Us Vs. Them

I despise racial politics. I firmly believe in Martin Luther King's dream.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.

Sadly, that dream is becoming more and more unlikely.

Today the idea of not being judged by the color of one’s skin but being judged by the content of one’s character is as farcical as the idea of unicorns. Judging based on color of skin is exactly the barometer race-mongers and racialists measure with today; content of character be damned.

... Obama would never have been elected if he were white. The color of his skin has been, and continues to be, his trump card that forgives his most egregious acts as an elected official; and the color of his skin certainly forgives his transpicuous shortcomings on a personal level. It is the color of his skin that (in large part) has protected him (thus far) from impeachment. I defy one of the voices who have, with feigned solemnity, uttered Dr. King’s now famous words to argue they would stand passionately silent if Obama were a white president.

Content of character is waived when talking about Trayvon Martin. Content of character is waived when speaking of personal responsibility as it pertains to blacks. Content of character is waived when it comes to Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, the New Black Panther Party et al.

It is worth noting that the above was penned not by a Grand Dragon of the KKK, or even a Tea Party member. Rather, it was a black commentator who dared to call a spade a spade (okay, that was a bad pun, but with no racial animus intended).

It is also worth noting that there are disturbing facts to back up the common perception that democrats are becoming the party of choice for most people of color, while white voters are turning to the republicans. Policy differences aside, it augers ill to see our two major parties splitting along racial lines.

The Democratic Party is going extinct in places like Louisiana, Arkansas and West Virginia. It’s vanishing because the working class White Democrat is becoming extinct.

A generation ago, white Democrats outnumbered white Republicans. Today it’s the other way around. Under Obama, barely a quarter of white people still identify as Democrats.

The latest Pew poll shows that 74 percent of Democrats support ObamaCare, but only 29 percent of white respondents do. The Democratic Party is becoming a party without white people. Under Obama, the Democratic disadvantage among white voters doubled without any corresponding gains among minority voters.

Meanwhile Republicans increased their share of white voters. And that’s only telling part of the story.

The nation’s largest party is “none of the above”. Independents began to decisively outnumber both parties under Obama. Hispanic voters are increasingly identifying as independents. So are white men.

And though the independents come from both parties, they increasingly swing Republican in key races.

Tribalism helped Obama win a second term, but it didn’t fix the underlying flaw in the Democratic model. And it actually worsened the situation. The more the Democrats sounded racially divisive notes, the more they alienated white voters, not just by abusing them, but by ignoring their concerns.

Republican congressional candidates won 64 percent of white working class voters. (Democrat Mary) Landrieu won just 18 percent of the white vote (in the 2014 Louisiana senate race); 22 percent among white women and 15 percent among white men. That’s less than the amount taken by a second Republican candidate in the race, Rob Maness.

(Democrat) Mark Pryor won only 31 percent of white voters (in his Arkansas reelection contest). (Democrat Michelle) Nunn won 23 percent of white voters (in the Georgia 2014 senate race). The Dems didn’t do this badly everywhere, but where they lost it was usually because the white vote sharply tilted away from them enough to offset their overwhelming minority percentages.

The Democrats have a white voter problem. The party is betting that it won’t outlast Obama because it confused its own propaganda with reality and decided that white voters hate Obama because he’s black.

It was never Obama’s race that was the problem. It was the Democratic Party’s embrace of leftist radicalism at the national level while waging identity politics wars along the lines of race and gender.

Republicans don’t have a problem with black people. Democrats do have a problem with white people.

The party is now under the sway of an elitist class of white leftists for whom “white people” is an insult, not a group of voters. And by “white people” they mean the sort of voters who conclusively tossed them out in West Virginia, Nevada and Arkansas.

Now the Democrats are hoping that Hillary Clinton can save their party, but first she has to decide who she is. Hillary has tried to play up racial appeals to white voters before overcorrecting and going the other way. At times she sounds like she wants to appeal to working class voters and at other times she returns to her native element pushing the policy toys of the technocracy.

Instead of the Democratic Party’s Great White Hope, Hillary more closely resembles Mary Landrieu veering between accusations of racism and support for the Keystone pipeline. The left’s attacks on Landrieu for supporting the pipeline only highlight the impossible dilemma of any Democrat trying to run to the right of Obama and Nancy Pelosi. They have to either abandon their voters or their party.

The Democratic Party has moved so far to the left that it has alienated all white voters who aren’t on the left and its botched programs like ObamaCare are even beginning to alienate minority voters. Minority support for ObamaCare has hit a new low. Finding white support for ObamaCare requires a microscope.

But the Democratic Party can’t change. It has become dependent on a small donor class of men like Bloomberg, Soros and Steyer whose ad buys and think tanks dictate their agenda. To win, Hillary, Biden and any other candidate must first win over billionaires whose priorities of gun control, no pipeline and lots of big government are exactly the things that have pushed the Democratic Party to the edge.

If Hillary doesn’t win (the 2016 election), one of the big two parties may go extinct. But it won’t be the Republicans.

Let us hope so.

Friday Follies Happy Hour 2015.01.23

My oldest son is in Las Vegas this week for a 'business conference.' I've been to a few of those, and the only business that's involved is monkey business.

Anyway, here's the sights and sounds of Vegas ... ZZ Top-style!

(You'll have to sit through a 15 second commercial at the beginning, but it's worth it.)

I Ain't No Sitzpinkler

Leave it to the Euroweenies to make a big deal over how men urinate.

A court in Germany has ruled in favour of a man's right to urinate while standing up after his landlord demanded money for damage to the bathroom floor.

The landlord, who was seeking €1,900 (£1400; $2,200), claimed the marble floor had been damaged by urine.

But the Duesseldorf judge ruled that the man's method was within cultural norms, saying "urinating standing up is still common practice".

"...still common practice?" Is it going out of style?

There is some debate in Germany about whether men should sit or stand to pee.

Some toilets have red traffic-style signs forbidding the standing position - but those who choose to sit are often referred to as a "Sitzpinkler", implying it is not masculine behaviour.

Here in Texas we have a saying about a person who exhibits unmasculine behavior: "He squats to piss."

Judge Stefan Hank agreed with an expert's report that uric acid had caused some damage to the bathroom's floor.

But concluding, he said men who insist on standing "must expect occasional rows with housemates, especially women" but cannot be held to account for collateral damage.

My wife sure holds me to account for 'collateral damage.' I think she could tolerate the occasional drop or two on the floor, but she gets downright hostile if my aim is a little off and some ends up on the seat.

Of course, if she would put it back up when she's finished that wouldn't be a problem, but she doesn't see it that way.

"Despite growing domestication of men in this matter, urinating while standing up is still common practice," he added.

"...growing domestication of men...?" If that means forcing them to sit while urinating, I would argue that's not domestication, but rather emasculation.

As a bonus, here's some ammunition for all you ladies out there who are fighting the Great Toilet Seat War.

How to Make Your Own "Put Toilet Seat Down" Sticker

If you’ve had enough of fumbling in the middle of the night to use the bathroom only to take an Alice in Toilet Land tumble into the porcelain black hole all because the toilet seat has, once again, been left up––there is hope. While you might try to reason with those who leave the toilet seat upright, or go so far as to tape down the seat or even install child locks, inevitably the seat will find its way to the upright position again. One fun way around the constant cajoling to keep the seat down is to stickers that carry messages encouraging all users to kindly put that seat back down where it belongs.

If stickers don't work, you can always try this.

Men, the best advice I can give you is just go outside.

Do Not Play With Deflated Balls

There's a nasty little controversy brewing about the New England Patriots victory over the Indianapolis Colts in last Sunday's NFL playoffs.

For those of you who don't follow pro football, the Patriots resoundingly trounced the Colts 45-7 to advance to the Superbowl. The game was played in foul weather - cold, rainy, and windy. In such conditions, it is easier to throw an under-inflated ball. This is not just my opinion. Experts agree.

If the NFL's New England Patriots did deflate their game balls, even slightly, it would have given them an advantage during their playoff win this past weekend, said Chang Kee Jung, who teaches a course on the physics of sports at Stony Brook University in Long Island, New York.

Ninety percent of the time, you want a ball that’s properly pumped to give you the furthest throwing trajectory, Jung said. But when in bad weather, a squishier ball is easier to throw and catch.

“On cold days, a fully inflated ball is ... hard as a brick,” he said, “Having a softer ball would allow the quarterback to throw more accurately in a tighter spiral and make it easier for the receiver to catch."

Needless to say, some folks are quite upset - with what seems to be good reason.

Eleven footballs the New England Patriots brought to Sunday's AFC championship game have now been determined by the NFL to be under-inflated – by 2 full pounds – according to ESPN, which cited the preliminary findings of a league investigation.

The home team in an NFL game is required to provide 12 footballs... Yet almost all of them came in at the same, illegal level, 2 pounds lighter? The ball is supposed to be inflated to between 12.5 pounds and 13.5 pounds per square inch, so 16 percent below the legal minimum.

That's not a little. Not the number of under-inflated balls, not the amount they are under-inflated. Some gamesmanship of trying to pump up or down a ball is understood. Everyone is always trying to gain an edge. This isn't that. This isn't a coincidence. And, because it's the Patriots and because it's in the run-up to the Super Bowl at the end of a season when the NFL has been consumed by scandals, it's a huge story. Fair or not, that's life in the big city.

Compounding the situation is the Patriot's reputation as an organization that bends - and at times shatters - the rules.

The New England Patriots are in hot water ... again.

The Patriots have been the cream of the crop in the NFL ever since Bill Belichick took over as head coach in 2000. But the three-time Super Bowl champions have been embroiled in some off-the-field scandals over the years. The latest is accusations the Patriots deflated footballs in their AFC Championship win last week.

Here's a look at some of the most memorable controversies over the last two decades under Belichick.

BELICHICK'S MESSY ARRIVAL IN NEW ENGLAND

Long before Belichick and Tom Brady were winning Super Bowls in New England, Belichick was a coach with the New York Jets. When Jets' head coach Bill Parcells stepped down in 1999, it was already decided that Belichick would succeed him in New York.

The news conference to introduce Belichick as the new head coach turned out to be quite the opposite. Belichick scribbled his resignation on a piece of paper: "I resign as HC of the NYJ."

The Jets demanded compensation from the Patriots because Belichick was still under contract with the team. The NFL stepped in and the Jets were awarded the Patriots' first-round draft pick in 2000. This was also the opening salvo in a heated Jets-Patriots rivalry that continues to this day.

SPY-GATE

Perhaps the most publicized scandal involving the Patriots took place on Sept. 9, 2007 when the team was caught illegally videotaping Jets' coaches' defensive signals. And thus the term "spy-gate" was introduced to the sports world.

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell fined Belichick $500,000 and the Patriots $250,000. The Patriots also forfeited their first-round draft pick.

TUCK RULE GAME

Even 13 years after the infamous "tuck rule" game, critics still believe it's a game the Patriots should have never won.

Let's set the scene: It was Jan. 19, 2002 and the Patriots were facing the Oakland Raiders in a divisional playoff game in the snow at Foxboro Stadium, the former home of the Pats. The Raiders were leading the Patriots in the fourth quarter when Raiders' cornerback Charles Woodson sacked Brady, forcing him to lose the football. The Raiders recovered the ball and all they had to do was run out the clock to advance in the playoffs.

 That was until referees overturned the play, saying Brady's arm was moving forward, thus making it an incomplete pass and not a fumble. The refs pointed to the "tuck rule," which was eliminated from the NFL rulebook in 2013.

The rest, as they say, is history. Patriots went on to win the game and eventually their first Super Bowl.

DECEPTION

A week before deflate-gate became a household name, there was some controversy swirling around the Patriots' playoff win over the Baltimore Ravens in a tightly contested 35-31 game. Ravens coach John Harbaugh accused the Pats of a "substitution trick" that was "clearly deception."

The Patriots dug into their bag of tricks on their second drive of the third quarter, lining up just four offensive linemen and declaring a normally eligible receiver as ineligible to keep Baltimore off balance. Ravens players were confused about which Patriots to match up with in coverage.

 Harbaugh said it was a tactic that "nobody has ever seen before."

Brady wanted none of that and fired back after the game.

"Maybe those guys gotta study the rulebook and figure it out. We obviously knew what we were doing and we made some pretty important plays. It was a real good weapon for us," he said.

DEFLATE-GATE

The latest controversy surrounds accusations the team used under-inflated balls in their 45-7 rout of the Indianapolis Colts to earn their sixth trip to the Super Bowl.

According to ESPN, 11 of the 12 balls used by the team were under-inflated by two pounds per square inch. Footballs, which are weighed before the game, must be inflated to no less than 12.5 pounds per square inch.

 A deflated ball could be easier for the quarterback to grip in bad weather, such as in Sunday's rain at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts.

The NFL is investigating...

Regardless of the outcome of the investigation, the whole thing has provided some much-needed distraction from the SCOAMF in the WHite House and his absurd SOTU address. It's also served as fodder for a hilarious spoof-commercial.

A Man After My Own Heart

Posted without comment, because anything I add would be superfluous.

Milwaukee Sheriff Thinks Al Sharpton Should ‘Go Back Into the Gutter He Came From’

Milwaukee Sheriff David Clarke had strong words for MSNBC’s Al Sharpton Thursday morning on “Fox & Friends.”

“I don’t expect anything intelligent to come out of the mouth of Al Sharpton,” Clarke said in response to news that the Department of Justice won’t press civil rights charges against former Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson in the shooting death of 18-year-old Michael Brown. Steve Doocy had just played a clip of Sharpton’s Dec. 3 comments following the Eric Garner grand jury decision.

“Al Sharpton ought to just shut up and go back into the gutter he came from,” Clarke added, calling Sharpton a “charlatan.”

Amen, brother!

Doing It Up Right

Yesterday we discussed historical aspects of the State of the Union address. Lost in all the hoopla over obama's lie-fest was that on Monday Texas inaugurated Greg Abbott as our new governor, replacing Rick "Good Hair" Perry.

The Abbott inauguration celebration was a reminder that Texas does everything bigger and better than other states.

When Greg Abbott (became) the Lone Star State’s first new chief executive in more than a dozen years, the festivities will be as monumental as the occasion — 4 tons of brisket will await hungry picnickers, six live acts are slated to perform at various events and more than 10,000 are expected to attend the huge celebratory ball at the Convention Center. Abbott’s team has raised more than $4 million to pay for the events, a record-breaking amount for modern times.

Impressive as that sounds, it's chicken feed compared to Pappy O'Daniels party back in 1939.

Wilbert Lee “Pappy” O’Daniel changed the way Texans would look at inaugural celebrations. Before him, the events were largely stately affairs, marked by public oaths and stuffy balls attended only by politically connected elite. Pappy — a populist politician who listed bookkeeper, flour salesman and band leader on his resume — turned tradition on its head with his inauguration in 1939.

“A stiff-little top-hatted parade, a solemn swearing-in at the Capitol, a reception in the Executive Mansion and a dressy ball are enough inauguration for most governors. But not O’Daniel,” LIFE Magazine wrote in January 1939, an edition which devoted a five-page spread to the inaugural. “He put on the biggest show in Texas history.”

More than 60,000 people turned out that day, packing the stadium stands to watch, chowing down on nearly 10 tons of meat at the state Capitol before dancing late into the night in the streets of this city’s downtown.

It was called “the biggest show in Texas history.”

The biggest inaugural extravaganza of all occurred in 1939, at the tail end of the Depression, when W. Lee "Please Pass the Biscuits, Pappy" O’Daniel took the oath of office at the University of Texas’ Memorial Stadium. Nearly 60,000 Texans witnessed the Fort Worth flour salesman and popular radio personality take the oath.

News accounts remarked that 19,000 pounds of meat (including buffalo the governor claimed to have shot himself) were cooked in massive pits dug into the mansion grounds. O’Daniel, who built his stardom as a radio personality and band leader, also made sure a free breakfast was available.

O’Daniel considered the Capitol steps too small a venue for his oath taking. So he moved it to UT’s stadium, where supporters sang “Beautiful Texas,” an ode to his adopted state that the new governor had himself written. He then hosted a massive “full-dress historical pageant” of a parade up Congress Avenue that featured 37 bands.

If this wasn’t celebration enough, that night the governor halted traffic along six blocks around the Capitol so thousands could dance in the streets. The entertainment was of course provided by O’Daniel’s own “hillbilly band,” the Light Crust Doughboys.

If the  Light Crust Doughboys sound familiar, they should. That's the band that launched Bob Wills - the King of Western Swing - to stardom. Where else but Texas can you find a governor whose greatest claim to fame is as the leader of a band that popularized honky-tonk music?


Oh, and need I mention that Abbott's inauguration day was drop-dead gorgeous? Blue bird skies and temps near 80.

Today, however, is a different matter...

State Of The Union Education

No, I didn't waste my time watching barry's State of the Union address. It was obvious going in that it was just going to be a pile of warmed-over tripe: "Make the rich pay their fair share;" We need to invest more money in the middle class;" "Big corporations are making too much money and ruining the environment;" "Republicans are racists;" "The Tea Party is a terrorist organization;" "muslims are our friends" ... blah, blah, blah.

Instead, I did a little research on the origination and history of the SOTO address itself. We tend to assume that the State of the Union speech has always been what we see today. But it has in fact changed and evolved over the years, going all the way back to George Washington. (Sources for the following are here and here.)

In fact, the speech itself is not required, and for over a century took the form of a written report to Congress. It doesn't even have to be an annual affair. The exact wording in the Constitution (Article II, Section 3 ) says that the President shall "from time to time give to the Congress Information of the State of the Union, and recommend to their Consideration such Measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient." Nothing in there about an annual speech.

Here's a few more fun facts.

George Washington Delivered the First State of the Union

The first official presidential speech before a joint session session of Congress was given by George Washington on January 8, 1790, in New York City. At the time, New York was the nation’s provisional capital.

For the first 12 years of the United States, Presidents George Washington and John Adams delivered the president's message much like today's presidents do — they traveled to Congress and gave an oral speech to them. (Throughout most of US history, what we now know of as the State of the Union address was called the president's annual message.)

Thomas Jefferson started a 112-year tradition of giving the message only in writing

But when Thomas Jefferson took office in 1801, he decided to change things — and send only a written message rather than going to give a speech. Publicly, he said that such a change would take up less of the legislators' time, and prevent them from feeling pressured to come up with their own response. The spectacle of a president addressing Congress had also seemed to some Republicans "altogether too reminiscent of the monarch's speech from the throne at the opening of Parliament," wrote historian Daniel Walker Howe.

When Woodrow Wilson revived the in-person speech to Congress in 1913, Washington DC was astonished

For over a century, every president would follow Jefferson's example, and send only a written annual message to Congress. But a young political scientist by the name of Woodrow Wilson wasn't convinced. Wilson had long been interested in how presidential rhetoric could be more effectively used, and in 1889, Wilson wrote that Jefferson should never have made the switch, since an oral presidential message could have allowed a "more public and responsible interchange of opinion between the Executive and Congress."

When Wilson himself became president in 1913, he had the opportunity to put his ideas into action. As a special session of Congress was about to begin that April, Wilson decided that he'd address them personally to promote his agenda. "The announcement stunned official Washington," Robert Kraig wrote in a book on Wilson. Kraig writes that a contemporary press account portrayed Congress as "astonished," and that even members of Wilson's Cabinet were doubted the wisdom of the move.

But the speech — which technically wasn't an "annual message" — went over well, and press coverage was positive. So when the traditional time for Wilson's first message arrived in December, he delivered that as an in-person speech too. He'd deliver five more in-person annual messages, before reverting to written messages for his final two due to bad health. Presidents Coolidge and Hoover would revert to mostly written messages, but FDR would make an in-person — and nationally broadcast — speech the norm.

FDR Coined the Phrase, ‘State of the Union’

Prior to 1937, what is now called the State of the Union Address was referred to as “the President’s Annual Message to Congress.”

It was FDR who started giving the term "state of the union" increased prominence, particularly starting in January 1942, shortly after the US entrance into World War II. According to the House of Representatives clerk's office, FDR's speech then "began to be informally called the 'state of the Union' message/address." A few years later, President Truman officially named it the "State of the Union Address," and that name has stuck since.

Ronald Reagan started the practice of inviting special guests

In January 1982, a plane crashed into Washington, DC's 14th Street Bridge and fell into the Potomac River, killing 78 people. In the chaos, Congressional Budget Office employee Lenny Skutnik jumped into the river and helped rescue a passenger. So the Reagan Administration invited Skutnik to the State of the Union address two weeks later — where the president personally praised him for his heroism. Members of Congress gave him a standing ovation, as TV cameras panned over to Skutnik (one caption read: "Plane Crash Hero").

Reagan and future presidents would soon expand this practice to include not just heroes, but ordinary Americans whose stories (and faces) could help illustrate one of the speech's points. DC wags would soon dub these guests "Skutniks." In the words of reporter Jeff Greenfield, "A skutnik is a human prop, used by a speaker to make a political point."

The practice of inviting Skutniks has been enthusiastically embraced by the Obama administration. This year, 22 invited guests will attend the State of the Union speech — including an astronaut, a community college student, a small business owner, and a DREAMer.

Clinton Holds the Record for Longest Speech

Bill Clinton’s 2000 State of the Union address took 1 hour, 28 minutes and 49 seconds long to deliver, including gaps for applause, which is the longest such speech since they were measured in terms of time. By way of contrast, George W. Bush’s 2006 lasted 51 minutes including more than 60 interruptions for applause.

The record for the shortest speech in State of the Union history is held by George Washington, whose first was comprised of only 833 words. It is estimated that, at modern rates of speech delivery, between 115 and 175 words per minute, Washington’s speech would have lasted no more than seven minutes not counting time for applause.

Reagan’s 1986 Speech Was the Only SOTU to Be Postponed

President Ronald Reagan’s 1986 addressed was scheduled to be delivered on January 28, though tragedy intervened.

On the scheduled morning of the State of the Union, the space shuttle Challenger broke apart 73 seconds into its flight, killing all seven of its crew.

Reagan, speaking to the nation on television, chose instead to delay the State of the Union and discuss tragedy of the Challenger instead. The State of the Union was delivered a week later.

Technology and the SOTU

President Calvin Coolidge delivered the first address to be broadcast on radio in 1923. Twenty four years later, Harry Truman would become the first president to deliver his State of the Union to a televised audience in 1947.

In 1965, President Lyndon Johnson changed the time of the speech from mid-afternoon to 9 p.m. so as to better accommodate a live television audience. By the time President George W. Bush delivered his 2006 address, 41.7 million people would tune in to watch.

Fifty-five years after Truman, in 2002, George W. Bush would be the first president to make his State of the Union available live on the Internet.

Finally, if you think today's political speeches are bad, check out what has to be the most unintelligible SOTU line ever.

Thankfully, Benjamin Harrison delivered a written State of the Union to Congress, because everyone would laugh at him if he said this aloud.

"The state of the Union is known from day to day, and suggestions as to needed legislation find an earlier voice than that which speaks in these annual communications of the President to Congress."

That makes later speeches models of clarity.

As for the speech itself, it has devolved from a serious recital of issues and solutions to standard political claptrap. For example, this year obama will propose a wish list that he knows doesn't have a snowball's chance in Hell of passing, but that positions the democrats to campaign in 2016 as 'the party that wants to give something to everyone, but those mean old republicans won't let us.'

So much for serious measures to improve the State of the Union.

The Most Useless Article Ever Written

Somebody spent a considerable amount of time researching and writing this article. The good folks at Yahoo sent several billion electrons to their digital deaths publishing it. For some twisted reason I wasted valuable time and braincells reading it. All this hoopla over an article that tells us what to do with leftover beer.

Who the hell ever has leftover beer?

14 Ingenious Things To Do With Leftover Beer

Did you know beer is a truly multipurpose instrument aside from just drinking it like you did on New Years Eve? Got some laying around the house now that you just can’t bear to drink?

Say what? Who the heck can't bear to drink beer? Perhaps some limp-wristed panty-waisted liberal weenie who wouldn't know what to do with a beer, ax, or gun, but definitely not a real man.

Anyway...

Here’s 14 ideas to incorporate more beer into your life and use it in ways that don’t involve a frosted glass or funnel.

Loser...

1. Marinate your beef

Making a beer marinade for your beef is a delicious way to add another layer of flavor, and meanwhile it destroys some of the bad chemicals that might form on the meat while it’s cooked on a grill. It’s a win win.

Okay, I sometimes use beer as a marinade. I also use it at times as an ingredient in the dish itself, especially stews. But it's never leftover beer. In fact, it's just the opposite. The beer comes from a bottle freshly opened. After all, any proper chef will always tell you to use the freshest ingredients possible. If the entire bottle isn't needed (and it almost never is ... wink, wink) the remainder doesn't go to waste. It is poured into the cook.

 2. Wash your hair

Mix in a little distilled water and your favorite scented oil, and voila — you’ve got a rinse that will leave your dull, dry hair shiny and hydrated.

N/A - I'm bald.

3. Control backyard pests

Leaving shallow dishes of beer near your plants is an organic way to intoxicate pesky yard dwellers and leave them vulnerable to the birds.

"Pesky yard dwellers" - like our dogs? Those furry little drunks would hoover up any suds that I poured out, and come back for more.

4. Polish your pots

Let your pots soak in beer. Then give them a good polish to see them shine like new.

I have a better idea. Tell your wife to polish the pots. (Not to worry. My wife never reads this blog ... thank God!)

5. Use it to sleep

Not by drinking so much that you pass out. Instead, wash your pillowcase with water that has a splash of beer in it, and let the scent of hops sooth you to sleep.

The scent of beer pretty much permeates everything in my house. I don't need to wash stuff in it as well.

6. Ice a sore muscle

Cold beer cans were practically made for icing muscles. Instead of dealing with melting ice next time you pull a hamstring, grab two cold ones — one for drinking and one for icing.

This one's on the right track, but here's what I would do. Grab a bag of frozen peas from the freezer and slap that on the sore muscle. Then drink both beers. Better yet, don't do anything that might result in sore muscles.

7. Take a bubble bath

Mix your favorite beer with some olive-oil based soap, and proceed like a normal bubble bath. The longer you soak, the softer and smoother your skin will feel afterward.

And the more you'll smell like Barney from The Simpsons.

8. Bake your own bread

Beer and bread were practically made for each other. They have the same basic ingredients, and the yeast found in beer acts as a catalyst for the bread to rise. While the alcohol unfortunately gets baked away, you can still taste the hoppy flavor.

This one makes sense. Like I always say, "Beer is food."

9. Brighten up your lawn

Sprinkling flat beer around your lawn sounds like a good way to kill your grass, but it actually cures it. The fermented sugars are good for growth and the acid kills off anything bad that might be growing there.

Notice it says "flat beer." How does beer get flat? By sitting around after it's opened. Which is a waste of perfectly good beer when there are stores full of lawn and garden products that'll do the same thing without all that tragic waste.

10. Loosen rusty bolts

The bubbles in beer will help to combat rust on old hardware. Pour on some beer, let it soak and watch your rusty bolts unscrew with ease.

Or use WD-40 or penetrating oil instead, and drink a beer while waiting for it to work.

11. Make BBQ sauce

If you’re going for BBQ over a marinated grill, you can still amp up your sauce with beer. If you use an imperial stout, the flavor of the beer in the sauce perfectly compliments the smoky flavors of the BBQ itself. Yum.

No argument here, other than I doubt that making the sauce will require an entire bottle. For further comments see #1.

12. Clean your jewelry

Just like you’d clean your pots for a brand new shine, let your gold jewelry soak in beer then give it a good polish.

I don't do bling.

13. Get rid of stains

The carbonation in beer can help remove stains, just like club soda. If you’re at a party and you spill some red wine on the rug, grab the nearest beer and start rubbing. Make sure you clean out the beer smell after the stain’s gone, though.

Why not just use club soda? No beer smell to worry about, and nobody cares if there's leftover club soda.

14. Beer can chicken

This dish is great because it requires you to drink beer before you begin. Open a beer, gulp down about half of it, then cook the chicken upright on a grill with the beer can in it. After a while, the chicken will be moist and full of flavor.

Finally, one idea that makes sense!

This Just Ain't Right

IMO MLK was a great man. The parasites who are feeding off his legacy, not so much. Anyway, here's a few MLK images that left me shaking my head in disbelief.

FOD 2015.01.19

Around the world with barack hussein obama. All this took place in the last week or so.

This man is the (alleged) leader of our country and the most powerful man in the free world.

Be afraid. Be very, very afraid.

France:

First, our country sent no one to the important anti-terrorism demonstration in Paris, and then there’s Valerie Jarrett calling the march against the slaughter of innocents in Paris a ‘Parade’, as if this were some sort of celebration... She then proceeded to claim that Holder couldn’t attend because he was in a very important terrorism conference at the time, forgetting that we knew everyone else at the conference made it to the march except Holder. So at the time of the march he was meeting with himself, it seems.

Then our secretary of state, John Kerry, whose entire life has been fashioned around his self-imagined superior diplomatic skills and international affairs expertise, shows up speaking execrable high school level French, accompanied by an aging ex-druggie who sings to the grieving French "You’ve Got a Friend.”

Israel:

The US Consulate in Jerusalem is training a force of 35 Palestinians from East Jerusalem to serve as armed guards...

The arrangement violates a 2011 agreement between Israel and the consulate ... whereby only IDF combat veterans would be authorized to carry arms as consulate guards.

Regional Security Officer Dan Cronin (of the) Israeli guards claimed, “(This action) is in effect setting up an armed Palestinian militia in the consulate. They are being trained with weapons, in Krav Maga, and tactical driving. It’s irresponsible. Who can guarantee that such weapons in the hands of Palestinians won’t spread to terror?”

Islamic Palestinians spread terror? Never happen - at least according to the mainstream media.

Gitmo:

As President Obama frees droves of terrorists—including five Yemenis this week—from the U.S. military prison in Guantanamo news reports confirm that a Gitmo alum who once led a Taliban unit has established the first Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) base in Afghanistan.

His name is Mullah Abdul Rauf ... Rauf is one of a number of Gitmo terrorists who have returned to the fight after getting released, yet Obama continues freeing captives to keep his campaign promise of closing the prison. Just this week he let four Yemenis go, despite the risk that they will likely join Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, the Yemen-based terror group that claimed responsibility for last week’s attack in France.

Iran:

Thursday Obama announced he would not tighten sanctions on Iran which is violating the sanctions already in place because if we tighten the reins it will only drive them to war. Think about that! If we impose stricter sanctions on them, they’ll go to war, and if we don’t, they’ll go to war with nuclear weapons.

The Keystone Pipeline:

(obama) said he would not make up his mind until the Nebraska Supreme Court ruled. It ruled to permit construction, so he promptly vowed to veto authorization of construction.

Can you say "Clueless?"

Sunday Funnies 2015.01.18

Today's topic (for unspecified reasons): wives.

There is no shortage of material...

A husband and wife were arguing.

After heated rounds of back-and-forth, the wife finally said:

"Tll me dear, do you want to win ... or do you want to be happy?

Steve Jobs is now working with God to create an "i-wife"
It will feature a slim design, respond quickly and cheerfully to verbal instructions, consume less resources, be more user friendly and less irritating, and, most importantly, come with a MUTE button.
Advance orders are sold out through 2025.

Being married is like having a 64GB ipod with only one song!

When your wife says "What", it does not mean she has not heard you. It means she is giving you a second chance to change your opinion.

I went to the emergency room the other day because I had a pretty severe laceration on my head. The admitting nurse asked the usual questions.

Nurse: name?
Patient: CenTexTim

Nurse: age?
Patient: 62 years old

Nurse : Married?
Patient : No. I just banged my head on an open cabinet door...

Looking For Love

Remember the meterosexual trend? (Meterosexuals are  self-aware and often self-centered heterosexual men who are concerned about their appearance and who display characteristics—love of art, culture and shopping—which are more typically seen in gay men.)

Well, meterosexuals have now been replaced by 'lumbersexuals.'

The lumbersexual man is essentially an urban woodsman.

He is brawny, wears expensive flannel, has an impressive beard that is painstakingly unkempt and represents the ultimate sense of manliness.

The look of the lumbersexual man can be described as something similar to a hipster-outdoorsman hybrid.

However, you won’t find him in the forest chopping down trees.

The lumbersexual man traded in his days of tree felling for hitting up hipster bars, and instead of wielding an axe, he now carries around a MacBook Pro.

I never got the meterosexual thing, and I damn sure don't get the whole lumbersexual thing, but evidently many others do. There is even an online dating site for lumbersexuals.

Men all over the world are growing their beards, getting tattoos and styling their hair.  There are people all over the world who love guys like us.  Until now there has been no place to find each other. Luckily now there is LumberMatch.

As if that's not bad enough, there's a whole passel of other niche dating sites available for the discerning (or weird) among us.

Sea Captain Date - Find Your First Mate

Sea Captain Date is the only place for Sea Captains to connect with men and women who share a love of the ocean.

Date Skaters

... skating is not only a sport or lifestyle, it is something you have in your soul; and if you want to date a skater, you have a lot to learn.

Farmers Only

Sowing seeds of romance can be a hard row to hoe.

 Date British Guys

Because sweet nothings whispered in a British accent sound so much better...

Alikewise

Alikewise is a dating site that allows you to find people based on their book tastes. Anything from cooking to politics to yoga — we think we can find others who would like to talk to you.

The Atlasphere

Of course, if you’re a little more specific about your literary tastes — namely, you only read Ayn Rand — there’s The Atlasphere. For those searching for a little bit of Randian romance, head here.

I understand that meeting the right person can be difficult. And the world is a harsh, lonely place that is better navigated with someone by your side. So while I may poke fun at these dating sites, it is a gentle, good-natured ribbing, not a cruel mocking of those who seek comfort in the arms of others like them.

Seriously.

I hope everyone out there is as fortunate as I am in (finally) finding someone to share life with.

No matter how out of the mainstream their tastes might be...

One Thing Leads To Another

Isn't it interesting how one Internet link can take you down a trail of links to places you never dreamed existed? Case in point:

I was looking at a friend's Facebook post and it linked to a story about Ghost Hunters. For the uninitiated, Ghost Hunters is a reality TV show featuring a cast of characters that investigate reports of paranormal activity. I don't watch, but for some reason I clicked on the link. There wasn't much of interest there, but there was a link to another story that caught my eye.

Casting agent seeks naked ghost hunters for new paranormal series

Producers in Los Angeles are looking for ghost hunters that will bare everything on camera during an investigation for a new cable reality series. A mass email was sent to paranormal investigators all over the country and is going viral on social media...

"For this paranormal investigating show, we are putting a different spin on paranormal investigating and we are looking for people and/or teams that would be interested in taking paranormal investigating to the next level by doing it in the nude..."

Not to worry. The 'investigators' will not be nude for the sake of cheap sensationalism, but rather in the spirit of scientific inquiry.

The producers are using nudity for the concept of the show because they want to see if paranormal research teams get different readings and more evidence than when they are fully clothed. They believe that spirits will communicate with someone more vulnerable.

Okaaayyy...

Anyway, at the bottom of that story was a link to another article that just screamed to be clicked on.

Man convinces woman her vagina is haunted and tries to rid ghosts with his penis

I mean, seriously, how could anyone not follow that link?

A man was recently arrested in China after he claimed that he could get rid of ghosts from a young woman's vagina with his penis. The paranormal enthusiast allegedly charged over $3000 to perform the sexorcism...

Wow! Why didn't I think of that when I was young, single, and horny? Not only did the guy talk the girl into boinking him, but he got her to pay for it!

Genius.

Huang Jianjun was arrested in the Guangdong Province earlier this month after he convinced A Xin that he could remove evil spirits from her vagina by having sexual intercourse. After the bizarre incident, Xin called police the following day and Jianjun was promptly arrested.

"The victim allegedly came to the self-described "ghost hunter" because she needed help seducing her boss who she had a crush on. That's when Jianjun allegedly pitched the unorthodox exorcism idea..."

That's a tough act to follow, but this gal gives it the old college try.

“I just left a job on Wall Street for a porn career because I can’t stop masturbating at work”

Paige A. Jennings, who moonlights under the stage name Veronica Vain, dropped her internship at Lazard Asset Management last week after her nude selfies taken in the bathroom of the firm’s Manhattan offices were discovered online...

“I just left a job on Wall Street for a porn career because I can’t stop masturbating at work,” Jennings, 23, wrote on Twitter Wednesday.

Jennings had been a part-time intern in the company’s alternative-investments marketing group since last June, Business Insider said.

But after her co-workers discovered the nude bathroom photos posted on her Veronica Vain Twitter account, she soon decided to seek other employment.

“It was a little awkward,” Jennings told the Web site BroBible.com about meeting with her boss after the pics went public. “However, he obviously couldn’t have me coming back to the office when likely just about everyone had seen me half-naked online.”

A little bit awkward? That's an understatement. But half-naked pictures aside, something tells me she wasn't cut out for a career on Wall Street anyway.

What did we ever do before the Internet...?

What Were They Thinking?

File this one under the category of 'what were they thinking?'

Joe Morrissey: A human train wreck that Virginia voters support — and deserve

The good voters of Virginia have spoken Thanks to them, the Virginia legislature begins its 2015 session Wednesday with a jailbird on the House floor.

Not just your routine run of the mill jailbird, but a child abuser

Fightin’ Joe Morrissey, a Democrat-turned-independent, won back his Henrico district seat Tuesday night, just as he had to report back to his jail cell.

Notice how he's not a democrat any more, but an 'independent.' Wanna guess which way he votes?

Morrissey, in case you haven’t been following his crazy saga, is the Virginia delegate who entered an Alford plea last month to a misdemeanor charge of contributing to the delinquency of a minor.

Investigators said the 57-year-old legislator was having sex with a 17-year-old receptionist at his law firm, had nude pictures of her on his phone and allegedly showed them to a pal of his. She’s now 18 and pregnant. A prosecutor said Morrissey is “perhaps” the father. The bachelor already has three other kids by three different women.

Class act.

In an Alford plea, a defendant doesn’t have to admit wrongdoing but does admit that there is enough evidence for a conviction. The court treats it as a guilty plea. Morrissey was sentenced to 12 months in jail with six months suspended. But he’s got a work-release arrangement that let him practice law and campaign by day and serve his time at night.

Probably a democrat judge. If his case came before me he'd get one helluva lot more than that. You can go here for the sickening details of the case, if you've got the stomach for it. Here's a snippet.

This guy getting elected not only makes a laughingstock of the voters in his district, but of the entire Virginia legislature.

The other Virginia delegates are now stuck. Some have pledged to find a way, at the start of business on Wednesday, to get rid of Morrissey.

And for good reason. This guy is a human train wreck. He’s faced disbarment, his law license has been suspended and revoked, he’s been in jail before for a courthouse fistfight, was charged in another fight, then capitalized on it with his “fighter” campaign, decorating ads and his office with boxing gloves.

When he was indicted in this sex scandal last summer, he said the charges were untrue...

"I did not tell a lie."

"I did not have sex with that woman."

"I did not have sex with that child."

Morrissey is also the bozo who brought an AK-47 to the floor of Virginia's General Assembly during a debate on gun control (need I say that he opposes the Second Amendment?).

On January 17 (2013), state Delegate Joe Morrissey (D – Henrico) brought an AK-47 assault-style rifle to the floor of the General Assembly to dramatize his push for a ban on assault weapons. But 20 years earlier, his lack of gun control made headlines when he lost an Uzi assault-style rifle and a high-capacity Tec-9 pistol.

He also has no clue when it comes to firearms safety.

“When he pulled the weapon out with the bolt closed and the magazine inserted and his thumb on the trigger, we were all a little shocked,” Delegate Todd Gilbert, (R -15th District) said. “So I asked the Speaker to instruct him to please take his thumb out of the trigger guard with a weapon no one was quite sure was unloaded.”

Some wondered if he could even be in possession of any kind of firearm, since he was previously charged with five felonies while serving as Richmond’s Commonwealth’s Attorney back in the early ‘90s, including bribery and  perjury. But he wasn’t convicted on those charges.

And some members recalled the headlines about Morrissey losing the Uzi and Tec-9, firearms that he had borrowed from the state forensics lab.

“Quite frankly I was a victim,” Del. Morrissey, (D) 7th District, told CBS-6 Wednesday when he was asked about the missing-weapons case. “... somebody actually stole them..."

Oh my aching back. This clown was a victim ... because he left the firearms in his car for extended periods of time. What a loon.

Newspaper reports at the time quoted sources saying Morrissey was known for leaving the weapons in a bag in his car and that they had disappeared months before they were reported missing.

Yeah, right...

Sadly, we get the government - and politicians - that we deserve.

My New Hero

You've probably seen this by now, but here's a video clip of the Morroco-born Muslim mayor of Rotterdam (second largest city in the Netherlands) telling fellow muslims who don't appreciate living in Western countries to bag their bags and go home - and just for good measure, at the end of his little speech, he tells them to "fuck off."

I have a new hero.


He speaks what to me is just plain common sense.Why do so many immigrants - and not just muslims - move to a new country and then try and change it to be just like whatever hellhole they left? If you don't like your new home, leave.

Seems pretty simple to me.

In that same vein, here's Maxine being politically correct.

Doing Things The Right Way

I'm not a big basketball fan, but I'm a BIG San Antonio Spurs fan. Not only because of their success on the court, but because it's an organization that is devoted to doing things the right way. Their emphasis is on old-school American virtues such as teamwork, commitment, character, and yes, even diversity.

Don't misunderstand. It's not the liberal "we need to include everyone because diversity is our goal" notion. Rather, it's the truest form of diversity. The Spurs don't care where you're from, what ethnicity or gender you are, they just care about one thing - will you make the organization better?

Isn't that what diversity is supposed to do?

Their roster reads like an NBA UN.

• Argentina (Manu Ginobili)
• Australia (Patty Mills, Aron Baynes)
• Brazil (Tiago Splitter)
• Canada (Cory Joseph)
• France (Tony Parker, Boris Diaw)
• Italy (Marco Belinelli)
• Virgin Islands (Tim Duncan)

They also have an assistant coach from Europe (Ettore Messina, "one of the most well-respected coaches in the game...") and the first full-time female assistant coach in the NBA (Becky Hammon).

Hammon said that (Spurs Head Coach Gregg) Popovich made it clear to her that the hiring was strictly related to her qualifications in basketball. “He says, ‘It just so happens you’re a woman,’ ” Hammon said.

That last point is worth repeating The Spurs' focus is on making the team better, not on making changes and appointments to satisfy some constituency or special interest group.

Our politicians could learn a valuable lesson from them.

Speaking of the Spurs and politicians, the team dropped in on obama at the White House yesterday to celebrate last season's championship. But true to form, they did it their way.

San Antonio Spurs icon Tim Duncan has accomplished many things in his storied career — five championships, two MVPs, 14 All-Star appearances, etc. — but he has never been much for dressing like a multimillionaire international superstar. Duncan's sartorial choices tend towards those of a relentlessly uncool record-store clerk and/or comic book geek, all genre references and oversized plaid shirts that, as a friend once put it, seem to have been picked up in a stack from a table at Costco.

Duncan and the rest of the reigning champion Spurs visited the White House on Monday for their post-title meeting with President Barack Obama. Like most other sports figures, they took the occasion seriously and arrived in their finest suits. Only Duncan, though, chose to go without the tie. Take a look at the photo:

Even obama seems to get it.

President Barack Obama is praising the sportsmanship of the San Antonio Spurs as ''a great metaphor for what America should be all about.''

Obama hosted the Spurs at the White House on Monday to celebrate their victory in the 2014 NBA championship.

Obama praised the Spurs for their public service efforts on literacy and community development in San Antonio.

For once, I find myself agreeing with barry.

Below is a six-minute comedy video that reflects some basic truths about the Spurs and San Antonio. Unless you're from these parts you may not get some of the inside jokes. If you are from around here you'll find it hilarious.

Top Ten Reasons Why Obama Skipped France Rally

Here's a list of the real reasons barry didn't hop on Air Force One for the anti-terror rally in Paris.

10.  It was his turn to babysit Joe Biden.

9.    Michelle Obama wasn`t going to let him anywhere near those hot Parisian babes.

8.    Sunday is always reserved for a marathon session of playing Twister with former bodyman Reggie Love.

7.    ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Gahdadi forbade him from attending.

6.    Actually he was planning to attend, but then he learned that the rally was to protest Islamic terrorism and not in support of Jihad.

5.    It was a special day at the White House: NFL playoffs and barbeque Bo the pooch.

4.    Everyone knows that Sundays are reserved for a bondage session with Valerie Jarrett.

3.    Benjamin Netanyahu was there. Obama would rather give his wife a pedicure than be anywhere near that guy.

2.    Obama was too busy writing a love letter to Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, or as he calls him " My hairy teddy bear Islamic sweetheart. "

1.    Obama was afraid a puss* like him wouldn`t be allowed in a gathering of world leaders.

But seriously, folks, let's take a closer look at barry's absence.

World Leaders Head Paris March Honoring Terror Victims

The headline is absolutely correct. World leaders marched as part of "a cry for freedom" to honor those killed in this week's terror attacks in Paris.

Notably absent was world non-leader barack hussein obama - or any other prominent member of his administration.

Oops...

Obama White House Says Missing Paris March Was a Mistake

The Obama administration admitted it erred in not sending a top-level U.S. representative to a march in Paris for the victims of last week’s terrorist attacks.

“It’s fair to say we should have sent someone with a higher profile,” White House press secretary Josh Earnest said Monday at a briefing in Washington. He refused to give any details about White House discussions on the rally, though he said President Barack Obama didn’t make the decision on who would attend on behalf of the U.S. (emphasis added)

That's a mind-staggering statement. Here's a huge event on the world stage. People around the globe have been captivated by the story. It's classic good vs. evil writ large. Billions are watching. And obama isn't involved in deciding who will represent the U.S.? Who did make the decision - Valerie Jarrett?

And just where was U.S. President Barack Obama?

Obama spent the weekend in Washington, but Earnest said he did not have details about how the president spent his time.

Biden also did not have any public commitments.

"The White House's explanation is pathetic," CNN host Fareed Zakaria said earlier in the day. "It's possible that you couldn't send Obama there — I thought this is why God invented vice-presidents."

Update:

Was Obama simply too busy to go to Paris? Possibly, but his schedule for today shows zero events. His schedule yesterday was similarly blank. Nor, according to the White House web site, does he have anything scheduled for tomorrow.

As so often happens with President Obama, we are left to wonder what he could possibly be thinking. Does he simply not care? Did he slip away from the White House for a few days to golf in a warmer climate? Or does he not want to be seen as strongly opposed to Islamic terrorism? Could his absence from Paris be part of his effort–seemingly delusional–to build some sort of detente, or even alliance, with Iran’s mullahs?

Once again, we are left scratching our heads. All we know for sure is, that at the biggest pro-freedom rally since the fall of the Berlin Wall, America was absent.  

So why didn't the President of the United States, the Vice-President of the United States, or at least the United States Secretary of State attend? Hell, AG Eric Holder was even in Paris at the time. I guess he couldn't be bothered to put down his croissant and show up to oppose terrorism.

One possible reason that no high ranking official attended is that obama really doesn't care about the war on terror, or its victims. That makes as much or more sense than any other excuse I've heard ooze out of that snake-infested administration.

Here's another, more likely, possibility.

So why didn’t POTUS show up?  A liberal friend emailed me that it was admittedly a “political mistake.”  ”Political,” yes, but “mistake”?  I doubt the decision was made innocently or even faintly by mistake.   Obama is a man known for his political expediency more than anything, indeed above anything, and also for being a constant campaigner.  It was obvious that going to Paris would have been good public relations and that therefore not attending was a deliberate choice.

There had to have been a reason for his non-attendance and the bizarre dissing of this event by his administration. I believe it stems from this: There are two words our president seems constitutionally unable to put together — “Islamic” and “terrorism.”  For Obama, these terms are mutually exclusive, an oxymoron.  Appearing in Paris, Obama might be put in the unusual position of having to link them, our complaisant press rarely having the nerve to ask such an impertinent question.

And U.S. standing in the world takes another hit...

World leaders went to the trouble of reserving a seat for obama, and he was still a no-show.

FOD 2015.01.12

I yearn for the days when we had a press that wouldn't let a slimy politician get away with telling lies like this.

President Barack Obama declared the 13-year war in Afghanistan officially over on Sunday, praising the troops and claiming that Americans are safer for their efforts.

The war's over! To me, that means we won, the enemy has been defeated, and our troops are back home (or at least out of harm's way).

Right?

Evidently not. There are a large number of American service members remaining in Afghanistan, tasked with a brand-new mission: Operation Resolute Support.

But while the administration would like to characterize this as a victory, the end of a conflict, it’s more of a re-branding. More than 10,000 United States troops will remain in Afghanistan, and just over one month ago, the president secretly expanded their 2015 combat mission to include fighting with the Taliban and/or al-Qaeda, the Haqqani network, or other insurgent groups. The expansion of duties, which was first reported in The New York Times, also allows for the use of American manned aircraft and drones. Some 4,000 NATO troops will also remain in Afghanistan next year.

According to the United Nations, 2014 is the deadliest year of the war since they began counting casualties in 2008. More than 10,000 civilians are expected to die in Afghanistan by January 1.

That doesn't sound like a war that's over to me.

Nor does it to the enemy.

“ISAF (International Security Assistance Force - the name given to the U.S. led coalition of troops in Afghanistan) rolled up its flag in an atmosphere of failure and disappointment without having achieved anything substantial or tangible,” Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said in an statement emailed on Monday.

It seems as if the civilians in the region agree with the Taliban's interpretation of the alleged end of the war.

Thousands of Afghans are pouring into makeshift camps in the capital where they face a harsh winter as the Taliban return to areas once cleared by foreign forces, who this week are marking the end of their combat mission.

Conclusion?

It’s true that the president has drawn down troop levels dramatically after taking office and completing his “surge” between late 2009 and 2012. But leaving thousands of U.S. soldiers in a country and tasking them with carrying out combat missions is not ending a war. Branding it as the conclusion of a war may be politically expedient, but it’s also disingenuous. Operation Resolute Support is a new mission, but it is war, with a new name.

Our military deserves better.