Student Loan Money – 2 easy 2 get

One of the few complaints that is making sense coming out of the “Occupy Wall Street” crowd or OWS as a short cut, is the complaint that many young people are carrying a huge debt load after they graduate from college or university, if they graduate at all. Of course, none of them are looking inward and questioning what they were in college for in the first place, I mean how many MBA’s do we really need out there when it is always “Math and Science” that the work force needs. And how many of these idiots took courses either on their own violation or at the hands of Administrators that were absolutely stupid courses like, “The Art of Walking” or “Daytime Serials”.

I bet one regrets spending $15,000 dollars on the course “Science of Superheros” now that you have to actually pay back that tuition money. With interest!



The problem with the OWS crowd is that they want a Bailout of their financial responsibility; they want Big Government@ to pay for their little dalliance in higher education. A free pass from the magical money coffer that most liberals seem to think is theirs for the taking. To be spent on all the social ills in our society, a redistribution of the wealth created by the actual working class.

The big problem as I see it is that money to go to secondary education is too easy to get and has been for many, many years. I say that knowing full well that my Daughter went to university on credit basically extended through her parents (me and the Good Wife). My wife and I are the proud holders of a note that is almost as hard a hit on us financially as the mortgage on our house! But it was the only way for her to get a Degree. And all the loan approvals were done on-line with little or no fuss.

All guaranteed by our mutual relative, Uncle Sam. And that is the root of the problem as far as I can see. With Big Government@ back-stopping all the loans there is very little reason for a bank not to loan the money out, no matter how long it takes someone to graduate if at all, or how many dumb or stupid classes they are made to take, no matter how much the school charges for the course in the first place.

With no one saying "NO" to incoming student’s colleges and universities have had no reason to hold down costs. So, little by little the cost has gone up, courses are added even for no other reason than Political Correctness and the final tally are college degrees that are over inflated. Tuition that is obscene and out of control. Observe the below chart.


Source: http://mjperry.blogspot.com/2011/07/higher-education-bubble-college-tuition.html

That is a real bubble there folks, propped up by yours and my tax dollars. And almost no one is talking about this.


If there was no rich Uncle ready to back any one that came along needing a loan WITHOUT any collateral as backup, then people would either do without going to school or they will be dammed careful where they went and what courses they were taking. People would be shopping with their wallet and maybe even standing up to the school Administrator that was trying to get people into worthless classes or study programs that lead nowhere (like Women or Black Studies).

The lack of perspective new students knocking on doors would mean someone would have to do without a fancy lounge or tenure or a room full of staff. The school would have to justify the tuition and maybe even put on some cost controls.

Schools would actually have to compete with one another for the limited incoming students and maybe just maybe they would go back to actually forcing teachers/professors to actually you know, teach. In my time in university I was never once taught by the professor, some under graduate or other lackey always gave the lectures and passed out the exercises.

With no pressure to hold down costs they schools have gone wild and the graph above shows this. How soon before this bubble bursts? Not soon enough.

HT: http://mjperry.blogspot.com/

BT: Jimmy T sends.

9/11: My Observations

I did not put up anything to acknowledge the 10th anniversary of 9/11, sorry but there was plenty of stuff out there for us all to wallow in and a fair amount better than anything I could say. But it is now 9/12 and time for that other shoe to drop. That is to say: How I really Feel about this event?

I am embolden by blog buddy ASM-826 who ran a series entitled "How I Feel Now" wherein he discuss' his feelings regarding the whole Anit-American sentiment that triggered this event. He is still angered over it and quite frankly, so am I.

Now, most people that come here know that I have had at various times two Son’s in the military over this last 10 years. Both joined after 9/11 (in fact Son #1 was due to leave for Basic Training that very Tuesday but that was stalled a couple of weeks, but that did not deter him, he still joined and serves to this day) and one has in fact deployed into combat in Afghanistan (he went to Iraq as well but his battalion did not see action). Those were trying times here in the Swamp.

Skin in the game and all that.

Yeah I know, we went overseas and broke a lot of china in faraway places, hoping to change regimes and the hearts and minds of people who would be our enemy. And for the most part we have been successful; there is now a democracy in place in an Arab/Muslim country for the first time in history, no small feat. I hope they can hold onto it.

We have also toiled diligently in another hell hole of the world to little affect. It seems the people of Afghanistan don’t really care who runs the country so long as they are left alone in their poverty. That is how it has been for many centuries no need to change it now even if it is for the better. Mud huts, no electricity or running water – no problem. They have their goats.

To them I say “Hasta La vista Baby, don’t choke on the dust.” The graveyard of kingdoms is populated by the walking dead; we need not bother them anymore.

But, what really has been simmering inside me all these 10 years is the simple fact that the Arab street and those who “claim” to love Islam have simply not refuted what has happened. Look, they had a grievance of some sort, why not appear before the UN or in the Haig and register a complaint. With all the America-Haters in the UN I am sure they would have raised a stink and with Political Correctness running wild here there would have been a change.

But to fly large aircraft filled with innocent people into buildings for sole purpose of killing Americans is reprehensible. It is beyond the pale. And yet, what did the Arab Street have to say when this occurred?

Well, here it is, video from that very day 10 years a 1 day ago.


YES, that’s right. They were celebrating, dancing in the street. I saw those images live when they were first broadcast. They did not re-run them however on network TV in the states. I am sure they were not shown yesterday on the 10 anniversary either? (Unfortunately, I am in Europe again and missed all that build up however the BBC did carry the NYC 9/11 Memorial live.)

Here they are again; take a good look at this because this is really how they feel about us Americans!


And I need to point out something here that is not obvious. These people were dancing and carrying on even though they did not know who committed the attack. All they knew at this instant in time was that a whole lot of Americans were dying. And they were happy about it.

Take another look:


These folks were celebrating the simple fact that we were attacked, that Americans were being killed, they did not even know at this point who or why.

Now, riddle me this all of you Arab/Muslim defenders, why would anyone celebrate when the most charitable peoples in the world are attached? The people who saved the world from tyranny not just in WW-II but who do you think kept the Soviet Union at bay all those years? Hmmm? You really think the Saudi’s could have held their own against the Red Army marching in and taking over?

And when Bangladesh is swamped by massive tsunami who is the first nation there bringing water purification systems and medical personnel into the disaster zone. I’ll clue you into a simple fact, it was not any of the Arab or Muslim nations, it was us, the United States of America. That same military that you found so reprehensible you had to attack us over is the very military that is all too often on the spot saving lives of those in need after a natural disaster. Without asking first if those very people are friendly or what their religious beliefs are, they simply go in and take care of business.

No folks, I will stew a good long time over this. Maybe forever or until every last Muslim his has been killed or has converted over to something other than Islam.

And you don't want me as President because I would have brought a real war to the Middle East and it would not have been pretty at all by a long shot. But vengeance would have been had because that is all those people understand. Might makes Right.

BT: Jimmy T sends.

Oxygen Thief OR Idiot with a Passport

You have all heard the phrase “The Ugly American”, well how about the “Stupid American”. So, I'am checking into my flight at the Prague Airport for my return home after 2-weeks of slaving away making the Dome project work. I was tired and homesick, really tired of living in hotels and eating rich foods with little exercise.

So, I am in line going through security at the departure gate. They do it differently in Europe; actually they do it differently in Germany and England too, not just the Czech Republic. Here you get an initial screening interview where you check in your baggage. They ask you questions about what your baggage and what you are taking onto the aircraft. They specifically ask you if you are aware of “Prohibited” items and if you are not, they will tell what they are, reading from the list. Jut to be sure.

They ask if you have any of these items on your person or in your hand baggage. Hand baggage is the luggage you are taking onto the jet with you or simply your “carry-on”.

If you have traveled even a little bit you know what these items are: weapons or anything that can be used as a weapon, glass items, anything that will start a fire, flammable liquids, liquids in more than 4 ounce container or more than a quart in total.

After that initial interview you can proceed to the gate where they put you through the actual screening. This is the part where all your stuff is X-rayed and you go through the metal detector. At least here you don’t have to take your shoes off, but you do have to pull the laptops out (yes that is plural, your humble scribe travels with no fewer than two laptops, sometimes more), empty your pockets and remove the belts.

Again, I am going through the screening, I got all my stuff laid out in the bins and a guy ahead of me sets off the metal detector. He has to step back and get a ton of items removed and put in a small bucket for X-ray, a huge key chain, watch, bracelets, necklace, a belt with metal studs all around and he had a nice pair of sun glasses on a strap hanging off his neck but onto his back. Mr. Hipster was also wearing a jaunty little hat that he was told more than once to remove.

So, he gets the up close and personal pat down which basically stops the flow on my line. We were early and there was not a lot of people waiting. Just me in fact, anxious to get home. When they are done with the pat down on the Hipster I am waived through. No problems for me. I pass right on through.

I cannot however collect my things because all the security Agents are now busying themselves with examining Mr. Hipster’s hand baggage. Yes folks, this guy is one of those that makes you wish you were not an American.

They pull out of his stuff a set of glass beer glasses not mugs mind you but they were tall, the kind that would hold a liter of beer, something maybe Paul Bunyan would drink from. Then out comes a set of shot glasses, they are nice looking, heavy set with a blue dollop in the middle of the base. Then a Lighter, one of them Zippo’s: the Agents all take turns thumbing it on getting a nice flame off the thing. Zippo’s are the best you know. They also pull out a small can of the lighter fluid for the Zippo and boy they are sure going to need it because they called over a Supervisor and he too flicked it on a few times, marveling at the flame.

Out of a pocket on the backpack they pull out 4 or 5 wine puller tools. “I collect those”! says the Hipster Duffus. They only look at him with contempt and pull out the small knife blade that is attached to each.

Then out comes something wrapped in paper and taped up pretty good. They use the knife blade on the Wine pullers to cut through the wrapping and they pull out a bottle of Moskovskaya which is a kind of vodka sold here. I think it’s actually Russian but it can be used for not just getting drunk, it can clean carburetors, thin paint and disinfect wounds.

The Hipster Duffus must have had a party planned because it was a full 500 ml size bottle. But that was not the capper.

Out of a cardboard box they pull out a tall bottle with a long skinny neck. It looks like one of those Olive oil disperses you see at fine Italian Restaurants. Only this one is quite large. And it has a very clear liquid in it, with a kind of rope that is immersed into it. The top is all sealed off with wax and then a plastic wrap.

It’s a Lamp. You know the kind you ignite and use for illuminating a room. The clear liquid is pure alcohol and the rope is the wick. Several of the Security Agents look at him while holding the bottle up at him. “I was told this was safe to bring on the plane. All this stuff is supposed to be ok.” He said.

Now, I am standing there waiting patiently hoping I would be asked my opinion of what they should do. You know, some time in a Turkish prison may do this Duffus some good. A good beating with his contraband items or at the very least they should pull his boarding pass and make him go home via another means of transportation where Motivic Cocktails are not prohibited.

The Supervising Security Agent looks at all the stuff and then to the Duffus he says: “Sir, we must speak with you about all these things you have here. These things, they are,,” he stops for a moment thinking of the English word for what he wants to say. “Criminal” I say under my breath, several of the Agents look at me with little smiles on their face. Duffus also gives me the look that says “Don’t give them any ideas.” “Irregular.” The Supervisor says.

They gather his stuff into several bins and march him and his stuff to an interview room.

I start getting my stuff together and packed back where they belong. The Czech Security Agents are all gabbing in Czech, I am sure it is about the Duffuss. They smile at me as I am preparing to leave the area: “Thank you sir for your patience.” One says to me.

“You know, you guys could always keep him here.” I say. They all laugh with me. “No, we have many of our own.” The one says to me as I depart. I wave to them and shake my head.

This guy is using up good oxygen and he is an American! They should test you first before they give you a passport.

BT: Jimmy T sends.

Obama's War on Oil

How important is the Oil Industry to the national economy? Let’s look at a few facts.

First off Oil as it turns out is a very useful base product. From a single barrel of oil (42 gallons) you not only get gasoline (19.36 gals) which we all put into our cars but they also refine Diesel fuel and Jet fuel. This accounts for only about 33 of the 42 gallons in the standard barrel of oil.

Graphic above taken from the U. S. Energy Information Administraion (http://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/)

That remaining 9 gallons of oil is used to make many, many items. They are called “petrochemicals” a byproduct of distilling oil further is the production of ethylene and propylene. These are the backbone of the huge petrochemical industry.

Ethylene and propylene are used to produce plastics. Plastics in many forms have literally revolutionized our lives. Used in everything from cookware to blood bags, from computers to carpeting. There is virtually noting that does not benefit from the many forms of plastic.

The petrochemical industry employs more than 7 million people in this country this is over and above the 2 million jobs directly related to oil and gas production (these are the oil and gas field jobs, and those employed in the first tier refineries).
Plastics includes: bottles, laminated table/counter tops and flooring,, appliances, toys and medical equipment (including artificial joints, prosthesis as well as the tubing and surgical equipment). More than 1 million people work in the plastics industries and increases as a component of the national GDP by more than 2% per year.

Derivative oil based products include asphalts, dyes, waxes, lubricants and the base for paints and of course tires (car and truck) which are all “artificial” rubber.

Cosmetics include all the dyes, colorants and aromatics which are re-applied to other plastic or derivative (in the case of color agents of paint).

All of these industries are included in that 7 million job count. All of these products are directly affected by the price of the barrel of Oil. The pain of high oil goes beyond the gas pump that we all feel.

Begging to curry favor with the far left the Obama Administration has embarked on a considered effort if not to destroy the Oil Industry at least to hobble it to the point of near non-existence. The Administration is vested in high energy prices as a way to make Wind and Solar (supposed “Green” energy) more attractive.

The Administration has worked hard to restrict access to both oil and natural gas fields where many new jobs would be created. At the same time, drawing oil locally or at least in this hemisphere would reduce our multi-billion dollar to Middle Eastern nations for their oil. Witness the near total ban on re-opening drilling in the Gulf of Mexico and all the effort this Administration has expanded in trying to keep oil drilling a thing of the past in that region. All to the detriment of the many tens of thousands that depend on those jobs.

At the same time the EPA is on the way to adopting regulations that would restrict the development of new oil and gas fields, new and improved refinery plants which all would spur new jobs and reduce the cost of the raw material to the many industries that we rely on, not just the gas for our cars.

All of these initiatives pushed by the Administration (High energy prices, restricted access to the raw resources itself and the overreaching EPA regulations) is a concerted effort to cripple the oil and gas industries. With little or no regard to how the public feels or to its needs. No one can deny that high energy prices ripple into the fabric of our society.

That barrel of Oil is used many times in our integrated economy so that the high price must be factored into the ultimate cost of items purchased by the consumer many times. Not just in the transportation of the finished product to market, in many cases the actual manufacturing of the product is done in plants or with methods that rely on oil or petrochemicals.

There is no questioning that we are an oil economy. The fact that the Obama Administration is at war in Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Yemen, Pakistan, Semolina (albeit a low yield, low intensity) he is also at war with the Oil and Natural Gas resources within this country.

We are blessed with enough of both to make the country completely independent of foreign oil. If only the envorowinnies would let us.

BT: Jimmy T sends.

Fun -n - Games with the Air Force

Ok, I am back. And why not come back having fun at the expense of the Boys-n-Blue, the USAF. A crew from the 411th Aircraft Maintenance Unit (an F-22 unit) beat out all commers for the highly prized "Weapons Loader" competition held at Edwards AFB. This 3-Man Person Crew from the 411 Aircraft Maintenance Unit (AMU) beat out all other competitors for the distinction of best Wewpons Loaders for the First Quarter of 2011. There is a long and drawn out history of quickly and safely loading aircraft with the weapons of war. An important skill and a competiton started before the Korean war during the very infantancy of the USAF. More here. What’s so funny You say? Well, when you read what these guys were actually doing you too will be saying “WTF” and I am not talking about winning the Future either. Look, way back when this competion started there was a huge need to quickly reload aircraft with the munitions necessary to prosecute a war. We are talking about dozens of bombs, rockets and even a few missiles were part of the war load on the old workload aircraft in the way back. Your FB-111s, F-4’s, B-66, B-58’s and the F-100 series of aircraft, these things could carry some iron. The competition described in the above dispatch from Edwards AFB was for each 3-person crew to load a single AIM-120 missile onto their target aircraft.. One, 1, uno, a single missile. And I am talking it was actually hauled around and held up to the aircraft using a spotting dolly, a self propelled one at that. In my day you loaded bombs the old fashion way, with a friggin hernia bar! Picture taken from MidwaysAircraft.org website. I amsuspecting this is a test load because of the Civilians doing the loading and the lack of markings on the weapons shapes. The Yellow bar they are gripping is the hernia bar and it is used to help load the store to the aircraft rack. On the really heavy stuff we would put a harnia bar out the back end of the bomb too and get several more knuckle draggers to lift the shape to the rack.

LIKE THIS: Oh and that is not the birghtest part of this, seems there were only TWO crews available for the competiton. The F-22 crew that won it all here and a Crew from the F-35 JSF Aircraft Maintenance Unit. All the other possible participants (F-15, F-16, B-1, and B-2s) well they were all busy, something about having to put aircraft in COMBAT, you know, out fighting 3 air wars all at once.

Yeah, you can keep that fancy and expensive F-22 here in CONUS fighting for prime space and per diem money at Air Shows while the rest of Air Combat Command is out you know, in COMBAT. And you can keep your SORRY ASS excuse for why the most formidable fighter known to mankind is sitting this one out. Hell, the B-1 and B-2 crews are flying from CONUS to Libia and back. Why not simply put some F-22's in Italy? Who knows, I am sure there is some lame ass reason for needing specialized basing and maintenance on site to keep it here. Good deal on that at some where over $400 Million bucks an airframe.

Oh, its good to be back. By the way, my dearly and most recently departed Father was in the Air Force and my SN1 serves today with the Indiania Air National Guard. But still, easy pickens!!

BT: Jimmy T sends.

My Father is Gone

Sorry to have gone silent for so long here about. My Father passed away on the 27th, ravaged by Cancer for more than a year he was stubborn to the end but had wasted away to nothing like the Giant of a Man of my Youth. He and my Mother were the center of the Taylor universe. Some of us had orbits that were close at hand (my Sisters and their Kids) and others such as me (me alone in all truthfulness as I am the only family member that lives outside of the Rio Grande valley) the orbit was much greater however no less important in the gravity they imposed on us all. I am quite simply, lost. I was prepared for this, warned in the end that the time was near. My Father refused to talk to either me or his older sister for mainly the acknowledgement that each conversation was his last. I will cherish my last visit back in December last year and how well he was doing. He was brought back from the brink by the Sisters tending and minding to him for almost a year. There was always at least one of the Sisters in his company. A true feat and measure of their Love. Dad, as he was known to me was 78 years old when he passed; joining my Mother where ever it is one goes at the end. Together they had 7 Children, 18 Grand Children and 15 Great Grand Children. They did a superlative job on all of us, each independent and driven. Each successful and doing well with values embedded in us by two of the finest parents anyone could ask for. Dad was put to his final rest in the National Military Cemetery in Santa Fe. He has a corner lot that looks out over the Sangre de Christo Mountains. A fine spot not too far from the shoulder of the road I was born on. I weep still and its been a week. How will I make it from here. BT: Jimmy T sends.

Wind Power Blows

This is why I don’t want one of these in My Backyard! Nuke Power Plan, fine I have one of those (our locale here in the Swamp is inside the 10-mile radius of the Limerick Generating station).

Can you imagine what it takes to put out a fire way up there especially in a rural community where the Fire Fighters are volunteers and equipped with vehicles more equipped to handle structure fires. My township only a few years ago invested in a Ladder Truck that allows the volunteers to get up to the third floors, which is the size of the largest structure in about 100 square miles of here.

And what about all the toxic gas given off by the burning of the fiberglass turbine blades? I hear that stuff is really bad for you.

And since I am a “real” environmentalist I despair at the deaths of defenseless and innocent Birds that are killed by the hundreds of thousands (in this country alone) by Wind Turbine blades.

Victims of Green Idiots:

I read somewhere that more than 1 million birds are killed in Spain alone and that country is only the size of Texas. And did you hear how many real-money-paying Jobs were killed by that Green revolution there!! Yeah, 2.2 real jobs are lost for every Green Job created and since the Government has to subsidize those Green Jobs the true impact is far greater since you have to seize more Tax money from the Working to funnel into the subsidized Green Job to keep it around. As soon as that Government money runs out, the Job ends and the person with that Job goes on Public Assistance.

That is another great benefit to the Green Revolution that no one wants to talk about.

There are lawsuits a plenty filed by Environmental groups trying to stem the tide of Bird Deaths. It’s almost comical. (More here and here.)

Now the reason for this post is all the bad press that Nuke Power is getting thanks to the Lefty-Media and their willingness to exploit the horrific incidents in Japan with the Fukushima Nuke Plant. The Media has been using anti-nuclear proponents as on-air experts on the Nuclear Power industry then using the air time to bash that industry. Their effort is to kill this industry and make sure not another nuke plant gets an operating permit in this country.

All the while, the Government Green Winnie’s led by the Dear Leader hisself pushes “re-newable” and wind energy. None of that works. Not unless you carpet the country with Wind Turbines and Solar Panels. And I mean carpet because at the efficiency rate of Wind technology (a mere 35%) you need many tens of thousands to replace the Nuke output.

And oh by the way, Wind Turbines do not reduce countries Carbon Output. The Dutch and now the Germans have released data that show for all their efforts to build and install Wind Turbines they have not reduced their Carbon foot print by “a single gram”. So, there goes that excuse.
Then there is the noise pollution, the shadow pollution and the stray voltage issue (I kid you not, cattle have been killed by the stray voltage generated by the turbines which are not properly grounded or their Earth Grounds become disconnected).

And every now and then the towers collapse.

Jeez, these things are as troublesome as a fair election in Chicago!!

BT: Jimmy T sends.

Strike Eagle Down in Libya

A USAF F-15E Strike Eagle fell out of the sky over eastern Libya. The Eagle was assigned to the "Madhatters" of th 492nd Fighter Squadron out of Lakenheath, England.

The aircraft was felled by mechanical failure not enmey action and the Crew is safe. One having been recovered by a USMC TRAP Team using a MV-22 Osprey. The other crewman was found by people on the ground friendly with the push to oust the current regime and he was returned to another Allied CSAR crew.

Here is video of the crash site which shows clearly the aircraft is an F-15. The amazing part is that one of the AIM-120 Air to Air missiles survived the crash and people are standing around it like is was just another part of the aircraft.




Scary.

TRAP: This is what the Marines do that the USAF calls CSAR (Combat Search and Rescue): TRAP is Tactical Recovery of Aircaft and Personnel. My son who was assigned to the 1st Battalion of the 5th Marines was assigned to a TRAP team when he deployed on his MEU several years ago. Story here (My Son was actually part of this training evolution). Back then he performed this action out of either the MH-53 Sea Stallion or the CH-46 Sea Knight flown by the Heavy squadron in his MEU. They use the MV-22 for that now due largely to its impressive speed and range.

I am a fan of regime change in any country that has a history of killing Americans which this regime fall into. I wish the PresBO had handled this differently and was actually putting the U.S. in a Leadership role in this as oppossed to what will be a supporting role. Had we done this three weeks ago I am sure it would be over by now.

BT: Jimmy T sends.

Class Warfare – Haves versus the Have-More

It’s on full bore there in Wisconsin. The Haves are besieged by the Have-Mores’ who are led by Democrat Cowards. The Haves or the Voters put in office this last November a full team of Republicans. In one election cycle the Voters replaced the Majorities in both the State General Assembly and the State Senate. And they were not done there either oh by the way, replacing their Governor with a Republican, flipping one Congressional seat from “D” to “R” and a long standing Senator (Russ Feingold). This was complete repudiation of the left leaning and took the state from a stalwart Blue to flaming Red in one fell swoop.

But this is not interpreted by the Have-Mores as an indictment of their policies and priorities. Oh no, that election had nothing to do with what they want and they want More! So the Public Employee Unions are out in full force demanding More and More. They even have that Human Eating Machine and Communist Pig Michael Moore out stumping for them.

Watch the video at your own peril as his rant is beyound what a normal American would think is right and may subject you to projectile vomiting!




The Have-Mores are demanding more of the wealth that the Have’s just don’t want to give up to those that are actually living better than they are since the average Public Union employee has an overall compensation package that is superior to the average person in Wisconsin enjoys. In fact, the average is higher than even the National average. But they want even more!

They have flooded the TV airwaves and Radio stations with attack ads complaining about those evil Republicans and the agenda to end the reign of the Have-Mores and especially Collective Bargaining. They call it a “right” but in fact it is a privilege and the way it is used in Public Employee Unions it is actually a money laundry scheme. Whereas the Union members surrender a portion of their wages to the Union leadership who siphon some of it off to compensate themselves richly for their services and then take a majority of what is left of those Dues and spend it buying DemocRat politicians. Once they get a political rat bought paid for and in Office they use that person to ‘negotiate’ new benefits and compensation to those Union members that are much better than the private sector. This includes a lavish Pension plans, way more than what the average person in American can expect ( A Bureau of Labor Statistics report in December found the average state-local government worker earns more than $40.10 an hour in salary and benefits, or almost 50 percent more than the $27.88 an hour earned by the average private worker). They get a better Health Insurance Plan completely paid for by the Public not the Union or its members. All the while the Union does not make payments to the Pension Trusts funds with those dues. The result, the Unions Pensions plans all around the country are way underfunded.

Even now in the heat of this battle the DemocRat Politicians are taking their orders from the Unions.

And that is the next battle ground. Who pays for all those pensioners that will not get any money when what little the Unions have left buying politicians run out? They want to keep as many DemocRat politicians on their payroll as possible to ensure they keep getting public payouts from higher taxes and bailouts.

Enough is enough. The Republicians in Wisconsin should hold their ground and not compromise on this issue, they will never get their financial house in order if they don't get the Unions working for them instead of the other way around.

BT: Jimmy T sends.

And the Winner Is: Suprise!!

It's Boeing! Yeah, I am caught surprised as well. I never figured those USAF Pin Heads would have done this and award to Boeing what will be at least $35 Billion dollars in aircraft. Boeing pitched a "Next Generation" Tanker built on the 767 airframe. They build something similar that is in operation with Japan and Italy. They need to ramp up quickly and get these airframes in the air.

Good on them, in these economic times it makes all kinds of good sense to keep this program at home even if a lot of it is built off shore and brought here for final assembly.

I expect there to be some legal gymnastics and I hope it is held to a minimum and that Boeing gets moving building these aircraft. The Boy's in Blue could sure use them as those KC-135's are very long in the tooth. They must cost a bundle to repair and maintain and most are older than the Wing Commanders much less the actual air crews.

Not sure what I am going to write about in the future, this was good fodder!!

BT: Jimmy T sends.

Profiles in Courage – Wisconsin Senate Fleebaggers

Fleebagging from Wisconsin

Meet: Tim Carpenter (D – Coward)

District: I represent WI – 3 and the 4th Bar Stool from the left in the Tilted Kilt Pub

Time in Service: This is my 3ard Term as a State Senator however I spent 18 years in the State Assembly and now 10 days of service in Exile.

Time to run to Illinois: 1 hour 25 minutes, no one knows US 41 like I do!

Escape Route: I shot down US41 from Milwaukee to just outside Zion and once across the state line I leisurely drove across to Rockford stopping in Harvard to hit the potty and press the flesh.

Personal Message: Happy to serve the 3ard District even if from a Bar Room stool in the Tilted Kilt.

Stay tuned for more Profiles in Courage, next episode - Fleebagging from Indiana!





/snark OFF

I was once elected to public office and served 7 years as an elected official of my community. Never, ever did I cut and run like the 14 Democrat cowards from Wisconsin or the many in Indiana. I faced hugely unpopular votes but stood before the crowded meeting room and expressed my thoughts and then voted. I did not run from the responsibility entrusted to me, I took the heat and moved my community forward. To compare anything that these guys do as being "Democratic" or as part of our "Democracy" is to slander all the good works performed by true leaders in governments all around the country.

These Girlie Men are Cowards. Ture Cowards.

BT: Jimmy T sends.

KC-X Tanker Wars - Award in Sight

The USAF may announce as soon as tomorrow 24 February, the winner of the long delayed and protested replacement for the KC-135. There has been a lot of activity in recent weeks. Each competing company has submitted updated cost proposals and rumor has it that EADS has the lowest raw number.

Supporters of the Boeing aircraft tried to get the USAF to throw out the model they are using to “equalize” the cost differences between the two radically different sized airframes being proposed. The Boeing supporters feel that the model (called IFARA or Integrated Fleet Air Refueling Assessment model) bends in favor of the larger airframe. This model was devised to level the playing ground but some folks think that not enough of a penalty is assessed to an airframe that would require a substantial additional cost to the Air Force in the form of building larger hangers and reinforcing runways, taxiways and ramp area for the larger and heavier aircraft.

Plus, EADS being a less-than-for-profit business affair can set the price of each airframe with no consideration of making a profit since the partner governments that own the parent company (Airbus) are primarily concerned with jobs the ultimate cost can be way less than an airframe much smaller than the A330 they proposed. This makes for a huge bias towards the EADS bid and this huge award going overseas.

And I know, EADS claims that they will open another production line here in the US but I think what they will do is simply set up a facility where they only fit-out a completed tube with the classified communications gear this aircraft will have to have installed. So, there will be jobs here in the US but they will not be nearly what are being claimed in the EADS propaganda.

So, stay tuned. A legal crap storm may break out as early as Friday!!

BT: Jimmy T sends.

Cho-cho’s and Bull Crap

During the State of the Union PresBO spouted off about wanting more High Speed Rail lines built into the country. Not sure why, these are fundamentally wrong for the United States except for moving heavy freight, which happens right now on many sets of tracks. How many of those can one turn into a high speed passenger service? None.

This has come up again lately, the Vice-Dunce Biden rode his ole rail line back up to Philly yesterday to hold a presser on the federal government’s desire to pour $53 Billion dollars into more high speed rail lines. Who are they kidding, that kind of money won’t cover the cost overrun on a job of this scale.

Look I don’t care how these guys are selling it; profitable rail service does not work here in the US. Observe the map below: Yeah, that about tells the story. This country is way too big for affordable rail service. Just look at how much money we as taxpayers loose every year on AMTRACK ($5 Billion last year). They lose more than $20 bucks a passenger and on some routes it would be cheaper to run the train with no one on it at all since the conductor/ticket puncher would not be required. And this is not the Acella, word is that monetary loss is much higher on that service. The only reason AMTRACK stays open is the simple fact that it goes to Washington DC.

The sad fact is that the administration is clutching at straws for Job Creation. They aren’t cutting it. This whole idea is as flawed as the idea of renewable energy from the wind or solar. It would be better to burn wood at least you can grow that back and burn some more.

Much like the building of Wind Mills for electric production, most of the steel will come from off shore. Those large props that are used to capture the wind on those windmills come from Germany or Holland. They are not made here. Those large transmission gear assemblies that are used to steer the rotating props to the electric generator, yep made off shore. Even the generator for the most part comes from off shore.

The truth is we don’t have this technology here anymore. It is all imported.

Do you think it will be any different for building a Rail system? I don’t. The Steel Industry long ago fled this country and most of the steel used in rail lines today, even on AMTRAC come from Korea. The Passenger Cars, those fancy ones on the Acella line that hauls Bidens big ass around on come from Germany (Siemens AG). The only part of a massive Rail system that will be U.S. built may be just the locomotive. A GE locomotive would be getting my vote seeing as how they are in bed with the PresBO.

Not until the US congress straps on some Balls and passes a Buy America provision for any project that uses Taxpayer money there will be no Job creation. This should have been a stipulation of the many Stimulus projects. Instead, at the urging of the Administration the congress passed a Union worker provision. Proving once again it is who you sleep with that counts.

Sorry, Green Jobs, FAIL. Renewable energy, FAIL. Public Employee Unions, FAIL. Ownership of GM, FAIL. High Speed rail, FAIL.

This crew has no clue, all those Harvard, Yale and all the Ivy League schooling and they are still lost. Maybe, just maybe they should go out and get a real job to see what it is really like, own and operate a business to see just how jobs are created in this country. Not dreamed of on the black board in the cloistered halls of academia.

BT: Jimmy T sends.

Mother of a Commute : Ice Road Trucking in PA

Obligatory comments on the weather. We have had weekly (for the past 6 weeks) storms that have caused many problems around these parts. Especally for the daily morning commute. I have a 26 mile drive over farm country on a couple of two lane roads which is normally a peacefull drive if not lovely. However, when you add a whole lot of snow and now ice, well that peacefull and lovely get replaced by nerve racking, scary and downright dangerous. Still lovely though. Here are some pictures:

This is what I woke up to a little over a week ago, this was the 26th of January. This was maybe 14 to 16 inches of new snow. The great climate scientists of our day had predicted this to be a "rain" event. Here is what my Pond and back yard looked like over this last weekend. The blow hole there is made from a bubbler I have in the pond. My Koi are down there somewhere, they have survived 15 years of winters and we have had worse so I am not too concerned. Here is what I faced yesterday morning. This is what 1 Inch of ice looks like. That driveway slants down too by the way. It was completely covered in ice. I could not open the doors on the car as they were iced over. This is the tree in our Front yard, it is laden with ice. As the wind blew you could hear little snapping sounds of ice breaking. Later in the day it was all falling off and by 5:00pm the ice was completely off the tree.

Below is the Blue Heron "force field" deployed over the pond to defend the pond from the feathered devils that enjoy the Koi who cannot flee for their lives. The netting is solid with ice and heavy too. The pole on the left of this photo that holds up the left corner would eventually pull out of the ground and the nets would lay down on the top of the frozen pond. I'll have to dig the pole a new hole and pour in more cement to hold it down. Or I could pull in thoes nets and risk the open and free feeding of the Blue Herons, I am sure they would appriciate the free food.

Here is one of the roads I travel on to get to work. Of the 26 miles I travel about 24 of them are over roads that look like this. Its a pretty drive when the road is not covered in snow or ice.

This mornings drive was broken up with some debris, here a huge brand off that tree was blocking both lanes. I got out and draged this out of the way. It was heavy with both its raw size and with ice.

Oh the lovely site out the window in the area that is called Greshville Village. It is lovely.

White knuckle driving all the way, took a little over an hour. The power was out in the immediate area where my Work is and the power company had no idea when they couuld get around to restoring it. So I worked off my laptop for about 4 hours before they let us go home. It was actually getting cold in the building and with no estimate that power would return there was no point.

The dirve home was much less dramatic since we had a temprature change of some 7 to 10 degrees. By night fall the roads were all dry.

The long range forcast shows another storm coming our way for tomorrow night (that is long range around here). Just in time for the weekend. I'll be able to sleep in and not worry about the drive to work.

BT: Jimmy T sends.

Congress Making Sausage : Buring Trash

Many years ago I served my little community here as a Township Supervisor. Supervisors are elected officials and tasked with “running” the day to day activity of each of the many political subdivisions known here as Townships. Most of the people in the state of PA live in one of three classes of Townships. There are also Cities (there are only 3 in the whole state by the way) and Boro’s or Broughs as well.

My county alone (Montgomery) has 62 such subdivisions of various sizes and shapes. Within each the Supervisors are charged with hiring and firing of the Municipal staff, organizing and monitoring the various departments such as the Road Crew, Police, Administrative staff and the Sewer Plant if you are lucky enough to have one of those.

It is a daunting task and very underappreciated by the residents who go about their lives not realizing that 5 members of their community decide on virtually everything that makes their little community different from the next one down the road. Issues like Zoning, Subdivision and Land Development, construction standards for their roads, sidewalks and street light placement to tasking of the Police to patrol one area over another. There are standing committees that help with some of this; we had a Sewer Board, a Planning Commission for land development issues, Parks and Open Space committee, a Recreation committee and an Environmental Advisory Board.

One of the interesting aspects is that the make-up of the Board is by lay citizens from within the community. Our Board was made up of 5 unique individuals. One was a truck driver/mechanic, another was a retired State Trooper, another was a Butcher and yet another owned and operated a junkyard. Consensus building was sometimes a struggle, getting an idea sold across the diverse backgrounds of all the Supervisors were a challenge. An example was one effort I championed was to buy and install for our office staff (there were 9 Administrative staffers) a modern office computer system complete with laser printers and an actual office network. We had the money and the need. The staff was using clunker IBM workstations on an arcnet. It took some work, comparing different computers to models of trucks to convince the truck driver or likening an Ethernet to the turnpike and other roads for the Trooper to understand. It was but only item in what were a universe of needs that we addressed.

Another interesting aspect was everything a person in that position gets exposed to. I never knew anything about how a Municipal Sewer system worked but today, I can tell you the difference between an Circular Anaerobic digestion system and an Oxidation ditch system. The same with how roads are built and maintained or how a tract of farm land is turned into a single family housing development. It was always a learning experience and then of course applying some decision making skills.

To gain some structured knowledge and to help spread the experience around the Association that represented Township Supervisors all across the state of PA held training courses and seminars that we could attend. Many of the seminars related the changing of environmental laws or federal laws that are passed and then flowed down onto the Townships for us to figure out how to implement (like curb cuts into sidewalks after the ADA was passed). Some of the seminars were designed to teach the newbie how a road is built and how to go out and buy those large trucks that push the snow around in the winter or how to conduct a negotiate a contract with your Police union or even how to hold an effective meeting.

They were all helpful and I attended as many as I could. One I remember well and recent news items have pushed that one lesson to the fore.

It was a seminar on making Law. Yes folks, we as Township Supervisors are tasked with making laws. It was a necessary evil I assure you and none were done lightly. From the training seminal was one important lesson, which was has stuck with me. It was a discussion on consistent application of the law. The concept that all valid laws have to apply to all persons falling under its jurisdiction in exactly the same way. There can be no equivocation, no shade of grey, no waiver or exemptions. Laws that sustain challenge contain no ambiguity and are applied the same way in each happenstance. Laws are struck down if they are judged “capricious or arbitrary”.
Let us examine this a bit more:

Legal Dictionary:
Ar-bi-trary
1: depending on individual discretion and not fixed by standards, rules or law; founded on or subject to personal whims, prejudices, etc; having only relative application or relevance; not absolute

Ca-pri-cious
1; governed or characterized by impulse or whim; lacking a rational basis; not supported by the weight of evidence or established rules of law

Why has this struck me at this time? Well it was this: Waivers for Favors: Big Labor’s Obamacare escape hatch

This is an article by Michelle Malkin on waivers granted by the department of HHS to companies and Unions requesting exemption from the Patient Protection and the Affordable Health Care Act (PPAHCA) commonly known as Obamacare. It’s a huge number; almost 1 million Union members are exempt from Obamacare (list here) despite their hard work lobbying to get it passed.

There are almost 800 companies (story here) with active waivers granting exemption to more than 2 million people.

HHS reports that 50 applicants have been denied and no one knows how one group or plan is approved for exemption and another is denied. Do they grant them based on who has contributed money to their favorite Democrat cause? Is approval contingent on how “friendly” you are to the Administration?

You see, this is the problem when you invite exemption from a law you worked so very hard to get passed. Once you start exempting people, especially without that exemption process being spelled out in the same law, you get questions about the Law itself. How much of a “whim” is the law? How capricious is the law? It is applied in an arbitrary fashion? How consistent is it against the population it is to govern?

By virtue of the fact that the exemption process is a secret and not public, that so many are being exempted out and especially their own supporters want out this bill should be junked. It is capricious or arbitrary and not enforceable on the rest of us. It should be repealed or struck down altogether.

Once during my 7-years as a Township Supervisor I had to vote on a law banning the open burning of trash in the backyards of homes here in the Swamp area. Sounds like an easy piece of legislation to draft and vote on, makes sense in this modern age all that health and clean air stuff. But you would not believe the blow back. So many people came in asking what the hell were we thinking, banning the burning of trash! The meeting room was filled the next regularly scheduled meeting night, standing room only in fact (more 70 people came out). This was a big deal, we normally only get 4 or 5 folks out when we raised taxes or jacked up the sewer fee. Hell, when we laid off a Police Officer we only got three people in there to complain. What the hell were we thinking, banning the burning of trash!

They all wanted exemptions. They all wanted to keep their burn barrels. They wanted no part in the mandatory curb side service mandated by state law (the State recycling law forced municipalities that reached a certain population density to go to the curb with their trash).

We said no. I said no. If the law applied to one of us, it was going to apply to us all. And so it was, and is today here in the Swamp.

That one law may have been why I was a one term Supervisor. You take a stand and you take your lumps. We can only hope this will be true of PresBO as well.

BT: Jimmy T sends.

Careful What You Wish For

Protesters took the streets to confront security forces loyal to the government. Beating and killings go on for several days while the security forces try to put down the riots and protests spread. The Protesters coordinate their activity via twitter, email and they broadcast what they see over You Tube and Facebook. This was the news in 2009 coming out of Iran. To get control of the ground game the Iranian government shut down the internet and the phone system. (Story here.) This killed the movement that could have brought real reforms to this tyrannical government. But they had the ” Internet Kill Switch” and they used it.

Today, the news is same but over in Egypt. Mass riots and protests over the sitting regime. These protests started out small but news and coordination between protesters was conducted via the internet. This allowed the protesters to mass their forces against the Riot Police and security forces arrayed against them. Well, until the Egyptian government shut it all down. Again, they had the “Internet Kill Switch” and they used it.

So here we have the US Senate considering giving the President the same thing. How is this not an outright violation of the First Amendment? Why are they even contemplating this? Are they not satisfied taking over GM, Health Care, the Financial System and the Corn Crop?

I think this is as much a push to control the masses as all those other bills that are coached in helping the people. There can be no good to come from giving the Government control of this modern equivalent of the printing press.

Tyranny in any name is Liberty denied. Even by our own Government.

BT: Jimmy T sends.

Tanker Wars - Update

Time for some KC-X Tanker news. The original a time frame for the award of this long awaited program has slipped into February however; this could slip as well since the Senate took up hearings on the program.

Specifically the Senate is looking at the inadvertent release of proprietary cost data from one bidder to another. So, no telling how much this meddling will cost the program. Now, that is not to play down the seriousness of a release of this nature but to keep the wheels on this apple cart you have to find out if the data actually caused comprise. A forensic examination of the computer system used by an EADS Administrative employee was conducted by the Department of Defense Cyber Crime Center. They determined that a single page in one document was opened for 3 minutes. EADS claims that the people only looked at the data for about 15 seconds and claim no harm no foul. But they did move this person to another area not related to the KC-45 program which is the aircraft in their offer to the Air Force. Boeing testified that they did not open their set of data which was supposed to go to EADS. It seems their Administrative employee was smart enough to look at the labeling on the CD’s and see that it was proprietary to EADS and stopped. Bigger story here if you want.

In other news Boeing bowed out of the Indian Indigenous Tanker competition claiming they wanted to focus on the USAF KC-X program. Yeah, maybe they don’t want to get into another pissing contest over the size ambiguity in these requests for Tanker aircraft. The two aircraft the KC-767 and the KC-45 (based on an Airbus A330) are nowhere near the same size standard and since Airbus had so much help funding the building of the baseline aircraft it is very hard for Boeing to compete. I can understand that, if you are given the airframe for free you undercut anyone else trying to bid against you that had to pay for their fuselage out of their own pocket, and since no one seems willing to penalize Airbus for these illegal subsidies (to the tune of $200 Billion dollars, per the WTO) then you should walk. (WTO Story here)

Over in EADS land they had some interesting news. During a test of their A330 MRTT aircraft their much vaunted advanced Boom fell off. While in contact with an Spanish Air Force F-16. Both aircraft sustained damage and both returned safely to mother earth. I am sure the flight suit in one aircraft had to be changed, when you see that huge boom apparatus falling on you while you are at 15,000 feet I am sure you leave spots in the poopy suit. From Flightglobal is the big story but here is a quote from airbus:

”The boom detached at the root of the structural mast," says Airbus Military, responding to questions from Flightglobal. "There is no damage to the boom attachment, nor is there any significant damage to the [aircraft's] fuselage," it adds.

Photo from Airbus/EADS.

Meanwhile later in the month: “The Airbus Military A330 MRTT successfully passed fuel to receiver aircraft using the Fuselage Refueling Unit (FRU) for the first time.” (Source is Flightglobal, again) The FRU is the hose and drogue unit that is mounted on the aircrafts fuselage centerline (it is also equipped with wing mounted hose and drogue units). This is good news; Airbus had been having a lot of trouble getting the FRU to work. I guess getting that pesky Boom thingie out of the way really helped.

Well, I am sure Lawyers are circling just waiting to be called in and for Protest fire support in both camps. Even with an award today this program is far from over.

Shame on the DOD and USAF for doing such a lousy job all around on this program. Like the vampire that it has been it is almost time to put a steak into it and end all the misery.

BT: Jimmy T sends.

Thanks to http://www.alert5.com/ Great site for up to the minute aerospace and military aviation news.

China Relations: "Will You Kiss Me?"

So, the President of China is in town. No doubt looking over the collateral for those massive 890 BILLION dollars of notes they hold on us.

Our PresBO is holding a "working" private dinner with the US Banker and I hope he stays to the completion of the meal.

This brings this very funny SNL Skit to mind. Still appropriate after more than a year, funny how the items important to PresBO and the Left is still on their agenda today. Too bad for the Left as the Chinese can completely ignore us as it is we that owe them and they could if they want collapse our economy. So we have to play nice.

Or at least buy them Dinner and a Movie! Enjoy the video, it is so funny.

BT: Jimmy T sends.

Height of Hypocrisy Part 2: MSM and Tucson Shooting

Ok, I’ve tried to avoid this as long as I can. I have the full body condom on to protect me from all the crap flying around and there is plenty to go around folks.

First: whatever happened to the ole axiom of “Look before you Leap”? No, none of that folks, let’s just start shooting off at the mouth regarding why a lunatic unleashed himself at a political rally. And when the facts start coming out, despite all evidence to the contrary stay with your story line and prove the other old axiom “It is better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to open one’s mouth and remove all doubt.” So there is no doubt that the MSM (ABC, CBS, NBC, PBS, NPR, CNN, MSNBC, the New York Times, the Washington Post, etc., and this smacked ass Paul Krugman) are fools.

The true hypocrisy is the raw number of examples of Left Wing loonies that have either spoken violence on their political opponents or have actually done violence (great summary here). But the MSM blames Sarah Palin? What is up with that?

Ok, they think Sarah is the most dangerous person (man or woman) on the right so they have to destroy her. And boy oh boy are they really working overtime to do that. They are not even slowing down to connect the dots. They think all of us out here are just as deranged as they are to see connections between this loner nut job and Sarah Palin’s target map of vulnerable Democrat congressional races.

Opos, not this map, this is the map put out by the Democrats of vulnerable Republicans, but you get the idea, you know crosshairs and a bullseye have the same meaning.

Hyppo’s!

Second, why is that Paul Krugman guy not in jail for his part of the Enron business? Oh no, they give him a Pulitzer prize and I guess his crap don’t stink. That prize I guess, is like a “Get-out-of-Jail-Free” card which allows you to say anything without fear of retribution by your peers. Oh well, that whole “Peer Review” think is all a big scam anyway after the ClimateGate affair. So, you help run a company into the ground, loose tens of thousands of people their lives fortune and you get a Pulitzer Prize. Same as that Nobel Prize, which has now been degraded to do nothing or lie about what do do and you get the Peace Prize. What a joke.

Lastly, the only thing that makes sense here is what I call the “rope-a-dope”: what is going on that they don’t want you to notice? Yeah, while we are all wagging about this nonsense no one is watching the store. So what else is happening that we really should be paying attention to?

Let’s have a look at headlines that we missed while the Left had its collective head up its Ass (and all of us on the Right just stood around pointing and laughing at them):

- Barrel of oil is over $90 bucks a pop and the Gallon of gas at the pump is over $3.00: what no outcry, by the MSM? No nashing of teeth by those Lefty Elitist that want to nationalize the oil companies? When will they start their bitching, when gas gets to $5.00 a gallon?

- Jobless Claims go up. That little dip in the unemployment rate was just a blip. Yeah, keep telling us things are getting better we live out here where we see this stuff first hand.

- Foreclosures still going up, more on the horizon. Yeah, hand in hand with high unemployment is the fact that housing construction is a major job producer but with the foreclosures at depression era levels, you have those record jobless rates.

- Half of all states now are suing to STOP Obamacare. Yeah, with the changes in State Houses in November last in places like Oklahoma, Ohio, Maine and Wisconsin joining in the lawsuits looking to end the this monstrosity!

- Tastykake in financial trouble – say it ain’t so. The Keystone States beloved sugary snacks may go the way of the DoDo. Yes, the Tasty Baking Company that puts out the best baby cakes known to mankind are swimming in red ink. All thanks to going Green. And I am not talking Eagles Green either folks, I am talking they drank the cool aide and converter their massive plant to a “Green” plant and you guessed it folks, it’s not working out. They are losing money hand over fist. Can’t a diabetic get a break here!! When I go off the sugar wagon I don’t want to settle for anything but the best.

Ok, that is plenty for now. Get back to watching the Republic go to hell in the handbasket!!

BT: Jimmy T sends.

Height of Hypocrisy Part 1: The Two Faces of Nancy

Height of Hypocrisy Part 1: The Two faces of Nancy

That would be Nancy Pelosi the old and last Speaker of the House. Here she spews on about how the Republicans plans to repeal the Obama-Care Bill would do “violence to the public debt and deficit”. (Story - Video below)

She also claimed that reducing the deficit was always a priority while she was speaker “It is our mantra, pay-as-you-go” she is quoted as saying in her last official presser as Speaker (story here).

Here is video:

Oh yeah, the Democrats were watching out for the deficit and keeping their spending under control – NOT! They were spending money faster than you can actually burn money in fire pits!!

And none of it was our money, all of it borrowed!

Here is a smattering of their efforts during the “Nancy Years”:

National debt on 4 January 2007 was a mere $8,670,596,242,973.04 (that’s 8.6 trillion dollars)

National debt on 22 December 2010 (last day of the 111 congress):$13,858,529,371,601.09 (or 13.8 trillion)

Increase during the Pelosi term: 5.2 trillion

And as far as “Pay-as-you-Go” is concerned here is a quote from Paul Ryan (Republican member of the House Budget Committee) the Democrats under Speaker Nancy Pelosi “have violated pay-as-you-go rules by nearly $1 trillion dollars” over the past three years. And this was in May of 2010, plenty of time for the Democrats to spend into oblivion.

At the end of fiscal year 2010 the budget was busted by $1.6 trillion dollars.
Yeah, she was watching out for us while she was running the “Peoples House”. She was watching our money go down the drain.

And the final insult may well be how she spent her last weekend as the House Speaker, she was on vacation in a $10,000 a day resort.

Your tax dollars at work.

BT: Jimmy T sends.

Hiding from the Truth with Tough Talk

Hiding from the Truth with Tough Talk – the Sunday talk show circuit was filled with Democrats bitching, whining, complaining and decrying the legislative agenda that the newly installed Republicans plan, first and foremost is the repeal of the Obama-Care act.

The talking heads all reading from the same set of talking points pushed forth the idea that the “people” want no going back to redress laws already passed, that they would look badly on the waste of time if the Republicans spend too much time “witch” hunting and that the “peoples” agenda was now jobs and that is what the new majority should focus on instead. The Senate Democrat leadership even sent the House a letter admonishing them not to go down the path of trying to repeal Obama-care.

This is all political theatre, posturing and pandering writ large. Now everyone knows that Bills do not become law unless they are passed in both houses of congress and signed by the President. So, knowing that the Senate will in no way bring up a Bill repealing Obama-care means this is never going to see the light of day, the House efforts to repeal Obama-care will fail.

So, why the exercise?

I don’t know why the Democrats are hanging on so tightly to something that is so horribly ugly. To say that Obama-care is not popular is an understatement and it has not even kicked-in yet. We are not yet to the point where hospital services, drugs and materials are being rationed and that is on the way folks, you can be sure. Just ask anyone under the care of the Indian Health Service. They know it first hand and live by the idea that you don’t get sick after June because that last fiscal quarter there is no more money to pay for all those services. No matter how important.

I guess the Democrats don’t want to lose their handhold on that Social Utopia they all want for us here in the U.S.A.

Meanwhile the Republicans I think are simply trying to put the Dem’s on the record – again. Getting House members to vote puts them in the position of having to take sides. Only those in protected congressional districts can vote against repeal without worry of voter retribution. The others who have to actually work to keep their jobs will have to pick a side. How many will that be?

But a Bill once passed by one House does not die unless it is voted down by the other House and I think this Bill will sit there on the Books of the 112th Congress waiting for opportunity. Who knows if there will be a power shift in the Senate, attrition or retirement of a few key Democrats and that house changes hands and right there sitting waiting for a real leader will be this repeal Bill. One could only hope.

The truly amazing thing here is that the Democrats have completely forgotten that the elections back a mere 2 months ago were all about stopping this maniacal agenda they are on. The voter’s message any way you measure it was for exactly what the Republicans are doing. How is it they don’t see that?

I guess being a Liberal in these days and age is what it would be like to be in a persistent vegetative state. A political coma as it were.

BT: Jimmy T sends.