Eight Years from 9/11

I remember when the numbers 911 came in for emergency calls and it took awhile to adjust to that, but in the end they became a standard part of the language.  Those numbers took on a whole new meaning eight years ago today. Instead of "nine-one-one" the first thing I think when I see the numbers in "Nine-Eleven."  It is a simple but profound change that affected many others, I suspect.

So I will remember the lives lost that fateful day and most likely will watch United 93 on DVD again.  It is difficult to because of the anger it provokes, but I vowed to never forget that day. Sadly, too many people have fallen prey to insane conspiracy theories or moral relativism regarding the events that cost over 3,000 people their lives.  The evils of Islamic fundamentalism still exist and we are slowly becoming complacent again. The consequences of that will not be good.

ACORN Has a Problem with Prostitution

Yes, ACORN, those community organizers who once had President Obama as a trainer, have a problem with prostitution.  What is bad about that, you think?  All of us should have a problem with prostitution, after all it is degrading and dehumanizing.  Well, ACORN's problem isn't that they oppose prostitution, it is that they more than condone it no matter what they publicly say.

Two young journalists in training decided to concoct the wildest scenario they could and approach an ACORN office in Maryland with it.  The premise was simple: a young would be politician and his girlfriend/prostitute are looking for federal help in finding housing for her to use as a brothel for underage El Salvadoran girls brought into the country illegally.

That should have been crazy sounding enough to get them tossed out, right?  Or get the police involved at the very least. Instead, the ACORN workers went out of their way to show them how to use this all for a tax shelter while giving practical advice on how to avoid the fictional pimp harassing the "prostitute." They didn't bat an eye at child prostitution and exploitation either, advising them to only declare three of the girls as dependants for tax deductions.

So what, you say?  Just a couple of bad eggs in one office don't show a problem in the organization.

Well... the two young investigators went to an office in Washington, D.C. next and check out what happened there.  Big Government has done a great thing exposing this story.

ACORN is a profoundly evil organization and needs to be shut down ASAP.  The fact they are getting billions of dollars from the stimulus is horrendous given their behavior and voter fraud cases going forth in the courts. Good grief, they are encouraging child prostitution!  I can't think of a more evil thing.

The two workers in the first video have been fired, but the big media is refusing to report on this outside of Fox News, talk radio, and conservative blogs.  There is something very, very wrong with our country right now, when such evil is being protected by the media.  I doubt we'll see much in the way of punishment for ACORN, they are joined at the hip with the Democratic Party and especially Obama.

Just disgusting.

Sick Yet Again

It started with a sore throat on Monday, that lasted a couple of days before moving into the sinuses and now chest.  Oh for an immune system that worked right!

The brain no worky, so the only thing I have to post is what may be the prototype for the ultimate cat toy: levitating mice!

Is the US Dollar Dying?

One of my regular reads is the online edition of the Daily Telegraph published in the United Kingdom.  It was interesting to see what the most read stories were today and I think you will see a unifying theme in them:

1. Barack Obama accused of making 'Depression' mistakes
2. China alarmed by US money printing
3. UN wants new global currency to replace dollar

Then on the other side of the page was Gold hits $1,000

With the Obama administration printing more green to buy government bonds because the Chinese won't, you know something is wrong.  Then you hear that the Chinese are moving slowly over to gold in order to keep their investments from deprieciating radically and off in the distance alarm bells begin to ring.  Finally, there has been talk between Russia, China, and India about starting a new currency because the dollar isn't looking sound, but hey, that's just a bunch of wannabe's talking, right?  Except now the UN is talking the same proposal a few week later.  Yeah, there is something seriously wrong with the US dollar when the biggest holder of US debt is publicly complaining and planning to move to something else.

Is the dollar actually dying?  Time will tell, but one thing is certain -- it is very, very ill.

The Irony of Labor Day and Czars

One has to appreciate the irony of naming a holiday after work.  Yes, yes, I know that the holiday is a paean to the "worker" of Marxist theology, but it still is amusing.

Speaking of Marxists, Van Jones resigned from the position of Green Energy Czar this weekend.  If you are a reader of the New York Times or Washington Post, or an NPR listener, or broadcast networks viewer, you probably have no clue who he is or what happened. The media censorship on this has been profound, with only Fox News, talk radio, and bloggers (imaging that) covering his radical positions for the past few weeks.  In fact, the NY Times is still covering up what happened.

Essentially, Jones is a stated communist who has made racist statements against whites for years and when called out by Glenn Beck, had his organization start a boycott against Beck's television show. But what sunk him is he is a "truther," a person who believes the 9/11 attacks were either deliberately allowed by the Bush administration or were actually committed by the government.  Van Jones signed a petition indicating his belief in the first scenario.

Personally, I find his other beliefs far more appalling.  The following link is very NSFW (not safe for work or family viewing) but I feel he needs to be exposed.  This video Van Jones produced and appeared in shows what kind of people are being appointed as "czars" with no Senate approval by Obama. They are people who hate America and put on masks to gain power over the country.

Now another irony I find is that Obama and his fellow devotees of socialism are using the term 'czar' with great fanfare.  Lenin & Trotsky must be rolling over in their graves, that whole Russian Revolution thing must not be hip enough.  Instead, the modern Marxist in America is using the title of the dictator the Reds overthrew.  Doesn't get more ironic than that!

Oh the proletariat, what has happened to you?

An Eggcellent Guide

There seems to be a strong streak of silly running through model builders, with an almost fanatical devotion to Monty Python quotes for example.  Another thing that makes modellers happy is books that feature an insane amount of detail about a given aircraft, tank, or ship. 

This is what happens when the two meet.

Demented silliness at its best and a tribute to the sillier kits that Hasegawa puts out: the eggplane.

Captain Al

Continuing a series of posts about my late friend, Al Ulven.

As I've written before, Al loved to have fun and was pretty good at making his own if there wasn't any already in sight.  That skill served his desire for entertainment well, even as it occasionally exasperated others. Some of my more exasperated moments came as a direct result of Al fulfilling his retirement dream of owning his own boat.

I can remember him calling to say he had bought a boat which turned out to be a used Bayliner 2155 21" cruiser with trailer.  My father and I went to see Al's dream and Al gleefully showed off his first command -- Captain Al had been born. He even had a captains hat with the golden scramble eggs. It didn't phase Al that he didn't know much about boating or safety regulations. What mattered is that he had his ticket to fun in the sun on the Mississippi River.

It was love at first sight when Captain Al found his Bayliner and he adored the vessel over the years he owned it, though maintenance was far from his strong point.  It gradually faded from its initial glory, as he didn't have enough crew to regularly swab the decks and Al was slowing down a lot. We ended up assisting him on that and my dad did most of the maintenance work, especially during the spring and autumn when the Bayliner was either coming out of storage or going into storage.

While Al may have been slowing down physically, there was one thing he always liked:  moving at high speeds.  Fast cars entranced him, but were a little scary for him personally.  But the river looked open for miles upon miles and there he could race the wind.  At least until his deteriorating eyesite scared him one too many times.  More than once he had me get the Bayliner planing at high speed and enjoyed the ride, his face red from the wind and laughing gleefully the entire time.

On that image, I'm going to finish, for his various adventures on water require their own entries into the log.