy of providing opportunity without regard to performance. 

Approximately 74 percent of postal employees lack any job skills, making this agency the single largest U. S. employer of Persons of Inability. Private-sector industries with good records of non-discrimination against the Inept include retail sales (72%), the airline industry (68%), and home improvement 'warehouse' stores (65%).

At the state government level, the Department of Motor Vehicles also has an excellent record of hiring Persons of Inability (63%).

Under the Americans With No Abilities Act, more than 25 million 'middle man' positions will be created, with important-sounding titles but little real responsibility, thus providing an illusory sense of purpose and performance.

Mandatory non-performance-based raises and promotions will be given so as to guarantee upward mobility for even the most unremarkable employees.

The legislation provides substantial tax breaks to corporations that promote a significant number of Persons of Inability into middle-management positions, and gives a tax credit to small and medium-sized businesses that agree to hire one clueless worker for every two talented hires.

Finally, the AWNAA contains tough new measures to make it more difficult to discriminate against the Non-abled, banning, for example, discriminatory interview questions such as, 'Do you have any skills or experience that relate to this job?'

'As a Non-abled person, I can't be expected to keep up with people who have something going for them,' said Mary Lou Gertz, who lost her position as a lug-nut twister at the GM plant in Flint, Michigan, due to her inability to remember righty tighty, lefty loosey. 'This new law should be real good for people like me,' Gertz added. 

With the passage of this bill, Gertz and millions of other untalented citizens will finally see a light at the end of the tunnel.

Said Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL): 'As a Senator with no abilities, I believe the same privileges that elected officials enjoy ought to be extended to every American with no abilities. It is our duty as lawmakers to provide each and every American citizen,   regardless of his or her adequacy, with some sort of space to take up in this great nation and a good salary for doing so.'

Jet Engines Suck

Last January 19th, US Airways pilot Chesley B. Sullenburger III set a loaded Airbus A320 down on the Hudson River in New York City and because of his training, skills, and a remarkable ability to remain calm long after most ordinary humans would have been shrieking an utter panic.  No one died.  The most serious injury was a crewmemeber who suffered broken legs,  Most everybody else walked away either unscathed or with a few minor cuts and bruises, but they walked away. Apparently that wasn't enough for some.  Apparently, surviving a landing that by all rights should have been their breathing moments wasn't enough for a few of the passengers.  They want to sue US Airways.

Many US Airways (LCC) passengers who endured a crash landing in the Hudson River 12 days ago say they appreciate the $5,000 that the airline has offered — but some say it's not enough.

Joe Hart, a salesman from Charlotte who suffered a bloody nose and bruises, says he "would like to be made whole for the incident."

It's too soon after the accident to determine what emotional distress he has suffered, he says.

He got a bloody nose and a few bruises and now he wants to be made whole.  SCREW YOU MR. HART!  You should be down on your knees thanking anyone and anything you deem holy that you are in one piece and not in pieces.  Joe Hart is a greedy little slithering snake.  That five grand was probably way more than what he lost. 

I'm thinking they need to get Mr. Hart, take him back to that river.  Take him out to the spot where the plane stopped and ask him how much money he thinks would make him whole.  Whatever figure he names, US Airways should double it and write him a check on the spot.  They then should tape it to a brick and drop it in the river while asking him how much money his life is worth because if he wants that check, he'll have to make a choice.

I can understand that such a traumatic event would be difficult to get over.  In fact, if it were me, I'd have needed a new pair a britches when they rescued me.  Mine would have been heavily "soiled".  However traumatic it might have been, the fact remains that no one got even seriously hurt.

I'm not a sleazebag, ambulance chasing lawyer so I find it hard to understand how any judge could allow such a suit to even be emntertained without disbarring said sleazebag for filing such an idiotic suit..

Jet engines suck.  They take air, suck it in, compress it, mix it with some fuel, ignite it and the resultant explosion then creates the necessary thrust fo launch the airplane.  It works best if it only sucks in air, but because they create a huge suck, it's kind of like a vacuum cleaner and anything in its path will find it's way into the intake.  It isn't anyone's fault an errant gaggle of geese decided to fly in front of that airplane and interrupt the suck.

These people wanting to sue should be put on a no fly list.  Not because they might be a security threat, but because they are just too stupid to be out unsupervised.

VW

Life Goes On

Last night in the Tacoma Dome, they had one of those Monster Truck events where trucks with wheels big enough to roll over small buildings run around and smash piles of junk cars and buses.  It's not my cup of tea, but lots of people love that kind of thing and pay good money to see these events every time they roll into town.

Unfortunately, a six-year-old-boy was killed by some flying debris from one of the trucks.  It was a freak accident and one that I'm sure no one could have predicted.  Below is a video that supposedly shows the parts fly off:

I couldn't see it, but maybe you can see it when you watch the video.

If you read through some of the comments on this story from KOMO-TV, there are a few people who are upset over the fact that the show, scheduled for the next two nights, is going to continue.  They are also upset that the show continued even after the boy was hit.  One or two even suggest that shows like this not be allowed because they are "violent". 

Some are also upset that the Dome and the presenter didn't say the right words.  I don't know what I'd say, but you can bet it wouldn't be without the advice of a lawyer.

I don't mean to sound mercenary.  It was tragic and it was devastating to the kid's family.  It was a terrible accident, but it was just that, an accident.  And you know that the truck driver, the owner of the truck, the promotion company and the City of Tacoma (owners of the Dome) will shortly be handed a huge lawsuit.  If it was one of my kids, I'd be pretty upset, but I would think long and hard before I sued.  I think its wrong to sue people over something that so completely accidental.

As much of a tragedy as this is, the world cannot stop because of one tragic accident.

Life goes on.

VW