Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Medal of Honor

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Lieutenant Colonel Leo K. Thorsness


Citation:

For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty. As pilot of an F- 105 aircraft, Lt. Col. Thorsness was on a surface-to-air missile suppression mission over North Vietnam. Lt. Col. Thorsness and his wingman attacked and silenced a surface-to-air missile site with air-to-ground missiles, and then destroyed a second surface-to-air missile site with bombs. In tile attack on the second missile site, Lt. Col. Thorsness' wingman was shot down by intensive antiaircraft fire, and the 2 crewmembers abandoned their aircraft. Lt. Col. Thorsness circled the descending parachutes to keep the crewmembers in sight and relay their position to the Search and Rescue Center. During this maneuver, a MIG-17 was sighted in the area. Lt. Col. Thorsness immediately initiated an attack and destroyed the MIG. Because his aircraft was low on fuel, he was forced to depart the area in search of a tanker. Upon being advised that 2 helicopters were orbiting over the downed crew's position and that there were hostile MlGs in the area posing a serious threat to the helicopters, Lt. Col. Thorsness, despite his low fuel condition, decided to return alone through a hostile environment of surface-to-air missile and antiaircraft defenses to the downed crew's position. As he approached the area, he spotted 4 MIG-17 aircraft and immediately initiated an attack on the MlGs, damaging 1 and driving the others away from the rescue scene. When it became apparent that an aircraft in the area was critically low on fuel and the crew would have to abandon the aircraft unless they could reach a tanker, Lt. Col. Thorsness, although critically short on fuel himself, helped to avert further possible loss of life and a friendly aircraft by recovering at a forward operating base, thus allowing the aircraft in emergency fuel condition to refuel safely. Lt. Col. Thorsness' extraordinary heroism, self-sacrifice, and personal bravery involving conspicuous risk of life were in the highest traditions of the military service, and have reflected great credit upon himself and the U.S. Air Force.


Lt. Col. Thorsness: We humbly salute you and thank you for your service.

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Hat tip Home of Heroes

There are fewer than a hundred living MoH recipients today. Their names and their stories should not be forgotten. My mission is to honor one of those heroes here each week, and salute them for their courage and sacrifice. In the words of John Fitzgerald Kennedy:
“A nation reveals itself not only by the men it produces, but also by the men it honors; the men it remembers.”


Cross posted at Say Anything

Fire Melts Steel

Back during the 9/11 controversy, one Hollywood twit scoffed at the idea that fire could melt steel. I thought of that when I saw the live video from the Daytona 500, where burning jet fuel ate through steel. Even though fire crews were there in a matter of seconds, the extreme heat did this kind of damage.

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Imagine a similar jet fuel fire with no suppressing foam, no water to douse it, eating away at the structural integrity of the WTC.

I don't know if actual evidence can persuade the conspiracy theorists, but as Mulder and Scully said, The Truth is out there.

For reference, here is a picture of the jet dryer truck with it's steel metal boxes intact.
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Update: It was pointed out by a commenter that this plating was aluminum instead of steel. When I first saw the video and the stills of what appeared to me to be chrome plated steel, I took this to be an example of "fire melting steel". I contacted a manufacturer of similar trucks who told me they indeed use aluminum over steel. I drew my conclusions based on observation and my experience with diamond plate steel in the past. I made an honest mistake based on not unreasonable assumptions.

I thank 2Hotel9 for pointing out the error. And I laugh at the weak minded liberals, whose glee over my making a simple mistake caused them paroxysms of schadenfreude, based, no doubt, on their inability to best me in honest intellectual debate.


Cross posted at LCR, Say Anything.

Quote du jour

Women now have choices. They can be married, not married, have a job, not have a job, be married with children, unmarried with children. Men have the same choice we've always had: work, or prison.


-Tim Allen

Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Sex in Advertising

For all you connoisseurs of advertising...



I may not be sure exactly what she's selling, but, I'm pretty sure I'm in the market!

Obama, Obama, Pants on Fire

A great piece of video that shows the disaster that is Obama's energy policy:



Obama likes to take credit for increased oil production, all of which was a result of the policies and decisions of previous administrations. Funny how he blames Bush for every bad thing, but wants to take credit for every good thing the Bush administration did.

Note that on the graphic, the areas available for leasing are from a program started in 2007.
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Update : A golden oldie from Obama's Forgotten Groove Yard



Cross posted at Say Anything

Quote du jour

Everywhere the president goes, he explains that he’s failed to get anything done either because the system is broken or because his opponents lack the honor and decency to work with him. Such arguments define cynicism.

-Jonah Goldberg

Monday, February 27, 2012

Fire at Daytona 500

With 40 laps left on the Daytona 500, a fiery crash suspended the race.

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"Relax! It's just the Chevy Volt pace car!"


No word yet if the race is over. Depends on the condition of the track.

A car spun out of control and hit a safety truck, towing a jet engine used to blow debris off the track. Carrying about 200 gallons of jet fuel, miraculously, the truck did not explode and both the driver of the car and the driver of the truck escaped with minimal injuries.

The fire was extinguished rather quickly. The debris has been removed from the track and box after box of Tide laundry detergent was brought out to remove the jet fuel from the pavement.
The track is being washed down and they hope to resume the race in half an hour.

Funniest tweet:
"Hello jet engine on a truck. My name is Juan Pablo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die."


8:21 PM PST Drivers are being sent back to their cars in anticipation of restarting the race.
8:58 Race is back underway under yellow...


Cross posted at LCR, Say Anything.

Ron Paul -Stalking Horse for Romney?

At the risk of alienating long time Ron Paul fans, here's a view from the other side...

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It seems that the evidence is mounting that Ron Paul, admired for his forthrightness and unwavering message may have been less than honest with followers specifically and the public in general.

First, a note for those of you not familiar with the term "stalking horse". In frontier times, a stalking horse was a kind of camouflage. A herd of deer or bison might be spooked by a two legged figure coming towards it, but a hunter walking alongside a horse was perceived as just another herd beast, until the hunter was close enough to shoot his prey. The stalking horse gave the hunter cover by disguising his motives.

It seems that Ron Paul may have been Romney's stalking horse among conservatives in the debates...

An analysis of 20 debates by ThinkProgress* shows that Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul did not attack rival Mitt Romney once during those televised face-offs.

"The Con Artist"



Or, as the Bamboozler-in-Chief is so fond of saying...The "bamboozler".

H/T Daily Caller

The Whims Of Those Warming The Bench

by guest blogger Andrew Roman
_________________________


Judge Jeffery White, Bush appointee
The man's name is Jeffery White. He is a native New Yorker who, since 2002, sits as a District Court Judge in San Francisco. He was appointed by that heathen - that steward of all this is implacable and soulless - George W. Bush.

Perhaps our left-leaning brethren ought to reconsider their animus for our forty-third President. Judge White is proving to be quite a friend to them.

Seven years ago, for example, the Bush appointee ruled that it was perfectly suitable for groups to sue the federal government because of its financial backing of overseas projects that contributed to global warming  - the first judge ever to give the go-ahead to greenies to sue the feds over smokestacks and exhaling. (The groups included “Friends of the Earth” and “Greenpeace”).

On Wednesday of last week, Judge White, in a forty-three page ruling, said the Defense Of Marriage Act, passed in 1996 under President Bill Clinton - the law that says the federal government will only recognize marriage as the union between one man and one woman - is flat out unconstitutional.

Period.

Maybe a "thank you" card to Mr. Bush is in order.

Just as Judge Joseph Tauro did in Massachusetts almost two years ago, Judge White has taken it upon himself - and that's the key word here: himself - to decide that the issue is, in fact, a federal matter. Judge White has magically - miraculously - sifted through Lord knows how many stubborn penumbras to discover a constitutional basis on which to overrule the Defense Of Marriage Act.

Hallelujah. Such skill.

And just like that, the matter of same-sex marriage, thanks to the opinion of one man in a fiercely liberal district - and that, too, is a key word: opinion - has officially been remodeled (if it hadn’t been already) from an issue to be decided by the people to one that will now be tended to by judges.

Quite a strategy. A hell of a plan.

What truly stinks about this entire affair is the obscene and ever-growing arrogance of powerful people who believe they know what is right for the whole of society based on their own agendas, regardless of the law or the will of the people. (I know this is a charge regularly hoisted upon conservatives, but definitionally, those of us on the right seek less government involvement, not more. It is sweet irony how self-professed libertarians like Ron Paul are in favor of same-sex marriage when it would only increase the power and entanglement of government in our lives?).

Take what happened in New Jersey recently as an example.

Two Thursdays ago, the state assembly there passed a bill, by a vote of 42-33, to legalize same-sex marriage - a measure that was ultimately vetoed by Governor Chris Christie. Assembly Speaker Sheila Oliver said the body was doing "what citizens sent us here to do: to deliberate, the use the legislative process to represent the interests of all New Jerseyans."

If a more dishonest statement exists, I've not unearthed it.

Whose "interests" exactly are being represented? As defined by whom?

State Senator Kip Bateman says the legality of same-sex marriage in New Jersey should be put on the ballot for the people to decide - a perfectly reasonable notion - but Senate President Steve Sweeney says he won't let that happen.

Read that again: He won't let that happen.

In other words, he won't permit the people of New Jersey to be heard on the matter, rendering Oliver's assertion that they have been sent to Trenton to represent the interests of the people a lie, by definition.

And how do they justify this? How can Dems so casually flip off the people they were sent to the state capitol to represent?

By incorrectly pushing same-sex marriage as a civil rights issue. Because they frame it as such, the citizenry should not – and cannot - be involved in deciding the matter.

Welcome to the modern liberal mind.

Convenient, yes?

Acknowledging the very real emotionality surrounding the issue, there is simply no sound argument for same-sex marriage as a matter of civil rights. Equating the redefinition of marriage with the struggles of American blacks during the 20th Century may pass as deep intellectual fodder in campus dorm rooms and Chomsky discussion groups, but there isn't any meat on that bone. It's like saying natural gas and bananas are identical because they both come from the earth.

To begin with, blacks did not have the option of concealing their “blackness.” In many areas, disgusting injustices against blacks were abhorrently conspicuous and institutionalized. "Whites Only" signs really did exist in plain sight. Economic disparity, housing discrimination and the inability to access the same public facilities as whites was the norm. The word “oppression” accurately depicts the black experience during the era of Jim Crow.

Not so for gays. Not to that degree.

Genuine inequalities in employment opportunities, income and housing were, at best, marginal issues for homosexuals in America.

Gay liberation began as a movement intended to, in essence, “legalize” homosexual behavior as well as protect openly gay institutions from harassment and varying forms of state injustice – which did exist, but never to the levels incurred by blacks. It eventually evolved into an “equality” campaign, fashioned after the civil rights movement - one that ultimately forced the acceptance of homosexuality on heterosexual America while, ironically, demanding that the public at large stay out of their bedrooms and shut up about it. The golden nugget of the movement would eventually become the actual redefinition of the millennia-old institution of marriage.

Equality, indeed.

Ask yourself: Is today’s inability for gays to marry in most states even on the same planet as the injustices suffered by blacks during Jim Crow?

In his ruling Wednesday, Judge White wrote:

"The imposition of subjective moral beliefs of a majority upon a minority cannot provide a justification for the legislation. The obligation of the Court is 'to define the liberty of all, not to mandate our own moral code."

But isn't law based on a moral code? Laws against rape? Theft? Murder? If those aren't moral positions, then what are they?

And if Judge White is to be taken at his word - that the moral beliefs of a majority cannot provide justification for legislation - does he mean to say that the moral beliefs of the minority should do so instead? And if not, then what is he talking about? How, then, are such decisions made in a representative republic? Through the opinion of one judge whose personal agenda is to normalize homosexuality?

Regardless of one's position on the matter, this flies beyond the issue of same-sex marriage. This is really about judicial tyranny, as talk show host and author Mark Levin characterizes it. On his radio show last Wednesday, Levin said:

"The courts have taken over the issue of same-sex marriage just like they took over the issue of abortion. Now what do you think is going to happen? Do you think the courts are taking over in order to return it to people in the states? No. They're taking over this issue in order to impose their will on you and me and everybody else.
...
When this single federal judge uses his authority this way to give what is, in essence, a political speech, with zero precedent and zero constitutional basis, he's doing from the bench something that is very very troubling, and it happens all the time, I'm afraid to say - using the power of the law to impose his personal beliefs."


Incidentally, the fact that Judge White was appointed by a Republican does not take the activist judge argument off the table for conservatives. This is not a “gotcha” moment. The “unconstitutionality” of the Defense of Marriage Act isn’t suddenly obvious because a Republican appointee said so.

Nice try, libs.

It doesn’t matter who appointed Judge White to the federal bench.

An activist judge is an activist judge, regardless of who brought him (or her) to the dance.

Same-sex marriage aside, this kind of power grab from the bench  – becoming all too common - ought to both scare and disgust us - all of us.


-

Quote du jour

A liberal, a moderate and a conservative walk into a bar.
The bartender says, "Hi, Mitt!"

-anonymous

Sunday, February 26, 2012

Themes Like Old Times

Perry Mason

Quote du jour

If, as I do, you live in the country, you have dozens of neighbors like Miss Strader – nice high-school girls who babysit your kids; you lose touch, they move to the next town, and you bump into them a couple of years later doing the late shift at the diner or the general store; they’re 23 or 24, with three kids by three different guys. And they’re still nice, and still kinda pretty, if aged beyond their years. But life and its opportunities are fled. If you’re Britney Spears and you wake up after an almighty bender next to some guy you’d rather not face the grey morning after with, there are high-priced lawyers and managers and minders to make all the bad stuff go away. If you’re Britney at the KwikkiKrap, it’s not so easy.

-Mark Steyn

Saturday, February 25, 2012

A Little Saturday Night Music

John Denver - Follow Me

Saturday Linkaround

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Cartoon of the Day – NRO Home page

Dismantling the Phony Case Against Voter ID

18 Statistics That Prove That The Economy Has Not Improved Since Barack Obama Became President

Brokest Nation In History Fusses Instead About Sex –Mark Steyn

Friday Night Doc Dump: Did WH economic advisers raise red flags on Solyndra as early as March 2010?

Obama Administration Is Giving Away 7 Strategic Islands to Russia

Thomas Sowell vs Occupy Wall Street and Obama –video

For Women Under 30, Most Births Occur Outside Marriage

John Bolton CPAC 2012 Speech

Wagging Our Finger at Foreigners

The Continued White House White Wash

Obama’s Cynicism –Jonah Goldberg

Slain soldier's father protests NJ flag-lowering –Burns New Jersey flag

Allen West mocks Think Progress as a bunch of whiners

Holder Must Go

Afghans Torch Effigy of “Black Dog Obama” During Koran Rioting

Feds Sue Mama Moonbat Cindy Sheehan For Not Paying Her Taxes…

White House ignores House subpoena's on Solyndra

Obama Wrecks the Mars Program

Phantom Eye hydrogen-powered spy plane unveiled

Why Mitt Romney's Presidential Prospects May Not Be Salvageable

This is what raising taxes on the 'rich' will get you

Solyndra decomposes into an environmental disaster

Breitbart on why the media tends to ignore Fast and Furious -VIDEO

Obama Does Not “Accept Responsibility” For Soaring Gas Prices…

So Are High Gas Prices Good or Bad? –Victor Davis Hanson

Stolen Valor 'More Than Just Lying,' SEAL Watchdog Says

After Returning From Her 16th Vacation in 3 Years Michelle Obama Bashes Rich at Big Donor Luncheon

A “golden oldie”: The Dixiecrat Myth

Top 10 Signs That the Obama Administration is Finally Embracing Transparency

Noted Tax Cheat Says The Rich Should Pay Higher Taxes For The Privilege Of Being American

VIDEO: Gregory Peck recites The Gettysburg Address

Old Commie Meets New Progressive (Fun with Photoshop) -MNR

Skiing with Sasquatch

Mitterick and his Wingman Goose (P'shop)




Rule Five Roundup
*:

Someone needs a carwash

American Power- Kate Upton

Camp of the Saints - Rule Five Saturday, Rule Five News

Classic Liberal – Rule 5, Doutzen Kroes

The Daley Gator – Daley Babes – Melyssa Grace, Carisso Rosario, One lucky Harley -video, Janet Jackson

El Opinador Compulsivo – Kate Upton –video

Eye of Polyphemus – Britney Spears, Dana Delaney

The Feral Irishman – Xena Greenpeace Warrior

Friday Night Babe – Cassidy Freeman

Bar Refaeli

Guns and Bikinis – Taylor Stone

Hookers and Booze - Not for the "PETA Impaired"

Rule 5 Blogging: IDF edition

Jake Finnegan – Danica Patrick

Maggie’s Notebook – Rule 5 Saturday Night: Candice Swanepoel and a Couple of Bonus Babes

The 10 Hottest Conservative Women of 2012

Party with Supermodel

Pirates Cove - Sorta Blogless Sunday Pinup, If All You See…, If All You See…, If All You See…, If All You See…, If All You See…, If All You See…, If All You See…,If All You See…

pitsnipesgripes – The Backside of Rule Five

POH Diaries -Danica Patrick

PostalDog -Late Night Hotness

Randy’s Roundtable –Midweek Break, Thursday Nite Tart

Reaganite Republican – Miss Kosovo

Sex in Advertising - Reach out and touch someone

Soylent Green – Overnight Nicety

Support your local Gunfighter – JWoww, Eva Longoria

Teresamerica – Rule 5 – Amanda Seyfried

Theo Spark –Bath night, Bedtime Toddy, Bedtime Toddy

The Other McCain- Rule 5 Sunday , Danica Patrick

Three Beers Later – Because it's winter

Vintage Babe of the Week – Francis Octavia Smith a.k.a. Dale Evans

Belated Valentine Wishes

Rule 5 Woodsterman Style : Short Aircraft Quiz




*By no means comprehensive.

Use the comments as an open thread on any of these topics. If you feel that I’ve neglected a link, news, commentary, humor or Rule Fivage, send a link to the contact email on the sidebar. (All spambots must die!)

Cross posted at Say Anything

Quote du jour

"There's such a flood of content out there in every medium, that being able to stand out from the noise has become the biggest challenge."

-John Hawkins

Friday, February 24, 2012

Friday Night Babe

Tonight's FNB* is Cassidy Freeman!

(*a.k.a. Rule Five Friday)

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Obama's Solution to Energy Problems is Scum

No. Really.



And they mocked Newt for wanting to return to the moon! And, as I noted in another place, this proposal will have to overcome the vigorous objections of PETA:
People for the Ethical Treatment of Algae.



Cross posted at LCR, Say Anything.

Quote du jour

"Sometimes an innocent man is sentenced to Congress."

-Will Rogers

Thursday, February 23, 2012

Mitterick and His Wingman, Goose

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I know. Goose was Maverick's "RIO" (Radar Intercept Officer), not his wingman. Call it "artistic license"!

Vintage Babe of the Week

Tonight's Vintage Babe* is Frances Octavia Smith! You may remember her as "Dale Evans".
(*a.k.a. Rule Five Thursday)

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Like fine wines, the ladies improve with age!

Quote du jour

"Obama's got to run on his record this time, and the only people calling for "hope and change" are us!"

-Ann Coulter

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

What Do Electric Cars and Bricks Have in Common?

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Bricks maneuver better without a battery!

In driving, there's a maxim about driving at night: You should never overdrive your headlights. That means you shouldn't drive faster than you can see to stop. The supposedly well intentioned advocates of electric car technology are overdriving their headlights.

Tesla Motors' lineup of all-electric vehicles — its existing Roadster, almost certainly its impending Model S, and possibly its future Model X — apparently suffer from a severe limitation that can largely destroy the value of the vehicle. If the battery is ever totally discharged, the owner is left with what Tesla describes as a "brick": a completely immobile vehicle that cannot be started or even pushed down the street. The only known remedy is for the owner to pay Tesla approximately $40,000 to replace the entire battery. Unlike practically every other modern car problem, neither Tesla's warranty nor typical car insurance policies provide any protection from this major financial loss.


Teslas start at about $49,000. Granted, it is a vehicle more likely to be purchased by the well-to-do. But, imagine the joy of anyone coming back from a vacation or business trip, and discovering that they had forgotten to plug the car in, or someone accidentally unplugged the cord, or a breaker tripped and their $50 to $100K sports car now needs a $40,000 battery and a tow truck or it will never move again. (Unless, maybe up on cinderblocks, in an upscale version of Rio Linda?) And good luck finding one in stock at the local Sears or Pep Boys! Figure on it being in the shop for a while.

This is technology not yet ready for prime time. Some electric cars are little more than street legal golf carts. Others, like the Teslas, are poised to become lawn sculptures. When the technology is ready, people will buy more and more of them, and that will make them cheaper to mass produce. (Think big screen TVs.) But, in the meantime, are government subsidies of overpriced electric cars the wisest use of our limited resources? I sincerely doubt it.

Cross posted at LCR, Say Anything.

Medal of Honor

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Lieutenant (then Petty Officer) Michael Edwin Thornton


Citation:

For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty while participating in a daring operation against enemy forces. PO Thornton, as Assistant U.S. Navy Advisor, along with a U.S. Navy lieutenant serving as Senior Advisor, accompanied a 3-man Vietnamese Navy SEAL patrol on an intelligence gathering and prisoner capture operation against an enemy-occupied naval river base. Launched from a Vietnamese Navy junk in a rubber boat, the patrol reached land and was continuing on foot toward its objective when it suddenly came under heavy fire from a numerically superior force. The patrol called in naval gunfire support and then engaged the enemy in a fierce firefight, accounting for many enemy casualties before moving back to the waterline to prevent encirclement. Upon learning that the Senior Advisor had been hit by enemy fire and was believed to be dead, PO Thornton returned through a hail of fire to the lieutenant's last position; quickly disposed of 2 enemy soldiers about to overrun the position, and succeeded in removing the seriously wounded and unconscious Senior Naval Advisor to the water's edge. He then inflated the lieutenant's lifejacket and towed him seaward for approximately 2 hours until picked up by support craft. By his extraordinary courage and perseverance, PO Thornton was directly responsible for saving the life of his superior officer and enabling the safe extraction of all patrol members, thereby upholding the highest traditions of the U.S. Naval Service.


Lieutenant Thornton: We humbly salute you and thank you for your service.

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Hat tip Home of Heroes

There are fewer than a hundred living MoH recipients today. Their names and their stories should not be forgotten. My mission is to honor one of those heroes here each week, and salute them for their courage and sacrifice. In the words of John Fitzgerald Kennedy:
“A nation reveals itself not only by the men it produces, but also by the men it honors; the men it remembers.”


Cross posted at Say Anything

Quote du jour

Lincoln Split Rails.
Reagan Split Firewood.
Clinton Split Hairs.
Obama Split the Country.


-Proof

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Sex in Advertising

For all you connoisseurs of advertising...

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I may not be sure exactly what she's selling, but, I'm pretty sure I'm in the market!

Quote du jour

"I hope Obama gets scary in the next four years, ’cuz he ain’t gotta worry about getting re-elected."

-Samuel L. Jackson

Monday, February 20, 2012

We Didn't Either, Did You?

Cross-posted at the Left Coast Rebel

Spotted near Carlsbad Village Drive and the PCH this afternoon in San Diego, CA.
Since I am always looking for a bloggable photo-op, I approached the individual pictured above. I was just cooling down from a run and a bit out of breath. I immediately appreciated the guy's chutzpah; he was sporting his tea party-related signage on an extremely busy street...

When I saw him from a distance I had no idea what his statement was; for anyone that is familiar with the area, he was stoically standing at the corner of Pine Street and Carlsbad Blvd. You know what I mean when I say that this particular little slice of grass, benches and beautiful Pacific Ocean views attracts some pretty colorful characters and there's always a decent crowd. Over the years I've seen it all -- flaming-bowling-pin jugglers, New-agers, anti-war hippies, exercise freaks, magicians, artists, well-endowed girls showing their "stuff", dog-whisperers, New-age JESUS SAVES! followers, Buddhists, panhandlers... the list goes on and you never know just what you are going to get. That's the fun of it, I guess. It's kind like a family-friendly version of Venice Beach, California.

Anyway, I digress. I approached Bill (let's just call him that for simplicity's sake) and told him that I liked his sign and that I "didn't vote for the Obamanation either." As an aside, if anyone reads my rants and scribbles, recall that I refused to call Teh Won anything but The Obamanation for at least six months after the 2008 election. This little tidbit enraged the leftist trolls to no end... ah, the good ol' days.

I digress, again. Bill told me that he lost his house in 2009 and that he has plenty of time on his hands to try to save this country from Washington DC. I like that. He told me that he has a plan that he's cooked up, some type of three-tier system that he firmly believes will save the country. I'm not sure just how it works. But I like plans cooked up by ordinary folk with skin in the game. Unlike Washington, plans like that actually might work.

Bill owns and operates HelpUsSaveTheUsa.com. I couldn't find his plan but check it out when you have a free minute.

Oh yes, he told me he's been on O'Reilly's show 22 times. This is as of now unconfirmed.

Don'tcha Wish There Was an Oil Man in the White House Now?

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Remember how, just a few years back, when we had a real president, every time the price of gasoline would go up, you could count on some liberal to screech about how Bush and Cheney were "oil men" and they were just "helping their buddies in the oil bidness"? (Actually, they didn't say "bidness". They weren't cool enough to pull it off!) Wish I had a nickel for every time I heard that!

And now we have in the White House, a man who's never been in any kind of business and the prices have gone up even faster. How can that be? Does Obama have friends in the oil bidness, too? What's his excuse?

And then, there was Nancy Pelosi. When she assumed the speakership, gas was around $1.80- $2.00 a gallon. She was outraged! And she pledged that her Democrat controlled House would "do something about it"! I guess we should have asked her to be a little more specific about what they were going to do!

And two dirty little secrets, one, Democrat social planners have been advocating raising taxes on gasoline to drive the price up to five dollars a gallon, to reduce gasoline consumption (and keep us all poorer). And two, government already pulls in more cash from a gallon of gas than oil companies make in profits.

Look at this chart from Daily Markets last year:

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State and Federal gas taxes combined, take 26 to 68 cents a gallon and funnels it straight to the government. Oil company profits are around two per cent, and those evil SOBs are just out to screw you.

So, let me get this straight...the people who stand to make the most from high oil prices are...the government tax collectors. And some politicians want to demonize the people who actually bust their hump to bring the energy to you, when the government levies taxes twenty five times as high as oil company profits, on every gallon of gas you buy. As our progressieve friends like to say, the gas taxes are regressive taxes that hit the poor hardest. The poor pay proportionally more for gas to look for work or to commute to a job than the upper or middle classes. Why doesn't some good liberal suggest lowering the gas tax? Because it is a cash cow for government. And as long as they can keep the common folk focusing on how evil Big Oil is, they'll keep spending. But, think about it...if Exxon/Mobil is making millions off their two cent profit...how much more is Big Government siphoning out of your pocket every day?

Vote your pocketbook this November. We can't afford the cost of the Green Utopia Obama and his social planners have picked out for us. Some people are putting Post-it notes on the gas pumps: "How's that hope and change working out for you?" But, whenever you drive down the street, point out all those gas signs to your friends as political advertisements for Anybody but Obama.


Cross posted at LCR, Say Anything.

Quote du jour

The Super Bowl halftime show one the most amazing feats of engineering. The crew has less than 20 minutes to deploy a complex system of rigging, cranes, and pulleys. And once they get Madonna in her corset, they have to put up the stage.

–Craig Ferguson

Sunday, February 19, 2012

Themes Like Old Times

Ivanhoe

Quote du jour

Just because you have been in a gunfight, doesn't mean you are a gunfighter.

-Deebow, at Blackfive

Saturday, February 18, 2012

Tom Sullivan Interviews Sarah Palin

One of my favorite talk show hosts, Tom Sullivan, interviews Gov. Sarah Palin.

A Little Saturday Night Music

Jarrod Niemann: Lover, You don't treat me no good no more

WTF Without NASA, Mr. President?

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April 2010, Obama was lying through his teeth talking to NASA employees, hoping to bamboozle them into voting Democrat, no doubt, in the midterm elections. From the BBC:

Barack Obama says it should be possible to send astronauts to orbit the planet Mars by the mid-2030s and return them safely to Earth. The US president made the claim in a major speech to staff and guests at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. He was laying out the details of his new policy for the US space agency.


Forget the moon, says Obama! We're aiming for a Mars mission! So, imagine my surprise to read this today:

In its budget submitted to Congress on February 13, the Obama administration zeroed out funding for NASA’s future Mars-exploration missions. The Mars Science Lab Curiosity, currently en route to the Red Planet and the nearly completed small MAVEN orbiter, scheduled for launch in 2013, will be sent, but that’s it. No funding has been provided for the Mars probes planned as joint missions in 2016 and 2018 with the European Space Agency, and nothing after that is funded either. This poses a grave crisis for the American space program.


One last orbiter and then...no funding whatsoever? How will this further your announced goal of manned missions to Mars? Was this just another in a long line of promises with an expiration date, Mr. Obama? Another line in a speech pandering to whatever audience you were in front of because it sounded good at the time?

It used to be a common rhetorical question, "If we can put a man on the moon, why can't we do ______?" My question is, if the government can funnel million of dollars to failing solar companies like Solyndra, that they know will fail, and millions of dollars for overseas companies to make electric cars and batteries, why can't we put a man on the moon any more?

When Obama talks about "Winning the Future", he's talking about future elections, not the future of our country. WTF.

He was laying (ab)out the details of his new policy for the US space agency.
There! Fixed it for you, Mr. Obama!

Update : I didn't think of it before (second cup of coffee hadn't kicked in), but in line with the political cartoon, maybe Mars won't be the only "Red planet"?

Cross posted at LCR, Say Anything.

Saturday Linkaround

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Cartoon of the Day – NRO Home page

Scientists stunned by simple data collection

OCCUPUPPETS

The Obamacare Trifecta

Rockets Fired into Israel

Tired of the same old chants, Occupiers?

Cost of Four Years of Obama: $5,170,000,000,000.00

WH falsely claims budget can be filibustered

Democrats’ star speaker Van Jones fires up crowd — and emerges party “leader of the future”? –because “crazy” sells well on the Left Coast!

Inside Media Matters: Sources, memos reveal erratic behavior, close coordination with White House and news organizations

Admin energy policy leads to highest trade deficit in years

"The Promise That Became A Punch Line"


Impromptus
- Jay Nordlinger

Media Matters and their 2010 Taxes

ObamaCare Is Not A Tax… Except When It Is

Four Chaplains Memorial Service


Krauthammer Schools Entire Inside Washington Panel: Payroll Tax Cut Is Crack Cocaine


Modest proposal for a penny...

Obama's Greatest Hits -P'shop

Animal Rights Drone Shot Down Taking Photos Over Private Property: Mikrokopter Bain of Privacy?





Rule Five Kate Upton Roundup
*:


American Power- Kate Upton

Camp of the Saints - Rule Five Saturday, Hump Day Rule Five, Rule Five News (with Kate Upton)

Classic Liberal – Rule 5 – Tequila

The Daley Gator – Daley Babes – Ani Lorak

Dustbury –Adele Plus Photoshop

El Opinador Compulsivo – How does that old joke go? “If you catch me, you can have me”, Penny for your thoughts

Eye of Polyphemus – Ashley Greene, Scarlett Johansson, Jennifer Ellison, Sophie Myles

The Feral Irishman – They allow soccer…, G-nite

Friday Night Babe – Kate Upton

Kate Upton Esquire Shoot (video)

Also Kate Upton, Bikini girl with AK47

Guns and Bikinis – Surprise! Kate Upton...

Hookers and Booze

Jake Finnegan – Adele

Maggie’s Notebook – Rule 5 –Kate Upton Dancing on Beach Video: Kate Upton Niece of Rep. Fred Upton: Upton SI Cover PhotoShopped? (3 videos)

Helena Christensen -Hot!

Pirates Cove - Sorta Blogless Sunday Pinup, If All You See…, If All You See…, If All You See…

pitsnipesgripes – beauty of the female form

POH Diaries -Rule 5: Kate Upton

PostalDog -Late Night hotness, Natalie Gulbis

Randy’s Roundtable –Midweek Break, Thursday Nite Tart

Reaganite Republican – Miss Paraguay

Rio Norte Line – Rule Five -Kate Upton!

Sex in Advertising – Adriana Lima video

Support your local Gunfighter – Clair Sinclair

The Last Tradition – Whitney Houston

Theo Spark –Bedtime Toddy , Bath Night

The Other McCain- Rule 5 Tuesday

Three Beers Later –The Rule 5 Dreams of WombatSocho!

Vintage Babe of the Week – Jeanne Crain

Rule 5 Woodsterman Style : Oh, Captain!





*By no means comprehensive.

Use the comments as an open thread on any of these topics. If you feel that I’ve neglected a link, news, commentary, humor or Rule Fivage, send a link to the contact email on the sidebar. (All spambots must die!)

Cross posted at Say Anything

Quote du jour

“Rick Santorum says Newt Gingrich is too hot, Mitt Romney is too cold, but he’s the ‘Goldilocks candidate.’ Yes, nothing gets voters excited like comparing yourself to tepid porridge.”

–Craig Ferguson

Friday, February 17, 2012

Friday Night Babe

Tonight's FNB* is Sports Illustrated Cover Girl: Kate Upton!

(*a.k.a. Rule Five Friday)



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Quote du jour

As a rising young Chicago politician in 1995, no one campaigned more actively than Mr Obama for an amendment to the US Community Reinvestment Act, legally requiring banks to lend huge sums to millions of poor, mainly black Americans, guaranteed by the two giant mortgage associations, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

It was this Act, above all, which let the US housing bubble blow up, far beyond the point where it was obvious that hundreds of thousands of homeowners would be likely to default. Yet, in 2005, no one more actively opposed moves to halt these reckless guarantees than Senator Obama, who received more donations from Fannie Mae than any other US politician...

-Christopher Booker

Thursday, February 16, 2012

Vintage Babe of the Week

Tonight's Vintage Babe* is Jeanne Crain!
(*a.k.a. Rule Five Thursday)

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Like fine wines, the ladies improve with age!

Garden Theory of Rescuing Hostages

Garden Theory of Rescuing Hostages:

Jimmy Carter: Rose Garden

You may remember that Carter hunkered down in the Rose Garden, apparently doing nothing to free the Iranian hostages, but was able to hide safely from a primary challenge from Teddy Kennedy. (Thank God for roses!)

Barack Obama: Broccoli Garden

Michelle's Veggie Garden must be the place where Obama hangs out, apparently doing nothing to free the Egyptian hostages, but he has no need to hide out, because the MSM is pretty much ignoring the hostage situation or Barry's inability to bring it to an end.

Joe Biden: Olive Garden

Count Joey in for the all-you-can-eat breadsticks.

Any questions?

Quote du jour

“An Illinois woman is auctioning President Obama’s 2005 Chrysler. You can tell it’s his because it starts off fast, then stalls for the next three years.”

–Jimmy Fallon

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

"Gunny" Gets It -Register to Vote



R. Lee Ermey urges you to preserve your liberty by exercising your right to vote. But, first...you gotta get http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifregistered.

Medal of Honor

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First Lieutenant Brian Miles Thacker


Citation:

For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty. 1st Lt. Thacker, Field Artillery, Battery A, distinguished himself while serving as the team leader of an Integrated Observation System collocated with elements of 2 Army of the Republic of Vietnam units at Fire Base 6. A numerically superior North Vietnamese Army force launched a well-planned, dawn attack on the small, isolated, hilltop fire base. Employing rockets, grenades, flame-throwers, and automatic weapons, the enemy forces penetrated the perimeter defenses and engaged the defenders in hand-to-hand combat. Throughout the morning and early afternoon, 1st Lt. Thacker rallied and encouraged the U.S. and Republic of Vietnam soldiers in heroic efforts to repulse the enemy. He occupied a dangerously exposed observation position for a period of 4 hours while directing friendly air strikes and artillery fire against the assaulting enemy forces. His personal bravery and inspired leadership enabled the outnumbered friendly forces to inflict a maximum of casualties on the attacking enemy forces and prevented the base from being overrun. By late afternoon, the situation had become untenable. 1st Lt. Thacker organized and directed the withdrawal of the remaining friendly forces. With complete disregard for his personal safety, he remained inside the perimeter alone to provide covering fire with his M-16 rifle until all other friendly forces had escaped from the besieged fire base. Then, in an act of supreme courage, he called for friendly artillery fire on his own position to allow his comrades more time to withdraw safely from the area and, at the same time, inflict even greater casualties on the enemy forces. Although wounded and unable to escape from the area himself, he successfully eluded the enemy forces for 8 days until friendly forces regained control of the fire base. The extraordinary courage and selflessness displayed by 1st Lt. Thacker were an inspiration to his comrades and are in the highest traditions of the military service.


1st Lt. Thacker: We humbly salute you and thank you for your service.

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Hat tip Home of Heroes

There are fewer than a hundred living MoH recipients today. Their names and their stories should not be forgotten. My mission is to honor one of those heroes here each week, and salute them for their courage and sacrifice. In the words of John Fitzgerald Kennedy:
“A nation reveals itself not only by the men it produces, but also by the men it honors; the men it remembers.”


Cross posted at Say Anything