A Little R&R
65 degrees and sunshine….see ya later, fast cart, cold beer, my afternoon destiny!
Damn Shame…Troops Told To Disarm
I don’t know who got nervous, but I would say it is pretty telling when the Secretary of Defense does not trust 200 of his own troops, makes them disarm before he speaks to them.
Like I said, it may be time to get out now before someone else in the Obama Administration embarrasses us to the world. Again.
Update: You would think he would want our boys locked and loaded for just this kind of scenario.
In a sign of the nervousness surrounding Mr. Panetta’s trip, the Marines and other troops who were waiting in a tent for the defense secretary to speak were abruptly asked by their commander to get up, place their weapons — M-16 and M-4 automatic rifles and 9-mm pistols — outside the tent and then return unarmed. The commander, Sgt. Maj. Brandon Hall, told reporters he was acting on orders from superiors.
“All I know is, I was told to get the weapons out,” he said. Asked why, he replied, “Somebody got itchy, that’s all I’ve got to say. Somebody got itchy; we just adjust.”
Normally, American forces in Afghanistan keep their weapons with them when the defense secretary visits and speaks to them. The Afghans in the tent waiting for Mr. Panetta were not armed to begin with, as is typical.
The Great American Tragedy
New migration tendencies in California:
The state’s progressive tax-and-spend experiment is broken, threatening basic services, from courts and parks to education and health care for its most vulnerable citizens. Mr. Brown’s tax initiative only exposes the state to an ever more dangerous roller-coaster ride.
No wonder many Silicon Valley CEOs say they won’t expand in California because of high taxes and burdensome regulation. And no wonder net migration has recently reversed, with hundreds of thousands of workers and their families leaving the state in search of better opportunities.
California’s economy, which used to outperform the rest of the country, now substantially underperforms. The unemployment rate, at 10.9%, is higher than every other state except Nevada and Rhode Island. With 12% of America’s population, California has one third of the nation’s welfare recipients.
Partly due to generous union wages and benefits, inflexible work rules and lobbying for more spending, many state programs and institutions spend too much and achieve too little. For example, annual spending on each California prison inmate is equal to an entire middle-income family’s after-tax income. Many of California’s K-12 public schools rank poorly on standardized tests. The unfunded pension and retiree health-care liabilities of workers in the state-run Calpers system, which includes teachers and university personnel, totals around $250 billion.
Many Americans fear the federal fiscal train wreck will turn us into Greece. But, barring major change, they need look no further than California to see what this future portends. Relying on ever-higher taxes to fund payments to an outsized population of benefit recipients is a recipe for exporting prosperity. That is one California trend that other states emulate at their peril.
What Did You Do With Your 40 Bucks?
Remember the Payroll Tax Cut that Obama said would save every hard-working Amercian an extra $40.00 per week?
Remember how Obama said that Republicans did not care about the middle class because they were against the unemployment extension tied to the tax plan?
What did you spend your $40.00 on this week?
WASHINGTON — A new estimate from congressional economists says the government will run a $1.2 trillion deficit for the budget year ending just a few weeks before Election Day. It would be the fourth straight year of trillion dollar-plus deficits.
The almost $100 billion spike from earlier projections for the fiscal 2012 deficit comes almost exclusively because Congress passed legislation recommended by President Barack Obama to renew a 2 percentage point cut in payroll taxes and jobless benefits for people languishing on unemployment rolls for more than six months.
We are so boned!
Ok, I Get It Now…
Just for Kicks
Obama Exposed….In 2010
Got an email from a friend that I found very interesting. I don’t know what people believe about this POTUS but the 2010 theory of Dinesh D’Souza, (which I had never read), seems pretty spot on with Obambam’s current policies and actions.
If you want to understand what is going on in the White House today, you have to begin with Barack Obama. No, not that Barack Obama. I mean Barack Obama Sr., the president’s father. Obama gets his identity and his ideology from his father. Ironically, the man who was absent for virtually all of Obama’s life is precisely the one shaping his values and actions.
Read more:http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/10/07/AR2010100705485.html
And here: Rush and Dinesh D’Souza
1$ Donated For Abortions…And Your Insurance Can’t Tell You
Just thought you should know. Welcome to Obamacare.
“To comply with the accounting requirement, plans will collect a $1 abortion surcharge from each premium payer,” the pro-life source informed LifeNews. “The enrollee will make two payments, $1 per month for abortion and another payment for the rest of the services covered. As described in the rule, the surcharge can only be disclosed to the enrollee at the time of enrollment. Furthermore, insurance plans may only advertise the total cost of the premiums without disclosing that enrollees will be charged a $1 per month fee to pay directly subsidize abortions.”
Get Them The Hell Out!
It’s past time. How many more US troops will be killed for the “rogue” sergeant’s killing of civilians. We don’t know what caused the soldier to do what he did but the reprisals are going to put more troops at risk. I know that pulling out now would dampen the meaning of why we were there in the first place, and diminish the reasoning for the loss of life by American soldiers, but in my humble opinion, they did what was asked of them.
The reaction to the koran burning pretty much showed me what the people of Afghanistan want…..they want us the hell out of their country. I say we do what they ask. We have nothing to be ashamed of.
How can we fight a war against an enemy of cowards hiding behind women and children, and an Afghan military that is turning their guns on the people who are supposed to be training them. Not to mention Pakistan that is sympathetic and lets them hide across a border we cannot cross.
I am tired of hearing from the talking heads on television and the military brass saying that we need to stay until the mission has been accomplished. What have we accomplished in ten years? I don’t want to waste the blood of the brave men and women who have lost their lives in country, but I don’t want to lose more troops to a treacherous people and a corrupt government that is getting rich while US soldiers trying to win an unwinnable war.
There I said it, we cannot be succesful in Afghanistan period.
Look at the quotes below and comment on what you think.
Afghanistan’s parliament condemned the killings, saying Afghans had run out of patience with the actions of foreign forces and the lack of oversight. Civilian deaths have long been one of the main sources of tension between Kabul and Washington.
“We have benefited little from the foreign troops here but lost everything – our lives, dignity and our country to them,” said Haji Najiq,” a Kandahar shop owner.
“The explanation or apologies will not bring back the dead. It is better for them to leave us alone and let us live in peace.”
“The Americans said they will leave in 2014. They should leave now so we can live in peace,” said Mohammad Fahim, 19, a university student. “Even if the Taliban return to power our elders can work things out with them. The Americans are disrespectful.”
“The Americans are not here to assist us they are here to kill us,” said Najibullah, 33, a house painter in Kabul.
“I hate the Americans and I hate anyone who loves them, so I hope there is no long-term partnership between our countries.”
Without a pact that keeps U.S. advisers or special forces in the country, there is a danger that civil war could erupt again in Afghanistan.
Karzai, whose relationship with his Western backers is troubled even in the best of times, condemned the rampage as “intentional murders” and demanded an explanation. Karzai’s office released a statement quoting a villager as saying “American soldiers woke my family up and shot them in the face.”
Amnesty International warned that those behind such attacks must be brought to justice or it would risk reinforcing a perception among many Afghans – fueled by the Taliban – that NATO had not done enough to keep Afghan civilians safe.
Feel Good Story Of The Week
Ok, I don’t know if I am getting the story perfect but I will tell it anyway. My wife has a co-worker who visits the Salt Lake Animal shelter frequently to visit the dogs. She also works to try to get the dogs rescued if she can. She told my wife about a particular labrador that had been in the shelter for over 7 months. She was worried that the dog would be put down soon but was out of options. My wife called a friend of hers who is a labrador nut, (I think she trains jumping dogs….ya know… jump for distance into pools), anywho, her friend went up and saw the dog, made some calls, and last week picked the dog up and took her to Las Vegas to a labrador rescue shelter hoping to find a home.
Well she was adopted first day down by the first couple on the list. Everyone happy, especially Mazy.
Update: Apparently, my wifes friend, took two other lab’s from the SLC shelter at the same time and they have found homes! Three dogs saved by word of mouth, fantastic!
Meet Mazy
Click on the image to the left to check out the Las Vegas Labrador Rescue Site. They must be good at what they do.
Also check out the Salt Lake Animal Shelter if you are interested in adopting: http://www.slcoanimalservices.org/
I am sure I completely screwed the story up and my wife will reprimand me accordingly, but you get the gist of it.