Labor Day...

What is Labor Day all about?

Republicans Barred From Labor Day Parade as Wisconsin Union Fight Simmers


Option A)

Option B)

Option C)

ANSWER:   C, take your socialist parades and shove it!

Things French and Good...

Did you ever think something could be both?


“The American Republic will endure until the day Congress discovers that it can bribe the public with the public's money”

-Alexis de Tocqueville

"When the government violates the people's rights, insurrection is, for the people and for each portion of the people, the most sacred of the rights and the most indispensible of duties."
- Marquis de Lafayette



.

After Action Report...

"Is that all you got!", I screamed into the wind and rain...then the boys laughed at me and we got back to work digging a trench in my manicured lawn to get a pool of water to flow away from the house.

Sons #1 and #2 and I put on our rain gear and tried to determine the cause of several basement leaks just as the worst of it came.  Some were just seeping through the walls - August set a record for rainfall BEFORE Irene, but others were leaking fast.  The house sits about 4 to 5 feet above the street and the low point of the backyard - but it is level right at the base, and the huge amount of rain (coming sideways) overwhelmed the gutters - so we had a moat.

As we were tearing up the lawn, I told the boys it reminded me of "The River" with Mel Gibson (before he, you know, got weird...oh, and the clip is in Spanish...#1, #2 and I speak it - but not last night!).

The clouds were much higher than I thought, black and solid, not like a thunderstorm.  Then just as lightening was flashing, #3 yelled out that there was a tornado warning.

By the time we finished, we were in the eye.  It was so calm, it was creepy. 

Using tarps, dismantling some of the landscaping, even using skim boards - we guided the water away from the house and the leaks stopped.

A co-worker a couple neighborhoods over (I usually wish I had bought over there) lost power early, and its still out.  Ours hung in - flickered a few times, but that's all.

So, other than the small trench in the lawn, and a bunch of wet towels - resetting the clocks was the worst of it...oh, and Mrs. Bannon baked cookies!

Okay, serious now...

The east coast is absolutely preparred.  Politicians have been way out in front of this...but like Katrina, I know there are many in the inner cities who just don't get it.  They live in public housing, recieve welfare credit cards, government job training for jobs they never apply for...and they are incapable of surviving on their own. 

But enough about them, if the storm is bad, you will hear and see them on the news...


The Bannon's, however, are ready:

With no time to catch our breath after the "oh-eleven" earthquake, we are at battle stations.

 - We brought in the lawn furnature (never again!)

 - The windchimes (even the big one, thanks Mom and Dad and Sis) are in

 - The vehicles are full of gas

 - Plenty of food, and plenty of propane if gas gets cut off

 - All water containers are full, freezers full of ice

 - Tubs are full of water

 - Candles at the ready, batteries for flashlights

 - Plenty of first aid kits

 - Sat phone (benefits of the job)

 - Mag's loaded and plenty of ammo, 'case the Zombies get any ideas

Having Boyscouts and a Civil Air Patrol Ranger helps. 

The one thing I didn't do - buy a generator.  It was on my list, but at the bottom. 

The power back here on the east coast seems to go out every storm.  So we may grab our go bags, and head to a hotel with a pool and continental breakfast for a mini-vacation...haven't decided yet.  We're watching to see how much it degrades over NC and VA...

EMERGENCY Update...

Thunderstorms and flashflood warnings for today, hurricane warning in effect. . . grocery stores FULL of people, EMPTY on food . . . roads and evac routes packed . . . emergency resources staged . . . alternate communications systems (sat phones, line of sight radio channels prepared) . . .

...lets check outside...sunny and mild, 83 degrees with a light breeze.

This I do know for a fact...the power will go out.  The power around here goes out EVERY storm.  For that reason, the Bannon's may bug out to a hotel in PA.

...or we may stay, hunker down, and battle the Zombies...

Blah, Blah, Blah...

Wind, rain, flooding...yadda, yadda, yadda.  I think we have become a nation of wimps!  We have been wussified!  It is complete.

"...Up the coast in Jupiter (Florida), a man swimming in the ocean and couldn't be found right away. However, officials say he later was able to get ashore..."

Thank you Associated Press, for that.

That is a long way from Jersey...

Mandatory evacuation of Atlantic County shore communities - including Atlantic City - planned for 6 a.m. Friday

A MANDATORY EVACUATION will be in effect as of 6 AM on Friday, August 26 for residents living on the barrier islands and in the mainlnad communities east of Route 9.

Wait wha? 

Obama is a member of Tea Party...

The video ends, but to Obama's credit, he followed with, "I will add that much debt, and more,  in half the time, but for me, a muslim from Kenya, it's considered patriotic...".   Okay, not true, I added that for Mrs. Bannon.

Even a Broken Clock...

...and then there was this

Is That an Invitation...

...to California?

"...Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Los Angeles) came out swinging against Republicans in Congress on Saturday as she addressed the unemployed during a forum in Inglewood.

The event occurred a day after new statistics were released showing that California's jobless rate last month went up to 12%, from 11.8%. California now has the second-highest rate of unemployment in the nation, trailing only Nevada at 12.9%, and its jobless rate is well above the U.S. average of 9.1%.

Waters vowed to push Congress to focus on creating more jobs. "I'm not afraid of anybody," said Waters. "This is a tough game. You can't be intimidated. You can't be frightened. And as far as I'm concerned, the 'tea party' can go straight to hell..."

It's the Economy, stupid...

Bank of America to Cut 10,000 Jobs

Pentagon Ponders Scrapping Military Pensions

Friday (Today) Nikkei down 2.5% - Hang Sen down 3.1% - European Markets down 7-8% in two days - Dow down 3.68% Thursday...Friday hasn't started here yet.

Morgan Stanley Looks at Possible Pending Double Dip



...and the news about the Republican front-runner:

Perry Questioned on Evolution and Creationism

Miranda, Blowhards, and common sense...

I know that some will read this post, yawn, and moveon.  But it's one of those things that just irks me.

Miranda warnings.  The Supreme Court of the United States said in 1966 that if a person is IN CUSTODY and is BEING QUESTIONED about the crime in question...that person has to be warned that in America, the 5th Amendment to the Constitution guarantees, "...nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself..."

It gets tedious and specific to "in custody" and "being questioned" - which boils down to a cop on a beat has to be a lawyer, only faster because it happens in real time.  If a person's rights were violated (not given the warnings) the remedy is - the statements can not be used against them.  Which 9/10 times means nothing.

Like all rules, there are exceptions.

The SCOTUS has said one of these exceptions is the "public safety exception."  The landmark case in this matter regarded an armed suspect fleeing from the police.  When he was caught, he was not armed.  A cop asked him, without giving Miranda warnings, words to the effect of, "Where is the gun? You don't want some kid to find it, and shoot themselves?" The court ruled that the safety concern caused by the missing gun outweighed the suspect's right to not incriminate himself.

What about terrorists?

THE SAME RULE APPLIES. 

Both rules.

Its news again because a Judge in the State of Washington threw out statements made by the suspect that tried to bomb the MLK Day Parade.

I read THIS ARTICLE and thought - so what?  Hopefully their case does not hang on his statement.

Then I read the last sentence in the article, "TPM noted the usual critics in the past seemed to be missing this time around, possibly because the suspect in the MLK bombing case was not a Muslim."

Which led me to THIS ARTICLE.

How does this become a LEFT vs RIGHT issue, and which side is a RIGHT person supposed to be on?

I'm on the RIGHT (far, far, don't tead on me, raise-your-own-chickens RIGHT)...which side would you think me on?

I'm on the side that says - 'we have a Constitution, we shouldn't have to remind people about it upon their arrest, and a person will be judged by a jury of their peers based on the evidence.'

The issue about Miranda and terrorists - was about a non-citizen flying into the United States with bomb, trying to blow up the plane.  That is an act of war.  The FBI can investigate it - but that does not mean it has to go to a Federal Court, and the Rules of Federal Court should NOT apply.

That may be why the "usual critics" are not sounding off...

Just the Facts M'am...

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker's reforms on public sector unions...are saving money and public sector union jobs.

"...In Appleton, the collective-bargaining reforms allowed the school district there to save $3 million by bidding for health care on the open market. Previously, the district had been required to purchase health insurance from WEA Trust, which is affiliated with the state’s largest teachers’ union. When the Appleton School District put their health-insurance contract up for bid, WEA Trust magically lowered their rates, saying they would match any competitor’s price — a sign they had been fleecing local taxpayers for years..."

Philadelphia's black Democrat Mayor Michael Nutter took a page out of Bill Cosby's book and called a...well put black families in their place (I hope white families were listening too!)

"...At the end of his talk, he directly addressed today’s teenagers in a volcano of indignation that brought parishioners to their feet. “If you want us to respect you,” he thundered, “take those doggone hoodies down, especially in summer,” “pull your pants up and buy a belt,” “comb your hair,” “learn some manners,” “keep your butt in school,” and “extend your English vocabulary beyond the few curse words that you know...”

During the debate, Mitt Romney brought up what should be brought up and explained on many of these issues - the roll of the Federal Government vs. the roll of the States.  Andrew McCarthy explains it well...better than Mitt.

"...That is the way our system is supposed to work. The federal government has a few discrete areas of national concern to regulate. The rest belong to the states and the people, to regulate or not as they see fit. In a free society, that means decisions on most matters of community life get made by the community that has to live with them — and pay for them. In a pluralistic society, that means we could have 50 different ways of doing things — meaning that if you find yourself in a state that is foolish enough to mandate the purchase of health insurance subsidized by taxes or penalties, you are free to move to some state that isn’t..."

When it comes to the giant green (white) wind turbines - they don't just ruin the scenery, when the wind doesn't blow - they suck.

"...Consider the afternoon of August 2, when electricity demand hit 67,929 megawatts. Although electricity demand and prices were peaking, output from the state’s wind turbines was just 1,500 megawatts, or about 15 percent of their total nameplate capacity. Put another way, wind energy was able to provide only about 2.2 percent of the total power demand even though the installed capacity of Texas’s wind turbines theoretically equals nearly 15 percent of peak demand. This was no anomaly. On four days in August 2010, when electricity demand set records, wind energy was able to contribute just 1, 2, 1, and 1 percent, respectively, of total demand..."

Having not paid attention to the riots in England for the first few days, I came home and asked the Mrs. if she knew what it was all about? Victor Davis Hanson explains exactly what we thought - its a bunch of punks that need to be kicked in the teeth (well that's what I took out of his piece).

"...A final note: Furor often arises not over draconian cuts to entitlements per se, but over suggested cuts to the expansion of subsidies, and the most aggrieved at such cutbacks are not always just the recipients but also the worried state stewards who administer and are invested in the system of state support."

The Obama Doctrine Defined


Douglas J. Feith & Seth Cropsey in Commentary

 
"...Two large ideas animate the Obama Doctrine. The first is that America’s role in world affairs for more than a century has been, more often than not, aggressive rather than constrained, wasteful rather than communal, and arrogant in promoting democracy, despite our own democratic shortcomings. Accordingly, America has much to apologize for, including failure to understand others, refusal to defer sufficiently to others, selfishness in pursuing U.S. interests as opposed to global interests, and showing far too much concern for U.S. sovereignty, independence, and freedom of action. The second idea is that multilateral institutions offer the best hope for restraining U.S. power and moderating our national assertiveness.

President Obama promoted this perspective of American history in his June 2009 speech in Cairo, which remains his presidency’s most important foreign-policy pronouncement. In that carefully crafted discourse, Obama explained the poor relations between America and Muslims generally by citing “colonialism that denied rights and opportunities to many Muslims.” He contrasted his own all-encompassing view of humanity with the parochialism of his countrymen in general, lamenting: “Some in my country view Islam as inevitably hostile…to human rights.” Americans’ response to the attacks of September 11, 2001, Obama noted apologetically, “led us to act contrary to our ideals.” Suggesting that long-standing American efforts to establish standards of acceptable international behavior amount to no more than a self-interested and doomed attempt to impose our will on others, he proclaimed that “any world order that elevates one nation or group of people over another will inevitably fail.” He was here condemning what he perceives as overweening and unrestricted American power and declaring independence from America’s record of bad behavior..."

"...The main ideas in the Cairo speech were foreshadowed in an article Obama wrote for Foreign Affairs in 2007. He associated the words “freedom” and “democracy” with Bush administration rhetoric: “People around the world have heard a great deal of late about freedom on the march. Tragically, many have come to associate this with war, torture, and forcibly imposed regime change.” Fighting terrorism, Obama said, requires “more than lectures on democracy.”

Obama expostulated that America “can neither retreat from the world nor try to bully it into submission.” And so he called for a strategy against terrorists that “draws on the full range of American power, not just our military might.” Reform of multinational institutions, he declared, “will not come by bullying other countries to ratify changes we hatch in isolation.” What is more, “when we do use force in situations other than self-defense, we should make every effort to garner the clear support and participation of others...”




I agree with them on what Obama's vision is.  Though I don't believe he is capable of expressing it like that, on his own, without a ghost writer, or a team of advisers.  I don't believe him able to articulate it.  He is clean, he is intelligent, but he is not a creator, a doer, and he is not a leader.

This man's world revolves around his wants and desires, where people tell him he is smart and great, where his struggles have been small and imagined, and his accomplishments are empty and hollow...his shortsighted lack of perspective from history and true events has put this nation in a position of vulnerability, and in that area his work is unfinished. 

America was smacked on September 11, 2001.  President Bush and others took action to get us off our heels, lower our center of gravity, shake it off and move in the right direction.  With blinders on, the opposition focused on the imperfections, willfully distorted the intentions, and basked in the safety and security provided by the men of action they derided.

What doesn't kill us, may make us stronger.  But first, it has to not kill us.

What They're Up Against...

(Republican Presidential hopefulls that is...)

I'm sure he will be their Man of the Year in 2012

How can you not vote for that?

Didn't George W. Bush get this cover too?

"Era"?  "ERA?"

Does this look like a 'Hussein' to you?

My Ebony subscription ran out before this one came...

We are all Barack Obama.

Forget Luke Skywalker, we have this guy!

It doesn't even have to be real, they will print it!

98.9% of subscribers will vote for him...which is .000098% of the population.

Chris Christie won't be getting this cover.

There's a Men's Vogue?

Really? REALLY?

Tonight is the GOP debate ahead of the straw poll in Iowa. 

...but I really thought we would have SOMEBODY by now that I thought could (easily) challenge Osama..er...Obama bin...the President.  Somebody with a good record of leadership, somebody that would motivate conservatives AND win over middle-of-the-roaders.

...that being said, hats off to Chris Christie, Marco Rubio, Allen West for saying 'not yet, let me finish what I'm doing that made you want me to run,' and to Paul Ryan for saying, 'I can do alot for America where I am.'

All the talk about Rick Perry does not excite me. I like his conservative credentials, but can he win the middle...outside of Texas? Like alot of good conservatives - he was a Democrat until 1989 - that is a plus in my book. However, he seems too Romney-politician-like to me?



                       

Mitt Perry



Rick Romney

So...I would vote for Michelle Bachmann.  I don't want her to be President.  Maybe down the road.  I do think she speaks for me.  There will be questions about her personal activities on social issues, and I hope she does well to address them quickly, stand up for herself, and explain that she was not elected on those issues, and she is not running on those issues.

I did hear that Sarah Palin will be showing up ahead of the straw poll, and that she has 'extensive' fundraising going on in Iowa under the national radar.  I like Sarah Palin, alot, I hope she doesn't run.

Its not just the constant and overt battle with the media that makes me not want either of these great women running, its that I don't think they inspire the middle.  Ronald Reagan (I know, I know, we can't compare everybody to Reagan) polarized the far left - but he owned the middle.  That is what the country needs. 

Three In a Row...

In November 2010, Wisconsin elected Republican Governor Scott Walker, and gave the Republicans a majority in the State Senate to go along with a majority in the State House.  Walker campaigned on strong conservative principals, and immediately started delivering.

THAT'S ONE...

...yadda, yadda, yadda...and opened the countries eyes to what has happened to unions in this country, by highlighting problems they have caused in Wisconsin.  First, it was mandatory - a part of a government employees paycheck automatically went to the union.  Second...no lets just stay with that one - what country is this?

The people of Wisconsin voted.  Walker and the legislature began to act, by not only changing the law that says taxpayer funded government workers don't HAVE to join the union, but changing the law that says the fact that you don't have to join the union - can't be re-negotiated by...the union. 

So what did the Democrats in the minority do? They fled the state. 

When we saw the protesters in the Wisconsin capitol building earlier this year:

Did the 24-7 main-stream-media coverage ever ask them, "Which party are you in?"  No. They were portrayed as 'teachers', 'firefighters', 'carpenters' and other hard working union members.  Most were student activists from the University of Wisconsin, but there were alot of teachers there.

Not all teachers are bad (note the generation this teacher appears to come from)

The law is the law, and it didn't matter that the Dems fled. 

Then, earlier this spring, Wisconsin's Supreme Court Justice David Prosser was up for re-election (the idea of Judges campaigning does not sit right with me).  Officially these are 'non-partisan' seats, but what a joke.  AGAIN, the Right leaning justice was re-elected.  The Dems, when they thought they were winning, said this election was a referendum on Walker's conservative agenda.  Walker publicly agreed. 

THAT'S TWO

...blah, blah, blah - yesterday, six Republican State Senators had to campaign again, for a RECALL ELECTION.  That they were elected was not enough - that their counterparts FLED THE STATE was not enough.  The Unions pumped tens of millions of dollars into the recall...

...2 out 6 Republicans lost, which leaves the Senate in the hands of the Republicans.  (Word is that one of those will switch back after district boundaries change).

THAT'S THREE

...and next week, 2 Democrats face recall.

My hope - that the 2 Democrats lose (even though I am against the recall), just to prove a point to the unions.  If that happens, it will be FOUR IN A ROW, for Conservative Ideas and FREEDOM Vs. Union Crap.


Comment of note:

 “I think this is one of those defining moments in Wisconsin’s history and our nation’s history” - Gov. Scott Walker

He has not complained about the unfairness, he has said at each step that the outcome will decide if the voters really wanted what they voted for.

Nuts!