Un-Democratic Democrats

Anti-Patriotism...


I don't know what to think people...

It seems to me that nothings sacred anymore because no matter what the subject, no matter what the images or circumstances involved, nor the importance or intent of the idea or event, SOMEONE is gonna get "offended" in the process.

What is worse is that we've been told that now we can't allow a thousand people to be happy on any given day in any given stadium or school or city/town/township, if there is a 1/2% risk of one single person (sane, insane, just plain mean or stupid or otherwise) getting their panties in a wad boxers in a bunch thong abrading their butt crack nose out of joint as a result...

"We all gotta CHANGE OUR BEHAVIOR."


We gotta stop what we're doing because we're obviously INSENSITIVE if we don't.

Can't have prayer in school because of separation of church and state.

They argue that it says so in the Constitution and we all should embrace our "FREEDOM FROM OF RELIGION." Talk to GOD, just don't do it in front of anyone else. And while you're at it, don't start getting any ideas about infringing on the two Lesbians' right to freedom of expression as they grope each other at the local Friday night High School football game (see below.)

Can't pray before sporting events or government meetings because the atheists in the crowd might be uncomfortable.

Can't stop two men from putting on wedding dresses and walking down the isle together with government sanction and the approval of the media.

Also can't stop both of these same men from becoming a Church youth councilor, a leader of the Boy Scouts, or a soccer coach because they wear women's underwear and are married to each other.

Can't comment or make suggestions for improvement when over 75 percent of children born to mothers of "African American" heritage today in our country come home from the hospital without a father living in the household.

Also can't tell congress to stop throwing money at the problem and let society add the stigma back to those whom behave in a manner which should earn being stigmatized
and we wouldn't have little future debutant's in New England starting clubs with the expressed membership goal of getting pregnant before the age of 17.

Can't hold our schools to high standards and impose codes of dress and conduct beyond a certain level because we're seen as being "JUDGMENTAL" and "intolerant" and "discriminatory"...and last time I checked the drop out rate in High Schools in Georgia exceeded 40%. (in other words...just over half the kids in Georgia managed to complete 12 years of FREE GOVERNMENT SCHOOL and get a diploma, and the numbers for "African American Males is even more dismal--see the single family birth rate referenced above.)

Also can't make Candidate Obama and most of the current Congress stop trying to further water down the College education by giving away diplomas and using tax dollars to pay the tuition of people that can't read and write.

Taking a big breath...

Back to my original subject...now even saying the Pledge of Allegence is coming under fire in Government Schools and public forums, and the National Anthem and songs like God Bless America are not far behind on what I call the "Richter Scale of Liberal Hatred of Fundamental American Ideals."

Now this story about the socialists liberals progressives Democrats leaving THOUSANDS OF AMERICAN FLAGS sitting in trash bags apparently to be disposed of out in Denver after their recent convention.

This morning, Republicans tell me that a worker at Invesco Field in Denver saved thousands of unused flags from the Democratic National Convention that were headed for the garbage. Guerrilla campaigning. They will use these flags at their own event today in Colorado Springs with John McCain and Sarah Palin.

Before McCain speaks today, veterans will haul these garbage bags filled with flags out onto the stage — with dramatic effect, no doubt — and tell the story.

“What you see in the picture I sent you is less than half of total flags,” a Republican official emailed. “We estimate the total number to be around 12,000 small flags and one full size 3×5 flag.”


First of all, I have to admit that even if the story is proven to be true, the Flags are private property and I think that the supreme court has ruled that you can Burn them or stick them in your Septic Tank or even cut them up and use them for toilet paper if you want to because in the spirit of American Freedom of Speech and Expression....you have the right to be an idiot ingrate.

I'm old enough to have been a Boy Scout and in the military in a time when I was taught to hold respect for the Flag as a symbol of my quality of existence and ability to make my life anything I chose to make it, and I participated in color guards which raised and lowered the flag each day since Elementary School, played Taps on the Trumpet on Memorial day and Veteran's day at various VFW posts and Nursing homes.

Even today my Mother flys a small American Flag at her home and saves the old weathered flags to be burned once they have finished their service.

I have a large flag (about 4' x 6'?) which I rescued from the flag pole at our Condo on our little island when it became tattered on the edges from management inattention. I kept it because it flew during the period while the G-8 summit was being held across the marsh on Sea Island and it witnessed Tony Blair and our President and Vice-President fly past on their way to the meetings (I have pictures to prove it.)

Of course the Democrats have issued a statement saying the flags were stolen by "operatives", and I have to agree that COULD be the case here, but based on the ongoing shallow patronizing public pro-American pablum fragile "china doll" public patriotism I've seen delivered to the American Public (including naive Democratic voters), I'm inclined to believe that they bought the flags, had them left over, and didn't have the presence of mind or want to take the time to donate them to someone that would want them like local Veterans organizations or even a Cemetery which could put them out on Deceased Veteran's graves as a sign of respect.

Just because of this event I went on E-Bay and purchased a vintage Cotton American Flag made by the Valley Forge Flag Company which spans 5' x 9'-6".

It will be here this week and I'm still debating how to properly display it, but be assured it won't be used as a garbage can cover or liner.

Now let me say THIS in closing this missive...

If you intend to continue to vote Democrat, I sure wish you would look at the low life fungus of humanity that is clinging on to the underbelly of your political party. YOU might be a good person, but remember that YOU are judged by the company you keep, and your life is most definitely affected by the elite liars which you insist on electing to office with a mandate of taking my money and giving it to YOU.

Nixon's Real Feelings About The Press In The 1970's?

Time Magazine's Rejected Cover Photos...

Everyone born after about 1960 probably doesn't remember President Richard "Tricky Dick" Millhouse Nixon's use of the "V for Victory" hand signal dating from sometime in WWII. Here's a photo:



Interesting thing, but that symbol was later co-opted by the sniveling, un-bathed, booger eating, long haired hippy type pinko fag San Francisco type anti-war protesters who started saying "Peace" while flashing what was the "V for Victory sign."

The Peace sign was partially an upside down "V" last time I noticed, but who worrys about details any more any way?

REgardless, I guess all of us Redneck descendants of Confederate Civil War Veterans shouldn't feel alone when we complain about the skin heads and the KKK stealing St. Andrews Cross the Confederate Battle Flag from us and converting it into a racist symbol with a completely opposite meaning today.

Then I was hanging around my computer in my Photoshop files and I found this image:



I think it was somehow mis-filed, but I'm pretty sure President Nixon was familiar with the proper usage of the gesture and wouldn't mind me publishing it here tonight.

TIME

...For What?


Looking at this image, you can see that back in 1972 TIME Magazine was firmly behind President Nixon (at least in Name)




That said, check out something interesting I just found. The upcoming September 15th issue cover of Time Magazine has this picture of VP candidate Palin for the US, Asia, and South Pacific editions:



and this cover of some wacky looking dude with a title of "Artist" for their European edition?

In fact, looking at the table of contents for the European issue, there's apparently absolutely no mention of Miss Sara's nomination.

Although it's not unusual for TIME to use different covers in different markets, does anyone but me not see any political significance in their efforts to spread the news (or the lack thereof?)of the goings on here in the old country(ies)???

Yeah...I thought so.

Let's hear it for the usual suspects...

Homework

How I Spend My Time Off...


This evening's task, a new spreadsheet to calculate the heat loss in the flue gas stream and the steel shell of a combustion turbine exhaust stack (click to enlarge the image:)




I also wrote one that calculates the natural draft and draft losses in the flue gas stream:



And yes, I LIKE doing stuff like this...

I Demand Withdrawal

Get Our Men In Uniform OUT...


OK, they've finally convinced me. I say that we should withdraw now, and this CBS2 Chicago story about the death toll is the reason...

I know that this is a pretty big deal for me as it may be for you also, so get ready and I'll let you in on my thinking...scroll down to find out about...

















...the death toll in Chicago this summer:

Nearly 125 Shot Dead In Chicago Over Summer
Total Is About Double The Death Toll In Iraq

CHICAGO (CBS) ― An estimated 123 people were shot and killed over the summer. That's nearly double the number of soldiers killed in Iraq over the same time period.

In May, cbs2chicago.com began tracking city shootings and posting them on Google maps.

Information compiled from our reporters, wire service reports and the Chicago Police Major Incidents log indicated that 123 people were shot and killed throughout the city between the start of Memorial Day weekend on May 26, and the end of Labor Day on Sept. 1.

According to the Defense Department, 65 soldiers were killed in combat in Iraq. About the same number were killed in Afghanistan over that same period.

In the same time period, an estimated 245 people were shot and wounded in the city.


So how about that can of worms?

As my blog posting title indicates, what if I use the same logic about Chicago that the lamestream media and the sniveling, booger eating, panty waisted, Kumbaya singing anti-war Cindi Shehan worshiping morons (both domestic and foreign) use about Iraq and Afghanistan?

That's right, let's pull the police out of Chicago. Station them "in an adjacent theater" in Elgin or Rockford where they can come back in when we need them.

And let's get to the bottom of all of these civilian casualties. Most certainly the Police are doing at least some of the shooting and killing, RIGHT?

Shouldn't Congress form a "bipartisan commission" and hold hearing and an investigation?

I say that the killings must stop, and if we hadn't put the police in "harms way" in the first place most of this carnage would have never happened.

Right? (cue the sound of the crickets chirping...)

Yeah, I thought so...this warped logic/thinking makes about as much sense in Chicago as it does in the middle east.

That will be all...for now...

My Vice-Presidential Candidate

And You Thought Dick Cheney With A Gun Was Dangerous?




I believe that the best part is that she didn't just do it as a "photo op", but SHE LIKED IT...

Quote O' The Day

Back By Popular Demand (Or Just Because I Like It...)


"Gravitation cannot be held responsible for people falling in love. How on earth can you explain in terms of chemistry and physics so important a biological phenomenon as first love?

Put your hand on a stove for a minute and it seems like an hour. Sit with that special girl for an hour and it seems like a minute.

That's relativity."


Albert Einstein
1879-1955

Jerry Reed

Another Guitar Player In The Harp Section...


I've been asleep at the keyboard this week, between taking Labor Day off standing around in my yard and getting ready to do some more work today (on my last birthday before the big five O) in my capacity as an expert witness in a legal case being tried here in Knoxville.

Any way, I woke up this morning and finally stumbled across the report of Mr. Reed's demise on Monday. He was too young to go in my opinion--at 71. Whether singing and playing with his unique "claw" style or acting opposite his friend Burt Reynolds, he's gonna be hard to forget or replace.

Check out Mr. Reed and Porter Wagner (and the sideburns and Wagner's suit adorned wagon wheels):




R.I.P. Mr. Reed...

MORE:

If you liked that video, check out this 1960's footage showing a much younger Jerry doing the same song, and his hit (and Elvis') "Guitar Man" as a bonus:

Eclipse Or Sunspots?

Owl Gore Decides...


As I've said here before, I follow some nerdy websites on a daily basis which keep me informed about things that alot of people don't worry about.

Places like Volcano Live.com reports information about volcanos all over the planet, and Spaceweather.com keeps me up to date with various things of interest in the night sky and lets me know when to look for the International Space Station and the Shuttle flying overhead.

That said, you can imagine how this story on Drudge Report about the Sun spending an entire MONTH without having any visible sunspots piqued my interest.

Read along with me this morning:

Drop in solar activity has potential effect for climate on earth.

The sun has reached a milestone not seen for nearly 100 years: an entire month has passed without a single visible sunspot being noted.

The event is significant as many climatologists now believe solar magnetic activity – which determines the number of sunspots -- is an influencing factor for climate on earth.

According to data from Mount Wilson Observatory, UCLA, more than an entire month has passed without a spot. The last time such an event occurred was June of 1913. Sunspot data has been collected since 1749.

When the sun is active, it's not uncommon to see sunspot numbers of 100 or more in a single month. Every 11 years, activity slows, and numbers briefly drop to near-zero. Normally sunspots return very quickly, as a new cycle begins.

But this year -- which corresponds to the start of Solar Cycle 24 -- has been extraordinarily long and quiet, with the first seven months averaging a sunspot number of only 3. August followed with none at all. The astonishing rapid drop of the past year has defied predictions, and caught nearly all astronomers by surprise.

You see, for those of you out there that haven't been paying attention (and I don't think any less of you if you haven't), the sun has just ended one of it's long pulsating cycles (11 years they say) recently and, in spite of what Owl Gore and the booger eating, panty waisted, tree hugging, Kumbaya singing liberal eco-fascists say, the earth's atmosphere hasn't had any choice but to take notice of the Sun's behavior.

Funny thing...but I agree that it's the SUN, not cars and Steel Mills, which cause the temperature to fluctuate every summer and winter on our lovely planet.

I think they taught us this concept in Kindergarten or the first grade, and missing a couple of days of class with the Mumps or Measles didn't excuse you from going forward in life embracing the idea.


The media and the "Man Made Global Warming Hysterists" refuse to acknowledge this fact, because they don't believe in anything they can't see...

Until...these photos are released later this morning, showing the new sunspot cycle starting again. Take a look at the digital images I took from my telescope in my back yard yesterday afternoon:






Scary stuff...Right?

You Heard It Here First--Concrete Floats (And Sinks)

An Injuneer's Perspective...


I'm sitting here watching video footage of the Levees in the upper/lower 9th Ward of New Orleans being "topped" by the waves as the storm surge moves upstream to Lake Pontchartrain.


I'm sorry, but any Civil Engineer (or an "Uncivil" Injuneer like me) knows that with those soils being saturated on both sides of the levees and the silly little footings under extension walls at the top getting soaked, everything's going to head toward the Mississippi River Delta ASAP.

Water weighs about 64 pounds per cubic FOOT, and those walls are taking a beating right now.

Then again, maybe Michael Moore's newly found God will intervene...

Get Out

And Bite Me...Geraldo Rivera


So as the latest Hurricane roars ashore in Louisiana this morning, I just have to ask...

Who do YOU blame for YOU living where you live today?

Your parents?

God?

Your Job?

Or possibly...

the Government?

After all, the yellow pages are full of companies which own trucks and have strong brawny young men who earn their living putting things in boxes, the aforementioned boxes into trucks, then traversing the county roads and interstate highways (also supplied by the government and paid for with "taxpayer" dollars) only to disgorge the trucks contents into a new trailer, apartment, or if you are a Republican, six or eight new houses in another state.

Apparently today almost no one remembers that people less than 150 years ago in our country made that decision (where they live) for themselves.

The stupid ones stumbled off the boat, jumped on a covered wagon, and built a cabin on the scenic banks of a river in a valley that flooded every time the snow melted and soon were dispatched to Heaven or Hell at the whim of their maker.

Even further back in history we're told that entire settlements of people from across the Atlantic succumbed to starvation and Malaria or Indian Native American tomahawks and arrows and were forced to close up camp and move back to live among the religious savages of Europe.

Of course there wasn't much in the way of GOVERNMENT within the shores of this continent back then (if you discount the tribal councils of the Indians Native Americans) so people actually had to take risks on their own or otherwise think for themselves when entering uncharted territory.

Which brings me to today's dilemma...

According to every channel on the TV, thousands of people knowingly living on land below sea level elevation are facing the prospect of their homes, possessions, and lives being at risk as the latest in a million year series of hurricanes comes on shore from the Gulf of Mexico.

(Damn Mexicans...always causing problems...)

Supposedly it's the second time in three years this government sponsored event has occurred, but it must be true, because that's all I can find to watch on TV this morning...I was looking for some reruns of M*A*S*H or the Beverly Hillbillies...

I'm sorry, but my eyes have rolled so far back into my ever greying, ever balding skull that I'm having trouble finding the c o me p ut er kweyvboatrd roighyt nioew... now...wit mey fibngwers.

eep...urpph...gack...

Dammit people...but didn't George Bush try to kill these same people in another flood three years ago?

And didn't FEMA look the other way because most of them were poor and BLACK and everyone knows that poor black folks are only worth a dime a dozen?

And didn't the US by-GOD Army Corps of Engineers (as opposed to the Core of Injuneers--the group I belong to) promise to fix the big piles of dirt the Levee's after the last storm?

Well, I know that my regular readers (all six of you --and you know who you are) may be getting tired of this reference, but I believe that my old friend and Idol, commedian Sam Kennison, had the answer not only to world hunger, but also to the problems on the Louisiana Gulf Coast this morning...

Moving trucks...boxes...and luggage...here take a look at his words:




That will be all...for now...

(and no...I don't wish for anyone to get hurt in this storm...I'm just %$#@& tired of the media hysteria over something I've lived with, and for the most part avoided, for my entire life.)

Hurricanes Hurricanes...Go Away...

Look At What I Was Writing About Two Years Ago Today..


http://coastalcompanion.blogspot.com/2006/08/i-am-lieutenant-dan.html

(click)

Poke Salad (Annie)

I Got Some Big Weeds A Big Weed In My Yard


Ever since we wandered up here to the banks of the Mighty Tennessee River from the Georgia Coast, I've been a lazy butt and paid someone to bring a leaf blower and various other lawn implements to my house once a week to cut my lawn.

I cringe when I make that admission because my mother who was born before WWII still cuts her own grass today, but in my defense I did spend most of the month of February in the hospital before we moved and my physical conditioning is only today returning to the level required to stand behind or ride on top of a lawnmower for an hour or so each weekend.

Also, remember that I have lived in condos and rental houses adjacent to the beach since my last personal residence in which I had an ownership stake burned down in 2001--making my lawn mower and the balance of my lawn tools handle less and un-useable by most standards. In fact, I'm pretty sure that the assholes I paid to board up the gaping doors and windows of the burned out hulk of a building helped themselves to my lawnmower and everything else that wasn't tied down and burned up after the conflagration.

Any way, as a result I've only spent a little bit of time wandering around the property inspecting the details--because details bother me and make me want to take action--and without the associated lawn tool I would have to resort to taking my good kitchen knives out in the yard to do some pruning and my kitchen comes ahead of my yard these days regardless of the circumstances.

Last week I was taking a stroll and doing inventory of all the things that needed doing and the lawn dudes with the leaf blowers weren't taking care of when I discovered that most of a shrub I'd been looking at for over four months now was not a shrub...

It was a giant weed.

POKE SALAD...TO BE SPECIFIC. (Que the sound of the kitchen storm door slamming and me going outside to take a picture...)






Isn't that LOVELY?

How in the world did I not notice it before this week?

I can't decide whether to cut it down or wait until the first frost and cook it.


While doing a little googling just now I ran across the song by Tony Joe White entitled "Poke Salad Annie." My musical partner Dave and I used to do a sloppy rendition of the song back in the days when I was assaulting Mexico Beach, Florida with my Harmonicas.

Take a listen to Johnny Cash and Mr. White doing a duet on the song on the Johnny Cash show in the late 1960's or early 1970's:



Here's tony Joe about 35 years later in Japan...ironically singing "Rainy Night in Georgia":



Time to go finish brunch now if you will excuse me...