Friday, January 30, 2009

California state employees, eat your heart out

A judge in Sacramento has denied a request by California state employee unions to block the governor's plan to furlough some state employees two days per month in an attempt to save the state money during the state's current budget crisis.

I say good. California is going through some tough times right now, and many workers in the private sector have had layoffs, pay reductions and furloughs, etc. It's regrettable that it is happening, but many private companies are forced to reduce labor costs in order to survive. So the question is, why should state workers not be required to also make sacrifices like everybody else is? Are they better than everybody else, or are they more spoiled than everybody else?

President Obama has called for shared sacrifice during these tough economic times. But I guess that the California state employees have not got the message. Apparently, they want workers in the private sector to make sacrifices while they the state employees get a free ride.

That attitude is very selfish, and IMO those people should be ashamed of themselves. What do they want? Do they want the state to go bankrupt? If that happens then maybe they won't have a job at all rather than taking a temporary minor cutback in their hours.

If the state employees don't like this arrangement, then maybe they should quit their cushy state jobs and let someone who got laid off in the private sector who would really appreciate that job take it instead.

http://www.sacbee.com/topstories/story/1585098.html

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Do you want a terrorist in your backyard?



Now that President Obama has ordered that Gitmo be closed within one year, where do you think that the terrorists who are being held there now should go? Do you want them to be put up in a prison near you? I know I don't. These are some pretty rough guys who would rather shoot you than look at you.

Herein lies the problem. It is all well and good to say that you want to close Gitmo. The Bush Administration also wanted to close it, but they didn't ever figure out what to do with some of the inmates who are housed there. Let's see if Obama has any better luck.

Perhaps the terrorist inmates should be housed on Alcatraz Island as some have suggested? That would get them out of the way. Right? Well, it might sound good but Alcatraz hasn't been used as a prison for many years, and it would probably be prohibitively expensive to remodel the old prison now.

Or perhaps we could ship them to another country. But which country do you think would accept them? Don't hold your breath on that one.

So let's wish President Obama luck as he attempts to solve this major problem. Perhaps he will eventually discover that it's hard sometimes to fulfill a campaign promise which is easily said but not so easily implemented.

Sunday, January 25, 2009

My take on President Obama's first few days

Counting today President Obama will have been in office for five days. Of course, that's not enough time to be able to come to any definitive conclusions over what kind of presidency he will have. But a few trends have already surfaced.

One of the first things Obama did was to ban "torture" and to sign an executive order closing Gitmo within one year. Both of these moves were expected and IMO were designed to placate Obama's left-wing base, which had become displeased by some of the actions that Obama took during the transition such as inviting Rick Warren to give the invocation at the inauguration. The left was also displeased about some of Obama's appointments, so closing Gitmo should mitigate some of these other things. It also helped that Obama signed an executive order opening up abortion funding.

However, the left probably was not too pleased to see the US military fire rockets into Pakistani territory after Obama had taken over. Obama had said during the campaign that he will keep up the pressure on Pakistan, and these firings do just that. Obama is also sending out a message that while he may disagree with many of George Bush's methods, Obama will continue to fight terrorism, although his strategies in that regard will be nuanced.

All in all, it was a good and efficient first five days. It remains to be seen how the remaining 1,455 days in Obama's first term will pan out.

Friday, January 23, 2009

Water bears



These little guys are really something. If you are looking for a new pet, why not adopt a water bear? They are virtually indestructible, so you wouldn't be running up any vet bills.

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

President Obama's inaugural address



President Obama, may God bless you and keep you are you embark upon your momentous duties. As you carry the weight of the world on your shoulders, Godspeed to you.

Saturday, January 17, 2009

Another bad cop

I guess that Elko, Nevada is not the only place to find bad cops.
A former Oklahoma sheriff was convicted of second-degree rape and bribery Saturday in a case that accused him of coercing sex from female inmates and drug court defendants.

A Major County jury convicted former Custer County Sheriff Mike Burgess on 13 felonies, including five counts of second-degree rape and three counts of bribery by a public official. He was acquitted of 23 other felony counts that included second-degree rape, forcible sodomy and rape by instrumentation.

The jury recommended Burgess serve 94 years in prison. He is to be sentenced March 24.

Maybe Burgess and former Elko PD Captain Aaron Hughes should share a jail cell. I'm sure they would have a good time together.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/

Friday, January 16, 2009

Jumbo Buffet

Today I ate at a Chinese food restaurant located on State Street in Midvale, Utah, just south of Salt Lake City. I started out with a salad, then for my main course I had pot stickers, egg foo young, boneless pork ribs, sesame chicken, and green beans. It was very good. I would recommend it to anyone who likes this kind of food.



Thursday, January 15, 2009

Meet a bona fide American hero



Chesley B. "Sully" Sullenberger saved 158 lives today. He was professional, proficient, and fearless. He literally had seconds to act. He made us all proud.

http://michellemalkin.com/2009/01/15/flight-1549-pilot-god-bless-chesley-sullenberger/

And then the fight started

Has anybody seen any of those "And then the fight started" blurbs that are going around on the web. Here is a good one.
My wife and I were watching Who Wants To Be A Millionaire while we were in bed. I turned to her and said, "Do you want to have sex?"

"No," she answered.

I then said, "Is that your final answer?"

She didn't even look at me this time, simply saying "Yes."

So I said, "Then I'd like to phone a friend."

And then the fight started....

After retiring, I went to the Social Security office to apply for
Social Security. The woman behind the counter asked me for my driver's license to verify my age. I looked in my pockets and realized I had left my wallet at home. I told the woman that I was very sorry, but I would have to go home and come back later.

The woman said, 'Unbutton your shirt'. So I opened my shirt,
revealing my curly silver hair.

She said, 'That silver hair on your chest is proof enough for me',
and she processed my Social Security application.

When I got home, I excitedly told my wife about my experience at the Social Security office. She said, 'You should have dropped your pants. You might have gotten disability, too'

And then the fight started.....

Saturday morning, I got up early, quietly dressed, made lunch,
grabbed the dog, and slipped quietly into the garage I hooked up the boat to the truck, and proceeded to back out into a torrential
downpour. The wind was blowing 50 mph, so I pulled back into the garage, turned on the radio, and discovered that the weather would be bad all day.

I went back into the house, quietly undressed, and slipped back into bed. I cuddled up to my wife's back, now with a different anticipation, and whispered, 'The weather out there is terrible.'

My loving wife of 10 years replied, 'Can you believe my stupid
husband is out fishing in that?'

And then the fight started ...

My wife and I were sitting at a table at my high school reunion, and I kept staring at a drunken lady swigging her drink as she sat alone at a nearby table. My wife asked, 'Do you know her?'

'Yes,' I sighed, 'she's my old girlfriend. I understand she took to
drinking right after we split up those many years ago, and I hear she hasn't been sober since.'

'My God!' says my wife, 'Who would think a person could go on
celebrating that long?'

And then the fight started.....

I rear-ended a car this morning. So, there we were alongside the road and slowly the other driver got out of his car. You know how sometimes you just get soooo stressed and little things just seem funny? Yeah, well I couldn't believe it... He was a DWARF!!! He stormed over to my car, looked up at me, and shouted, 'I AM NOT HAPPY! !!'

So, I looked down at him and said, 'Well, then... which one ARE you?'

And then the fight started.. ...

A woman is standing nude, looking in the bedroom mirror. She is not happy with what she sees and says to her husband, 'I feel horrible; I look old, fat and ugly. I really need you to pay me a compliment.'

The husband replies, 'Your eyesight's darn near perfect.'

And then the fight started.....

LOL.

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Obama will not prosecute Bush Administration officials for alleged war crimes

You can take it to the bank. All of the chatter going on now at the left wing blogs and leftist websites such as Democratic Underground is just that. Obama is much too smart to attempt to open this can or worms.
The article...quoted a pair of anonymous Obama advisors as saying that there was little-to-no chance that an Obama Justice Department would try to prosecute Bush-era officials for torture. The same report quoted Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., as saying that members of the Bush administration would not face war crimes charges in the United States. “These things are not going to happen.”

http://operationitch.wordpress.com

If the Obama Administration tried to go after Bush Administration officials or perhaps even Bush himself, the country would be completely torn apart. The GOP would refuse any measure of cooperation, and even with only 41 votes in the Senate they could tie Obama's political agenda up in knots. There would be no solutions to the country's severe financial crisis, and no solutions for energy independence or health care reform either. It would be total partisan warfare in Washington at a time when we can least afford it.

The left isn't just satisfied with electing Obama. They want blood. But fortunately Obama is more level headed than that, and the left will not get what it wants.

As time goes by I think that we will see that most of Obama's problems will come from the far left wing of his own party, not from the Republicans, who will be content to sit by and watch the Democrats tear themselves apart as they always seem to do.

Sunday, January 11, 2009

Video showing Hamas rocket placed in school yard



This video pretty much tells it all. It shows a Hamas rocket launcher located in a school yard that is intended to fire on innocent Israeli citizens . This just goes to show what type of barbarians these people from Hamas are. They place their rockets in places like school yards, mosques, and hospitals. Then they just dare Israel to take out the rocket launchers, and if Israel does, then Hamas claims that Israel is firing at civilians. And much of the international community buys these lies.

But Israel takes great care to avoid civilian casualties, whereas Hamas actually aims their rockets at Israeli civilians.

When is the world ever going to wake up to the atrocities committed by Hamas? Or could it be that the ugly specter of anti-Semitism has raised it's ugly head again? It makes you wonder.

Friday, January 9, 2009

Former Elko PD Captain Aaron Hughes bound over on sex charges

The saga of Aaron Hughes continues.
ELKO — A four-hour preliminary hearing ended today with former Elko police Capt. Aaron Hughes bound over to Elko District Court on sex charges.

Hughes is charged with use of a child in the production of pornography and incest. The charges came after police searched his home and seized a computer of his which contained videos of a blood relative engaging in sexual acts. The girl in the video is believed to be 16 or 17 at the time the videos were made.

http://www.elkodaily.com/articles/

Hopefully, this guy will be put away for a long time. He is in jail right now pending $500,000 bail, which he probably won't be able to make.

So when it comes to the corrupt Elko PD, it looks like it's one down and many more to go.

Thursday, January 8, 2009

Senate supports Israel’s war against Hamas

I was very gratified to see that the US Senate voted unanimously in a bipartisan manner to support Israel's defensive war against the terrorist organization Hamas.
The U.S. Senate unaminously approved Thursday the decision to support Israel in its war against Hamas.

The U.S. House of Representatives is expected to also approve the decision to support Israel and its actions to defend residents of the south.

Thank you to Israelnationalnews.com for that.

I am also confident that when he assumes office in a few days, President Elect Obama and his administration will continue the longstanding bipartisan support for Israel which has existed ever since the Jewish State was founded in 1948 with the strong support of US President Harry Truman. Every president since Truman has continued that support, and it will continue.

The only president to leave the reservation so to speak, is Jimmy Carter, who IMO has been foolish and senile for a long time. You would think that Carter is an ex-president of Hamas, not the US. But leaving Carter aside, and even he supported Israel while he was in office, bipartisan support for the only democracy in the Middle East has been magnanimous.

Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Hamas terrorists found dead in school strike

Israel is not the villain here. The fault for civilian casualties lies with Hamas and Hamas only.
The IDF reported that two well known Hamas terrorists were among the dead in the IDF strike on a school Tuesday which also killed over 40 civilians. According to the IDF, the terrorists were using the school to fire mortar shells at troops.

The dead Hamas operatives were Imad Abu Askhar and Hassan Abu Askhar. The IDF said, “We face a very delicate situation where the Hamas is using the citizens of Gaza as a protective vest.”

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/Flash.aspx/158819

Very few media outlets have reported that Israel bombed that school in Gaza because their intelligence showed that Hamas terrorists were hiding out there. All we hear about are the forty civilian casualties. But those casualties would not have happened if Hamas had not been using the school as a refuge. The blood from those forty civilian casualties is on the hands of Hamas.

What kind of people would actually hide in schools, putting children at risk? Hamas is playing a very sickening game. They place military targets in schools, then when Israel strikes these targets, the world condemns Israel for shooting at civilians.

Yet Israel is doing everything humanly possible to avoid civilians casualties, but when Hamas practices such sinister tactics, there is little that the IDF can do.

Contrast that with the fact that Hamas is actually aiming at civilians when it shoots rockets at Israeli population centers. Yet where is the world outrage over that?

Tuesday, January 6, 2009

Video of Palestinian jihadists using children as human shields



This is just sickening. Hamas uses children as human shields as shown in this video, then when civilians in Gaza get killed the world blames Israel. Go figure.
It appears to show Palestinian militants intentionally dragging Arab children into the line of fire, forcing them to become "martyrs" -- all to garner international sympathy for the Arab cause and censure for Israel.

http://www.jihadwatch.org/archives/024270.php

Saturday, January 3, 2009

Wishing the IDF well

Godspeed to the brave soldiers of Israel's IDF who are risking their lives to fight for peace and freedom as I type this. Israel has no choice but to invade Gaza in order to stop terroristic rocket attacks against innocent Israeli civilians carried out by Hamas.

Of course, many of the usual suspects are breathlessly condemning Israel for conducting this defensive operation. Yet, where is the outrage over Hamas' unprovoked rocket attacks?

Israel is not risking the lives of her young soldiers for nothing. In the close quarters of the heavily populated Gaza Strip, multiple casualties are inevitable, even when you are one of the best fighting forces in the world as the IDF is. I hope that everybody can join me in praying for the safety of the IDF, and lets hope that the incursion into Gaza can be both effective and short in duration.



IDF soldiers in the village of Kefel Hares.

Friday, January 2, 2009

Where's my bailout?



Hey Mr. Paulson. When you are ready to send me my bailout, leave a comment on this blog and I'll get back to you to make arrangements to receive my money. Thanks.

Tony