Sodas Bad…Pot Good…and they will learn to like it.

  This is sort of and OCD and ADD post.  Sometimes I hear people say something and it just keeps repeating itself over and over in my brain and I have to let it out.

First up, Michelle Obama talking to the NAA(L)CP, In Kansas City yesterday, she tells them that they need to intensify their efforts… and Rush asked an excellent (of course) question…whom do they need to intensify their efforts AGAINST?  Who is holding them back, who has their boot on their neck now?

BUT the thing that Rush did not comment on was after that statement MoBacca went into her spiel on childhood obesity. Telling those assembled:

“And we’re working to reauthorize our child nutrition legislation that will make significant new investments to revamp our school meals and improve the food that we offer in those school vending machines, so that we’re serving our kids less sugar, salt and fat, and more vegetables, fruits and whole grains….

…How about replacing all of that soda and those sugary drinks with water?  (Applause.)  Kids won’t like it at first, trust me.  But they’ll grow to like it.  Or deciding that they don’t get dessert with every meal.  As I tell my kids, dessert is not a right.  (Laughter.)  Or they don’t get it every day.”

Doesn’t that just sum up the entire Administration’s view of how they feel toward the American people?  “They won’t like it at first, but they will learn to like it.”  It is similar to the reason so many of us do not like Obamacare, according to Obama, it is because ‘we don’t understand it, but once he explains it, we will like it…or learn to like it’

And I heard again today where in the UK they are evaluating restrictions on what parents can send to school in sack lunches for the same reason…kids are fat.  Another thing that is apparently becoming more common is the schools feeding the kids three times a day.  Just how far are they from the state raising their kids completely?

Next up, At first when I heard the story I thought they meant the City was taking a stand against Cocaine…and I thought “good for them”, but no, they are taking a stand against Coca Cola; the moonbat mayor of San Freakcisco …has outlawed those same sugary beverages Mobacca is against in all vending machines on public property.  I just find this terribly funny in a city where 74% of voters are apparently in favor of legalizing marijuana.  So you can smoke grass at city hall, but stay away from the coca cola…. 

Imagine getting the shakedown in by the SFPD for walking down the street smoking a doobie and drinking a Mtn Dew in two years…and getting the Mtn Dew confiscated… !   HA, talk about a no win situation, smoke all the weed you want but stay away from the fattening doritos…I guess carrot sticks will have to curb the munchies.

So once again, we are learning it is still acceptable to hate on at least one group left…big fat fatties like me.

-KOOK

Liberal Myth: Defense is Biggest in Federal Budget

I get so tired of hearing this.  Here is a chart I whipped up using a table I got from: http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/fy2011/assets/hist03z2.xls.

I left out the Housing and Finance line items along with the post office because I could not make heads or tails out of that, serious book cooking going on there apparently.  Everything else looks extremely straightforward on this table.

Comparing 2008 (the last year of the Evil Bush, surely a year in which the warmongering Bush would have let little old ladies and children die to fund his thirst for blood) to the estimated 2010 final numbers; here is how it breaks down in Millions:

Social security edges out National defense for the last four years (actually going all the way back to 1993)  But that is not the whole story. 

Once you add all the Health and Human services budgets up, and even throwing the VA in with the Defense Budget here is how they stack up.  HHS is Social Security, Income Security, Medicare, Health, Education, Training, Employment and other Social Services.  Defense is National Defense and Veterans Benefits.  All other is Transportation, Administration of Justice, International Affairs, Natural Resource and Environment, General Science and Space Technology, Government, Community and Regional Development, Agriculture, and Energy.

So not only is our HHS outlay about three times that of our Defense Budget, but as the chart clearly shows all spending has went up appreciably since 2008, even defense. 

There is just no way to get around that…as long as you believe Whitehouse.gov numbers.  Which I don’t.  I am willing to bet it is much more money, and skewed much farther towards ‘benefits’

-KOOK

Postal Service Death Throes

So just heard that postage stamps are to go up AGAIN to 46 cents. So tell me, who corresponds via letter anymore? How many still pay bills by mail? I realize many of us receive bills by mail; but is that necessary? All I get in the mail any more are sale bills and credit card offers. Hell, people don't even get their welfare checks anymore they get it on their "benefits card". I have said it before and I will say it again. There is a reason we do not use the pony express: we have the telegraph. There is a reason we do not use the telegraph: Bell invented the telephone. There is a reason we more and more do not use land lines: motorola invented the cell phone. There is a reason we don't light our homes with kerosene: electricity. There is a reason that we don't do wagon trains: passenger trains. There is a reason the government subsidizes amtrac: planes and cars and unions. And there is a reason we keep dragging this dead carcass of a post office behind us: government type unionized jobs. It is not because it is efficient, profitable, well loved, or necessary. It is 18th century technology. Lets put it out of it's misery.



One last thing to think about, in my earliest memory of canned soda they cost 50 cents and a stamp was 22. A can of soda in a machine can still be found for 50 cents.




When I was in high school you could get a double cheese burger fries and a large drink at Mickey D's for $3.16 and a stamp was 28 cents. Two days ago I got a mcdouble small fries and large ice tea for $3.22; stamps cost 44 cents and soon to be 46.

Just something to think about.

UPDATE:  at least one other person agrees with us...http://ladydi-quickwit.blogspot.com/2010/07/post-offices-slow-and-inefficient.html

-Kook
via iPhone

Dear Govt., RE: Oil Spill, You're STILL doing it wrong - reason 86,348 the Free Market is Better - A, B, & C Whale

Yesterday I shared with you reason 86,347 that the free market is better than Government, Kevin Costner. Today, Lo, and Behold, there is yet ANOTHER story of interest along the same lines. Presenting, A Whale:

This behemoth, 1,115-foot, 10-story tall ship was originally designed to be an oil tanker. But then Mr Nobu Su, CEO of TMT Corporation of Taiwan, had a wild idea. His idea involved turning this large oil tanker into the worlds largest oil skimming ship. His radical design involved cutting slits in the side of the ship, a chore that required the ship first be sailed from Shanghai to Portugal to a suitable shipyard for modification before eventually making its way to the gulf coast. Of course, along the way he hit a snag: The US Federal Government. Now, it must be said that the system he is using is unproven, no one, including Mr. Su, knows just how well it will work in practice. It is estimated however that A Whale could suck up as much as 500,000 barrels daily of spilled oil and water—250 times the capacity of the other ships now engaged in the cleanup. If it works he will begin work to retrofit another one, B Whale, and start sailing C Whale to the Shipyard.

According to Su, Big Problems, require Big Solutions. Sometimes eccentric, out of the box thinking is what is necessary. Su’s team generously gives credit to the USA for creating his entrepreneurial and innovative spirit that he says is part of his Taiwanese upbringing. His senior vice president, T.K. Ong, says the environment for success was created by the “moral and material support” provided by the USA to the island nation after it broke from mainland China. (back in our more freedom loving years)
He has already beaten the odds and the government on one score; after making the decision to act about May 1st', the completed ship arrived in the U.S. by June 25—a timetable that U.S. officials had considered impossible to achieve. (our Government and Our People used to make careers out of believing and doing the impossible) Even if the ship is only marginally effective, only removing 50 % of the oil from the water, is that not an enormous improvement? Common sense says yes, EPA regulations say, not really. EPA regs state that in order for water to be released it must be over 99% oil free. That is a tall order. An order that President Obama could rescind with a stroke of a pen, but it has not happened…yet. Also, the Jones act is still in play, preventing ships of foreign registry and crewed by foreign workers to help with the cleanup. Bush lifted the act in the aftermath of Katrina, a feat Obama seems unwilling to do. Finally the Coast Guard must sign off on the safety and efficacy of the vessel itself, but that sounds as though it will not be as big of an issue. Coast Guard inspectors toured the ship for about four hours on Thursday, said Capt. Matthew Sisson, commanding officer of the Coast Guard's Research and Development arm in New London, Conn. "We take all offers of alternative technology very seriously," Sisson said. The ship, he said, is "an impressive engineering feat." Another plus on the side of A Whale is that Su says the mammoth vessel can withstand what others cannot, so it would be the last ship that had to leave due to weather—and the first to return to oil removal work. Because his company also operates oil drilling platforms in Asia, Su is familiar with the challenges of weather. Although he was originally dismissed when he shared his concept with BP and U.S. officials immediately after the Deepwater Horizon explosion, Su was not deterred and spent millions, when they initially refused his request to stage a test, he secured an invite to bring her into port from the Governor of VA, where he then staged a big media blitz. Once there, it became the whale in the room, unable to be ignored. A Whale is now scheduled for a test run, and Su has nothing but kind words for the Coast Guard and BP’s willingness to accept his offer to help. To be sure, this “help” will not come cheap, Nobu spent millions getting A Whale moved and retrofitted, and her operating costs are probably huge, but at this point, if she works, who cares. BP is on the hook for the entire cleanup, and now is not the time to be pinching pennies. What is galling is the amount of money being spent FIGHTING efforts at cleanup. Government spending money to halt cleanup efforts….typical. Entrepreneurs making money while coming up with innovative solutions AND helping people…also typical.

 

 

 -KOOK

Dear Government, Re: Oil Spill, You’re doing it wrong; Kevin Costner & reason 86,347 the Free Market is better.

Cross posted at Left Coast Rebel

From a recent piece written by Dick Morris:

“It's one thing to say that Obama's administration showed ineptitude and mismanagement in its handling of the Gulf oil spill. It is quite another to grasp the situation up close, as I did during a recent visit to Alabama.
According to state disaster relief officials, Alabama conceived a plan -- early on -- to erect huge booms offshore to shield the approximately 200 miles of the state's coastline from oil. Rather than install the relatively light and shallow booms in use elsewhere, the state (with assistance from the Coast Guard) canvassed the world and located enough huge, heavy booms -- some weighing tons and seven meters high -- to guard their coast.
But...no sooner were the booms in place than the Coast Guard… uprooted them and moved them to guard the Louisiana coastline instead.
So Alabama decided on a backup plan. It would buy snare booms to catch the oil as it began to wash up on the beaches.
But...the Fish and Wildlife Administration vetoed the plan, saying it would endanger sea turtles that nest on the beaches.
So Alabama…decided to hire 400 workers to patrol the beaches in person, scooping up oil that had washed ashore.
But...OSHA  refused to allow them to work more than 20 minutes out of every hour and required an hour break after 40 minutes of work, so the cleanup proceeded at a very slow pace.
The short answer is that every agency -- each with its own particular bureaucratic agenda -- was able to veto each aspect of any plan to fight the spill, with the unintended consequence that nothing stopped the oil from destroying hundreds of miles of wetlands, habitats, beaches, fisheries and recreational facilities.”

So, as per usual and standard, the government has completely road blocked every single effort People have come up with to clean this mess up, whilethe Fedzilla goes about the business of protecting us from ourselves and the breeding habitat of turtles. Turtles that will likely soon die in an oil slick before they can breed again anyway.  Let us not forget Obama’s refusal to step on Union toes and rescind the Jones act for this emergency.

But, once again proving that when there is a problem that needs solved, someone will invent it and it will not be the Government.  Enter Kevin Costner.  Now, I do not know what the man’s politics are but apparently he is a Capitalist.  That is at least a good starting point.

Apparently more than ten years ago Kevin Costner, of Dances with Wolves and Robin Hood fame,  wondered why we had so much trouble separating oil from water and decided to put his not-inconsiderable-wealth where his curiosity was.

Costner  became inspired to work on a solution after watching coverage of the Exxon Valdez oil spill. The Valdez spill happened in 1989 and occurred off the coast of Alaska when the Exxon Valdez hit a reef. Approximately 11 million gallons of oil spilled into Prince William Sound, causing widespread harm to the local wildlife, environment and economy. 

In 1993 Kevin,along with his Scientist brother, Dan, procured a technology transfer from the Department of Energy’s Idaho National Laboratory for a centrifugal oil-water separator.  Apparently the Government could not get the technology to work (imagine that).  He founded Costner Industries (CINC) and committed the next 15 years, and over $20 million (possibly as much as $24 million) toward R&D of his oil separator. The oil separator is a powerful centrifuge that can separate oil from water by spinning it at a high speed,  leaving the water 99 percent oil free.

In his recent congressional testimony for government approval to allow BP to test them, Costner recounted his struggle to effectively market the centrifuge (in the past). He explained that although the machines are quite effective, they can still leave trace amounts of oil in the treated water that exceeds current environmental regulations. Because of that regulatory hurdle, he said, he had great difficulty getting oil industry giants interested without first having the approval of the federal government.  So, just another example of the Government worried about one snowball during an avalanche.

So does the thing work?

BP Chief Operating Officer Doug Suttles said,  "We tested it in some of the toughest environments we could find, and actually what it's done — it's quite robust," Saying,  "This is real technology with real science behind it, and it's passed all of those tests." He added that Costner's device has proved effective at processing 128,000 barrels of water a day, which "can make a real difference to our spill response efforts."

How big of a difference? 

The largest machines are designed to separate 200 gallons of oil from the water per minute. That's about 210,000 gallons of oil per day.   The most recent estimates suggest that between 20,000 and 40,000 barrels of oil per day are leaking out of the Deepwater Horizon well. A barrel of oil is 42 gallons. So, if we take the highest estimates, that's about 1,680,000 gallons of oil per day. That would take just eight of the OTC machines to clean up the new oil each day, not  counting the petroleum that's already in the water.

Henry Fountain explains in the New York Times, the gadget in question marks a major breakthrough in spill cleanup technology. And BP, after trial runs with the device, is ordering 32 more of the Costner-endorsed centrifuges to aid the Gulf cleanup.  Suttles said the additional machines will be used to build four new deep-water systems: on two barges and two 280-foot supply boats.

It's true, as Fountain notes in the Times, that innovation on spill technology has been hobbled in part by the reach of federal regulation — though Fountain also notes that oil companies have elected to devote comparatively little money for researching cleanup devices. 

Then again, why would they, when 99% effective is not good enough? 

Imagine if we held Government to the same standard…

 

 

 

-KOOK

Yahoo News, Product Design and Development, AP,ecorazzi.com, USA Newsweek, Ocean Therapy Solutions, www.gawker.com

I'm tired.

The title is true, I'm tired from a long day of driving and playing with race cars so I am posting this e-mail that I recieved earlier (and edited slightly). Now I'm going to pass out.


I'm tired of being told that I have to "spread the wealth" to people who don't have my work ethic. I'm tired of being told the government will take the money I earned, by force if necessary, and give it to people too lazy to earn it.   
  
I'm tired of being told that I have to pay more taxes to "keep people in their homes."  Sure, if they lost their jobs or got sick, I'm willing to help. But if they bought McMansions at three times their real value and 1000 times their needs at less than my salary, then let the left-wing Congress-critters who passed Fannie and Freddie and the Community Reinvestment Act that created the bubble help them with their own money.   
  
I'm tired of being told how bad America is by left-wing millionaires like Michael Moore, George Soros and Hollywood Entertainers who live in luxury because of the opportunities America offers. In thirty years, if they get their way, the United States will have the economy of Zimbabwe, the freedom of the press of China, the crime and violence of Mexico, the tolerance for Christian people of Iran, and the freedom of speech of Venezuela. 
  
I'm tired of being told that Islam is a "Religion of Peace," when every day I can read dozens of stories of Muslim men killing their sisters, wives and daughters for their family "honor"; of Muslims rioting over some slight offense; of Muslims murdering Christian and Jews because they aren't "believers"; of Muslims burning schools for girls; of Muslims stoning teenage rape victims to death for "adultery"; of Muslims mutilating the genitals of little girls; all in the name of Allah, because the Qur'an and Shari'a law tells them to.   
  
I'm tired of being told that "race doesn't matter" in the post-racial world of Obama, when it's all that matters in affirmative action jobs, lower college admission and graduation standards for minorities (harming them the most), government contract set-asides, tolerance for the ghetto culture of violence and fatherless children that hurts minorities more than anyone, and in the appointment of U.S. Senators from Illinois. I'm glad that the 98% of black Americans that voted for obama know the principles of Marxism so well. Most of them can quote the Communist Manifesto verbatim.
  
I think it's very cool that we have a black dictator and that a black child is doing her homework at the desk where Lincoln wrote the Emancipation Proclamation. I think it's ironic that a black man who is enslaving us all in the name of the all-knowing government after swearing on the Lincoln Bible cover draped over a Koran   
  
I'm tired of a news media that thinks Bush's fundraising and inaugural expenses were obscene, but that think Obama's, at triple the cost, were wonderful; that thinks Bush exercising daily was a waste of presidential time, but Obama exercising is a great example for the public to control weight and stress; that picked over every line of Bush's military records, but never demanded that Kerry release his; that slammed Palin, with two years as governor, for being too inexperienced for VP, but touted Obama with three years as senator as potentially the best president ever. Wonder why people are dropping their subscriptions or switching to Fox News?  Get a clue. I didn't vote for Bush in 2000, but the media and Kerry drove me to his camp in 2004.   
  
I'm tired of being told that out of "tolerance for other cultures" we must let Saudi Arabia use our oil money to fund mosques and mandrassa Islamic schools to preach hate in America, while no American group is allowed to fund a church, synagogue or religious school in Saudi Arabia to teach love and tolerance.   
  
I'm tired of being told I must lower my living standard to fight global warming, which no one is allowed to debate. Not only do I have a carbon footprint, but my feet and the rest of me is made of carbon just like our home planet. Still, my carbon footprint is about 5% of Al Gore's, and if you're greener than Gore, you're a red Bolshevik through and through..   
  
I'm tired of being told that drug addicts have a "disease", and I must help support and treat them, and pay for the damage they do. Did a giant germ rush out of a dark alley, grab them, and stuff white powder up their noses while they tried to fight it off? Drug users chose to take drugs. And I'm tired of harassment from cool people treating me like a freak when I tell them I gave up marijuana permanently. If someone is going to stop using drugs (including tobacco), a true desire to change behavior is necessary. How many people try to catch malaria by choice? At the same time, heroin is NOT an airborne virus!!!
  
I'm tired of illegal aliens being called "undocumented workers," especially the ones who aren't working, but are living on welfare or crime. What's next?  Calling drug dealers, "Undocumented Pharmacists"?  And, no,  I'm not against Hispanics. Most of them are Catholic, and it's been a few hundred years since Catholics wanted to kill me for my religion.  I'm willing to fast track for citizenship any Hispanic person, who can speak English, doesn't have a criminal record and who is self-supporting without family on welfare, and who serves honorably for three years in our military.... Those are the citizens we need.   
  
I'm tired of latte liberals and journalists, who would never wear the uniform of the Republic themselves, or let their entitlement-handicapped kids near a recruiting station, trashing our military. They and their kids can sit at home, never having to make split-second decisions under life and death circumstances, and bad mouth better people than themselves. Do bad things happen in war?  You bet. Do our troops sometimes misbehave?  Sure. Does this compare with the atrocities that were the policy of our enemies for the last fifty years and still are?  Not even close.  So here's the deal. I'll let myself be subjected to all the humiliation and abuse that was heaped on terrorists at Abu Ghraib or Gitmo, and the critics can let themselves be subject to captivity by the Muslims, who tortured and beheaded Daniel Pearl in Pakistan, or the Muslims who tortured and murdered Marine Lt. Col. William Higgins in Lebanon, or the Muslims who ran the blood-spattered Al Qaeda torture rooms our troops found in Iraq, or the Muslims who cut off the heads of schoolgirls in Indonesia, because the girls were Christian. Then we'll compare notes. British and American soldiers are the only troops in history that civilians came to for help and handouts, instead of hiding from in fear.   
  
I'm tired of people telling me that their party has a corner on virtue and the other party has a corner on corruption. Read the papers; bums are bipartisan. And I'm tired of people telling me we need bipartisanship. I live in Florida where there has been bipartisan corruption by those who public office for years. Not to mention our bipartisan, bisexual governor cheats on his boyfriends in Obama's cabinet, and under his bed, and on air force one. Our governor changes parties more often than he changes sexes-now that's change you can believe in!!!   
  
I'm tired of hearing wealthy athletes, entertainers and politicians of both parties talking about innocent mistakes, stupid mistakes or youthful mistakes, when we all know they think their only mistake was getting caught. I'm tired of people with a sense of entitlement, rich or poor.   
  
Speaking of poor, I'm tired of hearing people with air-conditioned homes, color TVs and two cars called poor. The majority of Americans didn't have that in 1970, but we didn't know we were "poor." The poverty pimps have to keep changing the definition of poor to keep the dollars flowing.   
  
I'm real tired of people blame me for their problems. Recently, when someone said that I, and all of my race owe "reparations" to descendents of Antebellum slaves. My reply was if their housing project, food stamps and wellfare checks, plus affirmative action aren't enough, I will be happy to sell them to Arab slave traders in Gaza (it's big business there after all). Simple fact, the poorest people in America live better than most national leaders in 3rd world countries and yet they complain. Still, I hope they don't learn what life in Zimbabwe or North Korea is like the hard way. I believe deep down most of you feel the same way which is what separates America from the rest of the world. Be thankful you live here and prepare for the toughest challenge you have ever faced in stopping the atheist liberal agenda. You best believe those on the other side aren't going to go away quetly, and will have no problem torturing persecuting and even killing you because you are their enemy and the only common ground between us and them is a cemetary!

Who are the Anarchists Now? Arizona Immigration Enforcement

Let’s put this in perspective, you are often asked to show your ID when you use your credit or debit card, you have to produce ID to get a loan, buy a home, apply for assistance, enroll for school, fly on a plane, stay in a hotel, or rent a car.  Every time I have been stopped by the police I have been asked to produce license and proof of insurance.  But asking for documentation to prove legal residency in this country is an affront to civil rights? What about my Civil Rights?

I will now have to prove to the IRS every year that I have purchased Federally mandated health insurance, but we cannot ask anyone to prove legal residency in this country? Seriously?

I still cannot wrap my mind around the mental gymnastics required to reconcile that a person who is here illegally, has not committed a crime. If you will break our laws to get here in the first place why are you amazed we automatically think you will break others while you are here?  How does one become an UNdocumented worker if Documents are irrelevant?  I mean really we do not have pass amnesty at all if we just quit being a nation of laws.

Of course, that would gloss over the fact that Arizona has become the 2nd place winner in the World Kidnapping Olympics…right behind, huh…Mexico City.  Phoenix has more Kidnappings per day than anywhere else in the USA.

It is Racist to affirm enforcement of a Federal Law?  Of course it is.  And all the cops are racists too.  Arizona is only 30% Latino according the the last census (which I am sure did not include many of the soon to be citizens of this country), so I am sure none of the police officers are Latino, and none of them would be married to a Latino. Nope they are all a bunch of White Racists.

What the pResident and the Left Stream Media are asking the border states to do is to ignore Federal Law, which puts us in the powerful and unique position of getting to choose which laws to enforce and which laws to ignore.  If the Feral Government is so intent on not enforcing their own law then why not do as Silverfiddle from Western Hero suggests and repeal it?  Just do away with Customs and ICE and Border Patrol, and all of that.  If we can pick and choose what laws we want to follow or not, then why have them in the first place?  That is the logical conclusion to the line of thought now being pushed.  Most liberals are in favor of not enforcing Marijuana laws as well.  So if we are not going to follow Drug Laws, and we are not going to follow Immigration laws, and we rarely follow voting eligibility laws, then guess I don’t have to follow laws that I don’t particularly like either.

NO, that is wrong, we do not get to pick and choose, folks.  Just because we do not think a law is Just (for the record I am in favor of the AZ law, and have mixed opinion on the weed issue) we do not get to decide whether or not we follow it.  People who know me and have been listening know that I have said repeatedly that whoever gives amnesty to the illegal aliens in this country is pretty much guaranteed a 60 year electoral majority.  This is about politics plain and simple, this is how the most rapidly unpopular administration our nation has ever seen plans to stay in power.

I think that this has been a goal of people like William Ayers and Saul Alinsky for years and years, Anarchy for everyone, courtesy of the Progressive Liberal Establishment.

Arriba La Raza, Viva La Reconquesta!

-KOOK

Suspension of Air Traffic Could Raise Temperatures Across Europe

Found this over at Coffee Milk Conservative: Suspension of Air Traffic Could Raise Temperatures Across Europe, I just started following her blog and have added her to the blogroll.  She is a reformed Leftie, so we know it can be done. 

As the drumbeat for Cap and Tax starts up again it is important not to forget how silly the whole Anthropogenic Climate Change argument has become and this post highlights that very well.  Apparently Air Traffic cools the planet.  Who knew?  The little vapor trails off of airplanes actually make temperatures go down planet wide (OH, COME ON!)

Correlation is not the same as Causation.  Grounding planes after 9/11 did not change WEATHER and it damn sure did not change CLIMATE. Following this logic I could say this: “ I ate a peanut butter sandwich yesterday and the sun shone all day long; therefore eating PB sandwiches makes the weather sunny and bright”. Secondly the GIANT ASH CLOUD *should* make it slightly, if not quite a bit, COOLER; despite the lack of contrails off of airplanes “making it hotter” (never mind that according to their standard fantasies jet exhaust makes the planet hotter).  So I guess the question in their minds (as if they used their minds to question anything) is:  Will the Man Made warming caused by Jet Exhaust be completely counteracted by the cooling effect of the Volcano (I am waiting for them to figure out a reason for the volcano eruption to be man-caused), and will the absence of the Jet Contrail water vapor contribute to more of a warming effect that the absence of jet exhaust will contribute to a cooling effect?   OH MY DEAR LORD -

Anyway, read on:

According to a report in the UK Mail online, the widespread grounding of planes in Europe – due to the eruption of Iceland’s Mount Eyjafjallajokull – could lead to an increase in temperatures across that continent. From the article:

A study conducted after commercial flights were grounded for three days following the September 11 terror attacks found the average daily temperature range in the U.S. rose markedly - exceeding the three-day periods before and after by 1.8c. (or it could have been all that fuel that caught fire… big fire you know, could have made it warmer- hey it is more plausible than their ridiculous “theory”)
The grounding of flights in 2001 gave scientists a 'tarnished but golden opportunity' to study the impact that jet planes have on the climate. (WEATHER WEATHER WEATHER, and the answer is: imperceptible)
They matched the weather over those three days with similar weather in September over that period, and found that the difference in daily high and nightly low temperatures in the absence of planes' contrails was more than 1c greater. (also in the absence of Unicorns, meteor showers, UFO landings, all manner of things that also have no effect on the temperature)
Scientists claimed this showed that clouds formed by the water vapour in the exhaust from jet planes have a small but significant effect on daily temperatures. (one degree C = 1.8 (+32) degree F, really?  jet contrails impact national temperature daily by two degrees?)
The researchers said that in regions with crowded skies, the clouds formed by the planes' water vapour worked like cirrus clouds to prevent days from getting too hot and trapping the Earth's heat at night.

I thought the carbon emissions produced by jet fuel contributed to global warming? Now I find out that water vapor – a byproduct of jet fuel combustion – helps to moderate the earth's temperature. Do you ever get the feeling that some people want to have it both ways?

Coffee Milk Conservative: Suspension of Air Traffic Could Raise Temperatures Across Europe,

My head hurts…

-KOOK

De-Constructing our Progress to Communism Pt. I

We are facing a constitutional crisis in this Country. In debate, one of the best ways to disprove an opponent’s argument is to attack their thesis statement, and not the particulars of the faulty premise.  The faulty premise in this case is that the “General Welfare” clause allows congress to legislate anything and everything under the sun. Seemingly all of the Democrats and apparently many of the Republicans, along with hordes of the populace believe that there are alternate interpretations of the constitution, which allows certain usurpations of power by the Federal Government.  But we do not have to guess at the Founder’s intent on these things, because we have documents providing their meaning and intent.   Amongst our elected non-representatives who have an opinion or a clue (and most do not) as to where they might derive the power for their “Progressing to Communist” agenda they will cite the “General Welfare” or the “Commerce Clause”.  Below are just a very few of their recent comments regarding their authority for their usurpation of our rightful power; for the rest check out this Link at CSNnews.com

In response to the question, “Where specifically does the Constitution grant Congress the authority to enact an individual health insurance mandate?”, these are how some of our supposed representatives answered:

House Speaker Pelosi Nancy Pelosi (D.-Calif.)  “Are you serious? Are you serious?” (How dare you question my authoritay! peasant!)
 
• Sen. Bernard Sanders (I.-Vt.) “Where in the Constitution? Probably the same place that comes Medicare and Medicaid and the CHIP Program and the Veterans Administration, and the health care programs that we’ve been doing for many, many decades.” (full disclosure on Bernie, he is an avowed Socialist)
  
• Sen. Claire McCaskill (D.-Mo.)  “Well the -- we have all kinds of places where the government has gotten involved with health care and mandating insurance. (not at the same time) In most states, the government mandates the buying of car insurance (ya, if you choose to own a car, I guess we could choose to kill ourselves and therefore not need medical insurance), and I can assure everyone that if anything in this bill is unconstitutional, the Supreme Court will weigh in.”
  
• Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D.-Calif.) “Well, I would assume it would be in the Commerce clause of the Constitution. That’s how Congress legislates all kinds of various (unconstitutional) programs.”
  
• Sen. Mary Landrieu (D.-La.) (Of Louisiana Purchase v 2.0 Fame) “Well, we’re very lucky as members of the Senate to have constitutional lawyers on our staff, so I’ll let them answer that.(cause I don’t have the foggiest notion of what you are talking about.)
  
• Sen. Ben Nelson (D.-Neb.) – of the famous Cornhusker Kickback “Well, you know, I don’t know that I’m a constitutional scholar (having never read the constitution myself). So, I, I’m not going to be able to answer that question.”
  

 

And now for someone with credibility…

James Madison, American politician and political philosopher,  fourth President of the United States, has been called the "Father of the Constitution," he was the principal author of the document. He wrote over a third of the Federalist Papers, the most influential commentary on the Constitution. The first president to have served in the United States Congress,  and was responsible for the first ten amendments to the Constitution and thus is also known as the "Father of the Bill of Rights". As a political theorist, Madison's most distinctive belief was that the new republic needed checks and balances to protect individual rights from the tyranny of the majority.

I think his credibility speaks for itself.  In Federalist #41 Madison explained the very concept so many of our non-representatives have misconceptions about (my translations in Blue as always, and I have edited out some of his commentary , rest assured I do this for brevity and clarity)

Some, …, have grounded a very fierce attack against the Constitution,... It has been urged ..., that the power "to...provide for the common defense and general welfare of the United States," amounts to an unlimited commission to exercise every power which may be alleged to be necessary for the common defense or general welfare.

No stronger proof could be given of the distress under which these writers labor for objections, than their stooping to such a misconstruction. (people who make this argument are grasping at straws, and are ridiculous)

Had no other enumeration or definition of the powers of the Congress been found in the Constitution, than the general expressions just cited, the authors of the objection might have had some color for it; (if this was the only language granting congress power, and if we hadn’t spent the time enumerating powers in the constitution, these objections might have some merit)

though it would have been difficult to find a reason for so awkward a form of describing an authority to legislate in all possible cases. (even if the above were true, what a strange way to grant unlimited authority to congress)

A power to destroy the freedom of the press, the trial by jury, or even to regulate the course of descents, or the forms of conveyances, must be very singularly expressed by the terms "to raise money for the general welfare." (if this interpretation was followed then the words "to raise money for the general welfare." would allow congress to take away all the other rights we just listed)

But what color can the objection have, when a specification of the objects alluded to by these general terms immediately follows, and is not even separated by a longer pause than a semicolon? (read the rest of the sentence, the part after the semicolon, when we explain what we meant)

If the different parts of the same instrument ought to be so expounded, as to give meaning to every part which will bear it, shall one part of the same sentence be excluded altogether from a share in the meaning; and shall the more doubtful and indefinite terms be retained in their full extent, and the clear and precise expressions be denied any signification whatsoever? (do we have to spell it out line by line and repeat ourselves over and over to keep you from keeping half of what we said and disregarding the rest?  Why listen to the general terms and ignore the specific ones that follow which we included for clarification?)

 

For what purpose could the enumeration of particular powers be inserted, if these and all others were meant to be included in the preceding general power? (why list other powers if that first general sentence gave the congress unlimited authority?)

Nothing is more natural nor common than first to use a general phrase, and then to explain and qualify it by a recital of particulars. (“Make me a sandwich, put ham and cheese between two slices of bread.”  See what he means?)

But the idea of an enumeration of particulars which neither explain nor qualify the general meaning, and can have no other effect than to confound and mislead, is an absurdity, which, as we are reduced to the dilemma of charging either on the authors of the objection or on the authors of the Constitution, we must take the liberty of supposing, had not its origin with the latter. (The specifically enumerated powers are there to explain and qualify the general meaning.  It is absurd to think we put them there to confuse what we meant.  If there is any misleading as to what we meant either it was by the authors, or by the people making the objections, and it was not the authors)

…How difficult it is for error to escape its own condemnation! (you hang yourself with your own rope!)

-KOOK

Feinstein, Gibbs, Can’t Keep Their Mouths Shut on Fruit of Kaboom

 

 

A couple of days ago I caught a bit of an exchange between Orrin Hatch (R-UT), Kit Bond (R-MO), and Diane Feinstein (Harpy-CA) it seems there is much much more to this story and it doesn’t seem to be gaining much traction.  This plays like an episode of 24.  Let me see if I can give the full picture of what happened.

Umar Farouk Abdul Mutallab, The Fruit of Kaboom, underpants, or as the pc crowd is calling him now  “The Christmas Day Bomber”, due to his own incompetence and through no action of our intelligence of law enforcement communities fails in his attempt to kill innocent civilians.  He was then taken into custody, where he started singing like a bird.  Then in a really masterful stroke at the behest of the O-ministration he was mirandized after which he immediately lawyer-ed, and shut, UP.  Howls of outrage and public outcry ensue and someone somewhere in the FBI has the bright idea to put his parents on a plane so they could be with him, in the hopes they will encourage him to be more cooperative.  Other deals may have been made, one deal apparently that was made was that he would talk, but only if we kept quiet about it. 

Now, a word about Congressional Hearings.  There is a saying regarding legal proceedings, “never ask a question you do not know the answer to". This is sage advice because you could ask a question and ruin your case.  If you do not realize already, now is the time to learn that most things done for the cameras of C-span, especially when it comes to high profile cases like the Fruit of Kaboom® bomber are dog and pony shows.  The committee members know the questions and the answers before hand, but it is a great PR move to make people admit their failures on TV.  Senators and Representatives get to look smart, or tough, and the American people are mollified.

SO… Everyone on the Senate Intelligence Committee that day (obviously) knew that Abdulmutallab (fruit of kaboom bomber) was talking, why he was talking, the conditions of his talking, and what he was saying. But there sat Diane Feinstein and across the table and down on the floor in front of her sat all the heads of all the intelligence agencies and the FBI and so she saw an opportunity to look smart and tough for the voters, and probably curry favor with the O-ministration.

She asked the head of the FBI  Robert Mueller,

"It is also my understanding that Mr. Abdulmutallab has provided valuable information. Is that correct?"             

"Yes," Mueller replied.
"Thank you," Feinstein said.

(so far so good, she hasn’t spilled the beans yet)

AND THEN THE COUP DE GRACE

"…and that the interrogation continues
despite the fact that he has been Mirandized?"
"Yes," Mueller said again.

Off microphone, you can hear Kit Bond saying the whole time she is asking the  question, once he realizes she stepped into a steaming pile of shit, “no no no no no.”

Too late; what was Mueller going to do?  Lie to the Head of the Senate Intelligence Committee on C-Span?

It was stunning to behold I tell you.  But wait the story gets worse

White House Blabber Mouth, Chief Propaganda and Apologist® Robert Gibbs told reporters all about it, hiding behind the fact that the cat was already out of the bag since it was said in open Senate hearing proceedings.  Kit Bond wrote a letter to the White House chastising the administration, and the White House had the temerity to demand an Apology from Bond!

  Do you know why Diane FrankenStein and Nasty Botoxi, and all the rest of those worthless scumbags don’t care if you or I die on a commercial airliner?  Because they and their families DO NOT FLY COMMERCIAL.  So as soon as Al-Queda hijacks a Air Force Plane Nasty Botoxi has commandeered for her family’s use or a Private Gulfstream that some other member of congress is on, they will care.  Until then, these types of incidents will only be used for political gain from those on the Left, National Security, and by that, I mean OUR Security, be damned.

-KOOK

Of all the people in the world to piss off…

Obama picks the Supreme Court Judges.  While I am basically appalled and amazed that even he would go wagging his finger and scolding the Justices, I have a different take on it than anyone else I have seen so far this morning.


G’head tell ‘em off Big O, you don’t have to take that sh*t from them!  That’s right, you are the Big Man on Campus.  You tell em’ They better start making better decisions and by that you mean decisions you like!
(*humming as I type “you don’t tug on superman’s cape, you don’t spit into the wind…you don’t pull the mask off the ol’ lone ranger…”*)
Then maybe they will remember what they were all put there for, (well except that lackey Sotomayor) and they will begin showing you who’s got more cajones.
I mean in all the excitement I forgot myself, did I fire six shots or only five, I  dunno, but being this is the Supreme Court of the United States and and will blow your head clean off, you gotta ask yourself…do I feel lucky…well?  Do ya?  PUNK.
That’s right you tell them jive turkeys what’s what!
Healthcare – Unconstitutional
I mean who do they think they are?  You da Man!
Gun Laws - Unconstitutional
I mean they are lucky you even let them come to last night’s big telemprompter reading…
Roe v Wade – see ya
If you want their opinion, you will give it to them
Waterboarding – please that is fine for illegal enemy combatants captured in a war zone who aren't citizen’s of this country, signers of the Geneva conventions, or in uniform.
What do we need them for anyway…I think you should just abolish them, they are all old anyway, and you know what is best for us
Using the IRS as an attack dog – Not gonna happen…What IRS?
Hugo, Fidel, and Achmadinejad don’t have to go through this crap with courts and stuff, why should you?
Interstate Commerce Clause – Not what the framers mean; na uh…sorry charlie…
They need a good dressing down, why I can’t remember the last time anyone told them that they were all imbeciles…
The elastic Clause – not so elastic. 
Please oh Please…pimp slap em again big daddy, and put some smoke on it…!
Shhh nobody tell him there is a reason very few presidents or senators mess around with  SC Justices…
-Kook

My 2 Cents, POTUS, TOTUS, States Rights, Education, The Whole Stinking Mess.

 

Okay folks, if you have not seen the photo yet, it is everywhere.  Yes, yes, it is true.  The POTUS needs TOTUS to stay on message when talking to 11 year olds.  Those on the defense point out that the press was there too, well sure it was, he wouldn’t go into a PUBLIC school if there wasn’t a PR Opportunity to be had. And Clifton at Another Black Conservative is right on the money as usual.  Big O has no substance, he is a product of a machine in a way we have not seen since the bad old robber baron days.  At any rate I want to comment on one part of the story.  For other commentary please read any of the fine sources at the bottom of the post, or many others that are out there.

What I want to focus on is the State’s Rights issue here, as well as the quality education that our kiddos deserve.  It really is easy to understand and see things for what they are when you understand what the broader goal for the left is.  They always say it is for the children, but clearly it is not.  If money was the solution to why we are ‘sucking hind teat’ among the nations of the world for education, don't you think by now that we would have fixed it?  Money is NOT THE ISSUE and MORE will not fix it.  The issue IS the federal standards.  I come from a long line of teachers. Two grandparents, an Aunt, and Uncle, 5 Cousins, and more, all teachers.  From IL, TN, MO, and TX, they all sing the same tune.

This started when I was a youngster.  We all did the achievement tests, I do not remember when I was in Elementary School spending time learning the test, but by the time several administrations policies had taken their toll and High School rolled around, we were spending weeks specifically practicing for the test.  Well, I gotta ask the obvious question, are we training kids to take tests or to THINK?  Obviously we are training them to put little black dots in little circles on paper…push the button KOKO get a bannaner…

Here is the reality of all the crappy federal regulations that have happened starting in the Sixties.  Step 1. The IRS takes money out of the hands of producers that could be spent locally and sends it to Washington. Step 2. The Fed sets an arbitrary performance standard for curriculum across this nation from Maine to Hawaii, and Alaska to Key West.  Encompassing all the flavors of the rainbow and cultures that we possess.  Step 3. States are set to compete for the dollars by meeting these standards.  Step 4. Individual school districts, beholden to the Federal and States for the dollars removed from individuals and businesses in their districts, must compete amongst themselves for the dollars apportioned to the states.  Step 5.  Through entitlement programs, and the general moral decay of our society, along with the rampant PC and lack of discipline applied to our children, parents do not parent, and children are increasingly apathetic towards learning. Step 6. Teachers, needing their careers, and under pressure from their administration for results, begin to teach little Johnny and Little Susie how to answer test questions, similar to monkeys in some sociology experiment, instead of how to use their BRAINS.  Step 7: as performance standards outstrip the children’s actual ability to remember and regurgitate infonuggets schools resort to really ridiculous ways of propping up their scores in a downward spiral of ignorance. Throw in laughable standards for a teaching certificate, Teachers unions, and Smarmy politicians and voila, a McDollar Menu Education  on a Filet Mignon budget.

We do not let teachers teach, and we do not provide a basis for our children’s future, because we have turned teaching into a race for federal hog slop.  And it goes without saying that Obama’s plan will hasten the further degeneration of the actual quality of children’s education further.  Why?  Because we should not try to teach all the kids in this nation the same thing on the same day at the same hour.  That is what makes things meaningless. Even making the State’s Rights argument doesn’t go far enough.  I feel strongly, and logic supports me, that curriculum should be decided on a district by district level.  I would settle for State by State, but even in Missouri there are wide cultural variances regarding not only what, but how kids should be taught.  One size never ever fits all, and in this case, most lose out.

Some of the greatest minds in history were self educated, or educated in one room schoolhouses.  We do not need 20 million dollar high schools with laboratories rivaling that of pharmaceutical research companies, and gymnasiums that look like something from ESPN.  We need to teach the three R’s , Readin, ‘Riting, and ‘Rithmatic.   I have done posts previously that demonstrate from the local level that our schools are horrible, the local one here averages something like 20 hours a week of potential instructional time to Jr. High kids.  What they are learning in 7th grade I learned in 5th, what I learned in 5th my parents learned in 4th.  I was taught Phonics and Greek and Latin root words and taught to look at context. When I see a word I have not encountered I can make a reasonable guess at how it is pronounced and probably its’ general meaning.  Children today are taught words by rote memorization and “sight words” nonsense hogwash garbage.  We still teach math all wrong to kids, my grandparents can do as much math in their heads as I can do with a calculator and forget giving me a pencil it is a waste of time. When I was a kid in Texas we learned Texas history, and when I moved to Missouri, we learned Missouri history.  When I got to High School I learned World History, up to the Vietnam War. Guess what, forty years since Vietnam, and kids learn up to the Vietnam War.  The color of the houses of the natives to the Indian Subcontinent are not as relevant to our kids as what happened since Vietnam, yet, that is part of the curriculum.  And yellow, if you are wondering, all the houses were yellow, and they all disappeared and no one knows why.  Riveting isn’t it? 

If we focused on teaching people how to THINK and then Inspired them to do so and gave them direction we would be way better off than trying to cram useless facts into their head without giving them any context.  This is how the Ignorance is spread folks.  This is why kids worship Che.  This is why we are losing.  If we win the battle on Healthcare, and that is a big IF, then we will have to win Immigration on our terms to turn the tide.  Then, in order to actually win, Education reform is the battlefield we will win it on, and it will take two generations, or we are pretty much shot as far as I see it.  Local People, teaching their Kids, at the Local level, lessons that are relevant to them.  Let’s teach our kids to Read. To Learn. To Question, and to THINK. 

Photo h/t Left Coast Rebel

via: Another Black Conservative

Via: Gateway Pundit

Via: The Reihl World View

-KOOK

Oh, wait, no way, you're kidding, he didn't just say what I think he did… did he?

Ummm yeah, he did.  Talk about being clueless and tone deaf… he gets the Biden Award for Sheer Stoopidity®

Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, is the chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and he recently had this to say:

he expects Democratic Senate candidate Martha Coakley to “win in Massachusetts.”

Van Hollen said Republican predictions that the political climate had changed so much that they can capture the 40 seats needed to regain control of the House was “pure hallucination”

“Why would you hand the keys to the car back to the same guys whose policies drove the economy into the ditch and then walked away from the scene of the accident?” Van Hollen said. “For the Republicans to say vote for us and bring back the guys who got us into this mess in the first place, I don’t think it’s a winner.”

Health Bill Can Pass Senate With 51 Votes, Van Hollen Says - Yahoo! News

A democratic operative should NEVER EVEEEERRRR talk about cars, ditches, bridges…

See for all of you just joining the class; Ted Kennedy held the seat that is currently being decided on in the special election… there was this incident with Teddy, and Mary Jo, and a Bridge….oh hell, never mind, if you don’t get it you never will.

And I thought RNC had a dumbass as a chairperson. 

-KOOK

Michael Steele: Way to “aim low”, you Jackass!

This is complete idiocy on the part of Michael Steele.  Steele’s job is to be the “coach” of the Republican “team”.  Can you imagine asking an NFL coach or a NASCAR crew chief if they would have a successful run next season and either one saying “next year?, No way", we will just be rebuilding and we might win some…but being real contenders?, uh uh…”  well that is what this slapnuts is saying:

via Politico 

Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele predicted Monday night that the GOP will not regain control of the House in the 2010 midterm elections.

Steele said during an interview with Fox News’s Sean Hannity that Republicans will see some “nice pick-ups in the House” but would not predict the number of seats the GOP will win. “I can't give a number yet,” Steele said. “We are just now beginning to look at races.”

Asked if Republicans will retake the House, Steele responded: “Not this year.” Steele added: “We still have vacancies that need to get filled. “If we do that, are we ready? I don't know. That's what I'm assessing and evaluating now.”

Michael Steele: GOP won't win House - Andy Barr - POLITICO.com

Michael Steele, you ignorant boob… this is throwing your team under the bus… here is a tip for you, you DemocRAT sympathizer you : when you are the titular “leader” of a group, and you are publicly asked if they will win or be successful, you BY GOD ACT CONFIDENT!.  EVEN IF YOU HAVE TO LIE… you dumbass.  If you need to know the reason, here it is:  if the “coach” or “leader” appears confident it INSPIRES the “members” and it should make the “enemy” less confident of their superiority.  If you can’t do this sort of thing, quit! or for God sakes, SHUT UP, you are not helping!

what a douche!

-KOOK

Air Travel: Then and Now

 

I first flew on a plane in probably 1988.  It was continental airlines from San Francisco, Ca to St. Louis MO.  I would have been 11, and I was returning from my summer spent with my Dad and Grandpa in CA.   We walked into the airport, and went to the ticket counter. A ticket agent found our reservation,and printed out our tickets and boarding passes.  They told you to lock your checked luggage, then took our checked baggage and threw it on a conveyor.    We carried our carry on bags to the terminal.  Placed the baggage on a conveyor to run through an X ray machine, emptied our pockets of our keys, change, and pocket knives (I am almost sure I had a knife on me, I remember it, and yes I carried a sharp knife in my pocket to school and elsewhere starting at about age 10) and walked through the scanner, picked up our luggage and proceeded to the gate area where we then boarded the plane and went about our lives.  Total check in time, 30 minutes, Security screening, 1 minute.  Hijackings happened but usually only on flights with overseas destinations, or from one crappy country to another crappy country.  We were unafraid.  Our President did not negotiate with terrorists, we shot them in the head and moved on.

I flew by myself for the first time in probably 1990.  It was a Southwest flight from Los Angeles through Phoenix with a connection, final destination St. Louis, Mo.  By this time having knives in your pocket was verboten.  It seemed somewhat sensible, so I put the knife in the checked baggage.  Southwest was different, you had your ticket and so you went directly to your gate bypassing the ticket counter.  The gate agent gave you a boarding pass.  Anyone in the world could go to the gate, no ticket needed, nothing needed. We checked my checked baggage at the curb, Dad carried one of my carry-ons.   We took off our belts (it was easier, we both used to sport the big cowboy buckles), dropped our change in the bowl threw my carry-on on the Metal detector belt; no buzzers buzzed so we were cool. Dad walked me to my gate got my boarding pass and waited until I boarded the plane.   This was common practice.  Total time Check in, 5 minutes, total security screening 1 minute.  Because I was under 14 I had a seriously HOT stewardess (that is what they were called back then) who was not officially on flight duty, I know because she was out of uniform and was instead wearing black shiny spandex pants, escort me across the Phoenix airport holding my hand the whole way to my gate.  There was NO way I would have gotten lost following that rear-end, I assure you, but I digress.

I made that trip several more times over the next few years, although never holding the hand of, and being accompanied by, such a lovely escort.  And it was the same old drill, time after time.

Then 9/11 happened.  Now you would not-so-randomly be pulled out of line at the gate and inspected.    White young guy –check, old white lady – check. Middle aged black man- check.  Three dudes wearing towels on their heads praising allah and giving us dirty looks- check.  It was ridiculous.

Then some moron tried to blow up a plane using something in a shampoo bottle. And instead of picking out the swarthy allah worshippers for a little extra attention,  Now we have to put everything in a baggie.  No containers larger than 2 oz.  Although as long as you have liquid in a baggie you are usually ok to put other liquids in your bag, because the water heads in the TSA don’t look for that.

Then some dirtbag tried to blow up his shoes.  So now we have to go through the indignity of taking off our shoes as well, while going through the other mind numbing processes.  We would not want to treat anyone differently.  Now little old ladies get frisked right along with achmed the camel riding bomb maker.  I shit you not I saw the Hulkster, Hulk Hogan, getting patted down and wanded in the Memphis airport two years ago.  I think Hulk is about as far from the plane blowing up terrorist sort as it gets. 

Oh yeah average security time 30 minutes.  That is if they decide that my many -work required- gadgets and cables and chargers do not scare them and they have to dump everything I carry onto the table and look at it like monkeys doing calculus for five minutes.  Then they usually say something intelligent like, “if you didn't carry all of this stuff…”  to which I usually say, “If i didn’t carry all this stuff there would be no reason for the trip, which I would appreciate right now.”  But they are just trying to do their jobs with the stupid rules they have been saddled with.

So now some A-hole tries to blow up his fruit of the looms and every traveler in the U.S. is probably going to have to go through the (slow) full body scanner, and air puffers.  WHY?  For the FEELING of security.  Everyone knows this. 

If we wanted to have more than the illusion of security we would make a certified traveler program.  That way business travelers on domestic flights, like me, who have never been arrested, look like a cornfed midwesterner and have been employed at the same company for over ten years, travel every month,  and do not even know the proper spelling for the Koran?…Quaran? can just do it like back in the days and go on about our business.  Let the tourists and other infrequent travelers go through a different line and give them a little more attention.  Pull out anyone that  *gasp* fits the profile a full inspection and lets be SAFE.  Let them be sniffed by dogs…leave me, and granny, alone.

What we are doing now is letting the Terrorists win.  Their goal is to change our way of life and we are letting them. 

-Kook