Monthly Archives: May 2010

Florida

Help Is On The Way In Gulf Oil Leak

For 32 years, Dr. Thomas B. Manton has been in the oil spill control business. He has expertise that we could use out there in the Gulf. And he is on his way there right now to volunteer his expertise. Because he can, and because he loves the state he lives in, Florida.

He has expertise not only in stopping the leak and protecting our shores but also in developing a country-wide protection system like the ones he has used and deployed in the OPEC countries over the decades.

It only remains to be seen whether he will be ignored like all the others who have offered assistance.

Continue reading Help Is On The Way In Gulf Oil Leak →

Energy, Media, Pensacola, Politics

Obama’s Buck, Cutting Coast Guard Oil Response Center

He said many times over the last few weeks, that the buck stops with him regarding the mitigation of the Deepwater Horizon oil leak and protecting our shores and wetlands from oil contamination.

So while we hear the administration pumping its chest about fixing this problem and how responsible it is and how it was on top of this situation ‘from day 1,’ this news seems to put his whole case for their leadership and experience in oil industry regulation right in the toilet.

Three months before the massive BP oil spill erupted in the Gulf of Mexico, the Obama administration proposed downsizing the Coast Guard national coordination center for oil spill responses, prompting its senior officers to warn that the agency’s readiness for catastrophic events would be weakened.

Have you heard that on pMSNBC? Apparently it snuck by editors at the Washington Post.

Accidents happen, “but what you’re seeing here is the government is not properly set up to deal with this kind of issue,” said Robbin Laird, a defense consultant who has worked on Coast Guard issues.

And this . . .

President Obama’s $10.1 billion spending plan for the Coast Guard would scale back funding and active-duty personnel by 3 percent. As part of a proposal to cut 1,100 military personnel, it would decommission the National Strike Force Coordination Center in Elizabeth City, N.C., and reorganize parts of it elsewhere.

The center serves as the national command for the Coast Guard activity responsible for sending technical experts and specialized equipment such as pumps and chemical dispersant monitors to support on-scene commanders.

Are we feeling confident that this administration knows how to protect us? Is Obama’s lack of executive experience beginning to show yet?

WaPo Link: Obama plans to cut Coast Guard personnel

2010 Election, Florida, Politics, Race Relations

Black Republican 2010 Candidates

A complete list with profiles of the 32 black Republicans who are running for office as of April 2010 was complied by the Frederick Douglas Foundation.

“Where justice is denied, where poverty is enforced, where ignorance prevails, and where any one class is made to feel that society is an organized conspiracy to oppress, rob and degrade them, neither persons nor property will be safe.”
– Frederick Douglass –

From their website . . .

We have decided to be proactive and acknowledge the overwhelming number of Black Republicans running for office in 2010 and we need your help.

If you are or know of an individual running for public office in 2010 at the county, state or federal levels, we are asking you to complete the form below.

Once a week, we will update and post the latest listing of candidates and their contact information.

Let everyone in your district and the country know you are a candidate so they can support your efforts.

H/T to the National Black Republican Association.

Related links:

Politics, Russia

aSide Order

Sen. John Kerry (D-MA), who really did serve in Vietnam, demonstrates in just 9 seconds why he is unfit for anything remotely associated with our national defense and that of our allies.

President Obama said that the Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion and subsequent leak is the greatest disaster this country has ever experienced. Well, aside from his being elected president of the United States.

And since he won’t be attending the Memorial Day ceremony at Arlington National Cemetary, be sure to say a prayer for those who made the ultimate sacrifice to preserve and protect us and our way of life. Regardless of how little the Commander in Chief thinks of us and it.

Presenting my favorite rock-n-blues guitarist Joe Bomamassa. Arguably the best in the business. Right up there with Jimmy Hendrix, Steve Ray Vaughn, and Eric Clapton.

Performing If Heartaches Were Nickles, written by Warren Haynes, guitar player, singer, songwriter. Warren Haynes tours with the Allman Brothers Band in place of the late Duane Allman. He also is the leader of his own band Government Mule. Enjoy!

Lyrics here.

Economy, Organized Labor, Politics

Behold Your IRA And 401(k)

In this day and age where things are happening that no one could have imagined happening just a few short years ago, do you think your IRA and 401(k) plan will always be yours? Do you believe that your children will be able to collect their Social Security?

Let me put it this way. The Department of Labor and the Treasury Department are exploring the idea of using your retirement accounts and to replace them with yet another version of a Social Security-like retirement program, or ‘revenue stream’ as it is referred to.

Some food for thought:

“When plunder becomes a way of life for a group of men living together in society, they create for themselves in the course of time a legal system that authorizes it and a moral code that justifies it.”

Frederic Bastiat

Right now, they’re toying with the idea. But from here, it looks like the compass they’re following.

Related Links:

2010 Election, Immigration, Politics, Race Relations

What Is The Biggest Threat To America?

Dennis Prager answered that question at the University of Denver in this video. ‘We have not passed on what it means to be ‘American’ to this generation.’

Along that same line is the current lack of interest to crack down on illegal immigration. Both political parties are guilty of trying to find a way to exploit illegals for political advantage. Bush tried it under the label of ‘comprehensive’ immigration reform. Otherwise known as amnesty-lite.

Now, prepping the field for the 2010 election season, Democrats are doing it by trashing Arizonans for wanting to do nothing more than enforce the law. They used Mexico’s president Felipe Calderon as the bird to flip to Americans and Arizonans, in front of a joint session of congress no less. Obama echoed Calderon’s spin that the Arizona law, that neither of them have read, is racial profiling.  This president is not about uniting this country. This president is all about dividing this country for purely political purposes. The standing ovations that Calderon got from Democrats in congress is testament to their motivation and belief that illegal immigrants are noting more than undocumented Democrats.

Which brings me to the other angle of the biggest threat to America. It is about immigration. It is good that people from all over the world want to come to America to live and prosper, when done legally. Legal immigrants come here to assimilate and become Americans. Illegal immigrants come here not to assimilate and become Americans, but rather to use America. And if steps are not taken now to insure that America remains American, future generations might learn about the American dream from history books, because it will be gone. There’s nothing wrong or un-American about this country being a so-called melting pot. What’s wrong is to let the pot melt.

Immigration, Media, Politics

Reading Is Fundamental, Unless . . .

Unless it works against your spin, lying, and mis-characterization of Arizona’s illegal immigration enforcement law SB1070 and the subsequent amendment to it HB2162.

That is exactly what the president, the attorney general, the director of homeland security AND the president of Mexico have done. Oh, and let me also include Congressional Democrats who gave the standing O to Calderon when, before a joint session of Congress, he said the Arizona law was racial profiling. Quick to pass judgment, quick to demonize, quick to inflame Latinos and further divide America for purely political purposes, none of these people whose responsibility it is to know the truth, utter the truth.

Liberals like videos. It’s easier than having to read things like the stimulus bill or the health care bill, or even these 17 pages of Arizona’s illegal immigration enforcement bill.  Here’s exactly what I’m talking about.

Having perfected lying to the American people, aided and abetted by the willing accomplices in the media, I think we have reached the most dishonest and arrogant administration in American history. When you understand that we are saddled with a group-thought process where the end justifies the means, lying about what you’re doing and what you want to do is no big deal. Hell, it’s expected. Progressives and Liberals have to lie about what they want to do because what they want to do would never be approved if put to a vote.

Start anywhere you want to find a lie: health care reform will cost us less, there will be better care, the stimulus bill will create jobs, GM has paid off May I see your ID?their loan, they don’t want to take over the auto industry, no tax increases for people earning less than $250,000, we need to live within our means and pass this $195 billion dollar bill that is 30% ‘paid’ for, we now have ‘pay-go’ so we’ll no longer be spending money we don’t have,  and if you live in Arizona and you take your kids to buy an ice cream cone and walk down the street with them, you’re going to be harassed by the police.

Today’s reading assignment: Arizona’s bill SB1070, and amendment HB2162.

2010 Election, Economy, Florida, Media, Pensacola, Politics

BP’s $25 Million For Florida’s Panhandle

Gov. Charlie Crist (NPA-FL) visited the Florida Panhandle a few times since the Deepwater Horizon incident. Hearing from residents and industry leaders about how the already weak economy is worsening because of the bad publicity, BP officials agreed to support an advertising fund to help offset the economic damage with an advertising effort to promote business in the Panhandle.

So far, and according to RicksBlog . . .

State Senator Don Gaetz says that, as of Friday, May 21, BP has not given Florida the $25-million block grant for tourism advertising that BP CEO Tony Hayward promised Gov. Charlie Crist on Monday.

According to State Senator Don Gaetz . . .

state officials are still negotiating a ‘memorandum of understanding’, which must be completed prior to receiving the funds.”

Well, that’s how it started. From there it has gone to a gimme-fest by politicos all over the state. Developing a memorandum of understanding over the $25 million seems only prudent. Especially when you have people like Kendrick Meek showboating for $100 million.

Aside from all that, take a peek at how the Panhandle is going to be ‘promoted.’ No, take a long look at it, and a peek is all you’ll see. Links to the proposed ads as produced by VisitFlorida.com are here:

Link to spots: http://www.2150.tv/getpass.html

password: visitflorida (case sensitive)

There are currently 2 versions of the spot – a general Florida version and a more Northwest Florida oriented spot.

Take a look at those ads. If that’s what they call focused on the Panhandle, I think we need to look to another ad agency with a more effective message. VisitFlorida.com’s website is nothing but a glorified Yahoo travel site. You’re lucky to find beach shots with sugar-white sands, and no mention of the timeliness of the ads and the beautiful conditions that exist in this part of the Gulf of Mexico and Florida.

But you will find this . . .

Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Update

There continue to be no confirmed oil sightings associated with the Deepwater Horizon oil spill on Florida’s shores at this time.

The great majority of the hotels/motels are inland. There is no evidence there of any emphasis placed on fighting the negative impression created by the news media and environmentalists.

Considering both ads, if I had to put a percentage to it, as for how much of it is ‘focused’ on the Panhandle and how much of it is generic to Florida, I’d give the Panhandle less than ten percent. And if you don’t live in the area, like 100 percent of the target audience, you wouldn’t recognize anything to do with the Panhandle. It’s a sham.

It seems apparent that Charlie Crist and Alex Sink care more about getting the money to promote Florida than the Panhandle. The place where Florida’s economy is most severely impacted.

Give money to Crist and Sink, and you can kiss it good-bye. Especially in this political season. All the Panhandle is left with is hope. Nothing has changed.

Energy, Media, Pensacola, Politics

The Real Target In BP Class Action Is . . .

The strategy is starting to dribble in as to the so-called real cause of the Deepwater Horizon oil leak, otherwise known as an oil spill. (I hate it when the language gets abused like that.)

A local (Pensacola FL) environmental group called The Emerald Coastkeepers has taken the lead in keeping locals informed on both the progress and criticism of BP and its efforts to stop the gusher of a leak at the site of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig. Chief spokesperson for them is Chasidy Fisher Hobbs who was published in today’s paper as saying . . .

Did you know that BP’s first quarter profits for 2010 were more than $5 billion? Yet, a half-million dollar investment for an acoustic shutoff valve to protect our Gulf was not worth the investment.

In the interest of full disclosure, did you know that the President of Emerald Coastkeepers is mass tort lawyer, left-wing talk radio  co-host, and FOX News contributor representing ‘balance,’ Mike Papantonio? And did you know that the President of the Waterkeeper Alliance is Robert F. Kennedy Jr.?  Kennedy also doubles as co-host with Papantonio on the Ring of Fire radio program, formerly associated with Air America Radio. (Air America eventually went bankrupt for the last time after their listener base dwindled to relatives and employees. That, and a lack of sponsors willing to underwrite their efforts.)

Not that there’s anything wrong with any of that in and of itself. But the big omission here, and not just from Chasidy’s article but from the mainstream media overall, is the fact that both Papantonio and Kennedy are on the class action case against BP and have been from day one.

And on day three Papantonio laid out his cards to another lefty talk radio host, Mike Malloy. Papantonio has a much juicier target when it comes to this case. Bankrupting BP is just a distraction for him. He’s after something BP can’t give him, Dick Cheney and the Bush Administration.

Because you know, it’s all their fault. Cheney and Bush developed an energy policy with energy people. (Oh the nerve.) And then they didn’t make an acoustic shutoff valve mandatory, LIKE OTHER COUNTRIES have. And that’s why there’s oil coming out of the ground. It’s all their fault. That was the sum total of his case as he explained it to Malloy and his several listeners.

Papantonio did not say how he could prove that an acoustic shutoff valve would not and could not also fail.

I have my own theory for why we are seeing oil coming into the Gulf a mile deepwater_horizon_rigbelow the surface, and it has nothing to do with Dick Cheney and the Bush administration. It has to do with the Coast Guard pouring water onto the oil rig for three or four days until it sank. It wasn’t until the rig sank that the pipeline broke, putting oil into the Gulf.

It is also a testament to the failure of BP, the EPA, and the MMS, to have a plan B in the event of just such a catastrophe. It also brings to focus the consequences of environmentalists and spineless politicians seeking their favor of pushing oil and gas drilling off of land and shallow waters where it is more readily available, into deeper waters where the risks are greater.

Leaving the fire burn and surrounding the rig with sea booms, and letting smoke get in the air until a ‘fix’ can be made, sounds like a better choice to sinking the rig, putting oil in the water, and moving the workplace a mile under water.

Update 5/24/2010: And for your video amusement, Papantonio: BP – The Very Corrupt Side of Dick Cheney

Uncategorized

Pakistan Wins M.R.I.O.T.D. Award

The proverbial chickens are coming home to roost in Pakistan, and possibly to a radical mosque near you.

You may recall a few weeks ago, the comedy TV show ‘South Park’ included a character representing Mohammed wearing a bear suit. It was totally in character for South Park to do something like that, since they take no prisoners and pull no punches. They make fun of everyone and everything. Religious figures, political figures, whoever or whatever.

Some Muslim somewhere complained, and surprise! South Park producers caved. (no pun intended) They blocked out the character in repeat showings of that episode.

Then another person put up a Facebook page called ‘Everybody Draw Mohammed Day’ where you could apparently draw or upload your representation of Mohammed.

For those who don’t know, Mohammed for a Muslim is like Christ, God, or Buddah for other people. Except that Mohammed is from this earth and regarded as a prophet by Muslims. I don’t know if he had a job or trade, just that he was a prophet. No miracle birth, wise men, etc.. The other difference is that some Muslims get their shorts in a wad real quick when someone puts up an image and calls it Mohammed. Some get so extreme as to commit murder over it, which, by what I’ve seen in the Koran, is against Mohammed’s teachings. Go figure.

There is an interesting element to this religion in that some-one’s faith can be so shaken by a drawing or a picture that it would cause them to go crazy. This does not happen in any other religion that I know of. These same radicals have drawn stupid pictures of Christ and the Virgin Mary and those whose religion is not referred to as a ‘religion of peace’ just blow it off as a crazy picture drawn by an insensitive bastard and move on with their life. Don’t know why they can not do the same.

So Pakistan, literally facing attack and suicide bombers from the radical elements of Islam on a daily basis, had blocked Facebook from the country. And for that, Pakistan wins the Most Ridiculous Item Of The Day award.

Links: Facebook page that led to Pakistani ban removed |  Mohammed Image Archive |  Virgin Mary South Park Cartoon |  Cartoon wars