$328,000 vs $10

And now what has our spend-itching government been up to today? Most recently, it's been the infamous fly over. In case you were busy manicuring your lawn and accidentally shredded you newspaper to recyclable mulch, I'll try to put it in a nutshell. Earlier this week, one of the government 747 aircraft which serves as Air Force One when the president is on board was spotted flying extremely low around lower Manhattan, accompanied by an Air Force fighter jet. The sight of this huge plane buzzing by buildings created a panic among the locals, causing the evacuation of some buildings and generating countless 911 calls. Well, gee, do you think the people in New York City would have the right to be a little bit suspicious about this? I know it's been almost 8 years since the 911 attacks, but people don't forget such a horrific thing, and can get a little nervous at the site of what could look like an encore. The worse part of this whole scenario is that no one in the New York City area was aware of what was going on, not even the local officials. Donald Trump said it best in a Fox News interview yesterday. He stated that in the age of computer technology, why couldn't a high resolution picture of the aircraft have been super-imposed over a high resolution photo of the city? Probable cost to the taxpayer - a few dollars; considerably cheaper than the $328,000 reported by the government.

Two Do Or Die Games To Remember

Two seventh and deciding games were played tonight in the NHL, and if you had a chance to watch either of them, you were treated to hockey at its' finest. The Washington Capitals eliminated the New York Rangers with a 2-1 win in DC. The game was tied with less than 4 minutes remaining in the third period, when Sergei Federov scored putting Washington ahead to stay. Comcast Sports Net color commentator Al Koken remarked just prior to the beginning of period 3 that #91 would be the player to most likely come up big for the Caps. This being his career 9th game 7, Koken called the setting 'his stage'. Well, he couldn't have scripted it better! Now the Capitals will meet the Pittsburgh Penguins in the next round. What do Tim Gleason, Ollie Jokinen, and Joni Pitkanen all have in common? Their tic tac toe passing play with only 1:20 left in regulation tied the New Jersey Devils and will be remembered as the play that saved Carolina's season. The play started with Gleason passing to Pitkanen from his knees. Then with 32 seconds to play in regulation, Eric Staal scored the winner that eliminated the Devils. The Hurricanes meet the Boston Bruins in the next round.

Popularity Rating

As our new president approaches his first 100 day mark, much to do is being made about his popularity rating. Barach Obama currently is sporting a 60% popularity rating, which by the way equals that of his predecessor at his 100 day mark. But does popularity really make a big difference in the grand scheme of things? Sure, a leader can be popular, but how does he run his country? Does he really have the best interest of the country in mind? I personally believe that the country's best interest is on all presidents' agendas, but it's how they go about achieving that goal that sets them all apart. Never in my short life (and it's short when considering the nation's history) have I seen a president reveal delicate intelligence information to our enemies. Is this in the best interest of the country? Say what we want about the predecessor, but he kept our soil safe from attacks, and that is most definitely in the nation's best interest. Let's get our house in order, Mr President, country first, popularity last!

The Curse

Mine, specifically! Haven't any of you ever felt cursed in one way or another in you daily lives. I don't necessarily mean having ghosts hanging around you, resulting in things falling off shelves or anything like that. It's more like things never seeming to work out in your favor. Case in point......the weather; that's right, the weather. That's what mine is, my curse that is, the weather. Seems like rain just follows me around lately worse than ducklings following their mother wherever she goes. More often that not, it seems to rain whenever my day off from work arrives. Last week I took off Monday and Wednesday, and wouldn't you know it, down came the raindrops. Both days it rained, and any big plans for a yard work day went down the drain, so to speak. It did clear up late Wednesday morning for a few hours, and I was lucky enough to at least cut the lawn, but just as I wrapped up that job, it started again and lasted the rest of the day. Should any of you ever need to know the weather forecast for a particular day, simply call my work and check my work schedule; if I'm off, it will probably rain! One consolation: the lawn looks great thanks to Mother Nature's water bill , and not mine!

We Should All Be Concerned

Whether you support our president or not, you should seriously pause and consider what position he is putting our nation in with regards to this releasing of the memos outlining interrogation methods utilized by the CIA. With modern day communications literally keeping the world informed at a moment's notice, it is not unlikely that information of a sensitive nature could wind up in the wrong hands and ultimately affect national security.

Among the methods listed in these unclassified memos are water boarding, sleep deprivation, and constant loud music, just to name a few. These procedures, when used, have been known to yield information which military sources have described as vital to the war on terror. At some points, they had actually revealed and prevented additional attacks on the country. A key suspect in the 911 conspiracy outlined, as a result of water boarding, that additional attacks on Los Angeles were scheduled on September 11, 2001, but were called off by Osama bin Laden.

The key to winning wars and catching our enemy off guard is an effective intelligence agency. A huge part of that effectiveness relies on intelligence, and the people who risk their lives daily in order to keep our country safe and secure. In this case, transparency is not always an effective answer, especially when it puts the people who defend us in danger. In this case, we would best be served by keeping our mouths shut.

Why Are Voters So Blind?

And so our president has promised transparency. In certain areas of government I say OK; as far as the intelligence community is concerned, I say stay away, Mr. President, you're seriously damaging our national security. Please don't make me say 'I told you so' at the next 911!

She Didn't Deserve The Crown

In my opinion, Miss California, Carrie Prejean, did not deserve the Miss USA crown. Her answer to the controversial question about states legalizing gay marriage was painfully honest. For this reason, my opinion will go unchanged. As for the Miss USA crown, the fact that the judges would even ask this question only serves to strengthen my opinion. If those who run the show, so to speak, can manipulate it by asking loaded questions of the finalists, then let my opinion stand. But mostly, my opinion stands because I believe that Carrie deserves much more out of life; more than these not so brite individuals have given her. Was Carrie supposed to lie just to please the openly gay judges? What about the character issue regarding finalists? Was the answer supposed to be another sad case of political correctness? Did they really expect her to compromise her beliefs and principles in the name of a title? Carrie Prejean is the true winner in many many ways here. Her parents, friends, and the whole nation, for that matter, can be proud of her. More than anything else, her example should be held high as a quality all of us can look up to.

The Stanley Cup Playoffs

For the hockey fanatics in the group (and I know you exist), a Stanley Cup playoff post.

A prime example of why I have such a low opinion of the President's Trophy can be seen in the San Jose/Anaheim series. With all of San Jose's success this season, which resulted in their earning the President's Trophy for having the league's best record, they now find themselves losing their series to Anaheim by a 2 - 0 deficit, both loses coming at home. Now they must travel to Anaheim for games 3 & 4 and try to find their game again.

Boston, the number 1 team in the east, holds a 2 games to none lead over the Montreal Canadiens. That series resumes tomorrow night in Montreal, where the Habs must find a way to beat the Bruins and make it a series.

The number 2 team in the east, the Washington Capitals find themselves behind by a 2-0 deficit, and will try to get their game back on track in New York against the Rangers and their number 1 penalty killing defense.

In the meantime, The Philadelphia Flyers came home with a 2-0 deficit they had received at the hands on the Pittsburgh Penguins, and managed to redeem themselves by winning tonight, leaving that series at 2-1.

In other series, the Detroit Red Wings lead the Columbus Bluejackets 2-0, Chicago is ahead of Calgary 2-0, New Jersey leads Carolina 2-1, and Vancouver has a 3-0 edge over St Louis.

A Time To Remember

Today marks the tenth anniversary of the shootings at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado. On April 20, 1999, two teens went on a shooting rampage, killing 13, including themselves in the process. May the victims rest in peace, the survivors find closure, and may God have mercy on those responsible.

What Do You Stand For?

With the temperature climbing to 75 today, my son and I headed to Washington to attend game 2 of the Washington Capitals/New York Rangers first round series of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Normally we can be found in the rafter seats high above the Verizon Center, but today was very different. Through connections at work, we were able to get seats five rows behind the net at ice level, resulting in the game being up close and personal. My beef, with the seats we enjoyed today, is with the people occupying those seats directly in front of us. Why, when you're sitting in the best seats in the house, do you have to abruptly stand up every time the home team is about to score? Is any consideration given at all about those behind these people, or are we expected to follow along like good little sheep? Does this improve your view, when the players are less than 50 feet in front of you? You can't imagine how many pictures of the backs of people's heads I snapped today! I did, however, get a good share of pics and enjoyed my close-up seats despite the home team's 1-0 loss.

Political Correctness

With political correctness very much still alive and well in this country, maybe the time to just be normal is finally approaching. Let's take the recent examples set by our beloved leader in his foreign visits. The press (you know, these over-reactive, tattle tale, 'anything to get a story' creatures) made a lot about our president bowing to a Saudi King, and now he is being criticized for being chummy with Hector Chavez. I can remember when my previous president winked at Queen Elizabeth. The point here is that we are all human, and should remember the old saying 'when in Rome, do what the Romans do." I'm not particularly crazy about any of this, as I believe that world leaders should be properly schooled on local customs when traveling, but mistakes will always be a part of life. That's why they put erasers on pencils. With all that's happening on our volatile planet, there will always be more important things to address than political correctness.

My March Madness!

While the majority of the sports world spends the month of March thinking about, talking about, predicting, filling out brackets, placing bets, and whatever else is customary during college basketball's 'prime time' referred to as March Madness, I find myself patiently awaiting early April. My March Madness then arrives in the form of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. For me, it's not about filling out brackets, or placing bets, it is simply about enjoying an extremely entertaining game filled with action from start to finish. Hockey is fast skating, body checks, faceoffs, penalty shots, shorthanded goals, non stop line changes, major penalties, power plays, and of course, The Stanley Cup! So many games; so little time to sleep!

The Bloody Pillow

A fascinating story crossed my screen tonight about a man named John Sotos and his claim that President Abraham Lincoln may have been terminally ill at the time of his assassination. Sotos claims that Lincoln may have suffered from a rare form of cancer, and probably wouldn't have survived too much longer had he not been killed by John Wilkes Booth. In order to prove this claim, Mr. Sotos has sought permission to extract DNA from a bloody pillow currently on display at a Philadelphia museum, which is the pillow that the president died on after his shooting. Click the link below to read the full story. http://www.upi.com/Top_News/2009/04/13/Lincoln-artifact-sought-for-analysis/UPI-97251239673096/

More Tidbits

With all of this talk about pirates, it is important to not turn our backs on the rest of the world.

1. Never in my life as a parent did I ever consider my children in danger if they went to a neighbor's house to play with a friend. A Sunday school teacher is in custody today, charged with assaulting and murdering a 9 year old neighbor and best friend of her daughter.
2. It was announced yesterday that the death penalty will be sought against the mother of Caley Anthony, who is charged with her murder. (Where is the maternal instinct here?)
3. Former Illinois governor B...................oyavich (sp) pleaded not guilty in court yesterday to charges that included trying to sell former Senator Obama's Senate seat. (I never trusted that hairdo!)
4. In the 70's the Detroit Tigers had a starting pitcher who was known for talking to the baseball. He was given the nickname 'The Bird" because of his resemblance to Big Bird. Mark 'The Bird' Fydrich, age 56, was found dead on his Northampton, MA farm, the victim of an accident. Apparently he was doing work on a pickup truck when this happened.
5. I see that The White House now has a First Dog. The newest arrival to the Obama family was paraded around the south lawn for the press. (Imagine, as a journalist, having to cover this one).
6. And finally, at this moment Fox News is displaying a picture of Hugo Chavez, the anti-American President of Venezuela. He's wearing a bright red French beret and has a parrot standing on his shoulder. (No, I'm not on acid, OK). Now the only question remaining unanswered is which one of these creatures is smarter?

12:19 PM EST

The kidnapping of Captain Richard Phillips is finally over. At 12:19 PM on Easter Sunday, United States Navy seals opened fire on the three pirates who were pointing their AK47s toward the Captain, killing all three of them simultaneously. The fourth pirate, who is described as 'not old enough to be tried as an adult', was on board the USS Bainbridge negotiating the Captain's release. The Commander of the Bainbridge was given the green light by Washington to take whatever action necessary to insure the safety of Captain Phillips. The determination was made that the hostage was in imminent danger, and the order to take them out was given. With three precision simultaneous head shots, the pirates were history and Captain Phillips was a free man.

A Promising Career Cut Short

Wednesday night's game at Angels Stadium against the Oakland A's was just another major league contest, or so it seemed. The Angels had young Nick Adenhart on the mound pitching 6 flawless innings, and keeping the A's in check. The final score had the visitors winning the game, but Adenhart had given the Angels a solid sign that their future was on the right track. His father was on hand to proudly witness his son's solid performance after Nick had told him that it would be a special night.

After the game, all of this came to a sudden end with the running of a red light by a drunk driver. Among the four people in the passenger car hit by the drunk driver was Nick Adenhart. Two people died instantly while Adenhart passed away later during surgery. The fourth remains in critical condition.

With that, a promising career came to an end, and whether you follow baseball or any other sport or not even at all, you have to at least recognize the depth of such a tragedy. At 22 years of age, life is still technically in its' development stage, and all that has been worked for and conquered by these young people was lost in a matter of seconds. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the families and friends of these innocent victims.

Make Them Disappear

With the Somali pirates taking over the world stage with their often out of control behavior, time has now come to effectively make them disappear, literally! I would suggest sailing a few fake cargo ships that are well armed inside and allow these idiots to 'capture' the ship. Once on board, they can be overpowered behind the scenes and destroyed. Their remains are then cremated on board below deck and sprinkled unceremoniously at sea. Problem solved! Gradually, with several of these ships, the pirates just disappear without a trace, never to be dealt with again. Eventually, their counterparts will catch on that something beyond their power is going on, and hopefully decide to back off.

What Will President Obama Do?

Now it's personal! Earlier today, Somali pirates hijacked a cargo ship with 20 Americans on board. It remains a great mystery to me as to how a bunch of thugs in little piss ant boats made of wood from the stone ages can commandeer a huge, (and I mean huge compared to their 'paddle boats') ship that should, in my view, be outrunning them. If ever we had an opportunity to flex our power and eliminate these criminals, now is the time!

No New posts

I must apologize to my faithful readers (all of which could probably fill this room; ok maybe the area of my chair mat; alright maybe the chair itself) for not posting the last few days. It's just one thing after another just kept me occupied with other non-national security related matters, etc. But hopefully my mind is back to its' bitchy wining complaining old self, and I can get back on track. I know how much you all depend on this daily garbage to get you through your mundane lives!

April 1st, But No Joke!

This is the traditional April Fools Day, where we try to catch other people in jokes and such, all in the name of fun. Well, this one is neither an April Fools joke or a sad attempt to drag you into an 'I gotcha' state. This morning I received the following e-mail, and after reading it, you'll wish it was an April Fools Day joke: Subject: IMPEACH HER NOW BEFORE SHE DOES FURTHER DAMAGE LET'S IMPEACH HER NOW BEFORE SHE DOES FURTHER DAMAGE!! WHAT AN IDIOT!! IF YOU DON'T AGREE JUST DELETE--IF YOU DO--PASS IT ON!! WHERE DO WE GET THESE MORONS' Windfall Tax on Retirement Income Adding a tax to your retirement is simply another way of saying to the American people, you're so darn stupid that we're going to keep doing this until we drain every cent from you. That's what the Speaker of the House is saying. Read below............... Nancy Pelosi wants a Windfall Tax on Retirement Income. In other words tax what you have made by investing toward your retirement. This woman is a nut case! You aren't going to believe this. Madam speaker Nancy Pelosi wants to put a Windfall Tax on all stock market profits (including Retirement fund, 401K and Mutual Funds! Alas, it is true - all to help the 12 Million Illegal Immigrants and other unemployed Minorities! This woman is frightening. She quotes...' We need to work toward the goal of equalizing income, (didn't Marx say something like this?), in our country and at the same time limiting the amount the rich can invest.' (I am not rich, are you?) When asked how these new tax dollars would be spent, she replied: 'We need to raise the standard of living of our poor, unemployed and minorities. For example, we have an estimated 12 million illegal immigrants in our country who need our help along with millions of unemployed minorities. Stock market windfall profits taxes could go a long way to guarantee these people the standard of living they would like to have as 'Americans'.' (Read that quote again and again and let it sink in.) 'Lower your retirement, give it to others who have not worked as you have for it'. Send it on to your friends. I just did!! This lady is out of her mind and she is the speaker of the house!