I'll be Following This One.

The lefties are jazzed.

Kill The Filibuster

Though, you'll likely need to check the main site for the next in the series. Dunno.

Janet Napelitano..............

Sometimes I do like to say Told Ya So.

Saw it coming a mile away and didn't need Bino's

Was Wrong About Hilreee Crinton But the Old Battle Nerf?

The Tell..

What an Ugly Tool. And No, I'm not speaking physically, Although....oofta

Ahh, The Cat's Eye

One of the most complex nebulas

Actually, Some Thoughts On The level of Propaganda and The State of The Union

Language Warning Mon Ami and Amie.

I see that stupid moron olbermann, on these msnbc cameo shot commercials where he angrily says 'You were elected to serve the will of the people!" and having never watched that excrement filled, bimbo orchestrated, orgasmic over Michelle's toned arms, tingly legged monstrosity of propaganda, I will assume he was talking about GW Bush. (STILL!)

And of course, I immediately think of the 61 PERCENT of America who does NOT want this disgustingly evil health reform bill to see the light of day, and wonder - no, stare in fascination - at what the fuck this former agricultural school attendee is talking about. It goes without saying that anyone who watches msnbc to get 'informed' is on board wid it and whatever else they serve up. Let's not waste our time with mindless drones.

These bastards (Dem politicians) are pure evil. Worse yet are the legions of spittle-mouthed 'progressives' who are cheering them on but paying no attention to what they're doing. Or not doing.

I simply don't know how you can turn this sextillion ton freighter (The USA) around at this point. Voting isn't going to do much but delay the inevitable. Does anyone think things would have been much different with McLame or Romney or Huckabee at the wheel ?

Sorry for the downer, but I don't see much happening assuming we follow the playbook. The liberals are balls to the wall and don't care about anything, including rules of congress, or the constitution, let alone common freakin decency.

I don't see anyone taking up the cause that can actually effect change. Coming back from lunch I hear some Republican Senator on some talk radio show say 'I'm not sure if this is constitutional". Dude, we can get that kind of dialogue from the freakin barber. Hey, whoever you were, let us know when you're sure Ok? Then more to the point, let us know what the hell you're going to do about it. We put you in Washington DC to fill your pockets and live the good life for a Reason.

Standing on the sideline bitching about what the other side is doing is doing Virtually No More than the Democrats Do. Complain and Moan. Worthless Lip Service.

The dumbasses who vote for this shit need an education, which they will only get through living the reality of this nightmare, and we are left to wonder if it will be too late by then.

There is one truism of government that I may have made up myself but not sure.. "It is hard as hell to make improvements in the country from the Oval office, but it is easy as hell to fuck things up beyond recognition."

Music - The Boxer

My favorite S&G tune. Following posts will be 2nd and 3rd favorites. Simon and Garfunkel are among the small percentage of artists that could sound as good or better than their studio recordings. - In my opinion, of course, Monsieur/Mademoiselle.

Best of LOLCAT, For Bunni

PS To My Last Post

My last post pointed out that people with business experience and especially those from the private sector are the most capable of dealing with economic situations like the one we are in now.

I just got this email, which I'll just cut and paste, as follows:

Did you happen to catch Glenn Beck's show a couple days ago? He had a graph up that showed past presidents and the percentage of each president's cabinet appointees who had previously worked in the private sector. You know a real life business, not a government job? Remember what that is? A private business???

*Roosevelt - 38%*
*Taft - 40%*
*Wilson - 52%*
*Harding - 49%*
*Coolidge - 48%*
*Hoover - 42%*
*FDR - 50%*
*Truman - 50%*
*Eisenhower - 57%*
*Kennedy - 30%*
*LBJ - 47%*
*Nixon - 53%*
*Ford - 42%*
*Carter - 32%*
*Reagan - 56%*
*GHWB - 51%*
*Clinton - 39%*
*GWB - 55%*

*And the Winner of the Chicken Dinner is.........................*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*Obama - 8%*

*YEP, EIGHT PERCENT!!!!!!!!!!!! And these are the guys holding a "job summit" this week? This ought to go really well!!!! I'm gonna go out on a limb here, I know, but I'm gonna go ahead and predict........ WE'RE SCREWED!!!!!


Me again. Well, we're screwed at least for another year and possibly 3, depending on how 2010 candidates and voting go.

Government Sucks, Why Do You Want More of It.

Why do people look to government to solve economic weakness. It can't - in so many words. All it can do is empower the Engine of America which is Free Enterprise, to use it's power to grow, improve, and ultimately hire people if not outright create new industries, and turn a tax collector into a tax payer. A double positive.

No. We've STILL got half a million people a month losing jobs.

That is all GW Bush did to bring the US out of a recession. Empower Free Enterprise with Tax Cuts and other "take the jack boot off their throat" tactics. These are the people who know how to get it done.

Take the PC and the Internet. If you look at all the supporting industries - Memory, Disk Drives, Servers, Data Warehouses, Fiber Cable, ISP's, Monitors, Power Supplies, Programmers, Web developers, not to mention the peripheral industry such as printers, digital cameras, etc, and many more. The Personal computer industry put more people to work Directly, than the US Auto industry every thought about. And the Auto industry, specifically GM was said to BE America. GM essentially was America.

Empower innovation, empower free enterprise. This is conservatism. This is Capitalism. This is NOT some socialist entity like France or the UK, that haven't produced anything innovative in over 50 years.

Obama and crew? Jack Boot City. Jim Cramer even uses this analogy and he's a democrat.. God knows why. Probably because he lives near New York.

Why does anyone look to government to solve anything. They didn't come from the business world. Hell, by her own admission on her website, Nana Pelosi never even worked at McDonalds. Straight from Trinity college where she is too embarrassed to mention her major, straight to politics through family connections. Yea, she's qualified to lead the herd all right.

APOD - They Keep on Coming

Star Cluster in the Tarantula Nebula

Who Are Conservatives ?

Conservatives are people who believe in preserving the constitution and are in favor of small non-intrusive government at all levels. Period.

People that want to push their religious standards or any other standards on other people are not Conservatives. Conservatives don't care what you do as long as it is legal. In some cases we don't even care if it's illegal. For example, victimless crimes - and yes there are.

People who are intolerant of people who are not like them are redneck assholes, not conservatives.

Pretty simple.

If you believe differently, then you have been mislead by the political party and it's media slave who misleads you every step of your life that you vote for over and over. And over.

Best of LOLCAT

Update: Movie Reference Team America

Texas Baby !

I Hear Obama Rates Himself a B+

On his [lack of] performance so far.

Based on actual polls in America, his rating is D+ at best.

George Bush would have said "It's not up to me to provide a rating, it's up to the American people".

Obama is such an asshole.

In 1997, A Land Vehicle Exceeded the Speed of Sound

and currently holds the land speed record.

Pretty impressive stuff.



The Spirit of America was able to manage 675 and crash in 1996, then come back and do 676. The vehicle was built from an F-104 Starfighter Aircraft, which was the first fighter back in the 1960's to exceed mach 2. In flight, it was known as "a man in a missile". I think some other names included the word coffin.

Here's a picture of the Spirit of America as it was in 1997.



If you're interested, there is a bunch of stuff out there on the Thrust SSC. Google of course.

Dude, That's a Lot of Dust

No vacuum cleaners in space I guess.


Click the picture, then again for a large view

As long as they're putting out the good ones, I'll spotlight em.

A Sudden Blast of Clarity

This government (Democrats led by Obama, Pelosi, Reid, and the other morons who try to operate their brains at sub zero temperatures) remind me exactly of the last company I worked for that went under. They sold the place actually to another company who was looking to make themselves more attractive to a suitor that they themselves had on the line because they too were in serious decline. Common practice for dumping your business.

I'll try to describe it as quickly as I can..

The company I used to work for started out around 1980 with a few highly motivated individuals that worked tirelessly at all hours, all as 'partners', working to create a firm that they could be proud of and that would be highly profitable, and possibly end up in an IPO situation where they would all get rich, like the folks at Microsoft or Google actually accomplished. This was a software company selling a packaged software solution to product distribution companies.

As time went on they continued to collect what they termed as 'A players', and these folks actually were. All were invited into the 'partners group' which afforded little extra in compensation but provided status within the organization and the chance to work a lot harder than everyone else.
When I came on board around 1989, there were around 18 partners. Truly talented individuals that in spite of management, got the job done and kept the customer's businesses running. To make a long story a lot shorter, around 1998, about 90% of the partners were convinced that there would never be an IPO and the profit opportunities were drying up faster than spit in Death Vally in July so they left to start their own company, which they sold not long after for around 18 million I believe. (Not bad and more than this place got by a long shot).
The company was stagnant, obviously content to sell 8 or 10 projects a year, collect a million in time and materials billings on each, then give a couple hundred grand back in arbitration before moving on to the next pigeon. All because management had it's head up it's ass and refused to do the things that would provide the path to volume sales and all the rest of the fruit.

The steep slide into oblivion started unnoticed the day following the partners departure. With the people gone who actually accomplished things, and management arrogant and ignorant enough to believe it was they who had been responsible for 17+ years of good times and profit believed they could simply take the reins in a little tighter and all would be well in no time. Wrong. Management were idiots who would be lucky to hold jobs as clerks somewhere.

Within two years the place was a caricature and a sad joke and the owners ought to be kissing the ground every day knowing they dumped that place on someone else about 10 minutes before it became obvious to anyone that it's value was actually less than zero. The A Players had left, and the 4th string was on the field. Maybe the 8th string.

This is exactly what is happening in our government today. The obama and the democrat 'leadership' in congress are so arrogant and ignorant that they believe that They need to steer the ship. It's obvious every time obama gives a speech and every other word is either 'me' or 'I'. By doing so they are showing their lack of intelligence and experience. If I were president I would be challenging corporate America to accomplish this task, as they have the expertise to get it done. All government can do is provide the foundation for them to get it done. Mainly tax cuts and incentives.

Successful administrations realize that capitalism and free industry are the engine that has driven America for over 200 years to become the single super power in the world. They simply give free enterprise what it needs and they stay the hell out of the way. The two states who are actually growing their economies, even in this cancer sickened economic state - Texas and Alaska - employ the philosophy that I just wrote. Ask Rick Perry how involved in Texas businesses he is. The answer will be not much, just give them what they need to prosper. This is why Toyota recently moved it's Tacoma Truck plant from death bed patient California to Prosperous San Antonio, Texas.

The answer then is clear. Obama, Pelosi, Reid, and all the rest of you blowhards. Shut up and get out of the way. You won't of course but at least you'll go down in history as incompetent morons completely unfamiliar with the concept of success. At best.

Elin Woods Quotes in Chronological Order

What the Hell?

Oh Tiger

Tiger Have Accident

House in Sweden

So Many Roads...

So many trains to ride.

I thought it was the Mc/Palin Express... but Noooooooooo, it was the B&O..



UPDATE: This tune came from This Album which is available as a MP3 download for 6 bucks. Not bad. I have the vinyl version. The guys were a lot younger and sounded a lot better in the mid 70's than they do here. It's a great album.

Cholla the Painting Horse

Is quite talented in my opinion.

Cholla I believe is pronounced as they would in the southwest as 'Choya'.

Without further ado, Here is Cholla.

Cholla's Gallery

He's no Monet, and no doubt that frustrates him as his capacity for diversity of brush strokes is lacking, but his talent for color and ability to convey the proper feeling in his interpretations of nature is quite impressive.

Some of my favorites are: Birds in Flight, Flying Dolphins, Grasshopper, Maybe Van Gogh, Star Goose, and Purple Winged Dragon.

Hope and Change

As I mentioned to someone on some blog recently, the people who are the most unhappy in the USA are the ones on the government dole. Folks with pretty much their only source of income being social security and most especially those on welfare.

I think many of them don't realize it, but the reason they are unhappy is because they have nothing on their life horizon outside of a maybe a $80 a year increase in their government checks for 'inflation' which will likely be taken away simultaneously by some new government program like a Medicare part D drug plan.

In essence Their Struggle Is Over. They have no plan and no opportunity to get ahead. Live in a nicer place, drive a car that doesn't need mechanical attention every other week, etc. People need to get ahead. People need accomplishment in their lives to provide their psyche with the food it needs for happiness. Happiness only truly comes from struggle and the associated accomplishments and realization of dreams. Instead, their noses are held just above the water line and they have no Hope for Change.

Ah, we arrive at my point. This is the very reason the two words most spoken by Democrats during political campaigns are Hope and Change, Hope for Change. The Democrats don't describe what the change will be nor give any clues as to what people should hope for. It's important to leave that translation to the individual, and during the last campaign, I'll bet there were millions of hopes - from the lady who "wouldn't have to pay her mortgage or put gas in her tank anymore" to some environmnetalist whackjob's belief that obama and company would make the oceans recede and make life a delicate prance through utopia for all of God's little creatures.

(PS - Check the update on the last post about how you can get your own Bullshit Protectors.)

Handy for Obama Speeches

Update: Go here to view and print from this PDF, your very own set of Bullshit Protectors.

I would print them out, then use a little wood glue or similar to glue them to some light cardboard so they'll hold up during long obama speeches.

I Hate Hackers

Well, I don't really Hate, but I strongly feel most of them should be put in prison as they vandalize private property.

But to continue my thought, I LOVE Climategate.

I absolutely LOVE it ! And it's gaining steam !

I want to see Al Gore and partners sued back to the stoneage. They are guilty of crimes. As well as those UN buttheads. Won't happen of course.

A Painting

By the Master of the Universe

Just a Thought. And a Prediction

If the morons tax energy as part of their global climate scam of the multi-millenium, many people won't be able to afford to heat their homes in the usual clean burning natural gas, propane, or oil fired kinda way (25% used credit cards last year to pay for heating bills), so they'll burn all the wood in sight to keep from freezing.

Gee, won't that put a lot more carbon in the atmosphere ? And remove a lot of trees from the environment ?

Par for the friggin course for stupid dumb ass liberals.

The Christmas Song

Ok, it's after Thanksgiving. And all I've heard from the outside world regards Christmas music is that winter holiday crap.

I'm not all that religious myself, but This is what December 25th is all about.

Embedding disabled, so Here's The Link

Best of LOLCAT

Problems at Work ?

Relax.

This Looks Like a Salvatore Dali Painting to Me.

Astronomy Picture of the Day

Shocka ! Climate Skeptics See 'Smoking Gun' in Researchers' Leaked E-Mails

Hackers broke into the servers at a prominent British climate research center and leaked years worth of e-mail messages onto the Web, including one with a reference to a plan to "hide the decline" in temperatures.

The Internet is abuzz about the leaked data from the University of East Anglia's Climate Research Unit (commonly called Hadley CRU), which has acknowledged the theft of 61MB of confidential data.

Climate change skeptics describe the leaked data as a "smoking gun," evidence of collusion among climatologists and manipulation of data to support the widely held view that climate change is caused by the actions of mankind. The authors of some of the e-mails, however, accuse the skeptics of taking the messages out of context, adding that the evidence still clearly shows a warming trend. (Maybe if you're sitting in front of a radiant heater you dumbass!)

More............

I'd like to play some baseball with these Effing geeks.

They should all be subject to extensive criminal charges. How much money have they stolen from the world already. How many resources have been denied the poor and starving. They can all go to hell.

HAIL! Atlantis !

Alright. Well, I've Been Sick. Now I Feel Like Using The Edge of My Hand, And Chopping Down a Mountain. Make Some Islands, Raise Some Sand.

If We're The Party of No,

They're the party of Shut Up And Do What We Say.

Can It Be Any Simpler ?

Socialism doesn't work because it punishes success and rewards failure.

If you want less of something, punish it.
If you want more of something, reward it.

You see where this is going.

Post Removed

I didn't like it.

Raw. Current Events Call for Raw

It's not complete but that works in this case.

A pipers voice
A guitar that will cut you if you get too close
An organ and bass that keep you alive with an IV drip.
A sound every rock band has tried to duplicate since. Nirvana came close.

Yea, someone turn out the lights on the way out.

Best of LOLCAT

Obama Supporters

If something is wrong with the Obama, then something is wrong with their fantasy life and that simply won't do. They'd have no where else to go. People desperately need somewhere to go, especially those who have no where to go.

Everything We Needed to Know we Learned in Kindergarten

When some of those, who are entrusted to your command and who pledge their lives to your command, die at the hands of a monster, and many others lie in pain from injury, and their loved ones are hurting, do you go to them and do whatever you can to provide comfort and leadership or do you go on vacation at Camp David.

Berlin Wall Dissolution Anniversary

I was going to do this big write-up exposing the butthead as a major butthead of major proportions, but in the end it comes down to this:

For America to not be represented by it's president at the anniversary of the dissolving of the Berlin Wall is absurd, unacceptable, and totally expected of the asshole who currently occupies the Oval Office.

Outside of the idiot, imagine the joy that erupted at that moment in history. Friends, families, lovers, once again able to be intimate again. Great Joy. Thank You Mr Reagan. Thank You.

Today's WTF-O-Meter Reading for Sat, Nov 7, 2009

...

Peace

I Need Some Music

Can you play Souza on guitar ?

Ft Hood Terrorism Murders, A Good Source of Information

As far as the Ft Hood incident, screw the news, you'll get much better info at Blackfive who have a number of posts up by their authors who either were or still are professional military.

Proof That You Cannot Raise The Lower Class

Section 8 Housing.

Section 8 housing destroys neighborhoods. An argument was made in Cincinnati several years ago that section 8 neighborhoods were hell holes because they were not the kinds of places people would ever want to live, and no one was in the neighborhood to provide better examples of how to live and maintain one's property.

So they put a number of section 8 families in a golf course development. Nothing rich, just a real nice middle class place to live. A few years later the place was a hell hole. This is because section 8 people for the most part do not know how to live respectfully within a community or control their kids who ransack the area with vandalism and other constant nuisance activity of which there is no recourse because they aren't adults ! And their parents can't afford to make good for their vandalism, so anyone in the neighborhood who is worth more than a pair of crocs takes a huge loss on their property and moves the hell out. I personally know people who have had to deal with this and the police and legal system are powerless to do anything about any of it.

The kid can't be put in jail. The parent (yea singular) can't afford restitution. The parent can't be taken away from the minor - even if there Was jail space, which there isn't.

What else does anyone need to know ?

This is exactly the Democrat agenda for America. Not really a plan, because I really do believe many of them are stupid enough to still believe you can put section 8 people in a golf course community and it will all work out peachy.

We will find ourselves living not only in one big freakin day care center where you will pay excessive extra tax for consuming anything that the moronic liberals deem as unhealthy, or hurts the environment or simply hasn't been taxed enough yet, you will find yourself in one huge section 8 development where there are no consequences for ignorant destructive behavior because this is the natural behavior of liberals to begin with. That can't be a crime can it? Besides, there wouldn't be enough prison space !

How in the F did this happen.... You gotta wonder. Well, people voted for it for starters but that's not the cause, that's a symptom.

Great Read, Pure Poetry

Excerpt:

"The administration that was elected on the promise of change has been neutered by the trial lawyers, who donated $47-million to the Democrats last year and have prevented the measures necessary to cut health-care costs. It has been suborned by the dead hand of organized labour, which has been rewarded for decades of over-payment and shoddy work habits in automobile-making with entrenchment of the UAW’s unfeasible health-care benefits, continued protectionism and outright ownership of most of what is left of the U.S. auto industry."

Read the Whole Enchilada

Best of LOLCAT

Dede Scozzafava Exits Stage Left

And I do mean Left.

Douglas Hoffman, Good Luck to you sir and may you be what you portend to be.

Dede- you don't come back no more, ya hear? Not as a Republican anyway. Change your party affiliation if you support the left.

We sure as hell don't need any more lying, cheating Democrat Agent Olympia Snowe's.

And I hope that's a lesson to you too Newt.

Ok, Back the party ! Woo Hoooooooo.

Had To....

Ah, that's better.

Our Future

Perspective

Don't torture yourself, just watch the first couple minutes, and look at the expression of each and everyone in the frame.

UPDATE: I just had to add, if you don't watch the whole thing and why would you, move the slider to about the 10:22 mark and watch the last 10 seconds or so. At the end you hear a bunch of vocal applause but STILL there isn't a ONE of the men in the frame standing around Obama that even hints at approval or a smile or anything of the sort that would give you the slightest impression that they wouldn't rather be somewhere else. That is disapproval in the extreme. Those men were placed there like freakin ornaments and they know it.



Now for the persepective. This is September 3, 2007, after these men and women have been pouring out blood, sweat and tears, and dodging bullets for America for over 4 years, separated from their wives, husbands, children, friends and other family. See and hear any difference ?



H/T - USA ADMIRAL

Explanation: The men and women in the George Bush video knew that George Bush would NOT let their sacrifice or the sacrifice of their friends and comrades in arms ever be in vain while he was their leader. He wouldn't let the Dems in congress screw them over either. They knew that they were there for victory and nothing less. Victory would be the only acceptable outcome. Victory did come via Gen Petreaus and the COIN strategy in Iraq.

Supporting the Troops means supporting the mission, because the mission is why they sacrifice, and why their families sacrifice. You can't do something like this if you're not committed to the mission and well over 80% were. How do I now this. Because 86% of the National Guard Troops who were the first on scene on 2003 and screwed over by not being allowed to return on schedule, and in fact left in place far longer than anticipated Supported George Bush After they returned.

Yes, mistakes were made, but this is a far cry from a pretend Commander in Chief who can't even make up his fucking mind while Their comrades in arms are being over-run and killed in Afghanistan. They know Obama is playing politics with their lives and the lives of their friends, some of which have already been lost. That's what the look on their faces tell you. They know their fate is now in the hands of those Democrat Bastards like Kerry, Murtha, Obama, Reid and the rest of them who cried that Iraq was lost and did little more than try to ensure defeat in Iraq, and worst of all give 24/7 aid and comfort to the enemy with their pathetic rhetoric for more than 5 years.

Isn't it Beautiful ?

The Breakdown

Every Classroom should have a display like this. Hover your mouse over an item to see an explanation.

Musical Interlude

Latest Piece of Obvious Proof the Health Care Plan is Nonsense

They plan to cut 500 Billion out of Medicare to reduce the costs of government health non-care.

To say nothing at all about the 'baby boomer' stampede into Medicare over the next 20 years or so, how can you cut 500 BILLION and say you haven't cut services ?

Supply and Demand are 2 of the 4 basic things anyone needs to know about life. In this case, supply is being cut while demand is increasing.

I mean, is there even something in the animal world who would buy that piece of shit ?

Check Out The Great Reader

Voice Activated Laptops for Soldiers who are injured, in hospital, and don't have the use of their hands.

Liberal Factoid # 17

Folks, Liberals are not paying attention. They voted for the Democrats and Obama and the whole shooting match is off the radar now. They're out having sex, doing drugs, and listening to rock and roll.

I'm serious. The vast majority of them have not even heard of cap and trade. I talk to them all the time. If they happen to be in front of a TV and some 'news' is on maybe they'll watch 5 minutes of it, but it's not their thing, not something they are interested in.

In the last election they put their 2-3-4 weeks of effort into picking the right candidate by listening to a debate or two and the candidates commercials and as a result they voted for Obama. The next election, they will spend 2-3-4 weeks listening to some debates, commercials, and that is More than enough due diligence for them. Overkill for sure.

Unless they're being squeezed like walnuts in the jaws of a squirrel, Obama will have done a good job and needs 4 more years to tackle these big issues like getting cars to run on air and spit Valium out the exhaust.

The ones who are paying attention and staying engaged are simply ignorant. They think government should make life fair for everyone. As in government health care. When you ask them who is going to pay for it they say the government. When you ask them where the government gets its money, they aren't really sure. They know taxes fit in there somehow, but they have these ill-defined images of printing money, or borrowing money that will never have to be paid back, and who knows what else pops out from short circuited synapses...

They either have no idea, or they don't care. And they sure as hell don't see anything wrong with socialism or Marxism. Progressive can be directly translated to communism today. Maybe it always could.

Make The Call Obama !

This is a video shot shortly after Obama entered the Oval Office as the President of the United States, and more specifically, the Commander in Chief.

The author is James Hanson. James Hanson is introduced on the Blackfive site as a contributing author as follows:

Retired Special Operations Master Sergeant, Jim Hanson ("Uncle Jimbo") is now focused on writing about the military, politics, intelligence operations and foreign policy.


I watched this video when it was posted and thought it was right on. I watch it now, and its prescience is obvious and strong.

Well, Why Not.

Back from a time when singers were expected to be great vocalists. I sure miss the talent.

Nope

Nobody Out There

Click the picture, then click again for a zoom in.

Geeez

What Beautiful Animals

Obama

I Object !

Best Wishes to the Atkins Family and Friends.

Leona Atkins, the 85-year-old widow of Chet Atkins died Wednesday (Oct. 21) at her home in Nashville. The soon-to-be-legendary guitar player met Leona Johnson in the mid-1940s when she was performing with her sister on the Boone County Jamboree at radio station WLW in Cincinnati. He married her in 1946. Chet Atkins was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1973 and died in 2001. Mrs. Atkins is survived by a daughter, Merle Atkins Russell.

From Here

Peace be With You.

I can't think of a better tribute:



Chet was and is known as Mister Guitar.

Best of LOLCAT

I think Bunni will like this one.

Fox News Not Playing Fair ?

Is it a shock that one of the Obama administration admits using the 'news' like a willing slave during the campaign ?

Which has the added bonus of her saying one of her two favorite 'political philosophers' is none other that Mao Tse-Tung, who is responsible for killing tens of millions of Chinese. I believe the other was Mother Teresa.

They beat the piss out of GW Bush for 8 years, who said nothing other than 'Free Speech'.

You've got a few talk radio people and one news organization which seems to be trying to report to the people about the government, and Obama cries over them like a Baby.

Like a little Baby. Or an evil Fascist - take your pick.

And the mental midgets cheer them on.

PS - We've got children dying all over the place from Mexican (swine/H1N1) Flu and where in the hell is the vaccine ? And where in the hell are the 'news' people demanding answers about why the vaccine isn't ready yet for something that's been known about in plenty of time to have it ready. Yea, I know we're talking about "Mr Hit The Ground Running", which given the asshole's track record means the exact opposite.

To add to the injury and mental agony, 'They' want the same assholes who are so incompetent as to not have the vaccine ready for flu season to be in charge of health care.

It's beyond words my friends.

I'm Too Damn Tired, So, Let's Just Get On With It !

I would have liked to watch the finger work on this one.

This Tune Seems to Channel the Suspense of Current Events

Our Way of Life in America Requires Participation and Cooperation

When people stop participating, neighborhoods go to hell, innovation goes to some other shore, (people with big screen TV's move out of California.... :)) and the contributors are simply outweighed and overwhelmed by the takers.

People stop worrying about paying loans back.

This has been the major movement in America the last decade or two, driven by community organizers, organizations with names like ACORN and others, and it's really picking up steam in my opinion.

I read a news article couple years back. Someone at a Kmart was offered a 4,000 instant credit card through an error in Kmart's credit system. She called her friends who called their friends with the message that 'KMart was giving free money away".
Opportunists went to other KMarts and acquired credit applications to sell to the hordes that showed up to get their free 4,000 instant credit. Not a one of them had the slightest intention of paying back a cent. Violence ensued in the KMart parking lot and afterwards earrings, still attached to ear parts, were found in the parking lot where they fought over remaining credit application forms.

True.

That image came to me as the mortgage meltdown came to pass, and I could hear people screaming in my imagination that "Countrywide is Giving Free Houses Away" thousands or perhaps millions of times across the American landscape. Encouraged by the Democrats I add, such as Bubba Clinton threatening to sue Fannie and Freddie if they didn't provide loans to under-qualified borrowers.

We're screwed folks. There isn't enough participation left. The rest of us will buckle under the load and that will be that.

Anyway, along this line is a truly excellent offering from Bill Whittle of Eject Eject Eject Here that he wrote not too long after the Katrina disaster called Tribes. It is well worth a read.

Very Sensual

h/t Blackfive

WTF-O-Meter Reading for Friday, October 16th, 2009

California proposes Banning Big Screen TV's

You gotta believe every productive member of California society has a big screen TV. They are going to chase every productive member of society out of California.

Which I have to believe is their intention.

It may even be the test case for America. Well, it is - but it may be intentional as opposed to a simple overflow of shit for brains from the California Legislature.



California! You Suck !

Always Worth Watching. Nothing New Is There !

1964 Baby.

Best of LOLCAT

I Thought Cap and Tax Was All About Taxes

But now I believe it is all about seriously reducing America's consumption. Collecting money as well is just a bonus that will tickle their funny bones at DC cocktail parties.

By squeezing, pinching, and taxing America's natural resources to the point that consumption is highly constrained. And it will be. I've seen this in action in the UK when I lived there in 1990. People would rush out of their houses with a bucket of soapy water and soap down their cars when it rained so as to save the piddly amount of water it would take to rinse the car. I'm not kidding you.

I'm not sure why this is their goal, but given Oblama's apology tour, it could very well be that they take seriously, all these 3rd world countries who whine about America's consumption of resources and they wish to appease them. (There are at least a couple words in there that we commonly associate with Democrats)

I'm telling you, they will not be happy until we are living in a hell hole created by the vice-like constraint of resources. It won't apply to them or course. It never does. Al Gore will still have his 10,000 sq ft mansion in Tennessee and fly every freakin where he goes.

How else can you explain: No drilling, No expansion of Coal, No Nukes! No Nukes! and worst of all, No major move to the use of Natural Gas when recent technological breakthroughs have made it so the entire world could be powered by the Natural Gas reserves that are known today for the next 120 years.

I mean, it's insane right ? We could literally tell the ME to "GFY and keep all your oil" in about 10 years by moving all mass transit to UNG.

Well, no they're not that stupid. Which means they are doing it intentionally. And yes, the whole global climate razzmatazz was made up entirely to use as one of the main thrusts towards curtailing resources.

I just hope there aren't that many Americans who will stand for that crap.

The battle lines are drawn and they know it. It's why they want their new domestic army of zombies.

You All Have My Robust Support to Ignore the Experts.

You know those Experts who 'say' or those Experts who 'agree' or those Experts who 'predict' that we see mentioned in 'news' articles every other 5 minutes.

Who are the Experts anyway? Many times they are lifetime students who never had to work an honest day in their lives or have ever been exposed to the reality of how stuff works in the real world.

In short, they sit around like school children, dreaming of what the world Should Be, using their worthless acadamian credentials to waste people's time with worthless crap ideas like 'Ridding the World of Nukes' at a time in the world's history that nukes might actually come in handy against suicidal religiously obsessed maniacs with massive amounts of oil and drug money at their disposal.

To the experts - Get a freakin life and STFU.

OH! Come On !

Someone look at this picture and tell me this is a Republican !

No Way In Hell !

Secret Video of Barry Obama's Grandparents Comes to Light

No wonder.....

OBAMACARE

Don't Read The Freakin Bill !

Reading the Health Care Bill is like being a little bit pregnant.

Reading the Freakin Health Care Bill is like sleeping at a Vampires House with the Caveat that You Have to be outta there by 6 am latest.

Reading the Health Care Bill is like only using 2 inch nails in the nail gun you apply to your forehead and pull the trigger with wild abandon.

Reading the Health Care Bill is like Only Eating a Half Box of Rat Poison !

Reading the Health Care Bill is like saying Barney Frank can be rehabilitated.

Reading the Health Care Bill is like saying Rich Simmons is only a little bit gay.

Reading the Health Care Bill is a Colossal Waste of Time.

Reading the Health Care Bill Pretends there IS a Health Care Bill

Down With The ISM's !

1948. Nothing new under the sun eh?

You know me; I don't much care for particularly long roads to a point, but I didn't have any trouble watching the whole 9+ minutes of this.



Choose Security over Liberty and you have neither.

Arby's (No not that one) Second Annual Find the Wreath Contest

You go read rules now so you can participate.

Today's Cool Application

Firefox Add on Fireshot

Here's a small quickly slapped together example that I did using Fireshot in about a minute.

Plus capturing 'news' stories will/may be a useful tool in helping to combat the re-writing of news.

The First in At Least One Video From Our Orphan Kitten Fostering Days

Grey Goose came to us with two brothers who became known as Big Bear and Little Bear - both solid black short hair cats with white spots on their lower belly. They were the 2nd set of kittens we were fostering. The first two kttens were born to a feral mother who we took in to socialize as well as provide a place to give birth outside the shelter and she gave birth the 2nd day at the house.

She took on these three new ones as her own, but to relieve the stress on her, we helped by bottle feeding them and helping out with the 'bathroom duties'. Kittens cannot do anything by themselves the first few weeks, and the mom initiates them either defecating or urinating by licking them on their genitals. You can simulate this by taking a warm wet paper towel and rubbing them there. The mom actually consumes the waste or spits it out into the litter box. I was never around when one of the moms actually did it.

Anyway, Grey Goose was the most laid back kitten and cat that we'd ever had at the house. One day, in one of the bedrooms where we took care of these dudes, Goose came in and I gave him a shot at a starting role. After a minute, he totally freaked out and turned into Bruce Lee.

Nancy Pelosi's Brain

The following is the complete soundtrack of the 'active' regions of what is left of Nancy Pelosi's 'brain'.
The track starts off a little boring, probably as she remembers the robustness of her college days (you'll need some volume to even hear this part), then gets a little repetitive in the middle sections as you might imagine.
There is a real treat at the end though. Kinda.

Today's WTF-O-Meter Reading

Introducing Capn' Springfield, Guest Blogger

In the post below.

A True American. A Sheepdog. I'll let him provide further information if he chooses.

Enjoy All.

Another Beautiful Weekend...

My wife and I have been spending the last month at my parents house as we prepare to move into our new home. While the family is fantastic, it has been quite interesting for two newly weds to embarq on such a stay. It has given us ample time to step back and observe everything that has been going on, and to actually delve further into the minutia.

So let's see where to start.

The Russian and Chinese Governments spent $4 Billion this week to prop up the dollar so that they may maintain some sort of exports to the US.

Iran is buying gold like it is going out of style, anticipating more sanctions.

The Royal Bank of Australia raised their interest rate a quarter of a percent in anticipation of inflation.

$1.00 US = $1.04 CAN.... ???

Gold hits all time high (before pulling back ever so slightly because of the $4 Billion purchase mentioned earlier) of $1,063/ounce.

Chairman Bernanke says we are going to keep printing money for a while...

Our President is trying to turn Afghanistan into a police action... hummm, I have heard that term before.

Health Care will increase taxes on everybody- except for those who don't pay taxes anyway (Tim Geithner).

Second Stimulus is being pushed by the democrats- wait, how did the first one work out? I thought we were to be below 8% unemployment? Now almost 15 million people out of work.

Have you ever googled the newspaper headlines from the 1930's?
"Recession is Over", "Recovery is here", etc., etc, over and over for the entire decade. Sound familiar?

Sugar hits all time price high. California food production down 25% due to water being cut-off to farmers to save the smelt.

Dollar has lost 19% of its value in last 6 months.

Obama wants to control the internet, blogging, financial industry/regulation, health care, and demise of the dollar- but was given a Nobel Peace Prize for internation diplomacy.

The IMF now gets to help regulate our Financial Industry.


Yada, yada, yada.

Does anyone else notice any certain trends here?

While many of us sit here this weekend, we are oblivious to what is actually happenning right under our feet or over our heads. The devaluing of our dollar has gone to new lows, and the "Post recession Inflation" has not even started yet. Sadly, it will not be until a Happy Meal at McDonald's is $35.00 that the mainstream will realize what is going on.

So, another beautiful weekend... enjoying a Value Meal at $6.99... (How long ago was it $5 or even $4?) Ahhh progress...

Best of LOLCAT

Given that it is school season..

Obama Nobel Peace Prize

What is lacking in reality must be over-stated in Hyperbole.

Certified Sheep Dog

Tissue Alert.

What a Story !


Do yourself a favor, por pavore, and as soon as this page comes up, hold the control key down and punch the + key about three times. Your eyes will thank you.

I read this soon after actually, and just thought about it again. Hell of a story from one of our Sheepdogs.

Well... OK If I Have To.

I'll Stay !

I Believe and I've Never Before Sent a Candidate a Dime.

We need to weed the Socialists out one by one. If you didn't know, here is one who can take the place of someone on the dark side. Matt Burden who authors the Blackfive milblog, along with other very serious current and former members of America's Finest has decided to run for Congressional Office out of Chicago LINK

I've been reading Blackfive for years now and they do our Military a fine service. Also check out their Warrior Legacy Foundation, dedicated to working for the benefit of the military members current and former.

"Former Paratrooper and Army Officer, Matthew "Blackfive" Burden started this blog upon learning of the valorous sacrifice of a friend that was not reported by the journalist whose life he saved."

I believe Matt will fight for America. And if we had One Matt versus one of the Dems, it's like a +1, minus 3 :)

Update: Make that a Plus 3, minus 1.

I'm Hoping

To have This to Say to some Democrats come November 2010.

I Do Like Bill Balsamico's Signs

Ram it Baby.

Best of LOLCAT

One For Our Sons, Daughters, Wives, Husbands, Mothers and Fathers in Afghanistan

Knights in White Satin. Heroes who gave all, lying in White Satin.




Update: If you look up the lyrics, the chorus is "I Love You", but it sure sounds to me like they are singing "I love You All" - which would make a lot more sense as well.

Why Aren't Liberals Singing This Song?

haha !




The Words...

Seems I've got to have a change of scene
'Cause every night I have the strangest dreams
Imprisoned by the way it could have been
Left here on my own or so it seems
I've got to leave before I start to scream
But someone's locked the door and took the key.

Ya' feelin' allright?
I'm not feelin' too good myself
Well, ya' feelin' allright?
I'm not feelin' too good myself

Well boy you sure took me for one big ride
And even now I sit and wonder why
And when I think of you I start to cry
I just can't waste my time I must keep dry
Gotta' stop believing in all your lies
'Cause there's too much to do before I die.

Ya' feelin' allright?
I'm not feelin' too good myself
Well, ya' feelin' allright?
I'm not feelin' too good myself

Don't get too lost in all I say
Though at the time I really felt that way
But that was then and now its today
I can't get off yet and so I'm here to stay
'Till someone comes along and takes my place
With a different name and yes a different face.

Ya' feelin' allright?
I'm not feelin' too good myself
Well, ya' feelin' allright?
I'm not feelin' too good myself

Here's my Problem in Understanding

Obama has been in office a mere 9 months and has managed to do a 180 on virtually every talking point he had in the campaign. In addition, his "diplomatic" performance has only resulted in hot spots around the world getting hotter and abusers of America more focused and determined in their abuse.

So, did they vote for him because they liked his agenda ? Because his agenda has been exposed as a pile of shit.

Logically, they should be screaming for his impeachment.

They are not, nor do I expect them to.

Therefore, any sane person can only conclude they are nothing more than mindless zombie tools for the democrat party and support anything the democrat party wishes to do, including anything and everything George Bush did only in spades. Which is also happening.

Iraq is still going on and will until at least 2011. The soldiers are out of Iraqi cities and towns based on a deal between the Iraqi government and the Bush administration late summer 2008.

Afghanistan is still happening. Not only that but it is now stalled in the quagmire Obama created through 9 months of inaction and indecision.

I'm not going to list it all. Sane people already know the litany and liberals don't give a crap.

But why do they support the bastard. Do they even know?

A Musical Commentary on Current Events.

Obamacare

Look at it this way.

Obama, Mr Hit the Ground Running, has had 9 months to come up with a personal commitment and strategy for Afghanistan. We've been there since 2002. It's not a new problem.

The troops are in need of reinforcements and replacements.

General McChrystal, the expert in such matters, who has been educated, trained, and has lived it and Is living it now in Afghanistan knows better than anyone else what is needed and has told Obama what he needs.

Obama needs to think about it some more. Like what, the pimple on his ass, which is more intelligent that he is, is going to spew out a new strategy that is better than what has been prescribed by the person he Assigned to solve the problem ?

There are two choices. Cut and Run, or Give the People you put in charge what they tell you they need to do the job. It's like hiring someone to run your West Cost Distribution center; someone who has a long track record of success without cost overruns and you decide you're going to get your Tonka toys out and tell That Person how many trucks and warehouse space he'll actually need instead.

If I were that person, I'd walk. General McChrystal won't walk. He'll stand and fight for all the people who are under his command and in harms way.

Those people are Your Friends, Family members, Neighbors, Wives and Husbands of Neighbors, Wives, Husbands, Sons and Daughters of people you live with and who serve you at the establishments you frequent - should you be someone who doesn't know Anyone in the military.

Obama says' they are expendable while he dicks around with things like taking care of payback with his garbage political creditors up in Chicago and the Olympics. Or any number of other daily inane, idiot, Naive worthless, useless things. Like ridding the world of Nukes. Yea, Shirley Temple might have thought that was possible when she was freakin 2 years old.

Obamacare.... Yea, we're there now..

Now tell me, that someone and the political party in power at present (Obama and the Dems) who treat people that are in service to the USA by presenting themselves as moving targets to the Taliban in Afghanistan when they are under-resourced, could give a rats ass about you and your prostate cancer. Let alone your half million $ operation that would otherwise enhance the shit out of your life that you will never get when you are on SS and collecting from the government. Obama has already Told You, that you will have to get by on pain pills.

You can't Possibly be that stupid. But many of you are. Because you put your personal lust for something that you perceive to be free or cheaper, in front of any potential you might otherwise have for critical thought. Remember this when you are retired and the government sends you pain pills instead of what you actually need for your life, your wife, your husband. Remember this and remember that is was OBAMA and the Democrats who did this to you. Well, some of ya voted for it too, so include yourselves.

Well, if you get it you will soon be forced to pay much more than you would if you just went out and bought one of today's bloated sabotaged by the government health care plans available today. And when I hear you bitching about it I'm going to laugh at you.

You will pay more. You won't have a choice, and you will get less. Professional people, such as doctors will not work like farm animals. This is the government's plan. The government will tell everyone in the industry what they will do, how they will do it, and how much they will make. Do you see any motivated to excellence people in that environment? You're even dumber than I thought.

Iran

"US Aims to Isolate Iran if Talks Fail"
"US and World Condemn Iran Missile Tests"
"US, Allies Seek New Ways to Sanction Iran"
"White House Condemns Iran Missile Tests"
"Iran Missile Tests Set Stage for Talks"
"US Considers 'Severe Sanctions', Leaves Door Open for talks"

Just 6 of thousands of similar headlines.

No doubt there are liberal bloggers out there discussing these very headlines...

ahhaahahHAHAhahahahaAHAHHAHAHAHAhahahahahahaa

Make it STOP !

Next up, the latest Israeli-Palestinian Peace Plan Du Jour !!

Make it Stop !

It's like living inside a cartoon.


Update: I personally condemn the Iranian Missile Tests...

Liberals....

Liberals are always looking to 'experts' or to the internet to find justification for their adolescent beliefs. Just for the hell of it, I went to google and entered "why you shouldn't put your hand over flame".

No good relevant advice appears on the first page. But guess what? Here's the advice that Does appear on the first page - How to make fireballs you can hold in your hand - with instructional video!

LOL! Maybe it's late but that says it all to me. Lol.

A Few More Stories

Previously...

Chapter One - Boring but Short.
Chapter Two - Death Cheating Maniacs.
Chapter Three - Death Cheating Maniacs Part II
Chapter Four - Sex and the City


The following are unconnected stories to get us up to date so we can move on to Death Cheating Maniacs part III in the next chapter.

My Mom tells me about these first two.

When I was two, I wandered downstairs in the middle of the night and ate a half box of rat poison. My brother Steve woke my mom up the next morning telling her 'Bobby's mouth is all green". They called the hospital, gave me everything known to man or beast to make someone throw up and none of it worked. My stomach was a science experiment by the time they were done. They took me to the hospital where the doctors pumped my stomach but didn't really get much. I simply digested it all. Mom swears there was half a box there before I got into it and there wasn't any left afterwards. I don't know either.

A year or two later, I was down in the pantry again, late at night, and climbing on the plywood racks my dad built that made the pantry. It was more like free standing bookshelves that stored an assortment of food and kitchen items. I routinely went down there in the middle of the night. Mixed up some flour, egg and milk and lots of sugar, stirred it up in a pan and made myself a huge cookie. Anyway, I pulled the rack over on myself, dumping the contents onto me and the floor. I was stuck, but not hurt so I just went to sleep apparently. The next morning, Steve wakes Mom and Dad and says I'm under the pantry covered in blood. A ketchup bottle broke and was all over me and the area I was trapped in.

So, my Dad and Mom are downstairs watching TV. It's early in the evening. Prompted by the ketchup scare of years ago, Steve and I hatch this plan where we put a board up in the back of his shirt. I take a sturdy kitchen knife and stab it into the board, and then we pour some ketchup on it and watch the fun. So, we're upstairs in our bedroom, Mom and Dad are probably watching the movie Psycho, and we execute the plan perfectly. Steve goes downstairs, stumbles into the living room, mumble-gurgles out some stuff about me stabbing him in the back, and falls face down on the floor. Ha-ha-ha, that was loads of fun...

One 4th of July, Steve and I are in the attic, which is more of a 3rd floor. My sister used it as a bedroom, and my Dad used part of it to store memento's he picked up as he walked Italy, France and Germany in the infantry during WWII. Flags, Guns, Swords, etc. Well, everyone had flags out of course. This is like 1960. Steve and I are rummaging around in the attic and we find a German red and black swastika flag from WWII and it is big - 3 feet by 5 feet at least. There was also a water cooled machine gun, made inoperable. It looked just like this but it had a wooden hand grip on the back, and there were no bullets for it of course.




Well, we hang the German flag out the attic story window and mount the machine gun in the window, pointing it at the cars going by. Mom and Dad are downstairs watching TV when a short time later 4 or 5 cop cars converge on the house lights and sirens going. That was fun....

I think we were pretty much angels from there on until I was around 16. Well, I guess there is Chapter Two, Three and Four...

My brother had a 250cc Harley, which was actually an Italian Aermacchi. Here's a picture of one.



He jazzed his up a little. His had a tear drop gas tank, a sissy bar and custom paint job.

He didn't want me riding it, period. But it had a bad charging system and you had to charge the battery every time you wanted to ride it as no one had money to fix it. He was gone one day and it hadn't been charged since he last rode it. I charged it for him and since it was really low on charge when he drove it into the garage, the spark plug was pretty fouled also. So, while it was charging, I cleaned the spark plug and topped off the fuel tank. Then I figured hey, after doing all this I deserved a ride on the thing. This would be my 2nd motorcycle ride. I was 16.

The ignition switch was a joke. You could switch it on with a penknife or screwdriver and so I did and fired it up. I wheeled it out of the garage, and started driving around the neighborhood.
The neighborhood was very hilly with cross streets and alleys in a configuration similar to what you see in movies of car chases in San Francisco only smaller in scale.

So, I blast up and down the hills, and start going across the alleys. One alley had a real nice pothole dip in it and if you hit it around 40 mph, you'd fly up in the air and jump around 20 feet. I knew the place from when my brother jumped it with me on the back. So I head down the alley for the dip full throttle. I was going about 45 when I got to it, hit it and even though I could see there was a car blocking the alley with some dude washing it not far beyond the jump, it didn't concern me until I was 3 feet in the air and heading for it. An odd feeling. A voice that didn't seem to come from me was telling me it would be all right. It was kind of an out of body experience, where you feel you're looking out of your eyes as if they are windows. Kind of a helpless feeling.

Here is the alley. (I've noticed that these street view links don't always retain perfect integrity. If you happen to be looking up hill in this view, then drag the picture around to the right to see the alley.) (This is also the hill I walked to school everyday.)

At the farthest point that you can see of the alley is where the dip was, and probably 50 yds after that was the car and no where to go.


View Larger Map


I clamped on the brakes before I even came back to ground - and at that moment I felt normal again. I slid towards the car without any hope that I could stop by the time I got there. About 10 feet away, I laid the bike down on its side but didn't pull my leg out. The bike bounced up and down in the alley as it slid toward the car and crushed my leg in two places, and broke my ankle in a couple more.

The guy washing his car asked me if I was Ok, and I said "No, my leg is broken, can you drive me to the hospital". He stood the bike up and asked if I was sure. I took my upper leg in one hand and lower in the other and bent it in a very unnatural way and said, Yea, I'm sure. There wasn't any pain for the first 4 or 5 hours, but after that I don't remember the next 3 days. They gave me morphine and I swore a lot according to accounts. I was in the hospital for 6 weeks, and got real tired of listening to Come Together by the Beatles. I got real tired of morphine shots in the butt as well. I remember counting 250 or so. I'll tell ya one thing, I had no inhibitions about showing women my butt anymore. Those nurses were Hot, but after 6 weeks of 'Ok have at it darlin', it just wasn't an issue anymore.

Afterwards, I was on crutches for another 6 weeks. I walked to school, a half mile, up a steep hill on crutches, and back down after school. Some days there was ice on the sidewalk, and I took a few spills, sliding into telephone poles to stop and get back up. Most notably, I built plywood kitchen cabinets for my Mom during this time down in the basement.

After 12 weeks of having my leg immobilized, the doctor cut off the cast and sent me on my way. My leg really felt fragile without the cast, and I was unable to flex my knee more than a couple degrees and had to work on this day after day with my Mom dousing my leg with alternating very hot and very cold water. The worst came when I was sitting on the bed in the bedroom my brother and I shared. I had my leg extended because I couldn't do anything else. My brother caught me off guard by lighting a match and holding it near my foot as a joke. I reacted naturally and brought my leg up to a full 90 degree angle. Man did that hurt. It hurt more than breaking the leg. I actually cried. But no hard feelings, he probably owed me one.

I was 17 now and they started the Army draft 'lottery' for the Vietnam war. The lottery process was that they had 366 tags in a bin, each with a day of the year printed on it. They'd pull one and people born on that day would be called first/next for the draft. For example, if they pulled April 2 first, and your birthday was April 2, you would be notified to show up for the drafting process before anyone else that year. In fact, you'd probably get a notice in the mail before the TV lottery was even over.

When I was 17, they pulled my birthday out on the 364th pull. This meant I wouldn't be called until they called everyone who had birthdays matching the first 363 tags they pulled out. When I was 18, they pulled my birthday out on the 309th pull. When I was 19 and eligible for the draft, my number was 7.

Two days after they pulled for the draft, I got a notice to show up for a physical. My dad was concerned I might not be a great choice given my leg and had gone to the doctor who performed the operation and got a letter of explanation of my condition that I took with me. My dad walked Italy, France and Germany during WWII and would have otherwise felt that I should serve. Thinking back, many of the activities he had us doing were preparing us for potential military service during wartime in my opinion. Little did he know I was already doing Spec Ops training down at the railroad tracks for years.

Well, at the time, I wasn't much interested in heading to Vietnam. I didn't understand what we were doing there. It wasn't a hippie thing, I didn't protest the war or anything like that, I just didn't understand and for me personally, I need to understand something to get behind it.

So, after they read the letter, they classified me with draft status 4F, which meant that they'd send the kitchen sink before they'd send me.

At this point I have mixed feelings about it. I understand now that it had nothing to do with understanding it, it was serving the country and more importantly, helping your neighbors and friends who went. I actually didn't know anyone very well who served. One of my friends dodged it by faking a blood condition and tossing out the prescriptions. Another 'dodged' it by joining the Air Force reserve. Without the disability, I'd have probably gone this route. Well, life is what happens to you while you're making other plans eh?