The Stupid, It Hurts

All I can say is Unfuckingbelievable.

Unreal: Michelle And Barack Remember 9/11 In The Most Shockingly Inappropriate Way

It’s hard to imagine that Michelle Obama and her White House advisors could possibly have picked a more bizarre way to let her social media fans know how FLOTUS was remembering 9/11 and supposedly paying her respects to the thousands of Americans killed by radical Muslim terrorists.

Yes, that banner says "KaBoom."

Seriously? Michelle and Barack Obama are happy to be seen stuffing colorful KaBOOM! backpacks with goodies for poor kids as a remembrance of that dark day when hijacked planes flew into buildings and exploded in deadly fireballs in New York and Washington?

Are they so stupid that they just don't get it, or is it that they just don't care?

Probably a combination of the two.

Here's my favorite response to the obama's lunacy.

Idiots...

Polish Joke

I'm Polish, so I consider myself able to tell Polish jokes with impunity. In this story, however, the joke is on the U.S. Army.

Lost US Army helicopters ‘drop in’ on unsuspecting Polish town of Gruta for tourist maps

Polish villagers got a surprise when six US military helicopters emerged from heavy fog to make an emergency landing in a nearby rapeseed field.

Onlookers responded “first with worry and bewilderment, then curiosity,” Stanislaw Raginiak from the office of the rural town of Gruta said yesterday.

Then several baffled-looking pilots walked into the town, asking for directions.

Seriously? They got lost? I can understand GPS failure, but didn't they at least have a map of the area? Things like this happened when I was in the Army thirty-something years ago, but I was hoping things had improved since then.

Q:  What's the most dangerous weapon in the Army?
A:  A second lieutenant with a map. 

The five Black Hawk helicopters and one Chinook heavy transport helicopter touched down while taking part in ongoing NATO military exercises in Poland and the Baltic States.

Local media said the emergency landing caused the helicopters to go off the radar, setting off the alert systems of emergency services and military police.

Residents, worried at first about the appearance of military helicopters, were relieved to learn it was just a bunch of lost Americans.

Search teams grappled to locate the missing choppers, initially scouring an area 20 kilometres away.

“Once they stepped off the aircraft, the crews explained they were forced to make the emergency landing because of bad weather,” Raginiak told AFP.

Around 40 villagers, including local officials, greeted the surprise visitors, who turned out to be friends not foes.

“They invited us to tour their aircraft, which were really impressive. I got the chance to sit in the pilot’s seat,” said county office intern Daniel Zurawski.

Residents of the village of Gruta, in northern Poland, pose for a photo with lost US troops and their Chinook helicopter in the middle of the village’s fields where six U.S. Army helicopters made an unplanned landing in poor visibility. Source: AP

In return, the local visitors feted the lost soldiers with cakes and coffee.

... the pilots were then issued with local tourist leaflets — printed in English — to help them re-establish their bearings ... the helicopters, which were part of the US Army’s 12th Combat Aviation Brigate, took off two hours later, kicking up clouds of dust.

No word on whether or not they loaded up with good Polish beer, kielbasa, and pierogies.

Deconstructing obama's Speech

Thursday night barack obama gave a major speech outlining his strategy for dealing with the terrorist group ISIS. True to his out-of-touch-with-reality nature, he insisted on calling it ISIL. But that's a minor quibble. The rest of his speech was full of much bigger foolishness.

First, he seems to believe that air power alone can defeat an opponent. While there is no doubt that air strikes can inflict severe harm on the enemy, to thoroughly defeat them requires a physical 'in your face' presence - the much-ballyhooed boots on the ground. That critical component is missing from his plan. (I understand the reasons for not committing American ground forces. Very few Americans are game for another Gulf War. But I don't see how ISIS can be "degraded and destroyed" with someone getting their hands - or in this case boots - dirty.)

obama seems to think that a combination of the Iraqi military, Syrian rebels, and Kurdish militia will do the trick. The problem is that (1) ISIS has already kicked the Iraqi's butts, and (2) arming insurgents has not worked out very well in the past.

Past decisions by the U.S. to arm insurgencies in Libya, Angola, Central America and Afghanistan helped sustain brutal conflicts in those regions for decades. In the case of Afghanistan, arming the mujahideen in the 1980s created the instability that emboldened extreme militant groups and gave rise to the Taliban, which ultimately created an environment for al Qaeda to thrive.

In fact, ISIS is now armed to a certain extent with weapons the U.S. gave to Syrian rebels in 2013.

Islamic State fighters appear to be using captured US military issue arms and weapons supplied to moderate rebels in Syria...

So it appears that obama's plan to substitute 'sandals on the ground' for professional military forces is doomed to failure.

Complicating obama's plan to employ air power is uncertainty over the political repercussions of air strikes inside Syria. The Assad regime has said that such strikes would be considered an act of war. Not that a war with Syria worries me over much, but it would further muddy the waters.

More worrisome is the likelihood that air strikes within Syria could actually strengthen ISIS.

The prospect of the first American attacks on Syrian soil during three years of brutal civil war captivated Syrians on Thursday, prompting intense debate over whether airstrikes on the extremist Islamic State in Iraq and Syria would help or harm President Bashar al-Assad, his armed Syrian opponents and war-weary civilians.

Many warned that if weakening ISIS strengthened Mr. Assad and was not accompanied by political enfranchisement of the Sunni majority in Syria, the strikes could backfire, driving more Sunnis to support or tolerate ISIS.

obama cited the examples of Somalia and Yemen as instances where air strikes have made a difference. The last time I looked, neither place was a model of political stability or a stronghold of individual liberties. In fact, airstrikes in those two countries have done little to stop terrorists.

The US launched its first airstrike in Yemen in 2002...

(In 2009 the US became) actively involved in Yemen, with a series of drone and other missile strikes that targeted AQAP (al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula ) and its leadership cadre. In addition, the US has provided intelligence, logistics, weapons, ammunition, and other support to the Yemeni military and security services.

By 2011, AQAP seized control of much of southern Yemen, and held it for more than a year despite an intensive US-led drone campaign. Yemeni troops (emphasis added) prevented AQAP from openly controlling the provinces of Abyan and Shabwa by mid-2012, but the jihadist group shifted its fighters to other provinces and still controls large areas of central, southern, and eastern Yemen.

Note that it took "Yemeni troops" to stop AQAP - NOT air strikes.

The situation has hardly improved throughout 2014. AQAP has openly challenged the state for control of the eastern province of Hadramout even as the US has continued counterterrorism operations.

As for Somalia:

In Somalia, the US has been supporting African forces in their fight against Shabaab and its predecessor since 2006. Shabaab took control of much of southern and central Somalia by 2009, but was forced out of most major cities in an offensive that began in 2011. Shabaab still controls much of the countryside in southern Somalia to this day. And it has successfully expanded the scope of its terrorist operations throughout the region, executing attacks in Djibouti, Kenya, and Uganda.

In July 2013, the UN's Monitoring Group for Eritrea and Somalia issued its assessment of the situation. The UN found that Shabaab has "suffered conventional military setbacks, particularly in urban centres, including the loss of Kismaayo, as the forces of AMISOM and the Somali National Army expanded their areas of territorial control."

The UN observed, however, that, Shabaab "continues to control most of southern and central Somalia and has shifted its strategic posture to asymmetrical warfare in both urban centres and the countryside." Unfortunately, Shabaab's "military strength ... remains arguably intact in terms of operational readiness, chain of command, discipline and communication capabilities." By shifting its tactics and "avoiding direct military confrontation, it has preserved the core of its fighting force and resources."

So our failed president wants to employ a failed strategy in a feeble and futile attempt to deal with a tough, smart, and determined enemy. Good luck with that. I just hope and pray that there is little or no loss of American life resulting from this ill-conceived and doomed to failure 'strategy.'

Since a picture is worth a thousand words, below is a concise summary of obama's speech - not just last night's speech, but anytime he opens his ... mouth...

Thoughts On This 9/11 Anniversary

Not only is today the anniversary of the original 9/11 attacks, it is also the two year anniversary of the attacks on our Benghazi consulate, the murders of four Americans there, and the subsequent cover-up.

Looking back on that day, I can only weep as I ponder the current and (God forbid) future CinC...

Of course, today it's 13 years later, not 12, but the point remains as valid as ever.

How can this traitorous lying hag be considered a viable candidate for the presidency?

On a more inspirational note, last Sunday Parade magazine had this story about  Heather "Lucky" Penny, former F-16 pilot.

In September 2001, Lt. Heather “Lucky” Penney was a 26-year-old rookie with the 121st Fighter Squadron of the D.C. Air National Guard, at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland. For the daughter of a combat ­pilot who’d served in Vietnam, it was a dream come true. But in one of the lesser-known stories of the 9/11 attacks, Penney found herself called upon that day to do something she had never anticipated: Stop a hijacked commercial airliner with 40 passengers and crew onboard. Now a mother of two and an executive at Lockheed Martin, Maj. Penney, 39, spoke with Parade about her experience.

PARADE: Tell us about the morning of 9/11.
We had a skeleton crew that Tuesday. It was very quiet. We were in the middle of a meeting when Dave “Chunks” Callaghan, who ran the operations desk, stuck his head in and told us, “Somebody just flew into the World Trade Center.” We looked outside; it was a crystal blue day. We wondered how anyone could mess up their instrument approach that badly. It wasn’t until he opened the door again and said a second plane had crashed into the second tower that we knew it was on purpose.

What happened next?
After the Pentagon was hit, the Secret Service called and ordered us to get airborne. We had an idea there was another aircraft coming toward Washington. [Editor’s note: The fourth hijacked plane, Flight 93, was believed to be headed to the White House or the Capitol.] Because we’d just returned from a training mission in Nevada, there weren’t any missiles or bombs or high-explosive bullets on the airplanes, and it was going to be a while before the weapons people could get the missiles built up. My commander, Col. Marc “Sass” Sasseville, looked at me and said, “Lucky, you’re with me.”

What went through your mind as you took off?
I was thinking this was the one thing in my life that I had to get right. I had already given myself up, knowing what my duty was.

What was the plan?
Sass said, “I’ll take the cockpit”—meaning he would ram the airliner. I knew I’d take the tail. If you take the tail off an airplane, it can’t fly.

Did you ever get a direct order to bring down the plane?
Our duty was clear—to protect and defend. I don’t remember ­being told, “Go take down that airliner.” All I remember is ­knowing for sure that’s what we had to do. It wasn’t until later that day that we received “free-fire” orders, meaning we could fire upon [anything] that we considered a threat.

Of course, as it turned out, you never intercepted Flight 93.
We couldn’t find the plane, so we went back to D.C. to make sure it hadn’t snuck around us. Then we helped set up a protective cover over D.C. We were airborne for about four and a half hours, ­landed, and took off again in ­aircraft configured with missiles. It was a long time before we learned that the passengers had taken control of the aircraft from the terrorists. [Editor’s note: Flight 93 crashed near Shanksville, Pa., at 10:03 a.m., killing ­everyone ­onboard.]

What was your reaction when you heard what the passengers had done?
They were true heroes. Because of what they did, we didn’t have to. They averted further tragedy, confusion, and chaos and thwarted those who would do our nation harm. These were average, everyday Americans who gave their lives to save countless more. That selflessness reminds us that we are part of something greater than ourselves, that there are things in this world more important than ourselves.

Do you think back often on the events of 9/11?
At first I was disgusted by the sensationalism and fear-­mongering that the media stoked in the wake of 9/11. It utterly desecrated our nation’s experience, and I wanted nothing to do with it. But when I reflect back now, I think about the many moments of heroism and bravery from everyone whose lives intertwined with the events of that day. And I am proud and heartened to know that there truly is nothing unique about what Sass and I did. All over the country, active duty [service members] and reservists responded on 9/11. If I hadn’t been there, ­another airman would have been, and just as honorably done their duty. We were not the first and we are not the last.

We are a very fortunate country to have people like her and her compatriots among us. God Bless.

I've always thought that the tale of Flight 93 has been under-reported and under-appreciated. Much has been made of the two planes flying into the WTC, no doubt because of the spectacular nature of the attack, the horrific loss of life, and the vivid video tapes. But IMO the story of Flight 93 and the heroic actions of the passengers deserves equal billing. One book that tells that story is Among the Heroes, a narrative of United Flight 93 and the people who fought back against the evil attacking our country on that terrible day.

When I look back on that day 13 years ago, and then look around today, I am saddened by how much we seem to have forgotten about the nature of the people savages who planned and carried out that attack. I am equally saddened by how divided our country has become. It reminds me so much of the social unrest during the Vietnam war. I can only hope and pray that there is a another Ronald Reagan out there somewhere who will unite a fragmented country.

Schadenfreude With A Capital S

President Obama Rejected From Top NY Golf Courses Over Labor Day Weekend

President Obama was turned down at several top golf courses in Westchester while he was visiting the area over Labor Day weekend...

The Trump National Golf Club, the Winged Foot and Willow Ridge were among some of the elite courses that rebuffed the president's request to tee off there...

Club managers apparently did not want to inconvenience their high-powered and high-paying members over Labor Day weekend by shutting down their courses to accommodate the president.

Hell, I'd be upset if my local muni closed down on a holiday weekend just to accommodate some egocentric empty suit.

The president was in town Aug. 29, a Friday, for fundraising events in New York and Rhode Island. He had been scheduled to stay overnight in Westchester County in order to attend the Saturday evening wedding of MSNBC host Alex Wagner and White House chef Sam Kass at Blue Hill Farm.

The sources said the White House advance team was giving the clubs just a day or two notice to fill the president’s open Saturday morning in New York....

Let's see. It's Labor Day weekend. Tee times have been booked well in advance, and this pompous asshole thinks he can just waltz in and blow away everyone's plans? Take a hike, barry.

Labor Day weekend is one of the busiest times of year for golf courses, and with membership at some area clubs exceeding $100,000, many courses may not have wanted to displace its members on a weekend when they would have wanted to play.

If my members were paying $100K I'd be more worried about keeping them happy than that SCOAMF.

On Aug. 28, White House officials announced the president was changing his plans and that he would return to Washington Friday night instead of staying over in New York.

White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest explained the change that Friday as a last-minute decision by Obama to "make the late evening flight back here home to the White House."

Changes to the schedule resulted in the cancellation of some hotel rooms and a re-routing of police security details. The President returned to Westchester Saturday afternoon with a round-trip flight on Air Force One from Washington to New York, the second in as many days.

Oh, great. Because barry couldn't weasel his way onto a course we the taxpayers get stuck with paying for an extra round trip Air Force One flight - not to mention all the ancillary expenses. What a douchebag.

The White House declined to comment Tuesday.

There's not a hell of a lot they could say.

Battle For The Net

Today is "Internet Slowdown" day. The Internet won't actually slow down, but many Web-based companies and advocacy grouops will protest the FCC's proposed rules to allow firms to charge consumers more for special (that is, faster) access.

On Wednesday, some of the Web's biggest properties are staging a day of Internet protest to draw attention to net neutrality — the idea that broadband providers shouldn't speed up, slow down, block or otherwise manipulate the traffic that you request online. The demonstration will involve the likes of Netflix, Mozilla, Kickstarter, Etsy and WordPress, just to name a few. These sites will all show their visitors a "loading" icon representing how looser restrictions on Internet service providers (ISPs) could result in slower Web services for some. (Protest organizers are making clear that the icon won't actually slow down the Web, but simply act as a symbol.)

Net neutrality advocates argue that the proposed rules could lead to a two-tiered system with 'fast lanes' for companies that pay broadband providers for quicker delivery of content, as opposed to 'slow lanes' for firms that don't pony up the extra cash. This two-tiered system would favor large firms that have the means to pay, to the detriment of small or start-up firms with limited budgets.

"Consumers, not broadband , should pick the winners and losers on the Internet," a Netflix spokesman said. "Strong net neutrality rules are needed to stop Internet service providers from demanding extra fees or slowing delivery of content to consumers who already have paid for Internet access."

All you need to know about the proposed rules is that cable companies like TimeWarner support them.

The FCC proposed rules will allow cable giants like AT&T, Comcast and Verizon to create a two-tiered internet, with “slow lanes” for most internet companies, and “fast lanes” for corporations that are willing to pay extra for a faster service.

... and leading web companies oppose them.

Some of the world’s largest internet companies, including Etsy, Kickstarter, Mozilla, Reddit, imgur, Foursquare, Vimeo, and Wordpress announced on Thursday they will join more than 35 advocacy organizations and hundreds of thousands of activists on September 10 to show how the internet might look if the FCC’s proposed rules go into effect.

In fact, even some of the most popular sites on the Internet oppose the new rules.

... a Pornhub representative announced that Pornhub, Redtube, and Youporn will all be taking part in the Internet Slowdown on Sept. 10. The sites won’t be intentionally slowing down your favorite porn videos, but they will be posting a “big in-your-face message that users will need to close” before they can watch their desired videos. Combined, the three popular porn sites hope to reach upward of 50 million people to educate them about the need for net neutrality.

I don't know what it says about our society when three porn sites reach more than 50 million people, but I suspect it's not good...

You can join the fight at Battle for the Net.

Futuristic Supermarket

Recently our local supermarket was remodeled. One of the changes is a futuristic approach to marketing - sort of a subliminal suggestion technique.

The produce department has an automatic water mister to keep the produce fresh. Just before it goes on, you hear the sound of distant thunder and the smell of fresh rain.

When you pass the milk cases, you hear cows mooing and there is the scent of freshly mown hay.

In the meat department there is the aroma of charcoal grilled steaks with onions.

When you approach the egg case, you hear hens clucking and cackling, and the air is filled with the pleasing aroma of bacon and eggs frying.

The bread department features the tantalizing smell of fresh baked bread and cookies.

I don't buy toilet paper there anymore...

Thoughts On The Ice Bucket Challenge

By now I'm sure you've all heard about the Ice Bucket Challenge. For those of you who've been living without social media for the last 6 weeks or so, the Ice Bucket Challenge "is an activity involving dumping a bucket of ice water on someone's head to promote awareness of the disease amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and encourage donations to research."

It's been phenomenally successful.

More than 3 million people have donated to the ALS Association, with its Ice Bucket Challenge raking in more than $100 million to help fight Lou Gehrig's disease.

During the same period last year, July 29 to Aug. 29 2013, the ALS Association raised just $2.8 million. In the fiscal year 2014, it made about $26.3 million total — and has now approximately quadrupled that annual amount in a matter of months.

But have you ever wondered why it has achieved such success? After all, there have been plenty of other deserving campaigns that didn't reach equal heights.

Well, it looks like it is finally calming down. Patios are being cleaned off. Ice buckets are being put away.  But only after the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge generated more than $100 million in donations in a single month, a staggering amount considering the organization took in only $2.5 million for all of 2013.  How in the world did this happen?

Why is it that some ideas take flight and spread like wildfire, while others, seemingly equally worthy, fall mostly on deaf ears?  Why did the Ice Bucket Challenge go viral, raising millions without spending a penny on marketing, while other non-profits can never seem to lift their message above the noise?

Just as some species share traits that make them more likely to spread through evolution—enjoyable orgasms being one example—so do some ideas have traits that put them at a distinct advantage to captivate and spread. Big ideas get noticed; Selfless ideas inspire action; Simple ideas write us into the story. Understand how to make your ideas big, selfless and simple and you will be able to control growth.

Big.  The fact is, we don’t succeed by paying attention to everything. We succeed for the most part by doing precisely the opposite—by letting go; by not paying conscious attention to the vast bulk of the data, sensations, and other impressions that come our way. In a world of snap judgments, big ideas are easier to notice, and their very bigness gives them an immediacy that smaller ideas lack.  The Ice Bucket Challenge was instantaneously ubiquitous. Like the Super Bowl, there was the feeling that everyone was watching this happen together, in real time. There were celebrities. There was humor. There was press at every turn. All of these qualities made it impossible to ignore.

Selfless.  Selfless ideas evoke empathy, and empathy creates a direct physiological urge to act. Watch someone perform a selfless act, and you are stirred to action. Know that people are watching you (via social media), and you experience what neuro-scientists refer to as the audience effect; a significant increase in the willingness to donate caused by the presence of observers. Without knowing it, simply observing others participate in the Ice Bucket Challenge dramatically increased the odds that you would accept the challenge when asked. Certainly, the challenge was focused around a noble cause. But it was the format of participation that supercharged it: put yourself in an unpleasant situation, make yourself vulnerable, even mildly humiliated, and then share it with everyone. By stirring us to action and increasing our willingness to engage, the Challenge tipped the scales in favor of it spreading from the very first splash.

Simple. Ideas that are big and selfless spread.  But ideas that are also simple spread quickly. Simple ideas are easy to grasp and translate into action, increasing the odds that people actually will respond. There were many people who complained that the rules of the Challenge were too vague. But that was the point! It is this level of simplicity that allows action to be very easily and personally translated, which almost exponentially increases the chances of participation. Why? Because you’re not asking people to fill a particular niche in a complicated response strategy. You are asking only that they take part. The absence of specific direction allows them to shape their response in accord with their own means, talents, and interests. In effect, participants were able to take possession of their own contribution to the cause. Just do something. Donate if you want to. Get creative. Whatever the amount or its form, the participation was an easily accomplished response to a worthy cause.

In concert, big, selfless, and simple ideas attract, inspire, and involve others, and create a multiplier effect that can result in broad achievement beyond what any person could hope to accomplish alone. Rather than depend on the precious few for validation, big, selfless, and simple ideas come with their own broadly based chorus of champions.

This is how you get heard when everyone around you is shouting.

The above covers the basics, but I think there's a little more to it that that. For example, the Kilted to Kick Cancer campaign meets those criteria, but hasn't achieved the same success as the ALS challenge, even with the Ice Bucket Challenge-inspired Dunk Your Junk challenge.So I'm still a little unsure as to why some catch fire and succeed beyond anyone's wildest imagination, and why some garner much more modest results.

In any event, the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge has also inspired a slew of snarky responses. Some of my favorites are below.

Those of you with teenaged sons will like this one.

Playing The Race Card

Dedicated to barack obama, eric holder, jesse jackson, al sharpton, and the all the rest of the racists out there.

That Was The Summer That Was

Now that Labor Day is behind us and the kids are back in school, it's time to look back at barack obama's summer of 2014.

Terrorists announced a new caliphate in Syria and Iran, as Vlad the Shirtless warned of possible nuclear exchanges in Europe.

All-out war erupted between Israel and Hamas, and the entire Middle East seemed to fall apart faster than an Obamacare promise.

Rioting broke out in the Midwest. (For a while it was hard to tell if the video footage was from the Middle East or the Middle West.)

An Ebola outbreak killed thousands in Africa.

The U.S. economy continued to stumble...

... news outlets were concerned about Obama's admission that he didn't have a strategy to deal with ISIL. Obama didn't have a strategy? This is news?

Tens of thousands of illegal immigrants swarmed across the country's southern border. Republicans called it a crisis; Democrats called it voter registration.

During the height of the controversy, Obama went to Texas. Not to view the crisis first-hand as he had been urged to do, but to attend a fund-raiser...

In a brief return to Washington between swanky fund-raisers, Obama excoriated Congress for going off on vacation while there was work to be done. And, then, promptly … went off on vacation.

 obama's response to all these crises?

...Obama played more rounds of golf this summer than Tiger Woods.

Sunday Funnies 2014.09.07

Football season is in full swing this weekend. Now if the temperature down here would just drop below 95...

Football Rules from Various Political Structures

SOCIALIST FOOTBALL: After you score, the state takes half your points and redistributes them to the opposing team.

COMMUNIST FOOTBALL: After you score, the state takes away all your points and gives you back what the Central Bureau of Points designates as appropriate (according to your needs).

FASCIST FOOTBALL: After you score, the state takes away all your points and sells them back to you.

NAZI FOOTBALL: After you score, the state takes away all your points and shoots your team.

BUREAUCRATIC FOOTBALL: After you score, a tax of 80% will be imposed on the points. 10% of your points will be given to the scoring disadvantaged, 10% of the points will be given to the opposing team as an incentive "not to score," while 60% of the points will be used by the state for administration.

CAPITALIST FOOTBALL: The Super Bowl -- Winner Take All

Three fans were talking about the sad state of their local team.

The first fan said, "I blame the general manager; if we could sign better players, we'd have a great team."

The second fan said, "I blame the players; if they made more effort, I'm sure we would score more touchdowns."

The third fan said, "I blame my parents; if I had been born in a different town, I'd be rootng for a decent team."

Hours after the end of the world, a border dispute emerged between heaven and hell. God invited the devil for a conversation to find a way to resolve this dispute quickly. Satan, the devil, proposed a soccer game between heaven and hell.

God, always fair, told the devil, "The heat must be affecting your brain, the game would be so one sided, don't you know all the 'good' players go to heaven?"

The devil, smiling, responded "Yeah, but we've got all the refs'..."

Snow White was returning from town to the cottage in the forest where she lived with the seven dwarfs.  In the distance she could see smoke, then as she got nearer she realized that their cottage had burnt down.

Frantically, Snow White searched the forest for the dwarfs. She finally heard a lone voice crying out, "The Dallas Cowboys will win teh Super Bowl this year."

On hearing this, Snow White gave a little sigh of relief as she knew that at least Dopey was safe.

It Could Be Worse

As frequent flyers know, airline travel is getting more and more uncomfortable these days.

Not to mention contentious.

Three flights in nine days have been diverted after altercations between passengers over legroom and reclining seats.

I have a modest suggestion. Limit the amount a seat can recline to a few inches. That will give people some relief from sitting upright, while at the same time not being overly intrusive on those seated behind them.

But that's not the point of this post. I'd like to put the 'difficulties' of modern air travel - air conditioning, movies and WiFi, cold drinks, even the less than appetizing meals - in perspective. Next time you encounter a few bumps in the road on your trip, imagine what traveling was like about 150 years ago.

After leaving San Antonio, there was not a single house or settlement between Fort Clark (present-day Del Rio) and San Elizario (near El Paso) until 1856. At least two weeks were required to cross this 550-mile expanse, and meeting an occasional California-bound wagon train provided the only contact with civilization.

A typical mail train consisted of one or two heavy wagons and a coach for passengers, with six or more men armed with rifles and repeating pistols as escorts.

A California newspaper recommended these supplies for the trip: “one Sharps rifle and a hundred cartridges; a Colt’s Navy revolver and two pounds of balls; a knife and sheath; a pair of thick boots and woolen pants; a half-dozen pair of thick woolen socks; six undershirts; three woolen over-shirts; a wide-awake hat; a cheap sack coat; a soldier’s overcoat; one pair of blankets summer and two in winter; a piece of India rubber cloth for blankets; a pair of gauntlets; a small bag of needle and pins, a sponge, hair brush, comb, soap, etc., in an oil-silk bag; two pairs of thick drawers, and three or four towels.” These supplies counted toward the 40 pounds of baggage included in the ticket price; however, because passengers were expected to help fend off the hostile American Indians who often harassed the trains, the weight limit exempted firearms.

Two pairs of drawers for a two week trip. How'd you like to sit in an enclosed coach with those folks? But at least you could take your firearms without a hassle.

Conditions were not much improved in 1859 when George F. Pierce, a minister traveling to San Diego from Georgia, described on May 20 the ritual of mealtimes away from a station or other shelter (“Life and Times of George F. Pierce,” Hancock Publishing Company, 1888): “On stopping, all the employees of the stage-line spread themselves in quest of fuel. A few dry sticks were soon gathered, the fire kindled, the kettle put on, and water heated; an old bag is brought from its resting place in the stage boot. Its open mouth laid upon the ground, the other end is seized and suddenly lifted, and out comes tin-cups and plates, iron-spoons, knives and forks, helter-skelter; another bag rolls slowly out, containing the bread; presently another cloth is unrolled, and a piece of beef appears. Now a box is brought forth, the lid is raised, and we behold coffee, tea, sugar, salt, pepper, and pickles—a goodly supply.”

Then “the ground coffee is put in, water poured on, and all well shaken—the coals are ready and the pot boils. By this time the frying-pan is hot, the lard melted, the meat sliced, and soon our senses are regaled by the hissing urn and the simmering flesh. ... the table-cloth of many colors, all inclined to dark, as innocent of water as the loom that made it, is spread upon the ground. Plates, tin-cups, knives and forks are arranged in order, and Ramon announces: ‘Supper ready, gentlemen.’ All hands gather about ‘the cloth,’ oblivious of dirt, careless of dainties, and the necessaries of life disappear very rapidly. The fragments are left for the prairie wolf and the birds of the air; the cloth is shaken … the unwashed instruments are boxed and bagged, and we are ready to travel.”

Still unhappy with airline food?

About half past 10 in the evening they camped on a hill, providing the “watch” with a view for miles around. The stage “was soon converted into a bed-chamber for Mrs. Pierce and (daughter) Ann. By a judicious arrangement of trunks and cushions a bed was made—the curtains were buttoned down—the wife and child laid down; I wrapped my travelling blanket around me and slept soundly. The gentlemen all spread their cloaks, shawls, and blankets on the ground, aye, even the dirty road—for fear of ‘the snakes in the grass’—and, as they reported in the morning, rested well.”

This routine was repeated every day for at least two weeks on the route from San Antonio to El Paso.

I realize spending several hours crammed into the middle seat between two overweight goons isn't a lot of fun, but just keep reminding yourself:

"It could be worse. It could be worse. It could be worse..."

Friday Follies Happy Hour 2014.09.05

Back in the 1990s I was a big fan of a group called the Austin Lounge Lizards. They were an irreverent offbeat gospel/bluegrass/folk/country group. Over time they slipped from my consciousness and I forgot all about them, until Peter posted a video of them performing. That prompted me to find this video from long, long ago.

Hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Peace Is Free

How to solve the Ukraine and ISIS crisis? I know - let's have a giant committee meeting.

Leaders and senior ministers from around 60 countries are meeting at what has been billed as the most important Nato summit since the end of the cold war with the situation in Ukraine and the threat of ISIS likely to be top of the agenda.

One outcome of the meeting is the creation of a "rapid reaction force" prompted by Russia's invasion of Ukraine. This signals a shift of NATO from the mid-East back to defense of Europe.

Of course, we can't have any sort of meeting involving heads of state without an accompanying protest. In this case the target is NATO. The protesters are calling for its abolition, claiming it is a tool of US foreign policy that makes industrialists rich at the expense of the poor and hungry.

War is the enemy of the poor. The world's 85 richest people have as much as poorest 3.5 billion. The annual sum needed to end world hunger is $30 billion while the US Military's budget is $530 billion per year.

Money into war is money out of our communities. In the UK, 500,000 people had to resort to food banks last year. While public services are slashed, one day of war in Afghanistan could fund 100,000 nurses.

Whatever points they might have, and however valid they might or might not be, their message is not helped by signs like the one below.

Protesters take part in a protest against the 2014 NATO Summit outside Cardiff Castle in south Wales, on September 4, 2014.

(Image from Carl Court/AFP/Getty Images)
Just how does that young lady plan on unilaterally imposing peace on those who do not want it? Pixie dust? Positive vibes? Unicorn farts?

I don't mock her desire for peace - that's something I think we all share - but I must question her common sense and understanding of reality.

Come to think of it, she'd make a fine addition to the obama administration...

One Of The Many Reasons I Retired

Back in the day, when I was a callow college student and dinosaurs roamed the earth, course grades were allocated based on the Bell curve - that is, a normal distribution where grades are used to differentiate between Excellent (A), Above Average (B), Average (C), Below Average, (D), and Failing (F). Put simply, this system was based on the notion that, by definition, in any group some individuals will perform above average, and some below. In other words, students were graded compared to each other, and not to absolute standards.

Fast forward to today, when grades are given  based on comparison to absolute standards (90-100 = A; 80-89 = B, etc.). While there are advantages and disadvantages to each system, the current system seems to have resulted in what is commonly referred to as grade inflation.

Grade Inflation Rampant on College Campuses

Grade inflation is a serious problem in colleges and universities, contends Thomas Lindsay in a new report for the Texas Public Policy Foundation.

The numbers are stark:

    In the first half of the 1960s, 15 percent of college grades were As.
    Today, 43 percent of all college grades are As.
    An A is the most common grade given in colleges across the country.
    Seventy-three percent of all college grades given today are As or Bs.

One of the unintended consequences of grade inflation is a shift from the so-called 'hard sciences' courses to the humanities.

According to Christopher Healey, professor at Furman University, the subject with the toughest grading standards is math, in which only 29 percent of grades are As. That number is much lower than in music, where 67 percent of grades are As, or in education, where 71 percent of grades are As. As a result, Lindsay writes that grade inflation pulls students towards classes in the humanities and away from classes in science and math.

It is worth pointing out that answers to math problems are objective: 2+2 = 4 is correct; 2+2 = anything else is wrong. Evaluating musical performances is much more subjective. I won't speculate on what the plethora of As in education courses means.

Another factor in grade inflation is that in the current environment, faculty promotions and raises are tied in part to student evaluations. Students, quite naturally, tend to prefer professors with lenient grading polices over those with tougher standards. This has predictable results on professors' grading policies.

Some schools have tried to bring transparency to student grading. As far back as 20 years ago, Dartmouth placed the median course grade and the class size on students' transcripts, next to the grade earned in each class, in response to the rise in the average GPA from 3.06 in 1968 to 3.23 in 1994. Even so, grades continued to rise at Dartmouth: by 1999, the number of As and A-minuses had reached 44 percent of all grades.

That's a typical academic solution. Rather than address the underlying problem, let's make the process more complicated.

In any event, every faculty meeting I ever went to at the beginning of a new school year involved at least one lengthy and heated discussion of grading and grade inflation. Of course, nothing was ever resolved.

And let's not neglect the outrage of students (and their parents!) who received a grade lower than they thought they deserved. The prevailing mindset is that a C is the minimum that should be awarded just for showing up. That's just one of many reasons why I don't miss teaching.

Be Vewy Vewy Qwiet

My wife and kids give me a hard time about my use - or more accurately, lack of use - of my cellphone. I leave it sitting on my dresser when I'm home. If anyone needs to reach me they can call my landline. I take it with me when I go out, but primarily as an emergency contact tool in case the truck breaks down, or something happens to a family member (God forbid). In short, I don't have a pathological need to be in constant touch with someone - anyone! - so we can exchange constant updates on the minutia in our lives ("I'm standing in line at the grocery store." ... "The line just moved." ... "I left the store and now am waiting at a red light." ... "The light just changed to green. Yay!")

The rest of the family mocks me for my Luddite ways, but now it looks like I was right all along to be wary.

Mysterious Fake Cellphone Towers Are Intercepting Calls All Over The US

Seventeen fake cellphone towers were discovered across the U.S. last week, according to a report in Popular Science.

Rather than offering you cellphone service, the towers appear to be connecting to nearby phones, bypassing their encryption, and either tapping calls or reading texts.

 Although it is unclear who owns the towers ... several of them were located near U.S. military bases.

"Whose interceptor is it? Who are they, that's listening to calls around military bases? Is it just the U.S. military, or are they foreign governments doing it? The point is: we don't really know whose they are..."

It's also worth noting that several are located at various ports of entry along our borders.

(Detailed story here.)

As if that's not bad enough, here's something else to worry about.

In an amazing coincidence, police departments in a handful of U.S. cities have been operating "Stingray" or "Hailstorm" towers, which — you guessed it — conduct surveillance on mobile phone activity.

And they're keeping very, very quiet about it.

Local law enforcement and federal agencies have taken extraordinary steps to conceal their use and have been reticent to disclose detailed information about their use.

I get the need to keep tabs on the bad guys. I just wish there was a way to do so without trampling the rights of everyone else.

UPDATE: It turns out that the 'towers' may not be actual physical structures.

There have been many comments to this story from people who are assuming that these 'towers' are physical installations. There's no reason to assume this is the case: it's far likelier that they are mobile installations of the kind used not only by law enforcement and government agencies, but also by scammers and other criminals.

(These mobile installations are) portable devices known as IMSI catchers, also known by the generic term "stingray." It acts like a fake cell tower and tricks your mobile device into connecting to it even if you are not on a call. It is used for real time location tracking; some can pinpoint you within two meters as well as eavesdrop and capture the contents of your communications.

Regardless of the physical form the technology takes, the main point remains:

While the FCC seems to have known about cellular network vulnerabilities that stingrays exploit, last month it established a “task force” to investigate the “illicit and unauthorized use” use of stingrays. Instead of investigating law enforcement’s use of such interceptors, the FCC “plans to study the extent to which criminal gangs and foreign intelligence services are using the devices against Americans.” The FCC also refused the ACLU’s FOIA request for stingray documents.

Meanwhile innocent Americans may be subjected to the “invasive surveillance technology” without ever knowing it is happening. ACLU technologist Christopher Soghoian said of stingray surveillance, “They are essentially searching the homes of innocent Americans to find one phone used by one person. It’s like they’re kicking down the doors of 50 homes and searching 50 homes because they don’t know where the bad guy is.”

If the framers of the Constitution could see how technology is being used against us, they would roll over in their graves.

(Thanks to commenter B for calling my attention to the need for this update.)

Managing A Problem

This is probably old news to most of you, but I fell behind on current events over the Labor Day weekend and am just catching up.

Before we left I heard that empty suit posing as president openly admit that he didn't have a clue about what to do with ISIS.

President Obama is facing intense criticism for admitting Thursday "we don't have a strategy yet" for dealing with Islamic State militants in Syria...

It puzzled me at the time, because (1) it's not like they came out of nowhere - there have been reports about ISIS as far back as 2003 - and (2) the strategy for dealing with them can be stated in one word - extinction.

Now it turns out that obama has been receiving detailed intelligence briefings on the rise of ISIS for at least one year.

President Obama was given detailed and specific intelligence about the rise of the Islamic State as part of his daily briefing for at least a year before the group seized large swaths of territory over the summer, a former Pentagon official told Fox News.

The official -- who asked not to be identified because the President's Daily Brief is considered the most authoritative, classified intelligence community product analyzing sensitive international events for the president -- said the data was strong and "granular" in detail.

The source said a policymaker "could not come away with any other impression: This is getting bad."

So after ignoring the problem and hoping it would go away, then admitting he didn't know what to do, what's the best our fearless leader can come up with?

Make the problem 'manageable.'

Speaking earlier this morning in Estonia, President Obama addressed dealing with ISIS. He talked of making ISIS a "manageable problem" if the "international community" comes together.

In my experience the best way to deal with problems is not to manage them, but to eliminate them. And what's this BS about the international community? It's like he's already giving himself an out: "Well, I could have managed it, but the international community didn't cooperate."

That's the same international community he's managed to alienate over the past six years.

Of course, he also made sure to claim that ISIS is in no way representative of Muslims at large.

"This particular brand of extremism that is first and foremost destructive to the Muslim world ... they're falling behind because of this very small and narrow but very dangerous segment of the population."

I'm not an expert on Middle East religions. I also make no claim to any great insight regarding ethics, morals, or philosophy. But I did stay in a Holiday Inn last night.

No, seriously, I understand the reluctance to take extreme measures that might result in 'collateral damage,' a mild-sounding euphemism for dead women and children. But if I remember my history, we firebombed cities in Germany and dropped the atomic bomb on Japanese cities - twice - in order to defeat a great evil. So why the hesitancy and unwillingness to employ similar measures this time around?

Put another way, is it 'right' (moral and/or ethical) to undertake actions which will almost certainly result in the deaths of innocents in order to prevent the deaths of other innocents?

I know which way I'm leaning...

Flotsam And Jetsam 2014.09.03

Still recovering from the extended Labor Day weekend. That precludes much original thinking, and includes cleaning out the in-box. So in the spirit of killing a pair of fowl with one hard, solid, nonmetallic mineral matter...


I'm sure many of you are aware of the Ice Bucket Challenge benefiting ALS. I'm proud to announce that my wife participated. I got to pour a bucket of ice-cold water over her ... and then warm her up afterwards.  ;-)

I've also posted previously about the recent earthquake in California and its potentially devastating impact on the wineries there. So here's a two birds/one stone image.

Speaking of previous posts, I've mentioned before that both my son and daughter are now enrolled in Texas A&M. I graduated from THE University of Texas, and my wife is an SMU alum. Our in-house joke is:

Q:  What do you get when you cross a Longhorn with a Mustang?

A:  Two Aggies.

Anyway, here's a picture of an Aggie tying down his ATV in the back of his pickup..

Speaking of Aggies, here's a letter to the editor illustrating the Aggie spirit of civic obedience in times of crisis.

I've mentioned before that our youngest child - our daughter - has gone off to college this year and made us Empty Nesters. My wife has good days and bad days dealing with that. Here's one of her good days.

Finally, here's a great employment incentive for senior citizens.

Labor Day Weekend - Catching Up

I hope your Labor Day weekend was as enjoyable as mine.

Seriously - I really do.

My wife and I invited some friends up to our lake cabin. It's not a very fancy place, but it at least has electricity and indoor plumping. Cell phone reception is sketchy at best, and as for Internet connectivity - fuggedaboutit.

That's one of the things I like about the place.

Anyway, we went up Saturday morning to avoid the crazies on the road Friday night. Saturday night dinner was at Reverend Jim's Dam Pub, a combination hangout for the local cowboys and transient bikers. Somehow, it seems to work. The menu's not fancy, but they do a mean hamburger, and the fries are edible. Plus the beer is cold and the barmaids cute, so what more could a man want?

Our place is on Lake Buchanan. It's suffering terribly from an ongoing multiyear drought. We're on what used to be the waterfront. When full, the lake is 1020 feet above sea level. It's currently around 987 feet. Because the slope of the lake bed is so slight, for every one foot drop in the lake level the water recedes about 10 feet from the shoreline. In other words, the 33 foot drop in water level means that the waterline is now about 330 feet (one football field, plus end zones) away from where it normally is.

It's heartbreaking to walk across the yard and hear the grass crunch underfoot.

Despite the drought, we had a great time. Good company, plenty of good food, cold beer, wine, and margaritas. It was scorching during the day, which didn't bother us because that was nap time. Temperatures dropped quickly when the sun went down, and there was a nice breeze blowing in from what's left of the lake, which cooled us off and keep the skeeters away, so we sat on the deck and enjoyed sundowners (many, many sundowners...).

Monday evening we got a phone call from our daughter, who's just started her first year of college. After one day - ONE DAY - of classes she wants to change her major.

I really don't have a problem with that, because she wanted to be an Aerospace Engineer major. Nothing against those folks, but that's a pretty narrow specialty.  She's now thinking of being a math major. I'm okay with that, because in a year or two when she changes her mind again (she is a female, after all!) it'll be fairly simple to switch to another engineering track, or even something like economics or computer science.

She was also calling because she needed some new items for her dorm room and was short of $$$ (*snort*), and because she was homesick and wanted to come home next weekend.

For comparison purposes, we haven't heard a word from our son who went back to school three weeks ago and has said he won't be back until Thanksgiving.

Bottom line, I'm finally back home and almost recovered from the weekend. In honor of those poor souls who must face the hordes of new students now that the school year has begun, I offer the following.

It's good to be a retired professor...

Hey, at least I didn't teach English.

FOD 2014.09.01

Geez, this guy just got back from a lengthy vacation on Martha's Vinyard, and now he's going to spend the long Labor Day weekend fundraising at another east coast swankienda.

The event is being held at the home of Robert Wolf, former CEO of UBS Americas...

The event is being billed a “Labor Day barbecue” for 250 high-rollers kicking in up to $32,000 each, which sets up the Westchester event to be a huge cash haul for the Democratic National Committee at a time when the party is fighting headwinds in the off-year elections.

Wolf golfed with Obama on the president’s vacation on Martha’s Vineyard earlier this month ... Wolf, a close Obama pal, bundled more than $1.3 million for the president and Democrats during Obama’s reelection — placing him in an elite group who raised more than $1 million, according to a 2012 New York Times report.

It’s the latest in a string of trips Obama has made to the New York cash machine, with the mid-term elections just 10 weeks away. Obama visited New York six times in the last three months.

It's not like there aren't any pressing matters that deserve the attention of the President of the United States.

President Obama admitted today that his administration does not yet have a strategy to combat the militant Islamic group ISIS that has seized large chunks of Iraq and Syria.

When the president was asked if he would seek Congressional approval for U.S. attacks on ISIS targets in Syria, he responded, "I don't want to put the cart before the horse. We don’t have a strategy yet.'

Here's another crisis he's ignoring.

Russia invades, Obama expresses ‘concern’

Russian forces in two armored columns captured a key southeastern coastal town near the Russian border Thursday after Ukrainian forces retreated in the face of superior firepower, a Ukrainian military spokesman said.

What was the Obama administration’s initial reaction? “These incursions indicate a Russian-directed counteroffensive is likely underway in Donetsk and Luhansk. Clearly, that is of deep concern to us,” a State Department spokeswoman said yesterday. She could not have been more inoffensive. Oh, the administration is also “concerned by the Russian Government’s unwillingness to tell the truth even as its soldiers are found 30 miles inside Ukraine.

Barry may be 'concerned' about Russia invading another sovereign state. but he doesn't seem to be too concerned about the problems his fundraising trip is causing to other people.

President Obama’s plan to schmooze Wall Street honchos at a Westchester fund-raiser Friday is grounding weekenders who planned to fly to the Hamptons or Nantucket for the Labor Day holiday.

The FAA has issued a no-fly warning that extends for most of Friday and all day Saturday through Sunday, grounding seaplanes to East Hampton, Montauk, Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket.

... Melissa Tomkiel, president of seaplane companies, Fly the Whale (which flies from NYC to the Hamptons and Nantucket) and Tailwind (NYC to Boston and DC), told us, “A flight restriction was issued banning operations in the NYC area due to the president’s visit on Friday for practically the whole weekend, causing major business losses and inconvenience for our passengers on the busiest weekend of the year...

Who cares about the world going to hell in a handbasket, or the problems of small business people, as long as that worthless SOB gets to hobnob with the rick folks and shake them down for political contributions.

Thank God today is a holiday. I need a drink...