FOD 2015.08.31

Feel-Good Green Policies, I'd like to introduce you to Economic Reality.

Obama’s New Climate Rules Will Hurt Poor, Minority Americans the Most

“We know that low-income, minority communities would be hardest hit.”

That’s Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Gina McCarthy, speaking about the higher energy prices that would result from the Obama administration’s recently announced climate regulations on power plants.

... While the median family spends about 5 cents out of every dollar on energy costs, low-income families spend about 20 cents of every dollar.

And the economic pain from the regulations won’t be simply the direct costs of higher energy prices. It will be the higher prices for all the goods we purchase. Energy, after all, is a necessary component to manufacture those goods.

A few weeks ago, President Barack Obama blasted critics of his Clean Power Plan, saying, “Even more cynical, we’ve got critics of this plan who are actually claiming that this will harm minority and low-income communities—even though climate change hurts those Americans the most, who are the most vulnerable.”

But this plan will hurt minority and low-income families the most, as McCarthy has admitted. And energy efficiency handouts and mandates are certainly not going to be a panacea for the federal government’s energy-raising, job-crushing climate regulations.

So much for 'black lives matter.'

On the other hand, that's at least one campaign promise he's keeping.

Sunday Funnies 2015.08.30

I've spent the past few days helping friends move. Moving is a huge pain in the butt, but it's even more miserable when it takes place in Texas during the August heat.

When we agreed to help our friend move to a new apartment, we didn't know the elevator wasn't working. So after hours of carrying heavy boxes and furniture up 11 floors, we were wiped out. And when the friend asked us to search for his favorite picture, no one moved.

"I'll give a bottle of Scotch to whoever finds it," he shouted.

Within minutes, someone found the picture.

"Good," said our friend. "Now look for the Scotch."

Is this a great country or what. It’s the only place where you can borrow money for a down payment, get a 1st and 2nd mortgage and call yourself a homeowner.

A client bought a new home and the broker wanted to send flowers for the occasion.

They arrived at the home and the owner read the card; it said “Rest in Peace”.

The owner was angry and called the florist to complain.

After he had told the florist of the obvious mistake and how angry he was, the florist said. “Sir, I’m really sorry for the mistake, but rather than getting angry you should think about this: somewhere there is a funeral taking place today, and they have flowers with a note saying, “Congratulations on your new home”.

Murphy's Laws of Moving

1. No matter how many boxes you have, you will never have enough.

2. The more your friends promise to help, the more likely it is they will be deathly ill or out of town the weekend you are moving.

3. Whatever it is that you need, it is always in the bottom of a box that has already been taped shut.

4. Now that you are moving and no longer need it, you will always find something you have been looking for for years.

5. The tape, the scissors, the markers and the screwdriver all know how to play hide ‘n’ seek.

6. The thing that gets broken will always be an irreplaceable antique heirloom - never something cheap that you didn't like anyway.

7. Regardless of long the drought has been going on, it will always rain on moving day.

8. You will always loose your checkbook, your car keys, the remote control or the telephone.

9. If you stay up all night packing to be ready for the movers, they will be late.

10. No matter how large the new place is, it will shrink before you move in.

Busy...sorry

Sorry for the lack of active posting, but I've been busy. In the meantime, here's a couple of images that say a lot more than I could in words.

Hypocritical assholes...

Friday Follies Happy Hour 2015.08.28

In my younger, more foolish days, I had a boat ... and a buddy like this...

Hodgepodge 2015.08.27

Clearing out a few images from the backlog...

Thank You Charlie Daniels

Thank you, Charlie Daniels, for your music.

Thank you as well for giving me an easy way out of having to come up with something original for today's post.

But most of all think you for your penetrating words laying open the putrid  pile of bile that is today's congress.

Charlie Daniels' Open Letter to Congress: 'You've Betrayed Your Country'

By Charlie Daniels | August 25, 2015

I am a proud American who believes that America has held – and still holds – a very sensitive and special place in the affairs of mankind on Planet Earth. I believe that America has been divinely blessed and protected in our two centuries plus of existence.

I believe that America has been a counter balance that has cancelled out a lot of tyranny, evil and conquest, and admittedly, we have made a lot of mistakes. But on balance we have exerted a certain Pax Americana in the international affairs of mankind.

It took a lot of old fashioned guts for the Continental Congress to stand up to the world's mightiest military and tell them that we demanded our independence, even at the peril of going up against a far superior force on land and sea, and with only a ragtag army of untrained citizens, many of whom had to supply their own firearms.

It took courage above and beyond for Abraham Lincoln to push the country into a Civil War that he knew beyond a shadow of a doubt would divide this nation for decades.

It took guts to give the order for American troops to storm the beaches of Normandy on D-Day, straight into the face of artillery and machine gunfire, wave after wave being cut to ribbons by German shore emplacements.

The history of this nation is written in the blood and courage of men who stood in the face of overwhelming odds – politicians, soldiers, statesmen and ordinary citizens who sought to do the right thing regardless of the cost or the consequences.

Well, ladies and gentlemen of the United States Congress, it seems that that particular pen has run out of ink. The courageous politicians that once championed this nation have been replaced, for the most part, by a breed of milksop, politically correct, scared of their own shadow, pushover, pathetic excuses for public servants who are supposed to be representing a constituency of citizens who have to live with the circumstances of their timid folly.

You don't even have the courage to face down an out of control president, even when he makes a deal with the devil. Don't you bunch of timid capons even care what kind of world you're leaving to your children and grandchildren, not to even mention the rest of us? Are you really party partisans before your parents and grandparents or even human beings?

Be honest with yourselves a minute. Go into the bathroom and look in the mirror and ask the person you see this question: "Do I really believe that Iran will not use the money we're releasing to them to finance terrorists to kill Americans, and, when, not if, but when, the Iranians develop their nuclear device, will they really use it against America and Israel?"

You can’t hide from the truthful answer to that question forever, an answer will be required of you one day.

You have allowed Obama to tilt the Supreme Court so far to the left that they're little more than a shameful extension of the Executive Branch.

You have talked for decades about the porous southern border but have done absolutely nothing about it.

You have allowed cities in this nation to declare themselves sanctuary cities where they protect the worst of the worst criminal aliens, and American citizens are paying an awful price for your silence.

You watch an impossible National Debt balloon completely out of control, knowing full well that a day of reckoning is coming that will seriously curtail the quality of life for coming generations.

You allow corrupt government agencies like the IRS to run over the very people you are sworn to protect and allow the entitlement society to expand exponentially. All the while, you are actually entertaining the idea of raising taxes on those who still work and shoulder the burden.

You compose a third of the constitutionally mandated ruling system,and you shirk your duty and allow this nation to move a little closer to the edge every day.

Your ratings are in the single digits; your morals are in the gutter; your minds are on self-preservation; and somewhere along the way, you’ve traded your honor for political expediency.

You've violated your oaths; you've betrayed your country; you've feathered your nests; and you've sat on your hands while an imperial president has rubbed your noses in the dirt time after time.

You're no longer men. You're puppets, caricatures, jokes, a gaggle of fading prostitutes for sale to anybody who can do you a political favor.

“For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?”

What do you think?

Pray for our troops and the peace of Jerusalem.

God Bless America

Charlie Daniels

Well said, Mr. Daniels.

Anchors Away

A little late to the game with this one, but it's so ridiculous that it bears repeating.

Discussing Immigration, Donald Trump and Jeb Bush Use an Offensive Term

What is the "offensive term" that has the left frothing at the mouth this time?

"Anchor babies"

The phrase is as offensive as the word “illegals” for many immigrants who come to America.

In 2011, it was defined by the American Heritage Dictionary as, “A child born to a noncitizen mother in a country that grants automatic citizenship to children born on its soil, especially such a child born to parents seeking to secure eventual citizenship for themselves and often other members of their family.”

But after protests from immigration advocacy groups who complained that the language is a demeaning slur, the dictionary labeled it as “offensive.”

GMAFB. These are the same people who prefer the term"undocumented worker" to "illegal immigrant."

Regardless of what they are called, a strong argument can be made that the 14th Amendment does not in fact confer automatic citizenship on children born in the U.S. whose parents - or at least mother - is here illegally.

The first clause of the 14th Amendment provides that “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside”...

However, in legal circles the term "jurisdiction" includes two distinctly different ideas: "1) complete, political jurisdiction; and 2) partial, territorial jurisdiction."

Think of it this way. When a British tourist visits the United States, he subjects himself to our laws as long as he remains within our borders. He must drive on the right side of the road, for example. He is subject to our partial, territorial jurisdiction, but he does not thereby subject himself to our complete, political jurisdiction. He does not get to vote, or serve on a jury; he cannot be drafted into our armed forces; and he cannot be prosecuted for treason if he takes up arms against us, because he owes us no allegiance. He is merely a “temporary sojourner,” to use the language employed by those who wrote the 14th Amendment, and not “subject to the jurisdiction” of the United States in the full and complete sense intended by that language in the 14th Amendment.

The same is true for those who are in this country illegally. They are subject to our laws by their presence within our borders, but they are not subject to the more complete jurisdiction envisioned by the 14th Amendment as a precondition for automatic citizenship.

Unfortunately, the current Supreme Court won't see it that way. We're talking, after all, about the same court that justified forcing Americans to buy health insurance by categorizing the penalty for not doing so as a tax, and that interpreted “Exchange(s) established by the State..." to really mean a Federal exchange.

What makes this uproar over "anchor babies" meaningless is that if we would just secure our borders and halt the influx of illegal aliens, there would be no more anchor babies, making the whole thing moot.

FOD 2015.08.24

Here's a recap of the ongoing saga of obama's fatally flawed deal with Iran. He wants to lift economic sanctions on them in exchange for their promise not to build a nuclear weapon in the next 15 years. How do we know they won't cheat? We have their word for it. If that's not enough for you, they've also promised to inspect themselves.

... Iran will be allowed to use its own inspectors at the secret Parchin nuclear site under its secret side agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

This is a new one in the history of arms control. Parchin is the military complex long suspected as the home of Iran’s nuclear-weapons and ballistic-missile development. The IAEA has sought access to Parchin for more than a decade, and U.S. officials have said the deal requires Iran to come clean about Parchin by agreeing on an inspections protocol with the IAEA by the end of this year.

But that spin started to unravel three weeks ago with the discovery that the Parchin inspections were part of a secret side agreement between the IAEA and Iran—not between Iran and the six negotiating countries. Secretary of State John Kerry has said he hasn’t read the side deal, though his negotiating deputy Wendy Sherman told MSNBC that she “saw the pieces of paper” but couldn’t keep them. IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano has told Members of the U.S. Congress that he’s bound by secrecy and can’t show them the side deals.

In other words, the country that lied for years about its nuclear weapons program will now be trusted to come clean about those lies. And trusted to such a degree that it can limit its self-inspections so they don’t raise “military concerns” in Iran.

Keep in mind that the side deal already excludes a role for the U.S., and that the IAEA lacks any way to enforce its side deal since it has no way of imposing penalties for violations. Iran has also already ruled out any role for American or Canadian nationals on the inspection teams.

In return, Iran gets to sell its oil on the international market, generating billions of dollars in new revenue for the largest state sponsor of terrorism in the entire world. Does anyone seriously doubt that some of that money won't get funneled to terrorist groups?

To make matters worse, other Middle East powers such as Saudi Arabia and Egypt, which are Sunni-majority countries, won't stand idly by while a Shia nation - Iran - gets access to nuclear weapons. And that's without even mentioning Israel.

So we get a nuclear arms race in the most unstable region in the world. We get terrorist groups flush with wads of new cash. And we get the word of highly ideological theocrats - who have repeatedly lied and lied and lied, accompanied by the unending refrain of "Death to America" - that they will behave themselves, at least for the next 15 years.

How could anyone object to that?

Would you buy a used car from these guys?

The sad thing is that there's nothing we can do to derail this deal. Even if the congress rejects the deal, and can get enough votes to override the inevitable obama veto, the other countries involved (the permanent members of the United Nations Security Council–the United States, the United Kingdom, Russia, France, and China, plus Germany and the European Union) will go along with it.

The only way out of this mess, the only way to stop Iran from getting its hands on nukes, is for some country to take unilateral military action and destroy Iran's nuclear facilities. Otherwise there's going to be one or more mushroom clouds in our future.

That'll be obama's true legacy.

Sunday Funnies 2015.08.23

In honor of the terrorist attack on the French train and the passengers' response to it...

Q:  What do you get if you cross Islam and Capitalism?
A:  No more jokes about the profit.

Q:  Did you hear about the terrorists' office party?
A:  It was a blast.

Q:  Why don't they teach Driver's Ed and sex education on the same day in the Middle East?
A:  They don't want to wear out the camel.

Q:  Why aren't there any Walmarts in the Middle East?
A:  Because there is a target on every corner.

Q:  What’s the difference between a feminist and a terrorist?
A:  You can negotiate with a terrorist.

German authorities report they have discovered digital files hidden in a porn movie that outline ISIS' plans for more terrorist attacks.

This is the believed to be the first time that a porn film has ever contained a plot.

A suspected terrorist is released on bail. He is allowed out for two hours as long as he is under surveillance and his conversations are closely monitored.

He isn’t being treated like a Muslim terrorist, he’s being treated like a Muslim woman.

I was riding the tube one day and I saw the ringleader of an infamous group known for mercilessly attacking civilians and trying to impose their own political views on others. Immediately I started beating him over and over.

And that, Your Honor, is why I assaulted the president of the United States.

Makes Me Proud To Be An American

The actions of these three young Americans in overpowering a heavily armed terrorist and preventing a bloody massacre are in the best tradition of American exceptionalism. They also produced some of the best quotes of the year.

Quote 1

"Spencer makes first contact, he tackles the guy, Alek wrestles the gun away from him, and the gunman pulls out a boxcutter and slices Spencer a few times. And the three of us beat him until he was unconscious." (emphasis added)

Gotta love that. Of course, my first impulse after wrestling the gun away would be to shoot the SOB. Apparently they tried that, but the gun was jammed. Which leads us to...

Quote 2

An amateur video taken in the immediate aftermath shows the suspect on the ground with his legs in the air and his hands tied behind his back ... and a voice saying, “Dude, I tried to shoot him.” (emphasis added)

"Dude..." - too cool for words. You have to give him credit for trying to do the right thing and rid the world of another piece of islamic trash.

There is a school of thought that says if a firearm doesn't work properly, it's no more than an oddly shaped club. The third quote supports that argument.

Quote 3

"Then I grabbed the AK (assault rifle), which was at his feet, and started muzzle thumping him in the head with it..." (emphasis added)

"muzzle thumping" - LOL! I might have reversed the rifle and clubbed the scum with the butt end (more heft to it) but I'm not going to second-guess the men who were there. Muzzle thumping works for me. Besides, it has a nice ring to it.

The incident also reinforced certain stereotypes.

The British, working together with Americans.

A MIDDLE-AGED British IT consultant ... helped tackle a heavily-armed gunman on a French train.

Chris Norman, 62, ... was sitting in the same carriage as two American soldiers and their friend when they heard a shot.

"My thought was 'I am probably going to die anyway so let's go.

"I would rather die being active and trying to stop him then simply sit in the corner and be shot."

I like the way he thinks. I also like the fact that according to this source, 62 is middle-aged - especially since I'm just barely past 62 myself.

The typical French reaction when confronted.

Train staff on board the high speed train which was the scene of a suspected Islamic extremist attack yesterday have been accused of barricading themselves in their staffroom and locking the door, leaving passengers to fend for themselves.

I may be a bit unfair to the French here. Back when I was still in the classroom our 'active shooter' protocol consisted of turning off the lights and locking the door. That's just one step above 'close your eyes and hope he doesn't see you.'

And finally, the media's response. (Source)

Why am I not surprised?

And They're Off...

Our daughter went back to college yesterday. She'll be a sophomore. This will be her first year in an apartment.

Our son has been gone for a couple of weeks. He's starting his junior year. He also turned 21 this summer. To say I'm looking forward to this year with a certain amount of trepidation would be an understatement.

My grandson left earlier this week for his freshman year at college.* Granddaughter is starting high school this fall.

Suddenly I'm feeling old ... very, very old.

* It's complicated. I have an older son from an earlier marriage. He's 43. His kids - my grandkids - are 18 and 15. My kids from the current marriage are 21 and 19. My current wife was almost a grandmother before she was a mother.

The good news, however, is that we are again empty-nesters!

Friday Follies Happy Hour 2015.08.21

If you like fast cars and classic rock you'll love this video...

Here We Go Again

9 arrested in St. Louis protest over shooting

Police made nine arrests and used tear gas to clear a street when about 150 people gathered Wednesday evening to protest a shooting earlier in the day that left a black suspect dead.

Many of the roughly 150 people who gathered at the scene hurled obscene gestures and expletives at investigators and questioned the police use of deadly force. Some chanted "Black Lives Matter"...

... the shooting occurred Wednesday morning when members of the Tactical Unit and Special Operations were executing a search warrant at a house in the north part of the city.

Two men armed with guns fled out of the back door as officers were about to enter the house. Police say 18-year-old Mansur Ball-Bey was armed with a firearm with an extended magazine. The other suspect, who police described as being in his mid- to late-teens, was armed with two guns and was in possession of crack cocaine.

As the suspects fled, officers in an alley near the house ordered them to stop and drop their weapons. Police say Ball-Bey then turned and pointed a gun at the officers.

Dotson said two officers shot and struck Ball-Bey. Dotson said one officer fired once and the other fired three shots.

Four guns, including the gun dropped by Ball-Bey, and crack cocaine were recovered from the house...

Police obtained the search warrant because they believed the home harbored suspects in other crimes, Dotson said.

... a killing happened on the same street Monday and a nearby market just was riddled by bullets.

It's reached the point where facts and circumstances don't matter. A police raid, based on a legitimate warrant, taking place in a violence plagued neighborhood, flushes out a thug with a gun and drugs. He threatens officers with a firearm, they protect themselves, and minutes later the streets are filled with 'protesters.'

We had dinner last night with friends who had returned that day from St. Louis. They both were born and raised there, lived and worked there for many years before their careers moved them elsewhere. They still have family and friends there, and return to visit annually.

Their observations: the area has changed. Downtown St. Louis, which used to be a vibrant area where people of all races mingled without problems, has become a shell of its former self. White flight has taken many middle and upper middle class residents to new suburbs. The old easy going atmosphere is gone. The new tension is palpable.

Why? Because 'black lives matter', to the exclusion of all else.

Please don't misunderstand me. There is no doubt that some police shootings are questionable, and deserve to be investigated. But there is also no doubt that some are justified. Yet to the BLM crowd, all such incidents are cases of white cops gunning down innocent black youths. In their minds, there is evidently no set of circumstances in which LEOs are justified in using deadly force.

Sorry, but I just don't buy that.

Random Observations 2015.08.20

Interesting, isn't it, how some news stories have what the media calls "legs" - that is, staying power - while others quietly fade away.

For instance, have you heard anything lately regarding the EPA's toxic waste spill into that Colorado River?

Me neither.

On August 5, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency mistakenly discharged more than 3 million gallons of polluted water from an abandoned mine into the Animas River, a tributary of the San Juan River in southwest Colorado.

In the interest of “public safety,” local authorities in La Plata County, Colo., closed the Animas River to all watercrafts.

The restrictions have deeply affected a region that relies heavily on the river for agriculture and tourism.

*crickets* 

On the other hand, we are inundated with press coverage of the NFL's Deflatgate.

Dear NFL, now it's time for you to end Deflategate

According to some reports, it may be too late for the marriage of Patriot quarterback Tom Brady and supermodel Gisele Bundchen.

Tom Brady is reportedly headed for divorce, and the New England Patriots’ recent DeflateGate scandal could be to blame...

... it could be quite a costly one. Despite reportedly signing a carefully drawn prenup, the couple could be looking at a divorce splitting up a total of $460 million.

Maybe it's just me, but I have trouble dredging up much sympathy for a couple fighting over how to split $460 million.

In other news, I stopped at a WalMart in Marble Falls, Texas yesterday. Two items of note:

There is a website dedicated to WalMart patrons. It highlights some of the tasteless and disgusting people that shop there (warning - you will need brain bleach if you visit the website). I found a candidate for that website in Marble Falls. The picture doesn't capture the full effect of a grown man wearing camo shorts, a Hawaiian shirt, and black socks and shoes, but you'll get the idea.

Disturbing as that was, inside I found something even more upsetting. It's mid-August, we're dealing with scorching temperatures and a lack of rain, and WalMart already has Thanksgiving merchandise on its shelves.

That's just not right...

Hodgepodge 2015.08.18

Feeling a little lazy today, so in lieu of real content here's a hodgepodge of stuff...

Little Johnny

A salesman knocks on the door and Little Johnny opens it.

"Is your dad at home?"

"He's in the shower"

"Well, is your mom home?"

"She's also in the shower"

"Oh. Will they be out any time soon?"

"I don't think so. Dad asked for Vaseline and I gave him superglue"

Hillary

Hillary Clinton and her entourage were driving through the Iowa countryside on their way to a campaign rally. Her driver accidentally hits and kills a pig.

Hillary tells the driver to go talk to the farmer and apologize. The driver does so, and comes back carrying a ton of presents - cookies, sausages, wine, and more.

Hillary, bewildered, asks her driver: "What did you tell the guy?"

The driver answers: "I said, I'm Hillary Clinton's driver. The pig is dead!"

OldNFO

As some of you may know, OldNFO is nearing retirement. He's spent last weekend searching for a nice quiet place in the country to spend his golden years. Here's a peek into his future.

OldNFO finally retires from his job and buys himself a house in the country. He's miles from the nearest neighbor, and even farther away from the nearest town.

One day a pickup truck comes up the drive, and a man gets out. He says "Hi, my name's Earl. Saw someone bought this old house and wanted to come by to say hello."

OldNFO replies "Mighty nice of you, Earl, thanks for stopping by."

Earl says, "Before I go, thought I'd invite down to a party I'm having this Friday. There's gonna be eatin' and drinkin' and fightin' and f**kin'."

"Sounds like a good time," OldNFO says. "What should I wear?"

"Oh, don't really matter" Earl says. "Just gonna be you an' me."