No Way To Fight A War

I have mixed emotions about this article.

Coalition to Stop Reporting Attack Data

The U.S.-led military command in Afghanistan said it would no longer count and publish the number of Taliban attacks, an accounting it once touted as the measure of U.S. and allied success.

The move comes one week after the International Security Assistance Force said it had incorrectly reported a 7% fall in Taliban attacks in 2012 compared with 2011. In fact, there was no decline, ISAF officials said, attributing the mistake to a clerical error.

An ISAF spokesman said Tuesday that the coalition had lost confidence in reporting of enemy-initiated attacks mainly because more combat operations were being performed by Afghan forces, out of view of coalition troops. Most attacks occur in less-populated areas, meaning "this single facet of the campaign is not particularly accurate in describing the complete effect of the insurgency's violence on the people of Afghanistan," he said.

Anthony Cordesman, an analyst at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said it had been clear for months that ISAF's figures were flawed.

"The truth is they should not have published them in the first place," he said. "A great many people realized from the start that it was a meaningless measurement" because it implies that in order to succeed the Taliban has to keep attacking rather than gaining ground by influencing ordinary Afghans...

(more detail here)

First of all, the "incorrectly reported" decline in Taliban attacks was attributed to a "clerical error."

That one doesn't pass the smell test.

But what is more disturbing to me is the (to be charitable) 'confusion' over the metric used to measure progress in the war on terrorism in Afghanistan. It's awfully reminiscent of the measure used in 'Nam - the body count.

I am definitely not saying that U.S. forces in Vietnam deliberately targeted civilians. But I will suggest that, in the aftermath of artillery barrages and air strikes, any 'collateral damage' (i.e., dead body) was by definition a VC. And any damaged bicycle or dead water buffalo was a 'destroyed enemy transportation vehicle.'

It is a truism that "What gets measured gets managed." More completely, "What gets measured gets managed - even when it's pointless to measure and manage it, and even if it harms the purpose of the organization to do so."

In other words, if body count, or enemy attacks, are used as a measure of success, military 'managers' will adopt tactics and strategies that maximize those results. In some instances that might even include 'managing' the reported numbers.

That's no way to fight a war...

So Sad It's Almost Funny

By now it's become obvious that the obama administration's warnings of the sequester's negative consequences are more hype than reality. Some people, myself included, refer to such statements as lies. But I'm not going to dwell on that now. Instead, I'd like to point out how underhanded and hypocritical those weasels really are. Case in point:

TSA Sealed $50-Million Sequester-Eve Deal to Buy New Uniforms

The impending sequester did not prevent the Transportation Security Administration (TSA)  from acting in late February to seal a $50-million deal to purchase new uniforms for its agents--uniforms that will be partly manufactured in Mexico.

 Gotta rush that through before spending is cut. Can't have the TSA perverts screeners looking shabby while they grope kids in wheelchairs.

Soon after this new investment in TSA uniforms, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano warned Americans that the lines are already lengthening at airports due to the sequester.

"We are already seeing the effect on the ports of entry, the big airports for example," Napolitano told Politico on Monday. "Some of them had very long lines this weekend."

As we now know, that was a bald-faced lie. There were no delays: "...officials representing a dozen major airports said there were few if any unusual flight delays or lines at security or customs checkpoints."

But back to the uniforms.

The TSA employs 50,000 security officers, inspectors, air marshals and managers. That means that the uniform contract will pay the equivalent of $1,000 per TSA employee over the course of the year.

I can dress pretty damn good for $1000 per year. But it's not that simple.

The TSA provides uniforms to new employees, but requires them to pay for additional clothes out of their own pocket. The initial issue consists of 3 long sleeve shirts, 3 short sleeve shirts, 2 pairs of trousers, 2 ties, and one belt, sweater, socks, and jacket.

So the TSA isn't just simply giving $1000 to each employee. Instead, it's buying a basic set of clothes only for its new employees. Figure a 25% annual turnover rate (probably on the high side, but I'm feeling generous tonight) and that comes to $4000 per new employee. For three pairs of pants, six shirts, and assorted accessories.

Where the hell does TSA shop? Neiman Marcus?

And just to rub salt in the wound, the uniforms are partially made in Mexico.

...TSA said the uniforms will be "manufactured in the U.S. and Mexico."

So we've got a federal agency lying about sequestration's impacts, rushing a purchase order through just barely ahead of the sequester, paying an excessive price for what it's buying, and not even insisting on "Made in the USA" products.

I don't know whether to laugh or to cry...

Duck Dynasty Night

After wading through all the doom, gloom, and madness in the news today, it's time to kick back and relax.

Dinner is over and the dishwasher is gurgling merrily away.

I'm steadily working my way through tonight's allotment of cold Shiners.

And soon, there'll be a new episode (two, actually) of Duck Dynasty on the tube.

It's 'Duck Dynasty' season as A&E hit flies high

When "Duck Dynasty" returned for its third season last week, it was greeted by an audience of 8.6 million viewers. Pretty good for an A&E reality series about bearded bayou brethren who manufacture duck calls and love to go bird hunting.

Except that's not what "Duck Dynasty" really is. Viewers who have ducked this show thus far, assuming it's just another mocking redneck display on the order of "Here Comes Honey Boo Boo," have it all wrong. And they're missing out.

..."Duck Dynasty" (airing two half-hours at 10 p.m. EST Wednesday) is a warm and witty family show that is more akin to a classic sitcom than it is to the likes of "Buckwild."

Head Duck Dynasty dude Willie joins his wife's yoga class in an attempt to shape up before their high school reunion.

Trust me - the show is more enjoyable than you might think from the picture.

Academics Meet Real Life

One of the courses I occasionally teach deals with Project Management. I used to run software development projects, along with business process re-engineering and new product implementation projects, for one of the (at the time) largest banks in the world. I've also done a little academic research concerning project management, so I like to think I'm qualified in this topic.

In my Project Management class I emphasize what's often referred to as the Iron Triangle of Project Management. At the risk of over-simplifying, the underlying premise is that every project contains three basic variables: time, quality, and cost. The idea is that you can maximize any two of those three variables, but no matter how hard you try, you can't maximize all three at the same time. The figure below illustrates that

I really like that figure, because it captures in a nutshell several complex concepts. Plus it can be applied to many other contexts. For example, the next figure illustrates what every parent eventually figures out.

If your life is anything like mine, it's actually more a matter of "Pick One."

Oh well, at least it keeps things from getting boring...

Late Night Thoughts

Think about this as you drift off to sleep...

Sequestration In Pictures Part III

In Sequestration In Pictures Part I and Part II we looked at the basics of sequestration - its origin and the overall impact. In this part we'll take a quick look at some of the 'curious' choices the obama administration has made in implementing the cuts.

As most of us are aware, the sequestration cuts disproportionally affect our military. Let's hope that this mess gets resolved before there are lasting long-term consequences.

Our men and women in uniform -- past, present, and future -- deserve better.

Why I Drink

I drink more than I should. I don't make excuses for that, but I do offer a couple of explanations.

One, it makes me feel good.

Two, it's how I cope with a world gone mad.

I could cite many, many examples, but for right now I'll limit myself to two. Both illustrate why I've just about given up on our public schools, for reasons that should be obvious.

High School Student Suspended for Disarming Gunman

FORT MYERS, Fla. - A 16-year-old Cypress Lake High School student, who wrestled a loaded revolver away from a teen threatening to shoot, is being punished.

The student grappled the gun away from the 15-year-old suspect on the bus ride home Tuesday after witnesses say (the suspect) aimed the weapon point blank at another student and threatened to shoot him.

...And for that he was suspended for three days.

And the lesson he and all his fellow students are learning from this? Don't bother doing the right thing, or stepping up and helping people in trouble.

No good deed goes unpunished. 

The student says he wrestled the .22 caliber RG-14 Revolver away from the suspect, a football player, who witnesses say threatened to shoot a teammate because he had been arguing with his friend.

That's when the student we spoke with says he and others tackled the teen and wrestled away the gun. The next day the school slapped him with a three day suspension.

According to the referral, he was suspended for being part of an "incident" where a weapon was present and given an "emergency suspension."

I guess if he'd been shot he still would have been suspended "for being part of an "incident" where a weapon was present."

There is nothing so uncommon as common sense.

Not to be outdone, a Baltimore school district suspended a 7-year-old for chewing his Pop-Tart into something that some paranoid ultra-imaginative über-liberal teacher indoctrination specialist interpreted as being "a gun kinda."

At Park Elementary school, Josh was enjoying his breakfast pastry when he decided to try and shape it into a mountain.

Josh said, "It was already a rectangle and I just kept on biting it and biting it and tore off the top and it kinda looked like a gun but it wasn't."

Josh takes full responsibly for trying to shape his breakfast pastry, but admits it was in innocent fun. He told FOX45, "All I was trying to do was turn it into a mountain but, it didn't look like a mountain really and it turned out to be a gun kinda."

When his teacher saw the strawberry tart he knew he was in trouble, he recalls, "She was pretty mad…and I think I was in big trouble."

Josh's dad received a phone call from the school saying that Josh has been suspended for two days because he took his breakfast pastry and fashioned it into a gun. Josh's dad was astounded to learn the school chose such a harsh punishment, even after no one was hurt.

"...even after no one was hurt."

Words fail me. The poor kid's father has been so brainwashed that he focuses on the fact that no one was hurt, rather than the bigger picture.

A seven-year-old uses his imagination to turn something into something else. That's called creativity. Artists do it all the time. But in this case some idiot with her head so far up her ass that sunshine has to be pumped in 'imagined' that the seven-year-old was a potential mass murderer.

Thank God the pastry wasn't loaded.

Bonus FOD 2013.03.04

Those of you of a certain age will recognize the genesis of the image below, and the video following it. Both have been updated to reflect the current political environment.

(Borrowed from here)

(Thanks to SooperMexican for the video.)

FOD 2013.03.04

British columnist Nile Gardiner is doing the job American journalists are unable or unwilling to do (with a few notable exceptions).

A nasty, brutish, imperial presidency

Thomas Hobbes wrote that the life of man is “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short.” Today’s White House definitely isn’t poor, lavishly feeding off the wealth of the American taxpayer, and the current presidency certainly isn’t short, with nearly four more years to run. But it is undeniably nasty and brutish, as veteran Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward has found after questioning President Obama’s narrative on the sequester issue.

... Woodward is not alone. Lanny Davis, another liberal columnist and former special counsel to Bill Clinton, who has penned several pieces critical of Obama’s policies, has also spoken out against similar White House tactics.

The threats being dished out to Woodward, Davis and others are extremely disturbing in a free society, and are a reflection of an imperial presidency that acts with impunity and is highly intolerant of dissent. The heavy-arm tactics that Obama’s team have deployed for years against conservatives are now being increasingly implemented as well against liberals questioning the president’s record.

Will American liberals now stand up to the Obama White House and condemn its blatant attempts to suppress criticism and free speech? I doubt it. The Washington Post has provided relatively little coverage of the story, despite the fact that one its own star writers has been targeted. The New York Times is, unsurprisingly, completely silent (with the exception of a small mention in a single blog) on the issue. Ironically, most of the reporting of the White House’s attempts to intimidate liberal critics has come from the conservative press, led by the Drudge Report, which has propelled the story to national prominence...

Gardiner's statements are backed up by at least one U.S. news outlet - The New York Post.

...Even Jonathan Alter — who frequently appears on the Obama-friendly MSNBC — came forward to say he, too, had been treated horribly by the administration for writing something they didn’t like.

“There is a kind of threatening tone that, from time to time — not all the time — comes out of these guys,” Alter said this week. During the 2008 campaign swing through Berlin, Alter said that future White House press secretary Robert Gibbs disinvited him from a dinner between Obama and the press corps over it.

“I was told ‘Don’t come,’ in a fairly abusive e-mail,” he said. “[It] made what Gene Sperling wrote [to Woodward] look like patty-cake.”

The same story offers a counterpoint to the alleged republican 'war on women:'

“I had a young reporter asking tough, important questions of an Obama Cabinet secretary,” says one DC veteran. “She was doing her job, and they were trying to bully her. In an e-mail, they called her the vilest names — bitch, c--t, a--hole.” He complained and was told the matter would be investigated: “They were hemming and hawing, saying, ‘We’ll look into it.’ Nothing happened.”

It's bad enough to have the mainstream media fail to report that the emperor is indeed naked. But it has now reached the point where the emperor is sodomizing the media, and they are bending over, grabbing their ankles, and smiling.

Stifling free speech strikes at the very roots of liberty. There's a reason the First Amendment came first. It is shameful, cowardly, and despicable that the people entrusted with that right are willingly participating in its extinction.

Sunday Funnies 2013.03.03

My birthday was last week. 'Nuff said...

It’s a terrible thing to grow old alone. My wife hasn’t had a birthday for four years.

You know you're old when one of your friends is dating someone half their age and isn't breaking any laws.

You know you're old when many of your co-workers were born the same year that you got your last promotion.

Over the course of my life I've turned the pursuit of happiness into an endurance test.

My wife didn't know what to get me for my birthday, so one of her friends suggested she give me a certificate that says I can have one night of wild sex, any way I want it. My wife thought that was a great idea so she had a nice-looking certificate printed up and sealed in an envelope.

She gave it to me after dinner on my birthday. I read it, jumped up, yelled "This is the best birthday present ever!" and gave her a great big hug and kiss.

Then I grabbed my cars keys, ran for the door, and hollared "Don't wait up. I'll see you in the morning!"

She was not amused...

Local News Update

It's been a busy few weeks. I've been a little negligent in maintaining this blog. One of the things that's slipped has been some recent developments regarding the most sacred piece of Texas soil - the Alamo. So here's what's been in the news lately concerning the Cradle of Texas Liberty.

Replica of 18-pound cannon used at Alamo will return to San Antonio

A replica of the 18-pound cannon William Barret Travis answered Santa Anna's demand for surrender with makes a defiant return to the Alamo Friday in celebration of Texas Independence Day and the 177th anniversary of the Battle of the Alamo.

"This 18-pound cannon embodies the Texians' unyielding defiance to tyranny," said Texas Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson. "This cannon — and the defiance it represented — was one of the main reasons Santa Anna was set on taking the Alamo."

A lot of us think it's about time to rekindle that defiance to a federal government that seems as hell-bent on taking away our rights today as the Mexican government was 177 years ago.

The 18-pounder is believed to be the cannon Travis was referring to when he wrote  ‘". . . I have answered the demand with a cannon shot . . ."  in his famous "Victory or Death" letter...

Speaking of the Travis letter, it is considered by many Texans to be the most sacred and inspirational historical document in state history, and second only to the Declaration of Independence on a national level.

This week, that letter has been put on rare public display at the site where it was written - the Alamo.

'Victory or Death' letter returns to the Alamo

A written plea for help in which the commander of the besieged rebel Texas forces at the Alamo vowed "Victory or Death" will return Friday to the old Spanish mission for the first time since it was penned in 1836.

William Barret Travis' famous letter to "the People of Texas and All Americans in the World," will get a police escort from the state archive in Austin to the Alamo... The weathered, single-page letter will go on display for two weeks, starting this weekend, and will be kept in a special display cabinet and given round-the-clock guards.

The exhibit coincides with the 177th anniversary of the siege, which culminated with the March 6, 1836, fall of the Alamo and the deaths of Travis and the roughly 180 men in his command.

Travis, a 26-year-old South Carolina native and lawyer who left his family in Alabama for Texas, wrote that the forces under Mexico's president, Gen. Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, were subjecting him and his men to "continual" cannon fire. Knowing the odds were against them, Travis wrote that he responded to a surrender demand with a single cannon shot of his own and the promise that, "I shall never surrender or retreat."

The letter was smuggled out of the Alamo at night by a courier on horseback, though by the time it was published in leaflets and newspapers, Travis and his men were dead. But volunteers crying "Remember the Alamo!" and led by Gen. Sam Houston routed Santa Anna's forces more than a month later outside what's now the city of Houston, securing Texas' independence from Mexico.

"The writing of the letter by Travis is a pivotal and very, very dramatic moment in the story of the Alamo with all its famous characters, (David) Crockett, (James) Bowie, Travis and many more who willingly decided to give their lives in a cause they considered bigger than themselves," Michael Parrish, a Baylor University history professor, said. "In fact, the Alamo is considered one of the great epic stories of American history, and indeed, world history."

Travis penned the letter in a room across the plaza from the mission's main entrance. The spot is now a Ripley's Haunted Adventure, which is part of a block-long strip of tourist-focused businesses.

Capt. Albert Martin of Gonzales, a Rhode Island native, slipped through the Mexican lines outside the Alamo and handed it the following afternoon to Lancelot Smither, a former Alamo defender who had left earlier to spread word that Santa Anna's army had arrived. Smither delivered it to San Felipe, the unofficial capital of revolutionary Texas about 145 miles east of San Antonio.

And 177 years later the letter was delivered back to where it all began, with appropriate pomp and circumstance.

The famous "Victory or Death" letter penned on February 24, 1836 by William Barret Travis, Commander of the Texian rebels in the former mission known as the Alamo, is carried Friday Feb. 22, 2013 to the Alamo by Alamo Rangers. The letter is returning to the Alamo for the first time since it was dispatched by Travis during the battle. Members of the Gonzales Chamber of Commerce hold a "Gonzales Flag" during the ceremony.

Red carpet rolled out for Travis letter

With all the pageantry worthy of a priceless document, William Barret Travis' enduring “victory or death” letter returned Friday to the Alamo, for the first time since it was written by the desperate young commander in 1836.

A color guard of re-enactors in period Texian dress led four Alamo Rangers who carried a fine arts shipping crate. They carted the letter along a red carpet and into the chapel...

The doors of the chapel swung open as Denton County Sheriff Will Travis finished reading the text of the famous letter, written by his fifth-great uncle.

The letter, carried out of the Alamo on Feb. 24, 1836, by mounted courier Albert Martin, arrived Friday in a blue, specially equipped truck. Employees of the Land Office and Alamo have blocked off windows of the chapel and installed temporary air conditioning units to protect the fragile document from sunlight and variations in temperature and humidity.

Michael Waters, archives commission chairman, said the commission was proud to be part of the “reunion of two icons of Texas history” — the Alamo and the stirring dispatch, considered one of the most famous letters ever written.

“You don't have to tell Texans what 'the letter' is,” Waters said.

In his public appeal for help, Travis wrote, “Then, I call on you in the name of liberty, of patriotism and everything dear to the American character, to come to our aid, with all dispatch.”

Among about 1,000 people at the ceremony were three women from Gonzales, where the Texas Revolution began Oct. 2, 1835. One of them, Charlie Gray, held a large “Come and Take It” flag, which shows a silhouette of the cannon townspeople defended against Mexican officials.

Here's the text of the letter.

To the People of Texas & All Americans in the World—

Fellow Citizens & compatriots—

I am besieged, by a thousand or more of the Mexicans under Santa Anna. I have sustained a continual bombardment and cannonade for 24 hours and have not lost a man. The enemy has demanded a surrender at discretion, otherwise, the garrison are to be put to the sword, if the fort is taken. I have answered the demand with a cannon shot, and our flag still waves proudly from the walls. I shall never surrender or retreat.

Then, I call on you in the name of Liberty, of patriotism and everything dear to the American character, to come to our aid, with all dispatch. The enemy is receiving reinforcements daily and will no doubt increase to three or four thousand in four or five days.  If this call is neglected, I am determined to sustain myself as long as possible and die like a soldier who never forgets what is due to his own honor & that of his country — Victory or Death.

William Barrett Travis.

Lt.  Col. comdt.

Those words still ring true today.

Friday Follies Happy Hour 2013.03.01

One of my favorite songs by one of my favorite performers. Enjoy...

Amatuer Hour Part II

Follow-up to the most recent post:

Big Sis Janet Napolitano has been weeping and wailing about the impact sequestration will have on DHS. One problem with that:

DHS Has $9 Billion Budget Excess

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano claims that sequestration will undermine DHS’s “core critical mission,” but the White House projects that her department will have $9 billion in unspent funding at the end of the year.

“[T]he Office of Management and Budget projected that at the end of fiscal year 2013, DHS would carry forward more than $9 billion in unobligated balances,” Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., wrote in a letter to Napolitano. “This is money that has not yet been spent, nor even assigned to a specific project, raising the question of why we would not start by reclaiming these funds. I would appreciate if DHS could provide an explanation for what these funds are for and whether the agency has considered them for sequestration.”

Sequestration will cut DHS’s budget by $2.6 billion. Coburn also noted that DHS has a large “fiscal stimulus” program, with over twice as much money still unspent in that program as is needed to pay for the sequester.

“Last year, DHS announced that approximately $8.3 billion FEMA grant funds for preparedness programs had not been spent,” Coburn said. “The Department issued new guidance to grant recipients to expedite the spending on those funds “in light of the current economic situation and the need for further fiscal stimulus.” According to an estimate the Department recently gave my staff, $5.25 billion of those funds remained unspent. In light of the looming sequester, DHS might reconsider this move and instead recover some or all unspent grants and reallocate them to higher priorities.”

Does anyone in this administration have a clue, or all they just mindless political hacks that stumble around blindly doing whatever their Dear Leader commands?

Rhetorical question - no need to answer...

Amatuer Hour

This sequestration crap is getting old. One of the things I find particularly telling about it, and which you'll have a difficult time gleaning from the mainstream media, it the absolute amateurish way the obama administration is dealing with it. For example:

Obama Administration Caught Lying About Teacher Layoffs Due to Obama Sequester

The descriptions of the post-sequester landscape that have been coming out of the Obama Administration have been alarming, specific--and, in at least some cases, hyped.

“There are literally teachers now who are getting pink slips, who are getting notices that they can’t come back this fall,” Education Secretary Arne Duncan said Sunday on CBS’s “Face the Nation.”

When he was pressed in a White House briefing Wednesday to come up with an example, Duncan named a single county in West Virginia and acknowledged, “whether it’s all sequester-related, I don’t know.”

And, as it turns out, it isn’t.

Lying sack of shit...

Another example:

Neither the White House nor the Homeland Security Department headquarters were made aware of the Immigration Customs and Enforcement decision to release detainees ahead of the pending forced spending cuts, an administration official said Wednesday.

Separately, at a press briefing, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said the decision was made by ICE "without any input from the White House."

Yeah, right. As if some flunky in the obama regime would dare make such a politically loaded decision on his or her own. If you believe that fairy tale I've got a bridge I'd like to sell you.

And as previously reported, the obama administration is claiming that sequestration will affect government departments that don't even exist.

In compliance with The Sequestration Transparency Act of 2012, the OMB sent a detailed report to Congress in September 2012. But there's a small problem with the report: One of the cuts it warns against would affect an agency that no longer exists--and didn't exist when the OMB sent its report to congress.

The first line item on page 121 of the OMB's September 2012 report says that under sequestration the National Drug Intelligence Center would lose $2 million of its $20 million budget ... the problem is that the National Drug Intelligence Center shuttered its doors on June 15, 2012--three months before the OMB issued its report to Congress.

Finally, to round things out, here's a blast from the past. On Nov. 21, 2011, "Obama told reporters he would veto any attempt to get rid of the automatic cuts which are set to kick in as a part of the sequester..."

Yes, you read that right. A little over one year ago barry said that he would veto any legislation passed by congress that would override the sequestration that he proposed, initiated, and supported.

“I will veto any effort to get rid of those automatic spending cuts,” said Obama from the White House’s briefing room...

Lying hypocritical worthless piece of shit is an understatement...

The Truck Saga Continues

I finally heard back from the garage where I left my leaky ol' truck. Turns out one leak was from a radiator hose. No big deal.

But the other leak was from a split seam in the radiator itself. Big deal.

I could have had the radiator welded (I've driven thousands of miles in the past with a radiator held together by JB Weld) but since I plan on keeping the truck for a few more years I just went ahead and sprung for a new one.

Since the truck was already going to be in the shop for a while, I told them to go ahead and do a thorough bumper-to-bumper inspection, like they would if I brought them a used car I was thinking of buying. Turns out that was a good idea. Overall, things were in good shape, with two exceptions.

One, the serpentine belt had a small crack. Since I do a lot of high speed driving (3 hour trips at 80 mph twice a week) through remote country, I was thrilled to find the problem now, as opposed to having it break while I was in BFE, where I found myself last week when I had the blowout.

Speaking of the blowout, the other problem the inspection uncovered was a damaged right rear suspension strut. It apparently was banged up when the tire blew and a chunk of rubber slammed into the strut.

While it was there I had the mechanic go ahead and clean and adjust the brakes, and flush the tranny and power steering systems. I'm nearing the 200,000 mile mark, which is a major maintenance point, so i figured I'd get a head start.

Bottom line - estimated cost of repair is around $1400. That's a big hunk of change, but spread out over a year it's a lot less than car payments, even taking into account the difference in gas mileage between a '95 model and a newer one. Besides, I just put a new radio in it when the original cassette deck finally quit working.

Now I need to figure out what to do with all those 20 and 30 year old mix tapes...

Falling Down On The Job

What Otters' Penis Shrinkage Could Mean for Humans

Scientists are concerned about the deformed sex organs of England's otters — and what it might mean for humans.

The furry mammals are found in rivers throughout England and Wales, but male otters aren't what they used to be. An alarming number of them now have shrunken penis bones (baculum), as well as undescended testicles...

Obviously the female otters aren't doing their job.

Another Sign That I'm Getting Old

Holy crap am I old! I just saw Boz Scaggs on the Jay Leno show. I thought he (Scaggs, not Leno) was dead. Hell, he's even older than me.

If you don't know who Boz Scaggs is then screw you.

He performed the Cadillac Waltz.


He sounded pretty good, although he definitely looked like an over-the-hill middle-aged (at least) rocker.

Sequestration In Pictures Part II

Here's a follow-up to the original Sequestration In Pictures. First, one short piece of text that illustrates the fallacy of obama's overhyped "The sky is falling" screeching about the effects of sequestration. That's followed by a couple of pie charts from the incomparable Michael Ramirez.

White House Report Claims Sequestration Will Affect Federal Department That No Longer Exists

In compliance with The Sequestration Transparency Act of 2012, the Office of Management and Budget sent a detailed report to Congress in September 2012. But there's a small problem with the report: One of the cuts it warns against would affect an agency that no longer exists--and didn't exist when the OMB sent its report to congress.

The first line item on page 121 of the OMB's September 2012 report says that under sequestration the National Drug Intelligence Center would lose $2 million of its $20 million budget ... the problem is that the National Drug Intelligence Center shuttered its doors on June 15, 2012--three months before the OMB issued its report to Congress.

Idiots...

The first pie chart below shows us what a miniscule amount of the overall federal budget the initial arguments were about. When the democrats (proposed budgets cuts: $33 billion of out $3.82 trillion, or 0.86%) and republicans (proposed budgets cuts: $61 billion of out $3.82 trillion, or 1.59%) couldn't agree, obama forced the sequester upon us.

In other words, all this fussing is about a difference of $28 billion out of $3.82 trillion (0.73% of the overall budget).

The second chart is an updated version that shows the relative size of the sequester cuts relative to the overall budget. It also shows how the overall budget, and the corresponding deficit, has grown since 2008, when democrats assumed control of the senate and obama was elected.

Sequestration In Pictures

I'm a simple guy. I like pretty pictures in place of long, boring blocks of text. So I decided to explain sequestration using images supplemented with just a few words to help explain things.

First, a brief background note: sequestration is the notion that because congress cannot make wise decisions about the budget, it will instead force itself to make unwise decisions about the budget.

If this confuses you, just remember the hostage scene from Blazing Saddles.


I'm sure you've heard all the bullshit rhetoric about how sequestration means TEOTWAWKI.

Nonsense. Here's a chart to help you keep things in perspective.

Notice how overall spending continues to increase, even after the 'meat cleaver' sequestration cuts.

That's not to say, however, that some areas of government won't feel some pain. One of the truly negative aspects of sequestration is that the cuts are not spread out evenly across the board, but rather are aimed at specific targets. (Keep in mind that the baseline cut in spending is around 2.3%. Areas in the chart below that are above that line are disproportionally affected.)

The next chart provides a better way to illustrate the true impact of the sequestration cuts by comparing the percentage of the cuts felt by each area to its percentage of the overall budget. It becomes painfully obvious that defense spending gets well and truly slashed, while other areas are largely spared.

While we're at it, let's not forget whose idea this was in the first place. No matter how much he tries to deny it, and no matter how much his media cronies try to cover it up, it was barack hussein obama who came up with this plan to neuter our military under the guise of deficit reduction.

So the next time you hear obama ranting and raving about how children will starve, cities will burn, and democrats criminals will run wild in the street, just remember this line from Shakespeare's Macbeth:

"...it is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing."

Or, in pictures:

FOD 2013.02.25

Say what you will about obama -- and believe me, I've said plenty -- but give the devil his due. The SOB is pretty damn good at managing his image and covering up his actions (or inactions).

Case in point: the tragic deaths of four Americans during the attacks on our Benghazi consulate.

The Obama White House is to be congratulated. It has executed one of the most effective stonewalls in recent memory over the Benghazi attack Sept. 11 that killed our ambassador to Libya and three others. Its handling of the debacle's aftermath is a model example of the power of obfuscation and delay.

The imperative for the White House was, first, to try to deny that the assault was a coordinated terrorist attack lest that undermine its anti-terror credentials and, second, to push further consideration of the matter past the November election. After that, there would be no electoral consequences. And it all would be “old news.”

So the Accountability Review Board report from the State Department was scheduled to hit ... in December. When asked about Benghazi during the campaign, the president could aver, “Nobody wants to find out more what happened than I do.”

Of course, President Barack Obama knew what he did or did not do during the eight-hour attack that started at the consulate and continued at a safe house, where two security personnel were killed. If he had covered himself in glory, surely he would have let reporters know.

Instead, nothing. Time passed, and he won re-election. When Congress got around to hearings the past few weeks, “Benghazi” had become a watchword for right-wing obsessiveness.

Outgoing Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta has revealed under questioning that after a previously scheduled meeting with the president at 5 p.m. at the outset of the attacks, he had no communication from the White House the rest of the night. Neither, according to his testimony, did Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Martin Dempsey.

This raises the question of what Obama was doing during the long hours of an attack that killed a U.S. ambassador for the first time since 1979.

Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina vows to hold up Obama administration nominees until he gets answers. His determination is admirable, but by now, no one really cares.

The stonewall worked, alas. PR experts might want to rewrite their rules, at least for clients who can count on a compliant press. Benghazi was a fiasco. The handling of its aftermath by Obama and his team was brilliant.

It helps, of course, to have a media that is an extension of the obama campaign machine.

I try to stay positive, but at this point in time I'm beginning to have serious doubts about the long-term future of my beloved country. If an administration that is directly responsible for the deaths of American citizens through running guns (Fast and Furious), turning its back on American citizens in distress (Benghazi), and outright killing American citizens without due process (drone attacks) can garner the support of the media and a majority of the voters, then I fear we may be lost.