American Fighting Words: Zawahiri refers to Obama as "abayd al bayt"

The term "abayd al bayt" translate to English as "house slave" or "house servant". Terms such as these have been removed from the average American vernacular by our civil rights movements deemed as unacceptable and demeaning language. It seems though that our enemy has not yet been enlightened to what is acceptable conversation and what is not. But who would ever imagine that it would? Al Qaeda's rhetoric show's their true side on this subject but not as you would imagine. No matter who we elected as our next president they would have attacked the person; I'm sure they had a litany of comments regarding John McCains POW status ready just in case. Comments like this are expected but what do they say about our enemy? Who frack'n cares? These people have attacked us outright and threatened to attack us again. They have threatened our way of life, attacked our religious beliefs, even gone so far as to call us the "Great Satan". They threaten our allies, and bolster our enemy's. Who really cares what they say about our present or future leaders. Well actually we all should. Every one of us should look at these comments for what they are; real and credible threats to our very existence.

As I said earlier; it wouldn't have mattered who we elected. Al Qaeda was waiting until we decided to make a statement on the newly elected. They are our enemy so a comment like this isn't any surprise. The surprise to me is the reaction of some of our media about concerning these comments. Some brilliant commentators act surprised by these comments stating how these racist remarks have undermined Al Qaeda's standing in the world. What the hell are they thinking? Are they thinking that Al Qaeda are these nice respectable mainstream people? Damn it folks, these people are THE scum of the earth. They want to kill you and your way of life; they have said so! Don't ever think they have the same morals we have, they don't. They're religious beliefs state that if you don't believe as they do then you should be put to death. How can anyone equate a belief system that allows these type of ideas as mainstream and thus apply mainstream reactions to them? We believe is equality and freedom of belief, to them this is a totally foreign and threatening attitude. They will kill you if you decide not to "believe". If Al Qaeda really was concerned with our election system (which they're weren't!) wouldn't you think they would have put up they're own candidate? Not really, they don't believe in a public voice so this is a totally unknown concept to them. They abhor what we hold dearest, our freedom. Our freedom of speech, our freedom of religion, and most importantly, our freedom of choice. They never cared who we chose, they wanted us to choose so they could attack our choice. So what do we do? Do we react to this lame attempt to make us react? No, it's a hollow threat, it's just a little more rhetoric to add to the steaming pile of rhetoric they've already spewed. Nope don't let them get our goat folks, however there is one aspect to this little attack that we shouldn't ignore. Never attack our leaders.

With the power of freedom of choice and our right to vote comes our responsibility to our leaders. Sometimes we don't get our person voted into power but that shouldn't mean we stop supporting those that are elected. As individuals we stand by our individual ideals but as a community we stand by the decisions of the majority. In other words, if you put this in family terms, parents may disagree about a decision regarding the kids but when they confront the a united front is always the most successful front. Al Qaeda looks at our pre-election divisions as a weakness and tries exploit this. What they don't realize is that as a nation we will defend to the death our right to have these disagreements. They can't fathom a world were difference of opinion flourish as they do in our world. They don't hold dear the right to dispute the decisions of the government. They also underestimate our ability to unite behind the defense of these beliefs. These are free choices we hold dear. Freedoms that we have defended in battle in the past and will in the future. These are beliefs that they do not, nor ever will agree with; these are basic human rights of free men and we should and will always defend them to the death.

I think we need to bring back the "Don't tread on me" flag but re-name it to "Don't threaten me." In other words; don't threaten my lifestyle, my beliefs, or my freedom. If you do, you define yourself as my enemy and I will kick your ass. Pass this on folks, this needs to become out mantra; this needs to become the words we live by. Always defend your freedom because their end may be only one defeat away.

Bailout Bill 2 - "Operation Rescue Detroit"

     Wow, another round of bail-outs.  I am so glad we have all this money to bailout our largest corporations. Wall Street, Detroit, what's next?  Now I know they are planning to take this money from the $700B of the original bailout bill but what are they actually planning to do?  The bill is very long but here are the highlights : 

-- $25 billion in 10-year low-interest loans, charging 5 percent interest for the first five years and 9 percent for the remainder of the loan terms.

-- Parts-makers as well as the Big Three would be eligible.

-- The money would come from the $700 billion rescue/bailout plan.

-- A prohibition on bonuses for automaker employees making more than $250,000 per year.

-- Fast processing: Eligibility for loans will be determined within 15 days of application.

-- Fast turnaround: The loans would be distributed within seven days of approval.

-- "Clawback" provision: Bonuses can be taken back by the government if executive statements are found to be inaccurate.

-- No golden parachutes of any sort.

-- Companies receiving these loans cannot pay dividends for the duration of the loan. 

     Do you notice what's missing out of this bill?  How about a reliable, marketable car?  Something that can compete with the imports?  No, there's nothing like that here but what else would we expect from the "Big Three".  All three of the US auto makers have been making cars based on a warranty life span.  It's been a scam they've been pulling on the American populous for many years.  They build a car that will make it just until the warranty is up then small things will start failing.  It starts with little things first then progresses to larger things until you're in a no-win situation and decide to buy another vehicle.  This process makes sure there's a constant market for cars and a constant demand without the car makers having to make any real progression in fuel economy, technology, or safety.  There are two reasons people buy cars; need and desire.  Car maker's recognized early on that desire is too unpredictable so they have forced need on us.  Hmm, here's a coincidence; factory warranties are three years and the normal car loan is four years.   How convenient.

    Ok, back to the bailout; back in 1979 the government did bailout Chrysler.  I know a lot of you weren't around to remember this event but I do.  Do you know what we average citizens got out of that bailout?  The K-Car.  One of the biggest piece of crap vehicle ever created by Detroit. This line of vehicles was created by Chrysler as a cheap vehicle who's mass sales generated the cash flow to get Chrysler back on it's feet.  One aspect of that bailout was the government was supposed to buy their fleet vehicles from Chrysler so what did they buy? That's right, K-cars;  which, due to their low quality had to be replaced within a few years.  So we gave Chrysler the money they needed, they produced a cheap piece of crap so they could become solvent again, then we all had to buy new cars within a few years.  Do you notice a problem with this scenario?  It's a repeated fleecing of the American people to fund a failing business model.  What is the reason Detroit is in the place their in today?  They produce crappy cars that are low quality, over priced, and get poor fuel economy.  Wow, it's history repeating itself.  

      There's a lot of talk about how Chrysler paid back their bailout early and that we actually made money on the deal but in reality did we?  If Detroit had really learned their lesson they wouldn't be in the world-of-hurt they are now.  We as American need to ask ourselves if we want to go down this road again.  Do we want to bailout yet another company just so they can continue to fleece us by providing us crap.  When are we going to stand up for ourselves and say NO to this type of treatment?  One of the best advice that has come out of all these bailouts is to "not throw good money after bad".  The Detroit big three bases their business on bad practices and we should not be supporting them. I'm all for "buy American" but I'm no fool.  If buying American means we're wasting money then it's un-American. You know the old adage "fool me once shame on me, fool me twice shame on you"?  Well Detroit is trying to make fools out of us again and we all need to say NO.  Just say NO Washington, do us all a favor and just say NO! 

Don't take things too serious

When you think life is getting a little too tough check this  out. :)

Scam? - Investor Protection Association for America

     I got a letter the other day soliciting me to fill out a survey and mail it back.  The survey had a cover letter outlining this groups idea to use my inputs and many others to lobby congress  on our part regarding our responses to questions surrounding tax cuts, energy, and the economy.  Sounds good right?  Well it sounded a little too good too be true for me so I did a little research.  I found this website called STATLISTICS.COM  which had a very nice outline of who intended target audience is for this letter.  What the hell!  This letter may be a legitimate request for information but then they turn all your information into a commodity for junk mailers and spam artists.  What a SHAM! 

     Folks, if you want Congress to know your opinion tell them.  It's very easy; all Senators, Representatives, the President, and even the 1st Lady have e-mail addresses, web sites, and snail-mail addresses.  They also have phone numbers that are in the public record so if you want to let your opinion known, take advantage of those venues, not an unsolicited request that comes in the mail.  This is a perfect example of something being too good to be true; it's nothing more than a con-artists scheme to mine for your information.  The unfortunate thing is that many people will fall for this and millions of dollars will be made at their expense.

     So what do we do?  A bi-product of my research may have found a suggestion; a blog called "Nerd on a Plane " has a great suggestion that you use the pre-paid envelope to send back an anonymous letter outlining your rage at this fishing scam.  This is a great idea, but I like the less time consuming approach; throw the crap away.  Oh, and since it has your address all over it I'd make sure and shred it first though.

American Thinker: Old Habits Die Hard

This appeared at the American Thinker website.  Some things will never "change"...

cartoon by Sean Sullivan

Red State? Blues State? How about Purple State?

      We've all seen the red-state/blue-state electoral maps but do those images really portray how America really voted?  Check out this map which depicts the 2008 elections results at a county level:

 

This image really intrigues me.  As you can see there are pockets of people voting one way and it transitions into area's voting another way.  Most of the solid blue area's center around highly populated urban area's and the more red around the more rural area's. If you think about the contrasts between the parties this makes sense.  Liberal voters tend to congregate around area's that support their ideals and conservative voters towards areas that reflect theirs.  This goes right along with a normal human tendency of wanting to be around people that think like you do.  Pundits like to talk about transitioning the voter base towards their candidate but compare the image above with this one:

This is county level results for the 2004 election. Other than being a tad more red it's almost identical.  So where is this transitioning of the voter base? The two maps clearly indicate the same deep blue and red areas but its the change in the purple areas that reflect this transition.

     One thing I noticed was a blue area in southern Texas and central New Mexico.  These area's aren't normal liberal hangouts, they're not urban, their not tree-hugger hang-outs, so they had me wondering why these area's fell so heavily Democrat.  When I was discussing this phenomenon with my wife she reminded me that this area is mostly inhabited with lower income hispanics who normally vote for the Democrats.  This year the Republicans thought they would be able to swing this group thinking that their stance towards abortion would swing the Catholic vote.  As you can see they where not only wrong, the area actually increased for the Democrats.  This is just one example on how the Republicans misled themselves on what people though was important.  As with almost every election this is an indicator of why people vote one way versus the other, and the number one reason is their pocketbook.  If Republicans learned anything after this election I hope it's that we need to have a platform that attracts this type of voter.  Learn the lessons of Reagan and hold true to fiscal conservatism, this will do it every time.

      So what do these maps tell us?  First off you can tell that no matter who is the candidate and what is happening in the world you will not be able to swing the hard core Democrat or Republican.   Second, you must have a platform that appeals to the moderate but holds true to your own values.  Fiscal conservatism does this; it puts money into the workers pocket as well as protect corporations and small businesses; this in turn expands our economy thus generating more revenue. We are the most powerful nation in the world and it's about time we re-adopted the values that got us there. This is how we move the map more red, put the money back into the people pocket.  Not by giving it to them (such as with a stimulus package) but by real tangible prosperity that people can rely on.  In other words; don't give a hand-out, give a hand up. That's how you win elections.

Looking Forward to the 2010 Election

     I was checking on Wikipedia on the next general election and ran into an interesting list.  Here are the Senate seats up for grabs in 2010:

• 
  
  • 
    
  • Democratic Incumbent Race 
  • Blanche Lincoln, Democrat Arkansas
  • Barbara Boxer, Democrat California
  • Ken Salazar, Democrat Colorado
  • Daniel Inouye, Democrat Hawaii
  • Evan Bayh, Democrat Indiana
  • Barbara Mikulski, Democrat Maryland
  • Harry Reid, Democrat Nevada
  • Chuck Schumer, Democrat New York
  • Byron Dorgan, Democrat North Dakota
  • Ron Wyden, Democrat Oregon
  • Patrick Leahy, Democrat Vermont
  • Patty Murray, Democrat Washington
  • Russ Feingold, Democrat Wisconsin
  • 
    
  • Republican Incumbent Races
  • Richard Shelby, Republican Alabama
  • Lisa Murkowski, Republican Alaska
  • John McCain, Republican Arizona
  • Mel Martinez, Republican Florida
  • Johnny Isakson, Republican Georgia
  • Mike Crapo, Republican Idaho
  • Chuck Grassley, Republican Iowa
  • Jim Bunning, Republican Kentucky
  • David Vitter, Republican Louisiana
  • Kit Bond, Republican Missouri
  • Judd Gregg, Republican New Hampshire
  • Richard Burr, Republican North Carolina
  • George Voinovich, Republican Ohio
  • Tom Coburn, Republican Oklahoma
  • Arlen Specter, Republican Pennsylvania
  • Jim DeMint, Republican South Carolina
  • John Thune, Republican South Dakota
  • Bob Bennett, Republican Utah

     
     If your a follower of my blog you should know how I feel about certain things, one of which was the Wall Street bailout bill.   The highlighted names above are Senators that voted for this bill.  Prior to the election I posted the names of the Texas congressmen that voted for it and specifically left out the rest of them because then I would have had to include senator McCain.  At that time I felt that it was more important to look at the short term goal of electing Senator McCain to the presidency and dealing with this issue on a smaller scale.  Especially since both Obama and McCain voted for this useless, pork-laden, government inflating bill. Now however, we need to look at the long term and the next election.  We need to look at everyone that voted for this bill and get them out of office.  We need to make the people that created this problem and then tried to line their own pockets at our expense to pay the ultimate political price; VOTE THEM OUT OF OFFICE.  

     While I know a lot of you out there may be caught up in the Obama-Mania syndrome please try to remember one key thing; fiscal conservatism is a bi-partisan concept.  No matter which side of the aisle you fall remember this list, remember who did the right thing and who screwed the public sector for their own gain. There are some pretty long term and famous names on this list, some folks have been in the senate for some  30+ years.  That is most likely the very problem.  The 1770 quote by William Pitt , "Unlimited power is apt to corrupt the minds of those who possess it", is a perfect example of why we need to limit the time people can hold office. These senators are out of touch with the desires of the voter and are voting not for their constituents but for their own gain. They have become corrupted by their own little bubble of greed.  We need to remove those that are camping out in Washington lining their own pockets with our tax dollars.  We need to remove them before their corruption can create more problems for us.  They are not doing the business of the people, they are doing business for themselves and need to GO. 

I'm working on a House list and will post it when I can.

Congrats are in order for Obama, but...

      Our country has a new president; congratulations Mr. Obama.  As many of you know I am not a Obama supporter, however this doesn't mean that I will not support our future president.  As with all good citizens out there I will continue to support our country and it's leaders.  Support is one thing but that does not mean that I'm not going to voice my opposition when I see something going wrong.  I ask all of you that read this to support our new government but be vocal when you see something going awry.  This is what true Americans do, we support our government by using our right to free speech to voice our opinions. One of the best ways to support our new president is to tell him which way to guide us.  I encourage all of you to follow me in the next two years to assist Mr Obama, Mrs. Palosi, and Mr Reed in guiding this country down the road in the direction we want it to go.  Voice your opinion loud and often to help these three misguided souls lead our country.  We all know they have agenda's we disagree with so it's our responsibility as good citizens to correct they're errors in judgement before they happen.  Use any possible means to make sure your voice is heard; e-mail, call, write letters, or even create a blog.  Whichever you choose, rest assured your voice will be amongst the millions that can not be ignored.  Congratulations President Elect Obama, and trust me, we'll be keeping in touch.

On-Line Gaming Fanatics

     Well this is the first post in a while that have nothing to do with politics. If you're not aware I enjoy playing some on-line games on Facebook.  These small applications are fun, have a huge global following, and a nice distraction in the evening.  As with everything in life, some people get way too wrapped up in these worlds they create for themselves and end up ruining it for the others.  If you've seen the commercials about World of Warcraft you can see how people can get very involved to a point of becoming fanatics and this isn't necessarily a healthy position. 

     When I was younger many of my friends played Dungeons and Dragons. In case you're not aware this is a fantasy based game with wizards, clerics, fighters, dragons and monsters.  It's a game that allows the players to create a imaginary character and go on adventures with other friends all being guided by a dungeon master (the person controlling the adventure).  The rules of the game are extensive and come is many books but are mainly just guides since everything is in people imagination.  Some people became so wrapped up in the game that they tried to actually live the game using it as an escape from reality to a point that they couldn't differentiate the game from reality.  These incidences became well knows in the news media which was then picked up by some fundamentalist religious type who tried to tie the game to satanism and demonic worship.  The makers of the game and the players who enjoyed it where ridiculed and many parents become concerned of their children descending into deviancy because of it.  It got to a point that people even tried to ban the game, forgetting that it was just a silly game being played in the imaginations of the players. All this fantastic reaction because a few unstable people took the game too serious and the other end of this spectrum reacted in kind.  Today D&D is accepted by most but not played that often by people since now we have the internet to stimulate our imagination.

     So last night as I was playing one of my favorite games (Homeworld) I had an encounter with an individual that is taking this game way too serious.  Homeworld is a space based game which you build your character through training and attacking others, making yourself stronger and smarter.  Early on in the game people realized that if you attack others too often all you do is upset people.  No one wanted this but they also didn't want to put an official limit on it so they adopted an un-written rule to not kill each other more than twice in a period of time.  As new players started to play they quickly found out about this un-written agreement and for the most part adhered to it.  As with any rule there are those out there that don't adhere to it and those folks develop reputations for nasty play and are ostracized by the other players until they change their way.  This works well with the majority of players but some folks just don't get it that it's just a silly game.  They take things personal when they;re attacked and retaliate with scathing e-mails telling the attacker how much of a low-life they are for attacking them.  This is what I ran into last night. 

     While we put out warnings to parents about these games concerning age I don't think age has a lot to do with it; I think it's mostly a maturity issue.  No matter how old someone is they'll never gain the level of maturity to be able to allow their imagination to take over for a while and then turn it off when they're done playing.  As with D&D some folks just can't let go.  Last night this guy killed me 6 times and when I asked him why he stated that I'd killed him repeatedly over the past few months and he couldn't retaliate due a limitation in the game.  Now he was just giving me a little payback.  So he had saved up a load of funds and was repeatedly attacked everyone who had attacked him.  Obviously this person is holding a grudge and unable to accept the fact that this is just a silly game.  I've ran into many folks like this on-line and I have to say it's a little scary knowing they're out there.  What trigger would it take for this guy to start taking it out on people for real?  This is thinking of a serial killer not a mature stable individual.  He looses the ability to have fun in a game and takes game-play as a personal attack rather than just a little fun.  Most likely this type of person is reclusive with few friends because if they show these traits in a fantasy world most likely it shows in the real world as well.  If you where a friend of this person would you allow him to treat you this way?  It's an abusive personality and not tolerated by many people.  

     So next time you play a game on-line and run into this type of person don't tolerate the behavior.  Tolerating this type of behavior only encourages them to continue.  What we should be doing is telling them repeatedly that it's just a silly game, let it go. Just let it go...