Little Johnny and His Barrakness...

A teacher asked her 3rd grade class how many of them were Obama fans.. Not really knowing what a Obama fan was, but wanting to be liked by the teacher, all the kids raised their hands except for Little Johnny. The teacher asked Little Johnny why he decided to be different... again.. Little Johnny said, 'Because I'm not a Obama fan.'    

The teacher said, 'Why aren't you an Obama fan?' Little Johnny said, 'Because I'm a Republican.' The teacher asked why was he a Republican.. Little Johnny answered, 'Well, my Mom's a Republican and my Dad's a Republican, so I'm a Republican.'

The teacher asks, 'If your Mom was a moron and your Dad was an idiot, what would that make you?'

With a big smile, Little Johnny  replied, 'That would make me an Obama fan.'

I always liked Little Johnny

The gift of music

I am very Musically inclined.. Not that I can sing or play an instrument. I have just, for some reason, assigned popular songs to periods, moments, or people in my life. I have a large CD collection and a large numbers of Itunes Downloads. Although I have downloaded several "Albums" and multiple "Singles" from I tunes I really still prefer having a physical CD in my hands or collection.
These songs I have mentally assigned to the aforementioned instances sometimes are deliberate, but many times they aren't. I am unsure if this is unique to me or if allot of people have a tendency to do it. What it has done is given my children an appreciation for music much broader than their peers. My 12 year old daughter knows who Buddy Holly is and mentioned him one day in Social Studies during a discussion of 50's music. All of my children know for instance that the song "The Day the Music Died" by Don McLean (they know the song and artist) is about the airplane crash that killed Buddy Holly, the Big Bopper, and Richie Valens. In fact all of them hated the remake of the song by Madonna.  My 16 year old daughter plays two musical instruments with skill. She came home one day excited to show me that she could play the Cello part to "Eleanor Rigby" by the Beatles.
 Each of my children have at least one song that is "their" song, my Wife of course has multiple songs because we have been "together" for 31 years now (married for 25). When ever these songs play, I can remember vividly the first time I heard them or the instance they were 'assigned' in my mind.

  Isn't music a wonderful gift...

Borrowed from Rich Galen

I regularly get a "Internet Newsletter" entitled "Mullings" via email that I have on occaision shared with friends and family. It is written by Rich Galen, former Press Secretary to Newt Gingrich when Newt was Speaker of the House. This is his Thanksgiving Edition...

This is a rewrite of the Thanksgiving MULLINGS first published in 2002.
Please take a moment on Thanksgiving to say a Prayer of Thanks for those brave Americans in uniform, but also the civilians, who are serving in far off places, away from their families, protecting us, projecting America's values while we enjoy our Thanksgiving dinners safe from fear, and from want, and protecting our freedoms of worship and of speech.
In 2003, I wrote the Thanksgiving column from Camp Victory just outside of Baghdad. Please take a look back at the Iraq Travelogue by clicking here: "Good Morning Mesopotamia"
Rich

It was the day before Thanksgiving and I was giving the Mullmobile it's quarterly treat: A professional car wash. At Andy's Car Wash in Alexandria, you drop your car off, then go inside to pay. A woman and a little girl - about three-and-a-half - were paying ahead of me.

It was a cold day, so the little girl was bundled up in the way little girls are on a cold late-Autumn day.

Ignoring the advice of The Lad, ("Dad, just because you CAN talk to everybody in the world, doesn't mean you HAVE to talk to everybody in the world.") I asked the woman what little girl's name was.

"Destiny," she said, beaming. "She's my baby."

In the way of precocious little girls, Destiny asked me where my car was. I told her it was right behind her mom's.

Destiny looked up and me and asked me if my car was going to be a shiny as her mommy's.

I said I hoped so, and I asked her, in that patronizing way that grownups talk to children, how shiny her mommy's car was going to be.

She thought about this, staring off toward the seafood store across the street with that look of deep concentration little girls assume when contemplating great concepts. Then she looked back up at me and said, "Rainbow Shiny."

The magnificence of that phrase took my breath away.

The problem with looking at the world through middle-aged eyes is we can no longer see things as being "Rainbow shiny." Even on those rare occasions where we see things as beautiful as a rainbow, we know from long - and often harsh - experience that rainbows are, like fame and glory, fleeting.

But for Destiny, everything in her world is decorated with the brilliant hues and gentle shadings contained within the infinite colors of her world's rainbow. Her entire future is decorated with vivid thoughts and sparkly dreams.

On Thanksgiving, we should try - just for a few minutes - to look at our world though Destiny's eyes: Look at our world as being "Rainbow Shiny."

Even though we know it won't last, we should enjoy Thanksgiving for this one day while we look around the table eating the wonderfully familiar meal, telling the well-told stories, to the same precious people, remembering fondly, if sadly, any who may be missing from this year's gathering of friends and family.

As her mom was strapping her into her child seat, I caught Destiny's eye and pointed to her mom's clean car and, smiling and nodding, I blew her a kiss.

Destiny, in that way little girls do, hid her eyes and giggled.

This is another kiss to Destiny: Thank you for reminding a grown-up that if we look at our world with the simple trust of child we, too, can see it as "Rainbow Shiny."

That little girl is destiny's child. All children are.

Happy Thanksgiving.

The Best Sounds in the world

1. I love you Daddy/Mommy
2. Hello Handsome/Beautiful
3. Your Plane is now boarding
4. Your significant other saying "I Do"
5. The First cry of your child
6. The Sigh of a loved one whose head is on your shoulder
6. Cowboy boots on a wooden walkway
7. A high school band's drum corp, on a Friday night
8. Football Cleats on asphalt, on a Friday night
9. Crackling of wood in a fire
10. Wrapping paper on a Christmas Morning
11. Bacon Cooking
12. The chirping of birds through an open window on a Summer morning
13. The wind in the trees on a cool afternoon
14. Children playing outside on a summer afternoon
15. A baby's laughter
16. The sound of an infant sucking it's lip/finger
17. Your significant other's heartbeat in the middle of the night
18. the laughter of your children or spouse..

'Nuff Said

The Ant and the Grasshopper

Originally by Jim Quinn. It is a window into our world..

OLD VERSION: The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer long, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter.
The grasshopper thinks the ant is a fool and laughs and dances and plays the summer away.
Come winter, the ant is warm and well fed.
The grasshopper has no food or shelter, so he dies out in the cold.
MORAL OF THE STORY: Be responsible for yourself! 

MODERN VERSION:
The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer long, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter.
The grasshopper thinks the ant is a fool and laughs and dances and plays the summer away.
Come winter, the shivering grasshopper calls a press conference and demands to know why the ant should be allowed to be warm and well fed while others are cold and starving.
CBS, NBC , PBS, CNN, and ABC show up to provide pictures of the shivering grasshopper next to a
video of the ant in his comfortable home with a table filled with food. America is stunned by the sharp contrast.

How can this be, that in a country of such wealth, this poor grasshopper is allowed to suffer so?
Kermit the Frog appears on Oprah with the grasshopper and everybody cries when they sing, 'It's Not Easy Being Green.'
ACORN stages a demonstration in front of the ant's house
Where the news stations film the group singing, 'We shall overcome.'
Rev. Jeremiah Wright then has the group kneel down to pray to God for the grasshopper's sake.

Nancy Pelosi & Harry Reid exclaim in an interview with
Larry King that the ant has gotten rich off the back
of the grasshopper, and both call for an immediate tax hike on the ant to make him pay his fair share.
Finally, the EEOC drafts the Economic Equity & Anti-Grasshopper Act retroactive to the beginning of the summer.

The ant is fined for failing to hire a proportionate number of green bugs and, having nothing left to pay his retroactive taxes, his home is confiscated by the Government Green Czar.
The story ends as we see the grasshopper finishing up the last bits of the ants food while the government house he is in, which just happens to be the ant's old house, crumbles around him because he doesn't maintain it.
The ant has disappeared in the snow.

The grasshopper is found dead in a drug related incident
and the house, now abandoned, is taken over by a gang of spiders
who terrorize the once peaceful neighborhood.
MORAL OF THE STORY: Be careful how you vote in 2010.

Life Imitates Art

"On Barrack Obama and the Democrat Congress-- "Life Imitates art... Unfortunately lately it is imitating two of the most frightening books of the 20th century.. Atlas Shrugged and 1984"

This is one of my quotes... I didn't realize at the time how prescient I was.

If you are a "Boomer" or were born anytime in the 1960's. (I am considered to be at the tail end of the Baby Boomers I was born in '62) You will remember when television was much simpler. There were four basic kind of television shows. Detective/Police/Legal Dramas (Dragnet, Mannix, NYPD, Perry Mason), Sitcoms (Gilligans Island, Beverly Hill Billies), Doctor Dramas (Ben Casey, Dr. Kildare) and Westerns (Bonanza, Maverick, Gunsmoke, Wagontrain etc). One of the common themes of the Westerns on both TV and Motion Pictures was this scenario - Evil Big landowner trying to take over a geographic area, sometimes a valley. In order to
1. Sell the land to the coming rail rail road to make an obscene amount of money or
2. To keep the "Open Range" open for his Cattle so he can continue to make an obscene amount of money.
Now this Cattle/Land Baron used two methods to chase the poor small farmer/rancher off of their land,
1. Hire a group of thugs to harass them or
2. Get control of the local water source and shut off access of everyone down river/stream from the water.

OK you say... What has this got to do with anything other than you geezing? (reminiscing)

Well as I said in my quote, life is imitating art... The Central Valley of California accounts for 53% that states agricultural production, 13% of the US's agricultural production. As of yesterday, Gov. Schwarzenegger declared a state of emergency in the Valley.. Fires? Nope. Earthquake? Nope. Drought? Yes.. So, what has that got to do with anything? Well there have been many droughts in the Central Valley but this one is devastating. So devastating that the state of California has to purchase food to feed the Farmers in the Valley.. OK you say... And? Well the main reason this particular drought is so devastating is like in the Westerns I described someone has cut off access to the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers. The Farmers may now only get 10% of the water they used to get. Who is this evil SOB? Where is John Wayne, Gary Cooper and Randolph Scott when you need them? Why hasn't the Media been castigating this SOB?

The evil SOB is....... The United States Federal Govt. The US Fish and Wildlife service specifically. Why would they do this? To protect the Delta Smelt, a small minnow like fish. Well at least you say, there isn't a group of thugs also... Nope, you would be incorrect, the Sierra Club and many Environmental groups are flooding the US Fish and Wildlife service with all types of "New" Endangered Species that need to be protected in some of our most fertile farming areas. At this rate, we will change from the worlds largest food exporter to a food importer.. Just like the farmers in the Central Valley of California.

My Health care Solution

Tort Reform--

The anti John Edwards solution:
Approximately 25% of health care costs are "Defensive Medicine" and Malpractice Insurance. In fact a Doctor can lose his Malpractice insurance if he is sued multiple times even if he wins all of the suits. How do we reform it? Some people want to limit the judgments, I don't, if the Doctor is guilty make him pay. I want "Loser Pays". In other words if the Doctor is sued for Malpractice and wins, the plaintiff and the plaintiffs' counsel have to pay all court costs and legal fees associated with the case. They would also have to reimburse the Doctor for preparation time and time spent in court at his current rate or a rate deemed commiserate with his abilities by the court. A lawyer would be reticent about a pursuing malpractice suit unless there was undeniable evidence of wrong doing.

John Edwards became a multi-millionaire from suing doctors for children born with cerebral palsy. It has been shown that a lack of oxygen during birth does not cause cerebral palsy, that didn't stop John, he just had to convince a jury that it "might" cause cerebral palsy...


Interstate Insurance--

??? What does this mean BigMan?

Currently you may only purchase health insurance from those companies licensed to operate within your state. These licenses are denied for such arbitrary things as a company not offering a plan that includes coverage for Sex Change operations or a plan for single men that doesn't include a yearly gynecological check up. If you could purchase your plan from any company licensed to do business in any state in the US, competition would cause the costs to go down. You would be able to get a plan that only covers the items that YOU want.



HSA or Health Savings Plans--

Most people now have the option of contributing to an HSA now. This is an account in which you may deposit pre-tax income in to be used to pay medical bills only. These accounts currently have two limitations that make them unattractive. The first is you may only contribute up to $5,000.00 to a plan.The second is that any unspent money in the account at the end of the calendar year is forfeited to the Federal Govt. Here is what I propose:

• No limit to the amount you my contribute yearly to the account.
• Allow the money to rollover year to year.
• The ability to invest the money in your account as you would a 401k.
• Allow employers to contribute or "match" it.

What would this do? With an HSA like I describe, you may begin contributing to it as soon as you have employment or are able to. It is portable, it would also build over time so that it could be used in the event of a catastrophic health emergency. If it was never used it would be available to cover health expenses during your retirement when they are more expensive. This HSA would also allow you to have a high deductible health insurance policy. Therefore you would only need a "Health insurance policy" not a "Health care policy". Your health insurance could do what insurance is supposed to do, indemnify you for catastrophic, unexpected costs. The best analogy I have heard is Auto Insurance. You pay to fix your and possibly another vehicle in case of an accident, your insurance doesn't pay for your fuel, oil changes, and other repairs (although repair insurance is now available). Another benefit to only having catastrophic coverage is that when you spend your money, you can select the level of care and the physician you want. you are not restricted by your insurance company to the list of participating Doctors. This would drive competition up and costs down.. What are the two fastest growing segments of health care that are not covered by most policies? Lasik eye surgery and plastic surgery. The quality of these procedures has gone up and the costs have dropped dramatically in the last 10-15 years. When you spend your money, you are more careful that when you spend someone else's money..


End the Artificial shortage of Doctors--

??? What do you mean "Artificial shortage of Doctors" BigMan??

The AMA along with Medical schools determine how many people are accepted to medical school regardless of their qualifications and they also determine how many doctors of each specialty that can be licensed.. Why? If an individual wants to be a physician, and meets the minimum qualifications required, then let them in. Better yet, let's have more schools.. The ABA (American Bar Association) doesn't limit the number of lawyers (unfortunately). Why should we have a limit of doctors.The process will weed itself out. The good ones will have all the business they want and the bad ones won't have any business...

Portability--

Unfortunately, most folks insurance is connected to their employment. There is a reason for this, and it is the same reason that we have most of the issues we have in the health care system today.. The US Govt. interfered with the free market. Employer provided Health Insurance was created during WWII because the US Govt. imposed wage and price controls. Employers, always looking for ways in which to attract the best possible employees, compensated for the fact that they could not increase wages. They used other benefits to sweeten the pot, one of which was Health Insurance. One wartime employer even started it's own Health system for it's employees. This system required a small nominal payment for each visit to the company clinic (a co-pay). This company was Kaiser Ship Building. Their "Company Clinic" was so successful that it is one of the only things that survives the industrial giant that started as an Aluminum smelter and then built more "Liberty" ships than any other ship yard in WWII. We know it as the HMO Kaiser Permanente.
Because of this meddling by the US Govt. and lobbying efforts by Insurance and Industry; this Benefit is Tax Deductible for the employer and a non-taxable benefit for the employee. We should disengage the employers' control of the plan altogether. If an employer wishes to contribute to my HSA or health benefits, they may do so, but the package is MINE. When I leave that employer my package goes with me. My employer doesn't select or cover my auto insurance, why should they select and cover my health insurance?

Pre-existing conditions--

I am, as I have stated a Libertarian. I believe that we as a people and Govt. in particular should stay out of business and let them handle their own affairs.. For pre-existing medical conditions I make this one exception. An Insurance company cannot turn you down IF you had been previously insured for at least 1 year prior to your current health issue, or that during the issue in question you had been covered by another individual's policy and lost coverage through no fault of your own. In other words, if you had insurance, got sick, your provider went out of business, or you were a minor or were covered by a spouses insurance and were no longer covered you can't be turned down. I don't want someone that had never had insurance because they didn't wish to pay for it, get sick and try to then get insurance.

The US Govt. already controls 50% of the health care industry and the have made a mess of it. We should be cutting back Medicare and Medicaid not increasing their size and adding every man woman and child to them. Implementing the steps I have outlined most of the "Future" Medicare recipients wouldn't need it. Medical costs would go down and service would go up..

I keep hearing about the statistic that health costs have risen by 300% over that last 20 years. Education costs have gone up by almost 400% during the same time period, I don't hear the leftists screaming about that (because they get most of the money). Furthermore what of the medical advancements of the past 20 years would you like to give up? We have the most advanced system in the world when it comes to technology.. THAT does not come free...

"If you think it's expensive now, wait until it's free" -Unknown
-------------------------------------------------------------
HSA Update-- New Rules, a step in the right direction..

The new rules also allow you to roll over a distribution from a health care flexible spending account (health FSA) or health reimbursement arrangement (HRA) into your HSA. This is a tax-free maneuver. However, the rollover contribution cannot exceed the smaller of:

The balance in your health FSA or HRA as of Sept. 21, 2006, or

The balance in your health FSA or HRA as of the distribution date.

To qualify, you must completely drain the health FSA or HRA and cease participating in it after the rollover. Only one account-draining rollover is allowed for each health FSA or HRA that you own. So this is not something you can do repeatedly.

Unfortunately, a punitive recapture rule will apply if you make a rollover and then become ineligible to make HSA contributions during the subsequent "testing period." This testing period begins with the month of the rollover, and it ends on the last day of the 12th month following that month. If the recapture rule applies, your entire rollover contribution amount must be included in your taxable income, and you'll get hit with a 10% penalty tax.

Here's an example:

Say that on Sept. 21, 2006, you had a $2,500 balance in your health FSA. At the end of 2007, your FSA balance is $2,000. You tell your employer you won't participate in the FSA for 2008, then you sign up for HDHP coverage for 2008. In January of 2008, you take advantage of the new FSA-to-HSA rollover privilege by rolling over $2,000. The rollover drains your FSA and jump-starts your HSA. So far, so good.

But what if you become ineligible for HSA contributions on July 1, 2008, because you obtain coverage under a more generous health plan? It's not pretty. Since ineligibility occurs during the testing period, you must recapture the entire $2,000 rollover amount by reporting it as income on your 2008 Form 1040. Plus, you'll have to pay a 10% penalty tax of $200.

Bottom line: Once again, we wouldn't blame anyone who thinks this nasty recapture rule makes the health-account-to-HSA rollover idea look too dicey.

New IRA-to-HSA Rollover Privilege

You can also make a tax-free rollover from your IRA into your HSA. This is yet another way to jump-start your HSA.

However, the rollover amount cannot exceed your "regular" HSA contribution limit for the year, based on whether you have self-only or family HDHP coverage. So the maximum you can roll over in 2008 is $2,900 if you have self-only coverage or $5,800 if you have family coverage. Afterward, your "regular" deductible HSA contribution limit for the year is reduced by the amount of any IRA-to-HSA rollover. You can generally make only one such rollover during your life.

As you might expect, a devilish recapture rule can bite you in the wallet if you do a rollover and then become ineligible for HSA contributions during the subsequent "testing period." The testing period in this instance begins with the month of the rollover contribution and ends on the last day of the 12th month following that month. If you fall victim to the recapture rule, you must include the entire amount of the rollover contribution in your taxable income and pay a 10% penalty tax.

Here's an example:

Say you have family HDHP coverage for this year. On Oct. 1, 2008, you decide to roll over $5,800 from your IRA into your HSA. This puts a substantial amount of money into your HSA without any cash-flow problems.

But what if you become ineligible for HSA contributions in September of 2009? Since ineligibility occurs during the testing period, you must recapture the entire $5,800 by reporting it as income on your 2009 Form 1040. To add insult to injury, you must also pay a 10% penalty tax of $580. Assuming you have enough cash to make a "regular" deductible HSA contribution for this year, you would be better off taking that course — because it avoids any chance of the nasty recapture rule coming into play later on.

Conclusions

The new HSA rules can prove helpful by allowing for larger annual contributions and tax-free rollovers from health care accounts and IRAs. However, don't take advantage of these new rules unless you're confident that the dreaded recapture provisions won't hurt you later on. So get out your crystal ball, and good luck with your predictions.

The white Rodney King

Folks, it's been a while but I found time for this one. A friend sent me the link to this video. This is a radio sermon by the Right Reverend Manning. I must say I have attended services in Black Pentecostal and Baptist Churches... No one can get a group of people fired up like a Black Pastor.

Letter to My Retired Aunt

My Aunt sent me an email that was trying to explain why Social Security was going broke. It showed how over the years the Congress raided the "Trust Fund", began taxing the payments as income; how originally it was "voluntary", how illigals and immigrants were allowed payements, and it was all blamed on the Democrat party.. All of this is true.. Here was my reply to her..
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ruth,

You are missing the main point of the entire debacle... Since Bernie Madoff is in the news, he just received 150 years for his "Ponzi" scheme everyone should understand what a "Ponzi' scheme is... That is what Social Security has ALWAYS BEEN, even if none of this would have been done.. It would still be going broke. You yourself will receive more in benefits than you ever paid in. The money never earned a dime.

Do the math, let's say you began work at 15 and began paying FICA at that time. to make the math easy we will say you retired at 65, and you worked full time getting paid every two weeks. Also to make the math easy we will say you paid in $100.00 every pay day to FICA. When you started you paid less, before you retired you paid more, but $100.00 is an easy number...

Here is what you would have earned

100.00X26 (pay periods in a year) X50 (years worked) = $130,000.00 if you take out ONLY $1300.00 per month, you will run out of money in 8 years 4 months, age 73..

Here is the big secret, when the program started, the first recipient began getting checks at age 65, she had only made 2 payments, at that time there were 8 payers for every recipient. So a surplus built up. By the time I would be eligible there will be 2 payers for every recipient, if the Congress had NEVER touched a dime of the money, it would run out of money 20 years later than currently predicted. It has always been a Ponzi Scheme. They based it on two assumptions:

1. Few Americans make it to 65, those that do don't live longer than 5-8 years
2. There will ALWAYS be more young people than old people, that is how our country has grown...

Both Assumptions were false.. Now you know why the Dems want amnesty for Mexicans..More payers into FICA, it will last until the current group are out of office.. That is all they ever care about.. Push the problem down the road...

The Debt Road Trip...

This was provided to me by MBB (my big brother) "Two Bears"... It is a keeper..

Fallen Hero, and a Lesson Learned

Those of you who take the time to read my ramblings my have guessed that the Big Fella is rather Patriotic. I get all misty when I hear the Star Spangled Banner, or America the Beautiful as sung by Ray Charles. In fact for a time that song, America the Beautiful by "Ray Ray" became a Friday night tradition for my number 2 daughter, "The Bear" (just a nickname, not a description) and myself. As we were en route back the Palatial BigMan compound from The Bear's horseback riding lessons, a Radio Talk show I like to listen to hosted by Mark Levin, would at that time play the song in tribute to all of the Americans serving in the Armed Forces. In fact we became able to sing along and not miss a word, even the "Can somebody help me?" thrown in by Ray. I ended up buying a Ray Charles Greatest Hits collection just to ensure I had a copy.

On to the purpose of this post.. I am, as I stated, Patriotic, so I have volunteered to be a member of the "Patriot Guard Riders (PGR)". This is a group of mostly military veteran motorcyclists that provide support to the family of deceased Active duty and retired military. Thursday I received an email from the Patriot Guard about a "Mission" for Saturday June 6th, Sunday June 7th, and Tuesday June 9th, This was to be for Lt. Col. Mark E. Stratton II USAF. Saturday was to be the Viewing at a local funeral home, Sunday afternoon a service at his local Church, and Tuesday escort to and honors at Arlington Cemetery. Because of prior commitments I was only going to be able to make the "Flag Line" at the funeral home on Saturday. A "Flag Line" is when the PGR personnel stand in a line at attention holding full sized American Flags, rendering honors to the fallen.

All of the BigMan's family were off doing their thing except for my number 3 daughter, number 4 child,"The Caboose" (just a nickname, not a description). The Caboose has just turned 12, she is a dancer and takes four different dance classes, they have a recital coming up in the next few weeks and Saturday morning was the "Studio" dress rehearsal, and the BigMan sat in a vehicle for 3-4 hours while The Caboose went through her various rehearsals.. Anyway it was just The Caboose and I Saturday afternoon, I told her what I planned on doing and she enthusiastically stated she wanted to go.

Upon arrival at the Funeral home we met up with other PGRs and were briefed. We then collected the Flags, Caboose and I borrowed two because I had not done flag line duty before, just motorcycle escort, and got in place in a line just outside the entrance to the funeral home with the other 7 PGR's.

As the Family began to arrive, an older lady I took to be fallen hero's mother walked down the line with help from a gentleman. She was barely able to speak, and she whispered "Thank you, Thank you" with tears streaming down her face. The Widow, two young children and other family members then approached. They walked down the line and shook each of our hands and thanked us for being there. The young widow was carrying one of her children, a son, about 2-3 years old. She also had tears streaming down her face as she thanked us. I glanced sideways at the Caboose and she to was crying as the Widow held her hand a little longer than others, and thanked her for being there. The Big Fella, I have to admit, upon seeing this also had a "Misty Moment"....

Two other incidents also cause me a "Misty Moment". One was when a gentleman who was at least 80, wearing his American Legion dress uniform. He stopped, pulled on white gloves, marched smartly up to the first Flag in the line, executed a salute. while holding the salute executed a right-face and marched down the Flag line.

The other was the same action carried out by an Air Force Colonel in dress uniform. As he marched down the line, I was able to see that his eyes were welling up with tears.


I believe that this was an experience that the Caboose will not soon forget. I hope she will remember it, remember the young Widow, and always hold those who sacrifice, fight and die for us in her heart..

I am an Un-caring racist!!! So I'm told...

Two posts in two days!! Whoa!! Are you still gainfully employed Bigman?

Why yes, I am gainfully employed thank you... Just had something come up last night while talking to Bigmama (Bigman's true love, just a name, not a description).

I was watching a show on Fox and as they were speaking about how most "Conservatives" and "Republicans" (not necessarily the same thing..See McCain, John S., or Powell, Colin L.) are viewed as being Racist, and uncaring (see Cheney, Richard "Dick" B, aka Darth Vader). It brought to mind a fire drill we had where I work. I work in a ten storey office tower, the bottom 4 floors are parking Garage, therefore when you are in the elevator, there are L, P1-P3, and Floors 1-6. I detail this because it is germane to the story I am relating. I work on the "Fifth" floor, or really the ninth floor of the tower. When the fire alarm sounded, we all made our way to the closest stairwell. I found myself with a co-worker that I know in the crowded stairwell. This gentleman is a typical Eastern Liberal, but I don't hold that against him. Everyone makes mistakes, someday maybe he will correct his. Anyway, as we made our way down the crowded stairwell, at about the third floor, two black ladies were trying to get from their floor into the stairwell and no one would let them in. Being a southern gentleman, I allowed them in front of me to the dismay of everyone behind me.. Of course no one actually mentioned it to me because "Bigman" is not just a 'nom de plume'. I am actually rather large, and I am told that I am rather scary looking. I don't see it, I believe that I am rather Teddy Bearish.. But that is just me.

These two ladies got in front of me, I at that time realized that one of them was using a cane and rather slow, and the other was about 5'4" tall and weighed at least 300 lbs. To say that they were slow would be a tremendous understatement. Again there were rumblings behind me, and some individual actually made a comment. I looked up to see who it was and there after all comments ceased.. When we finally got outside to the scheduled assembly area, by alphabetical order.
The Liberal looked at me and stated:
"If there was a real fire, I would have ran those two over and left them were they fell."

I looked at him and told him:
"And I would have stayed and helped them out of the building."

He came back with:
"Then you would have died."

I replied:
"Probably, but I would not have left them to die alone, I would've done my best to get them out."

I do not think that I am special or brave.. Most of the Conservative "Men" I know would have done the same thing... I can only actually think of a single "man" that I know that would have acted like the Liberal "man". You notice I capitalized one "Man/Men" and didn't the other. The capitalized one is descriptive of an individual, the other implies the individuals sex. Yes I said sex, gender describes a word, whether or not it is in the feminine or masculine gender, it does not describe a human...

The point of this is that we as Conservatives/Libertarians are portrayed by the MSM and society in general as mean, un-caring racists when the truth is the opposite. I had a discussion with BigPa (Bigman's Pa) just before the November election and I told him that Bigmama's North Eastern relatives of the Yellow dog Democrat persuasion were complaining about Hussien, they really didn't want to have to vote for him because he was black. BigPa laughed and said "You know they have been screaming about black rights and integration for all of these years, but they don't want to live near them or vote for them. We live with them, but we didn't care if Mr. Johnson, the Black farmer next door had equal rights.We were worried about those "Bad" black folks we saw on the evening news. Hell, I voted for a black man in 1970, but I am a racist because I live in the South. Those people are worried about voting for a black man in 2008 and they aren't racists!"


"We" as a group do not divide or divvy up people by race, sex, class, or religion, unlike the liberals. We don't resort to class or group politics. People are accepted or not based on their character... What a concept..

YES WE CAN!!!

OK...So the BigMan has been gone a while. I haven't posted much. Not that anyone complained. Hey!! How is that "Hope and Change" working out for ya?
Man are we doing great or what? BHO's economy is roaring back, the Chinese are in awe of his economical acuity, and even Pravda, that former Communist State Run Newspaper is singing the great one's praises...OK so all of that isn't exactly true.. I at least did my part for the economy, I bought a new vehicle from Chrysler before BHO sold them to Fiat. If I remember correctly, the Govt. and BHO screamed "We can't let GM and Chrysler go Chapter 11!' back in the fall. Although once Hussien--

SIDEBAR
It's OK to call him that now, he has just claimed that although we aren't a Christian nation, we could be the largest Muslim nation on earth...Yippee!
END SIDEBAR

--got his claws into them it was just fine to go Chapt.11 , that is how he took them over. You see, if they would have done it on their own they would still be independent entities and they
could have invalidated all of the UAW contracts... Heavens to Mergatroid, we couldn't let that happen... Instead the UAW owns most of Chrysler and a big chunk of GM. Hussien also keeps telling us that they were doing so poorly because they were making cars that no American or anybody for that matter wanted to buy... Like GM's Hummer... Proof of that is that it only took 4 hours for the ChiComs to buy that division.. Boy did GM rip them off or what? I mean who wants to buy a large safe 4WD vehicle nowadays other than 1Billion Chinese? Also the SAAB division, there are only 16 companies bidding on it, SAAB was obviously an Albatross around the neck of GM.. Not unlike Saturn, I mean there are only 10 companies wanting to take that worthless chunk of GM off of Hussien's Hands.. No wonder they were losing so much money huh? Couldn't have anything to do with the fact that $1800.00 of each car sold was just to pay for the GM retirees health care. Not even that there are 5,000 GM employees in the UAW "Job Bank". They make 75% of their salary to sit around and smoke cigarettes while reading the Paper... Waiting for GM to open a new plant and give them work.. No It is just that Americans want to buy little "Green" fuel efficient cars and those stupid Capitalists wouldn't listen!!! They kept building Pick Up trucks, and SUVs!!! I mean you never see any of those in anyone's
Driveways!! That is why Ford is going to ramp up their production in the third quarter of SUV's Trucks and Muscle cars like the Mustang, because they are evil environment hating Capitalists and they won't give us a choice!!! They are going to make us buy these horrible vehicles... THE HUMANITY!!! MY GOD DO THEY HATE POLAR BEARS THAT MUCH!!! WHAT ABOUT THE POOR IN BANGLADESH, THEY WILL DROWN BECAUSE OF
GLOBAL WARMING!!! FORD IS JUST A BUNCH OF HATERS!!!!

I don't know about you, but Hussien is the Man... First thing he did was make GM stop all plans for a Hydrogen Car.. I mean, it was actually going to be a big ugly car like we currently drive
except that it would run on hydrogen.. What a waste... Everyone wants to buy a Smart4two car.. That is why there is such a waiting list to buy one..At least there should be if so many Americans
didn't hate the environment so much.. The "O" is going to fix that... He now has a Justice Dept official that is going to lead the "Enviromental Justice" crusade. Everyone knows that our abuse of the environment affects the "Poor, Minorities, Women, and Children" disproportionately..

Yes, things are getting better and better... I just can't wait for August!!! That is when His Grace, the Benevolent one is going to fix health care!!! I am so glad the Auto industry and Economy have been fixed... On to bigger and better things!!! Remember as Americans, can we do Facism better than the Italians of Germans?? In BHO's words "YES WE CAN!!"

Ed Freeman

There is an email circulating about Congressional Medal of Honor (CMH) recipient Ed W. Freeman. About how the Media should be ashamed that they were more interested in a Hip Hop star beating his girlfriend than the death of a CMH recipient. It is partially true. Ed W. Freeman did receive the CMH and he received it for the reason given in the email.. He died in August 2008 though, long before the Hip Hop punk slapped around his girl... We still didn't hear anything about him, even when Congress named a US Post Office facility after him in his home town McLain Mississippi.

Here is the body of the email, I took out the reference to the dirt bag and the media. Also a copy of his CMH citation.. They don't make many like this anymore.. Thank god they still make some..

The Story of Ed Freeman

You're an 19 year old kid. You're critically wounded, and dying in the
jungle in the Ia Drang Valley , 11-14-1965, LZ X-ray, Vietnam . ?Your
infantry unit is outnumbered 8 - 1, and the enemy fire is so intense,
from 100 or 200 yards away, that your own Infantry Commander has ordered
the MediVac helicopters to stop coming in.

You're lying there, listening to the enemy machine guns, and you know
you're not getting out. Your family is 1/2 way around the world, 12,000 miles
away,and you'll never see them again. As the world starts to fade in and
out, you know this is the day.

Then, over the machine gun noise, you faintly hear that sound of a
helicopter, and you look up to see an un-armed Huey, but it doesn't
seem real, because no Medi-Vac markings are on it.

Ed Freeman is coming for you. He's not Medi-Vac, so it's not his job,
but he's flying his Huey down into the machine gun fire, after the Medi-Vacs
were ordered not to come.

He's coming anyway.

And he drops it in, and sits there in the machine gun fire, as they
load 2 or 3 of you on board.

Then he flies you up and out through the gunfire, to the Doctors and
Nurses.


And, he kept coming back.... 13 more times..... And took about 30 of
you and your buddies out, who would never have gotten out.

Medal of Honor Recipient, Ed Freeman,died last August at the age of
80,in Boise, ID ......May God rest his soul.....




FREEMAN, ED W.

The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress,
March 3, 1863, has awarded in the name of The Congress the Medal of Honor to

CAPTAIN ED W. FREEMAN
UNITED STATES ARMY

for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty:

Captain Ed W. Freeman, United States Army, distinguished himself by numerous acts of conspicuous gallantry and extraordinary intrepidity on 14 November 1965 while serving with Company A, 229th Assault Helicopter Battalion, 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile). As a flight leader and second in command of a 16-helicopter lift unit, he supported a heavily engaged American infantry battalion at Landing Zone X-Ray in the Ia Drang Valley, Republic of Vietnam. The unit was almost out of ammunition after taking some of the heaviest casualties of the war, fighting off a relentless attack from a highly motivated, heavily armed enemy force. When the infantry commander closed the helicopter landing zone due to intense direct enemy fire, Captain Freeman risked his own life by flying his unarmed helicopter through a gauntlet of enemy fire time after time, delivering critically needed ammunition, water and medical supplies to the besieged battalion. His flights had a direct impact on the battle's outcome by providing the engaged units with timely supplies of ammunition critical to their survival, without which they would almost surely have gone down, with much greater loss of life. After medical evacuation helicopters refused to fly into the area due to intense enemy fire, Captain Freeman flew 14 separate rescue missions, providing life-saving evacuation of an estimated 30 seriously wounded soldiers -- some of whom would not have survived had he not acted. All flights were made into a small emergency landing zone within 100 to 200 meters of the defensive perimeter where heavily committed units were perilously holding off the attacking elements. Captain Freeman's selfless acts of great valor, extraordinary perseverance and intrepidity were far above and beyond the call of duty or mission and set a superb example of leadership and courage for all of his peers. Captain Freeman's extraordinary heroism and devotion to duty are in keeping with the highest traditions of military service and reflect great credit upon himself, his unit and the United States Army.

Rest in peace Ed, Thank you for your service to our country...

Gun Laws and The right to self defense..

The time is coming......................



You're sound asleep when you hear a thump outside your

bedroom door.
Half-awake, and nearly paralyzed with fear, you hear muffled whispers.
At least two people have broken into your house and are moving

your way.
With your heart pumping, you reach down beside your bed and pick up your shotgun. You rack a shell into the chamber, then inch toward the door and open it. In the darkness, you make out two shadows.

One holds something that looks like a crowbar. When the intruder
brandishes it as if to strike, you raise the shotgun and fire. The blast
knocks both thugs to the floor. One writhes and screams while the second man crawls to the front door and lurches outside.

As you pick up the telephone to call police, you know you're in trouble.

In your country, most guns were outlawed years before,

and the few that are privately owned are so stringently regulated

as to make them useless. Yours was never registered.

Police arrive and inform you that the second burglar has died.

They arrest you for First Degree Murder and
Illegal Possession of a Firearm. When you talk to your attorney,

he tells you not to worry: authorities will probably plea the case down to manslaughter.

"What kind of sentence will I get?" you ask..

"Only ten-to-twelve years," he replies, as if that's nothing. "Behave
yourself, and you'll be out in seven."

The next day, the shooting is the lead story in the local newspaper.
Somehow, you're portrayed as an eccentric vigilante while the two men
you shot are represented as choirboys. Their friends and relatives can't
find an unkind word to say about them. Buried deep down in the article,
authorities acknowledge that both "victims" have been arrested numerous times.
But the next day's headline says it all: "Lovable Rogue Son Didn't
Deserve to Die." The thieves have been transformed from career criminals into Robin Hood-type pranksters.

As the days wear on, the story takes wings.

The national media picks it up, then the international media.

The surviving burglar has become a folk hero.

Your attorney says the thief is preparing to sue you, and he'll
probably win. The media publishes reports that your home has been
burglarized several times in the past and that you've been critical of
local police for their lack of effort in apprehending the suspects.
After the last break-in, you told your neighbor that you would be
prepared next time. The District Attorney uses this to allege that you
were lying in wait for the burglars.

A few months later, you go to trial. The charges haven't been reduced,
as your lawyer had so confidently predicted. When you take the stand,
your anger at the injustice of it all works against you. Prosecutors
paint a picture of you as a mean, vengeful man. It doesn't take long for
the jury to convict you of all charges. The judge sentences you to life
in prison.

This case happened.

On August 22, 1999, Tony Martin of Emneth, Norfolk , England ,

killed one burglar and wounded a second. In April, 2000, he was convicted and is now serving a life term.

How did it become a crime to defend one's own life in the once great
British Empire ?

It started with the Pistols Act of 1903. This seemingly reasonable law
forbade selling pistols to minors or felons and established that handgun
sales were to be made only to those who had a license.

The Firearms Act of 1920 expanded licensing to include not only handguns but all firearms except shotguns.

Later laws passed in 1953 and 1967 outlawed the carrying of

any weapon by private citizens and mandated the registration

of all shotguns.

Momentum for total handgun confiscation began in earnest after the
Hungerford mass shooting in 1987. Michael Ryan, a mentally

disturbed man with a Kalashnikov rifle, walked down the streets shooting everyone he saw. When the smoke cleared, 17 people

were dead.

The British public, already de-sensitized by eighty years of "gun
control", demanded even tougher restrictions. (The seizure of all
privately owned handguns was the objective even though Rya

used a rifle.)

Nine years later, at Dunblane , Scotland , Thomas Hamilton used a
semi-automatic weapon to murder 16 children and a teacher at a public school..

For many years, the media had portrayed all gun owners as mentally
unstable, or worse, criminals.

Now the press had a real kook with which to beat up law-abiding gun
owners. Day after day, week after week, the media gave up all pretense
of objectivity and demanded a total ban on all handguns. The Dunblane
Inquiry, a few months later, sealed the fate of the few sidearm still
owned by private citizens.

During the years in which the British government incrementally took
Away most gun rights, the notion that a citizen had the right to armed
self-defense came to be seen as vigilantism. Authorities refused to
grant gun licenses to people who were threatened, claiming that
self-defense was no longer considered a reason to own a gun. Citizens
who shot burglars or robbers or rapists were charged while the real
criminals were released.

Indeed, after the Martin shooting, a police spokesman was quoted as
saying, "We cannot have people take the law into their own hands."
All of Martin's neighbors had been robbed numerous times, and several
elderly people were severely injured in beatings by young thugs who had no fear of the consequences. Martin himself, a collector of antiques, had seen most of his collection trashed or stolen by burglars.

When the Dunblane Inquiry ended, citizens who owned handguns were given three months to turn them over to local authorities.

Being good British subjects, most people obeyed the law. The few who didn't were visited by police and threatened with ten-year prison sentences if they didn't comply. Police later bragged that they'd taken nearly 200,000 handguns from private citizens.
How did the authorities know who had handguns? The guns had been
registered and licensed. Kinda like cars.

Sound familiar?

WAKE UP AMERICA , THIS IS WHY OUR FOUNDING FATHERS PUT THE SECOND AMENDMENT IN OUR CONSTITUTION

"..it does not require a majority to prevail, but rather an irate,
tireless minority keen to set brush fires in people's minds.."
--Samuel Adams

If you think this is important, please forward to everyone you know

One Trillion Dollars and the Head Fake

The beginning of this post is from a popular e-mail I have received several times.. At the end is a response I sent out to the last one I received...
-----------------------------------------------------------

What does one TRILLION dollars look like?

All this talk about "stimulus packages" and "bailouts"...

A billion dollars...

A hundred billion dollars...

Eight hundred billion dollars...

One TRILLION dollars...

We'll start with a $100 dollar bill. Currently the largest U.S. denomination in general circulation. Most everyone has seen them, slightly fewer have owned them. Guaranteed to make friends wherever they go.

A packet of one hundred $100 bills is less than 1/2" thick and contains $10,000. Fits in your pocket easily and is more than enough for week or two of shamefully decadent fun.

Believe it or not, this next little pile is $1 million dollars (100 packets of $10,000). You could stuff that into a grocery bag and walk around with it.

While a measly $1 million looked a little unimpressive, $100 million is a little more respectable. It fits neatly on a standard pallet...

And $1 BILLION dollars... now we're really getting somewhere...

Next we'll look at ONE TRILLION dollars.. This is that number we've been hearing about so much. What is a trillion dollars? Well, it's a million million. It's a thousand billion. It's a one followed by 12 zeros.

You ready for this?

It's pretty surprising.

Go ahead...

Scroll down...

Ladies and gentlemen... I give you $1 trillion dollars...

(And notice those pallets are double stacked.)

The area this occupies is just shy of 5 acres, with one hundred bills stacked 6 feet in height.

So the next time you hear someone toss around the phrase "trillion dollars"... that's what they're talking about.




------


Yes... And why we were all listening to the Congress get indigent about 165 million in bonuses that were legal, and that they knew about last November. The Fed monetized 1 trillion dollars of our debt.... For those of you who have not participated in sports for the last 20 years, that is called a "Head Fake". Makes you look one way while they go another and leaves you standing there saying "What Happened?"..
What this means is, since no one will buy our debt (because we don't look like we will be able to repay it), they printed another Trillion dollars... So it 's a good thing that you can hold 10k dollars in one hand, that is what you will have to take grocery shopping soon.. If you want to see what happens when a Government Monetizes debt.. Look up stories about Zimbabwe or the Weimar Republic of 1920's Germany . The hyperinflation there allowed the rise of Adolf Hitler.

The American Form of Government

Great find by Two Bears... Show it your children, send the link to your friends...

Interesting Stat

The Debt incurred by the Obama current and projected budget will be larger than all of the debt incurred since the founding of the nation..

Let's see, what did we rack up debt on since the beginning of the nation?

1. The revolution.. 8+ years of war
2. The war of 1812
3. The Louisiana Purchase
   
4. The Mexican war
5. The war between the states (Civil war to you Yankees)
6. The purchase of Alaska (aka Seward's Folly, some one needs to write him (Seward) a good epitaph, best move since #3)
   
7. Spanish American War
8. WWI
9. The Great Depression
10. WWII
11. The Marshall Plan
12. Rebuilding Japan
    
13. Korean War
14. The Space Race
15. The war on poverty aka "The Great Society"(never won, still ongoing after several trillion dollars, thanks to LBJ)
    
16. Vietnam
17. The Cold War
18. Desert Storm
19. Iraq and Afghanistan

If I left anything out I apologize.. But the fact that he will spend more than all of that.. Staggering..

What is recovery?

A good one from my Aunt....

Recession is when your neighbor loses his job.

Depression is when you lose yours.

And recovery is when Obama loses his.

The Great Milton Friedman

This man was the greatest economist of all time. He was to economics what Einstein was to Physics.
Thomas Sowell , a great economist and commentator was a student of his. Please read anything you can find by Sowell and or Walter Williams. They both are great libertarian commentators.

The Medium Three

I have a proverbial hair up my (as my old Drill Sgt used to say) 3 point contact. I am getting tired of hearing leftists and their sympathizers in the media say the following: "Detroit is in trouble because they aren't building the small fuel efficient cars Americans want to buy!" Horse hockey!!! Most if not all of the small cars that Detroit has tried to build have been miserable failures. Toyota and Nissan don't even build that many small cars for sale in the US any more!! In fact both Toyota and Nissan are now building a "Large" pick up truck. A 1/4 ton (F150, D1500, Sierra 1500 class) pick up truck. If Americans wanted small cars why are these traditional small car manufacturers making these large trucks and SUVs? If Americans wanted small cars then the SMART Car would be a break away best seller!! I think I had a go cart larger than one of these when I was a kid.. I saw one for the first time in Rotterdam, Sept 2001. I couldn't believe it.. That someone would actually drive a glorified golf cart. I have seen a few here in the states, but they aren't taking over... Just Greenie Weenies driving them. I wouldn't have the testicular fortitude to take one on I95 and I ride a Harley on it. At least on my Harley I can gun it and get out of trouble. I think these things have a Fred Flintstone Accelerator(I know I am dating myself)...

Detroit is in trouble because they have been paying protection to the Mob for the last 50 years, I mean the UAW.. Not much difference really... Now the appetite of the Mob, oops UAW, is getting too big. At last check,$1500.00 of every vehicle produced by Detroit is just to service Retirees Health Care.. Also the average employee of the Medium 3 makes $40.00 per hour. Auto employees in Alabama, Kentucky and South Carolina make $20.00.. No wonder they are failing.

Here is a statistic for you.. In 2004 GM had gross receipts of 1.4 Billion dollars and were 150 million in the red. Toyota the same year had gross receipts of 1.5 billion dollars and had a profit of 50 million... I wonder what the difference was?

Obama's Tax Cut... Oh Ye Suckers...

Ahhhaahaahaahaahaahahaha! Excuse me for a minute... Ahhhaahaahaahaahaahahaha!

For those of you who actually believed anything this guy said... 95% of Americans will get a tax cut..... Suckers!! The "Tax Cut" of $13.00 per week that some of you folks will be getting... Isn't really a "Cut", a real Tax Cut would involve reducing the rate at which you are taxed. Since that isn't changing, and you may be receiving the generous $13.00... It is INCOME!! So you will have to pay most of it back in additional TAXES!!!!!

Ahhhaahaahaahaahaahahaha! Ahhhaahaahaahaahaahahaha! Ahhhaahaahaahaahaahahaha! Ahhhaahaahaahaahaahahaha! Ahhhaahaahaahaahaahahaha! Ahhhaahaahaahaahaahahaha!

Firearms Refresher

'Those who hammer their guns into plows will plow for those who do not.'

~ Thomas Jefferson

FIREARMS REFRESHER COURSE
1. An armed man is a citizen. An unarmed man is a subject.
2. A gun in the hand is better than a cop on the phone.
3. Colt: The original point and click interface.
4. Gun control is not about guns; it's about control.
5. If guns are outlawed, can we use swords?
6. If guns cause crime, then pencils cause misspelled words.
7. Free men do not ask permission to bear arms.
8. If you don't know your rights, you don't have any.
9. Those who trade liberty for security have neither.
10. The United States Constitution (c) 1791. All Rights Reserved.
11. What part of 'shall not be infringed' do you not understand?
12. The Second Amendment is in place in case the politicians ignore the others.
13. 64,999,987 firearms owners killed no one yesterday.
14. Guns only have two enemies; rust and politicians.
15. Know guns, know peace, know safety. No guns, no peace, no safety.
16. You don't shoot to kill; you shoot to stay alive.
17. 911: Government sponsored Dial-a-Prayer.
18. Assault is a behavior, not a device.
19. Criminals love gun control; it makes their jobs safer.
20. If guns cause crime, then matches cause arson.
21. Only a government that is afraid of its citizens tries to control them.
22. You have only the rights you are willing to fight for.
23. Enforce the gun control laws we ALREADY have; don't make more.
24. When you remove the people's right to bear arms, you create slaves.
25. The American Revolution would never have happened with gun control

BigMan Addendum:

26. If guns cause crime then lipstick causes rape
27. If guns cause crime then spoons caused Rosie O'Donnel to be fat
28. If guns cause crime then flys cause garbage

The first thing a totalitarian Govt does when there is dissent is to restrict speech (Hugo Chavez, Lenin, Hitler, Castro, Mussolini)
and then they come for your guns.. The Obama Govt and the Democrats are trying to
shut down talk radio because they can't handle dissent to the chosen one, it's to be called "Media responsibility", they use to call it the "Fairness Doctrine".. Of course
it won't pertain to the Big three networks, NBC, ABC, CBS, or to CNN, MSNBC or NPR, because they are already "Fair". Fox news will probably get hammered eventhough it is probably the only balanced news organization on the air. The original "Fairness Doctrine" was the brainchild of LBJ. He was getting criticised by Radio preachers of the south and south west in the late 40's because they suspected he and his Texas machine were stealing elections through the time honored art of registering voters in cemetaries. He shut them up.
Next they will institute "Sensible" gun control.

Religion of "Peace" update..

Founder of Muslim TV network beheads wife

The founder of a TV network aimed at improving the image of Muslims in the United States didn't help his cause after chopping his wife’s head off. Bridges TV, (get it, building bridges) the station with the goal of improving the image of Muslims in the United States, is probably covering this event in a fair and balanced way. These were the guys on the front lines of shutting people down who said anything negative towards Muslims. Do they do more damage by ignoring the heads rolling on the floor than those who point out the bad ones?


Also B,Hussien Obama signed bill January 27, 2009. This bill allocates $20 million for the relocation of Palestinian "Victims" of Israeli aggression to the US.. Also, if you can prove you voted for or are a member of "Hamas", you go to the fron of the line.. This money provides a home and food for the refugees as the start a new life here in the US..

By the way Hamas is listed as a terrorist group.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamas

This Man has to be an NCO

Fuckin' Huuuuuuuuuuuuuaaaaaaaaaaaa!!! ALL THE WAY AND THEN SOME!!!!!AIRBORNE!!!!

"Gone" Barack Obama

Flash from XML Hacker!!!

You all Thought I was kidding about B. Hussein Obama being like Papa Doc, President for life..

H. J. Res. 5 Would Amend Constitution and Remove Limitation on Presidential Terms

Rep. Jose Serrano, D-NY, would make President Barack Obama President for life. Earlier this month the Congressman introduced H. J. Res. 5 that proposes an amendment to the US Constitution that would repeal the Constitution’s 22nd Amendment, thereby removing the limitation on the number of terms an individual may serve as President

The U. S. House Committee on the Judiciary is considering the bill.

In 1807, Thomas Jefferson warned that presidents not bound by term limits could use their popularity and power to become kings.

Jefferson wrote that: “If termination to the services of the chief magistrate be not fixed by the Constitution or supplied in practice, his office, nominally for years, will in fact become for life: and history shows how easily that degenerates into an inheritance.”

The original Constitution did not contain term limits for Presidents; however Franklin Delano Roosevelt was the only President to be elected for more than two terms. Following his death in office, Congress passed the 22nd Amendment on March 21, 1947. The Amendment was ratified by the required number of states on February 26, 1951.

The 22nd Amendment states: “No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice, and no person who has held the office of President or acted as President, for more than two years of a term to which some other person was elected President shall be elected to the office of the President more than once.”

Should the Democrats succeed in repealing the 22nd Amendment, Obama could run for an unlimited number of terms, limited only by votes of the electorate.

President Lyndon Johnson served less than two years of the remaining Kennedy term, therefore was eligible to seek a second term, but declined to do so. In order to repeal the 22nd Amendment, it must be passed by the Congress and approved by two-thirds of both houses of Congress and ratified by three-quarters of the states’ legislatures.

http://www.timesexaminer.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=968&Itemid=41 

S*C*H*I*P* -- SCHIP

State Childrens Health Insurance Program

"At its creation in 1997, SCHIP was the largest expansion of taxpayer-funded health insurance coverage for children in the U.S.
since Medicaid began in the 1960s. The statutory authority for SCHIP is under title XXI of the Social Security Act.
It was sponsored by Senator Ted Kennedy in a partnership with Senator Orrin Hatch with support coming from
First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton during the Clinton administration."

chil·dren (chil'dr?n).

1.
1. A person between birth and puberty.
2. A person who has not attained maturity or the age of legal majority.
2.
1. An unborn infant; a fetus.
2. An infant; a baby.


2008 HHS Poverty Guidelines
Persons in Family or Household -48 Contiguous States and D.C. - Alaska -Hawaii
1 - $10,400 - $13,000 - $11,960
2 -14,000- 17,500 -16,100
3 -17,600 - 22,000 - 20,240
4 -21,200 - 26,500- 24,380
5 -24,800- 31,000- 28,520
6 -28,400- 35,500 -32,660
7 -32,000 - 40,000- 36,800
8 -35,600- 44,500- 40,940
For each additional person, add -3,600 -4,500 -4,140


On Wednesday, February 5, 2009. President B. Hussien Obama signed the new SCHIP bill. This bill had been vetoed twice by former President George W. Bush. This was one of the few times that President Bush actually Vetoed legislation during his Presidency, unfortunately like a zombie it wouldn't die.

SIDE BAR

"Oh come on BigMan!! It's for the poor children!! Even you have a heart, don't you?"

"No, I don't, not when it comes to creeping Socialism"

END SIDE BAR

So, you are asking, if it is so bad, why did Orrin Hatch (R) Utah support it? Did you read the above sidebar? That's why, it's for the children of the poor!! Spineless Republicans always get rolled by Democrats when they use the phrase "It's for the children!".
So you say... What is wrong with that? First of all, in looking at my handy dandy pocket Constitution (yes, I have one), I can't find an article in it that says the Federal Govt. is responsible for children, or their healthcare... Maybe I am missing something..

Any way, let's look at what 'The Most Merciful, Lord B. Hussien Obama' has done with a horrible program that is "for the children". Above I have placed the definition of "children". So that we all may agree on what defines a child, I will use definition 1.2- "A person who has not attained maturity or the age of legal majority". Which to me sounds like it defines children, as individuals, under the age of 18. Now I have also included the HHS definition of what constitutes "poverty" in the US. If you are single and you make $10,400 or less, you are impoverished according to the table. So a family of 4, a husband, wife and two children whose yearly income is $21,200 or less, those children would qualify under the old SCHIP plan for free health insurance. Under 'Obama the most merciful"'s newly signed bill the same family may have an annual income of $80,000.00. No, that isn't a typo. Furthermore they have expanded the definition of a child. A child is now anyone up to the age of ..... 30.

Wrap your head round this... Our above couple with two children, making $80,000.00 a year or less, if they are under the age of 30 (the mother and father), ALL OF THEM QUALIFY FOR SCHIP COVERAGE!!!!

IT"S FOR THE CHILDREN!!!!

Yeah...Right.. Can you say Socialized Medicine?

SIDEBAR

"Hey BigMan, what's wrong with Socialized Medicine? They have it in Canada and Europe and it's pretty good!"

"Well, as they say in Canada and most of Europe, Socialized Medicine is GREAT!! Until you get sick that is.. Also if our Health care is Socialized, where will the really sick Canadians and Europeans go for their health care?"


END SIDEBAR

Not all Economists Agree with the Messiah...

There is no disagreement that we need action by our government, a recovery plan that will help to jumpstart the economy.

— PRESIDENT-ELECT BARACK OBAMA, JANUARY 9 , 2009

With all due respect Mr.President,that is not true.

Notwithstanding reports that all economists are now Keynesians and that we all support a big increase in the burden of
government, we the undersigned do not believe that more government spending is a way to improve economic performance.
More government spending by Hoover and Roosevelt did not pull the United States economy out of the Great Depression in
the 1930s. More government spending did not solve Japan’s “lost decade” in the 1990s. As such, it is a triumph of hope over
experience to believe that more government spending will help the U.S. today. To improve the economy, policymakers should
focus on reforms that remove impediments to work, saving, investment and production. Lower tax rates and a reduction in the
burden of government are the best ways of using fiscal policy to boost growth.


BURTON ABRAMS, Univ. of Delaware
DOUGLAS ADIE, Ohio University
RYAN AMACHER, Univ. of Texas at Arlington
J.J.ARIAS, Georgia College & State University
HOWARD BAETJER, JR., Towson University
STACIE BECK, Univ. of Delaware
DON BELLANTE, Univ. of South Florida
JAMES BENNETT, George Mason University
BRUCE BENSON, Florida State University
SANJAI BHAGAT, Univ. of Colorado at Boulder
MARK BILS, Univ. of Rochester
ALBERTO BISIN, New York University
WALTER BLOCK, Loyola University New Orleans
CECIL BOHANON, Ball State University
MICHELE BOLDRIN,Washington University in St. Louis
DONALD BOOTH, Chapman University
MICHAEL BORDO, Rutgers University
SAMUEL BOSTAPH, Univ. of Dallas
SCOTT BRADFORD, Brigham Young University
GENEVIEVE BRIAND, Eastern Washington University
GEORGE BROWER, Moravian College
JAMES BUCHANAN, Nobel laureate
RICHARD BURDEKIN, Claremont McKenna College
HENRY BUTLER, Northwestern University
WILLIAM BUTOS, Trinity College
PETER CALCAGNO, College of Charleston
BRYAN CAPLAN, George Mason University
ART CARDEN, Rhodes College
JAMES CARDON, Brigham Young University
DUSTIN CHAMBERS, Salisbury University
EMILY CHAMLEE-WRIGHT, Beloit College
V.V. CHARI, Univ. of Minnesota
BARRY CHISWICK, Univ. of Illinois at Chicago
LAWRENCE CIMA, John Carroll University
J.R. CLARK, Univ. of Tennessee at Chattanooga
GIAN LUCA CLEMENTI, New York University
R.MORRIS COATS, Nicholls State University
JOHN COCHRAN, Metropolitan State College
JOHN COCHRANE, Univ. of Chicago
JOHN COGAN, Hoover Institution, Stanford University
JOHN COLEMAN, Duke University
BOYD COLLIER, Tarleton State University
ROBERT COLLINGE, Univ. of Texas at San Antonio
LEE COPPOCK, Univ. of Virginia
MARIO CRUCINI, Vanderbilt University
CHRISTOPHER CULP, Univ. of Chicago
KIRBY CUNDIFF, Northeastern State University
ANTONY DAVIES, Duquesne University
JOHN DAWSON, Appalachian State University
CLARENCE DEITSCH, Ball State University
ARTHUR DIAMOND, JR., Univ. of Nebraska at Omaha
JOHN DOBRA, Univ. of Nevada, Reno
JAMES DORN, Towson University
CHRISTOPHER DOUGLAS, Univ. of Michigan, Flint
FLOYD DUNCAN, Virginia Military Institute
FRANCIS EGAN, Trinity College
JOHN EGGER, Towson University
KENNETH ELZINGA, Univ. of Virginia
PAUL EVANS, Ohio State University
EUGENE FAMA, Univ. of Chicago
W. KEN FARR, Georgia College & State University
HARTMUT FISCHER, Univ. of San Francisco
FRED FOLDVARY, Santa Clara University
MURRAY FRANK, Univ. of Minnesota
PETER FRANK,Wingate University
TIMOTHY FUERST, Bowling Green State University
B. DELWORTH GARDNER, Brigham Young University
JOHN GAREN, Univ. of Kentucky
RICK GEDDES, Cornell University
AARON GELLMAN, Northwestern University
WILLIAM GERDES, Clarke College
MICHAEL GIBBS, Univ. of Chicago
STEPHAN GOHMANN, Univ. of Louisville
RODOLFO GONZALEZ, San Jose State University
RICHARD GORDON, Penn State University
PETER GORDON, Univ. of Southern California
ERNIE GOSS, Creighton University
PAUL GREGORY, Univ. of Houston
EARL GRINOLS, Baylor University
DANIEL GROPPER, Auburn University
R.W. HAFER, Southern Illinois
University, Edwardsville
ARTHUR HALL, Univ. of Kansas
STEVE HANKE, Johns Hopkins
STEPHEN HAPPEL, Arizona State University
FRANK HEFNER, College of Charleston
RONALD HEINER, George Mason University
DAVID HENDERSON, Hoover Institution,
Stanford University
ROBERT HERREN, North Dakota State University
GAILEN HITE, Columbia University
STEVEN HORWITZ, St. Lawrence University
JOHN HOWE, Univ. of Missouri, Columbia
JEFFREY HUMMEL, San Jose State University
BRUCE HUTCHINSON, Univ. of Tennessee at Chattanooga
BRIAN JACOBSEN,Wisconsin Lutheran College
JASON JOHNSTON, Univ. of Pennsylvania
BOYAN JOVANOVIC, New York University
JONATHAN KARPOFF, Univ. of Washington
BARRY KEATING, Univ. of Notre Dame
NAVEEN KHANNA, Michigan State University
NICHOLAS KIEFER, Cornell University
DANIEL KLEIN, George Mason University
PAUL KOCH, Univ. of Kansas
NARAYANA KOCHERLAKOTA, Univ. of Minnesota
MAREK KOLAR, Delta College
ROGER KOPPL, Fairleigh Dickinson University
KISHORE KULKARNI, Metropolitan
State College of Denver
DEEPAK LAL, UCLA
GEORGE LANGELETT, South Dakota State University
JAMES LARRIVIERE, Spring Hill College
ROBERT LAWSON, Auburn University
JOHN LEVENDIS, Loyola University New Orleans
DAVID LEVINE,Washington University in St. Louis
PETER LEWIN, Univ. of Texas at Dallas
DEAN LILLARD, Cornell University
ZHENG LIU, Emory University
ALAN LOCKARD, Binghampton University
EDWARD LOPEZ, San Jose State University
JOHN LUNN, Hope College
GLENN MACDONALD,Washington
University in St. Louis
MICHAEL MARLOW, California
Polytechnic State University
DERYL MARTIN, Tennessee Tech University
DALE MATCHECK, Northwood University
DEIRDRE MCCLOSKEY, Univ. of Illinois, Chicago
JOHN MCDERMOTT, Univ. of South Carolina
JOSEPH MCGARRITY, Univ. of Central Arkansas
ROGER MEINERS, Univ. of Texas at Arlington
ALLAN MELTZER, Carnegie Mellon University
JOHN MERRIFIELD, Univ. of Texas at San Antonio
JAMES MILLER III, George Mason University
JEFFREY MIRON, Harvard University
THOMAS MOELLER, Texas Christian University
JOHN MOORHOUSE,Wake Forest University
ANDREA MORO, Vanderbilt University
ANDREW MORRISS, Univ. of Illinois
at Urbana-Champaign
MICHAEL MUNGER, Duke University
KEVIN MURPHY, Univ. of Southern California
RICHARD MUTH, Emory University
CHARLES NELSON, Univ. of Washington
SETH NORTON, Wheaton College
LEE OHANIAN, Univ. of California, Los Angeles
LYDIA ORTEGA, San Jose State University
EVAN OSBORNE, Wright State University
RANDALL PARKER, East Carolina University
DONALD PARSONS, George Washington University
SAM PELTZMAN, Univ. of Chicago
MARK PERRY, Univ. of Michigan, Flint
CHRISTOPHER PHELAN, Univ. of Minnesota
GORDON PHILLIPS, Univ. of Maryland
MICHAEL PIPPENGER, Univ. of Alaska, Fairbanks
TOMASZ PISKORSKI, Columbia University
BRENNAN PLATT, Brigham Young University
JOSEPH POMYKALA, Towson University
WILLIAM POOLE, Univ. of Delaware
BARRY POULSON, Univ. of Colorado at Boulder
BENJAMIN POWELL, Suffolk University
EDWARD PRESCOTT, Nobel laureate
GARY QUINLIVAN, Saint Vincent College
REZA RAMAZANI, Saint Michael’s College
ADRIANO RAMPINI, Duke University
ERIC RASMUSEN, Indiana University
MARIO RIZZO, New York University
RICHARD ROLL, Univ. of California, Los Angeles
ROBERT ROSSANA,Wayne State University
JAMES ROUMASSET, Univ. of Hawaii at Manoa
JOHN ROWE, Univ. of South Florida
CHARLES ROWLEY, George Mason University
JUAN RUBIO-RAMIREZ, Duke University
ROY RUFFIN, Univ. of Houston
KEVIN SALYER, Univ. of California, Davis
PAVEL SAVOR, Univ. of Pennsylvania
RONALD SCHMIDT, Univ. of Rochester
CARLOS SEIGLIE, Rutgers University
WILLIAM SHUGHART II, Univ. of Mississippi
CHARLES SKIPTON, Univ. of Tampa
JAMES SMITH,Western Carolina University
VERNON SMITH, Nobel laureate
LAWRENCE SOUTHWICK, JR., Univ. at Buffalo
DEAN STANSEL, Florida Gulf Coast University
HOUSTON STOKES, Univ. of Illinois at Chicago
BRIAN STROW,Western Kentucky University
SHIRLEY SVORNY, California State
University, Northridge
JOHN TATOM, Indiana State University
WADE THOMAS, State University
of New York at Oneonta
HENRY THOMPSON, Auburn University
ALEX TOKAREV, The King’s College
EDWARD TOWER, Duke University
LEO TROY, Rutgers University
DAVID TUERCK, Suffolk University
CHARLOTTE TWIGHT, Boise State University
KAMAL UPADHYAYA, Univ. of New Haven
CHARLES UPTON, Kent State University
T. NORMANVAN COTT, Ball State University
RICHARDVEDDER, Ohio University
RICHARDWAGNER, George Mason University
DOUGLAS M.WALKER, College of Charleston
DOUGLAS O.WALKER, Regent University
CHRISTOPHERWESTLEY, Jacksonville
State University
LAWRENCEWHITE, Univ. of Missouri at St. Louis
WALTERWILLIAMS, George Mason University
DOUGWILLS, Univ. of Washington Tacoma
DENNISWILSON,Western Kentucky University
GARYWOLFRAM, Hillsdale College
HUIZHONG ZHOU,Western Michigan University

PA I D F O R B Y T H E CAT O I N S T I T U T E , WWW. CAT O . O R G

Being A Dad

I am a father, a dad. When you first realize that that moniker is now yours, it is kind of scary. Actually I was 'Ada' first, not 'Dad', but I knew exactly what it meant. The first full sentence my eldest princess uttered (offspring #1), was 'Hi Ada!'.
Allot of responsibilities come with being a Dad;

• Making the perfect peanut butter and jelly or peanut butter and fluff sandwich
• The art of washing little feet and squirting the bar of soap between little toes so it tickles
• Making Macaroni and Cheese 'Just Right'
• Belly flopping at bed time
• Singing bedtime songs (badly)
• Getting into holidays and making them more fun (Halloween and Christmas)
• Skipping down Main Street in the Magic Kingdom, after it has been cleared for the parade.. while singing 'Zippity do dah' and holding hands with two of your princesses.
  
• Keeping calm during emergencies and rushing injured children to the emergency room, or dentist
• When your tiny little princess is going in for surgery, not shedding a tear, even though you are terrified so she won't be scared. Then holding it back longer so Mom won't be so scared.
• Being the Den leader for 20 wild boys for 5 years, just to spend time with your son
• Scaring all of the Boys that come to date your daughters, because all boys are evil...
• Sitting through numerous dance recitals and acting interested.
  

These things didn't come natural, they were OJT, and you never know if they made a difference. You never really know if you really mattered as they grow up and you are replaced by the boyfriends or girlfriends. Then you see things that they write and hear what they say about you, and you realize that maybe, just maybe.. While bungling along, winging it, you somehow did a good job.

Being Dad, Daddy, Ada, is the hardest and best job in my life, now it is half over.. I have two left, I hope I don't mess up.. Then I will have to start all over.. I will be GranPa...