Memorial Day~ Drums of War

I honor & respect all soldiers who gave the ultimate sacrifice.

I also question the root of it.
Who gives the Orders to torture?
Who pays the price?
Who profits from it?

The low road

They are ALL Bozos on this bus

Oh dread. Looks like Palin & her misguided need for fame are about to roll all over the East Coast & this country on her "Fundy Bus"

Palin is already playing the "god card"

Here's a little background info... this barfwagon is made by Country Coach, an Oregon company. 

Feb 2010: JUNCTION CITY -- It took less than an hour to auction $2.58 million worth of Country Coach motor homes that were the highlight of a marathon liquidation sale. 

 
The high-end RV manufacturer founded 38 years ago in Junction City has gone out of business and its assets are being sold to satisfy creditors under order of a bankruptcy judge. 
 In November, a judge converted the case to a Chapter 7 bankruptcy and ordered the company's assets liquidated to satisfy creditors, namely Wells Fargo Bank, the main secured creditor. As of October, Country Coach owed the bank alone, $7.5 million. 

The company has put together a detailed business plan to begin manufacturing coaches 2011. In the past Country Coach employed about 1,800 and produced about 1,000 coaches a year. But this new company plans to start slow maybe producing 25 coaches a year, dependent on the market.

Well that's a sure fire way to tank your company, rising up from the ashes of bankruptcy- put the Palin brand name on it. 

Line item rants ahead:

• Oh God! Not another election with Palin's mug in it. 

I can barely get rid of the old memories of the winking, the "you betcha's" & her huckster persona, the "Drill baby drill" chanting, and her shout out to some elementary school back in Wasilla. Little Miss Apple pie invoking a mob, calling Obama a terrorist.

• STOP CALLING HER "GOVERNOR PALIN" She quit the damned job, so she gave up her rights to the title. 

If they want to be accurate & call her the "Quitter Ex Governor" or "the half term previous governor that quit", I'm OK with that, but don't give her credibility as if she performed duties of a Governor who completed a 4 year term. 

• I hope I am really wrong, but she seems to be substituting "God" for "Maverick".  Remember how she rode the Mavericky wave of using & abusing that term? Whenever she did not have an answer (or a clue), she would play the Maverick card. 

"Oh a couple of Mavericks like John McMaverick & I, a Maverick too, we will Maverick our way through the tough decisions, just like Mavericks do. Did I mention we are Mavericks???"

• Notice you can't see into the windows of the bus? Palin likes her 1 way views. 

• There goes the neighborhood!

Palin just bought a house in Scottsdale AZ. 

Just a little place to kick around in~

Sarah Palin has bought a roughly 8,000-square-foot home in North Scottsdale, Ariz., for $1.695 million.

Funnier (this is what happens when you don't do your homework)...

"The property was purchased through a limited-liability company that bought it from Ian Whitmore, who on Wednesday identified himself as a real-estate investor. "It was always my intention to sell the home," he said. Mr. Whitmore bought it from J.P. Morgan Chase Bank last year for about $800,000, according to tax records."

Gotta wonder if this was a foreclosure from Chase Bank- eaten up by Bank of America??

That's a hefty profit for flippping a house in 1 year. 

Gotta wonder if this is one of McCain's many estates?

Speculation is Palin took residence to run for McCain's Senate seat, when the old coot retires. 

For one thing, there are enough crazies in Arizona. Jan Brewer & her hateful immigration laws & birther obsession.

Bristol must be pissed off. Here she up & moved as far away from Alaska as she could & what does her mother do? Buys a place in the same state. There's 50 states to choose from-- why'd she have to pick Bristol's state?

I can't imagine Gabriel Giffords appreciating Palin moving to Arizona either. (Palin's crosshairs take 'em out campaign). 

All I can say is I hope Palin's debacle tour is met by many unwelcoming committees. 

Needless to say I will not be joining the fundamental restoration of America movement.

That's code for "Fundies taking over America". 

Fumes I wish we all did not have to choke on!

I'll leave you with a question to ponder:

Can a bus tour be a trainwreck?

 

They had it coming

Since the GOP is now pitching the "kill Medicare" program, trying to sell it as a necessary budget cut, even though they insist on the tax cuts for the rich, continued huge military spending & endless wars, as well as giving big oil $4 billion a year in subsidies, even though they are making billions in profits.
We the small people are expected to delay retirement & make medicare weaker.
Yea well, then this is the kind of campaign ad they can look forward to:

Rapture Redux

Of course there already IS a "next time" on the schedule~
According to the venerable preacher Howeird Camping, the Rapture is being rescheduled for October 21.
The joke & punchline are as follows:

Ok, Camping got the Rapture date wrong, but not like it's the end of the world!

 

Evangelical broadcaster Harold Camping says he's "flabbergasted" his doomsday prophecy did not come true. OK, he had his 15 minutes of fame. Some people took his prediction as true, but seriously would anyone really go with a third time round doomsday prediction? Is this guy now just throwing darts at a calendar for his prediction dates? 

Mr Camping is 89 years old, chances are his "end days" really are near. 

If so called believers want to buy into his tabloid version of biblical predictions, fine, but I wish the press would stop giving this guy & his freak show air time. 

Other doomsday theorists kept it generic, so as to save face. 

Bob's Birthday

Happy 70th Birthday Bob Dylan (born Robert Allen Zimmerman) !
His birthday is tuesday the 24th, but let's start celebrating his birthday now. 
Thanks Bob for being a poet, & musician for all these years. 

The Rapture

Well if today is the end of life as we know it, I'm going out with bagpipe music @ the Scottish Festival!

When the levee breaks

The rats are abandoning the sinking ship...

Looks like Trump & Huckabee are out of the 2012 presidential race.  Taking their hats out of the ring?
It is speculated the Donald probably did not want to have to do a full financial disclosure, as is required of presidents.  Trump reportedly makes $42 million a year.
The president  only makes $400,000 a year plus $50,000 for expenses. Trump is making 93 x more money.
Trump claims this is all about the charity money the show raises. Apparently, Trump IS a charity, because several years ago he made $50,000 per episode, x 17 episodes a season. Not too shabby!

Huckabee gave some schpeal about his relationship w god & although humans encouraged him to run for president, god told him no. Maybe the fact he ran before & lost might have something to do with it,
but OK we will go with divine intervention. Sadly, Palin plays that same card too, often answering the "will you run for president" question, with an "if god tells me to" reply.
Which leads to the question-- Does god ever tell people to STFU? One would hope god would tell Palin, if you can't make it through a term a Governor, forget about being president. Palin is such a grifter, she probably only wants to be president for the free childcare, meals & housing.
At least old John McCain has the sense not to run again, a third try at a presidential election would not be a charm.
So that leaves the GOP with Newt & Mitt.

       

We know why so glum~ the GOP made it's comeback by storming the house & demanding tax cuts for the rich! Then they thought they would slice & dice medicare. Ooops! They forgot about the voters out
there. They have had enough rope to create their own noose. The GOP is in trouble. Plus anyone who was paying attention knows "fiscal conservancy" was all but non existent during the 8 years of the Bush2 debacle presidency.
They racked up a $12 trillion debt without blinking, and now want to come down hard on spending.
That would have been a good strategy about $12 trillion & 8 years ago.

Oh yes & let's not forget the about to be "3 times a loser".... Ron Paul!

Will the GOP be stupid/desperate enough to add Palin to the mix?, or is she just Tea Party crazy?

Tune in again for the continuing adventures of  "As the stomach turns...."

Oh well, at least Trump is out- we appreciate you firing yourself from running for president. 

Austin Lounge Lizards Sing Gingrich the Newt

writch | Myspace Video

Hat tip to Maui Girl for finding this tune

Inspect this!

This is the latest TSA antic-- the Baby pat down! Halfway makes me wish the kid dropped a load in his diaper with the caption "Inspect this".

The TSA at the Kansas City International Airport stated the stroller set off the metal detector alarm. Why not inspect the stroller?  Many strollers are metal & have metal parts.  At least they did not just put the kid on the baggage conveyor belt, for carry-on luggage.

In any case, here is one for the scrap book kid--
"Baby's First Pat Down".

Belated Happy Mother's Day to all the Moms

Ooops the auto post did not work on Sunday.

Happy Mother's Day!

R.I.P. Kenmore appliance

It used to be the Sears Kenmore brand was made by Whirlpool & they were the workhorse machines you could count on getting 20 years of use. Maybe a repair or two along the way, but even the middle-of-the-road priced machines were built to last. That was then .

At some point Sears decided to let other lower bidders make their signature brand, and that is when the Kenmore name went to hell in a handbasket. 

Planned obsolescence or built-in obsolescence in industrial design is a policy of deliberately planning or designing a product with a limited useful life, so it will become obsolete or nonfunctional after a certain period. 

This Kenmore washer lasted 10 years. It required at least 2 repair visits. In the end the agitator might turn once for every 20 motor rotations.  If it costs $120 bucks to have a repairman come to the house, plus additional parts & labor these days, a third strike & a decade of use,

 make it not worth paying to have it repaired again. 

The spin cycle that didn't. 

Early on the final rinse & spin option filled the tub with rinse water, but then it just stopped. 

You would come to the machine ready to rotate the load, only to find it full of water. It required a human to manually click the dial to the spin & then it would spin out, draining the water. 

This mechanism is the weak link in the system- a plastic part on the lid that pushes a metal piece , telling the machine it is OK to complete the cycle & spin out. 

Sometimes it worked, about half the time it did not. 

Some bean counter @ Sears figured out a way to increase their profit margin. Get a less expensive, less quality manufacturer to make their goods, and make more money.  I can buy a comparable Whirlpool agitator machine for less money today, than what we paid for this machine a decade ago. 

Technology has changed big time since then & now they have super high efficient machines w/o agitators, that use a fraction of the amount of water.  It sounds good, but will it be like those low flow toilets that used so much less water for flushing-- you just had to flush it 2 or 3 times to get a successful flush?

In any case, I hope Sears figures out customers who got the funky product are not coming back to buy more of their machines. So when I heard this financial update about Sears, I knew why:

"In its earnings warning after the market closed Monday, the company cited a drop in appliance, clothing and electronics sales. It forecast a loss for the quarter that ended April 30 of $145 million to $195 million, or $1.35 to $1.81 per share, compared with a first-quarter profit a year ago of $16 million. 

Revenue at Sears stores fell 5.2 percent.

Hey Mr. Sears CEO--- Here's a tip : Don't make crappy machines!

So now Kenmore & Maytag are on our shitlist. 

Although they assure us Maytag is now made by Whirlpool, the last dishwasher experience- a funky machine that did not do the one job it was designed to do- clean dishes,  from day one, then a few years later, a notice that the machine has a heating element problem & to cease & desist using the machine, due to a fire hazard. They would replace the faulty element for free, or we could have a coupon to get another Maytag machine. Game over. 

We rolled the dice on a new Whirlpool washing machine, and it will be delivered today. But it's is weird to think buying a spendy machine is "rolling the dice". Owner reviews vary wildly, including remarks that the teched up electronic machine went belly up in 2 year's time & the mfr did nothing to remedy the situation. We purchased it with much trepidation. Do I really want a fancified machine with so may features to potentially go wrong?

Plan B will be to go back to the old style agitator machine .Plan C is go down to the river & hand wash???

Is a machine with all it's sensors, chimes, electronic countdown-- so smart IT chooses the water levels & such... really smart enough to be making all my laundry decisions?

I see it runs for 73 minutes, on a normal load, yet it is supposed to be super efficient. Using much less water, but for a longer time... not sure how that makes it super efficient.... but for some reason we decided to try this space age technology. We felt that for $100 bucks, getting the extended 4 year warranty, making it 5 years total was worth it. $25 bucks a year to not have to worry about the machine going belly up, &not being a product test guinea pig was worth it. But really, that is what it has come down to in the 21st century. Buying a more expensive machine, with more bells & whistles, but feeling more vulnerable that we would be left holding the bag, should the machine fail prematurely. 

The store has a 30 day return policy, so we will have our way with this machine & see if this whiz bang machine that reviewers say "you MUST read the manual" in order to operate properly, to see if it is all that it claims to be. 

Consumer Reports call it a "Best Buy", but we'll be the judge of that. 

Goodbye Kenmore, hello Whirlpool!

Let's hope it all comes out in the wash, as they say!

P.S. This house IS Pandora's box. The installer guy came, brought in the machine, hooked it up & the cold water spigot sprung a steady drip, where there was not one before. Sometimes it happens, he shrugged, as he left.  So now we have to get a plumber to come, on a Saturday because it is not just a matter of unscrewing off the old spigot connection.  The manager said it's not the installer's fault, it is an "old plumbing in the house" issue. He also said we were lucky to be home when this happened. 

Let's see how "lucky" we feel when we get the bill from the plumber. 

Retaliation ain't cheap

Casualties in Iraq



The Human Cost of Occupation

American Military Casualties in Iraq

Total In Combat American Deaths
Since war began (3/19/03): 4452 

Since "Mission Accomplished" (5/1/03)   4311

Since Obama Inauguration (1/20/09): 224


American Wounded Official Estimated
Total Wounded: 33023 Over 100000
Latest Fatality April 29, 2011
Page last updated 05/1/11 11:23 am EDT
List of U.S. Servicemembers killed since 5/1/03
Put a Casualty Counter on Your Website

U.S. Wounded
Daily DoD Casualty Release
320,000 Vets Have Brain Injuries

18 Vet Suicides Per Day

Iraqi Casualties
Others

Other Coalition Troops - Iraq
318
US Military Deaths - Afghanistan
1,566
Other Military Deaths - Afghanistan
875
Contractor Employee Deaths - Iraq
1,487
Journalists - Iraq
348
Academics Killed - Iraq
448
Sources: DoD, MNF, and iCasualties.org

Mission Accomplished already

So now one more person is dead. After the World Trade Center, Pentagon &  United flight 93, plane hijacking that went down in Shanksville, PA,  a decade of 2 wars in Iraq & Afghanistan, countless death, destruction & ruination, we have "accomplished the mission" they claimed to have set out to do-- avenge the terrorist attacks. Senseless wars, Iraq unrelated to the 911 incident, and Afghanisitan, where Bin Laden had been living, but was long gone. 

I am appalled by the jubilant chanting of "USA" in the streets.

Excerpt:

"Americans spilled into the streets for spontaneous celebrations after news spread that Osama bin Laden, the al Qaeda leader behind the 9/11 terrorist attacks, had been assassinated. Is it morally wrong to celebrate the assassination of bin Laden in such a festive, patriotic way? ‘This is disgusting. We shouldn’t be celebrating the death of anybody.’ It felt gross.”

No one we interviewed for this story denied the importance of bin Laden’s death; the heroism of the American soldiers; the importance of serving justice.

But religious leaders of different faiths say no one should rejoice in the death of a person, even a hated enemy.

Emad El-Din Shahin, a professor of religion at the University of Notre Dame, says the Quran also teaches reverence for every life, even the most repugnant ones.

The Prophet Mohammad was sitting by a road one day when a funeral procession came by. The prophet stood up out of respect, says Shahin.

“The people with him told him, ‘But he’s not a Muslim.’

“The Prophet Mohammad said, ‘Isn’t it a human soul?’”

Shahin says most Muslims reject the notion that bin Laden was a Muslim leader.

“Bin Laden did not represent Islam or Muslims,” Shahin says. “He was an aberration. Most of the teachings and practices of al Qaeda were condemned by the majority of Muslim scholars and populations.”

“Certainly Osama bin Laden, who lived by the sword, received the world’s form of justice,”. “But do we really think that violence, even a ‘justified’ act of violence, has the capacity to heal the wounds inflicted by violence - or to end the cycle of violence?”

Some leaders say that dancing on bin Laden’s grave is wrong from an ethical point of view as well.

“Killing someone should never be a cause for celebration or joy,” says Rick Halperin, past chairman of the board of directors of Amnesty International USA.

“We as a nation are repulsed when we see Muslims dancing over the death of
Americans. Why would we think our reaction would not be seen as disgusting behavior to them?”*

 Do any of us really think there are no more madmen in the world to step up into the "leadership" role of al Qaeda , or perpetuate senseless acts of violence?

If not al Qaeda, then the Taliban, or some other group. 

More people have died in the revenge phase, then in the initial attack. Have we had enough killing?

Have we achieved full retaliation?

The only silver lining I can see about this situation is if the US had the sense to pull out of both wars now. 

Declare this wretched mess Mission Accomplished, and get out of Afghanistan & Iraq. 

Read full article: 

Is it morally right to celebrate bin Laden's death? by clicking here