Scarface in 5 seconds..

..God, I love these videos!

-30-

Barry's fat lip..

12 stitch program?

In a really bad mood here; just came in from drinking with a few friends and saw that NPR actually believes that Barry took one in the mouth in a pickup basketball game gives him some sort of badge of manhood:

Just three weeks after getting a shellacking in the midterm elections, President Obama got a fat lip.

The president played basketball yesterday with some friends in the gym of the Fort McNair Army Base, and reportedly took an elbow in the mouth from an opposing player who went up for a shot.

It took 12 stitches to close The First Fat Lip, if you please. I'm not sure that Joe Frazier needed 12 stitches after the Thrilla in Manila, though the White House stressed that a smaller filament was used, which increases the number of stitches, but leaves a smaller scar.

I wonder if having a larger scar wouldn't actually fortify President Obama's profile, as he contends with Kim Jong Il, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad or Vladimir Putin. Imagine a president with a gnarly, vivid scar telling the rulers of China, "Nice country ya' got here. I'd hate to see something happen to it if you didn't stop foolin' around with the value of your currency. Know what I mean?"

Is this guy freaking serious?

I mean, geez Loise! What are the people at NPR smoking here? Even proposing that this faggoty, metro-sexual POSOTUS could stand up to Pajama Boy and the NorKos because he caught an elbow in the teeth is beyond ludicrous. It’s typical of the pantie-wearing feminized male and testosterone-besotted stevedore female “talent” over at that communist cesspool called National Pathetic Radio that they would think this.

Nothing The Child Emperor could do could forestall his being made any dictator’s bitch. The guy is a world-class loserand anyone who smooches his butt is a bigger suck-wipe than he is.

Bend over, Barry, and grab your ankles. Here comes the 3:10 from Yuma.

UPDATE: Here is a great pic on this theme..

Hat tip and credit here.

-30-

..also GM's back and they're bad..

Regarding the schmaltzy piece-of-crap commercial below:

So, let's see. The government-backed execs of GM and the unions are thanking us for lending giving them our money by spending our money to thank us for..

..just checking.

As for the Animal House scene featuring John Belushi, I would offer this one as being more appropriate:

-30-

He's back and he's bad..

Apparently Scooter of Scooter's Report (no relation to King Jester's Scooter sobriquet for our gravy-chinned, pie-pounding child emperor POTUS) is back on the air.

*sigh*

Now I'll have to read the Blogspot help pages to re-learn how to add his sidebar link back.

-30-

Remembering a Thanksgiving seven years ago..

It seems that our beloved Child Emperor and his main squeeze and guests are pounding down some righteous groceries over there in the White House according to Andrew Malcom in a Hot Air post.

..o.k., o.k., while POTUS and FLOTUS A**holes are pounding down these groceries and he is engaging in his world-renowned sh!t-eating-grin with gravy dripping down his chin, here’s the 4-1-1 on our boys in The ‘Stan.

ADRASKAN NATIONAL TRAINING CENTER, Afghanistan — If he were back home Thursday, Marine Lance Cpl. Chad Berry would have eaten turkey and ham at the home of one of his sets of grandparents in Tennessee. If it was his father’s side of the family, they’d go deer hunting after dinner, then come home and eat some more.
Back home, Pfc. Ysnardy Torres, 21, would be in New York City, visiting family in three boroughs, eating a lot of shredded turkey and his aunt’s flan, a type of custard dessert.

“I’d be going from house to house, getting food,” he said Thursday morning while training Afghan police recruits at the Adraskan National Training Center in western Afghanistan. “It starts in Brooklyn, to the Bronx, to Queens and then back to Brooklyn. I’d be tearing that (expletive) up.”

If he wasn’t deployed here with 14 other Marines, Lance Cpl. Gordon Sherburne would be at his Uncle Wade’s house in Mesick, Mich., chowing down with 50 other members of the Sherburne clan.

“I’d be watching the Dallas Cowboys play — that’s my wife’s team — and eating some green beans with bacon, ham and stuffing,” 19-year-old Lance Cpl. Mark McCart said of his holiday plans were he back in Fountain, Colo. “And just chill.”
Thoughts inevitably turned to home Thursday for these Marines and the thousands of other U.S. troops overseas on such a family-focused holiday. It’s a day for which it’s difficult to be away.

“It’s even harder than Christmas,” said Berry, 21, of Dunlap, Tenn.
“It (expletive) sucks,” Torres said of holidays far from home, adding that the Internet only makes him realize the good times his loved ones are having back home. “I don’t even go on my Facebook.”

Despite all of the criticism of Bush during his time in office, I don’t think anyone could fault him for his regard for the troops and his surprise visit to them one Thanksgiving.

God bless those brave young men and women and God DAMN their CINC to Hell.

-30-

TSA Gimmick..

..picture put up as a response to this Hot Air post. I hope this didn't ruin anyone's Thanksgiving dinner.

-30-

Thanksgiving wishes..

Some harbingers of holiday disasters notwithstanding, this is the festive remembrance when the pilgrims and the injuns buried the hatchet ((so to speak) and John Smith and Priscilla and Squanto and Pocahontas and the crowd sat down to hog up on the grunts in celebration of their bounty.

These impertinent videos aside and the prospect of some dysfunctional gathering where your unhinged uncle helps himself to too much of the sherry on offer, breaks wind incessantly, and gets into a screaming match with the obligatory home-from-college visitors who [still] believe Obama is the messiah, here's wishing you and yours out there a bounteous and happy Thanksgiving.

Enjoy it, because the next time you do this, you'll have bankrupted yourself getting a tree and presents and grown hoarse from singing all of those treacly carols.

..today, you just east and watch football.

-30-

Clandestine post to LL..

Lima,,Lima Actual this is Whiskey Papa One Niner..book ordered from Amazon..two actually. One goes to libtard brother in November Hotel who, now and then, likes a good thriller.

Will advise upon MMC.

WP19..out!

More TSA humor..

Bumper stickers from Detective Tom, my high school classmate:

UPDATE: And the hits just keep on comin'..

-30-

Don't blog angry..

Sometimes I get wrapped a little too tight. This TSA thing has -- you'll excuse the expression -- my shorts in a knot and I need to unwind. As usual, Woodsterman provides some much-needed comic relief on this matter:

I recommend visiting here for his other humor on offer.

UPDATE: On the subject of preserving sanity, many know that Odie was down here in SoCal last week returning home to Northern California Friday. From recent posts, it seems Odie puts all of his time to good use, probably spotting the truck below on his way back:

 

Way to go, Woodsterman! You don't miss a trick..er.truck!

-30-

..so, blood not boiling yet?

This is getting to be a regular feature -- kind of like Odie's Walmart feature. Here's the latest in the compendium of TSA outrages:

From the collected audio excerpts -- especially the scenes where they are starting to search bus passengers -- seems like this heavy-handed government intrusion is exceeding the tenets of decency. At some point, the Israeli interview process has got to be better than this.

Look, I will be taking Mrs War planner to the airport at least twice next year for trips to her native Japan. I just hope that I can control myself if/when one of these goons singles her out for a grope.

And you can forget the "Bush started this" crap. We never had to put up with this bullsh*t when "W" was POTUS. This is symptomatic of an administration that is tone-deaf and clearly out of control.

FIGHT BACK UPDATE: Ideas continue to stream in from all over the internet and I want to give credit where credit is due. Guardians of old people traveling should have them wear Depends and parent with kids wearing diapers should do what kevinbaja, posting on an ABC blog, suggests:

In case you can't read it, he suggests letting the elderly and the kids go through the TSA checkpoints "fully loaded". That's be a real treat for the TSA goons having to fondle a pantload of scatological C-4.

Like the Joker once said, "Wait'll they get a load of me!"

-30-

Just when you think you've seen enough..

..about this TSA "scope-or-grope" fiasco, comes this video of the gate goos and a 12-year-old boy:

About the only thing that would make this more absurd is to have some Mooz-lem towel-heads being sailed through the gates unimpeded. But, just you wait, that video will be coming any day now.

In fact, that would be rich counterpoint to the hand-up-the-nun's-nightdress shots we're getting now. If the TSA folks don't want to profile obvious candidates for C-4 cartage, then perhaps the traveling citizenry -- armed with cell phone cameras -- should point out these people.

After all, that is what this is all about, right? I mean, The Child Emperor and his clown thugs want us to become inured of these invasions to such an extent that we will all submit with docility in banks, malls, or political rallies or demonstrations..

..wherever free people assemble.

BROKEN RECORD TIME: Now, NOvember 2012 cannot come soon enough for me!

-30-

Banquo's Ghost

(I warned that this would return..)

From before election day until now, George W. Bush has been visiting -- no haunting -- media venues in an effort to promote his book, Decision Points, to the public. As counterpoint to the marvelous results of NOvember 2nd, it has been delicious kabuki to watch.

Put plainly, Mr Bush no longer is beholden to those who viciously savaged him while he was president. While there is some capitalistic imperative for him to appear with these cretins as they are the keeper of the keys to exposure that translates into Amazon sales and boosted book ratings, it is he who is the hot ticket, the big act in town, the top of the A list. And, any casual student of these interviews will tell you that he has gotten the measure of those who -- for the most part -- took pleasure in savaging him in his latter years as POTUS.

"W" has made the most of his time out of the spotlight. Like a pummeled Rocky, he repaired to his ranch at Crawford, Texas, returned to the basics, became more nimble, developed a piercing jab, and set about dismembering these lead-footed adversaries with disarming candor and genuineness that had them off their guard, ripe for that sharp right hand.

On Oprah, the on-again-off-again pudgy hostess tossed off a remark to the effect that she hadn't seen him in a while to which President Bush replied, "Yeah, where ya been?"

It went like that with most interviews and, of course, he received the royal treatment over at FNC. Hannity was uncharacteristically silent -- no interruptions to spew bullet-points  -- and Greta Van Sustern was typically absolutely respectful during her time with him. O'Reilly -- well -- O'Reilly didn't change. Stuff to the effect of "So, Mr Presdent, what did you think of my coverage of you during your presidency? I was terrific, wasn't I? Excuse me while I kiss my image in the mirror over there."

But in the enemy camps, Bush's genuineness more than carried the day. He danced a very elaborate tango with Matt Lauer on the Today show that left Lauer searching the phone book for a few Arthur Murray lessons. The net effect was that Lauer tried to stick it to Bush on the flyover of Katrina and subsequent Kanye West quote. Lauer ended up getting wrapped around the axle with West in a subsequent interview.

Bush had written that it was a low point in his presidency when West declared that "George Bush doesn't care about black people." But in an interview with Lauer taped Tuesday, West said that he spoke in a moment of frustration.

"I didn't have the grounds to call him a racist," West said. "I believe that in a situation of high emotion like that we as human beings don't always choose the right words."

Shown a tape of West's remarks, Bush said he appreciated them and forgave him.

"I'm not a hater," he said. "I don't hate Kanye West. I was talking about an environment in which people were willing to say things that hurt. Nobody wants to be called a racist if in your heart you believe in equality of races."

In a blooper reminiscent of his famed mispronunciation of "nuc-u-lar" — or perhaps a subtle dig — Bush twice referred to West as "Conway."

There was also another memorable West meltdown: He tweeted Tuesday about feeling "very used" by the interview and said Lauer "tried to force my answers. I came there with only positive intent." NBC is airing a longer West interview on Thursday, and wouldn't comment directly on West's tweets.

Others, like Leno ("Thanks for all of the material") fared better because -- well -- they just relaxed and enjoyed "W" as a guest.

But, as Ramirez so ably points out in his cartoon, the real loser was The Real Loser. While George Bush was enjoying his three week return to a now-appreciative public, this clown was doing a post-shellacking whiff tour of Asia and, even as we speak, being driven in his Belchfire V-8 to European meetings where other dignitaries are arriving in their Smart Cars, coolie-drawn rickshaws, and rat-crap powered enviro-mobiles.

Yes, Banquo's ghost has came back to haunt Macbeth again. The Child Emperor must be looking over his shoulder at the specter of his resurgent predecessor. Of course, Bush made a special point of saying he will NOT criticize his successor because "his job is tough enough already". But, in the wake of remarks like that and in light of the flailing that Obama is doing of late, at this feast it is not necessary to point out the turd in the punch bowl.

..one can smell it a mile away.

Yes, Mr President, we DO miss you.

MORE THAN OBLIGATORY EXPRESSION OF GRATITUDE FOR FRIENDS: As recounted on Woodsterman's site, I had the distinct pleasure of meeting Odie in person and reacquainting myself with Opie and LL. Just as I have hung with LCR and the long-departed (for Florida) Lipton Tea Bag, the conversation was rich with opinions and ideas and made me feel very lucky that such friendships are to be had.

Because I believe similar joy would be derived were I to have lunch or drinks with many others who stop by this humble outpost in the conservative camp, I am sincerely grateful for the pleasure of getting to know, at least via comments and e-mail, Bunni, Carol (Sheeples), Supi, Ima, Fredd, WMUR, MNR, and the others. I fervently pray that we can convene sometime at a blogger's convention and rob shoulders with the great and near-great.

Oh, and by the way, I am NOT the lovely blond in the picture above.    

-30-

Again, Odie-esque in format...

I ain't stealin' hits from a man I just shared about twenty ounces of Beefeaters with. Go to his site for a picture of our gathering. Come back here and read my interminable droning on and on about the soiree..

..or don't.

In the mean time, here's something to cleanse the palatte offered by Lieutenant "Sky" King of the USAFA, fellow Obama lover:

Here's hoping that these are his thoughts in 2012.

..says it all.

-30-

I can fix that...Need a spoon? I can fix that!

In the spirit of Odie over at the Woodsterman (with whom I will be having lunch tomorrow) and my thanks to Captain Harris over at Group 7 HQ:

Need a spoon? I can fix that!

Cables falling down behind your desk? I can fix that!

Seat belt broken? I can fix that!

Power plug problems? I can fix that!

Stereo ripped off? I can fix that!

Bookshelf not too steady? I can fix that!

Can't afford a real GPS? I can fix that!

Need an ice chest? I can fix that!

Car manufactured in another country? I can fix that!

Satellite TV go out in the rain? I can fix that!

Coffee pot broken? I can fix that!

Windshield wiper motor burned out? I can fix that!

Exhaust pipe dragging? I can fix that!

Need a diaper?

..well, I could have fixed that. But I must confess I am speechless

-30-

Fear of Flying III...

Here's a page borrowed from Odie over at Woodsterman's and under the heading "Only in San Francisco". I proposed a solution for the TA "Scope or Grope" problem in a previous post but my USAFA friend, Major Joe Di Mento sends me a little ditty about the San Fran fuzz that promises to bust up the "two lines, no waiting" paradigm with some odd combinations and permutations:

Must be pretty confusing to be a cop in San Francisco.

Chief Heather Fong (on the left), is the first SFPD female, lesbian chief of police. Theresa Sparks (center, a former male), is president of the San Francisco Police Commission, CEO of a multimillion-dollar sex toy retailer, and a transgender woman. Sgt. Stephan Thorne (right, a former female), is the first transgender SFPD police officer. Their Representative in Congress is Nancy Pelosi, of course.

ANY QUESTIONS?

..I though not. Things sure are a far cry from the good old days of Dirty Harry, are they not?

Y..M..C..A..dah..dah..dah..Y..M..C..A..

-30-

ZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzz.......

This is the BitX20A. It is a QRP (low power) amateur radio kit and a project I am contemplating over the holidays. It is a single-banded transceiver designed to operate on the amateur 20 meter band (14.000-14.400 MHz) in SSB (Single Sideband) mode. I have built about ten kits like this ranging from some slightly simpler to one -- my main "rig" -- that covers 160 meters through 10 meters in the high frequency band. (That is, 1.8 through 30 MHz.)

This is a kit and, as such, it is built by the amateur as opposed to purchasing one off the shelf like the check-writing weenies do.

I have built a couple of radios that are NOT kits, i.e., I have to scrounge the parts and PCB materials, and solder the whole thing together from scratch. But those were pathetically simple radios. One day I want to build a radio similar to this from scratch; I have amassed all of the parts and documentation, and only lack the time to do it..

..as I said, some day.

For now, these little kits take about a week to build at a leisurely pace. My personal opinion is that the building is more fun than the operating. Those of us to are devotees of the QRP discipline like to say we go through more rolls of solder than we do log books. Although, to be honest, it is quite a thrill to contact someone in Russia or Europe or Japan or Australia using just 5 watts on a radio that you guilt yourself.

Anyway, I just posted the pics and videos on my site for convenience so I could go to one spot to peruse them during lunch.

Maybe when I get the radio done -- or perhaps as I am building the kit -- I'll post some pictures so you can see what's shaking.

..that ought to bore the pants off you.

-72-

Fear of Flying II

"Sir, please come with me if you would!"

I did some inspired thinking about this TSA "Scope or Grope" thing last night. (Hey, I always work better at night within arm's reach of a bottle of Lismore.) We're going about this all wrong. Bump all of the current loser-TSA-screeners upstairs into admin positions and away from the public. (Where their incompetence will, by virtue of the Peter Principle, land them in a few years anyway.) Then start hiring only -- and I mean ONLY -- hunk out of work actors and feloniously voluptuous and comely out-of-work actresses to serve as the front line troops in the inspection brigade. Next, pass a rule that says men passengers get checked only by women screeners and women passengers get checked only by men screeners.

I am willing to bet that this controversy would evaporate over night and that airline travel would blossom to epic levels.

For variety, gay travelers could have their own lines and we could expand the screening modes to appeal to travelers who have -- shall we say -- other tastes. You know, like for example, some lady screeners could be wearing more severe uniforms with thigh-high stiletto-heeled boots and perform the, ahem, pat down with a riding crop.

Of course, I'm just spit-balling here, but what the hell?

-30-

Fear of Flying

Drudge ran this picture on his site today over the [highly appropriate] headline: "The Terrorists Have Won!"

That and the video of the 3-year-old having a meltdown when one of those insensitive, behemoth, trapezoidal TSA matrons groped her during a pat-down below, have conspired to send us all over the edge in revolt:

The conundrum is whether to board an aircraft with some Mooz-lem turban-wearing sonofabitch whose got a C-4 codpiece or face off against a TSA matron wearing rubber gloves, glaring at us, and and asking, "Scope or grope?"

And so we submit to these indignities? What then? The x-ray and the pat-downs get under the clothes and down to the skin. What happens if some camel jockey decides that he needs an RDX enema to pull off his one-way trip to paradise and the 72 virgin goats? Will the TSA Trapezoid be squeezing K-Y jelly on her gloved forefingers and not offering the scope as an alternative?

Ugh! Pass the brain bleach! Mrs War Planner and I will definitely be taking our next trip to Japan via slow boat to China, thank you.

Waggishly, the Minnesota Majority has come out with a video on the subject:

Cute..but I'd like to suggest they use another tune from The Who's rock opera Tommy that is more appropriate for the toddler-tickling that the TSA does:

    I'm your wicked Uncle Ernie
    I'm glad you won't see or hear me
    As I fiddle about
    Fiddle about
    Fiddle about !

    Your mother left me here to mind you
    Now I'm doing what I want to
    Fiddling about
    Fiddling about
    Fiddle about!

-30-

..and Dennis hits a triple into the power alley in right center..

My man on Pelosi: “I guarantee you that woman is crazy. She is batsh*t crazy. I guarantee you that she sleeps upside-down.”

See it for your very own bad self. The whole riff is worth the price:
 

..and just to wash the whole thing down, here's a little AC/DC, fellow babies!

(Some Saturdays I get so suffused with the spirit, I channel Dr Johnny Fever!)

-30-

Child Emperor whiffs in the East..

Hey, ABC's Jake Tapper and Diane Sawyers's words, not mine..

-30-

It's working..it's working!!

"National People's Radio"

The effects of last week's election is being felt by so many on the left and the results range from outright panic to total delusion.

It seems that San Fran Nan had some Botox seep into her frontal lobes as she declared that she was not to blame for the blood bath that took away 60+ of her colleagues. Hat tip to Ed Morrissey of Hot Air:

It’s not her fault, Pelosi insists. She’s just a victim of the economic environment that, er, her caucus spent nine months ignoring on their march to pass a bill that the majority of Americans didn’t want in the first place

Further, she told NPR the following:

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says she has the “overwhelming support” of fellow Democrats in her bid to become minority leader in the next Congress, and says she’s not to blame for the Democrats’ mid-term debacle.

“We didn’t lose the election because of me,” Ms. Pelosi told National Public Radio in aninterview that aired Friday morning. “Our members do not accept that.”

Instead, the California Democrat attributes the loss of at least 60 seats to high unemployment and “$100 million of outside, unidentified funding.”

“Any party that cannot turn (9.5% unemployment) into political gains should hang up the gloves,” she said.

Boy, she even got me on that last remark. If you understand it, please comment below and straighten me out.

However it seems that not only Nancy Pelosi curled up on her back, pawing in the air like a dying cockroach. Fox News reports the folks over at NPR are madly scurrying around, hyperventilating from the threat of losing their government funding:

NPR said it's "imperative" that it receives federal funding in light of a recommended cuts by the leaders of President Obama's fiscal commission.

"Federal funding has been a central component of public radio stations' ability to serve audiences across the country," NPR said in a statement. "It's imperative for funding to continue to ensure that this essential tool of democracy survives and thrives well into the future."

The co-chairmen of Obama's fiscal commission, Democrat Erskine Bowles and Republican Alan Simpson, proposed eliminating funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, among other ideas, in their report on how to bring down the long-term debt in the U.S. The Corporation for Public Broadcasting assists NPR and PBS stations in their operations.

"..Serve audiences across the country" from federal funding, my butt! Serving liberal audiences is more like it.

Notice the tears rolling down my cheeks over the prospect of their not getting their hands on our money to concoct and promulgate their bilious propaganda.

-30-

1/2 boy 1/2 man

..I believe this is attributed to LtCol Oliver North, but sent to me by my good friend and high school classmate, William Jarrott:

The average age of the military man is 19 years. He is a short haired, tight-muscled kid who, under normal circumstances is considered by society as half man, half boy. Not yet dry behind the ears, not old enough to buy a beer, but old enough to die for his country. He never really cared much for work and he would rather wax his own car than wash his father's, but he has never collected unemployment either.

He's a recent High School graduate; he was probably an average student, pursued some form of sport activities, drives a ten year old jalopy, and has a steady girlfriend that either broke up with him when he left, or swears to be waiting when he returns from half a world away. He listens to rock and roll or hip-hop or rap or jazz or swing and a 155mm howitzer.

He is 10 or 15 pounds lighter now than when he was at home because he is working or fighting from before dawn to well after dusk. He has trouble spelling, thus letter writing is a pain for him, but he can field strip a rifle in 30 seconds and reassemble it in less time in the dark. He can recite to you the nomenclature of a machine gun or grenade launcher and use either one effectively if he must.

He digs foxholes and latrines and can apply first aid like a professional.

He can march until he is told to stop, or stop until he is told to march.

He obeys orders instantly and without hesitation, but he is not without spirit or individual dignity. He is self-sufficient.

He has two sets of fatigues: he washes one and wears the other. He keeps his canteens full and his feet dry.

He sometimes forgets to brush his teeth, but never to clean his rifle. He can cook his own meals, mend his own clothes, and fix his own hurts.

If you're thirsty, he'll share his water with you; if you are hungry, his food. He'll even split his ammunition with you in the midst of battle when you run low..

He has learned to use his hands like weapons and weapons like they were his hands.

He can save your life - or take it, because that is his job.

He will often do twice the work of a civilian, draw half the pay, and still find ironic humor in it all.

He has seen more suffering and death than he should have in his short lifetime.

He has wept in public and in private, for friends who have fallen in combat and is unashamed..

He feels every note of the National Anthem vibrate through his body while at rigid attention, while tempering the burning desire to 'square-away ' those around him who haven't bothered to stand, remove their hat, or even stop talking. In an odd twist, day in and day out, far from home, he defends their right to be disrespectful.

Just as did his Father, Grandfather, and Great-grandfather, he is paying the price for our freedom. Beardless or not, he is not a boy. He is the American Fighting Man that has kept this country free for over 200 years.
He has asked nothing in return, except our friendship and understanding. Remember him, always, for he has earned our respect and admiration with his blood.

And now we even have women over there in danger, doing their part in this tradition of going to War when our nation calls us to do so.

A short lull, a little shade and a picture of loved ones in their helmets.

Prayer for our troops.

"Lord, hold our troops in your loving hands. Protect them as they protect us. Bless them and their families for the selfless acts they perform for us in our time of need. Amen."

Keep them in your hearts every day, even if their leader in Washington does not..

-30-

Waggish Veterans' Day thought..

Happy Veterans' Day to all those who have served this country. But my cynicism occasions this observation:

"Isn't this the day on which all of us veterans work so state and federal and bank and post office and DMV employees and teachers (and mainly their administrators) can have a paid holiday?"

You can quote me on that.

-30-

Happy Birthday, Son..

This one goes out to my son, Lance Corporal War Planner, and all of the U.S. Marines, past and present, who bravely served and, in some cases, paid the ultimate price.

For me, this is a special time of year: today is his "other birthday", and tomorrow, I have a son who is also a brother..

..in arms.

One cannot possibly imagine how proud I am for him, his service, and this country.

God bless them all.

-30-

Islamic Mothers' Lament..

From Sky King:

Two Middle East mothers are sitting in a cafe chatting over a plate of tabouli and a pint of goat's milk. The older of the two pulls a bag out of her purse and starts flipping through photos. They start reminiscing.

"This is my oldest son, Mujibar. He would have been 24 years old now."

"Yes, I remember him as a baby," says the other mother cheerfully.

"He's a martyr now though," the mother confides.

"Oh, so sad dear," says the other.

"And this is my second son, Khalid. He would have been 21."

"Oh, I remember him," says the other happily, "he had such curly hair when he was born."

"He's a martyr too" says the mother quietly.

"Oh, gracious me..." says the other.

"And this is my third son. My baby. My beautiful Ahmed. He would have been 18," she whispers.

"Yes" says the friend enthusiastically, "I remember when he first started school"

"He's a martyr also," says the mother, with tears in her eyes.

After a pause and a deep sigh, the second Muslim mother looks wistfully at the photographs and, searching for the right words, she finally says...

"They blow up so fast, don't they?"

-30-

One Week ago..II

Before the NOvember 2nd elections at the RNC headquarters:

 

After the NOvember 2nd elections at the RNC headquarters:

..kinda sez it all, don't it?

-30-

A week later..

I had to capture this picture. No special reason; just wanted to remind myself what would happen to this country should The Child Emperor take one (God forbid) on his current imperial caravan to Inja's sunny climes.

Yep, it would be this fool -- waiting in the wings -- who would run around frantically looking for a phone booth to change into his Superman suit. More reminiscent of the Mighty Mouse cartoon, really.

The occasion of Slow Joe's histrionics and gesticulations? It seems that our VPOTUS was at another conference discussing the transparency of the Obama regime -- at a meeting that was closed to the public:

Possibly the most important event of the vice president's day Tuesday is to meet at 2:15 with Earl Devaney. Everyone knows him as chairman of the Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board -- the top guy monitoring the gazillion-dollar stimulus and the overdue economic recovery, and ensuring that the taxpayers financing same know all about it.

However, no one outside the room will know what goes on in that Biden-Devaney meeting. That's because the government meeting on government transparency has been closed.

O.K., I'm busted here. I put the picture up at noon today and lunch hour came to a screaming halt when one of my production jobs crashed and I had to bail on a half-eaten tuna sammich to put out some fires. It's later in the evening and The Rack Monster beckons, but I gotta throw out a couple o' props.

The first goes to Andrew Malcom who is the sole voice of reason and wit who writes a blog called Top of the Ticket over at the lefty-suffused and hated Los Angeles Times. Andrew is a long time scrivener whose creds go back to the 60s, I believe. He is a regular on Ed Morrissey's internet show and the tales he tells..

I want to also call your attention to one of the very faithful visitors to my pathetic blog: Supi's Just an Artist always has some neat stuff there. Most recently, Supi ran a tribute to her dad who, I am guessing, was a B-24 pilot. (And we thank him for keeping our world free and safe.) My favorite, though, is her treatise on that other venerable Russian rifle, the Mosin Nagant. Her post, Mosin Nagant Humor, is a real treat if you know anything about them or even if you have only seen the move, Enemy at the Gates.

Like Carol, Tim, Odie, M.A., Chris, the newly-returned Bunni and the others in this fun little corner of the internet, Supi is part of the family.

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Stealth Circuit..

 

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One last gloat..

..as this eventful week fades into the mist:

God, I love this!

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Internet passing..

Not as tragic as an actual death, but close to it. Scooter Van Neuter has elected to pull the plug on his blog and wander off on a different topic:

I will miss his cynicism and humor.

That's why you gotta be good to people like this -- folks like Woodsterman, for example -- they are truly funny and interesting. As things settle down here, I plan on making more visits to "my friends" that I have discovered on the internet. During these times, their wit  and wisdom really are precious.

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And now for something completely different..

A letter from Cam Hartford, N6GA:

Gentlemen,

Please allow me a moment of congratulatory number crunching.

Zuni Loop Mountain Expeditionary Force
Overall, out of 2617 participants, we placed #65. Thanks to Jim Lowman for pointing out that means we placed in the top 2.5% nationwide. Closer to home, we were #4 out of 182 participants in the Southwest Division, which is SoCal plus Arizona. Still closer to home, in the LAX Section, we smoked 'em all!  We're #1! We're #1! Now where'd I put my big #1 foam hand....

Not too shabby for a bunch of geezers. Well, not Paul and Tim. Hang in there, someday you guys will make geezer status.

Tnx, 72, 73,

Cam

I know most visitors will be puzzling over this; it's NOT politics. When I get back form my USAFA meeting this after, I'll riddle this out of for all of you.

For those who do understand:

73 ES GL - BCNU

..dit dit.

UPDATE: O.K., sorry for not filling folks in about this and, yes, Odie, I did write about this before. It is the results of an amateur radio contest I participate in every year. I wrote about this as my second blog post ever:

..While not an avid devotee of CW ("Continuous Wave", as Morse code is called), I plug along at about 15-20 wpm depending n the state of mind, the ears, and the amount of time I can devote to it. But it is, as I said, a source of pride that I got my ticket before the qualifications were watered down. So, just call me an old "code warrior".

The one aspect of the hobby I am unabashedly fervent about is building and operating QRP radios. These are radios that emit 5 watts (or less) of power and, when atmospheric conditions are good, can be used to contact other hams half way across the globe. Also, these radios can be made very small and therefore operated off batteries and from exotic locations - like from your camp site in the mountains.

Talking with foreign or far-flung amateurs is called "DX" (short for "distance") and, while difficult with radios operating at 100 watts or 1,000 watts of output power, at 5 watts it requires a good deal of luck and skill.

I have a lot of the former, and a smattering of the latter.

The contest is called Field Day and takes place on the  third weekend of June and requires -- no, incentivizes --  operators to choose an outdoors location where they can set up and operate in a quasi-emergency location. Points are  awarded on the basis of the number of contacts a station or a group of operators will make and point multipliers awarded for the mode they operate in.

Every year, we repair to the Zuni Loop campground in the mountains near Wrightwood, California for this contest. Our QRP, battery-powered stations and the number of contacts regularly oput us up in the top echelon of those who participate ion this nation-wide (and now world-wide) contest.

This year were the bomb!

Disclaimer: through little or no skill on my part. Cam Hartford, N6GA, and others of stellar talent occasioned this triumph. So now, where's my foam hand?

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Good News: Nancy Pelosi Considering Minority Leader Position

Graphic via. Saberpoint

by the Left Coast Rebel

You would think that the leader of a representative body that just suffered it's worse loss (in sheer numbers) since 1948 would retire into the shadows and, in the least, not be heard from for some time.

Not for Nancy. Apparently she is considering staying-on as the Democrat minority leader in the House and that's a good thing. I can't think of a more effective face to scapegoat for the upcoming 2012 rout:

(ABC,) High-level Democratic sources in the House tell ABC News Pelosi is seriously considering staying in Congress and running for the position of minority leader.

Pelosi is methodically calling every Democratic House member who won on Tuesday, as well as many who lost, sources tell ABC News. In the process, she is weighing her options and gauging her support.

Some of Pelosi's closest allies are encouraging her to stay and to lead the Democratic effort to win back their majority. Those encouraging her are arguing, in part, that she can unify the progressives in the caucus, and more importantly, that nobody in the House can raise money for the next campaign better than Pelosi.

Sheer lunacy! NancyNasty Pelosi is one of the biggest reasons that Democrats got the 'shellacking' of the century on Tuesday. I can't imagine her face put on the 'new' Democrat party in search of majority status. I am reminded of a timeless verse.

Proverbs 26:11:

As a dog returneth to his vomit, so a fool returneth to his folly.

Indeed! Cross posted to LCR.

Hit, man!

..from my friend, Bill Preston:

POLK COUNTY FLORIDA SHERIFF GRADY JUDD
An illegal alien in Polk County Florida who got pulled over in a routine traffic stop ended up 'executing' the deputy who stopped him. The deputy was shot eight times, including once behind his right ear at close range. Another deputy was wounded and a police dog killed.

A state-wide manhunt ensued.

The murderer was found hiding in a wooded area and as soon as he took a shot at the SWAT team, officers opened fire on him. They hit the guy 68 times. Naturally, the liberal media went nuts and asked why they had to shoot the poor undocumented immigrant 68 times.

Sheriff Grady Judd told the Orlando Sentinel, "Because that's all the ammunition we had…".

Now, is that just about the all-time greatest answer or what! The Coroner also reported that the illegal alien died of natural causes. When asked by a reporter how that could be since there were 68 bullet wounds in his body, he simply replied, "When you are shot 68 times you are naturally gonna die."

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Thirty minutes later you're hungry..

                                        No, you can't always get what you want
                                        You can't always get what you want
                                        You can't always get what you want
                                        And if you try sometime you find
                                        You get what you need
                                        -- The Rolling Stones

You know the scene in The Sting where after the con is sprung and the mark is hustled from the betting parlor and Paul Newman turns to Robert Redford and asks, "Well kid, was it worth it?"

Redford kind of shakes his head no and then with a wry smile responds, "..but it was close."

That's kind of like how I feel about last night. Mrs War Planner and I had the champagne on ice and were enjoying some good vittles as race after race fell into the Republican column. We were anticipating the eight o'clock closing of the California polls and the agonizing wait as the votes rolled up for Brown v. Whitman and Boxer v. Fiorina. And then -- at the appointed hour -- Fox News, almost as an afterthought, called those races for our enemies.

Pfffffffft!

There it was: the volunteer work of almost two months, walking precincts and innumerable telephone calls, up in smoke, a casual offhand comment before they cut to one of those countless Lexus commercials they run. We're sitting there with the pâté de foie gras on our lips and the Moët et Chandon dribbling down our chins as a pall descends upon the proceedings.

Captain Bringdown hath spoken.

For the rest of the night, through wave after wave of good news, we deal with the painful tidbit that the 73-year-old hippie who guided California's fortunes incapably into the first years of the Reagan revolution would again have minion over our lives and would be consorting with the scheming Democrats, lobbyists, and neutered, go-along Republicans in Sacramento, spending and shoveling largess at constituents until the coffers of this great state are bereft of funds. And there would be six more years of that shriveled up old hag sitting in judgment of Army generals, insisting that they genuflect and address her by her proper title.

Ungracious thoughts -- calculation of their ages and contemplation the delicious prospect of either or both vapor-locking in harness -- passed through my mind.

Sometime later that night, I wandered into the bedchamber and launched myself into an ambiguous slumber to awake to a bright, unseasonably warm day; it's amazing how one's perspective changes after a night's sleep.

I am sure you have heard the litany of the good, bad, and the ugly of yesterday's events. There was a lot of good, almost no bad and, of course, the ugly will soon be winging their way back to their home towns for a not-so-well-earned sabbatical. I would include in this group, of course, the turd-studded personages of Nancy Pelosi and Alan Grayson. The former is rumored to be retiring rather than suffer the indignity of serving as a privilege-deprived back-bencher in the House and the latter is just crawling back under that algae-encrusted rock from whence he emerged two years ago. I personally wish that man the worst, hope he contracts a pernicious STD from mating with lower forms of life, and dies a shrieking, agonizing death while watching his member ooze green puss as it shrivels and falls off. And no, Grayson, in this case this Republican will NOT want you to die quickly. 

But the real gem of this election is that the Republicans have gained just enough power to affect events in Washington for the good and not enough to be overtly held accountable for any failures of bad governance. By any measure, the Democrats have their hands on two out of the three throttles of this nation's government engine; they must responsibly maintain that grip, not releasing it to point fingers.

Of course, the 240-plus seats in the house are a thing of beauty and a joy to behold and it was almost universally acknowledged that soon-to-be-speaker-Boehner's remarks late last night set the correct tone.

Moreover, while remaining in Democrat hands, the senate will be comprised of [at least] 46 republicans and no less than 21 Democrats who come up for election in 2012. With the memories of this blood bath -- those who blindly obeyed the Child Emperor's wishes perishing -- still fresh in their minds, then they will be much more amenable to suggestions from the minority party. There is even talk of some Dems converting and becoming Republican. It ain't a rubber stamp but it'll do 'til the real thing comes along.

Yes sir, it seems that the Stones got it right..

..you may not get what you want, but sometimes get what you need.. 

UPDATE: Here's a very upbeat summary of what I was trying to express above. Be prepared to split your sides with laughter. Happy days are here again!

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