Own the Skies, Meet the Alps

I suppose people walk the Earth who assume that just because an egg has no evidence of a crack, it can't be rotten inside.  No, I'm not referencing the Obama bunch -- that floating egg rolled into the White House, replete with an uninterrupted series of cracks and rot on day one.

Andreas Lubitz, Germany's 27-year-old co-pilot for  Lufthansa's  subsidiary,  Germanwings  until introducing himself, his passengers, crew and fuselage to a crash meeting with the French Alps last week, apparently hid the fact that he was one sick puppy.  How many medications, prescribed or not, was he wolfing down (or, again, not) which might have driven him over a perilous edge? 

Or have  new brains  rolled into town?

This, I mention because I've spent some time over the years, casually checking ages on various news reports, where the guilty or the foolish often carry an age of 27 or 28.  Just as some researchers suggest that young brains are being reprogrammed due to frequent interaction with electronic devices and extensive involvement in video games, I wonder whether a new attitude of devil-may-care has taken over some minds.  To elaborate, one's sense of reality may be altered, perhaps causing even a young pilot to sacrifice his exceptional responsibility in the skies for simmering anger, video gaming from his past or a dark intruder conjured from the subconscious.  Maybe existence, death and life themselves, become one and the same for a brief time, and smashing a plane and its occupants into a mountain range just doesn't matter.  Rage?  Psychosis?  An individual's future of doing what he likes at stake?  Just an immature little twit, now alleged to have been a fan of gay and twisted sex and suicide Web sites?    Make 'em pay?

Looks like, make 'em pay.

New brains in a little place, undetectable on any map, called  Crazytown? 

Lubitz's action could be as simple, as is now suggested, as a young man making an ill-advised decision to gain international fame forever as a monster, rather than trying to survive as a master pilot whose dark side and maladies (including depression and visual problems) would eventually be discovered by airline management, probably to his detriment.  Notes from the doctor, telling you no, no, no?  Screw it, that's what shredders are for, to accentuate life's palette with drab hues of yes, yes, yes.  Feeling better?  Go be famous.  Make 'em pay as you go away, far away.

Don't rule out mechanical airplane failure , suggest critics.  Well, failure can cover a lot of ground.

How casual some people have become, insistent upon ending their dreams in the violence of an instant, yet having the presence of mind to depart with unwilling companions, no questions asked.

Funny how instant gratification often goes better than instant disappointment.  Pop some pills or tweak your mind until it falls off the track, and suddenly your brain flips onto automatic pilot.  Maybe.

Flight lessons.  Youth. Computers and hand-held devices and electronic living.  Other people and failed or impossible relationships.  Psychologists and psychiatrists and this-ists and that-ists. 

Which came first, the chicken or the cracked egg?

Yes, brains seem to be changing, and who would dare suggest these evolving alterations will provide a virtue for the era yet to arrive?

Okay, yeah, so make sure other countries do like the USA and have two people in the cockpit at all times, and then if one goes nuts the other can go frantic trying to avoid the hatchet aimed for his or her head.  Then again, what if the pilot and co-pilot are both bonkers and they decide to take the plunge together?  So then you add a third person to keep an eye on the first two, who then kill the third person so they can get on with their mutual suicidal plan, or the third person turns out to be secretly nuts and murders the other two with said hatchet.  Dunno, maybe you just take the cabin door off its hinges and throw it out the emergency exit while in flight so the whole plane full of passengers can attempt to enter and monitor the two pilots, though one doubts emergency oxygen masks will reach that far.  But could the situation be any worse without the protective door, since terrorists now seem the least of everybody's worries in the sky?

Won't you come home Bill Bailey, Bo Bergdahl,  won't you come home?   If you're on the youthful side, you won't know these were lyrics from a popular old -- real old -- song.  I thought it appropriate to make the name change because the U.S. Army deserter is indeed home now, having languished and/or lived it up with the Taliban for four years, following his desertion in the Middle East which ultimately caused the deaths of four servicemen who attempted to locate and save him.  I'm grateful there are still enough judicial gonads left in the stateside Army under Obama's horrifying guidance to speak the truth and call Bergdahl out for what he is, a deserter.  We suspect he will get life or a few years in prison, but we also suspect he'll be back out on the streets sooner than we imagine, whether by trick or treat.  Remember, the Obama bunch's darling, Susan Rice initially referred to Bergdahl as serving his country with "honor and distinction," and if that were true in any way, I guess those standards would make me eligible for the Congressional Medal of Honor, with my statue in the town square just because I served for four years.  Thing is, if Bergdahl ever gets released back into American society -- or deservedly remanded for life to the federal prison system -- he'll have to watch his back because there are always folks out there who believe it their sacred duty to settle up, depending upon the circumstances, and I think those groups or individuals represent both the civilian and undercover government aspects of life.  Far-fetched?  Be sure of one thing:  I'll bet there exists, right now, one hell of a community of soldiers wishing they could give Bergdahl a good old-fashioned party -- that is, a blanket party.  With ice on the rocks.

The pope will crash the United States in September, and then buddy up with Obama to urge more immigration and, obviously, increased taxpayer payoffs to the world's unwashed.  My preference?  Let the pope in, feed him one of those pizzas he craves, have a few laughs, put him up at a Motel 6 for a day, wave goodbye and then send him off to Mexico where they'll love him for everything he said that's destined to cost U.S. taxpayers.  (The best thing the pope can do here and everywhere is to emphasize the ongoing murders by the hundreds of thousands of defenseless Christians by Islamists dedicated to the brutality of Islam the world over.)

As next year's elections draw near, make it a point NOT to donate to either the Democrat or Republican parties.  Instead, contribute to the candidates of your choice, dealing directly with their specific donor Web sites.  Increasingly, Americans are through with political party power, money and influence.  Look where it's taken us.

Back home in Indiana:   Today seems to be mine for quoting old song titles, but this one's suitable because Indiana's  "Religious Freedom Restoration Act"  signed by Governor Mike Pence has all the usual suspects in an uproar.  Based upon laws in several other states -- and reportedly drawn from legislation originally introduced by Lord Obama himself -- a plethora of morons who believe in teaching tolerance until they're the ones who need the learnin' themselves are just peeing their pants over this one.  The Especially Offended seem to be those who care little or nothing about an individual's constitutional rights, and they seem all the more terrified because other states may yet follow with legislation that wouldn't be necessary at all if the voices of morons screaming  discrimination  weren't so prevalent.  The truth is, there is no discrimination involved with the new law and, if anything, it strives to prevent discrimination and assure fairness.

However, for some the issue is whether a bakery owned by folks with legitimate religious beliefs should be forced to sell wedding cakes for gay ceremonies.  If they refuse, as has already happened, the government lawsuits emerge and outrageous fines are levied upon store owners simply for standing up when religious convictions butt heads with courtroom convictions.

All the fuss over what constitutes discrimination became heightened after the gay issue took center stage.  I admit, without reservation, that I myself supported and wrote letters to officials in support of gay people serving in the military.  I did this not because of some crazy notion about destroying the military -- I did it because I've served in the military and realize all too well that (surprise!) gay men and women already serve proudly, effectively and, I've little doubt, in substantial numbers.  Thing is, until military laws were changed, there were few willing to come out of the uniformed closet.  As 2015 breezes on, and last I heard, the openly gay thing has not ruined the U.S. military services.  Nor has it in other countries long welcoming of gay military personnel.

But here's where I differ.  When homosexuals and gay subjects began sprouting all over the country like wildflowers a few years ago, particularly when the gay military matter was settled, the wisest thing gay people could have done was to play it low-key, not instead -- and I know this was only the vocal minority -- throwing the whole gay world into everybody's face and, not to sound obscene, grinding it in as if with sandpaper.  This approach gained little sympathy among heterosexuals, but certainly outraged many among the public who would have been more or less okay with the situation except for the loud, boisterous bunch insisting upon instant acceptance 24/7, dedicated to shotgun pronouncements of equality somehow beyond equality.

Years ago, the morning mail brought some little ad from a group seeking donations, and they sent along a sheet of name & address labels upon which the words,  Teach Tolerance  appeared on the left side of each tiny sticker.  No, I didn't contribute, but I did cut those words off and used the labels, anyway.  I think I trashed the tolerance words because they reminded me too much of  diversity training,  which, to my mind, exists primarily to frighten, intimidate, grow racial divisions and attempt to convince good people that they need to feel inferior and act subservient  in order to get along with people who, truth be told, may not deserve so much as an ounce of respect.  

We hope the new law in Indiana will go a long way toward providing real fairness, and lessen threats from people who have no other function in life but to sue because they feel perpetually wronged by way of fantasy synapses emerging from their own bonkers brain tissue.

Oh, and Iran is not our friend.   (I just wanted to reaffirm an elementary principle apparently still undetected at the White House.)

Israel 1, Obama 0, and Cruz Control is Engaged

"If my theory of relativity is proven successful,

Germany will claim me as a German and

France will declare that I am a citizen of the

world.  Should my theory prove untrue,

France will say that I am a German, and

Germany will declare that I am a Jew."

                                                                                     (from an address by Albert Einstein)

If it is true that the Obama bunch went all out to influence Israel's elections -- with operatives inside Israel -- and cause Benjamin Netanyahu's defeat as prime minister, we suspect that particular tint of money & influence, not so well spent, disappeared down the customary political rat holes.  Accusations that Obama's increasingly terminable State Dept. funded this attempt with taxpayer funding should rightfully anger the nation.  As for Israel?  Voters made the right choice.  What other option do you have, when you're surrounded by people consumed every waking minute with the wish to end you,  no matter what?  Muslim Brotherhood buddies positioned deep in Obama's administration surely can't be pleased with election results.

Senator Ted Cruz Announces his presidential candidacy and the left goes nuts, wearing the customary blinders reflective only of a loving image of Hillary Clinton's continuing political fossilization.  Former Texas prosecutor Cruz, hardly one's idea of a career politician, graduated from both Princeton and the Harvard Law School, argued numerous cases before the U.S. Supreme Court, and appears to enjoy a rapport with any audience willing to hear him out.  Will there be a mix of conservative and libertarian Cruz control in the White House next time 'round?  His mistake during the speech?  A declaration essentially condemning abortion.  Again and again and again, candidates with religious values insist upon invading the bedrooms and decisions of others, and, say what you will, it rarely serves them well when elections come around.  The abortion issue has no place in politics, not ever, because this is a subject best left to women and their medical providers.  Ted Cruz, please stay out of the nation's bedrooms, because the abortion issue will overshadow (as it always has in the political ring) every good idea and otherwise courageous intention you summon.  How about we concentrate on things like tort reform?

Re-visiting Facebook:   Just a reminder. . .I am not on  Facebook, was never on  Facebook  and hope never to be on  Facebook, unless I drop dead and somebody grabs my identity and/or rewrites my background to portray me as a drooling, inept fool.  Yeah, I can do that myself, thank you.

A Republican congressman resigns after spending big money to dress up his office like a Downton Abby  wannabe and to live something of a high life on taxpayer money.  Hmm -- as if this approach to "serving the public" is new?  Anyway, glad he's gone, and we look forward to some freshman congressman doing a makeover of his office into something resembling a last-stop lair from  Dexter.

Feelin' ever so nervous about the Secret Service:   Well, as  they  say, the acorn doesn't fall far from the tree, so when you already have a White House out of control you're not likely to get a different critter out of that section of the forest.  But the prez appears cool with the situation, any situation, every time a situation happens in the yard.  There was that occasion, years ago, when a Secret Service agent questioned me about a threatening letter I did not write to President Carter, and he was professional and courteous.  Now?  I'm not sure the Obama bunch would bat an eyelash if Secret Service agents drank openly and had sex in public while members of a curious public jumped the fence and made their way into the White House to slop around in the Lincoln bedroom. 

Will bullets fly in Utah?   Uh, yeah, so Utah thinks performing executions by firing squad instead of using those annoying, undependable lethal injections will solve those always disappointing Grim Reaper problems.  Sounds nifty on the surface, but because the Obama bunch just tried and failed to rid the country of bullets intended for the AR-15, don't be surprised if the regulator-in-chief poops out an Executive Order and, at least temporarily, deprives the execution squad of raw materials necessary to effect a specific room temperature for the executee.  If you can't bang 'em, you probably gotta hang 'em, dang it.

Somewhere, Al Gore is probably thinking about another run for  the presidency if the Hillary balloon deflates.  Gore, of course, has commented that those who don't believe in (the) man-made climate change (religion?) should be made to pay in some way.  I want this buffoon running my country?  No, no, no.

With Senator Tom Cotton's help,  47 GOP senators signed and sent a letter to Iran, informing them that any Obama deal can be trashed as soon as he leaves office.  Hey, there's nothing like a little reminder for Iran from the U.S. Senate, just like the one you get from the fumigator before he comes by to destroy your bedbug infestation.  Good for you, Tom Cotton, and thanks for exemplifying the best about our military veterans.

Even though I've mentioned before that my Air Force tech school training back in the sixties included a first-ever inclusion of two women students from a Middle Eastern country, I never clarified that they were actually from Iran.  This was a time when we were training Iranian Air Force pilots and Iran's people lived under the Shah.  No, living under the Shah's rule was not pleasant, but at least the women could dress in Western attire and enjoy some liberties -- but now lives are buttoned down and prisons are run under extreme brutality as religious fanatics lord over every aspect of people's lives with an iron fist.  I have always been hesitant about saying the women in class were Iranian, and would certainly never reveal their names (for obvious reasons).  It seems like yesterday when Iran was far different from the freak job it has become under radical monsters -- and ISIS and associates would prefer to make the West something of a twin.  Our current negotiations with Iran?  The unrelenting moron-ality of our State Dept. rarely fails to amaze.

Hysterical human-caused climate change eccentrics drive me crazy, but  we really must listen to scientists warning us increasingly about robotics and computer technology, expected to take over our lives and, perhaps, dispatch humans to demise and death because we’ll be in the way.  The Guardian  of November 13, 2014 raised this issue, and they were not the first to warn the world.  What’s especially disturbing is the tendency of those involved intimately with computer technology, such as Gates and Musk, to come forward with warnings about something which we may neither be able or wanting to stop in its tracks.  (When have I ever said computers were not going to destroy us?)

A Famine of Zombies

 In  key segments of current U.S. society, one searches for functioning brains grounded in integrity, but finds instead an abundance of cavernous leadership and misguided thought, interspersed with utter lies.  Neither zombies nor intellect can long feed upon the atrophic fabric of a national future in peril, helped toward a demise by great universities which have become little more than toilets of socialism and, not to forget, laboratories for the creation of killer robots destined to convert human bodies into pinatas, highway pothole fill and lubricants (sorry, had to throw in the obvious. . .).

No, I'm not the brightest banned incandescent bulb in the shed, nor am I a political genius in any respect, but when I glance toward Washington and feel a stinging vibration from head to toe because of the absolute idiocy and treasonous tendencies driving us into a political abyss, there is no warm and fuzzy afterglow of thought.

Working 24 / 7 to freshen Hillary's political corpse with air freshener:   But how long can they circle THAT wagon before we're down to bare political bones favored (okay, just a treat for you Canadians,  favoured. . .) by vultures of expediency?  It was more than obvious on Political Damage Control Sunday TV network shows that Hillary Clinton's refreshers and political plastic surgeons were out in force, everybody from Lanny Davis to the Center for American Progress.  If Lady Hillary could have burned some 55,000 pages (the ones we know about. . .) of e-mails in the bonfires of Benghazi, maybe life would be more casual and carefree today.  We predict -- again, just remembering the last time she debated among other presidential hopefuls before the TV cameras and came off looking irrelevant and uncertain -- that she stands no chance of winning the presidency, should she run.  And if, as is rumored, the Democrats might attempt an Al Gore re-infusion, the crappy non-science espoused by Gore alone should drive a nail through that option.  May we suggest an Elizabeth Warren & Al Sharpton ticket in 2016?  The comedy alone. . .

Can there linger any doubt whatsoever that the White House is occupied by ruthless bastards and associates driven by a need to "fundamentally transform" the United States (which so disappoints them as it currently and historically stands) into something it was never intended to become?  Mr. Obama, on behalf of loyal contributors and publicly nebulous power players will say or do anything to promote a progressive leftist agenda which will likely take years to overcome, if indeed it can be conquered after its darkest pro-government and anti-freedom roots have taken hold in the national fabric as socialism on steroids.  It's so difficult to get back what's taken away, particularly when things lost involve inherent rights.  Obama is a mouthpiece for hidden faces among the powerful, of course -- but he's a  willing  participant.  Nothing new to see here.

Selma's other side:   Okay, 50 years have elapsed since big doings and a bloody fight for rights in Selma, Alabama.  I actually drove through Selma in March of 1971, as I made my way from Texas to a new Air Force duty assignment in Georgia (and before leaving Alabama had a car accident involving only myself in Eufaula, as I've detailed in my Air Force blog -- see link).  Unfortunately, my primary impression of Selma, having stopped briefly to access some fast-food chicken establishment whose name I no longer recall, arose from a horribly oppressive stench filling the air that afternoon.  Getting the heck out of Selma became an obligation, as I retreated with food & drink and sped out of town, snacking upon escape.

It was rather unnerving to watch President Obama standing in Selma  as President of the United States,  pretty much expressing how little has changed for black people.  Um, I think he might have been the wrong person to be making that particular speech?  However, I am firm on the obvious -- that it's too bad the first black president will also go down in history as the worst BP.  It's almost a tragedy that the nation didn't elect a black president reflective of so many worthwhile qualities and values.  Instead, we got  this, and I won't take up space repeating all the negatives which I and others more aware of this man's shortcomings have elaborated upon in past months.

And speaking of black presidents. . . or not. . .  Dr. Ben Carson, WTF?  His incredible response to a question about gay people, which he dismissed as a choice seemingly dependent upon going into prison "straight" and then coming out as a homosexual was way beyond the pale for a man renowned for his intellect and medical conquests as a pediatric neurosurgeon.  Sorry, Dr. C., but your standing as a strong presidential possibility just fell off a very high cliff and plummeted to depths probably still unappreciated in the polls.  Wow.

How to make an elephant disappear:   No, this isn't about some David Copperfield magic act.  Ringling Bros. of circus fame have decided to gradually extract elephants from its performance schedule, allowing the current stock to retire at a special place to receive care and comfort until the end of their days. 

As a kid in the fifties, I remember buying paper bags filled with peanuts and feeding them to elephants at the state fair, fondly regarding these beautiful, aristocratic giants of towering nobility -- though not at all pleased to see their legs in chains, and hardly fooled by attempts to make visitors believe the only thing separating human from elephant was a single rope fence.

But I'm not a kid anymore, and over the years we've all read accounts of elephants tortured and murdered slowly just so some bastard in China can have ivory to use as an aphrodisiac, paperweight or as some pathetically deranged implement.  Further, as we idiot humans have ourselves become enlightened and discovered, in their own way, the boundless intelligence of various animal species, we are, or should be, in awe over their abilities and our long-term lack of understanding or compassion about those with whom we share a precious planet.

So yes, it's time for elephants to be regarded as something more than entertainment, more than beasts of burden -- and obviously a living creature worth tons more than an ivory garden for savages.  Yep, no argument, nature is cruel, too, but we. . .we. . .have the brains and judgment to turn tragedy and  just plain wrong  upside-down.

Just shout  "bang bang"  when you pull the trigger.   I'm not certain, but I think every Executive Order issued by this president is numbered 666 -- but it doesn't matter, because if you own an AR-15 rifle, soon you won't have to deal with numbers at all because you may not have any bullets to count.  In an attempt to ban bullets for the popular AR-15, the administrative gang insists it's because they constitute (oops, did I say  constitute, akin to that longer word nobody cares about anymore. . .?) an armor-piercing capacity hazardous to the police.  Hey, since when did this bunch care about the police?  Make no mistake, this bunch of White House goons aside -- America's freedom depends upon many components, not the least of which is an intelligent, armed citizenry.  Anybody who thinks the bullet ban, if successful, stops here is deluded, and we hope the courts will "shoot down" this new bullet no-no, conceived by the usual America-hating political left.

And similar to what occurred with the horrors of "Obamacare," the Federal Communications Commission now surprises us with a 300-plus page document -- unseen by the public before the crucial vote or immediately after -- intended to regulate and rule away the Internet's inherent freedoms, preceded by a slick campaign intended to make Internet users and the young in general believe "net neutrality" would be their friend, not the monster it will become in a few years when government permission and higher charges may be mandatory for every online occasion.

Strange, yet hardly surprising it is that Obama-favored FCC commissioner Wheeler refused to allow Congress to question him about new regulations before the vote -- and provided no document for public review in advance. 

The FCC should suffer the fate of other large government bureaucracies on our wish list -- defunding.  When a government entity presumably involved in the protection of free speech becomes judge, jury and the originating authority of how the First Amendment is administered in the U.S. it is time for that entity to lose considerable power.  The FCC is a very, very dangerous critter, and the government must gain no further control over the Internet, no matter how politically appointed toadies couch the agenda.

"Americans in waiting" is the Obama bunch's preferred government-wide designation for what normal people with eyes and brains logically refer to as "illegal immigrants."  Sorry, but I prefer to stick with the more accurate terminology,  border-jumping criminals.  Accompanying this term is my other favorite:  Anchor babies.  Illegally crossing a border and birthing like a dog to magically invoke instant citizenship on the clueless infantile product of some vacant opportunity for copulation South of the border or beyond hardly strikes me as fair to legitimate U.S. citizens.

The Administration goes all out to help Iran eventually develop its own nuclear bomb via our State Department incompetence / incompetents.  In turn, I'd like for my country to return to the thrilling days of the neutron bomb, and produce them by the acre-load, with Iran's name on every one of them.  And get rid of the State Dept. while we're at it. 

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's speech made us long for a U.S.. president with equal poise and command of truth, and pulling no punches about Iran's global terrorism and guaranteed international danger once in possession of nuclear weapons brought us a breath of fresh honesty not seen here in years.  How many members of the U.S. military lie dead and injured thanks to Iran's ongoing efforts?  Why does the Obama bunch ignore Iran's recent demolition of a mock U.S. warship, evidently a definite statement regarding America's presumed anemia on the world stage?

Crazy Islam is alive and well in the U.S., as we've seen with three new arrests in NY City.  How dedicated must one be to a religious cause to be considered insane?  These are the poster children for extremist Muslims.  Who lets these folks into our country?  And now we also have how many more Syrians coming in by the thousands, people whose intent is not and cannot be known by interviewers at the border?  Just can't wait for the pope to visit the U.S. and advise us on how to be even more "charitable."

At least  The Atlantic  came through with the truth about radical Islam.  If any description actually means  it is what it is,  this magazine's words did the job.

Forget potential carnage at The Mall of America --  Any homegrown radical Islam freak jobs worth their salt who want to "make a difference" will violently invade a U.S. school and kill children en masse.  It happened in Russia, and it can happen here.  It's really time to find out who's letting these people into the country and examine their tendencies to accomplish somebody's peculiar national suicide goal. 

Saturday Night Live  comes through:  This TV show, rarely funny and generally deserving of a fast and compassionate euthanasia, did manage to score major points on both sides with a funny piece about a father reluctantly giving in to his daughter, intent upon joining ISIS, and delivering his happy offspring to a truckload of ISIS members, one of whom exclaims, "Death to America!" as they drive off, rifles ablaze with gunfire.  As we've noted previously, young people growing up today often encounter a problem understanding satire, and instead become enraged while they should actually realize that something terrible or stupid is being brought front-and-center and ridiculed for what it is.  Thus. . .SNL  received many barbs for what seemed a brilliantly humorous take on a deplorable situation.

Like it or not, broadcasters and authors on the right deserve substantial credit for alerting us to the radical Islam threat years ago, for telling those willing to listen about a deadly enemy approaching the horizon, ready and willing to invade Europe, the United States and the world.  While our pathetically inadequate and profoundly risky president was telling us ISIL (ISIS, etc.) was just the "JV team," radio hosts particularly, in the face of ridicule and barbs thrown by pundits, TV comedians, politicians and other "personalities" on both the left and right, proceeded non-stop to warn listeners and viewers about fast-moving events influencing and jeopardizing our false sense of security.  Everybody laughed when some warned of a word with which many of us remained unfamiliar:  Caliphate.   Absurd, the pundits proclaimed, a new caliphate will never be in the cards -- but now they, too, throw the word around freely. Whether discussing extremist Islam, the world economy or Russia's Putin, historical perspective and diligence disseminated through the airwaves have thrown egg on faces of the harshest critics, and we would suggest to those who rely only upon the major TV networks and mainstream media for the "news" that those folks are being led, betrayed and cowed every hour, every day of the week.  Conspiracy theories in general are not my thing -- but when the truth consistently unfolds from what seemed wild tales just months ago, one must sit up and heed the warnings.  Plain and simple, the bought-and-paid-for mainstream media poisons us with an agenda, not the bare facts.

Best comedy of the past several weeks:   Historian David Barton (per Glenn Beck's program) checked into Obama's essentially groundless claims about Islam being integral to the fabric of America since its very founding, and by way of several searches came up with virtually nothing -- other than the revelation that practitioners of Islam were prolific African slave traders, likely responsible for abducting and selling into American and international slavery a huge quantity of Africans.  If that's how involved the Muslims were in the founding of America, that's a bit of history which needs immediate inclusion in the nation's grade school and high school textbooks (and into in-service government manuals).  Fat chance.

Does President Obama love his country?   Which country?  Oh, Rudy Giuliani means America?  I guess so -- Obama certainly seems intent upon changing it in a firm, loving, non-negotiable fashion, and Obama's love extends to not wanting anybody to get in his way.  What says love better than bold-headed, bullying determination?  Loving, fundamental transformation. . .

Retching at the Oscars:   While much excitement was elicited over the inclusion of two motion pictures about war during the Academy Awards show, and certainly there are members of the movie industry who honor combat veterans, I could just imagine, as I watched the affair occur inside the safety of a television screen, how enraged and physically ill many phonies among the Hollywood crowd must have been about any mention of the U.S. military at all during "their" special evening.  Pathetic, since military personnel are ultimately the only barrier standing between Hollywood's blind extravagance and head-choppers of uncompromising practicality.

Change history by altering movies about history:   A few days ago, I watched a movie on TV, an old Edward G. Robinson vehicle entitled,  Mr. Winkle Goes to War.  Obviously a motion picture about the WW II era, there's a scene where Robinson's character as a U.S. Army soldier speaks with another soldier, and the other relates how he's looking forward to killing some "Japs."  The TV picture clearly showed the actor's lips moving as the word commonly stated for Japanese enemies was spoken, but a censor at some level had cleanly extracted the sound.  You'd think today's generation would have the common sense to realize that "Japs" referenced a terrible era gone by, not mutual friends and associates of the current day.  We should not attempt to conceal or pretty up evils of the past with the censor's clippers.  This is still America, is it not?

UFO alien slides here?   Look, for those of you currently entranced by announcements regarding the coming public release of two apparently old slides said to depict bodies similar to alleged Roswell UFO aliens (and said slides are believed to have originated from the same era), I suggest caution.  Me?  I find it rather disturbing that the world has to wait until some grand unveiling in May -- and in Mexico, yet.  Some have compared this to the plot of "King Kong" in which an audience is kept in breathless anticipation until the curtains open.  Further, I've been around a long time, maybe too long, but I have certain reservations about a name or two or ? involved in this affair.  But that said, maybe key participants are on to something important here and, though I've no connection whatsoever to the secret slide affair, I'll patiently await their international presentation, and the world itself can determine the verdict.  I am suspicious that the passage of so much time since the 1940s has innocently degraded and will cause a further degradation of whatever background or evidence accompanies the actual photographs, no matter what they reveal via analysis.  We already know there's a mystery here, but time itself can take a horrible toll on evidence and the story behind the story.  Oh, and not to forget that the original owners of the house where the slides were found are long deceased, having left behind no explanation.  What now?  I fear that some among us, accustomed to hype, will feel as if we just walked into a bar on a Saturday night, announcing to the bartender, with a yawn, that we'll just have "the usual" -- and that's what we'll get.  Add to this a certain amount of (particularly American) apathy over UFOs (because no Kardashians are involved), and one fears that many folks will see this as just one more slide show sideshow.

Slides aside, I continue my astonishment over a mountain of  absolutely nothing  that occurred years after the alleged Pascagoula UFO abduction (re Charles Hickson and Calvin Parker), when an enterprising journalist in Mississippi revealed information about additional witnesses -- an auto carrying three Navy servicemen -- who quite possibly watched the UFO in question actually glide in for a landing where the two men were fishing, thus offering further substantiation to their strange story.  Now, THAT'S the kind of case that makes you shiver and consider a little panic in the streets.

Incidentally, if the previously water-tight "big bang" theory is quickly losing favor among scientists, we suggest that credentialed UFO deniers are no less deceptively full of themselves than huffy members of the scientific community who Always Know More Than Everybody Else.

But ramp up the stone-cold serious level a bit more and now we have Rendlesham / Bentwaters AFB UFO incident witness John Burroughs, the former U.S. Air Force airman who seems to have suffered a profoundly serious cardiac injury following his close-up UFO encounter, at last getting approval from the Veterans Administration for (successful) heart surgery.  After at first claming that Burroughs never even served in England, the U.S. government finally had to admit that he did -- but his medical records remain totally classified and unavailable even to VA medical staff.  Burroughs and his attorney hope that a tacit government (VA) acknowledgment via surgical approval that he indeed encountered and was medically harmed by some sort of high-energy device will move us closer to government disclosure about the Rendlesham UFO event.  Reports already surfaced a few months ago indicating that Great Britain continues to hold classified files regarding Rendlesham/Bentwaters encounters. 

Thanks for the  memories  diseases:   An infection called CRE infects surgical scopes used routinely by doctors every day and it's apparently difficult to destroy as it kills patients, reminiscent of the trouble with prions.  Meanwhile, a man from Kansas dies following bites from a tick infected with an organism we haven't even encountered before, a deadly variety at that.  Put all of this together with exotic diseases brought in by illegal aliens plus children raised on toxins and people "treated" with medications developed in fast mode by drug companies which know nothing of future DNA consequences and the like, and there's nothing but trouble in store for the future. 

The future?  I remain curious about a  Wall Street Journal  article from November 21 last year, warning that reliance on computers is lowering human intelligence levels.  Sounds about right to me, just look around.   Just look.

I remember when Ferguson was just a farm tractor,  but now the focus falls upon a place in Missouri where white police officer Darren Wilson shot to death black man Michael Brown who made a mistake -- among several -- of reaching for Wilson's gun.  All of this precipitated by a young man who, from ALL reliable accounts, unfortunately got nothing less than he deserved?  So now Holder's justice-as-we-call-it department had to clear Wilson, but as revenge for Wilson doing nothing worse than his job, Holder's bunch complains that too many black people are being stopped by law enforcers.  Hmm -- could it be that criminal acts on the part of those arrested or questioned might have a tad bit to do with the high numbers?  I suppose the quota on white arrests, to use Obama's words in another situation, "must necessarily skyrocket" just to be fair.  The Obama bunch just loves to blame cops for society's ills.  Tell me again -- who are the modern racists? 

The NEWEST black-cop-on-white-suspect shooting in Madison, Wisconsin will likely be deja vu, but one must ask -- don't white cops shoot a lot of white suspects, too?  Like, shoot to death?  And don't most of these tragic circumstances end up the only way they can?  If Holder's Justice Dept. keeps up the raging race-baiting witch-hunts, we may see a day when criminals will own the streets again -- like they already seem to be doing, almost by decree in New York City, thanks to the blind compassion of a mayor gone bonkers.

Meanwhile, Michael Brown's family presses ahead with a civil lawsuit, and because Holder's gang has accomplished the inevitable of making the Ferguson police dept. appear mildly akin to a Nazi death camp, the albeit grieving family will probably be compensated handsomely in the courts for little more than the revelation that their family member died because of a situation he created all by himself.  Good freakin' lord, I hope former officer Darren Wilson has, by now, received the job offer of a lifetime to compensate him and HIS family for their own pain and suffering.

Going nuts with the Environmental Protection Agency:   When will these saps admit that until and unless China alone QUICKLY joins in the CO2-abating madness and other fruitlessly stupid efforts, spending trillions of dollars we don't have to fix a problem that can't be fixed by human efforts won't make a dent in a darned thing?  My solution?  Defund the EPA dramatically and teach common sense to the senseless, assuring in the meantime that scientific thought is imparted by scientists, not by political agenda-ridden garden gnomes wearing lab coats.  And let's un-do the practice of predicting future perils with the same computers that can't even forecast a week's worth of weather correctly.

So how come our president doesn't sound so presidential?   Israel's prime minister Netanyahu spoke with confidence, authority and no staged bullcrap.  I thought I was watching a U.S. president for a fleeting moment, but then the pathetic truth hit me:  We still have Obama making presidential speeches, and they always seem more like bullying opportunities to blame and punish Americans.  Interesting how Obama, following the speech, stated there was "nothing new" about it.  Yes, there was -- a tone of confidence and leadership.  Maybe it's true that there's nothing new under the sun, but Mr. Obama obviously needs more sun so he'll realize the importance of leadership as opposed to, say, blaming America and Americans.for things not to his liking.  At any rate, Netanyahu's speech was brilliant, and after he started out by complimenting Obama, followed immediately by giving O's policies toward Iran a butt-chewing, I thought of reworking an old quotation: "I come not to bury Caesar, but to praise him."

Another finger gun threatens the world of education:   This time, a Colorado Springs elementary school has no tolerance (didn't you progressives used to have a logo that read,  Teach Tolerance?) for a kid holding up his fingers toward another student and saying, bang bang.  Isn't it high time for schools across the nation to abandon this nonsense and instead provide firing ranges and teach students how to fire the real thing safely and effectively?  Just in case of. . .?  Shouldn't children at all levels be encouraged each day in school to freely use words such as,  firearm, 20 gauge, bullets, Second Amendment and phrases such as, Shall not be infringed, you freaking communist bastards?

If parents continue to allow the progressive fascists lording over schools to turn all boys and girls into powerless little cupcakes who have no concept of threats or self-preservation, the kids are already dead inside and out.  Take back your schools or teach 'em at home, but the absurd gun-hating policies administered in schools will not solve a problem that most decidedly is neither a finger gun, nor a breakfast pastry molded into the shape of a gun.   May I simply take the liberty -- ah yes, remember liberty? -- of offering the following words to clueless school boards and administrators everywhere? 

Bang bang!  Don't be a moron!