A President for all time..

Not to give short shrift to Washington, Lincoln and the other great men who served this country nobly and capably, but here is a message from AFP reminding us that most of us were fortunate to have lived during the presidency of one of the truly great leaders:

..and, no, it was not hat skinny metrosexual thug from Illinois.

Happy birthday, Gipper. We sure do miss you.

-30-

John C. Garand and his Rifle..

"Kapow! Kapow! Kapow! Kapow! Kapow! Kapow! Kapow! Kapow! Ka-lingggg!"

..in addition to railing against the boobs we have in Washington and Sacramento (and other places of governance where these idiots assemble) AND in addition to amateur radio, I have yet another diversion that occupies my time and helps me offload the mountains of cash received from my place of employment: I like shooting.

Not only do I like shooting, I like shooting Mr Garand's wonderful contribution to our culture: The 30 caliber M-1.

Am I a Carlos Heathcock or Vasily Zaytsev? Hardly! The term "broad side of a barn" comes to mind. When people speak in hushed tones of my marksmanship prowess and the term "dinner-plate sized groups" comes up, they usually throw in "place setting for the Jolly Green Giant". But, what the hell? I am in my sixth decade on this earth and getting anything on paper and in the aiming black at 100 yards with iron sights is pretty near a miracle for me.

But I persevere.

In addition to that, though, I just welcome the opportunity to share history with a many who lived and fought in past generations -- most notably, WWII, the Korean War, and briefly -- ever so briefly -- the Viet Nam War.

My pride and joy is a Harrington & Richardson made, .30 caliber M-1, a veteran born sometime around 1955 as its 5571### serial number tells me. It's got a decent but darkened stock with a few dings and cartouches (stamps put on it by the various armorers who have refit and revitalized it). It's components are not completely H&R -- there's a couple of Springfield Armory parts indicating that it was issued to one soldier, used, then overhauled, and handed finally back out to another before it was called in and given over to the Civilian Marksmanship Program so that some of us could practice and stand at the ready should the Russians or Cubans invade..

..or whatever your fantasy might be.

Wolverines!

Here's some shots of The WP with Old Betsy:

"Cold dead hands and all that, old chum.."

Do we get extra points if we hit the beer bottles?"

In any event, I commend this owning a piece of military history to you.I wrote about this once before here and like to pass this along again.The CMP according to its Wikipedia entry:

The Civilian Marksmanship Program (CMP) is a U.S. government-chartered program that promotes firearms safety training and rifle practice for all qualified U.S. citizens with special emphasis on youth. Any U.S. citizen who is not legally prohibited from owning a firearm may purchase a military surplus rifle from the CMP, provided they are a member of a CMP affiliated club. The CMP operates through a network of affiliated shooting clubs and state associations that covers every state in the U.S. The clubs and associations offer firearms safety training and marksmanship courses as well as the opportunity for continued practice and competition.

Basically, they operate out of two locations: Camp Perry near Port Clinton, Ohio (CMP North) and Anniston, Alabama (CMP South). I have purchased two rifles from them, the aforementioned Harrington & Richardson and a repatriated Greek Springfield from approximately the same era. The latter was a weapon we loaned to the Greeks in the late 1950s like we did with other NATO countries like Denmark, etc. These were recently given back to us and sent to the CMP for refurbishing and reselling. In the case of mine, the barrel was shot out and the stock had a peace symbol carved into it. So, off it went to Dean's Gun Restoration in Tennessee where it was rebarrelled and had a nice new stock put on it. Below is a picture I cadged from Dean's Website of the type of work he does:

The upper picture is, of course, the before and the bottom is the after. I just have one caveat to add: my Greek before looked crappier than the one Dean shows and my Springfield after looks far better than what Dean shows on his site. Just sayin' that Dean is far too modest about his workmanship. But the math works out really, really well. The Greek repat was what they called a "rack grade" and cost me about $300. Dean did his magic and charged me somewhere around $600 (his prices, like everything, have gone up in 8 years) so the total piece cost me around $900 out the door.I got it back and benched it -- back when I could shoot -- and got a 4-inch group at 100 yards using Lake City M2 Ball ammunition.

At the time, the Springfield Armory was starting to sell their re-issue or anniversary edition or whatever-the-hell-they-called-it 2004 M-1s for around $1,200. These were roundly disparaged by the Garand crowd as being late-to-the-dance and not worthy of purists' attention. Something like cast receivers as opposed to the original M-1's milled receivers. Frankly, back in 2004, I would have taken the Greek repats and had them refurbished by Dean any day of the week and twice on Sunday.

The Springfield -- while technically mine -- has been "gifted" to my son, the good Lance Corporal, who CAN shoot the testicles off of a gnat at 300 yards. We're headed out the door one weekend coming up to "BZO" (re-zero) these veterans and then we'll see if we can do some serious damage to 12 x 12 pieces of paper afterwards.

Sadly, with the advent of The Pantload ascending to the throne in 2009, ammunition prices have shot (sorry) out of sight. I used to be able to get .30-06 from the CMP for about 25 cents per round. Now they sell their stuff for about $110 -- and that's the cheapest surplus military stuff going with about a 15% wastage factor. Works out to 55 cents a round. To curtail severe wallet cramps, I am starting to reload which should cut down the cost to about 35 cents per round, if I am lucky.

Anyway, I am prattling here.

If you would like to own a piece of history, I commend the CMP to you. If you are a decent, law-aboding citizen, you may join and partake of what they have to offer. See you at the range?

Wolverines!

-30-

"They bore freedom's sword on silver wings.."

Please watch; please do not feel ashamed if you mist up a tad..

-30-

INTERNET WARNING..

..from my friend, Tom Alexander, the retired Georgia Police Detective:

If you get an email titled "Nude photo of Nancy Pelosi,"

Don't open it... It contains a nude photo of Nancy Pelosi.

-30-

The old ssssssssoft shoe..

..a little traveling music, Ray.

Here's The Pantload tap dancing his way through a question from a lady whose husband has been out of work as long as this stiff has been in office. (Coincidence? I think not!)

And here's a pretty funny set of comments that address the bravo sierra Sunny Jim is laying down:

Tell your wuss husband to get a blue collar job. I work in construction and there is a severe shortage of non-wuss men. If you can get the job done without causing headaches and whining you'll get hired quick and be burried in work.
Ed from Missouri and 67 more liked this

buddyjoke [Moderator] 18 hours ago in reply to YippitySkippity

There has got to be something out there.

He has created over 22 million jobs in 3 years.
Or is it 3 jobs in 22 years?
Or is it 3 jobs in 22 million years?
Or is it 22 jobs in 3 million years?

What the heck, but it is one of those statements.

My take on this? The stupid bastard still has not fixed those goddam whistling teeth.

-30-

Theory of Relativity

"Gimme your dough, you miserable proles.."

Ever notice how -- to libs and Dems -- things are relative. Just recently, it was revealed that pile of crap AG of Obama's knew about Fast and Furious five months before he originally said he did:

Attorney General Eric Holder’s Department of Justice dumped documents related to Operation Fast and Furious on congressional officials late Friday night. Central to this document dump is a series of emails showing Holder was informed of slain Border Patrol agent Brian Terry’s murder on the day it happened – December 15, 2010.

An email from one official, whose name has been redacted from the document, to now-former Arizona U.S. Attorney Dennis Burke reads: “On December 14, 2010, a BORTAC agent working in the Nogales, AZ AOR was shot. The agent was conducting Border Patrol operations 18 miles north of the international boundary when he encountered [redacted word] unidentified subjects. Shots were exchanged resulting in the agent being shot. At this time, the agent is being transported to an area where he can be air lifted to an emergency medical center.”

That email was sent at 2:31 a.m. on the day Terry was shot. One hour later, a follow-up email read: “Our agent has passed away.”

Burke forwarded those two emails to Holder’s then-deputy chief of staff Monty Wilkinson later that morning, adding that the incident was “not good” because it happened “18 miles w/in” the border.

Wilkinson responded to Burke shortly thereafter and said the incident was “tragic.” “I’ve alerted the AG [Holder], the Acting DAG, Lisa, etc.”

..hmmmmmm. Lessseeeee, 4-1/3 x 5 = 21-2/3 weeks. You do the math, but that sure appears like “a few” to them is just like 20,000 jobs is “not many”. Here is Don Wade and Roma-- two WLS Chicago talk show hosts -- in an interview with Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) weho tries to justify The Pantload's recent veto of the Keystone Pipeline veto. Listen to this sniveling waste of skin try to tap dance around this as Don and Roma keep bringing up embarrassing facts like the fact that the pipleline was researched for three years, it was signed off by the state department, and that the 20,000 were the direct jobs with an additional 100,000 jobs.

Just in case you don;t remember who this worthless piece of dog vomit is, she's the one who got into it with a talk show host (I do not believe it was Don and Roma -- maybe someone else) back in September last year who maintained that you do NOT deserve to keep your money:

UPDATE: This woman's husband apparently does not believe what his wife preaches. Per a comment on the You Tube page for that video:

I guess her husband doesn't share her views:

Robert B. Creamer, the husband of U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky, was indicted today on federal charges of operating three check-kiting schemes that defrauded banks out of at least $2.3 million while he ran an Illinois public interest group.

Creamer, 56, of Evanston, was charged with 16 counts of bank fraud for allegedly swindling nine different financial institutions. He also was charged with 18 counts of tax fraud.

Seems he served time for this as his page on the Federal Bureau of Prisons site states..

..un-frakking-believable.

-30-

Heresy..

I received this comment on a previous post and wanted to discuss this with the gentleman (or lady?) in a more prominent setting:

Blogger Arctic Patriot said...
An Obama '16 victory will be a net gain for freedom in the long term.

Romney's statism will (and has never) shown any objective, substantial, or measurable difference from Obama's. Problem is, a Romney victory will put the partially aroused American people back to their slumbering.

Four years of "Obama with a mandate" will galvanize the American people for real freedom more than anything. In 2016, we will have a galvanized liberty-craving electorate, and a fractious (not united, as now) democrat party.

The Dead Elephant party is offering no substantial alternative to the party of Obama.

Republican and Democrats are both sides of the same Statist coin.

You can call me all the names you like. I believe one way or the other, it doesn't matter, because Obama will most likely win this year.

Politicians are the symptom, not the problem.

AP

AP,

Sorry for the late response; I do not feel compelled to call you anything except a good person with an opinion that differs from my own.

Please recognize that I have a bad case of ODS and feel that if he is given another fours years -- irrespective of who controls Congress -- he will do far more damage to this country and this economy. I laid this out in the post to which you added your comment but I feel it important to reiterate some points -- not to be argumentative, but for you and others to consider.

Firstly, I think you mean re-electing Obama for 2012 - not 2016. I am not a tin-foil hat wearing member of the fraternity that believes he will suspend elections in 2016 and appoint himself Emperor Barack I of the U. S. S. of A. like his hero, the cancer-stricken tub of goo running Venezuela. (But get back to me in, say, 2015 and we'll see.)

That said, however, the prospect of giving Obama another four years is nonetheless frightening. He will not be fettered by re-election worries; his only concern -- because of his monumental ego -- will be to cement his legacy by indelibly imprinting his image on this country.

He will surely veto any bills to cross his desk that don't cleave to his ultra-liberal, socialist bent. How about attempts to repeal ObamaCare? Forget that; not gonna happen. And, once that monstrosity is in place and the benefits have kicked in, then it becomes an entitlement like Social Security and cannot be gouged out of our firmament. The prospect of a non-tax-paying underclass being permanently welded to the Democrat party might well ensure that the Spartan, conservative darling candidate you yearn for in 2016 will fade in the haze as the proles clamor for more and more from a permanent, socialist all-powerful, all-controlling, all-providing government.

Then there's the prospect of his stacking the SCOTUS with two ultra-liberal justices and that is something that will doom us for decades to come. If that happens and we are lucky, we might not see the light of day until this century has played out. (Of course, we shall be dust by then.)

No, Romney is not the reincarnation of Reagan but I do not believe he is nearly as bad as Obama and his crowd. I fully believe -- if he is the nominee --the key lies in whom Romney picks as a running mate. Someone like Rubio will be the heir to Romney's tenure and certainly lead us out into much brighter, sunnier days than the gloom of giving this idiot another four years to compound the damage he has done to this country. But I believe that he may very well turn out to be a lot better -- conservatively -- than people think.

By the way, and for your edification, I am not wed to Romney. I will work equally hard for any candidate winning the GOP nomination. But, as I said in the post you commented on:

But the deal breaker for me are those who stamp their feet, hold their breath, take their ball and go home or otherwise throw a tantrum by threatening to cast a protest vote for some no-chance libertarian or third-party candidate. Or even worse yet: voting for Obama in the hopes that their precious little conservative nirvana will eventuate in 2016.

I hope you are reasonable and see that there is NOBODY worse than Obama this November. Ain't worth another four years of this ass clown.

Anyway, thank you for visiting and commenting. I hope you will drop by again and express your opinion.

UPDATE: Odie thinks this guy is a commie and that I should have flushed him. For benefit of those who do not wish to venture to the comments on this post, I offered this response:

Rare opening here at work, Odie, so I'll respond. Dunno if the guy is a troll or not. I looked at this website and he seemed to be pretty much an ABRer. I took his comments at face value and merely enunciated my opinion of getting The Supreme Pantload out of office *then* go to work on the [considerable] damage he has done.

I still cleave to the electability of Romney by virtue of his appeal to moderates and disaffected Dems. And, in the end, we will have to work with those people in the general election and beyond.

I do believe that the country -- if we get Obama out -- will continue the revolution that started in NOvember 2010.

-30-

Newt?

Saturday again after a busy week. It was to have been a morning at the Chino Hills High School Amateur Radio Swap Meet and today I was to have taken The War Planner III and my grandchildren, Sabrina and The War Planner IV. but, alas, a Pacific storm swept in and I don't feel like trudging around the swap and exposing the two kids to the cold and damp. If they got sick, my bride and my daughter in law would never let me hear the end of it.

Live to fight another day, as they say,

So I have time to jot a few words here before I embark on today's rain-sodden adventures.

I see where the big rage is Newt Gingrich's second comeback-- or is it third (I have lost count) -- as he is poised to trounce Mitt Romney in South Carolina. I don't know about you but I am actually wearying of all of these debates and the endless hype and breathless speculation by the news outlets over our political process.

The old adage is that there are two things best left unseen: the making of sausage and the making of laws (politics). It is as though, in this latter case, the politicians in our ruling class have taken their show ion the road. Their multi-state, mobile abbatoir on the road with the killing axes, flensing knives, offal, entrails, and blood spatters on full view for the great gawking proletariat. If I weren't such a person of sunny optimism, I would say that the MSM and the clods who control our destiny are bent on discouraging us from participation this Fall by dulling our interest now.

It would seem that -- for the moment -- this is working on me. I prefer to chase other things at the moment and let the drama play out or, in keeping with my earlier metaphor, the meat get packed.

Even my beloved Hot Air has descended into this maelstrom with its commenters dividing into several camps: the staunch ABR (Anyone But Romney) crowd, the Mittbots, the terminal Eeyores ("We should give up now, it's all hopeless, Obama will win!"), their brethren, the eternally cynical basement-dwelling cynics who basically take a great deal of delight in rebutting/refuting/pissing on every shred of happiness and hope posted, and the sarcastic, snarky (God, I hate that word) comedians.

While Ed Morrissey's analysis is usually spot on and his ability to dissect the bogus MSM polls to point out the howlers and blatant attempts to manipulate with their questionable statistical methods (oversampling Dems, etc.), the others -- Allahpundit, Jazz Shaw, etc. -- have devolved into spewers of disdain and cynicism. The fresh-faced, lovely Tina Korbe attempts some perkiness but, alas, she is too much of a dewy-eyed ingenue to do serious, hard-bitten commentary. She needs about 500 miles of hard road and a few cases of cheap Scotch to earn her grits, in my opinion.

But, as I said, the once-delightful comments have become a roiling mass of incoherence with very few intellectual bright spots.

That said, I stumbled on this remark that sums up my feelings on this rainy Saturday morning in Southern California. It's on the subject of Gingrich's sudden resurrection and rise in the South Carolina polls:

Well put. I strongly support Romney, and I don’t feel nervous or bad about the fact that Newt might win in South Carolina. This whole business about Newt getting attention for his punchy debate answers is just silly. It’s Newt Gingrich we’re talking about. The man is disliked so much by so many (including conservatives and independents) that it’s completely laughable that anyone would think he could win the nomination (let alone beat Obama, which would never happen).

We all know that this angry, pompous Newt routine is going to wear thin fast. This is not something that is going to sell well in many other states. Newt Gingrich will push his blunt answers too far, he’ll let it all go to his head (as he always does), and people will get a closer look at Newt and sour on him again.

Kind of a shame that things are having to get so ugly (and that an extended primary season might end up helping Obama), but I have no doubt that most voters are sane and will vote to nominate Romney, who is the candidate with the best chance, BY FAR, of beating Obama.

bluegill on January 21, 2012 at 5:58 AM

..sorry about the breach of etiquette in quoting the entirety of this long response. It's just that there's so many things I agree with -- especially the part about Newt winning SC.

One really, really good takeaway from all of this drama is that the common folk (read you, me, the HA crowd, and the real people of this country) have had the scales fall away from their eyes and have seen that a candidate can give some blow back to the anointed liberal moderators of these chicken-sh!t debates. Conversely, it might show those who stage the presidential debates in the Fall that their gotcha questions and hit-job journalism bomb-drops will incite us, the great unwashed, to favor the victim of their set-up.

Hell, they might take this lesson so to heart that they'll probably savage their beloved Pantload in an attempt to revive him in the public's eye.

It's all good, the HA Eeyore crowd notwithstanding.

..Maybe I can hit the swap if there's a break in the clouds.

-30-

No work Saturday..

Hey, I am lazy but I worked hard all week and want to spend some time with my hobbies. I got an AR to finish (need a couple of punches from Brownells for the Bolt Catch assembly) and I want to retro-fit an LCD display on a K1EL K-42 code reader I built.

"Da-di-da-dit.."

So, I thought I'd let a comment from Hot Air serve fill in for me. Rational Though was commenting on an assertion made that Romney is using the electability meme; like McCain did in 2008. The point was that McCain failed and so will Romney. Well, here it is for your reading pleasure, emphasis added:

I don’t recall McCain’s electability getting the play last time around that Romney’s is this time. I’ve Google searched it, and yeah, it was definitely there, but I do not recall it being such a big issue. I recall that it was “McCain’s turn” and all of that. I never wanted McCain — I thought Rudy was much more electable — but no Republican was going to win in 2008. Period. That is just a fact. The “financial crisis” in late September, which Bush, McCain, and that corrupt POS Hank Paulson all jumped on with their hyperbolic doomsday scenarios ended the contest. No one was going to beat the Cult of Obama in the face of a “Republican financial crisis” that was “threatening the very existence of the nation.” McCain was an awful candidate running a hideous campaign in the most anti-Republican election of my lifetime, but he STILL got 47% of the vote. I could not believe it was that close. Could not believe it. This time around, the Cult of Obama has become the Disaster of Obama. This is going to be a different election. Beating an incumbent is always hard, but it hinges on intensity against the incumbent, not for his challenger, and the intensity to remove Obama is exceptionally high, far higher than the intensity in Obama’s base to re-elect him. The only thing that is likely to screw it up is if the GOP nominates a religious zealot or a candidate who routinely appears befuddled and incompetent.

Rational Thought on January 7, 2012 at 11:35 AM

*dusts off hands*

Man, was that easy! Now, where's my soldering iron?

UPDATE: I was chastised by my dear friend, Woodsterman, who accuses me of being a tool of the establishment GOP. Odie stopped short of sinking into that deplorable state of Eeyorehood wherein one declares that Romney as the nominee will bring on another Obama victory. Some even go so far as to say that this would invite a Pantload landslide.

I humbly disagree. Odie, I loves ya like a brother and know that our friendship will not be fractured by such disagreements. And I know that this is the primary season and we must all back those candidates we feel will be the best for whatever reasons. But for those out there who DO lapse into becoming Eeyores, I have this for you: these folks are nothing more than aspirants who would be auditioning for the Randy Quaid role in a remake of Major League II:

Do you not comprehend that Obama was swept into power by people with so-called Bush fatigue and the overspending of by the Rs in Congress? Obama was a cypher, a ghost, a zero running against an old, sclerotic candidate who did almost everything to sabotage his VP running mate and yet was leading until he spazzed out on the handling of the debt crisis. Obama was not vetted by the kneepad wearing, tongue bathing, bum osculating Lame Scream Media who gave him a pass on everything while dumping on Bush, McCain, and savaging Sarah Palin viciously.

Obama now has a record on single-handedly wrecking the economy, destroying relations with our allies abroad while smooching with every spittle-flecked despot on the face of the earth. He has blown two sure victories -- Iraq and Afghanistan -- out his pimple-covered hatchet ass and has weakened our military to the point where the post-Carter's levels would seem like a Reagan-esque buildup. He has paid off cronies, foisted off green jobs as largess to his backers, and otherwise handed the NLRB to big labor on a platter.

His record smells worse than a latrine outside one of those donkey bars in Tijuana, Mexico.

Don't even get me started on his so-called Justice Department. And I have not even mentioned the stimulus and ObamaCare.

So along comes a guy who ran the bluest state in the country as a relatively conservative Republican and seemingly did a good job of it. I'll spare you the litany; I am sure there are points we can debate. . But I am so far disposed to voting and supporting Romney because I believe that he has the tools to make a good president and that he has the best chance of banishing this socialist butt-wipe to the oblivion he belongs.

My number one goal is to see that Obama is defeated.

AS I said and to be fair, this is the primary season and each and every one of us should back the person we feel would make the best president. Santorum, Gingrich, Perry, Huntsman, Paul -- yes, even Ron Paul. If anyone of those are the nominee I will work my ass off to support them -- yes, even Ron Paul. I would expect the same from all of you who dislike what Obama is doing to our country. I suspect Odie feels the same way.

But the deal breaker for me are those who stamp their feet, hold their breath, take their ball and go home or otherwise throw a tantrum by threatening to cast a protest vote for some no-chance libertarian or third-party candidate. Or even worse yet: voting for Obama in the hopes that their precious little conservative nirvana will eventuate in 2016.

Flush out you head gear, new guy. There ain't gonna be a U. S. of A. in 2016 if Obama gets another four years. (Here he cues the litany of repeated vetoes of ObabaCare repeal bills and other (R) attempts to thwart him, or the ultra-liberal SCOTUS we'll end up with.)

..anyway, I made my point. Hope you understand.

Smoke 'em if you got 'em.

-30-

I escaped; don't pay the ransom..

Well, the new year brings no sup[rises. Work continues to suffocate.

"May Allah shine his light on you, infidels.."

Here's a little ditty from 1LT "Sky" King, our USAF Auxiliary Squadron Deputy Commander.

Best Bar Joke, evah:

An Illegal Alien, a Muslim and a Communist go into a bar.

The bartender asks: "What can I get you, Mr. President?"

-30-

Merry New Year!

At the inception of each year, I am always reminded of this little gem:

Hot Air chose The Pantload's lamentation "about being held to a higher standard for leadership on freedom than, er, communist China’s Hu Jintao." as their Obamateurism of the Year. Truly amazing effluvia from a man who, arguably, is not held to any standards whatsoever by his handmaidens in the sequined-knee-pad-wearing, tongue-batching mainstream press.

If he is ejected November next, one wonders -- for the sake of symmetry -- there will be an Office of the President Reject[ed]?

Also, Hot Air regular commenter Rovin remarks:

P.S. BACK UP YOUR FILES!

Call me paranoid, but I wouldn’t put it past them, (this current administration and/or the DOJ), to cause an internet meltdown/virus that will virtually destroy every piece of information gathered on our hard-drives. And, of course, this malicious tool will be blamed on some foreign entity by the liberal media, who mysteriously were not effected by the virus. ANYONE can now purchase a full terabyte backup hard-drive for $119.00, (and two TB’s for under $200) leaving your PC protected from a potential information disaster—a small price to pay to preserve the historic events, (and Mr. Morrissey’s OOTD’s), that this administration has undertaken to undermine the masses.

(Now back to my regularly scheduled Ketel-One Bloody Mary)

Rovin on January 1, 2012 at 11:14 AM

Which occasions my recommendation that you pay frequent visits to The Obama Fail Blog this year because we will be entering our final lap with this cretin and one does not wish to miss a minute of his flailing and lip-flapping.

..all the best; now go out and be prosperous and healthy.

-30-

Speaking of ugly..

"Gimme your dough..!"

The First Moocher is at it again. She's lounging around her Hawaiian digs, vacationing on our 40,000,000 dimes (after taking an early flight over that cost us an extra million dimes because she could not wait for that hatchet-assed, metro-sexual Pantload POTUS to wrap things up in D.C.) and putting the arm on her husband's backers, asking them to dig down deep and come up with $3 to for their campaign.

From Kieth Koffler's White House Dossier blog:

Speaking from her paradisical $4 million Hawaii vacation, Mrs. Obama wants to know: Do any of President Obama’s supporters have $3 to spare for his reelection?

This is approximately like coming upon Warren Buffett on a street corner with a McDonald’s cup asking if he can have 15 cents. Michelle’s request was part of an email sent to the Obama 2012 list today.

Over the next 11 months we’ve got an organization to grow, voters to register, and people to get fired up.

I hope you’ll close out this year by donating $3 or more now to help make sure we’re ready for the next one...
Thank you so much, and happy new year,
Michelle

The obscene juxtaposition of the first lady on a $4 million vacation while asking what would have to be middle to low income earners for three bucks – who else would they be targeting with such an appeal? – is yet another example of lack of perspective the Obamas seem to be gaining while in power.

Mrs. Obama takes extravagant vacations to Spain and southern Africa. The president golfs obsessively and is currently dining at Honolulu’s ritziest restaurants. All while asking their fellow Americans to “sacrifice” during this time of not plenty.
And they blow $4 million – mostly taxpayers’ money – on a vacation, while wondering
if the small people can come up with $3. What about renting a beach house next year at the Jersey shore? I mean, if we’re all going to sacrifice.

Tell you what, Keith, if things play out well next year, Moon-Ass and her dipstick hubby will be spending their vacations wading in the shores of Lake Michigan or cavorting in the spray of open fire hydrants in the sweltering Summer streets of Chicago.

For the moment, however, while she's strolling along Makapu'u Beach, you can tell her for me to pound sand.

-30-

The Tasteless Past..

Piqued by a tip from Ed Morrissey and James Lileks on their Saturday show, I came across a truly pedestrian set of pics that rivals Woodsterman's Walmatrian series. Hint: Google "Awkward Family Photographs". Here's a sample of the more tasteful.

..I can't go on. Talk amongst yourselves.

-30-

Past is Prologue II: A look back at 2011..

Actually, this is from 2010, but it is worth remembering if only because I am sure this product will probably be in demand [yet again] after November 6th, 2012.

I wonder if they'll be offering the 2-for-1 offer if you just pay the additional shipping and handing?

-30-

Past is Prologue

Dear Leader is gone but the true tragedy for the NorKs will be when they lose their other "Dear Leader". It'll be a time for them to crank up the tear ducts once more.

TANGENTIAL DRIVE BY ADDENDA: What do you call any given politician's policy of obsequiously fawning over illegal alien in order to get their vote?

HISPANDERING.

Someone in a thread over on Hot Air said he didn't like Rick Santorum because he felt like the Presidential candidate looked like a rat with dentures.

..I don't make 'em up, pally, I just read 'em.

-30-

After Christmas back to work post..

Playing with my new toys. Go here for some interesting stuff. Will be back to write about it when the toys get old. Meantime, we got us some serious work to do next year.

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Merry Christmas, Mr Scrooge, in keeping with the situation..

..and may God bless us every one and bring us what we all -- well, hopefully 51 percent or more of us -- wish for: a victory over the forces of evil and darkness and a merrier and brighter Yule in 2012.

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Miss me yet?

From an obscure link off of Drudge:

..Oh my, how the worm has turned.

UPDATE: Took a look at the site from whence this pic/post came -- Bad Rachel -- and sort of fell in love with it. Straight, clean, spare, unembellished, and worth visiting. I added it to my blog list over there on the right.

Enjoy.

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Turn out the lights, the party's over..

The North Koreans put their old boy into the display case today:

ON SPECIAL TODAY: FRESH DICTATOR, $1.29 PER POUND

Makes a nice banquet centerpiece, don't you think? Just stick an apple in his mouth.

Man, the amount chicken fat and make-up that went into making that stiff presentable on his bier must've set a Guinness record. And, you know NK's don't have a sense of humor when they don't dress up their dictator -- known laughingly to the rest of the Free World as Pajama Boy -- in a set of PJs for his final nap.

Here's the Pajama Boy with his successor son, Melon Head, back in the days when he was vertical:

"Hey dad, when this is done, can we roast a couple of Fox Terriers? I'm starving!"

..the real mystery here is that why would millions of people elect to be subjugated and starved by creeps like this? Must be something in the dog meat they eat.

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The Dark Knight?

(Gonna get some flak for this, but I can't abode the image of that flabby-breasted fruitball congressman..)

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War Planner "I don't give a crap" Insensitive Comment of the Week

Bawney Fwank, the old fairy, with retirement in sight, is finally beginning to lose it:

"Barney Frank Wears Revealing Shirt On House Floor"

Outgoing Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) was on the House floor late Monday afternoon wearing a t-shirt and a sling due to a recent operation on his thumb.

Frank was wearing a revealing shirt, one which you could see through that exposed what his bare chest looks like.

The outgoing Congress said his recent attire was due to surgery he had on a ligament in his thumb.

If you think I'm gonna add to this nonsense, you're certifiable. Maybe this is why these clowns can't get anything done.

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Mele Kaliki Maka 2011: Pantload Vacay Redux..

It seems like only yesterday that The Chicago Jesus and his grasping, tone-deaf WIDE LOAD FLOTUS took separate vacations together to Martha's Vineyard in a stupefyingly display of opulence and insensitivity. That his'n'hers sojourn spawned these little ditties:

"Finding a wave in Martha's Vineyard is almost as hard as finding a job."
"I'd say after 40 fund raisers, I've earned a vacation."
"Wishing you happy job hunting from sunny Martha's Vineyard."
"Gotta sharpen my game for the next ESPN special."
"I hope I bowl higher than my approval rating."
"Why did that lifeguard call me Jimmy Carter?"
"I shot a 39 on the front nine--matches my approval rating."
"It's hot outside, heading to take a double dip."
"This $50,000 per week estate is wicked awesome."
"One local called me the Bill Buckner of the economy. That's good, right?"
"No Joe, don't touch anything while I'm gone."
"Low polls, high unemployment...life's a beach."
"On second thought, maybe I was wrong about Slurpees."
"Great thing about vacations...don't need a plan."
"Wow, I'm eligible for an upgrade. Boy, I needed that."
"I'll pivot to that whole jobs thing...next week."
"Raining in Martha's Vineyard. Must be Bush's fault."
"Divots: They're shovel ready."

Well, just when he thought it was safe to go back in the water, up comes Christmas and yet another period for r'n'r after a blistering pace of on-our-dime-campaigning-disguised-as-POUTS tours, golfing, boogeying at the White House, the customary grind of work-and-responsibility avoidance, and the brain-slaughtering slog of, well, ceaseless vacation planning. So, one would think that our adorable first couple would want to avoid the tin-eared, low-rez optics of past time-off missteps, right?

Nah, not to be, old son.

Turns out this little 17-day stay in our 50th state will set us back a pile.

..research shows the total cost for the President’s visit for taxpayers far exceeded $1.5 million in 2010 – but is even more costly this year because he extended his vacation by three days and the cost for Air Force One travel has jumped since last assessed in 2000.
...
The total cost (based on what is known) for the 17-day vacation round trip vacation to Hawaii for the President, his family and staff has climbed to more than $4 million.

And that's our nickel, folks.

The obscene details (if you want to really delve into this) are itemized in a recent Honolulu Reporter article. The biggest chunk is, of course, travel and logistics:

The biggest expense is President Barack Obama’s round trip flight to Hawaii via Air Force One, a cost the GAO office estimated at $1 million in the year 2000. Contacted today, the GAO confirmed there is no report the independent office affiliated with Congress has prepared since 2000 to operate Air Force One and Air Force Two. However, the U.S. Air Force provides the most current numbers of $181,757 per flight hour. Travel time for Air Force One direct from Washington D.C. to Hawaii is about 9 hours or $1,635,813 each way for a total of $3,271,622 for the round trip to Hawaii and back.
The cost for USAF C-17 cargo aircraft that transports the Presidential limos, helicopters and other support equipment to Hawaii was not made available. However, the flight time between Andrews Air Force Base and Hawaii is at about 21.5 hours round trip, with estimated operating cost of $12,000 per hour. (Source: GAO report, updated by C-17 crew member). The;United States Marine Corps provides a presidential helicopter, along with pilots and support crews for the test flights, which travel on another C-17 flight. That is $258,000, not including costs for the 4 to 6 member crew's per diem and hotel.

And, no, it seems they did NOT sidestep one of the more serious gaffes attributed to their Martha's Vineyard outing:

Mrs. Obama’s early flight to Hawaii costs about $63,000 (White House Dossier), but add security and personnel for a total of about $100,000.

This is getting to be a nasty habit. I mean, she can't wait around the palatial White House for her husband to finish up the work he has been so studiously avoiding? What's the all-fired rush to convey her ample ass out to beyond where the sun sets?

Look, I know we're supposed to be respectful and all that, but if Moose-Chelle keeps booking these separate flights, I'm gonna keep throwing a flag on it and start stirring up speculation that maybe when she flies with any contingent, there are weight and balance issues with Air Force One.

*sigh*

So looks like as we hunker down in our freezing garrets and basements, heating up our gruel over a candle, and spending hard-earned farthings on modest gifts for the third meager Yule Season under this blithering incompetent, we'll be treated to pictures of him and The Moose out there living the high life and the glistening man-boob pictures as he emerges from body surfing at Makapuu.

I hope a shark gnaws his noodle off.

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RESOURCES

Odie -- The Woodsterman -- has a recurring series on his site variously called People of WalMart or Return of the WalMartians or something similar which is a delightful(?) selection of out-of-this-world pictures of the out of this world that shop at that iconic store.

Well, Odie's got his agenda and I have mine. From time-to-time, I plug The Obama Fail Blog because I believe it to be a great resource for all of us who have had to endure the Immense Bowel Movement of a POTUS for the last 1,422 days. More if you count those odious maneuverings of the Office of the President Elect.

And that last point underscores why The Obama Fail Blog is a great resource. How many of you remembered that gaff? How many of you remember the details of the oil spill and how we first learned of Obama's tendency of preferring vacations and golf to actually solving a pressing problem before our country? Anyway, this is the most recent You Tube posted and it harkens us back to the first huge bumble that this cretin foisted off on us, The Stimulus:

As you will see, it's a good recounting of why the stimulus failed and, of course, begs the question as to why this fool would think that another edition of this -- albeit half the size -- would get us out of the economic doldrums we have languished in for the entire duration of The Pantload's term.

So go over to catch Odie's latest truly funny stuff and then head to The Obama Fail Blog to trip through the pages of recent history..

..if you dare.

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FOREGONE OPPORTUNITY

From my friend, Kevin "Sky" King:

I was sitting at a traffic light yesterday next to a carload of politicians when a big tractor-trailer drove right over the top of their car! Flattened it!

"Wow!" I thought, "That could've been me!"

..so I went and got a Commercial Driver's License.

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NEW BUTCH

Sorry for the drive-by, but do you know who this is?

 

No, it's not a picture of your Uncle Seymore, the stevedore, in drag. It's Christiane Amanpour who's rumored out at at that slice of liberal/leftist Sunday garbage, This Week over on ABC.

As I commented on Hot Air:

At the risk of sounding like Apocalypse (the Hot Gas commenter, not the event), in each of our dreary days on this earth — even the darkest — God reaches down with at least one golden shaft of sunlight to brighten our pathetic existence.

By comparison, the news of the [possible] replacement of this insufferable, conceited, patronizing, condescending beyotch with her affected accent and male-in-drag appearance is like a million super novae in the heavens.

(By the way, bethcha $10,000 your uncle Seymore's voice is NOT lover than Amanpour's.)

..so how's that for a lazy, minimalist daily bookmark? I tell you, this blogging thing is getting easier and easier.

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OLD BUTCH

From Lieutenant Rick De Martino, SQ 68, CAWG, USAFA:

John was in the fertilized egg business. He had several hundred young layers (hens), called 'pullets,' and ten roosters to fertilize the eggs. He kept records, and any rooster not performing went into the soup pot and was replaced. This took a lot of time, so he bought some tiny bells and attached them to his roosters.

Each bell had a different tone, so he could tell from a distance, which rooster was performing. Now, he could sit on the porch and fill out an efficiency report by just listening to the bells.

John's favorite rooster, old Butch, was a very fine specimen, but this morning he noticed old Butch's bell hadn't rung at all!

When he went to investigate, he saw the other roosters were busy chasing pullets, bells-a-ringing, but the pullets, hearing the roosters coming, would run for cover. To John's amazement, old Butch had his bell in his beak, so it couldn't ring. He'd sneak up on a pullet, do his job and walk on to the next one.

John was so proud of old Butch, he entered him in the Saint Lawrence County Fair and he became an overnight sensation among the judges.

The result was the judges not only awarded old Butch the "No Bell Piece Prize," but they also awarded him the "Pulletsurprise" as well. Clearly old Butch was a politician in the making. Who else but a politician could figure out how to win two of the most coveted awards on our planet by being the best at sneaking up on the unsuspecting populace and screwing them when they weren't paying attention.

Vote carefully in the next election, the bells are not always audible.

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Pearl Harbor

A reminder of the "other" 9/11:

..and this:



..God bless the men and women who lost their lives there and those who fought in all of our wars to keep us free.

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If you thought the last post was revolting II

I know, I know..

Well, I have been busy. I was tapped as the new squadron commander of the Long Beach USAF Auxiliary squadron and -- essentially --  my duties commence 1 JAN 2012 but the preparation effort commences almost immediately. (Office of the Squadron Commander-elect?)

And it's the usual drill at work: the black curtain of the all-engulfing proxy server forbids noontime posts to The War Planner just when my political juices are flowing at their best. That is, I have awakened, consumed my morning doughnut (no coffee), worked through my pre-noon bug-slaughtering effort, wolfed down my tuna sammich and Coke (no, the beverage) and Hoovered up all of the news on Drudge, Hot Air, Odie's site, and anyplace else where it's fit to print, begun formulating my daily opinions, rebuttals to the Obama regime propaganda machine (A.K.A., the MSM) and -- wham! -- no access to my site.

Work and life is so-o-o-o-o unfair.

So what's revolting about this post besides my pedestrian prose, you ask?

It's the fact that today the unemployment rate dropped from 9.1% to 8.6% and it is NOT due to the hiring out-of-work-people. It's principally because the city of Pittsburgh has left the work force and decided to stay home.

Huh?

Well, that's 315,000 folks have been out of work so long that they've given up and are no longer considered to be worthy of denominator-hood status thereby making the number into which the people actually working are divided smaller.

You do the math.

For perspective and because I am lazy, Here are some interesting takes on this from Hot Air commenters:

Keep in mind the seasonal hiring that goes on at this time. I seen a lot of UPS ads for seasonal drivers as well as other job hiring places.
William Amos on December 2, 2011 at 10:08 AM

It's called seasonal employment. What will happen in January? Why, the rate should go up? Also there's this:

James Pethokoukis ran the numbers, and declared that if the participation rate were the same as last month, the unemployment rate would be 8.9%.
For a layman like me, that’s the maddening thing about “government statistics”. To me, your either employed or not. Doesn’t matter if you’ve “dropped out” of the workforce or not. Why don’t they just report the unemployed number and then give all of the “what if’s”.
BacaDog on December 2, 2011 at 10:11 AM

And this little gem:

From ABC News:
The unemployment rate fell in November to 8.6 percent as the economy added 120,000 new non-farm jobs. The economy must add about 400,000 jobs a month if the unemployment rate is to be reduced.
Care to explain the 280,000+ job discrepancy ABC? No? Well alright then.
forest on December 2, 2011 at 10:18 AM

But the real revolting figure is depicted by that chart way up above. Look at it closely and it says that the participation in the work force has trended down to WHERE IT IS FINALLY REACHED THE SAME NUMBER IT WAS IN 1984. (That, by the way boys and girls, was when me and Mrs War Planner spliced ourselves together.)

..and all this in a country whose population has grown to over 300 millions.

Boy, those folks in the BLS and the Pantload regime are going to have some fun playing with numbers on this one. It will make the Orwellian increase of the chocolate ration from 30 grams per week to 25 grams seem like Milo Minderbinder's buying eggs at 5 cents and selling them at 3 cents to make a profit seem like child's play.

Anyone for some Egyptian cotton dipped in chocolate? Are we still at war with Eastasia?

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