Where do our rights come from? Once in a while I get too close to a subject and cannot be objective. When this happens I try to stay away from the subject all together. That’s how I feel about the treatment of our Military personnel and Veterans. We take these kids right out of high school in many cases and three months later they are dodging bullets in a foreign country. These are the same kids who got their keys taken away last year for coming home late from a dance.

I am fortunate to have several friends who have served recently in the Iraqi and or Afghanistan theaters. Some of these kids came home missing limbs and some with severe burns from IED’s. Their attitude to a man has been positive, both about their experiences and their ability to re enter civilian life. When I hear a coward who thinks it’s his or her right to demean these hero’s, I get enraged. The other day on computer news site I saw a comment in the middle of a General Motors article that had nothing to do with the story itself. This imbecile just added a comment that I won’t repeat about he and his buddies going to a Federal Cemetery and urinating on the graves of young people who have died in the war. It’s a darn good thing I wasn’t at that facility at that time or they would be urinating sitting down for the rest of their lives, and I would have something hanging from my rear view mirror beside fuzzy dice.

I am so disgusted with creeps like this hiding behind the civil liberties that so many brave men and woman died to defend. It’s easy to speak out against war and its terrible consequences. No one I know likes war, sometimes it’s a necessary evil and other times like Viet Nam it has a political motivation. Either way it’s not the veterans who deserve the wrath of the anti war bunch. These are just the people who stood side by side to defend the honor of the United States. They have served in this manner since the Revolutionary War and hopefully there will always be some willing to serve and protect our freedoms.

This country used to have laws regarding Treason, I don’t know what happened to them, but I could name a few that should be tried for it. What I don’t really understand is why some of these actors feel they have the right to talk against America. Does acting give them some special intelligence to comprehend things the rest of us can’t. To me an actor is just a highly overpaid sales person. What did Jane Fonda do to make her so smart in Hanoi. She put thousands of people at risk with her careless association with the enemy. Why wasn’t she arrested and tried for treason? We have an enemy in South America named Chavez, he has aligned himself with our sworn enemies many times, yet Danny Glover and Sean Penn think he’s a straight up guy. Penn said he would rather have his picture taken with Chavez then our own President. These people have made huge fortunes in this country, yet they hate what it stands for.

Why do good people still go to see their movies? When someone trashes my country and our troops and then asks me to support their movie efforts, I draw the line. When my end comes I just hope I have done enough in my life, to deserve the honor of serving in the same unit of Gods Army as some of these wonderful young men and women. The service they have given to their country and their people, should always be remembered with reverence.

We will always have cowards in our midst, and cowards will always be cowards, nothing will ever change them. They can’t be trusted behind your back and surely can’t be trusted to protect and defend the rights they so readily abuse.

And that’s my opinion,
Don

What the Ministry of Truth in Orwell's mythical land of Oceania did to the language in "1984"--"Newspeak"-- the far right & left in American politics have tried, with considerable success, to do in 21st century America with the consent, and in some cases, assistance of the news media, as it would seem from the article on the CONNECTICUT POST'S front page of 1/6/09. "(Bridgeport, CT. Mayor)Finch Pleads For Help."

"Finch and other leaders said "there are many creative ways to enchance local revenues." Newspeak for "Let's sock it to the public."

Lady's and gent's

The time has come to be heard I speak on behalf of the thousands of Cognitive Disabled People in this country.

It is disturbing to me that people of our Judicail System can take advantage of and not recognize a person with a cognitive disability. This is because it is invisable. You appear normal but infact you are not. There are many cognitive disabiities ADD ADHD exetra.

I contend to post more about my story on a daily bases but will awaite your response to give me strength to push ahead

I have filed a Ten Million Dollar Law Suit and it has been approved by the United States District Court in New Jersey however, at this time I am proceeding Pro se and it's quite stressful for me I would appreaciate some feed back or possible representation. If not I contend to win this battle myself. 

 I will NOT! allow for this degrating disrespect to continue

 

                             Thank's for reading 

                                               greeks41@yahoo.com

 

Are we the dinosauers of our age? Are we the dinosaurs of our age? Are we setting ourselves up for extinction? Every day we get more doom and gloom, first the Global Warming crisis and now the economy. If this were just happening to one person they would simply go off and shoot themselves. I never expected life to be easy, as I wasn’t raised with a silver spoon in my mouth. This economic situation has big government written all over it. We’ve all heard the expressions, Global Economy and One World Government. Are we actually facing the end of the line for America as we know it?

There have been forces trying to destroy the concept of America since its inception. First the British under King George tried to keep us subservient to the crown. We were divided by forces within our own country during the Civil War and were besieged with outside influences then as we are now. We are extremely vulnerable to this ideology of a One World Government at this time. What points to this? First let’s start with NAFTA (North American Free Trade Association), this has opened our borders to the world and shuffled many jobs to other countries. Our government (neither party) has done nothing to stop illegal immigration and seems more prone to offer the 20 million or so illegal immigrants citizenship than they are to try to deport them. We have the Global Warming so called crisis that is in my mind just a step in the direction of government control of all business and industry. We are creating a welfare mentality in the United States that is so bent on entitlements that eventually we won’t have anyone to fill our labor force and will be required to import more and more laborers from other countries.

If all this sounds Whacko to you just stop and look around, ask a farmer how hard it is to pay laborers when they can earn more on welfare then he can afford to pay. We want cheap food but we want the farmer to pay more for his help. We want inexpensive clothing but we demand higher and higher minimum wages for the production of the garments. There is an old saying in this country, (you can’t have your cake and eat it too.) Every time we raise the minimum wage we find our cost of living goes up with it. In the old days if a person was a commission sales person he or she was paid according to their productivity. In today’s world there is no such thing as a commission sales person, they are guaranteed a wage and therefore are the first to be let go when times get rough.

What will be the sales pitch for a one world government? It will happen so fast that they don’t need one. More and more of our freedoms will slip away with the government controlling our financial and industrial base, we are almost there. There has been a dummying down of Americans for the last few generations, this started with the lowering of standards in our schools. In many cases we are in the process of rewriting history to suit the needs of this movement. Many of our hero’s of old are now being tarnished and set aside. Many of the achievements of our fathers are now being called illegitimate and foolish. We have allowed our schools to become the front lines in this battle for our sovereignty, and yet we have done nothing to confront them and force a change. We are raising a new entitlement prone generation that will, without a murmur, allow this change to take place. There are a few of us who will shout and be outraged but in the end we will be silenced.

The only way to prevent this from happening is for the American people to stand and face their government head on and demand a change of direction. I’m not talking about taking up arms, I’m talking about using the same method the progressives used in their fight for power. Mass demonstrations, and a strong showing of solidarity. If this can be brought about and we find that the people will stand together to make demands, to bring commonsense back into our government, we can win. Politicians are creatures of the polls and will change like a chameleon when confronted directly. Every citizen should go back and read the Federalist Papers and have their eyes opened to what was predicted and what has happened. You can go here to study them; http://www.gradesaver.com/the-federalist-papers/study-g

uide/section3/

I am not a radical individual, but I, like many of you, love my country and have defended it and will do so once again if called upon. The freedoms of America are precious yet oh so fragile. We are not alone in our concerns, we have the one thing that is all powerful on our side, we are “WE THE PEOPLE” and we won’t be silent much longer.

And that’s my opinion,
Don

Im so disgusted by how the news portrays the Palestines as the Evil ones in the conflict they are having there with Israel.  The truth is that Palestinian people were there in their land way before the Israeli people came to invade in the 1970's. For some ODD REASON the Israelis claim that that land is theirs and that Palestenians should just be satisfied wih THEIR "PALESTINE STATE".  I mean that's horrible!!!! Its like your neighbour comes in your 500 000 dollar house and starts reclaiming that property that you worked hard to get and says Yah ok now, because I just feel like it I now will reclaim your house because I feel like it. That's without respect or even asking you to borrow it or to legally  sign conditions. Totally disregarding the people that live their before them. So now the Palestenians have to be satistied with the land the  the "Generous" Israeli goverment have generously given to the Palestinians.

The media is always biasing the truth, which is incorrent for the viewers. Its morraly wrong. Besides the truth is that there is inocent people getting killed in Palestine aswell as in Israel. The news takes only Israel's side. They dont reveal that Israel has way more weapons than Palestine and I guess that is why those people have to blow up themselves as a way to use that form as ammunition. The media portrays the Palestenians as always blowing themselves up and thats the only thing that they are good for.  I feel that because the Israeli people have money and power all over the world, that somehow they buy the media to portray Israel as the victims when in reality the true victims are the Palestenians. ITS SICKLY BECAUSE INNOCENT PEOPLE ARE DYING JUST BECAUSE OF SOME LAND.

 

;
 
                      
Enough Of The Bushes Already
 

Monday, January 5th 2009, 3:46 AM

Bon Voyage Losers

Jackson/AP/AP
Former President George H.W. Bush, President George W. Bush and Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, together in 2006.

At a time when just about everybody named Bush is frantically trying to rehabilitate the image, and legacy, of the outgoing commander in chief, we now get the most amazing pronouncement yet from the family: Former President George H.W. Bush feels he has another son warming up in the bullpen.

"I'd like to see [Jeb Bush] run," the old man said on television Sunday. "I'd like to see him be President one day."

Now this was a father sounding like a father and acting like one, straight up. That is exactly what the old man - far and away the best of all the Bushes - was Sunday, whether he was talking about Jeb or the current Bush in the White House, the one who will leave office in a couple of weeks being viewed as one of the worst and weakest Presidents in history, as much of a bust-out case as the economy he leaves behind for Barack Obama.

That is why nobody, not even Bush 41, this quite honorable old man, a war hero who plans to jump out of an airplane this year to celebrate his 85th birthday, doesn't get to rewrite the story now. It is much too late in the game for that.

"It's been tough on his father and his mother," the former President said Sunday, talking about Bush 43 and all the criticism he's received.

Even the old man, who now looks like a giant as President compared with his kid, would have to admit it's been somewhat tougher on the country. But he was still out there punching away Sunday, a good soldier to the end, even suggesting that the media in general, and The New York Times in particular, have been "grossly unfair" in its coverage of his oldest son.

Again, he's too nice a man to get caught in the crossfire directed at Bush 43 on his way out the door, because none of this mess is his fault. And the old man is allowed to think of the Oval Office as the family business if he wants to. But blaming his son's problems on the media would make about as much sense as Bill Clinton blaming all of his problems on a zipper that worked.

Or Eliot Spitzer blaming his issues on the hotel.

One week it's Dick Cheney trying to edit the last eight years in America, almost line by line. Then it's Laura Bush, trying to be as good a wife as George H.W. Bush is a father. You half expect them to start buying time on television trying to still run George W. Bush for President as the rest of the country gets ready to kick him to the curb.

History, they all keep saying, will have a different view of the last eight years in America. Not without 3-D glasses it won't - or several stiff drinks.

For now, it's as if the Bush family has some sort of grading system that it uses and the rest of us don't, one that enables the current President Bush to get to do some kind of victory lap around the White House grounds before Barack Obama gets inside to try to fix things, even though they're so broken he's probably going to need help from the Army Corps of Engineers.

You listen to the various defenses of Bush, not just from his family but from his loyalists and from the wing nuts of right-wing radio - the ones who want to blame this recession on Obama and sound as if they were dropped on their heads as babies - and you think there is one scorecard for them and one for the rest of us.

On their scorecard, they want to list all the countries that HAVEN'T been invaded on George W. Bush's watch. They want to talk about all the big companies and banks that HAVEN'T failed. While a cynical media want to dwell on Scooter Libby, you keep waiting to hear about all the fine public servants in the current Bush administration who HAVEN'T been indicted, at least not yet.

This has been going on for a couple of weeks now and might not stop even after Barack Obama is sworn in. Now the head of the family is on television talking about Jeb Bush and making you want to hide under the bed at even the hint that what now passes for a political dynasty in this country might continue.

At least George H.W. Bush did offer this one small qualification as he talked about Jeb's qualifications to be President someday.

"I mean, right now is probably a bad time," the old man said.

You think?

Are we at the final crossroads? Are we at the crossroads of our Country and our World? We are Americans, we have always been the basic design for freedom in the world. We are same people who have fought and died for freedom all over the world, and to think we are ready to give up our basic beliefs and freedoms. Giving them up to people who believe that the world should be controlled by one government. Is that to be our fate, are our children and grand children going to be raised other than American? We have people right here in this country that feel that way and some of them are high up in our own government. The theorists of the Global Economy and those who are advocates of open borders are just the first wave. We are being sold out from within and the snow job has been so great that no one is even actively fighting it. It all sounds so ridiculous that I even hate to put my name to it, but if you look at the events of the last few decades and put them in order what do you come up with?

1. We have allowed the United Nations to locate here in America, and in doing so gave them total diplomatic immunity to our laws. Giving them a place to spy and gather information on us.

2. We slowly allow much of our Gross National Product to be shipped offshore in the form of jobs and allow the products to come back with little on no duty involved.

3. We add NAFTA to the mix and offer them duty free access to our country through Mexico. We even offer to build them a highway to the middle of our country to haul their goods.

4. Our government turns its back on the fact that we have at least 20 million illegal immigrants living among us, using up our medical facilities and placing huge demands on our schools and our public works.

5. We are told we do not have enough natural resources to support ourselves, so we import billions of barrels of oil from the Middle East giving them in return Trillions of our dollars. We do this when it’s well known that we have large resources available for drilling right here in our own area of the world.

6. We are being sold a ‘Bill of Goods’ about Global Warming, and how we must believe without proof that it exists. We are told that we can buy Carbon Credits and it will help our earth somehow. The only thing green about this scam is the money that is being made off of it. It has added huge cost increases to every product we make here in America, and who pays for it? We do.

7. This is not something that either political party is responsible for, this is far bigger than the Republicans and the Democrats here in America. This is a global push for control and if you want to find the source, find the money trail. It’s a private club that only the richest can join.

8. The Europeans were told that going to the ‘Euro’ would help their economy. What it has done is help the economy of the poorer nations in the area and depleted the richer ones treasuries. Who benefits from this, only the club members who bought into these third world countries and have made billions in the process. The same people who have dreams of controlling the world and have the money to do so. I’ll bet they have a few Carbon Credits to sell too.


Now I don’t want to sound like a total Whacko, but I’m afraid for our way of life. I don’t think every day Americans ever believed that this could happen here. I think this global financial crisis is just another step in the plan. Out of panic we allow ourselves to lose more and more freedoms. Freedoms that are sacred to our way of life. The United States Government buying into business and financial institutions is unheard of, it’s Socilaism, and it’s the first step towards total government control. What privately held company can compete with the government? Have you priced ammunition lately? It is getting scarcer and higher priced daily. Gee, do you suppose they don’t want us to have any?

I believe the start of this was when we allowed foreign countries to buy America. I know, it’s been going on for a long time but did you know how much money we have allowed China to invest here in America? Do you know how much money we have given the Saudi’s to buy our country with? This is money that we have given them because we have not allowed ourselves to be self sufficient in oil. It may be too late for us to drill for oil, maybe we should just drill into their bank vaults. Who owns our big companies and banks anyway, do we even know? How much of Citi Bank does China own?

For years we supplied the world with food, we were always known as the ‘Bread Basket of the World.’ Now we can barely afford to run our family farms and make a living. The government decided we should turn our corn into gasoline and what happened? They destroyed the corn market and raised food prices everywhere. We now have the Global Warmists in the government taxing the cattle ranchers, because their cows give off methane gas. If that was a real problem the plains must have been terrible in the 1800’s with those millions of Buffalo just wandering around passing gas. I guess old Buffalo Bill Cody and the boys who shot them for their pelts did the world a favor.

If I sound disgusted it’s because I really am. We need to somehow get back to reality in this country. The idea of the political correctness police running our country is appalling to me. I still believe we have enough people who believe in America, to get our country back. We don’t need to be isolationists but we don’t need to be globalists either. What ever happened to good old COMMON SENSE?

And that’s my opinion,
Don

These are my nominees for my first annual “POLLYWOOD”Awards! 

 

Best supporting actress in a comedy series…

Sarah Palin!  

Rookie Of The Year & MVP…….

Barack Obama! 

Man Of The Year on ‘e-Bay’!....

Gov. Blagojevich! 

Scariest Political Hairdo….

Gov. Blagojevich! 

Most Difficult Name To Utter With a Mouthful Of Peanut Butter… 

Gov. Blagojevich! 

Wizard Of Oz, Man Behind the curtain… 

Dick Cheney! 

Unofficial Winner…

Hillary Clinton!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

URGENT, PLEASE READ AND FOLLOWUP. For the last two years I have been asking you all to get involved in the greatest injustice perpetrated on law enforcement. Jose Compean and Ignacio Ramos have been locked up in Federal Prison long enough. The President has only a few days left to pardon these two Border Guards whose only crime was to shoot a drug smuggler in the rear end as he tried to escape capture. The man was carrying a large amount of drugs and was known to the Border Patrol as a mule for the cartels. I don’t know about you but I would rather have a drug smuggler with a bullet in his butt in prison than two guys who were defending my country. Federal Prosecutor, Johnny Sutton saw it differently and actually indemnified the smuggler so he could come here and testify. A few weeks later he was re arrested carrying more drugs to sell on our city streets. I guess he couldn’t get away so fast this time because he had a bullet in his butt. This travesty has gone on long enough. If anyone should be in prison it’s this prosecutor. Please take time right now to write to the White House and demand this pardon. This is a reprint of an article I posted several weeks ago and time is running out for these men.

REPRINT FROM NOVEMBER 12. 2008
One last time Mr. Bush, here’s your chance to redeem your self in the eyes of many. You have two Border Agents Compean and Ramos locked up in Federal Prison for doing what 90% of Americans wanted them to do. It’s in your power to commute their sentences and bring them back to their families. These men are hero’s to most Americans and are considered political prisoners by the Bush Administration. They should be released immediately and they should receive 100% of their back pay. Your Federal Prosecutor Johnny Sutton painted a picture of a poor itinerant Mexican just trying to make a living he met these two Border Agents who were on patrol in an area assigned to them to prevent smugglers and illegal aliens from entering the country. These two bullies shot this poor Mexican in cold blood in the rump as he tried to get away with his 700 pounds of dope. Come on Mr. Bush enough is enough. This Mexican who was shot was given immunity by Sutton to testify against these men and soon after was re arrested for smuggling even more dope into the country. If they had just aimed a little higher we would have less junk on our streets. These men have had to be placed in solitary confinement for their own protection as they are surrounded by Mexican drug smugglers in these prisons. It would be like you being placed in a prison with Al Qaeda prisoners who are sworn to kill you. What are you thinking Mr. President? What kind of deal with Mexico could you possibly have to keep these brave men incarcerated?

You have asked and received support from many of us for the war in Iraq. Actually we are embroiled in three wars Mr. President, Iraq, Afghanistan and the war on drugs which we are losing badly. We have documented cases of actual military incursions across our border where the Mexican Soldiers have guarded the escape of drug smugglers even firing their weapons in the process. All this and you let Sutton keep these two locked up in a living heii. I voted for you twice and I must say I am totally disappointed in your last term. Most of us were so proud of the way you took charge after 9/11 but you have failed badly in all areas of the domestic front. You have personally set back the Conservative Movement at least ten years. Please Mr. President I beseech you, release these men immediately and remove all stigma from their record. They and their families have suffered greatly at hands of your administration.

Ask the people of this Nation who they would call a hero, Scooter Libby whom you released immediately or Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean who are still locked up in prison. I guess if you’re not a Washington insider it just doesn’t count.

America it’s our fight now, we have do everything in our power to get these men released. They were doing their job trying to protect us when they were caught up in some insider event that I believe had nothing to do with what actually happened. The politics involved in this goes much deeper than just the wounding of a known drug smuggler. Cops shoot it out and wound drug dealers all the time and nothing ever is said about it, why then is this injustice still going on?

And that’s my Opinion,
Don

I could not believe that Fox News (Channel 5 New York) aired that Caroline Kennedy needs to watch how she speaks, meaning she needs to stop saying "uhms." "and." "you know," etc.  How can they criticize /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} her when President-elect Barack Obama have said over 600 or more "uhms" during his interview on Meet the Press (role the cameras back) and he constantly says "and" as well.  In the marjority of his speeches that all you here.  I wanted to write in and say let's call him Mr. Uhm.  The Fox News reporter stated that Caroline must realize that this is a professional position (Senator Clintons seat).  Hello, what position is President-elect Obama holding and has held and he still says all of the above!

What is wrong with this picture!

Dons political blog is on vacation. This is a special report. I know I said I was going to take a week off but this email came to me and I felt it was time sensitive. I have not verified the origin of the email but I have looked into the verification notes at the bottom of the articles. Any other verification or remarks on the content may be left on the blog.

emailed to me an Dec. 26th 2008
Boy, was I confused. I have been hammered with the propaganda that it is the Iraq war and the war on terror is bankrupting us. I now find that to be RIDICULOUS.
I hope the following 14 reasons are forwarded over and over again until they are read so many times that the reader gets sick of reading them. I also have included the URL's for verification of all the following facts.

1. $11 Billion to $22 billion is spent on welfare to illegal aliens each year by state governments.
Verify at: http://tinyurl.com/zob77

2. $2.2 Billion dollars a year is spent on food assistance programs such as food stamps, WIC, and free school lunches for illegal aliens.
Verify at: http://www.cis.org/articles/2004/fiscalexec.html

3. $2.5 Billion dollars a year is spent on Medicaid for illegal aliens.
Verify at: http://www.cis.org/articles/2004/fiscalexec.html

4. $12 Billion dollars a year is spent on primary and secondary school Education for children here illegally and they cannot speak a word of=2 0English!
Verify at: http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0604/01/ldt.0.ht

ml

5. $17 Billion dollars a year is spent for education for the American-born children of illegal aliens, known as anchor babies.
Verify at http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0604/01/ldt.01.h

tml

6. $3 Million Dollars a DAY is spent to incarcerate illegal aliens.
Verify at: http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0604/01/ldt.01.h

tml

7. 30% percent of all Federal Prison inmates are illegal aliens.
Verify at: http://transcripts..cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0604/01/ldt.01.

html

8. $90 Billion Dollars a year is spent on illegal aliens for Welfare & social services by the American taxpayers.
Verify at: http://premium.cnn.com/TRANSCIPTS/0610/29/ldt.01.html

9. $200 Billion dollars a year in suppressed American wages are caused by the illegal aliens.
Verify at: http://transcripts..cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0604/01/ldt.01.

html

10. The illegal aliens in the United States have a crime rate that's two and a half times that of non-illegal aliens. In particular, their children, are going to make a huge additional crime problem in the US.
Verify at: http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0606/12/ldt.01.h

tml

11. During the year of 2005 there were 4 to 10 MILLION illegal aliens that Crossed our Southern Border also, as many as 19,500 illegal aliens from Terrorist Countries. Millions of pounds of drugs, cocaine, meth, heroin and marijuana, crossed into the U. S from the Southern border.
Verify at: Homeland Security Report: http://tinyurl.com/t9sht

12. The National policy Institute, 'estimated that the total cost of mass deportation would be between $206 and $230 billion or an average cost of Between $41 and $46 billion annually over a five year period.'
Verify at: http://www.nationalpolicyinstitute.org/pdf/deportation.

pdf

13. In 2006 illegal aliens sent home $45 BILLION in remittances to Their countries of origin.
Verify at: http://www.rense.com/general75/niht.htm>

14. 'The Dark Side of Illegal Immigration: Nearly One million sex crimes Committed by Illegal Immigrants In The United States .'
Verify at: http: // www.drdsk.com/articleshtml

The total cost is a whopping $ 338.3 BILLION DOLLARS A YEAR. Are we THAT stupid? If this doesn't bother you then just delete the message. If, on the other Hand, it does raise the hair on the back of your neck, I hope you forward it To every legal resident in the country including every elected representative in Washington, D.C. - five times a week for as long as it takes to restore some semblance of intelligence in our policies and enforcement thereof.

I don't advocate streaming emails but since this started as an email feel free to use what ever info you glean from the content. I would also suggest you verify any info you send on.

And that's my opinion,
Don

 i love new york

 i love new york

The MTA CC has shown it's inability to manage major capital projects... The East Side Access Project schedule has slipped by at least 3 years officially and will realistically not be completed until 2021... The increase in cost could make the final cost of project exceed $10B.  Some people have suggested that the increasing delays are the result of decisions taken by the MTA new project executive Bill Stead and his chief of staff Alan Paskoff...  Their lack of experience with work in an active railroad seems exacerbate the delays...  Furthermore Robert Magnifico, who was a fine Corp of Engineers Officer, is in charge of the first major Queens project has little to no railroad construction experience...  Have we not had enough of Corps of Engineers directed projects? Was he trained by the same people who protected New Orleans?

The other beneficiary of the government's largesse, Amtrak, has not fully accepted the first project within their property... That fact appears to contribute to the delays and increase in costs... Although not easily provable some have suggested that there is some featherbedding and extreme labor cost escalation for the work actually performed by Amtrak/LIRR employees.... How can this be justified? 

 
  I'll be thrilled to see you go, Dick Cheney

Monday, December 22nd 2008, 3:33 AM

Pellaschiar/AP

U. S. Vice President Dick Cheney is saying goodbye, not a moment too soon for his many detractors. Don't let the door hit you in the buttocks. A bad Forrest Gump. Worst Vice President Ever. Bet he has a few Swiss bank accounts courtesy of the U.S. Government. LOSER!    Afterthought, this guy's ready for the nursing home. Just another old,corrupt  politician.  Bye,Bye Grandpa!

At least Dick Cheney, as wrong a guy as we've ever had this close to the presidency, goes out in character, thinking that he and George W. Bush were right about everything. The problem is that Cheney's character now sounds as weird and unhinged as Jack Nicholson's in "A Few Good Men."

There was Cheney on the Fox television network Sunday, always more a home to him than Yankee Stadium is to Derek Jeter, defending the last days of a dying administration and a dying Republican empire, defending Bush and Iraq and Donald Rumsfeld, defending Guantanamo and torture and surveillance and all the rest of it.

Cheney never got around to defending Scooter Libby, the felon who was once his chief of staff, but maybe that was because he ran out of time.

He did go after Joe Biden big Sunday, because Biden said during the campaign that Cheney was the most dangerous vice president the country has ever had.

"If [Biden] wants to diminish the office of vice president, that's obviously his call," Cheney said to Chris Wallace.

No, Cheney is the one who diminished that office. He goes now, and not a moment too soon. When Wallace asked him Sunday about polls showing the approval rating for this administration at 29%, Cheney shrugged and said, "Eventually you wear out your welcome in this business."

He made it sound as if that was something that happened just the other day. The truth is, Cheney wore out his welcome a long time ago the way this President did, long before the economy tanked, because of a war in Iraq that he wanted more than anybody.

But then Cheney, whose five deferments during the Vietnam War were an all-time world record for a major American politician, has always loved any war that he didn't actually have to fight himself.

Dick Cheney also had this to say about Joe Biden Sunday:

"I think that President-elect Obama will decide what he wants in a vice president. And apparently, from the way they're talking about it, he does not expect him to have as consequential a role as I've had during my time."

He sure did have a consequential role under Bush, had the kind of influence no vice president has had in many decades. It is one reason the world is a more dangerous place now than it was nearly eight years ago, no matter how much he and George W. Bush take bows for everything they've done since Sept. 11. As if it has been the two of them on that mythical wall that Nicholson kept yelling at Tom Cruise about in the movies, the one Nicholson said we desperately needed him to defend.

Yesterday Chris Wallace said to Cheney, "If the President during war decides to do something to protect the country, is it legal?"

"General proposition, I'd say yes," Cheney said.

And Nixon told David Frost, quite prominently, that when the President does something, it's not illegal. From the beginning with Cheney, even more than with Bush, the law was whatever he said it was.

He goes out the door as stubborn and defiant and out of touch as ever, talking about the way he defended and protected the Constitution. Talking now because soon nobody will care what he says. Saying that history will be so much kinder to him and Bush than their current critics. It can only mean Cheney believes history is dumber than Donald Rumsfeld's post occupation strategy in Iraq.

What history will determine, more accurately, is that Cheney - who came to his position from a company called Halliburton, the home office for war profiteering - tried to hijack the Constitution, with the war in Iraq and just about everything else.

"I was a Rumsfeld man," he said on Fox on Sunday, talking about the secretary of defense eventually fired by George Bush two years ago.

Of course he was a Rumsfeld man. They were going to take out Saddam Hussein and be "greeted as liberators," as Cheney said, "in the streets of Baghdad." They were going to finish the job that Cheney felt George W. Bush's father, Bush 41, didn't finish in the first Gulf War. Bush 41, an actual war hero of this country, clearly wasn't tough enough for Dick Cheney, who would have said or done anything to start a war with Iraq.

But there were never weapons of mass destruction, and Cheney didn't know or didn't care or both. Now more than 4,000 men and women from our armed forces are dead, and the number of wounded and maimed is beyond imagination. And on his way out the door, having diminished his office and this country's standing around the world, Cheney is still going to tell you all about it.

This was more his war than his President's, more than Rumsfeld's. He seemed willing to say anything to justify it. Scooter Libby was willing to do even more than that. It is why Libby ended up getting himself convicted of lying and obstruction of justice for his role in the Valerie Plame case, forcing Bush to grant Libby executive clemency and commute his sentence.

But it is Cheney, Libby's old boss, who seems unable to tell the truth about the last eight years in America. It is why the movie to talk about with him really isn't "A Few Good Men." It is "Dr. Strangelove."

Photo Gallery Lamest duck ever?

As President Bush opts for photo ops during his last days, check out his memorable moments, on camera.

Today's top picks I'll be thrilled to see you go, Dick

Lupica: Cheney's starting to sound like Jack Nicholson's in "A Few Good Men." But that's nothing new.

Giants clinch top seed in OT win over Panthers

The Giants used another fourth-quarter comeback in a 34-28 OT win over the Panthers, as they locked up the NFC's top seed.

Christmas like it used to be. As we enter into this most wonderful of seasons for Christians, I can’t help remembering so many Christmas’s past. The wonderful thing about living, is the fact that we can take so many great memories with us as we go through life. My family was never what you would call wealthy yet we had a spirit that made us feel rich. The Christmas season was like no other, we would go to town to see the fantastic displays in the store windows. People were always friendly and would stop and talk even to total strangers, as we walked from one store front to the other, enamored by the colorful and animated displays. Then we would climb into the old 37 Chevrolet and head out for home and a hot cup of cocoa. Christmas day was a busy one in our household. My parents always had an open house with traditional eggnog and cookies and banana or pumpkin bread. The eggnog was spiked with more than a little whiskey and was always a big hit with the neighbors. Dad was always in charge of the turkey and would get up early to put it on. It was normally about a 25 pound bird from a local farm. The open house would end about noon and mom would be busy getting things ready for all the Uncles and Aunts and all the Cousins to arrive. It would be dinner with all the trimmings, turkey and dressing, sweet potatoes and mashed potatoes and of course lots of cranberry sauce. My Aunt Ellen was always in charge of the pies and she was a master baker of pies, pumpkin, mince meat and as a special treat for us kids she would sometimes bring one of her famous rhubarb pies.

As I said, we weren’t wealthy but dad always made sure we had presents to open. Most of our gifts were homemade right down in his shop in the basement. We did have one rich Aunt who always remembered us kids at Christmas, Aunt Mabel was a beautiful blond just like a movie star, and always brought us something special. Christmas had some sad times too. I can remember when my oldest brother was away in the Pacific in WWII. Mom always made sure there was a place for him at the table, just in case he would come strolling in the door. We had several cousins who were also away at war during that period and prayers always were special at those times, hands seemed to squeeze a little harder as we said our grace. It seemed like things just got back to normal and Korea popped up, and my other brother was gone for two Christmas’s. We were the lucky family in our neighborhood though, every one of our cousins and my whole family came home safe. I guess our prayers were answered.

My dad was a nut about the Christmas tree, it had to be big and full. If there was a blank spot on the tree he would get the drill out make a hole in the trunk and piece in another branch. Our tree was always spectacular and no one could ever figure out how we always found one so perfect. (It’s our secret, dad would say.) Christmas went on like this for many years as I was growing up and when my wife Jan and I were married we couldn’t wait to host the big day. My family, mom dad and my brothers are all gone now but Jan and I still carry on the tradition of the special Christmas eggnog in the giant crystal punch bowl my dad used so many years ago. We still have friends in on Christmas morning and with each batch we toast to dad for making Christmas so special for all of us. The only difference is we take our tree out of the box, instead of the forest. Dad probably rolls over every year just thinking about that artificial tree.

I know this is probably boring to all of you but these memories are what makes Christmas special to me and my family and I just wanted to share that feeling with you. From my family to yours, a very Merry Christmas and skoal dad, here’s one for you.

This will be the last blog until after the New Year, so please be safe and have a wonderful Christmas and a very happy New Year.

GOD BLESS AND KEEP OUR TROOPS SAFE.

Don

Lets say you worked as a N.Y.P.D. then transfered to D.E.A. retired moved to say Montana, then a friend who works for the C.I.A. tells you about this program run by the government, that will pay you from $ 40.000 - $ 80.000 for lets say up to a month of your time , your might have to leave country from time to time. Your job is to interoagate prisoners from other parts of the world, now some of them in Cuba, some still in other places and even though you can't speak or understand what they are saying, because you don't speak their languge, that's not a propblem, because they already have people trained in this field for years, who speak the languge's needed to do this work anyway. You here to get payed by the government, who has a fund set up, to pay it's retired people, extra retirement money, for having worked for the government, from the D.E.A. - F.B.I. - C.I.A. - A.T.F. and so many more, when you have done your work, you will get a check in the mail, from a company called Blackrock, sent to your home. God bless the U.S.A. because the government's not.

I have an Idea for more tax's.....NY Politicians should tax talking ....The more B---S--T you talk the more you Pay.
Of course that would mean they themselves ( Politicians )
would have to pay the most. If that don't fly, then how about
a tax on the Tax.....I know they like that one.

When did the car companies lose their focus? Where did the Auto Companies go wrong? That’s a question for the ages and it will have several different answers depending on who you talk to. First of all I blame the management 30 to 40 years ago who thought the cash cow would never go away. They allowed their egos to run away with their commonsense. The contracts with the UAW are just an example of the greed and stupidity expressed by these people. The union using their typical strong arm methods threatened strikes at the drop of a hat. Management being so afraid of losing cash producing production would fold and give them what ever they wanted.

The quality standards during the period from the early 70’s to the mid to late 80’s was so shoddy that they gave the Japanese manufactures not only a foot in the door but allowed in their whole companies. While the American managers were blaming poor quality on the work force and not the process, the Japanese were discovering the process of Lean Manufacturing. After World War II, Sakichi Toyoda, who owned the Toyoda Spinning and Weaving company, wanted to build autos for the general public, not unlike Henry Ford in America. He smartly hired an efficiency expert named Taiichi Ohno to develop a method to produce high quality automobiles. During the next 30 years, Ohno developed the Toyota System of automobile production, now known as Lean Manufacturing. The whole bases of Ohno’s concept was the elimination of all waste and produce extremely high quality products.

Since Taiichi was building a car company out of an existing company he was fortunate because Toyoda, the owner of the spinning company had designed a system to shut-off the production line anytime a flaw was detected. He used this same concept on the automobile manufacturing production line. The line was stopped immediately when any flaw was discovered. Work check off sheets were developed by the workers themselves to inspect the production at the end of each work cycle. The workers were formed into teams that worked together with pride,to keep quality at its highest and production levels high at all times.

As I stated before, during the period before and shortly after the war the American manufactures were living the high life, no competition in sight so what ever it took to keep the line running was okay. Costs skyrocketed as they avoided strike after strike with minor cost increases due to labor demands, but there was no where else to go if you needed wheels. When Toyota hit the market in the U.S. they were first laughed at almost like the oil burning Honda two cycle motorcycles and only the nerds would be caught dead on one. Then in 1970 they brought in a little sports car called the 240Z, all hell broke loose and they soon were seen all over America. Toyota had arrived on our shores. Soon after, the Datsun pickup started showing up on jobsites around town. What did our automobile companies do, they laughed some more and came out with bigger and heavier cars and trucks. People soon found that they had a bonus in their little Toyotas and Datsuns,(the later eventually becoming Nissan) they didn’t break down very often. They kept going and going year after year. American cars at that time were considered scrap after 100K miles. Toyota was advertising that their vehicles were designed to go over 200K miles.

It has taken the present management of General Motors, Ford and Chrysler years to make up for these errors in judgement by their predecessors. The method of production used in the Toyota factories is not allowed in our factories because the UAW has threatened to walk out. Ford has built a plant in Brazil that uses a form of the lean production method and is extremely successful with it. I would suggest anyone interested in this subject go to the following web site and check it out.

http://info.detnews.com/video/index.cfm?id=1189

The UAW has said it will never allow this type of plant here in the U.S. To blame the present management alone for this crisis is wrong, other than the fact that I believe their salaries should be in line with the companies profit base. I also believe they have too deep of a management level in the area of production, this could be caused by a union who once again interfered with process. Too many people doing the same basic job. There is also the question of duplication in the various manufacturing areas, such as three or four different brands with the same basic construction, like Expedition and the Navigator or the Tahoe, Yukon. There must be a way to reduce costs by either making these units in the same plant side by side or doing away with the duplication entirely.

If the UAW would agree to a similar package as is presently used in the Southern auto manufacturing plants and the above changes were made in management and production, all could be well in the industry. If not I would suggest the Big Three move to one of the few remaining Right To Work States that are left.

And that’s my opinion,
Don
Research for this article was done through Wikipedia.

Get It ! Bernie Madoff, who was recently busted for the biggest scam in United States history, who appropriated, uh, allegedly fraudulently appropriated fifty billion dollars from his investors, in a borrow from Peter to pay Paul scheme, which I believe Is what we all have done in one time or another. Of course not in this magnitude In this case it was to steal from Peter to pay Paul,  and he did, allegedly.  Bernie seems to be  the answer to our economic woes, the difference between Bernie and other economic practitioners is, he got caught, well I believe the pressure of it all, like OJ Simpson, wanted to be caught, as he ran out of tolerance, and his juggling abilities succumbed  to too many balls in the air, and let everything  fall to the wind. Not the smartest thing, but the wisest, as everybody on the legal front was doing, and going to Washington for a handout, which has become trendy, In Bernard's case he got a hand in, into jail, but he's happy, now that the jig is up. Not so fast, like the Dirty Dozen, It Takes a Thief, the new series Leverage, where the bad guy becomes the hero in the name of National Security , what does the A stand for ? Kind of puts Bernie in the spotlight, not to condone what he has allegedly done, but sparks the idea, of putt ing Bernie in the the driver seat of the National Bank Committee and Senator Corker, thats funny, and Senator Todd, get the feel for taking money, and not handing it out, and of course that seat would be from Federal Prison, allegedly. Maybe even the position of Car Czar, and restructure the auto industry, with there own money, by making cuts, and taking money. Well, there aren't going to be pay cuts, but buy outs, instead of raises, and get rid of those filthy little workers who get paid for the skills. that had earned them the benefits of  monitory gain. Who do they think they are? Producing fine makes of automobiles, that meet todays standards and customer satisfaction, I have no idea where I'm going with this, and anyway the concept of letting a crook oversee the auto industry and save, get the economy on track, is feasible. I'm sure Bernie would find capital somewhere. The thing is, is this punishment for Bernie, or a pardon, and what about his victims? This isn't about them, Its about the dilemma that over shadows our very way of life. and a crook like Bernard Madoff, and his caliber of expertise in securing our economy,which he had proved, really isn't, of course there weren't many survivors of the Dirty Dozen and the thief in "It Takes A Thief"  was on perpetual probation. To conclude; I recently have been rescued, by a hero i loved and cherished, and almost seems like I used her to accomplish what was accomplished, and probably wouldn't have without her, and in the end I told her, "No matter who or what was saved, the hero, the heroes always get hurt or killed in the end" Not in these exact words, but she is my hero, and no more my friend. I was too thankful, and I tend to be that way. What can I say? There is whole new life for me to endure. How do you apologize for being thankful? Except to shut up.