Sunday, December 6, 2009

So Bush was an idiot?

If George W. Bush had been the first President to need a teleprompter installed to be able to get through a press conference, would you have laughed and said this is more proof of how he inept he is on his own and is really controlled by smarter men behind the scenes?

If George W. Bush had spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to take Laura Bush to a play in NYC, would you have approved?

If George W. Bush had reduced your retirement plan's holdings of GM stock by 90% and given the unions a majority stake in GM, would you have approved?

If George W. Bush had made a joke at the expense of the Special Olympics, would you have approved?

If George W. Bush had given Gordon Brown a set of inexpensive and incorrectly formatted DVDs, when Gordon Brown had given him a thoughtful and historically significant gift, would you have approved?

If George W. Bush had given the Queen of England an iPod containing videos of his speeches, would you have thought this embarrassingly narcissistic and tacky?

If George W. Bush had bowed to the King of Saudi Arabia , would you have approved?

If George W. Bush had visited Austria and made reference to the non-existent "Austrian language," would you have brushed it off as a minor slip?

If George W. Bush had filled his cabinet and circle of advisers with people who cannot seem to keep current in their income taxes, would you have approved?

If George W. Bush had been so Spanish illiterate as to refer to "Cinco de Cuatro" in front of the Mexican ambassador when it was the 5th of May (Cinco de Mayo), and continued to flub it when he tried again, would you have winced in embarrassment?

If George W. Bush had mis-spelled the word "advice" would you have hammered him for it for years like Dan Quayle and potatoe as proof of what a dunce he is?

If George W. Bush had burned 9,000 gallons of jet fuel to go plant a single tree on Earth Day, would you have concluded he's a hypocrite?

If George W. Bush's administration had okayed Air Force One flying low over millions of people followed by a jet fighter in downtown Manhattan causing widespread panic, would you have wondered whether they actually get what happened on 9-11?

If George W. Bush had failed to send relief aid to flood victims throughout the Midwest with more people killed or made homeless than in New Orleans, would you want it made into a major ongoing political issue with claims of racism and incompetence?

If George W. Bush had assigned 32 or more "Czars" who report directly to him, bypassing the House and Senate, to direct much of what is happening in America, would you have approved?

If George W. Bush had ordered the firing of the CEO of a major corporation, even though he had no constitutional authority to do so, would you have approved?

If George W Bush had proposed to double the national debt in one year, which had taken more than two centuries to accumulate, would you have approved?

If George W. Bush had then proposed to double the debt again within 10 years, would you have approved?

If George W. Bush had spent more than all the Presidents combined since George Washington, would you have approved?

So, tell me again, what is it about Obama that makes him so brilliant and impressive? Can't think of anything?

Don't worry. He's done all this in 11 months -- so you'll have 3 years and 1 month to come up with an answer.


Definitely a must see!





'After three weeks of lectures and receptions in New York, Einstein paid a visit to Washington.

For reasons fathomable only to those who live in that city, the Senate decided to debate the theory of relativity. On the House side of the Capitol, Representative J. J. Kindred of New York proposed placing an explanation of Einstein’s theories in the Congressional Record.

David Walsh of Massachusetts rose to object. Did Kindred understand the theory?

“I have been earnestly busy with this theory for three weeks,” Kindred replied, “and am beginning to see some light.”

But what relevance, he was asked, did it have to the business of Congress?

“It may bear upon the legislation of the future as to general relations with the cosmos.” '


A cutie
Here is a great little tidbit I picked up last week.

Theorem: Let N be any odd number, not a multiple of 5. Then there is a number consisting of a string of 9's which it divides into.

Let N be, say, 2009. Consider the 2010 numbers 9, 99, 999, 9999, 99999, ... up to 99999...9 (2010 9's)

Divide 2009 into each of them. There can only be 2009 remainders (0,1,2,...2008) so two remainders must be the same for two of the numbers by the pigeonhole principle. Call these numbers a and b.

So,
a = 2009p + r and

b = 2009q + r.

Assume a > b.

So a - b = 2009(p - q). So 2009 divides a - b, a number which looks like 999999...00000 where the number of 0's equals the number of digits of b.
But 2009 cannot be a multiple of 10, being an odd number not a multiple of 5, so 2009 divides 9999999...9999, a string of 9's equal to the number of digits of a minus the number of digits of b.

QED


Do you feel Members of Congress should be forced to enroll themselves in the health care plan they vote for?

If you do, join the petition on Congressman John Fleming's website.

Sunday, September 13, 2009

Obama's birthplace question to be addressed in California court

A California judge today tentatively scheduled a trial for Jan. 26, 2010, for a case that challenges Barack Obama's eligibility to be president based on questions over his qualifications under the requirements of the U.S. Constitution.

If the case actually goes to arguments before U.S. District Judge David Carter, it will be the first time the merits of the dispute have been argued in open court, according to one of the attorneys working on the issue.

In a highly anticipated hearing today before Carter, several motions were heard, including a resolution to long-standing questions about whether attorney Orly Taitz properly served notice on the defendants, which she had.

In a second ruling, Carter ordered that attorney Gary Kreep of the United States Justice Foundation can be added to the case to represent plaintiffs Wiley Drake and Markham Robinson, who had been removed by an earlier court order. Drake, the vice presidential candidate for the American Independent Party, and Robinson, the party's chairman, also were restored to the case.

Want to know for certain where Obama was born? Demand the truth by joining the petition campaign to make President Obama reveal his long-form, hospital-generated birth certificate!

But the judge did not immediately rule on Taitz' motion to be granted discovery – that is the right to see the president's still-concealed records. Nor did Carter rule immediately on a motion to dismiss the case, submitted by the U.S. government, following discussion over Taitz' challenge to the work of a magistrate in the case.

The judge did comment that if there are legitimate constitutional questions regarding Obama's eligibility, they need to be addressed and resolved.

Full story here.

Is this the birth certificate?

Sap lust?


Crab Canon on a Möebius strip


Quote du jour

"I know that everybody likes to poke fun at California - but I can tell you right now that despite all of its problems, California remains one of the best places in the world to build a successful small business. All you have to do is start with a successful large business."

Congressman Tom McClintock

Thursday, August 27, 2009

In Memoriam

The “Hero” of Chappaquiddick, Let’s not forget the victims—Mary Jo Kopechne and the American People

Kennedy earned C grades at the private Milton Academy, but was admitted to Harvard as a "legacy" -- his father and older brothers had attended there, so the younger and dimmer Kennedy's admission was virtually assured. While attending, he was expelled twice, once for cheating on a test, and once for paying a classmate to cheat for him. While expelled, Kennedy enlisted in the Army, but mistakenly signed up for four years instead of two. His father, Joseph P. Kennedy, former U.S. Ambassador to England, pulled the necessary strings to have his enlistment shortened to two years, and to ensure that he served in Europe, not Korea, where a war was raging. Kennedy was assigned to Paris, never advanced beyond the rank of Private, and returned to Harvard upon being discharged.

While attending law school at the University of Virginia, he was cited for reckless driving four times, including once when he was clocked driving 90 miles per hour in a residential neighborhood with his headlights off after dark. Yet his Virginia driver's license was never revoked. He passed the bar exam in 1959, and two years later was appointed an Assistant to the District Attorney in Massachusetts' Suffolk County.

In 1962, at age 30 (constitutionally, the minimum age to hold a Senate seat) he ran for the Senate. His timing was perfect -- his brother John had given up the seat to become President, and Kennedy easily won the office. He was re-elected to seven more terms.

On 19 July 1969, Kennedy attended a party on Chappaquiddick Island in Massachusetts. At about 11:00 PM, he borrowed his chauffeur's keys to his Oldsmobile limousine, and offered to give a ride home to Mary Jo Kopechne, a campaign worker. Leaving the island via an unlit bridge with no guard rail, Kennedy steered the car off the bridge, flipped, and into Poucha Pond. He swam to shore and walked back to the party -- passing several houses and a fire station -- and two friends returned with him to the scene of the accident. According to their later testimony, they told him what he already knew, that he was required by law to immediately report the accident to the authorities. Instead Kennedy made his way to his hotel, called his lawyer, and went to sleep.

Kennedy called the police the next morning. By then the wreck had already been discovered. Before dying, Kopechne had scratched at the upholstered floor above her head in the upside-down car. The Kennedy family began pulling strings, ensuring that any inquiry would be contained. Her corpse was whisked out-of-state to her family, before an autopsy could be conducted. Further details are uncertain, but after the accident Kennedy says he repeatedly dove under the water trying to rescue Kopechne, and he didn't call police because he was in a state of shock. In versions not so kind, it is widely assumed Kennedy was drunk, that he was having an affair with Kopechne, and/or that he held off calling police in hopes that his family could fix the problem overnight.

After the accident, Kennedy's political enemies referred to him as the distinguished Senator from Chappaquiddick, or worse. He pled guilty to leaving the scene of an accident, and was given a suspended sentence of two months. Kopechne's family received a small payout from the Kennedy's insurance policy, and never sued. There was later an effort to have her body exhumed and autopsied, but her family successfully fought against this in court, and Kennedy's family paid their attorney's bills.

In 1973, at the height of Nixon's Watergate scandal, Kennedy thundered from the Senate floor, "Do we operate under a system of equal justice under law? Or is there one system for the average citizen and another for the high and mighty?"

In 1980, Kennedy challenged Carter, his own party's sitting President, for the Democratic nomination. Kennedy's bid was hampered by questions of Chappaquiddick and by an interview with CBS Newsman Roger Mudd, who asked the straightforward question, "Why do you want to be President?" Kennedy couldn't come up with a straightforward answer. Carter was nominated for re-election, but the party's divisions contributed to the victory won by Reagan.

In a late-1980s media profile, Kennedy was succinctly described as someone who "grew to manhood without learning to be an adult". He was rumored to have had several affairs while married to his first wife, and had often been seen in public while thoroughly tanked and/or behaving obnoxiously. In 1987 he was caught in flagrante delicto with an unidentified woman on the floor of a restaurant.

Biography from nndb.com






Tropical Storm Felicia's effect on Mt. Wai'ale'ale









The Government Can




Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Statistics and Records


No one died when Clinton lied

-- Bumper sticker
From my Inbox:

Whatever your politics, however you lean, however you feel about the current administration, this report should open some eyes.

Military losses, 1980 through 2006 (http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/natsec/RL32492.pdf )

As tragic as the loss of any member of the US Armed Forces is, consider the following statistics:

The annual fatalities of military members while actively serving in the armed forces from 1980 through 2006:

1980 .......... 2,392 (Carter Year)
1981 .......... 2,380 (Reagan Year)
1984 .......... 1,999 (Reagan Year)
1988 .......... 1,819 (Reagan Year)
1989 .......... 1,636 (George H W Year)
1990 ........ 1,508 (George H W Year)
1991 ........ 1,787 (George H W Year)
1992 ...... 1,293 (George H W Year)
1993 .......... 1,213 ( Clinton Year)
1994 ........ 1,075 ( Clinton Year)
1995 .......... 2,465 ( Clinton Year)
1996 ......... . 2,318 ( Clinton Year)
1997 ............. 817 ( Clinton Year)
1998 .......... 2,252 ( Clinton Year)
1999 ........ 1,984 ( Clinton Year)
2000 ..........1,983 ( Clinton Year)
2001 ......... 890 (George W Year)
2002 ........ 1,007 (George W Year)
2003 ....... 1,410 (George W Year)
2004 .......... 1,887 (George W Year)
2005 ............ 919 (George W Year)
2006.............. 920 (George W Year)
2007............899 (George W Year)

Clinton years (1993-2000): 14,000 deaths
George W years (2001-2006): 7,932 deaths

If you are surprised when you look at these figures, so was I. These figures mean that the loss from the two latest conflicts in the Middle East are LESS than the loss of military personnel during Bill Clinton's presidency; when America wasn't even involved in a war!

It surprised me too, so I went on line to find out what military actions we were in during Clinton 's presidency. Here is a web site I found that lists out those conflicts. (not war)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_military_actions_by_or_within_the_United_States#1991-1999

And, I was even more shocked when I read that in 1980, during the reign of President (Nobel Peace Prize winner) Jimmy Carter, there were 2,392 US military fatalities! I think that these figures indicate that many members of our Media and our Politicians will pick and choose the information on which they report. Of course we all know that they present only those 'facts' which support their agenda-driven reporting. But why do so many of them march in lock-step to twist the truth? Where do so many of them get their marching-orders for their agenda? Obviously there is one shared agenda, and I believe it is clear it comes from the most powerful Democratic family of the decade.

Do you want further proof? Consider the latest census, of Americans. It shows the following
FACTS about the distribution of American citizens, by Race:

European descent ........................69.12%
Hispanic ....................................... 12.5%
Black ..............................................12.3%
Asian .............................................. 3.7%
Native American .............................1.0%
Other ...............................................2.6%

Now... here are the fatalities by Race; over the past three years in Iraqi Freedom:
European descent (white) .............74.31%
Hispanic ....................................... 10.74%
Black ... .......................................... 9.67%
Asian .............................................. 1.81%
Native American ............................ 1. 09%
Other .............................................. 0.33%

I was surprised again. .until it became clear to me that the point here is that our mainstream media continues to spin these figures (for political gain). Nothing more.

It's all about politics and some politicians, are now famous for turning American against American for a vote. (Consider Slick Willy and his comments just recently made about South Carolina , Jesse Jackson, and the 'blacks' voting for the 'black' candidates); or Hillary's stump speech after her Super Tuesday 'victory' stating that the current administration does not 'listen'
to anyone and continues the war costing precious American lives. Yes, I might even agree with her, but she should be made to acknowledge her own husband's administration, without having an actual war, sent more soldiers to death during his regime - while also forcing the military to release Osama when we actually had him detained.

I hope that during the time between now and November, that intelligent Americans can decipher the facts from the spin and the spinners from the leaders; those who seek even more power from those that seek justice, the dividers from the uniters.

Over the next few months, let's be good listeners (yes, Hillary we are listening) and see and hear who tries to divide our nation; and who wants to unite our nation. Who wants to control how our money is spent and who wants our money spent the way we would spend it. Who seeks power and who seeks justice? Who spins the facts and who is genuine.

(These statistics are published by Congressional Research Service, and they may be confirmed by anyone at: http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/natsec/RL32492.pdf)

Saturday, July 4, 2009

Who voted for Cap and Tax? And those who to thank.


"The whole point of cap and trade is to hike the price of electricity and gas so that Americans will use less. These higher prices will show up not just in electricity bills or at the gas station but in every manufactured good, from food to cars. Consumers will cut back on spending, which in turn will cut back on production, which results in fewer jobs created or higher unemployment. Some companies will instead move their operations overseas, with the same result."


--Wall Street Journal


House Vote On Passage: H.R. 2454: American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009 (aka the single largest tax increase in American history).

Those to campaign against...
Vote District Representative
Arizona
Aye AZ-4 Pastor, Edward [D]
Aye AZ-7 Grijalva, Raul [D]
Aye AZ-8 Giffords, Gabrielle [D]

Arkansas
Aye AR-2 Snyder, Victor [D]

California
Aye CA-1 Thompson, C. [D]
Aye CA-5 Matsui, Doris [D]
Aye CA-6 Woolsey, Lynn [D]
Aye CA-7 Miller, George [D]
Aye CA-8 Pelosi, Nancy [D]
Aye CA-9 Lee, Barbara [D]
Aye CA-10 Tauscher, Ellen
Aye CA-11 McNerney, Jerry [D]
Aye CA-12 Speier, Jackie [D]
Aye CA-14 Eshoo, Anna [D]
Aye CA-15 Honda, Michael [D]
Aye CA-16 Lofgren, Zoe [D]
Aye CA-17 Farr, Sam [D]
Aye CA-18 Cardoza, Dennis [D]
Aye CA-23 Capps, Lois [D]
Aye CA-27 Sherman, Brad [D]
Aye CA-28 Berman, Howard [D]
Aye CA-29 Schiff, Adam [D]
Aye CA-30 Waxman, Henry [D]
Aye CA-31 Becerra, Xavier [D]
Aye CA-33 Watson, Diane [D]
Aye CA-34 Roybal-Allard, Lucille [D]
Aye CA-35 Waters, Maxine [D]
Aye CA-36 Harman, Jane [D]
Aye CA-37 Richardson, Laura [D]
Aye CA-38 Napolitano, Grace [D]
Aye CA-39 Sanchez, Linda [D]
Aye CA-43 Baca, Joe [D]
Aye CA-45 Bono Mack, Mary [R]
Aye CA-47 Sanchez, Loretta [D]
Aye CA-51 Filner, Bob [D]
Aye CA-53 Davis, Susan [D]

Colorado
Aye CO-1 DeGette, Diana [D]
Aye CO-2 Polis, Jared [D]
Aye CO-4 Markey, Betsy [D]
Aye CO-7 Perlmutter, Ed [D]

Connecticut
Aye CT-1 Larson, John [D]
Aye CT-2 Courtney, Joe [D]
Aye CT-3 DeLauro, Rosa [D]
Aye CT-4 Himes, James [D]
Aye CT-5 Murphy, Christopher [D]

Delaware
Aye DE-0 Castle, Michael [R]

Florida
Aye FL-2 Boyd, Allen [D]
Aye FL-3 Brown, Corrine [D]
Aye FL-8 Grayson, Alan [D]
Aye FL-11 Castor, Kathy [D]
Aye FL-17 Meek, Kendrick [D]
Aye FL-19 Wexler, Robert [D]
Aye FL-20 Wasserman Schultz, Debbie [D]
Aye FL-22 Klein, Ron [D]
Aye FL-24 Kosmas, Suzanne [D]

Georgia
Aye GA-2 Bishop, Sanford [D]
Aye GA-4 Johnson, Henry [D]
Aye GA-5 Lewis, John [D]
Aye GA-13 Scott, David [D]

Hawaii
Aye HI-1 Abercrombie, Neil [D]
Aye HI-2 Hirono, Mazie [D]

Illinois
Aye IL-1 Rush, Bobby [D]
Aye IL-2 Jackson, Jesse [D]
Aye IL-3 Lipinski, Daniel [D]
Aye IL-4 Gutierrez, Luis [D]
Aye IL-5 Quigley, Mike [D]
Aye IL-7 Davis, Danny [D]
Aye IL-8 Bean, Melissa [D]
Aye IL-9 Schakowsky, Janice [D]
Aye IL-10 Kirk, Mark [R]
Aye IL-11 Halvorson, Deborah [D]
Aye IL-17 Hare, Phil [D]

Indiana
Aye IN-7 Carson, André [D]
Aye IN-9 Hill, Baron [D]

Iowa
Aye IA-1 Braley, Bruce [D]
Aye IA-2 Loebsack, David [D]
Aye IA-3 Boswell, Leonard [D]

Kansas
Aye KS-3 Moore, Dennis [D]

Kentucky
Aye KY-3 Yarmuth, John [D]
Aye KY-6 Chandler, Ben [D]

Maine
Aye ME-1 Pingree, Chellie [D]
Aye ME-2 Michaud, Michael [D]

Maryland
Aye MD-1 Kratovil, Frank [D]
Aye MD-2 Ruppersberger, C.A. [D]
Aye MD-3 Sarbanes, John [D]
Aye MD-4 Edwards, Donna [D]
Aye MD-5 Hoyer, Steny [D]
Aye MD-7 Cummings, Elijah [D]
Aye MD-8 Van Hollen, Christopher [D]

Massachusetts
Aye MA-1 Olver, John [D]
Aye MA-2 Neal, Richard [D]
Aye MA-3 McGovern, James [D]
Aye MA-4 Frank, Barney [D]
Aye MA-5 Tsongas, Niki [D]
Aye MA-6 Tierney, John [D]
Aye MA-7 Markey, Edward [D]
Aye MA-8 Capuano, Michael [D]
Aye MA-9 Lynch, Stephen [D]
Aye MA-10 Delahunt, William [D]

Michigan
Aye MI-1 Stupak, Bart [D]
Aye MI-5 Kildee, Dale [D]
Aye MI-7 Schauer, Mark [D]
Aye MI-9 Peters, Gary [D]
Aye MI-12 Levin, Sander [D]
Aye MI-13 Kilpatrick, Carolyn [D]
Aye MI-14 Conyers, John [D]
Aye MI-15 Dingell, John [D]

Minnesota
Aye MN-1 Walz, Timothy [D]
Aye MN-4 McCollum, Betty [D]
Aye MN-5 Ellison, Keith [D]
Aye MN-7 Peterson, Collin [D]
Aye MN-8 Oberstar, James [D]

Mississippi
Aye MS-2 Thompson, Bennie [D]

Missouri
Aye MO-1 Clay, William [D]
Aye MO-3 Carnahan, Russ [D]
Aye MO-4 Skelton, Ike [D]
Aye MO-5 Cleaver, Emanuel [D]

Nevada
Aye NV-1 Berkley, Shelley [D]
Aye NV-3 Titus, Dina [D]

New Hampshire
Aye NH-1 Shea-Porter, Carol [D]
Aye NH-2 Hodes, Paul [D]

New Jersey
Aye NJ-1 Andrews, Robert [D]
Aye NJ-2 LoBiondo, Frank [R]
Aye NJ-3 Adler, John [D]
Aye NJ-4 Smith, Christopher [R]
Aye NJ-6 Pallone, Frank [D]
Aye NJ-7 Lance, Leonard [R]
Aye NJ-8 Pascrell, William [D]
Aye NJ-9 Rothman, Steven [D]
Aye NJ-10 Payne, Donald [D]
Aye NJ-12 Holt, Rush [D]
Aye NJ-13 Sires, Albio [D]

New Mexico
Aye NM-1 Heinrich, Martin [D]
Aye NM-2 Teague, Harry [D]
Aye NM-3 Lujan, Ben [D]

New York
Aye NY-1 Bishop, Timothy [D]
Aye NY-2 Israel, Steve [D]
Aye NY-4 McCarthy, Carolyn [D]
Aye NY-5 Ackerman, Gary [D]
Aye NY-6 Meeks, Gregory [D]
Aye NY-7 Crowley, Joseph [D]
Aye NY-8 Nadler, Jerrold [D]
Aye NY-9 Weiner, Anthony [D]
Aye NY-10 Towns, Edolphus [D]
Aye NY-11 Clarke, Yvette [D]
Aye NY-12 Velazquez, Nydia [D]
Aye NY-13 McMahon, Michael [D]
Aye NY-14 Maloney, Carolyn [D]
Aye NY-15 Rangel, Charles [D]
Aye NY-16 Serrano, José [D]
Aye NY-17 Engel, Eliot [D]
Aye NY-18 Lowey, Nita [D]
Aye NY-19 Hall, John [D]
Aye NY-20 Murphy, Scott [D]
Aye NY-21 Tonko, Paul [D]
Aye NY-22 Hinchey, Maurice [D]
Aye NY-23 McHugh, John [R]
Aye NY-25 Maffei, Daniel [D]
Aye NY-27 Higgins, Brian [D]
Aye NY-28 Slaughter, Louise [D]

North Carolina
Aye NC-1 Butterfield, George [D]
Aye NC-2 Etheridge, Bob [D]
Aye NC-4 Price, David [D]
Aye NC-11 Shuler, Heath [D]
Aye NC-12 Watt, Melvin [D]
Aye NC-13 Miller, R. [D]

Ohio
Aye OH-1 Driehaus, Steve [D]
Aye OH-9 Kaptur, Marcy [D]
Aye OH-11 Fudge, Marcia [D]
Aye OH-13 Sutton, Betty [D]
Aye OH-15 Kilroy, Mary Jo [D]
Aye OH-16 Boccieri, John [D]
Aye OH-17 Ryan, Timothy [D]
Aye OH-18 Space, Zachary [D]

Oregon
Aye OR-1 Wu, David [D]
Aye OR-3 Blumenauer, Earl [D]
Aye OR-5 Schrader, Kurt [D]

Pennsylvania
Aye PA-1 Brady, Robert [D]
Aye PA-2 Fattah, Chaka [D]
Aye PA-7 Sestak, Joe [D]
Aye PA-8 Murphy, Patrick [D]
Aye PA-11 Kanjorski, Paul [D]
Aye PA-12 Murtha, John [D]
Aye PA-13 Schwartz, Allyson [D]
Aye PA-14 Doyle, Michael [D]

Rhode Island
Aye RI-1 Kennedy, Patrick [D]
Aye RI-2 Langevin, James [D]

South Carolina
Aye SC-5 Spratt, John [D]
Aye SC-6 Clyburn, James [D]

Tennessee
Aye TN-5 Cooper, Jim [D]
Aye TN-6 Gordon, Barton [D]
Aye TN-9 Cohen, Steve [D]

Texas
Aye TX-9 Green, Al [D]
Aye TX-15 Hinojosa, Rubén [D]
Aye TX-16 Reyes, Silvestre [D]
Aye TX-18 Jackson-Lee, Sheila [D]
Aye TX-20 Gonzalez, Charles [D]
Aye TX-25 Doggett, Lloyd [D]
Aye TX-28 Cuellar, Henry [D]
Aye TX-29 Green, Raymond [D]
Aye TX-30 Johnson, Eddie [D]

Vermont
Aye VT-0 Welch, Peter [D]

Virginia
Aye VA-3 Scott, Robert [D]
Aye VA-5 Perriello, Thomas [D]
Aye VA-8 Moran, James [D]
Aye VA-9 Boucher, Frederick [D]
Aye VA-11 Connolly, Gerald [D]

Washington
Aye WA-1 Inslee, Jay [D]
Aye WA-2 Larsen, Rick [D]
Aye WA-3 Baird, Brian [D]
Aye WA-6 Dicks, Norman [D]
Aye WA-7 McDermott, James [D]
Aye WA-8 Reichert, Dave [R]
Aye WA-9 Smith, Adam [D]

Wisconsin
Aye WI-2 Baldwin, Tammy [D]
Aye WI-3 Kind, Ronald [D]
Aye WI-4 Moore, Gwen [D]
Aye WI-7 Obey, David [D]
Aye WI-8 Kagen, Steve [D]

Those to thank...
Vote District Representative
Alabama
No AL-1 Bonner, Jo [R]
No AL-2 Bright, Bobby [D]
No AL-3 Rogers, Michael [R]
No AL-4 Aderholt, Robert [R]
No AL-5 Griffith, Parker [D]
No AL-6 Bachus, Spencer [R]
No AL-7 Davis, Artur [D]

Alaska
No AK-0 Young, Donald [R]

Arizona
No AZ-1 Kirkpatrick, Ann [D]
No AZ-2 Franks, Trent [R]
No AZ-3 Shadegg, John [R]
No AZ-5 Mitchell, Harry [D]

Arkansas
No AR-1 Berry, Robert [D]
No AR-3 Boozman, John [R]
No AR-4 Ross, Mike [D]

California
No CA-2 Herger, Walter [R]
No CA-3 Lungren, Daniel [R]
No CA-4 McClintock, Tom [R]
No CA-13 Stark, Fortney [D]
No CA-19 Radanovich, George [R]
No CA-20 Costa, Jim [D]
No CA-21 Nunes, Devin [R]
No CA-22 McCarthy, Kevin [R]
No CA-24 Gallegly, Elton [R]
No CA-25 McKeon, Howard [R]
No CA-26 Dreier, David [R]
No CA-40 Royce, Edward [R]
No CA-41 Lewis, Jerry [R]
No CA-42 Miller, Gary [R]
No CA-44 Calvert, Ken [R]
No CA-46 Rohrabacher, Dana [R]
No CA-48 Campbell, John [R]
No CA-49 Issa, Darrell [R]
No CA-50 Bilbray, Brian [R]
No CA-52 Hunter, Duncan [R]

Colorado
No CO-3 Salazar, John [D]
No CO-5 Lamborn, Doug [R]
No CO-6 Coffman, Mike [R]

Florida
No FL-1 Miller, Jeff [R]
No FL-4 Crenshaw, Ander [R]
No FL-5 Brown-Waite, Virginia [R]
No FL-6 Stearns, Clifford [R]
No FL-7 Mica, John [R]
No FL-9 Bilirakis, Gus [R]
No FL-10 Young, C. W. [R]
No FL-12 Putnam, Adam [R]
No FL-13 Buchanan, Vern [R]
No FL-14 Mack, Connie [R]
No FL-15 Posey, Bill [R]
No FL-16 Rooney, Thomas [R]
No FL-18 Ros-Lehtinen, Ileana [R]
No FL-21 Diaz-Balart, Lincoln [R]
No FL-25 Diaz-Balart, Mario [R]

Georgia
No GA-1 Kingston, Jack [R]
No GA-3 Westmoreland, Lynn [R]
No GA-6 Price, Tom [R]
No GA-7 Linder, John [R]
No GA-8 Marshall, James [D]
No GA-9 Deal, Nathan [R]
No GA-10 Broun, Paul [R]
No GA-11 Gingrey, John [R]
No GA-12 Barrow, John [D]

Idaho
No ID-1 Minnick, Walter [D]
No ID-2 Simpson, Michael [R]

Illinois
No IL-6 Roskam, Peter [R]
No IL-12 Costello, Jerry [D]
No IL-13 Biggert, Judy [R]
No IL-14 Foster, Bill [D]
No IL-15 Johnson, Timothy [R]
No IL-16 Manzullo, Donald [R]
No IL-18 Schock, Aaron [R]
No IL-19 Shimkus, John [R]

Indiana
No IN-1 Visclosky, Peter [D]
No IN-2 Donnelly, Joe [D]
No IN-3 Souder, Mark [R]
No IN-4 Buyer, Stephen [R]
No IN-5 Burton, Dan [R]
No IN-6 Pence, Mike [R]
No IN-8 Ellsworth, Brad [D]

Iowa
No IA-4 Latham, Thomas [R]
No IA-5 King, Steve [R]

Kansas
No KS-1 Moran, Jerry [R]
No KS-2 Jenkins, Lynn [R]
No KS-4 Tiahrt, Todd [R]

Kentucky
No KY-1 Whitfield, Edward [R]
No KY-2 Guthrie, Brett [R]
No KY-4 Davis, Geoff [R]
No KY-5 Rogers, Harold [R]

Louisiana
No LA-1 Scalise, Steve [R]
No LA-2 Cao, Anh [R]
No LA-3 Melancon, Charles [D]
No LA-4 Fleming, John [R]
No LA-5 Alexander, Rodney [R]
No LA-6 Cassidy, Bill [R]
No LA-7 Boustany, Charles [R]

Maryland
No MD-6 Bartlett, Roscoe [R]

Michigan
No MI-2 Hoekstra, Peter [R]
No MI-3 Ehlers, Vernon [R]
No MI-4 Camp, David [R]
No MI-6 Upton, Frederick [R]
No MI-8 Rogers, Michael [R]
No MI-10 Miller, Candice [R]
No MI-11 McCotter, Thaddeus [R]

Minnesota
No MN-2 Kline, John [R]
No MN-3 Paulsen, Erik [R]
No MN-6 Bachmann, Michele [R]

Mississippi
No MS-1 Childers, Travis [D]
No MS-3 Harper, Gregg [R]
No MS-4 Taylor, Gene [D]

Missouri
No MO-2 Akin, W. [R]
No MO-6 Graves, Samuel [R]
No MO-7 Blunt, Roy [R]
No MO-8 Emerson, Jo Ann [R]
No MO-9 Luetkemeyer, Blaine [R]

Montana
No MT-0 Rehberg, Dennis [R]

Nebraska
No NE-1 Fortenberry, Jeffrey [R]
No NE-2 Terry, Lee [R]
No NE-3 Smith, Adrian [R]

Nevada
No NV-2 Heller, Dean [R]

New Jersey
No NJ-5 Garrett, Scott [R]
No NJ-11 Frelinghuysen, Rodney [R]

New York
No NY-3 King, Peter [R]
No NY-24 Arcuri, Michael [D]
No NY-26 Lee, Christopher [R]
No NY-29 Massa, Eric [D]

North Carolina
No NC-3 Jones, Walter [R]
No NC-5 Foxx, Virginia [R]
No NC-6 Coble, Howard [R]
No NC-7 McIntyre, Mike [D]
No NC-8 Kissell, Larry [D]
No NC-9 Myrick, Sue [R]
No NC-10 Mchenry, Patrick [R]

North Dakota
No ND-0 Pomeroy, Earl [D]

Ohio
No OH-2 Schmidt, Jean [R]
No OH-3 Turner, Michael [R]
No OH-4 Jordan, Jim [R]
No OH-5 Latta, Robert [R]
No OH-6 Wilson, Charles [D]
No OH-7 Austria, Steve [R]
No OH-8 Boehner, John [R]
No OH-10 Kucinich, Dennis [D] (*Explained)
No OH-12 Tiberi, Patrick [R]
No OH-14 LaTourette, Steven [R]

Oklahoma
No OK-2 Boren, Dan [D]
No OK-3 Lucas, Frank [R]
No OK-4 Cole, Tom [R]
No OK-5 Fallin, Mary [R]

Oregon
No OR-2 Walden, Greg [R]
No OR-4 DeFazio, Peter [D]

Pennsylvania
No PA-3 Dahlkemper, Kathleen [D]
No PA-4 Altmire, Jason [D]
No PA-5 Thompson, Glenn [R]
No PA-6 Gerlach, Jim [R]
No PA-9 Shuster, William [R]
No PA-10 Carney, Christopher [D]
No PA-15 Dent, Charles [R]
No PA-16 Pitts, Joseph [R]
No PA-17 Holden, Tim [D]
No PA-18 Murphy, Tim [R]
No PA-19 Platts, Todd [R]

South Carolina
No SC-1 Brown, Henry [R]
No SC-2 Wilson, Addison [R]
No SC-3 Barrett, James [R]
No SC-4 Inglis, Bob [R]

South Dakota
No SD-0 Herseth Sandlin, Stephanie [D]

Tennessee
No TN-1 Roe, Phil [R]
No TN-2 Duncan, John [R]
No TN-3 Wamp, Zach [R]
No TN-4 Davis, Lincoln [D]
No TN-7 Blackburn, Marsha [R]
No TN-8 Tanner, John [D]

Texas
No TX-1 Gohmert, Louis [R]
No TX-2 Poe, Ted [R]
No TX-3 Johnson, Samuel [R]
No TX-4 Hall, Ralph [R]
No TX-5 Hensarling, Jeb [R]
No TX-6 Barton, Joe [R]
No TX-7 Culberson, John [R]
No TX-8 Brady, Kevin [R]
No TX-10 McCaul, Michael [R]
No TX-11 Conaway, K. [R]
No TX-12 Granger, Kay [R]
No TX-13 Thornberry, William [R]
No TX-14 Paul, Ronald [R]
No TX-17 Edwards, Thomas [D]
No TX-19 Neugebauer, Randy [R]
No TX-21 Smith, Lamar [R]
No TX-22 Olson, Pete [R]
No TX-23 Rodriguez, Ciro [D]
No TX-24 Marchant, Kenny [R]
No TX-26 Burgess, Michael [R]
No TX-27 Ortiz, Solomon [D]
No TX-31 Carter, John [R]
No TX-32 Sessions, Peter [R]

Utah
No UT-1 Bishop, Rob [R]
No UT-2 Matheson, Jim [D]
No UT-3 Chaffetz, Jason [R]

Virginia
No VA-1 Wittman, Rob [R]
No VA-2 Nye, Glenn [D]
No VA-4 Forbes, James [R]
No VA-6 Goodlatte, Robert [R]
No VA-7 Cantor, Eric [R]
No VA-10 Wolf, Frank [R]

Washington
No WA-4 Hastings, Doc [R]
No WA-5 McMorris Rodgers, Cathy [R]

West Virginia
No WV-1 Mollohan, Alan [D]
No WV-2 Capito, Shelley [R]
No WV-3 Rahall, Nick [D]

Wisconsin
No WI-1 Ryan, Paul [R]
No WI-5 Sensenbrenner, F. [R]
No WI-6 Petri, Thomas [R]

Wyoming
No WY-0 Lummis, Cynthia [R]




From the Inbox

Subject: David Jr. Meets his Commander In Chief

For those who do not know Dave Borden, he is a former Black & Decker employee who lives in Hanover. His son Dave Jr was serving in Iraq and was badly injured from a bomb explosion. Dave Jr has had over 38 surgeries to date. The email below is from Dave about a recent visit with President Obama, ----the email speaks for its self.

Since Dave Jr. has been injured he has met and been overwhelmed by many, many political and military "celebs". The list includes Bob Gates, Sec. of Defense, who came into his room and told him 3 or 4 times that if Dave Jr. had any issues to call his cell phone number. It includes Gen. Petraeus who sat and talked with Dave Jr. for almost 45 minutes. The General recalled vividly all of the circumstances around the events that led to the fighting that Dave was involved in. It includes Sen. McCain who arrived late on a Saturday afternoon during a thunderstorm, unannounced, and talked to Dave Jr. about how similar their experiences with fate. It includes George Bush when Dave Jr. was invited to attend the very last Christmas party at the White House for the White House Staff. President Bush and his wife entered the ballroom and immediately went to Dave Jr. President Bush knew Dave Jr.'s name as well as when and how he was injured. Dave Jr. had a picture taken with Laura and the President that he has framed and will cherish forever. The list goes on and on of people coming in to meet Dave Jr. and the other wounded warriors at Waler Reed and Bethesda.

Yesterday. Dave Jr. was ordered to be at the National Naval Hospital with another 12 soldiers and Marines to meet with Obama. Obama was supposed to arrive at 11:30 AM. He finally got there at 3:00 PM. He entered the room with the wounded warriors and quickly shook each of their hands. He never asked their names, where they were from, or how they were injured. Then he left.

Dave Jr. has met the people who really care about the military. All he remembers from Obama is a weak handshake. The others in the room, younger and less exposed to the people that Dave Jr. has met, were so disappointed. Word about Obama's "insensitive" visit has spread to the MATC (the rehab facility) at Walter Reed and throughout Bethesda. The military sees through his phoniness.

All I can say is that it is such a disappointment that this man is Commander-In-Chief of our Armed Forces. He is an embarrassment to our Nation.

Regards,
Dave

Monday, June 29, 2009

"The worst scientific scandal in history"

Steve Fielding recently asked the Obama administration to reassure him on the science of man-made global warming. When the administration proved unhelpful, Mr. Fielding decided to vote against climate-change legislation.

If you haven't heard of this politician, it's because he's a member of the Australian Senate. As the U.S. House of Representatives prepares to pass a climate-change bill, the Australian Parliament is preparing to kill its own country's carbon-emissions scheme. Why? A growing number of Australian politicians, scientists and citizens once again doubt the science of human-caused global warming.

Among the many reasons President Barack Obama and the Democratic majority are so intent on quickly jamming a cap-and-trade system through Congress is because the global warming tide is again shifting. It turns out Al Gore and the United Nations (with an assist from the media), did a little too vociferous a job smearing anyone who disagreed with them as "deniers." The backlash has brought the scientific debate roaring back to life in Australia, Europe, Japan and even, if less reported, the U.S.

The number of skeptics, far from shrinking, is swelling. Oklahoma Sen. Jim Inhofe now counts more than 700 scientists who disagree with the U.N. -- 13 times the number who authored the U.N.'s 2007 climate summary for policymakers.

Full story here

OpinionJournal

Quote du jour

From The Straight Dope - 6/26/2009

Dear Cecil:

In his book Collapse, Jared Diamond claims, "When NASA wanted to find some place on Earth resembling the surface of the Moon, so that our astronauts preparing for the first moon landing could practice in an environment similar to what they would encounter, NASA picked a formerly green area of Iceland that is now utterly barren." This struck me as wrong. Growing up, I heard the slag fields around Sudbury, Ontario, helped get the lunar astronauts accustomed to the moon's desolation. I've heard similar things about islands in the Canadian arctic and deserts in the American southwest. I can't see NASA hauling astronauts around the world just to look at places without trees. I wonder if the real explanation is that the astronauts had to take geology lessons. True? Cameron Barr, Edmonton

Cecil replies:

You nailed it, friend. Most astronaut field trips were about geology, not getting used to a bleak hell unfit for life. For that they could have stayed in Houston...


Thursday, June 18, 2009

A defiant Marine


Leading the fight is Gunnery Sgt Michael Burghardt, known as 'Iron Mike' or just 'Gunny'. He is on his third tour in Iraq .. He had become a legend in the bomb disposal world after winning the Bronze Star for disabling 64 IEDs and destroying 1,548 pieces of ordnance during his second tour.

Then, on September 19, he got blown up. He had arrived at a chaotic scene after a bomb had killed four US soldiers. He chose not to wear the bulky bomb protection suit. 'You can't react to any sniper fire and you get tunnel-vision,' he explains. So, protected by just a helmet and standard-issue flak jacket, he began what bomb disposal officers term 'the longest walk', stepping gingerly into a 5 foot deep and 8 foot wide crater.
The earth shifted slightly and he saw a Senao base station with a wire leading from it. He cut the wire and used his 7 inch knife to probe the ground. 'I found a piece of red detonating cord between my legs,' he says. 'That's when I knew I was screwed.' Realizing he had been sucked into a trap, Sgt Burghardt, 35, yelled at everyone to stay back. At that moment, an insurgent, probably watching through binoculars, pressed a button on his mobile phone to detonate the secondary device below the sergeant's feet 'A chill went up the back of my neck and then the bomb exploded,' he recalls. 'As I was in the air I remember thinking, 'I don't believe they got me.' I was just ticked off they were able to do it. Then I was lying on the road, not able to feel anything from the waist down'

His colleagues cut off his trousers to see how badly he was hurt. None could believe his legs were still there 'My dad's a Vietnam vet who's paralyzed from the waist down,' says Sgt Burghardt. 'I was lying there thinking I didn't want to be in a wheelchair next to my dad and for him to see me like that.. They started to cut away my pants and I felt a real sharp pain and blood trickling down.. Then I wiggled my toes and I thought, 'Good, I'm in business.' As a stretcher was brought over, adrenaline and anger kicked in. 'I decided to walk to the helicopter. I wasn't going to let my team-mates see me being carried away on a stretcher.' He stood and gave the insurgents who had blown him up a one-fingered salute. 'I flipped them one. It was like, 'OK, I lost that round but I'll be back next week'.'

Copies of a photograph depicting his defiance, taken by Jeff Bundy for the Omaha World-Herald, adorn the walls of homes across America and that of Col John Gronski, the brigade commander in Ramadi, who has hailed the image as an exemplar of the warrior spirit.

Sgt Burghardt's injuries - burns and wounds to his legs and buttocks - kept him off duty for nearly a month and could have earned him a ticket home. But, like his father - who was awarded a Bronze Star and three Purple Hearts for being wounded in action in Vietnam - he stayed in Ramadi to engage in the battle against insurgents who are forever coming up with more ingenious ways of killing Americans.

47th Mersenne Prime found

Missed this announcement a few months back.

Where else, indeed?

Chiron gave Annabel and me each a canteen of nectar and a Ziploc bag full of ambrosia squares, to be used only in emergencies, if we were seriously hurt. It was good food, Chiron reminded us. It would cure us of almost any injury, but it was lethal to mortals.

"So let me get this straight," I said. "I'm supposed to go to the Underworld and confront the Lord of the Dead."

"Check", Chiron said.

"Find Zeus's lightning bolt, the most powerful weapon in the universe."

"Check"

"And get it back to Olympus before the summer solstice, in ten days."

"That's about right."

"So where do we go? The oracle just said to go west."

"The entrance to the Underworld is always in the west. It moves from age to age, just like Olympus. Right now, of course, it's in America."

"Where?"

Chiron look surprised. "I thought that would be obvious enough. The entrance to the Underworld is in Los Angeles."

The Lightning Thief
Rick Riordan
Miramax Books

Saturday, June 6, 2009

Guantanamo Prisoners Get Laptops, Computer Lab

U.S. taxpayers are buying laptops and computer lessons for terrorism suspects jailed at Guantanamo Bay prison so that they can be reintroduced into a modern society when the president fulfills his campaign promise of releasing them.

A south Florida newspaper reports that the U.S. military is actually setting up a sophisticated computer lab for the detainees—who already get phones and fast-food takeout—and providing them with high-tech laptop computers. The terrorism suspects will be taught how to send electronic mail and will receive language and basic user skills training to help them find jobs when they get released.

Compliments of Uncle Sam, the costly program is part of the Obama Administration’s effort to persuade Americans and European allies that some detainees don’t represent a threat and can therefore resettle in their backyard. The effort seems to ignore several Pentagon reports revealing increases in the number of detainees who rejoined terrorist missions after being released.

Nearly half of the 255 suspected terrorists imprisoned are Yemenis and defense officials say scores should never be released because they pose a serious threat the United States.

Some will undoubtedly be repatriated under Obama’s new plan, which means they will go through a rehabilitation program similar to the Saudi rehab that the former detainee turned Al Qaeda leader (Said Ali al-Shihri) went through a few years ago. He ended up organizing a deadly bombing of the United States Embassy in Yemen’s capital and separate car bombings outside the American Embassy that killed more than a dozen people.

Under Obama’s new plan to introduce detainees to modern society, that terrorist probably would have received a U.S. taxpayer-financed laptop and computer skill classes.

Full story here.

JudicialWatch.org

Thursday, June 4, 2009

Who drove the Chevy off the levee?

How on earth did this happen?

General Motors, the 100-year-old car company that once employed more than 500,000 workers and had a 50 percent market share, just crumbled into bankruptcy. The government now runs it.

Chrysler, 30 years ago, teetered on the brink of bankruptcy. If it had been allowed to collapse, the remaining Big Two would likely have purchased much of Chrysler's plants and equipment and hired at least some of its workers. Instead, Congress provided financial aid to "rescue" the company. By not letting Chrysler fail, two major things occurred. First, a feeble company remained alive, only to limp from financial crisis to financial crisis for the next several decades. Second, it sent a message not only to Detroit but also to the rest of America: Expect a taxpayer bailout if the government deems a business "too big to fail."

After World War II, manufacturers in Japan sought out the advice of W. Edwards Deming, an American quality-control expert. American businesses ignored Deming's theories on continual improvement, but Japanese companies lingered on his every word.
Today outstanding Japanese companies receive the Deming Application Prize for excellence in total quality management.

Back in Michigan in the '70s, I read article after article about how the Big Three should/could/would respond to the foreign invasion. But in practice, I saw excuses and pleas for protectionism.

"Why doesn't General Motors," I recall asking my roommate, "offer a boatload of money, steal Toyota's No. 2 executive and put him in charge?" My roommate laughed, "Because he doesn't speak English and wouldn't be able to understand the American market." I said, "And General Motors does?"

Today I know that my idea of stealing a Toyota exec was bad. GM should have picked up the phone, asked the government to buy a majority share in the company, handed the office keys to the President of the United States, and said, "Here. You run it."

Full story here

Larry Elder

An Easily Understandable Explanation of Derivative Markets

Heidi is the proprietor of a bar in Detroit. She realizes that virtually all of her customers are unemployed alcoholics and, as such, can no longer afford to patronize her bar. To solve this problem, she comes up with new marketing plan that allows her customers to drink now, but pay later.

She keeps track of the drinks consumed on a ledger (thereby granting the customers loans).

Word gets around about Heidi's "drink now, pay later" marketing strategy and, as a result, increasing numbers of customers flood into Heidi's bar. Soon she has the largest sales volume for any bar in Detroit.

By providing her customers' freedom from immediate payment demands, Heidi gets no resistance when, at regular intervals, she substantially increases her prices for wine and beer, the most consumed beverages. Consequently, Heidi's gross sales volume increases massively.

A young and dynamic vice-president at the local bank recognizes that these customer debts constitute valuable future assets and increases Heidi's borrowing limit. He sees no reason for any undue concern, since he has the debts of the unemployed alcoholics as collateral.

At the bank's corporate headquarters, expert traders transform these customer loans into DRINKBONDS, ALKIBONDS and PUKEBONDS. These securities are then bundled and traded on international security markets. Naive investors don't really understand that the securities being sold to them as AAA secured bonds are really the debts of unemployed alcoholics.

Nevertheless, the bond prices continuously climb, and the securities soon become the hottest-selling items for some of the nation's leading brokerage houses.

One day, even though the bond prices are still climbing, a risk manager at the original local bank decides that the time has come to demand payment on the debts incurred by the drinkers at Heidi's bar. He so informs Heidi.

Heidi then demands payment from her alcoholic patrons, but being unemployed alcoholics they cannot pay back their drinking debts. Since, Heidi cannot fulfill her loan obligations she is forced into bankruptcy. The bar closes and the eleven employees lose their jobs.

Overnight, DRINKBONDS, ALKIBONDS and PUKEBONDS drop in price by 90%. The collapsed bond asset value destroys the banks liquidity and prevents it from issuing new loans, thus freezing credit and economic activity in the community.

The suppliers of Heidi's bar had granted her generous payment extensions and had invested their firms' pension funds in the various BOND securities. They find they are now faced with having to write off her bad debt and with losing over 90% of the presumed value of the bonds. Her wine supplier also claims bankruptcy, closing the doors on a family business that had endured for three generations, her beer supplier is taken over by a competitor, who immediately closes the local plant and lays off 150 workers.

Fortunately though, the bank, the brokerage houses and their respective executives are saved and bailed out by a multi-billion dollar no-strings attached cash infusion from the Government. The funds required for this bailout are obtained by new taxes levied on employed, middle-class, non-drinkers.

Now, do you understand?

Sunday, May 31, 2009

Amazing theorem

Dear Seminarians:

Yesterday I ran across the most amazing theorem. In WWII, Army Intelligence had the job of estimating the number of German Mark V tanks manufactured. The Germans naively numbered them sequentially, starting with "1" as they rolled off the assembly line. Problem: From a sample of M captured tanks, estimate the total number N that exist. This is possible to obtain with amazing precision!

Say you have a sample of captured tanks numbered {57, 103, 406, 44, 91}. That's a sample of five. So take 6/5 of the largest serial number and subtract 1. in this case, (6/5 X 406) -1 = 486 tanks total would be your best guess from doing this once.

The algorithm is to take the largest number out of a random sample of k tanks. Multiply this largest number by (k+1)/k and subtract 1. Now do it for another random set of k numbers. And again...and again...The mean of these numbers is an unbiased estimate which will converge to N, the total number! Assuming that the serial numbers of captured tanks was random to begin with, of course.

In real life, there were about 3000 tanks manufactured and Army Intelligence took random samples of size 100 out of the five hundred or so they captured many times. The mean of these numbers converged to 3001!

Larry

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

H.R. 1388 was passed yesterday, behind our backs

Whether you are an Obama fan, or not, EVERYONE IN THE U. S. needs to know.....

Something happened... H.R. 1388 was passed yesterday, behind our backs. You may want to read about it. It wasn't mentioned on the news.... just went by on the ticker tape at the bottom of the CNN screen.

Obama funds $20M in tax payer dollars to immigrate Hamas Refugees to the USA . This is the news that didn't make the headlines...

By executive order, President Barack Obama has ordered the expenditure of $20.3 million in "migration assistance" to the Palestinian refugees and "conflict victims" in Gaza .

The "presidential determination", which allows hundreds of thousands of Palestinians with ties to Hamas to resettle in the United States, was signed on January 27 and appeared in the Federal Register on February 4.

Few on Capitol Hill, or in the media, took note that the order provides a free ticket replete with housing and food allowances to individuals who have displayed their overwhelming support to the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) in the parliamentary election of January 2006.

Let's review...itemized list of some of Barack Obama's most recent actions since his inauguration:

His first call to any head of state, as president, was to Mahmoud Abbas, leader of Fatah party in the Palestinian territory.

His first one-on-one television interview with any news organization was with Al Arabia television.

His first executive order was to fund/facilitate abortion(s) not just here within the U. S., but within the world, using U. S. tax payer funds.

He ordered Guantanamo Bay closed and all military trials of detainees halted.

He ordered overseas CIA interrogation centers closed.

He withdrew all charges against the masterminds behind the USS Cole and the "terror attack" on 9/11.

Now we learn that he is allowing hundreds of thousands of Palestinian refuges to move to, and live in, the US at American taxpayer expense.

These important, and insightful, issues are being "lost" in the blinding bail-outs and "stimulation" packages.

Doubtful? Verify this for yourself.

PLEASE PASS THIS ON... AMERICA NEEDS TO KNOW

We are losing this country at a rapid pace.

Monday, May 25, 2009

Ten facts about Memorial Day

General Orders No. 11 stated that "in this observance no form of ceremony is prescribed," but over time several customs and symbols became associated with the holiday.

It is customary on Memorial Day to fly the flag at half staff until noon, and then raise it to the top of the staff until sunset.

Taps, the 24-note bugle call, is played at all military funerals and memorial services. It originated in 1862 when Union Gen. Dan Butterfield "grew tired of the 'lights out' call sounded at the end of each day," according to The Washington Post. Together with the brigade bugler, Butterfield made some changes to the tune.

Not long after, the melody was used at a burial for the first time, when a battery commander ordered it played in lieu of the customary three rifle volleys over the grave. The battery was so close to enemy lines, the commander was worried the shots would spark renewed fighting.

The World War I poem "In Flanders Fields," by John McCrea, inspired the Memorial Day custom of wearing red artificial poppies. In 1915, a Georgia teacher and volunteer war worker named Moina Michael began a campaign to make the poppy a symbol of tribute to veterans and for "keeping the faith with all who died." The sale of poppies has supported the work of the Veterans of Foreign Wars.

from CNN

Thursday, May 21, 2009

USMC Sanitation, Monkey-Marble Mountains, Danang, VN

I don't remember if I ever shared this "war story" with you all before but I recently passed it along to another friend. Harry is my oldest surviving friend: we went together through the Marines initial training for commissioned officers, The Basic School, which in 1965 was geared to graduated 2Lts ready to lead infantry. Harry opted to go to Ft. Sill to be trained as an arty officer. When I got back off the USS Repose from my first WIA adventure, Harry had joined our company, Lima 3/1, as our Forward Observer.

This little article tells a lot about my friend. He's a terrific writer and observer of life, being an Alabama lad, grad of Auburn. I thought it not an inappropriate article as we embark upon the Christmas season, ponder our foibles, the never-ending attempts of man to understand his world and meet the challenges presented, and give Thanks.

Semper Fi,
Tom Eagen



Field Sanitation

By Harry Hooper

In mid-September of 1966 I was ordered to an observation post called Crow's Nest. It was on top of Marble Mountain south of the airstrip at Danang. It was the mission of the Crow's Nest observation post to protect the airstrip, and to keep the Viet Cong from damaging the air-conditioned trailers of the aviators, and the nice barracks of their support troops, by firing rockets or mortars at them. The aircraft were a concern also. The mission was to be accomplished by raining artillery fire onto the heads of any VC who had the temerity to attack the big base and the Marine air base which was north and east of the mountain.

Marble Mountain was actually several spindly shafts of rock. The highest one rose 105 meters straight out of the sand just west of the South China Sea and it was upon this rock that the Crow's Nest sat. The mountain was mostly made of marble except that the marble became karst at the higher elevations. The entire mountain was full of caves and tunnels. Most of them were too small for a man to enter. I think if it had been possible to saw it in half it would look like a plank eaten by termites.

At the summit was an area which was 20 feet at its widest and in length, it was perhaps 150 feet. This was occupied by a wooden platform upon which was emplaced a 106 millimeter recoilless rifle. The plan was that anytime the wily Cong fired rockets at the airstrip, they would be engaged immediately by the 106 while the FO, me, would send a fire mission to my artillery battalion which would blast the offending VC into rubble. Since the VC only fired rockets at night, and usually moonless nights, exactly how we were to accomplish this was never revealed to me.

Life on Crow's Nest was not unpleasant. There were eight of us up there. There was the 106 crew, a couple of machine gunners manning a single M-60, my trusty radio operator, Lance Corporal Papkin, and my wireman, PFC Clapp. Once a week a CH-34 helicopter would appear slinging beneath it a cargo net containing C-rats, beer, and cigarettes. Prior lifts had delivered timber and corrogated tin which had been used to construct a comfortable hooch.

We had all of the comforts of home and unlike home, we could wake up mornings to a splendid view of the South China Sea and enjoy spectacular sunsets over the Annamese Mountains. Moreover, we felt safe. The climb to the top of Crow's Nest was quite difficult and entailed shinnying up a hawser for part of the way. At night we would pull the hawser to the top and we felt pretty sure that no VC could get to us, at least not without working up a substantial sweat. Occasionally, at dusk, a sniper would crank off a round or two in our direction and we would answer with a short blast from the M-60. If we were feeling particularly surly, or if a round holed our tin roof, we would reply with a 106 HEAT round.

It did occur to me that my military career would be in serious jeopardy if some enterprising VC got to the top, swung the 106 to the north, and proceeded to blast away at important people's command posts and trailers. Consequently, every time we heard any strange sounds from the side of the mountain we tossed grenades at them.

Days were spent eating, drinking beer, smoking cigarettes, and listening to a tape player which had a single Beatles tape. The album was called "Revolver" and Eleanor Rigby was the featured song, or at least the only one I remember. We must have heard it a thousand times. After enough beer I would actually began to worry about Eleanor's plight.

On a typical day we would watch air traffic circling and landing at Danang. One day we saw a B-52 make an unsuccessful emergency landing. Crow's Nest must have been at least ten miles from the airfield but nevertheless, when the wind was favorable, it was possible to hear C-130's revving up. At night we would watch F-4's and F-105's scream overhead with their afterburners flaring. One night we saw an F-4 get hit by an errant 105 millimeter illumination round and watched in amazement as the pilots parachuted from the plane. More astonishingly, a little Kaman helicopter was there to pick them up almost as soon as they hit the ground.

When vehicles traveled the MSR heading south, to what was then the 1st Battalion, 1st Marines CP, we would watch closely for snipers shooting at them. Occasionally we would see a small firefight between the Marines in the vehicles and the VC. The 106 gunners, who were truly crack shots, would fire at the snipers, undoubtedly scaring the bejesus out of the truckers, and perhaps erasing a few VC.

The 106 had a .50 caliber rifle on top of the weapon. This was called the minor caliber. The 106 itself, was called the major caliber. The gunner, when he found the target with the minor caliber, would yell, "fire the major caliber." The explosion from the recoilless rifle was like the crack of doom. The difference between the minor caliber and the major caliber was like the difference between a hand grenade explosion and the atom bomb.

We also had a dog which provided some entertainment. The dog was named Boom Boom, either out of respect for the 106 or after entertainment of the same name which was available for a few piasters from one of the professional women who plied their trade in the village of Nui Kim Son. It was a nice little dog and probably lived its entire life on top of Crow's Nest since I am sure the OP was occupied by U.S. troops until the pullout. That is not a lot of running room for a dog for an entire lifetime but it probably beat becoming rotisserie dog.

One of the problems with eight Marines on a small piece of real estate was that of field sanitation. This had been temporarily solved by placing a 106 ammo box, with an appropriate hole cut into it, over a shaft in the limestone which was at least 12 to 15 feet straight down. It seemed to angle off to the side after that and we suspected that it continued deep into the mountain. When relieving oneself of C-rats washed down with beer, the alimentary canal produced a product which resounded with a satisfying splat as it bottomed into the abyss of the pit.

In time, the OP, especially at night, became redolent of sewage. As a highly trained second lieutenant, having been a recent graduate of The Basic School, Quantico, Virginia, I resolved to solve this. Someone could have become ill as a result of this situation, or at least gag. Accordingly, I contacted the S-4 on the radio and requested gasoline so that the offending matter could be incinerated. In due time the supply helicopter arrived with its cargo net and with it, four jerry cans of diesel fuel.

It may have been a product of our boredom or the excitement of having something new to accomplish, but in any event, as soon as the cans were unloaded, we removed the ammo box and poured twenty gallons of diesel fuel into the pit. With great anticipation we threw a match into the pit. Nothing. Then we lit a pack of matches and tossed it into the odoriferous hole. Nothing. Then we lit a large splinter from an ammo box and tossed it into the maw. It made a nice little fire for a while but the diesel didn't catch. Next came an illumination grenade. The pit remained as fireless as a tenderfoot with flint and steel. That is when we learned that diesel doesn't burn, at least, it didn't on Crow's Nest. Our disappointment was palpable.

Story continued here.

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

"If you're not a conservative at forty you have no brain."

Dear friends, family, loved ones, conservatives, Republicans, libertarians, my brother in law, Sam, and my cousin Joe: I am sorry and you were right.

These are not easy words for anyone to utter, much less a leftist from Berkeley, or a recovering leftist, that is. Even though I've been in recovery for 14 months, 2 weeks, and 3 days, leftists are always right in your face, in an I-hate-you-if-you-disagree sort of way. Hence, this letter of amends to all the people I've lectured, scolded, ranted and raved at, and otherwise annoyed during my 30 plus years of "progressive" politics.

How did I go from a rabid, sanctimonious liberal whom you steadfastly avoided at family gatherings to a fan of Limbaugh, Hannity, and Savage? Recovery encourages us to share our story, so here's mine:

Story continues here.

American Thinker

Sunday, May 17, 2009

Clear signs of the coming Thermageddon

It's snowing in April. Ice is spreading in Antarctica. The Great Barrier Reef is as healthy as ever.

And that’s just the news of the past week. Truly, it never rains but it pours - and all over our global warming alarmists.

Time’s up for this absurd scaremongering. The fears are being contradicted by the facts, and more so by the week.

Doubt it? Then here’s a test.

Name just three clear signs the planet is warming as the alarmists claim it should. Just three. Chances are your “proofs” are in fact on my list of 10 Top Myths about global warming.And if your “proofs” indeed turn out to be false, don’t get angry with me.

Just ask yourself: Why do you still believe that man is heating the planet to hell? What evidence do you have?

So let’s see if facts matter more to you than faith, and observations more than predictions.

Story continued here

Herald Sun


Girl talk



"Bill thought he was the president, too."


Currahee

"Incredible. Absolutely incredible."
Wow. My dad used to run up and down Mt. Currahee in jump boots (everybody had to) and Mom would pour blood out of them, he had so many blood blisters. No Nike footwear back in 1942!

Lorenzo

Saturday, May 16, 2009

Government controls every drop of water

Democrats aim to control every drop of water in the country, under the guise of dealing with pollution. A bill to “clarify the jurisdiction of the United States over waters of the United States” has been introduced in the Senate — S.787, the Clean Water Restoration Act. To read the text of this bill, we recommend using the Open Congress version , which allows you to post citizen comments. Alternatively, the Library of Congress copy is here.

The bill was introduced by Sen. Russell Feingold (D-WI). His remarks before the Senate on the occasion of introducing the bill are here. Draconian interpretation of government control of US waters in the earlier Clean Water Act had been somewhat limited by Supreme Court decisions. In his opening statement, Feingold made it clear that his purpose was to recover the Orwellian power that had been impaired by the judiciary by means of legislation:

Mr. President, today I am introducing legislation to restore Clean Water Act protections for the same waters that were covered by the Act prior to two recent divisive U.S. Supreme Court decisions.

Here is an enumeration of the waters included:

WATERS OF THE UNITED STATES- The term ‘waters of the United States’ means all waters subject to the ebb and flow of the tide, the territorial seas, and all interstate and intrastate waters and their tributaries, including lakes, rivers, streams (including intermittent streams), mudflats, sandflats, wetlands, sloughs, prairie potholes, wet meadows, playa lakes, natural ponds, and all impoundments of the foregoing, to the fullest extent that these waters, or activities affecting these waters, are subject to the legislative power of Congress under the Constitution.

Congress justifies its power to meddle in every aspect of American life through the “commerce clause” in the US Constitution (Article 1, Section 8, Clause 3):

The Congress shall have Power … To regulate Commerce … among the several States….

The founding fathers only intended that Congress should provide a level playing field for interactions between and among the states. In stark contrast to this original intention stands the extension of “waters” to include “all … intrastate waters and their tributaries.” The language of this bill enables Congress to come onto a private family farm and dictate what a farmer can do with his duck pond, or even with his cistern, which might conceivably be emptied into a ditch that might eventually flow into an intermittant stream!

In short, Congress has the power to prevent any citizen from relying on natural sources of drinking, cooking, and bathing water, and water to sustain a home garden. This legislation, combined with the Food Safety Modernization Act of 2009, means that every United States citizen may only eat and drink at the pleasure of the government.

Of course, most “reasonable” folk will assume that, although the government has this stranglehold on our lives, it will not actually be used for such a purpose. As German history shows, the extent of governmental social engineering depends on who is in power. Recall that Hitler was elected, and for a time, very popular. The more fundamental question is whether we are willing to give government such power over us, in the naive expectation that a government proven incapable of protecting us against food-borne salmonella can provide us with adequate food and water safety. Do we want to take responsibility for assuring our food and water safety ourselves, as informed consumers, or do we want to trust a failed bureaucracy to protect us, at the sacrifice of our fundamental freedom?

Related:

Wikipedia — Clean Water Act