All My Friends Are Working Or Rich

...and we don't need Social Security Retirement Income.

The current political debate by Washington politicians on a payroll tax cut extension is presented by most of the news media in an unclear manner. Many citizens assume the tax cut proposal involves a reduction in withheld Federal Income Tax. But this is not so…the tax cut proposal is a reduction in Social Security Payroll withholding tax. My goodness, a scheme like this could only be hatched in Washington. We have a near bankrupt Social Security System that is intended to supplement retiree income. And our federal politicians are moving to reduce the system’s life-blood revenue source. Where and when will the Social Security System revenue shortfall be addressed? It should be obvious to the most casual observer that this “tax cut” plan will more swiftly bring about the predictable bankruptcy of the entire Social Security System. Reduce Federal Income Tax if you must, but please leave the single funding source for our Social Security System untouched. The retiree community would be far better off if many of these Washington politicians were paid not to think.

Hank Jr.'s New Song

Sure wish Hank Williams Jr. made a better analogy with his recent comment on Fox News Channel. You know, that statement comparing the Obama & Boehner golf outing to socializing by Hitler and Israel’s Prime Minister. Hank Jr. is an entertainer...not a politician...and the left wing media sure came out negative on Hank's acknowledged lame comment. But I wonder why "Fox & Friends" teleprompter readers (they are not reporters) strayed from the stated purpose of Hank’s invitation to make guest comments on their program? I've seen several cases where the "reporting" by "Fox & Friends" personnel is inaccurate or incomplete.

Fair and balanced, well maybe --- DJP

Take a listen to Hank's great song. http://www.hankjr.com

What others are saying: http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/blog/shutdown_corner/post/Hank-Williams-Jr-wrote-a-new-song-about-Fox-New?urn=nfl-wp9130

A Stylist Redneck Ruminates

Can’t help but notice her fundamental beauty as I look out across the driveway. Always wanted a Dodge Charger, and her Deep Ocean Blue color just warms my heart. So I picked up the November 2011 issue of “Car and Driver” magazine to read a feature article by staff writer Aaron Robinson on the new 2012 model. My attention was sharpened by a couple of bullet points along side the main article: “…Floats like a butterfly, stings like a Super Bee” and “…surprisingly sophisticated…”

But I darn near tossed that irreverent rag as the main article starts out: “Here’s the thing about Dodge: You expect it to be dumb and redneck.” Only slightly offended I continued to read on. “Who would even know why the number 392 is significant to Dodge except Coors-chugging Mopar wonks.” And now my feelings are getting hurt.

The article then slowly turns: “May the ghost of General Robert E. Lee smite us for our crass stereotyping.” And I feel a bit better now with General Lee on my side as Robinson continues: “Okay, the car is huge. Bringing home a Charger is like adopting a water buffalo; you need space.” Got to admit a smile crossed my face now to acknowledge that comment. Dodge claims a 175-mph top end speed, sports big gauges imbedded in a machine-turned real aluminum dashboard. Cylinder deactivation and variable cam timing augment the vastly improved suspension. I guess that buyers of who want a Big-Eight, 6.4 engine won’t mind it’s 17-MPG rating. You economy minded tree hugging “wonks” can always do an engine downsize to that frisky little 3.5 6-Banger. But then…where’s the fun in that. I suspect that’s a bit like sex with a ninety-year-old prostitute who claims to have a headache.

Winds Of The Rebellion At Sumter

No formal Declaration of War initiated the American Civil War. The Confederate States of America (CSA) was not recognized internationally. And of course, The United States of America (USA) never recognized the legitimacy of the CSA government. The two belligerents were clearly involved in a nationalistic civil dispute, and a formal Declaration of War was not necessary under international law. The CSA was officially established in mid-February 1861, by the seven seceded Rebel States mentioned by name in Lincoln’s “Call for 75,000 Volunteers.” The Rebel military bombardment and surrender of the federal Fort Sumter, Charleston Harbor, South Carolina, April 12-13, 1861, became the officially recognized start of military rebellion between the USA and CSA. However, the Confederate States had already seized most of the federal property including U. S. Post Offices, forts, a U. S. Mint, and other U. S. properties located within rebel state borders. Lincoln’s predecessor President James Buchanan sent supply ships to Fort Sumter in January 1861, but those Union cargo ships were turned aside by Confederate Shore Battery Forces and did not resupply Fort Sumter. Winds of the Rebellion had reached gale force as they swirled from the newsrooms and pulpits of this nation.

President Abraham Lincoln’s April 15, 1861 Executive Order, “A Call For 75,000 Volunteers” is summarized as follows---and from the southern prospective was the last aggressive straw that broke the camel’s back.

“WHEREAS the laws of the United States have been, for some time past, and now are opposed, and the execution thereof obstructed, in the States of South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas, by combinations too powerful to be suppressed by the ordinary course of judicial proceedings, or by the powers vested in the marshals by law:

Now, therefore, I, ABRAHAM LINCOLN, President of the United States, in virtue of the power in me vested by the Constitution and the laws, have thought fit to call forth, and hereby do call forth, the militia of the several States of the Union, to the aggregate number of seventy-five thousand, in order to suppress said combinations, and to cause the laws to be duly executed. … I appeal to all loyal citizens to favor, facilitate, and aid this effort to maintain the honor, the integrity, and the existence of our National Union, and the perpetuity of popular government; and to redress wrongs already long enough endured. I deem it proper to say that the first service assigned to the forces hereby called forth will probably be to repossess the forts, places, and property which have been seized from the Union; and in every event, the utmost care will be observed, consistently with the objects aforesaid, to avoid any devastation, any destruction of, or interference with, property, or any disturbance of peaceful citizens in any part of the country. And I hereby command the persons composing the combinations aforesaid to disperse, and retire peaceably to their respective abodes within twenty days from this date. …”

Several southern states sat on the secession fence up to mid-April 1861, but when presented with Lincoln’s “Call For Volunteers”, the south’s richly populated Virginia quickly seceded on April 17, 1861. Virginia is followed in secession within the next few weeks by Arkansas, North Carolina, and Tennessee. The eleven states Confederacy was now set and in place…and both sides felt strongly that they would prevail in this short rebellion. After all, both the United States and Confederate States knew that God was on their side.

Click here to read a short well written article on Fort Sumter published in "American Profile" on April 10, 2011. Publisher: Publishing Group of America, Franklin, TN.

"And The Buck Stops With Hillary -- Over"

Hey "Obie", some of us been wondering...

How’s that Nobel Peace Prize thing going now? Sure picked one heck-of-ah way to post-facto meet that outstanding Nobel Award requirement. Agreed, you should have put it on the current honey-do list. But this 120+ missile strike on Libyan Air Force assets is sure an extreme way to finally meet that peace award requirement described in Alfred Nobel's will. You know, the part where the recipient needs to abolish or reduce standing armies. All that tough-talk in the law school faculty lounge is sure paying off now. OOH-RAH! Take it away Hillary! Obie -- Out.

Ma Nature Plays A Trick

Yesterday Spring 2011 began in the late afternoon. A nice day here in North Central Upstate New York, much of the winter snow had melted, except for piles of white in those property shady spots. Did some necessary outside work in preparation for summer, raked the lawn where winter had deposited some natural debris, and removed the protective burlap from some of our favorite trees… trees that our hungry deer residents find great candidates for browsing.

So good old Ma Nature must be smiling today. On the first full day of Spring 2011, she sent a steady heavy wet snow falling at perhaps 1+ inch per hour this morning. “Sugar Snow” … the old-timers here in New York sometime call it. Perhaps little known by many, New York State typically ranks second behind Vermont in annual Maple Syrup production. Production in 2010 totaled 312,000 gallons, down 29 percent from 2009. Reduced production was due in no small part to an abnormally dry early 2010 Spring. Sugar snow, coupled with cold nights and above freezing days really causes that maple sap to flow. And I suppose those many Northern New York State maple syrup producers are also smiling today… right along with that tricky old Ma Nature.

Fair and Balanced…Give Us A Break

Less than 350 miles North-Northeast from Tripoli, Libya, lays the home of the United States Naval Air Station Sigonella, Catania, Sicily, Italy. This U.S. Navy installation bills itself "The Hub of the Med." The activity occupies space with NATO Base Sigonella, an Italian Air Force Base in Sicily, Italy. A tenant of the Italian Air Force, U.S. Naval Air Station Sigonella acts as landlord to many U.S. commands and activities. The base is located about ten miles west and seven miles south of the Sicilian east coast city of Catania, and about twenty-five miles south of Mount Etna. Much of this data was taken direct from the official Naval Air Station web site and all this information and more are available by simple Google search.

Present incomplete news reports are at best... half-truth. A significant number of the current news media are hand-wringing about a possible necessity of declaring a no-fly zone over Tripoli, Libya. A real probability for action may become necessary to protect those important Libyan oil fields. Developed countries worldwide cannot at any time tolerate oil field destruction by Libya’s somewhat unbalanced "strongman" Colonel Qaddafi. For goodness sake, take a look at what Iraq’s Saddam Hussein did to those Southwest Asia oil fields just twenty years ago. And just look at what is now happening to the price of gasoline, a meteoric rise caused in no small part by oil uncertainty and unethical oil market speculation. Historically, the American economy entered a recession following the First Gulf War, a recession significantly rooted in worldwide oil market production uncertainty.

So here is today’s question and suggestion to all U.S. News Media. Why doesn’t the “Fourth Estate” get off their collective butts, do some actual research, and report the truth? Please don’t give us the vague comments of a long retired U.S. General or rollout some retired Army Lt Colonel. Find yourself an informed and recently retired U.S. Navy Admiral or Vice Admiral to verify and report on this truth. A U.S. Navy aircraft carrier is simply unnecessay in central Mediterranean Waters to implement and/or support a Lybian no-fly zone. The United States of America, coupled with very significant contributions by friendly NATO countries have more than enough land-based military air assets already deployed to implement a near immediate no-fly zone over Libya. And please don’t conclude there is no way to refuel military aircraft. With trivial effort a novice researcher will discover a significant aircraft refueling facility just 500 miles east of Sicily at U.S. Naval Support Activity Souda Bay, Crete, Greece---click HERE to check this out. This too is all available without much effort via Internet search.

Big Stick Obie -- HA!

Understanding and learning from history… something lost on the present federal executive administration. Eight and a half minutes worth the view time, then take some time to consider the wisdom presented by this video message. To view message click here.

Eight-hundred PSI is both amazing and impressive, with something that reportedly looked like a bicycle pump. And forty shots with acceptable muzzle velocity from this air rifle on a single charge. I'd like to see that pump. One of the things I did with a passion in a former life was bicycle touring & racing–with most of the fashionable required cycling accessories of the late 70s/early 80s. Not unusual to do 100+ mile trips (a century), and even the occasional "double century." I used "sew-up tires", basically a tubeless unit that is taped and/or glued to the wheel rims. These tires are inflated through an extraordinary valve to about 130 PSI, using a special purpose, non-standard bicycle hand pump. And it took much of the power I could muster to pump those tires to the last few PSI.

Did anyone else find it rather unbelievable last week to discover that the mighty USA has no aircraft carrier in the Mediterranean Sea? Must be the Navy is too busy with homosexual awareness training these days. The CIA claims they saw the present Middle East unrest coming last year (here the CIA has a remarkable grasp of the obvious). That great President Teddy Roosevelt must be rolling over in his grave. “TR” telegraphed his approach to maintaining world peace a few days before assuming the U.S. presidency. He simply believed and repeated an old African proverb – "Speak softly and carry a big stick; you will go far.”

And the point of this air rifle video is I'm sure lost on that U.S. community of progressive liberal whiners. That Lewis and Clark implemented TR’s philosophy of “Speak Softly And Carry A Big Stick” a hundred years before by exhibiting power to potential adversaries through several air rifle demonstrations. My gosh, what a difference another hundred years makes–look what we now have in a lightweight & spineless POUS "Obie."

Open Letter to Nation Fooball League Commissioner Roger Goodell

Dear Commissioner Roger Goodell:

Please take immediate and direct charge of the folks chosen to perform America's National Anthem during what is the single most important day in American sports. For goodness sake – many citizens of the world are watching this important American sports event. I won't honor or publicize the lady by looking up the spelling of her name... but the performance of “The Star-Spangled Banner” at Super Bowl 45 was simply without merit, embarrassing and downright disgusting. Singing our National Anthem is NOT an audition opportunity for some want-to-be singer. Mr. Goodell, you simply must get involved in the selection process for this important opening ceremony experience. You obviously cannot and should not allow others to select future performers of our nation's precious National Anthem. Someone connected with the NFL understands how to properly initiate the Super Bowl with style and respect it so richly deserves… since it has been done before. Please review this instructive link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ETrr-XHBjE

If this performance doesn’t send chills up your spine -– rush to have someone check your pulse!

Respectfully, I strongly suggest you invite a vocalist – or even the entire choir – from one or more of the official United States Armed Service Choirs to deliver the National Anthem in the appropriate manner. You should direct and mandate such change so no future unpatriotic performance is ever delivered during Super Bowl Opening Ceremonies. This will assure that the National Anthem is performed as written and in the manner intended.

Thank you very much.

Sincerely,
DJ Paul