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Bloviating Zeppelin: August 2009

Bloviating Zeppelin

(in-ep-toc'-ra-cy) - a system of government where the least capable to lead are elected by the least capable of producing, and where the members of society least likely to sustain themselves or succeed, are rewarded with goods and services paid for by the confiscated wealth of a diminishing number of producers.

Monday, August 31, 2009

I Wouldn't Have Believed It, Had I Not Heard It:

This officer evidently has no concept whatsoever of his oath of office.



When you have government officials and portions of the police supporting illegal Unconstitutional activities, then your country is in serious jeopardy. This officer, with the above supporting visual evidence, should be taken to his Internal Affairs unit immediately, at minimum.

BZ

Sunday, August 30, 2009

Desert Island Discs

Here's your challenge:


You can only pick ten ultimate discs, of any format, when you're stranded on the proverbial Desert Island. These must be discs the likes of which you simply could not live without.

You can choose from CDs or DVDs.

Here is my Desert Island Disc list, in something of a primary order:

1. PINK FLOYD: Wish You Were Here
My all-time favourite piece of music, bar none. It's a threaded masterpiece that sounds as valuable and "modern" today as it did in 1975. An astounding linkage of sound and lyrics. I saw Pink Floyd live many times; I regret I never saw them perform this album.

2. KING CRIMSON: Lark's Tongues In Aspic
My first foray into "unlearned" music. Robert Fripp is a guitar genius, though few recognize his merits. This album featured the finest iteration of Crimso. Released in 1973, I was witness to the first ever live American presentation of Larks at the Agora Theatre, in Columbus, Ohio. This is the concert in which drummer Bill Bruford took hits of oxygen from a bottle to continue his playing.

3. YES: Tales From Topographic Oceans
Reliving the 70s, am I? That would be a clear "Yes." 1973's TFTO expanded the borders of this band like never before. Lyrics, expansive and airy, moody synths, wondrous transitions, Yes embodied all the best aspects of what became known as ProgRock or "progressive rock." The combination of Jon Anderson on vocals, Steve Howe on guitar, Rick Wakeman on keyboards, Chris Squire on bass and Alan White on drums (sorry, Bill) was unbeatable.

4. GENTLE GIANT: Free Hand
No one remembers these gents. But I do; certainly, having watched them in concert a number of times, GG managed to combine rock with blues, classical, jazz, Renaissance madrigals, a capella, and in time signatures to drive one crazy. Completely and utterly unappreciated, with amazing individual and collective musical skills. Please. Try this one album.

5. DAVE BRUBECK QUARTET: Time Out
Beyond description. Beyond music. Beyond their time. Signatures and otherwise. So far ahead of its time as to be considered played by aliens. Its prototypical piece? Take Five. Stellar. Perhaps even beyond stellar.

6. ELECTRIC LIGHT ORCHESTRA: No Answer
Released in 1971, this album features the ubiquitous Roy Wood, a continuously amazing and multi-talented artist who became outshined by his contemporary, Jeff Lynne. Jeff took the road to more popular music, whilst Wood continued as the iconoclast. Lynne achieved multiple years of success helming ELO while Wood continued to expand his personal horizons. I admire Lynne for the popularity he achieved; I admire Wood for the boundaries he pushed.

7. BLACK SABBATH: Master of Reality
It is widely credited that Tony Iommi "invented" most every heavy metal riff known to Man and God. And I would second that thought. A left-handed guitarist, Iommi lost the tips of the middle and ring finger of his right hand in a sheet metal factory accident at the age of 17. Iommi then strung his guitars with extra-light strings (using banjo strings, which were of a lighter gauge than even the lightest guitar strings of the time) and wore plastic covers over his two damaged fingers. With Bill Ward on drums, who hulked over his set, Geezer Butler on bass (and his amazingly-rapid fingerstyle vs. plectrum, such as Chris Squire's flatpick style of Yes) and the legendary John Michael (Ozzy) Osbourne on vocals, the album MOR cemented Sabbath as the bulwark of heavy metal.

8. BAND OF BROTHERS:
This DVD series originated by the Stephen Ambrose book needs to be watched by everyone who claims to be an American. We owe The Greatest Generation a debt that can, essentially, never be repaid. Imagine what those of Saving Private Ryan endured but for months and months and months.

9. GUSTAV HOLST: The Planets
Classical music that encompasses both old and new orchestrations. This surpasses the boring and the commonly-acknowledged. Incandescent.

10. CREEDENCE CLEARWATER REVIVAL: Cosmo's Factory
Released in 1970, this was my very first purchased piece of rock vinyl that I can remember, and the beginning of my incredibly extensive vinyl -- then CD -- library. I've worked for years in radio, and my vinyl collection consists of at least 2,000 albums, whilst my CD collection duplicates this collection and, by itself, stands at over 3,500 individual albums.

Here are my ten Desert Island Discs, both in CD and DVD.

What might yours be?

BZ

Saturday, August 29, 2009

Mr Obama: Controlling Your Internet

From CNet.com:


Internet companies and civil liberties groups were alarmed this spring when a U.S. Senate bill proposed handing the White House the power to disconnect private-sector computers from the Internet.

They're not much happier about a revised version that aides to Sen. Jay Rockefeller, a West Virginia Democrat, have spent months drafting behind closed doors. CNET News has obtained a copy of the 55-page draft of S.773 (excerpt), which still appears to permit the president to seize temporary control of private-sector networks during a so-called cybersecurity emergency.

The new version would allow the president to "declare a cybersecurity emergency" relating to "non-governmental" computer networks and do what's necessary to respond to the threat. Other sections of the proposal include a federal certification program for "cybersecurity professionals," and a requirement that certain computer systems and networks in the private sector be managed by people who have been awarded that license.

License? Control? UberRegierung?

It's time to start paying more attention, ladies and gentlemen of the jury.

BZ

Friday, August 28, 2009

Let's Recap: How The Demorats Want To Help You:


Here are a few of the things Demorats are doing and wish to do for you in the future:

First, Demorats believe fellow Dem "moderates" are "brain dead":

WASHINGTON (AP) - A key House liberal suggested Thursday that party moderates who've pushed for changes in health care legislation are "brain dead" and out for insurance company campaign donations.

Moderate Blue Dog Democrats "just want to cause trouble," said Rep. Pete Stark, D-Calif., who heads the health subcommittee on the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee.

Eating your own? Thanks, Demorats.

Iterations of ObamaKare are mandated to divulge extremely personal information about every American:

Section 431(a) of the bill says that the IRS must divulge taxpayer identity information, including the filing status, the modified adjusted gross income, the number of dependents, and "other information as is prescribed by" regulation. That information will be provided to the new Health Choices Commissioner and state health programs and used to determine who qualifies for "affordability credits."

No privacy? Thanks, Demorats.

You don't need an ID to vote, dead people are voting via ACORN, it's heresy to suggest Illegal Invaders provide ID to acquire entitlements, yet a Demorat demands an ID prior to being able to ask a question at a townhall meeting.

Suppressing dissension? Thanks, Demorats.

Expanding the American presence in Afghanistan without actually accomplishing anything -- and somehow managing to acquire Cindy Sheehan's ire?

Thanks, Demorats.


The real US unemployment rate is 16 percent if persons who have dropped out of the labor pool and those working less than they would like are counted, a Federal Reserve official said Wednesday.

Helping to sink the American Worker? Thanks, Demorats.

Colorado Democratic Congresswoman Betsy Markey is a first termer in a GOP-leaning district. Last night Markey told an audience that Medicare recipients would have to give up some of their benefits under ObamaKare, and lectured the rest of us that we need to get used to losing medical benefits if ObamaKare passes:

"There's going to be some people who are going to have to give up some things, honestly, for all of this to work," Markey said at a Congress on Your Corner event at CSU. "But we have to do this because we're Americans."

Sacrificing and throwing under the bus those who contributed the greatest amount of taxes, ever, in the history of this nation? Because they've committed the heinous crime of getting old? Thanks, Demorats.

And under Socialized Medicine -- such as ObamaKare proffers -- here's what you have to look forward to, America, via the UK:
One million NHS patients have been the victims of appalling care in hospitals across Britain, according to a major report released today.

In the last six years, the Patients Association claims hundreds of thousands have suffered from poor standards of nursing, often with 'neglectful, demeaning, painful and sometimes downright cruel' treatment.

The charity has disclosed a horrifying catalogue of elderly people left in pain, in soiled bed clothes, denied adequate food and drink, and suffering from repeatedly cancelled operations, missed diagnoses and dismissive staff.

I suggest you read the entire, extended article. It is lengthy.

This is your future under ObamaKare. Thanks, Demorats.

And despite having called Mr Obama, Our Hero, a racist, Glenn Beck garners record ratings on FoxNews.

Thanks, Demorats.

This is a groundswell. A fomentation. And, Demorats, you're about to be very, very surprised.

Rally now, True Conservatives. Rally now. The GOP can go to Hell. Rally now, True Conservatives.

Thanks, Demorats, for --seconds after his death -- using Teddy Kennedy's passing as a fulcrum for helping to pass ObamaKare. Despite, of course, as a Senator, Mr Kennedy had access to the finest federal healthcare imagineable in this nation. Healthcare that YOU, dear reader, will NEVER access in your finest fevered dreams.

Send $10 to defeat Demorat Harry Reid via Danny Tarkanian -- otherwise known as Ten For Tark.

Want to defeat Medicare Markey -- as noted above? Contribute to her opponent, Tom Lucero, here.

BZ

Thursday, August 27, 2009

English: A FIRST PRIORITY!

How many of your recent healthcare workers have even managed to SPEAK ENGLISH??

This is AMERICA.

You have a RIGHT to COMMUNICATE in ENGLISH.

BZ

Fiscal Awareness


And if you didn't quite understand my last post, I'll hope this is more obvious:

The Obama administration on Tuesday acknowledged that Obamanomics, the dismal science of spending other people's money as fast as possible, honed with ward bosses and union kingpins on Chicago's South Side, has failed.

They did so, not in so many words and probably without knowing it, while hammering Americans with a devastating and demoralizing one-two blow -- one a sucker punch, the other below the belt.

With the sycophants in the Obama press corps distracted while rubbing elbows with the Obamas and other rich folk on the Vineyard, the O Team threw their sucker punch: officially announcing that the federal budget deficit next year will be nearly 20% more than in their first forecast made just last May, and over the next ten years will be two trillion dollars more than they had predicted.

That's two million million dollars more than Obama had forecast. Just 90 days ago.

Oops.

Even ballpark hunches should be closer than that.

Obama's estimate of the ten-year federal deficit has increased almost 30% from his first quarterly forecast to his second. How much further off will it be in six months? In a year? By the end of his term?

Yet, this is the same genius who is now promising that Obamacare will be revenue neutral, that Medicare won't be raided, and that seniors needn't worry about how end-of-life care under a government imposed plan will be affected by Washington's ability to pay.

"Revenue neutral"?

You've got to be kidding me.

BZ

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Mr Obama: A Massive, Unprecedented, Unrestrained Budgetary Screw-Up



The Truth finally had to come out.

Mr Obama and the MSM hinted around the issue when it was discovered the projected US deficit wasn't $7 trillion -- it was $9 trillion. Shucks. Just a little error.



WASHINGTON – The federal government faces exploding deficits and mounting debt over the next decade, White House officials predicted Tuesday in a fiscal assessment far bleaker than what the Obama administration had estimated just a few months ago.

Figures released by the White House budget office foresee a cumulative $9 trillion deficit from 2010-2019, $2 trillion more than the administration estimated in May. Moreover, the figures show the public debt doubling by 2019 and reaching three-quarters the size of the entire national economy.


Let's review, shall we?

Former President Bush signed off on the first TARP in 2008. Shame on his ass. That's just one point; I won't go into the rest.

However, in the late -90s the bulk of the Demorats just literally INSISTED that people whom EVERYone knew couldn't re-pay were provided loans for homes that they couldn't afford.

Once that gate was opened, the Greed Was On. Blame should be placed on BOTH sides: the BUYERS (who knew, in their hearts, that the loan provided was bullshit) and the SELLERS (who mades cash from minimal backgrounds and were incentivized by the Fed).

The current arrogance of the Obama Administration is beyond astounding.

"Money is the Mother's Milk of politics." -- Jesse Unruh, Fornicalia

The Obama Administration spent BILLIONS and BILLIONS of dollars on so-called "stimulus."

And NO ONE can account for this money.

And Americans didn't seem to much care.

Then.

Until, months later, NOTHING POSITIVE seems to be occurring.

The "stimulus" PROMISED by Mr Obama?

There is NO stimulus. There are only your hard-earned tax dollars pissed away. 20,000 checks going to dead persons in the "stimulus"?

Not just thousands.

Not just hundreds of thousands.

Not just millions.

Not just billions.

But Mr Obama's "Little Mistake" encompasses TRILLIONS of dollars.

Where is your OUTRAGE?

Where is your DEMAND for ACCOUNTABILITY?

Where is the Obama Administration's acquiescensce to the Truth?

And -- on top of this -- Obama wants to CONTINUE to spend money he doesn't have and to lay the debt upon your children's children's children.

That is, if they deign to continue to procreate.

ObamaKare. Cap & Tax. Illegal Immigrant AMNESTY.

Those are Mr Obama's Job One.

_____________________________


I only ask You one question:

WHO, in our country, is the ONLY source of cash?

Is it the City? Is it the County? Is it the State?

NO!

It is you.

The American Taxpayer.

YOU fund this nation and -- when demanded -- the WORLD.

HARDER WORK -- and MORE OF IT!

Millions of lazy people demanding their entitlements depend on you.

This is a Crisis of Leadership -- or , actually, a LACK therof.

Mr Obama no more has any viable idea of how to conduct this nation than he has a viable idea of how to program his DVR.

BZ


P.S.
Ted Kennedy died. I wonder what he'll say now to Mary Jo?

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

One Marine Veteran Speaks Out:

I, for the most part, tend to agree with the bulk of Hugh Hewitt's observations and posts.

Here, he and I tend to very occasionally part ways.

First, please watch this video:



Our Marine states:

I’ll remind you, a little history lesson. The Nazis were the National Socialist Party. They were leftists. They took over the finance, they took over the car industry, they took over health care in that country. If Nancy Pelosi wants to find a swastika, maybe the first place she should look is the sleeve of her own arm.

Facts are what they are, comparisons are what they are, and if they happen to coincide with portions of history then so be it. Hewitt disdains any reference to Nazis. I am not quite so judgmental here and now.

I don't and will not immediately discard the opinions of this Warrior who has served, with honor, his country. He has EARNED the right to make his comments and thoughts known in public.

And a note to the Demorats: this "movement" or "____" or whatever you choose to call it, is NOT going away.

I should care to point out some greater truths:

Clark Judge, of the White House Writers Group, pens:

Last week, Mr. Cook announced in his online newsletter that polling data “confirm anecdotal evidence, and our own view, that the [political] situation this summer has slipped completely out of control for President Obama and Congressional Democrats.” Poll after poll, he noted, shows the President’s approval rating at levels that are astonishingly low, considering the newness of his administration and the immense victory he and his party won just ten months ago. But Mr. Cook and this city are a step behind.

The great danger for Team Obama is no longer dismal polling numbers. Washington is only now acknowledging what should have been evident for weeks, that the President’s continued championing of the deeply unpopular health care overhaul is dragging down opinion about him and how he is handling his job.

No, the new, new danger is that Mr. Obama could be moving towards a much more profound setback – a collapse of public trust in his Administration.

Perhaps you initially thought, like the Borg, that "resistance is futile"?

NO.

I posit: CONTINUED resistance is precisely what is required now.

BZ

Monday, August 24, 2009

The Demorats Don't Care What The Constituents Think

And they will push ObamaKare no matter what you think, no matter what it may do to the economy, no matter how much it will cost, no matter what the burden placed on future generations.

More proof? This exchange between Senators Chuck Schumer (D) and Orrin Hatch (R) from yesterday's (Sunday, 8-23) Meet The Press:

STOP THE PRESSES!


My wife has Windows Vista on the new ASUS CG series desktop I purchased for her, with an absolutely fabulous LG Flatron W2361VG monitor (probably the best I've ever seen).

However, Vista is driving me crazy now! I can't cut and paste from, say, any given internet site onto a new Blogger post. I can highlight text, for example, right-click and then click on COPY. But when it comes time to click back to the window featuring my new post, the PASTE option is "grayed-out" and I cannot paste. I can "cut and paste" links, but not text!

So I can't finish this post at my wife's house. I'm about to leave for my cabin many miles away where I have XP.

Any Vista geniuses out there, who may be able to help me solve this -- what I initially thought -- small problem?

This is one of the most basic abilities one must have in any computer environment. And I can't even cut and paste with Vista? Am I a bleeding idiot, or is Vista?

Help!

BZ

Sunday, August 23, 2009

Flip It Around



Amusing, but there is verisimilitude in humor; without kernels of truth, humor isn't.

BZ

P.S.
Thanks to
Bushwack!

Are Sheriffs Our Last Line of Defense?



Watch this and then answer the question. You may want to visit SheriffMack.com.

Your thoughts?

BZ

Saturday, August 22, 2009

An Oldie But Goodie



An oldie but a goodie. I can personally relate to this one.

BZ

P.S.
I desperately needed a larf. Any larf. And soon.

Thursday, August 20, 2009

Kill All The Little Brown People


As long as they're not our little brown people.

That's the only conclusion I can draw from the Obama White House decision to fund oil drilling in Brazil and continue to disallow it domestically. You "others" in foreign nations are environmentally expendable. And you're predominantly brown or black.

Sarah Palin nails it here.

BZ

The Big Secret:


Why the huge push out of the gate? Why the ramdown for ObamaKare and Cap & Tax?


We cannot relent.

BZ

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Selling His Soul: Why The Hard Left Are Disappointed With Mr Obama:


This is how Mr Obama and his minions see Our Hero.

However, reality tends to get in the way of certain visuals.

"Anonymous" Leftie commenters on my blog dismiss anything negative regarding Our Hero. I pointed out, last post, that Mr Obama had already "done a deal" with Big Pharma. I didn't just pull this information out of my voluminous ass. No. It sourced from a Left-leaning magazine called The Week, which stemmed from a Robert Reich article at Salon.com:

Last week, after being reported in the Los Angeles Times, the White House confirmed it has promised Big Pharma that any healthcare legislation will bar the government from using its huge purchasing power to negotiate lower drug prices.

Oh, really? Further corruption, anyone? These are "secret concessions" by Our Hero. You read about this trumpeted in the DEM/MSM?

Ken Vogel on Politico.com is going to have an article published on Wednesday that reveals some very smelly relationships between the Obama Admin and Big Business via David Axelrod. You'd do well to read Politico.com on Wednesday.

However, now on HughHewitt.com:
Axelrod was president and sole shareholder of AKPD from 1985 until he sold his interest after Obama’s victory, government records show. The firm owes Axelrod $2 million, which it’s due to pay in installments beginning Dec. 31. Axelrod’s son, Michael, still works there. He didn’t return a phone call. The firm’s Web site continues to feature David Axelrod’s work on the Obama campaign. (Emphasis added.)
The problem is that Axelrod's former firm is currently receiving huge fees "from Healthy Economy Now, a coalition that includes the Washington-based Pharmaceutical Research & Manufacturers of America, known as PhRMA," as well as AARP, the SEIU and other big players in the health care debate.

Again, reality tends to get in the way of certain visuals.

Heads up: more salacious and egregious behavior is yet to be revealed on the part of the Obama Administration. But, of course, you're not shocked.

BZ

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

America Stood UP


. . . and defeated the Socialist version of ObamaKare.

For now.

The Obama White House was forced -- forced -- to take the so-called "government option" off the table though Our Hero refuses to verbally acknowledge. His spin: "this was only one aspect of healthcare." Yeah. Right.

Kent Conrad (D) today revealed there never were sufficient Senate votes to force ObamaKare.

And by relenting, Mr Obama has resoundingly pissed off the Hard Left on many fronts.

No matter.

Mr Obama is privately seething and screaming. 89% of the "stimulus" monies have yet to be spent.

He was also forced -- forced -- to remove flag@whitehouse.gov. Even an ACLU spokesman on FoxNews Monday indicated this was a patently illegal move by Our Hero.

In the meantime, the Canadian healthcare system -- held out by Our Hero as a wonderful model to pattern -- is in critical trouble.

And the bulk of Demorats will vote against your best interests. They will vote for Our Hero.

Mr Obama, according to Rasmussen, is down to a 47% approval rating. And let us remember: this only in six months.

A majority of Americans believe that Mr Obama's so-called "stimulus" has had no effect on the economy or has even made the economy worse.

A majority oppose ObamaKare. But if you think Our Hero and his minions will lie down and recede, you're sorely mistaken.

It's ALL about "single payer." It's ALL about the GOVERNMENT running your healthcare.

This is NO time to recede and stand back. Most any version of ObamaKare will send elderly people to an early grave. As well as those not carrying Prime Perfect Genes. You may not care now in your twenties. Just you wait. Time will occur.

A "tactical retreat" does not a defeat make.

Keep up. Keep on. Do not diminish. Keep your eyes up. Don't smoke the opium.

BZ

P.S.
(CNSNews.com) - Self-identified conservatives outnumber self-identified liberals in all 50 states of the union, according to the Gallup Poll.

Monday, August 17, 2009

One More Good-Bye


This year and last have been years of "goodbyes."

I had to place my father into what turned out to be his last nursing home, on November 5th of last year, when I determined he couldn't take care of himself. I found him curled up in the fetal position on the guest bed in his home. I wrote then:

Yesterday, I had to place him in a nursing home. And it cuts me to the quick. I feel like the worst possible betrayer, a bad son, and it literally tears my heart.

In the process of physically lifting him out of the house and placing him into my car for the trip to the nursing home, he turned and, in a small voice, looked through the window and said: "Goodbye, house."

My father finally succumbed to a number of physical ailments and, eventually, the leukemia with which he had been diagnosed. He lived a full year over what the doctors thought he would.

The family visited him in the hospital Tuesday night, February 10th of this year, absent my mother -- who had herself passed away in the hospital on May 14th of 2002. He was on oxygen and kept trying to push the mask away in order to talk. My wife that night kissed my father goodbye. She said: "Kiss your father. You might not see him again." I should have listened to her.

Instead, I held his hand, squeezed it, touched his shoulder and said "we'll see you tomorrow." None of his sons kissed him goodbye that night. Just my wife. And I'll regret not doing so until the day I die.

Because at a little after 3:30 that next morning, we received the phone call.

We went to his bedside that morning. He was still warm but drawn, mouth open. Maybe he knew his death was near, maybe he didn't. If he did, he played the game: "see you tomorrow" he'd said. Then, as I held his hand once again, I thought: he died alone. Completely alone. In a cold, sterile hospital, with no friends about, no family around. Alone. In a room. How terrible, how horrible that must have been. Because he had family. He had children, unlike me.

But we left him. We walked away. He had to face that night, his final night, completely abandoned and alone. That haunted me then, it haunts me now and at this moment as I write these lines. My eyes are, admittedly, clouded with tears.

I spoke to him a little bit that morning. We marveled that we discovered he had his wallet in his possession, hidden in his hospital bed. He was anal about his wallet. It went wherever he went. We found it with him. How very Dad was that? My final words to him, before I had to turn and leave him, again alone, in his hospital room: "Goodbye, buddy."

That first night of the 11th, I had a dream. I awakened with it in my head. Carole King was singing "So Far Away." I remember that most distinctly.

It is now Sunday on August 16th, after 6 PM, as I write this. I am up at my cabin in the mountains. The air is smoky from some local fires. But I am still far away from civilization. I reminisce about my father. And I now tell you about my -- perhaps -- final goodbye.

I had to sell my father's car yesterday. It hurt me to do so; it really did. Yes, I am completely aware that it is an inanimate metal object. It makes no sense to feel empty after selling a car. Yet I feel despicable for having done so.

Three initial people wanted to buy his car, a 2004 Nissan Maxima, which was in pristine shape: the realtor for my father's house, the man who conducted my father's estate sale and a friend at my former work site. None of them "came through."

I then had to try to sell it privately. There wasn't even one nibble.

In the meantime, for almost 6 months, it sat in my personal care -- first at my former work site, then it was parked outside my cabin. I would start and drive it sparingly, mostly to keep the battery up and charged.

Yesterday, the 15th, I sold my father's car to CarMax in Roseville. Overall it was a streamlined experience. The CarMax staff was, I must say, considerate and professional. Yet it still hurt.

It was just a car. It was just some cold steel. Though again, yet, I felt I somehow abandoned my father. Of course I know, intellectually, this is silly. It was just a car. I need to sack up. Get over it. Move on. Get a grip. Be a Man.

But selling my Dad's car was like my final good-bye. I lost him. Then I lost his house. Now I gave up his car for cash.

I know, rationally, it's stupid. But it hurts all the same.

I guess: goodbye again, Dad. Please don't hate me.

BZ

Saturday, August 15, 2009

Where In The United States?



. . . would you like to visit?

Would it be the Grand Canyon?

Mount Rushmore?

Yosemite National Park?

The Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio?

Your Uncle Betty and Aunty Lou?

The Pendleton Factory in Oregon?

How about the Pearl Harbor Memorial?

Arlington National Cemetary? The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier?

Me?

I'd like to have two trips in my near future (cash-dependent, of course).

I want to visit the Ronald Reagan Library and Museum in Simi Valley.

And I'd like to land on Unalaska Island and visit my friends Alaska Steve and CB in Dutch Harbor. What an adventure that would be!

Where would you like to visit?

BZ

Friday, August 14, 2009

Pelosi: Hates Dissent

But only when the dissension is on the part of Conservatives or Republicans.

Go here.

BZ

Thursday, August 13, 2009

Keep Focused!


At the same time that various townhall meetings are dealing with the issue of ObamaKare, please do not forget that the Demorats "multi-task" in terms of killing our nation, and are continuing to push Cap & Tax as well.

A new analysis of Cap & Tax, published in The Hill.com, indicates:

Add another climate bill cost estimate to the growing pile.

The National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) and the American Council for Capital Formation (ACCF) released a study Wednesday that found under a high-cost scenario the House global warming bill could reduce economic growth by 2.4 percent and cost 2 million jobs by 2030.

Plus:

But the business groups’ figures will likely provide opponents of capping carbon more ammunition and could add to the angst of senators from industrial states. One key finding is that the climate bill will hurt the manufacturing sector particularly hard. As much as 66 percent of the total job loss from the climate bill could come from manufacturers, the report notes.

And though the impact of the bill will grow over time, the economy will start feeling the effects of the carbon cap almost immediately.

“Industrial production begins to decline immediately in 2012, relative to the baseline,” the report notes.

So come on, America, strike to! Do your bit! Let's make sure that damned near all of our manufacturing and heavy industry jobs are offshored, and then let's kill all our domestic energy production!

Our Hero demands it so!

Hail!

BZ

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Eating Their Own



Obama's healthcare horror
Heads should roll -- beginning with Nancy Pelosi's!
By Camille Paglia

Please read the entire article; what do you think?

Oh the horror! Dissension continues unabated! The Demorats are doing their best to place the citizenry on Ignore Mode. Their "strategy" -- such as it is -- lacks that certain something.

[Unfortunately, there will be much less time for posting this week; my friend's funeral is tomorrow, amongst other things.]

Take care and be safe.

BZ

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

That Horrible Well-Dressed Mob:




Please be certain to closely examine the photos of the frightening mobs. Absolutely scary!

Thanks to Wordsmith & Flopping Aces for the video.

BZ

Monday, August 10, 2009

Sunday Ponderings


I've had another Week From Hell. Today, Sunday (as I write this), is my first "official" day off in a while. And, oddly enough, I'm using it to write on the internet. But, as I've stated before, I find writing to be cathartic and a release -- even bordering on relaxing. With these exceptions:

On Thursday of this past week one of our female Sergeants was killed in a traffic accident on the way to her new work site. Her small car, a Toyota MR2, was jammed out of her lane when another female, who was driving erratically (and her driving behavior called into 9-1-1 prior to the accident) cut her off. Our Sergeant swerved to miss the female's car and spun, then impacted (at freeway speeds), the rear of a tractor/trailer rig. There was little left of the car.

Luckily, her husband had charge, that day, of their four small children and they were not in the car at the time. I knew her well. She and I both used to work for the Training Division -- until our two jobs were recently eliminated in the budget crisis.

Her husband also worked, as a Sergeant, in the same Training Division. His job was kept.

Then -- just this past Saturday -- another of our deputies was shot whilst responding to a "suspicious circumstances" call for service. It turns out that four armed black males were seen casing a business in the late morning and, when contacted by our deputy, opened fire on him, striking him above the vest in the shoulder area. He called for cover immediately and, eventually, three of the four suspects were apprehended. In that process a second firefight ensued but no officers were injured. The first deputy was taken to a local trauma center and is listed in stable condition.
That said, my mind continues to wander. . .

I happen to be a fan of the now-defunct TV show "Boston Legal." I enjoyed the acting and particularly the interplay between James Spader and William Shatner. Certainly their episodes predominantly consisted of left-leaning plots but I can enjoy many things on many levels -- (why I subscribe to The Nation, read Daily Kos and other Leftists. I can't simply shut myself up into a cocoon, slit my own wrists and then drink my own blood for sustenance. It is, in my estimation, vitally important for me to know what the Left is saying, writing and thinking) and "Boston Legal" did have some great bits and scenes. Denny and Alan in the parking garage confronted by the robber? Classic Denny Crane.

I watched an episode last night on DVD (I refuse to watch episodic television "live" with idiotic commercials -- I instead buy my TV on disc) where Alan Shore (James Spader) and senior partner Shirley Schmidt (Candice Bergen) reflect with misty doe-eyes on the wondrous potential and limitless implications at this nation's having elected a -- swooning to commence now -- black man as president.

And my first thought was: okay, so how do you characters really like him so far?

Hasn't closed Gitmo. Hasn't gotten us out of Iraq.

And I also thought: let's encapsulate what we really have in our nation now.


"If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face — forever." -1984

Jackboot #1: We have the White House officially wanting lists, names, numbers, addresses of those persons who deign to dissent from the prevailing philosophy in power. Not covertly; oh no. Overtly and with the complicit tolerance of the DEM/MSM -- nary a peep in disapproval. Switch the facts: what if Mr Bush had done this COvertly? I'm certain you can do the mathematics required.

Jackboot #2: The so-called "Fairness Doctrine" is soon to be revisited, particularly in light of the ascending efficacy of various protests around the nation regarding ObamaKare.

Jackboot #3: The Demorats are labeling those who possess the temerity to protest ObamaKare as "well dressed" and "mobs" who are "carrying swastikas and symbols" in order to "hurt our president" and "change our Congress." I say: this is simply grassroots action. The GOP couldn't organize their own sock drawers at this point.

It's representative, instead, of The People beginning to actually find Their Voice.

Jackboot #4: Because of this, Demorats are purposely closing any further townhall meetings, refusing to answer phones and e-mail, refusing to consider the wants of constituents at all. Their minds are set, period. Do not confuse them with facts. Period.

Jackboot #5: Global Warming exists. The Demorats and Religious Left's minds are set, period. Do not confuse them with facts. Period. Though C02 is considered a threatening gas, all mammals including Man exhale this lethal gas. There are those on the Left who suggest we should, therefore, begin to cull that herd. I say: you first.

Jackboot #6: Therefore, America's Cap & Tax is the perfect solution to the problem. Let the American Taxpayer fund every national and global solution to this perceived environmental problem. Let's kill business. Let's drive our own energy production -- on all levels -- off the North American continent. And let's just see what kind of economy (and I use that word quite loosely when applied in that context) will result.
I never thought our former president would spend billions for TARP funds -- funds that, essentially, no one can account for.

Even here, I have left SO much out. Stimulus? GM? Selectivism?

And whilst that appears to bring up my next obvious thought with regard to one very important word -- ACCOUNTABILITY -- it's remarkable, is it not, how "accountability" is completely missing from Our Hero's administration? And what, also, about the "T" word: "transparency"?

How much "transparency" do you actually see with this current administration? -- though, of course, they ran on "change" and that "change" was to have included accountability and transparency.

Wasn't it said, by Mr Obama, that all bills would be posted online for five days for public viewing?

There isn't ONE instance in which that has happened.

Furthermore, I submit that Mr Obama and his wife has made a mockery of our presidency. You'll of course notice that in my writings not ONCE have I placed the word "president" directly adjacent the word "Obama." That should be one clue.

Second, I submit that Mr Obama's covert smoking, his "hat backwards" posturing, his "fist bumping," his late night TV appearances, his "gift-giving" skills, leave much to be desired in terms of Presidential Respect. His global protocol is reprehensible. His understanding of other nations is reprehensible.

And where, oh where -- do I ask -- will he even remotely begin to find the funding for his quite clearly Socialistic programs?

Trillions and trillions of dollars, just since January 20th, have been wasted and, moreover, created out of THIN AIR.

My grandparents died in 1979. My mother in 2002. My father just this year on February 11th.

I now realize this isn't necessarily a bad thing, for I doubt they would even recognize their once-beloved nation. It is now an alien presence, even perhaps an objectionable tumor scheduled for rescission.

I, myself, am beginning to lose physical and mental track of what my country used to be.

Where we are going -- this is not a trip with which I wish to participate.

And we must do something about this, my friends.

Very damned soon.

BZ

Saturday, August 08, 2009

More Unhappiness In Oz:


Our Hero continues to have his plans "questioned" by "mobs" of "well dressed" but "swastika-and-symbol-carrying" right wing goons.

In the meantime, Our Hero's White House move of collecting "fishy" information regarding ObamaKare may just be a teensy-weensy bit illegal:

White House Move to Collect 'Fishy' Info May Be Illegal, Critics Say
The White House has been under fire since posting a blog on Tuesday that asks supporters to e-mail any "fishy" information seen on the Web or received electronically.


The White House strategy of turning supporters into snitches when they see "fishy" information about the health care debate may run afoul of the law, legal experts say.

"The White House is in bit of a conundrum because of this privacy statute that prohibits the White House from collecting data and storing it on people who disagree with it," Judge Andrew Napolitano, a FOX News analyst, said Friday.

"There's also a statute that requires the White House to retain all communications that it receives. It can't try to rewrite history by pretending it didn't receive anything," he said.

"If the White House deletes anything, it violates one statute. If the White House collects data on the free speech, it violates another statute."

Napolitano was referring to the Privacy Act of 1974, which was passed after the Nixon administration used federal agencies to illegally investigate individuals for political purposes. Enacted after Richard Nixon's resignation in the Watergate scandal, the statute generally prohibits any federal agency from maintaining records on individuals exercising their right to free speech.

The White House has been under fire since it posted a blog on Tuesday that asked supporters to e-mail any "fishy" information seen on the Web or received electronically to flag@whitehouse.gov.

In the meantime, healthcare protests continue to spread.

The wondrous and beautimous Nancy Pelosi had the surrounding decibel level raised whilst in Denver. There are, it should be noted, "things to do in Denver when you're dead." Thanks, Warren.

And doctors are finally beginning to weigh in on ObamaKare.

Our Hero? I think he had a sandwich today.

Can everyone repeat after me: T - O - N - E D - E - A - F ?

BZ

Friday, August 07, 2009

Dissension Continues:

And the Demorats don't want to hear you. So maybe a little additional volume, perhaps?

Confrontation over a national healthcare overhaul reached South Florida on Wednesday, when routine office hours for the staff of a Broward-area congressman turned into a raucous protest.

The incident is like others that reflect nerves frayed by the nationwide debate. Democrats decry what they describe as a mob rule orchestrated by special interests trying to protect the status quo; Republicans call it genuine grass-roots concern over a costly government takeover.

Though only a handful of constituents typically show up at the Lighthouse Point public library once a month with questions for U.S. Rep. Ron Klein's staffers -- often questions about Social Security checks or passport applications -- this time about 100 people packed the room for two hours.

The group was rowdy, rude and fired up about healthcare.

But I'm sure they were well-dressed.

Where the hell is Klein?'' demanded Republican activist Ana Gomez-Mallada, even though the congressman was not scheduled to be there. Others branded him a "coward'' and a "communist.''

If the shoe fits. . .

And by the way, if some older White Guy had said that instead of a Cuban chick. . .

And now that dissension runs against them, suddenly Demorats are against dissension. From Harry Reid:

The Senate's most powerful Democrat on Thursday scolded health care protesters dogging his party's lawmakers at local meetings, arguing that some critics on the political right have run out of ideas—and ditched their civic manners. Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada accused the protesters of trying to "sabotage" the democratic process.

But, of course, all these protesters are carrying swastikas and symbols, says the irrefutable Nancy P:



And I know why most persons are predominantly pissed over Conservatives, Independents and Moderates attending townhall meetings and protesting:

Because, after all, if these people aren't working and are instead protesting, then who's actually working and paying the taxes? They need to get back to work: harder work and more of it! Thousands and thousands of worthless laggards and dullards on welfare depend on them! Damn you for being interested in politics! Get back to work!

BZ

Thursday, August 06, 2009

"It's To Hurt Our President, And To Change Our Congress"



Uh: yes.

Here's a bitty clue, Senator Boxer -- and for all the other Demorats charging "conspiracy, conspiracy!"

The Republicans could no more organize much of anything these days than the Man In The Moon (two Republicans can keep a secret if one is dead). These "protests" are from Conservatives, people in the middle class and "moderates" as well -- people who have the temerity to actually question the actions of DC. And the Demorat DC Power Structure can't tolerate dissension.

It's just peachy-nifty when Leftists protest; it's outright treasonous and despicable when anyone else protests.

Washington, you are so about to be shocked even further. . .

BZ

Wednesday, August 05, 2009

Your Efficient Federal Government


Not long ago, I mailed a letter. I was paying a bill. I placed a US Postal Service "Forever" stamp on the upper right corner of the envelope, and my return address on the upper left portion.

Yes, I'm strange. I don't allow anyone to have control over any of my accounts.

I want to control my fiscal accounts and what is removed from any of my accounts and when.

With that in mind, I recently paid my monthly mortgage.

This envelope was sent from my very small town down to the central Fornicalia (Sacramento) processing center.

The envelope was returned to my Postmaster with a "postage due" notice.

Luckily, because I live in a very small town, and I know her, my Postmaster took complete care of me. And the situation pissed her off as well. She took time to write this letter to me:


Dear ____:

This letter was returned to you today for more postage. It does have a Forever stamp and does not require an additional 2 cents. I have written a letter to (your bank) explaining the error. Should you have a problem with a late charge on this item, let me know and we will need to make it right. This is so embarrassing and makes me very angry that someone in Sacramento does not know that a Forever stamp is good "forever."

I have enclosed a copy of the letter I sent to (your bank) and a copy of your letter.

Please accept my apology for this gross oversight.

Sincerely,

(My Postmaster)

P.S.
I sent a copy to my boss and he is letting the plant know.

________________________________________________

Ladies and gentlemen:

Let there be no mistake: this is the Federal Government that will be in charge of not the "small things" in your life like a single stamp -- but in fact Your Physical Life with regard to ObamaKare.

This is a Federal Government that couldn't even recognize one of their own Forever stamps.

I'm certain you can do your own --as I call it -- Logical Extension.

BZ

Tuesday, August 04, 2009

Electric Cars: What's The Point?


Nissan released a prototypical copy of their new all-electric vehicle -- called the Leaf -- this past Sunday. The Leaf is set for global production by 2012.

My question is this: why?

A burgeoning fleet of all electric cars will completely tank the electric grid in the United States.

Why would that occur, you ask?

Because the Religious Left has been doing its level best to ensure that electrical generation facilities are not built. They hate nuclear -- the last nuclear power plant built in the US was the River Bend plant in Tennessee, in 1977.

They hate natural gas fired plants.

They hate coal fired plants.

Wind turbines kill birds -- and are blazingly inconsistent and unreliable.

Solar power consumes and rends fallow vast amounts of ground, and their panels must be kept constantly clean.

Thermal power is, again, spotty and inconsistent.

Hydroelectricity requires dams. The Religious Left hate dams.

Therefore, America generally lacks sufficient electrical generation even for today's needs. In Fornicalia, summer brownouts are common when temperatures reach the 100s.

The Religious Left oppose most all building of any infrastructure.

So: electric cars?

You'd best be prepared to have a nice gas-engined car as backup -- despite the fact that:

The world economy cannot sustain any further rise in the oil price, the International Energy Agency’s chief economist warned as oil prices rose toward a record high for the year.

Fatih Birol told the Financial Times that prices higher than about $70 could dampen a world economic recovery.

You'd best think long and hard, America, before you purchase any full-electric vehicle; particularly if large amounts of people buy them.

This is a monster Epic Fail in the making.

BZ

Monday, August 03, 2009

Obama: Bend Over, Middle Class -- That Means YOU!


Did anyone -- anyone -- actually think they were exempt from a Socialistic president if they had a job?

Here's a shocker -- hope you're sitting down for this one. Gosh, let's see: it only took slightly over six months before. . .

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama's treasury secretary said Sunday he cannot rule out higher taxes to help tame an exploding budget deficit, and his chief economic adviser would not dismiss raising them on middle-class Americans as part of a health care overhaul.

As the White House sought to balance campaign rhetoric with governing, officials appeared willing to extend unemployment benefits. With former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan saying he is "pretty sure we've already seen the bottom" of the recession, Obama aides sought to defend the economic stimulus and calm a jittery public.

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and National Economic Council Director Larry Summers both sidestepped questions on Obama's intentions about taxes. Geithner said the White House was not ready to rule out a tax hike to lower the federal deficit; Summers said Obama's proposed health care overhaul needs funding from somewhere.

"There is a lot that can happen over time," Summers said, adding that the administration believes "it is never a good idea to absolutely rule things out, no matter what."

Bend over, America -- Our Hero is about to provide you with your first non-lubricated (Gosh, that would require oppressive amounts of medical capital to assuage your pain here!) Cash Colonoscopy.

But hey, you're willing to Take One For The Team -- right?

BZ

Saturday, August 01, 2009

Bags

As most of my readers already realize, my training job was eliminated at EVOC (our Emergency Vehicle Operations Course) due to budgetary cuts. My department has, due to fiscal mismanagement, taken the brunt of monetary hits in terms of law enforcement departments in the entire state of Fornicalia. In a department formerly consisting of 2,000+ officers, we were tasked with making up 40% of our county's deficit. Wholly unfair and egregious.

As a result, my department laid off 400 On-Call deputies and 200 full time deputies, effective tomorrow (as I write this), Saturday, August 1st.

Today I got a glimpse of what my department really thinks of its employees. And I was resoundingly disgusted on many levels.

I watched as, earlier, one opposite shift Sergeant "processed" his own laid-off troops out and was continually asking: "Did you leave your keys? What's your radio serial number?"

And that was it. Leave your stuff. Get the hell out.

I was embarrassed, pissed, even shocked to a degree.

Until I realized: that Sergeant was himself getting demoted, effective Saturday, to a line-level deputy.

I've been working with two Lieutenants who are getting demoted and three Sergeants who are getting demoted.

My final hours today, Friday (as I write this) were devoted to collecting equipment from laid-off deputies whose true final day was today and had clearly expressed that they were calling in sick on their "real" final day, Saturday.

There were bags already prepared for me by administration staff. These bags had a piece of paper stapled to the outside where I was to collect very specific pieces of their issued equipment.
I took the time to talk to each and every one -- though they didn't know me, I was the "new Sergeant on deck." And I processed their equipment, placed it into these bags, then helped them with their own personal bags as they cleaned out their lockers and hauled things to their cars.

No one else helped. None of the other Sergeants. None of the other Lieutenants. They were too busy taking each other to lunch.

And with each one I shook their hand and said, "On behalf of this department I would like to officially apologize for treating you in this fashion -- and I would like to thank you for your service to this facility and to the people of this county. They have no idea what sacrifices you have made."

Some were stalwart and resolute; they wore fixed glazes and simply stalked off. Some started to cry. Some wanted to talk to me about their brief careers. It took everything I had to not tear up and break my mien. But I believed it was my responsibility, my duty, to not only apologize for their despicable treatment but to commend them for their devotion and service.

I've just helped to kill my department's finest generational future.

It turns my stomach, it makes me sick, to think that so many of my peers have turned these hopeful and wonderful kids into nothing more than PIN numbers and big grocery bags.

Their bags line the admin office walls.

This was one of the most depressing days of my life this year.

BZ