Speaking Words of Wisdom...

Since this Greek comedy-tragedy has been playing out in my old stomping grounds of Madison, Wisconsin and throughout The Dairy State, I’ve corresponded with a lot of friends and acquaintances–some who have been backing the Republican-led legislature and Governor Scott Walker; and others, most of them fellow union members, who believe that Wisconsin’s actions will portend a dead-end to collective bargaining; some going so far as to defend runaway democrat Wisconsin state senators, stating they are merely buying time until ‘cooler heads’ can prevail.

Yes, I’m a member of a union–but I can also see the fact that the taxpayers cannot sustain carte blanche bankrolling of never-ending union-based benefits. Even when Ronald Reagan broke the Air Traffic control union back in the early 1980s, it wasn’t the end of collective bargaining. Far from it.

There does comes a time, however, when the rights of public sector workers needs to be balanced against the rights and the well being of those whom they serve. This, in my opinion, is a long-awaited correction in a bubble of unsustainable growth in spending.

BTW–correct me if I’m wrong, but didn’t the majority of Wisconsinites vote for the Republicans to balance the state budget and to end runaway spending?

And yes, the democrat Senators ARE being derelict in their duty. Of course they don’t want legislation that will halt the union gravy train–the union is for all practical purposes a political arm of the democrat party that contributes hefty financial resources to its workings, not to mention nearly limitless footsoldier hours to help in their favored party’s re-election efforts.

Again–I’m a union member. I know that in the long term this will likely have significant repercussions in my now-home state of Minnesota, but the fact of the matter is that we are spending our great-grandchildren’s inheritances for present-day opulence, and it just has to stop, somewhere.

One of the long-loved mantras on the left during progressive rallies has been the time-honored favorite song by John Lennon called, “Give Peace a Chance.”

To my union brethren, the time is now indeed nigh to pay heed to another one of Lennon’s words of wisdom, “Let it be.”

Wednesday Hero Blogburst 2-16-2011

Petty Officer First Class Robert R. Scott
26 years old from Massillion, Ohio
December 7, 1941


Robert Raymond Scott joined the U.S. Navy in 1938. Was was assigned to the U.S.S. California and was stationed in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. On December 7, 1941 the California was hit by a torpedo during the attack. While other personnel were evacuated, Machinist's Mate First Class Scott remained at his station. He didn't survive. For his actions he was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor. And the U.S. Navy named the destroyer escort USS Scott (DE-214) in his honor in 1943.

From his citation:

For conspicuous devotion to duty, extraordinary courage and complete disregard of his own life, above and beyond the call of duty, during the attack on the Fleet in Pearl Harbor by Japanese forces on 7 December 1941. The compartment, in the U.S.S. California, in which the air compressor, to which Scott was assigned as his battle station, was flooded as the result of a torpedo hit. The remainder of the personnel evacuated that compartment but Scott refused to leave, saying words to the effect "This is my station and I will stay and give them air as long as the guns are going."

These brave men and women sacrifice so much in their lives so that others may enjoy the freedoms we get to enjoy everyday. For that, I am proud to call them Hero.
We Should Not Only Mourn These Men And Women Who Died, We Should Also Thank God That Such People Lived

This post is part of the Wednesday Hero Blogroll. For more information about Wednesday Hero, or if you would like to post it on your site, you can go here.

Of Lunatics and Light Bulbs

MSNBC had a story that stated, curiously, that people were just too dumb to buy into mercury-laced compact fluorescent lightbulbs (CFLs) and instead were still bitterly clinging onto the Thomas-Edison invented incandescent light bulbs.

While CFLs seem harsh on the eyes to many people and may pose disposal problems, they use about 80 percent less energy than incandescents and last up to 10 times as long. Lighting comprises about one-fifth of the typical monthly electrical bill. A typical household could save $10 to $50 a month by switching all incandescent bulbs to CFLs or LEDs, according to industry and consumer sources.

If every American home replaced just one incandescent bulb with one CFL, the corresponding cut in greenhouse gas emissions would equal the amount of pollutants produced by more than 800,000 vehicles, reports Greenzer.com, a shopping site that caters to the environmentally conscious. What’s more, CFL technology is slowly improving: some CFLs now can be used with dimming fixtures.

The utter nonsense of the above snippet notwithstanding, the comment section after the story had some excellent rebuttals to the story, expressing concerns with safe disposal of the mercury inherent in CFLs, CFL's inability to work efficiently as outdoor lamps in cold climates, their inability to work in dimmer-switch controlled fixtures, their inability to throw off natural light, and others.

Then came the reaction by this smarmy circus clown (a/k/a Puddleduck)

We don't always have the option to buy anything we want to use.

Seems like the same people who complain about buying oil from our enemies, are the same ones who want to keep buying more foreign oil and drilling for more oil here, so that they can hang onto their inefficient appliances.

(Yes, I know. It's such a pain pouring that gallon of gas down the back of my refrigerator--ed)

I guess that raising MPG standards for vehicles and raising efficiency standards for A/C, refrigerators, water heaters, etc., was an unnecessary intrusion into our lives and freedom, too. These rules are saving us millions of barrels of oil, per day, that we are not buying from our enemies.

I wonder if "Puddleduck" will make that same speech in the mirror when not so far down the road she has to plug in her government-approved and mandated electric car?

But here's where "Puddleduck" gets my blood REALLY boiling (emphases mine):

Unfortunately, these people are the reason that these kinds of laws have to be passed. Voluntary compliance doesn't seem to work with business or with the American people, even when compliance is in their own best interest.

If you want to try to be a patriot, then why not do something that doesn't take a lot of effort and helps this country with her energy crisis, instead of whining because one of your choices to create more pollution is being taken away from you?

To which I retorted,

We wouldn't HAVE to buy oil from our enemies if environmentalist whackos didn't have politicians in their hip pockets who prevent us from harvesting oil from our own lands (of which we have PLENTY--check out the Bakken).

We wouldn't have to buy mercury-laced CFLs if G.E. didn't have politicians in their back pocket that would MAKE us buy them, so that GE could make a boatload of money, and so that enviro-whackos could feel some sense of smug superiority in having their will imposed on others, and in the process feel like somehow they're going to control warming or cooling of the earth, even though we have no more control over the earth's climate than we do the rising and setting of the sun.

You ascribe authority and omniscience to some almighty governmental bureaucrat or politician who wouldn't know his backside from a hole in the ground as some kind of expert, just because they're elected or work in an EPA office; without any thought as to whether they either know what the heck they're talking about in the first place; or worse yet, whether they're feeding a bunch of BS to mushrooms in the dark so as to line their own pockets and/or prolong their power and control.

But go ahead, sheeple. Keep on trusting Big Brother to determine what is well and best for you, and to wipe your behind when you need it. Never. I mean NEVER--think for yourselves.

Some people's kids.

What Hath Roe v. Wade Wrought?

A legacy of over 50 million lives, snuffed before a breath could be taken.. and sometimes after a breath was taken:

Johnson learned last week that Philadelphia prosecutors believe Gosnell frequently delivered late-term babies alive at his clinic, then severed their spines with scissors, and often stored the fetal bodies — along with staff lunches — in refrigerators at the squalid facility. Tiny baby feet, prosecutors said, were discovered in specimen jars, lined up in a macabre collection.

"Did he do that to mine? Did he stab him in the neck?" Johnson asked at her North Philadelphia home. "Because I was out of it. I don't know what he did to my baby."

Gosnell was charged last week with killing seven babies born alive and with the 2009 death of a 41-year-old refugee after a botched abortion at the clinic, which prosecutors have called a drug mill by day and abortion mill by night. The medical practice alone netted him at least $1.8 million a year, much of it in cash, they say.

But the women going there were merely exercising their freedom of choice, right?

When Davida Johnson walked into Dr. Kermit Gosnell's clinic to get an abortion in 2001, she saw what she described as dazed women sitting in dirty, bloodstained recliners. As the abortion got under way, she had a change of heart — but claims she was forced by the doctor to continue.

"I said, 'I don't want to do this,' and he smacked me. They tied my hands and arms down and gave me more medication," Johnson told The Associated Press.

The AP tries to mitigate the horror of abortion by blaming it on the abortion protesters:

Johnson, then 21, had a 3-year-old daughter when she became pregnant again. She said she first went to Planned Parenthood in downtown Philadelphia but was frightened away by protesters.

"The picketers out there, they just scared me half to death," Johnson, now 30, recalled this week.

Someone sent her to Gosnell's West Philadelphia clinic, at the Women's Medical Society, saying anti-abortion protesters wouldn't be a problem there. She said she paid him $400 cash.

But really, what is the difference between what Gosnell does and what other abortion providers do on a regular basis? It comes down to a difference of only around 6 inches. You see, while most late-term abortion providers wait until the baby is partially delivered up to the neck before inserting a pair of scissors into the baby's skull, Gosnell did the exact procedure, only a minute or two later after the baby was fully delivered.

Either way presents a heinous end; grand larceny committed against human beings of their chance, nay their right to live their lives; the only offense committed by the infant being its mere existence.

Contrary to popular belief, examples of man's inhumanity to man do not exist exclusively on battlefields, gulags, nor death camps. Man's inhumanity to man is illustrated every day of the year, right within our own neighborhoods, right under our noses, to the most innocent and the most vulnerable among us.

As Mother Teresa of Calcutta once said, "It is a very great poverty to decide that a child must die that you might live as you wish."

Is Tim Mahoney a Poster Child for Cluelessness?

My representative, Steve Gottwalt, sent this gem along...

from Rep. Tim Mahoney (DFL- St. Paul) . . .

“Taxes are just a cost of doing business,” Mahoney said. “If you’re going to be ill, you’d rather be ill in Minnesota. We have a more high-service government than in Texas.”

Mr Gottwalt added (emphases mine),

"Mahoney and the DFL like high taxes -- they firmly believe higher levels of government spending result in a higher standard of living. He obviously has not checked the examples around the country. Take Maine and New Hampshire, for instance. One has reduced government; the other has grown it. Guess which one is doing better economically? We need lawmakers willing to embrace the reality that state government is living beyond its means, making promises it cannot keep with money it does not have -- and that does not lead to a better Minnesota. We need lawmakers with the wisdom and foresight to focus on sustainable outcomes, not just more spending. Minnesota's business and regulatory climate places it near dead
last in the nation. That's costing Minnesota jobs, prosperity and revenues.

In light of Illinois' democrat-controlled legislature's near unconscionable decision to raise taxes by 66 percent in a futile attempt to solve its budget woes, it should be quite apparent that the last thing one should do when one finds oneself in a hole is to keep on digging. After all, when the golden-egg laying producers vote with their feet as a reaction to these tax hikes, who will be left to foot the bill? Yet, in an exercise in magical thinking of epic proportions, Illinois democrat governor Pat Quinn praised the 'courageous' decision to raise taxes:

Patrick J. Quinn, the governor of Illinois and a Democrat, praised the decision of state lawmakers — in the wee hours of the morning on Wednesday — to raise the individual income tax rate by about 66 percent as a necessity to avert the state’s “fiscal emergency,” which includes a budget deficit of more than $13 billion, about $8 billion in unpaid bills to social service agencies, pharmacies and others, and a sinking bond rating.

“Our state was careening towards bankruptcy and fiscal insolvency,” Mr. Quinn told reporters, after indicating that he intended to sign the tax increase.

Gee.. and I wonder just how the State of Illinois found itself in fiscal insolvency and bankruptcy to begin with? Could it have been... Oh, I don't know, OUT OF CONTROL SPENDING???

Yet the same candy-man a/k/a Santa Claus mentality that had the effect of literally bringing Illinois to its knees, continues to be touted by clueless DFL legislators like Mahoney as if it's some sort of badge of honor.

DFLers like Mahoney can be compared to a guy sitting in a restaurant who observes folks at the next table begin to keel over from food poisoning. Now, anyone with a modicum of common sense would make it a point to see what they were eating, so as to avoid ordering the same thing, lest he suffer the same fate. Yet the magical thinking that is the hallmark of 'progressive' thought will not allow for such a blatant application of common sense. You see, fiscal train wrecks occur in other states--not ours!

A very wise man once said, "Learn from others' mistakes. You won't live long enough to make them all yourself."

It would appear that Mahoney and Co. have a very long, long way to go in learning that lesson.

Only He Who Risks, Is Free..

I met a very interesting character today on Twitter.. specifically, an individual that goes by the handle, ObeyMyObama; whose profile states:

The people want PROVISIONS supplied & RISK removed. Statist gov't only option. Statism works with fair & just leader like Obama. AcceptCopeObey

At first I thought that this was obviously a sham account; one that was created tongue and cheek.. but the more that I observed this fruitcake, the more I saw that this person was actually serious:

http://bit.ly/edmSn0 We believe a strong central government, led by a honorable, fair & just authority is most efficient & equal. #p2 #tcot

And...

We don't think that freedom is most important thing. Equality is most important. Government is the answer. #p2 #tcot

So I decided I make contact with this person:

>>@obeymyobama <<

to which this sad, sad person replied,

Communism failed, unfortunately. Statism will work this time w/ fair & just leader. Obama removes risk & provides provisions.

To which I retorted,

@obeymyobama And who provides Obama with the provisions to provide to you? Is it the magic provisions dust that Obama carries in his pocket?

To which she retorted:

@Leo_Pusateri those that can provided, must provide. Equality is the foundation to a fair and just society. Don't hate, give if you have.

Can one believe that such people exist in our United States? Someone who wants to be taken care of, womb to the tomb, so willing to give up their liberties in lieu of a life supposedly free of risk.

This exchange made me think a lot about how some people are quite comfortable with living their lives in economic squalor, devoid of liberties, so as to provide themselves with a false sense of security. This harkened back to me in the form of a poem from the 1980s that had been shared with me:

Only a Person who Risks is Free

To laugh is to risk appearing the fool.
To weep is to risk appearing sentimental.
To reach for another is to risk involvement.
To expose your ideas, your dreams,
before a crowd is to risk their loss.
To love is to risk not being loved in return.
To live is to risk dying.
To believe is to risk despair.
To try is to risk failure.
But risks must be taken, because the
greatest hazard in life is to risk nothing.
The people who risk nothing, do nothing,
have nothing, are nothing.
They may avoid suffering and sorrow,
but they cannot learn, feel, change,
grow, love, live.
Chained by their certitudes they are slaves;
they have forfeited their freedom.
Only a person who risks is free.

- anonymous

Separated At Birth? (newly updated)

Laura Ingraham has a whole eleven pages of "Separated at Birth" photos at her website...

Being somewhat of a "Separated at Birth" afficionado over the years, I've posted a few of my own and have compiled them into this post.

Enjoy!

A few "Separated at Births" I have noticed over the years:



Nancy Pelosi, and King Crimson:




Al Franken, and The Swamp Thing:




The Alien 'Exeter,' from the 1950s sci-fi classic,"This Island Earth," and Joe Biden. (I dare you to tell the difference--really).

Barack Obama, and the little brother from "Malcom in the Middle"




The Joker, and Algore:



Hillary Clinton, and some other man in a pantsuit.




'19th Hijacker,' Zackarias Moussoui, and "The Brain" from "Pinky & the Brain"



John Kerry, and the balloon heads running out at the opening of the Turin Olympics:




Boy George (Karma Chameleon) and Uncle Fester:




Welll... you be the judge:



With apologies to "The Little Buddy"



George Soros, and Simon Bar Sinister, from the 1960s cartoon show, "Underdog!"


And finally,

John McCain...


And his long-lost cousin...

Wednesday Hero Blogburst 12-22-2010

I sat here trying to think how to start this post. What did I want it to say? How long did I want it to be? I wasn't sure how to begin. I turned on some Christmas music to help get me in the right frame of mind to write a Christmas Wednesday Hero post, but it wasn't really helping. I mean, how do you properly thank a group of people who have given up everything in their lives to serve you and protect people all over the world with just a single post on a silly blog? Many of these Men and Women haven't seen their friends and families in months and many won't be seeing them for many more months. How do you thank them? They are away from home during the time of year when everyone should be together. How do you thank them for that? Some of them will never see their home or loved ones again because they laid down their life for a complete stranger. How do you thank them for that? I guess the better question would be are we able to thank them enough?

To all those who have completed their service, the ones who are serving, the ones who have payed the ultimate sacrifice and those who may have never served but help those who have and are, Thank You and Merry Christmas.

These brave men and women sacrifice so much in their lives so that others may enjoy the freedoms we get to enjoy everyday. For that, I am proud to call them Hero.
We Should Not Only Mourn These Men And Women Who Died, We Should Also Thank God That Such People Lived

This post is part of the Wednesday Hero Blogroll. For more information about Wednesday Hero, or if you would like to post it on your site, you can go here.

Monty Python can teach us alot about the DADT repeal...

Brain Shavings treats this one with impeccable logic.

And the START treaty is a surprise in what way?

There are some who may be a bit taken aback at the unilateral nature of the START treaty.

But for those of us who were actually paying attention, it's no surprise at all:

Wednesday Hero Blogburst 12-8-2010 SSgt Brent Schneider

SSgt. Brent Schneider
From Amarillo, Texas
2nd Battalion, 327th Infantry Regiment
January 26, 2005


A Green Country military mom is especially proud of her soldier son. He's on his second tour of duty in Afghanistan, and now he's been honored for his bravery under fire with a Silver Star.

It's not his first medal.

For a mother with a son in a war zone, Lisa Wheat is pretty cool, calm and collected.

"I'm comfortable because I know the training he's had. He's had excellent training. And I just have all of the confidence in the world in him," Lisa Wheat said.

You can read the rest of the article here and the Stars & Stripes piece here.

These brave men and women sacrifice so much in their lives so that others may enjoy the freedoms we get to enjoy everyday. For that, I am proud to call them Hero.
We Should Not Only Mourn These Men And Women Who Died, We Should Also Thank God That Such People Lived

This post is part of the Wednesday Hero Blogroll. For more information about Wednesday Hero, or if you would like to post it on your site, you can go here.

Wednesday Hero Blogburst 12-8-2010: Operation Darkhorse Heroes

This Weeks Post Was Suggested By Cindy



By now I'm sure you've all heard about 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines "Darkhorse" and the heavy casualties they've taken since being deployed to Afghanistan in September. Almost 20 causalities in October and November. Below is a list of the 3/5 Darkhorse Marines that I was able to find. If I've missed anyone please let me know. I'm not able to profile them all individually, but you can go here to find more information on these men.

Marine Sgt. Ian M. Tawney
Marine Lance Cpl. James D. Boelk
Marine Lance Cpl. Joseph C. Lopez
Marine Lance Cpl. Alec E. Catherwood
Marine Lance Cpl. Irvin M. Ceniceros
Marine Pfc. Victor A. Dew
Marine Lance Cpl. Joseph E. Rodewald
Marine Lance Cpl. Phillip D. Vinnedge
Marine Cpl. Justin J. Cain
Marine Lance Cpl. John T. Sparks
Marine 1st Lt. William J. Donnelly IV
Marine Lance Cpl. James B. Stack
Marine 2nd Lt. Robert M. Kelly
Marine Lance Cpl. Randy R. Braggs
Marine Lance Cpl. Brandon W. Pearson
Marine Lance Cpl. Matthew J. Broehm
Marine Sgt. Matthew T. Abbate
Marine Cpl. Derek A. Wyatt
Marine Pvt. Colton W. Rusk
Marine Sgt. Jason D. Peto (died on December 7)



These brave men and women sacrifice so much in their lives so that others may enjoy the freedoms we get to enjoy everyday. For that, I am proud to call them Hero.
We Should Not Only Mourn These Men And Women Who Died, We Should Also Thank God That Such People Lived

This post is part of the Wednesday Hero Blogroll. For more information about Wednesday Hero, or if you would like to post it on your site, you can go here.

A Warning to All Veterans:

Please give wide distribution -- Warning to All Veterans
WARNING TO ALL VETERANS More Info

WARNING TO VETERANS

Forwarded by Kevin Secor, VSO Liaison, Office of the Secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs.

An organization called Veterans Affairs Services (VAS) is providing benefit and general information on VA and gathering personal information on veterans. This organization is not affiliated with VA in any way.
http://www.vaservice...g/us/index.html

VAS may be gaining access to military personnel through their close resemblance to the VA name and seal. Our Legal Counsel has requested that we coordinate with DoD to inform military installations, particularly mobilization sites, of this group and their lack of affiliation or endorsement by VA to provide any services.

In addition, GC requests that if you have any examples of VAS acts that violate chapter 59 of Title 38 United States Code, such as VAS employees assisting veterans in the preparation and presentation of claims for benefits, please pass any additional information to Mr.Daugherty at the address below.

Michael G. Daugherty
Staff Attorney
Department of Veterans Affairs
Office of General Counsel (022G2)
810 Vermont Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20420

Wednesday Hero Blogburst 12-1-2010

his Weeks Post Was Suggested By Steve

Cpl. Ira H. Hayes
3rd Parachute Battalion, 2nd Battalion, 28th Marines, 1st Headquarters Battalion, HQMC
January 12, 1923 – January 24, 1955


Ira Hamilton Hayes, participant in the famous flag raising on Iwo Jima, was a Pima Indian, born at Sacaton, Arizona, on 12 January 1923. In 1932, the family moved a few miles southward to Bapchule. Both Sacaton and Bapchule are located within the boundaries of the Gila River Indian Reservation in south central Arizona. Hayes left high school after completing two years of study. He served in the Civilian Conservation Corps in May and June of 1942, and then went to work as a carpenter.

You can read more about Cpl. Hayes here.

These brave men and women sacrifice so much in their lives so that others may enjoy the freedoms we get to enjoy everyday. For that, I am proud to call them Hero.
We Should Not Only Mourn These Men And Women Who Died, We Should Also Thank God That Such People Lived

This post is part of the Wednesday Hero Blogroll. For more information about Wednesday Hero, or if you would like to post it on your site, you can go here.


(ed Note: Ira Hayes was also the subject of a famous Johnny Cash song:

Wednesday Hero Blogburst 11-24-2010

This Weeks Post Was Suggested By Beth

PFC Chance Phelps
19 years old from Dubois, Wyoming
3 Battalion, 11th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force
April 9, 2004


"I don't think anything can prepare you for two young men standing in the living room telling you your son’s been killed," said Gretchen Mack, mother of PFC Chance Phelps. "It's just surreal. They were crying." The last time she had talked her to son was a few days before his death. "He said, 'Mom, I'm fine.' He sounded great. It was really good to be able to talk to him. It made us feel better."

PFC Phelps was KIA while battling insurgents just outside of Baghdad, Iraq.

Friends recall Phelps as a fun-loving, hard-nosed kid. "He was big but didn't throw his size around to intimidate people", said Jarod Estey. "He was probably the toughest kid I knew growing up in grade school. He was probably the biggest kid, too — well-built and strong. But he was real easy going. He always had a smile on his face."

"He was very in tune politically," said his mother. "He knew what he wanted for this country. ... He told me after 9/11, 'I absolutely have to go. I've got to do something.'" But joining the military isn't anything new for the family. His father, John Phelps, is a Vietnam veteran. And his sister, Kelley, works at the Pentagon and is engaged to an Army sergeant.

"He had an unusual amount of zest," said his mother. "He just possessed this quality that he had to be in the thick of things all the time. He was very, very positive, very funny. ... His main thing in life was making people laugh."

You can read more here.

These brave men and women sacrifice so much in their lives so that others may enjoy the freedoms we get to enjoy everyday. For that, I am proud to call them Hero.
We Should Not Only Mourn These Men And Women Who Died, We Should Also Thank God That Such People Lived

This post is part of the Wednesday Hero Blogroll. For more information about Wednesday Hero, or if you would like to post it on your site, you can go here.