Something to Think About

afghanistan

afghanistan (Photo credit: The U.S. Army)

A friend sent me this e-mail today. We’ve  heard the stories, but never as a comparison. Similar incidents did occur but the treatment of the shooter is somewhat different between them. Why?

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Double Standard

After reading the headlines about the US soldier who shot up Afghanistan civilians, I couldn’t help noticing an irony.  There is all this clamor to try this guy quickly and execute him, never mind his having suffered a traumatic brain injury.

Yet this Major Hasan, who shot up Fort Hood while screaming Allah Akbar, still hasn’t stood trial, and they are still debating whether he was insane, even with the clear evidence regarding his motive: slay as many infidels as possible.  So we have a guy in a war zone who cracks, and he must be executed immediately.

But this Muslim psychiatrist who was stateside in a nice safe office all day murders 13, wounds 29 of our own guys, and they try to argue the poor lad suffered post-traumatic stress syndrome, from listening to real soldiers who had actual battle experience.  Two and a half years later, they still haven’t tried the murderous bastard.

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Has the EPA Met the End Of Its Usefulness?


It figures, Obama caves on the Keystone pipeline and it is a joke. It is not April Fool’s Day yet “O.”

Today, I drove west on US Route 30 through a construction zone. This road is the original cross-country highway across America stretching from New York to San Francisco, but now it is a local road replaced by Interstate eighty. It doesn’t really matter which direction I drive, the road is under construction. It is a nightmare slalom course through colorful orange barrels. All along the route there are signs, paid for by you, and me declaring “WETLAND NO INTRUSION.” Often they attach them to a temporary fence stretched across a property in question. Route 30 crosses several creeks, forest preserves, and genuine wetlands. Each area is defined by a fence that is patrolled by the EPA for intrusion . What in the world does it mean, and what protection does it afford to you and me? With a little research I determined that the EPA intention is to decrease the impact of a project on a wetland.

So, here I sit in the Department of Transportation Office designing a major road improvement that widens a road from two lanes to four. My road crosses several creeks which means I have to build more bridge lanes to cross. Now how in the world do I do that without encroaching on the wetland? The EPA wants me to minimize encroachment. As an engineer, it is my job to get the project done to specification on time, and within the estimated cost. Why would I destroy more stream than is necessary to build my bridge? Isn’t that I am building a bridge evidence it is not my intention to destroy the creek? Why do you make me add cost to survey the line of allowed encroachment, build a fence and hang a sign to remind me where the line is?

A sensible engineer would lay a couple of pipes across the  span and fill in over it to create a roadbed.  In doing this he gambles that pipes he laid will accommodate the largest rush of  water nature supplies. If he loses the road floods and or washes out. In order to prevent that he builds a bridge which minimizes restriction to water flow. He doesn’t need a stupid reminder from the EPA about his responsibility. His job is to keep traffic moving safely and quickly.

How many road projects are there in America, and how many creeks and wetlands with fences and signs?  The cost is horrendous. So what?  Well, I just paid my 2011 income tax and I’m pissed about my contribution to the cause.  I am not in the one percent being picked on by Occupy Wall Street, and Obama, and by now I am probably no longer in the middle class since I haven’t earned a penny in ten years. Every dollar I pay in tax hurts, and every dollar I pull from my 401K advances me a bit closer toward  SSI and Medicaid. All you youngsters out there better be praying that I die off  before that happens or the burden of providing for my welfare will fall upon you. That is why I say get rid of the EPA, and a number of other burdensome agencies that have no useful purpose in society other than to harass the citizenry, and stop real progress from happening..

PPACA is Creeping Into Our Lives


Questionnaire required by Obama Care

Today, I had the misfortune to need a doctor. It wasn’t an emergency, I just needed relief from a nagging sinus infection. I checked in at the window and the receptionist handed me the above  questionnaire.

“Fill it out and give it to the nurse.”

“Okay.”

I sat down and read the questions. At first, I thought it was the sinus affecting my thinking, but as I read further and pondered how to answer, it made little to no sense. Even so, I completed the questions and added a lot of extra words in order for it to make sense to me.  A good form design allows one to circle answers without having to write an essay on each question.

I quickly surmised that two of the four questions targeted women, so I didn’t answer them I don’t think I need a mammogram, nor a bone density scan.

I had a colonoscopy last summer, so I circled  yes, and wrote 2011 to answer when? What threw me for a loop was the second line

“No/Do you wish to have one?” Suppose I didn’t have one last year, do I circle “No/?” Where do I reply for “Do you wish to have one?” Do I circle the “Yes?”  But, that means I had one, and what if I don’t want one?  What if I had one and answered yes, but want another one? Where and how do I answer?

I did my best and signed it.

I handed it to the nurse when I entered the exam room, and told her this form gives me the impression it is from the PPACA. She looked confused, “Obama Care,”  I said. She smiled and asked me to step on the scale.

My Doc came in and I hit him between the eyes with his dumb form, he glared at me. We’ve known each other for twelve years so I knew he could take my shit. In spite of my antagonism, he examined me, and we discussed my symptoms, he wrote three prescriptions. As he left the room he said, “You know that form is from the  man who currently resides in a big White House, don’t you?”

“I kind of figured that is where it came from, it is probably page 1913.”

Doc explained that Obama Care requires screening for diseases, if doctors can’t prove they are doing the screening they won’t get paid. I can tell you that my doctor does plenty of pre-screening which is why I had a colonoscopy last summer and I got my flu-shot in September. The difference is now he has to make his patients fill out a dumb form and he has to keep it for future inspections to prove he screened me. Now that is saving a lot of money for you and me isn’t it? I bet the guy who comes to audit the Doctor will make $150,000 a year, won’t have a high school diploma, he will belong to the SEIU, and the talent agent who recommends him will be ACORN.

Happy Anniversary Obama Care!

Please take the  pol below on healthcare.

Pinwheels for Pinheads

With all the brain power hired to transform the country under the guise of Hope and Change we don’t seem to have two cents worth of common sense in the lot. The sad fact is that these guys really believe they are saving the country.

Steven Chu current Secretary of Energy is impressive with his PhD degree from Berkley and his Nobel prize for Physics, but his brain is disengaged  from reality. He fails to realize that man-made global warming is a myth formulated to rob the USA of its wealth. Does he care? Nope. He really believes that by forcing the price of gas to rise to $8.00 per gallon that the population will rush to buy electric cars and bicycles. What will really happen totally escapes him, the population will be standing in line in front of a soup kitchen looking for nourishment. Eight dollar gas will kill commerce and shrink the economy further.  His vision sees the once great USA with pure air and the population living like people in Kenya. Sorry, Kenya, I don’t mean to pick on you, but you are responsible for the Roots of Obama’s Rage.

If Chu is so concerned about the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere he should work on a plan to sever California from the mainland. The state is one of very few places in the world where the the sky is perpetually gray-green and the Interstates are five to six lanes wide in each direction, and rush hour resembles a mass migration of lemmings headed for the edge of  a cliff.

Where in the world did Obama get these guys? How can one man be associated with so many weirdo advisors in such a short lifetime?

Saint Baldricks Day in the Garden Listening to a Chorus of Singers

At my last Lions club meeting Lion Virgil announced that the Frankfort Chief of Police was going to shave his head as part of the local Saint Baldrick’s  event to raise money for cancer research. The club donated to his cause since the Chief is a Lion. Then, another Lion member raised his hand and announced that he too is going to shave his head to raise money. He wanted to have his business initials R N R carved into his sideburns, but I’m sure the hair cutter will only know how to do one thing, shave heads.

This morning, I attacked the garden in preparation for the Monet Vision 2012. The place is a mess. Fallen leaves tucked in every corner, spent flower stalks dried and ratty looking, I had to do something. So today, was Saint Baldrick’s day in the garden, I cut the grasses to make room for the new grass coming up. It is two months before our last safe freeze day on May 15, but the temperature is eighty-four degrees, and stuff is exploding out of the ground. Here are some head shaves to meditate upon:

Before the Head Shave

After the Head Shave

Pond Grass In Winter Dress

Pond Grass with Saint Baldrick's Treatment

Lake Grass After The Eighth Easiest Winter In Chicago History

Lake Grass Gone!

One of the best things to happen as I cut away, was the serenade of baby frogs in the pond. Every so often, I  crept to the edge of the water and stood real still to look for the singers.  Each time they shut up as I got close. Later, when I wasn’t looking, I spotted one jump out of the reeds a few feet away. They still sport a winter black coat. By July, they will turn a gorgeous green.

As part of the Monet Vision 2012’s grass shave effort to raise funds for childhood-cancer research, the Donate Now button below is active to allow you to do so. All funds collected by the Monet Vision 2012 will go directly to the cause.