Hi Peter, I'm Paul. Give me all your money...

There’s just seemingly no end to the bullshittery coming from Washington. Putting proof to the old maxim of “robbing Peter to pay Paul”, the White House is looking to cut its filthy-huge budget deficit by using some unspent funds from the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), according to the Wall Street Journal.

Members of the administration are still debating the idea, the paper said, adding that the administration would still like to keep some of the unspent money in case of emergencies. I’m sure they would…

A U.S. Treasury source told Reuters that it was shifting the focus of the TARP program toward helping small business and the housing sector rather than large banks. Maybe that’s because they already own the effing banks, and own the lending part of the housing market, and are now trying to steal the rest, along with stealing small businesses too.

"As that focus shifts, we expect to use significantly less TARP funding than authorized," the source said. "We will maintain the flexibility to deal with a future crisis, and uninvested TARP money is dedicated to reducing the debt."
In plain English, without bullshit DC-doublespeak, the Feral Gummint® wants to bail out a deficit brought about by a stimulus bailout package by funneling in money from…you guessed it…say it with me now…another federal stimulus bailout package?

The administration wants to keep some of the unspent funds available for emergencies,like pizza runs in Air Force One, and beer parties for people who act stupidly, but they’re considering setting aside a chunk for debt reduction, according to people familiar with the matter. It is also expected to lower the projected long-term cost of the program -- the amount it expects to lose -- to as little as $200 billion from $341 billion estimated in August. I call bullshit….by taking money from column A and shifting it to column B, that just moves the debt around. It’s still debt and it’s still there. Moving all of your credit card debts into a debt consolidation loan doesn’t erase your debts; it just frees up those now-paid cards to be filled up again.


The U.S. budget deficit soared to a record $1.4 trillion last fiscal year and is expected to be about the same this fiscal year as the economic slump caused tax revenues to plunge and spending soared. But fear not, kids; taxes will soon be through the roof. You name it; Obama will tax it to pay for his insanity.

I bet you didn’t know that as part of the Democrats’ imbecile health plan that they plan to tax “medical instruments”, did you? Yeah, they plan to drop about $40 BILLION in taxes on the manufacturers of medical devices over the next ten years, which means that they in turn will pass the taxes on to consumers with higher prices. That means you and me gotta pay a bunch more for medical devices to finance this FUBAR pipe dream.

And I’m pretty sure that the current outlines of the plan will change as soon as they can ram it up America’s collective ass, since that seems to be the general Modus Operandi on the administration…have the staffers write a bill that the sponsoring Congresscreature won’t even read, shove it through at warp speed so that no one gets to read it or dissect it to see what bullshittery it contains, and pass the bill before anyone can say no, usually while the nation is distracted by something else, and then the truth comes out after it’s too late.

Under the Senate committee bill, "Class I products" -- consumer products such as tongue depressors and cotton swabs -- and more complex "Class II" retail products under $100, such as thermometers, would be exempt from the tax, as well as companies with less than $5 million in annual U.S. sales, according to Senate aides. However, once they aren’t getting enough money out of us and have bled dry all the small businesses, they’ll change the rules to where things like tampons and toothbrushes will be considered medical devices. Soon thereafter, medical devices will require special licensing and user fees and governmental oversight and federal permissions.

Imagine that…a tampon license…In Bizarrobama World, anything’s possible.

All I wanted was a cheeseburger...

When I woke up for work today at 0230 (that’s 2:30 AM for some of you), I was a bit surprised to find that Mrs. Steve had placed a copy of my DD Form 214 on my laptop next to my car keys. A DD214 is your Certificate of Release or Discharge from Active Duty (ie: Discharge Papers is the easiest explanation). Needless to say I was puzzled, until she told me that with today being Veteran’s Day, I could hop on over after work to Applebee’s and get a free meal with proof of my service.

Cool. Verrrry cool.

So I went to work and skipped my usual 8AM lunch, to be sure I had room for what I daydreamed of all morning, either a medium rare steak or a juicy bacon cheeseburger. It was pouring rain sideways all day, and a nice hot meal would really brighten my day.

Work finally ends and I fight the lunch-hour traffic idiocy on my way to my Meaty Mecca.(People here can't drive properly on dry roads on a clear sunny day. Throw in the least bit of precip, and I may as well be driving convoy in Fallujah). Finally, Applebee’s is in sight. However, there’s a glitch. The place is absolutely slammed. There’s a line out the door. I drove around the building 3 times and not a single parking spot to be found. I finally ended up over a hundred yards away on a side street in the grass. It seems that every single military retiree, veteran, and active duty body in Charleston had descended on the place. It’s 5 miles from the Air Force base and about 10 miles from the Navy base.

I waited in the car for like 20 minutes or so, waiting for the rain to let up, and all the while more and more people kept piling in. Carload after carload of impossibly young troops out for lunch. Yet another shiny new Mustang pulls up & disgorges a pair or post-pubescent defenders of democracy, dressed alike in their plaid shorts, flip flops, and Ed Hardy t-shirts. Combine their ages and I think I’m still older by a year or two. Been out of boot camp for five whole minutes, they had the day off, and they wanted their free lunch. I got up for work before basic trainees even get up, and I get an Applebee’s that looked like Wal-Mart on Black Friday.

I hate lines & crowds & rain. Defeated, I drove away dejectedly. No reward today for my Cold War service. I ended up eating a rather mediocre lunch in a deserted Popeye’s. All I wanted was my cheeseburger, and ended up with indigestion from red beans & rice.

Oh well; there’s always next year.

On the plus side, my friend Wil was able to get the day off today. One of his co-workers actually donated a vacation day so that Wil could be off on Veteran’s Day.The dude verily insisted that Wil get the day off. That’s class act, I tell ya’.

Veteran's Day 2009

As I always do each November, it’s time for me to take a minute and salute my fellow veterans.

It’s been almost 22 years since I said my goodbyes at the bus station in Portsmouth, New Hampshire on a sunny and cold January afternoon and rode up to Portland, Maine to begin my odyssey into a chapter of my life that never fully ended. You can take the boy out of the Army, but you can’t ever really take the Army out of the boy.

I am exceedingly proud of the time I spent serving our great nation. From an early age I knew that I wanted to be a soldier, at least for a while before I went on to other things. Some kids want to be firemen or cops or pro athletes or even rock stars. Not me; I wanted to be a soldier. (Okay, for a short time I wanted to be a paleontologist, but that was in the mid-70’s before dinosaurs were cool. But then a killjoy told me that I’d never make any money digging up bones, so I scuttled that dream and started over)

I come from a long line of soldiers and sailors, and I have family still in who carry on the tradition. My people have fought in many a conflict, from the Boer War to WW2 to Vietnam to the Cold War to the Global War on Terror. On one side we trace our roots back to the Crusades.

This year, Veteran’s Day takes on an even more special meaning for a couple of reasons.

Within the past couple weeks, through Facebook, I’ve been able to get back in touch with four of the guys I served with in Germany and hadn’t really talked to since 1990. We picked right back up again just like it had only been a couple weeks apart instead of 19 years, and it really says something about the bond we shared as soldiers & comrades & friends.

And of course, it’s also a somber Veteran’s Day as we reflect on the hideous, murderous, treasonous terrorist act of murder at Fort Hood.

I leave you all with a couple quotes…

"For those who have fought for it, freedom has a flavor the protected will never know..."--Tim Craft

“We few, we happy few, we band of brothers. For he today that sheds his blood with me shall be my brother; be never so vile. This day shall gentle his condition. And gentlemen in England now abed shall think themselves accursed they were not here, and hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks that fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day. “—William Shakespeare


And of course, the poem that I first read on the wall of a classroom at the United States Army Military Police School in 1988…

I was that which others did not want to be.

I went where others feared to go and did what others failed to do.

I asked nothing from those who gave nothing and reluctantly accepted the thought of eternal loneliness...should I fail.

I have seen the face of terror; felt the stinging cold of fear; and enjoyed the sweet taste of a moments love.

I have cried, pained, and hoped...but most of all, i have lived times others would say were best forgotten.

At least someday, I will be able to say that i was proud of what I was...a Soldier.

George L. Skypeck

Happy 234th Birthday, USMC!

Wishing all of my friends and readers from the United States Marine Corps, past & present, a happy 234th birthday. Semper Fi, Devil Dogs!

"The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down..."

As a kid growing up in the 70’s, there was this one mournful song that always stuck in my head, one of those story-telling songs lamenting an untimely demise. In this case, the untimely demise was that of the bulk ore carrier Edmund Fitzgerald, lost with all 29 hands in a storm 34 years ago tonight on Lake Superior.

I was six years old at the time of the sinking, and seven when Gordon Lightfoot’s song about the ship became popular the following November of 1976. It was probably another 3 or 4 years before I realized that the song was about a real ship and a real tragedy. Twenty-nine men went to sea and never came home, men with lives and families. The youngest among them would be 56 now…

Captain Ernest M. McSorley, 63
First Mate John H. McCarthy, 62
Second Mate James A. Pratt, 44
Third Mate Michael E. Armagost, 37
Wheelsman John D. Simmons, 60
Wheelsman Eugene O'Brien, 50
Wheelsman John J. Poviach, 59
Watchman Ransom E. Cundy, 53
Watchman William J. Spengler, 59
Watchman Karl A. Peckol, 55
Chief Engineer George J. Holl, 60
First Assistant Edward E. Bindon, 47
Second Assistant Thomas E. Edwards, 50
Second Assistant Russell G. Haskell, 40
Third Assistant Oliver "Buck" J. Champeau, 41
Oiler Blaine H. Wilhelm, 52
Oiler Ralph G. Walton, 58
Oiler Thomas Bentsen, 23
Wiper Gordon MacLellan, 30
Special Maintenance Man Joseph W. Mazes, 59
AB Maintenance Thomas D. Borgeson, 41
Deck Maintenance Mark A. Thomas, 21
Deck Maintenance Paul M. Riipa, 22
Deck Maintenance Bruce L. Hudson, 22
Steward Robert C. Rafferty, 62
Second Cook Allen G. Kalmon, 43
Porter Frederick J. Beetcher, 56
Porter Nolan F. Church, 55
Cadet David E. Weiss, 22


Rest in peace, boys.

"Ich bin beschäftigt"

Conrad Schumann bails out of East Berlin to a better life...

In a speech at the Brandenburg Gate commemorating the 750th anniversary of Berlin on June 12, 1987, Ronald Reagan challenged Mikhail Gorbachev, then the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union:

“We welcome change and openness; for we believe that freedom and security go together, that the advance of human liberty can only strengthen the cause of world peace. There is one sign the Soviets can make that would be unmistakable, that would advance dramatically the cause of freedom and peace. General Secretary Gorbachev, if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union and eastern Europe, if you seek liberalization, come here to this gate. Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate. Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!”

Twenty years ago, I was in the Army; a 20-year old Military Policeman stationed 5,000 miles from home in Goeppingen, Germany. It was a great little city full of wonderful people, and I was lucky to be serving with some really great guys in my squad. At the time, Germany was still two separate countries, East & West, and Berlin was a divided city punctuated by a giant concrete wall.

All that was about to change…

After 28 years, nearly 5,000 escape attempts, and as many as 200 deaths, the East German government announced on November 9, 1989, after several weeks of civil unrest, that all East Germans citizens could visit West Germany and West Berlin. Crowds of East Germans climbed onto and crossed the wall, joined by West Germans on the other side in a celebratory atmosphere. It was one giant continual party. You could feel a palpable change in the air, and we knew the Cold War was ending and that we’d won.


Less than two months later, a massive New Year’s Eve party was held at the Wall. Nationwide, Germans partied it up while David Hasselhoff sang his hit single ”Looking for Freedom” from atop a platform, wearing a leather coat full of light bulbs and a piano-key scarf, looking for all the world like a complete douche, but the Germans loved it. I’d recently made friends with a fellow named Thomas Kaps, a former East German soldier who had defected to the west and could now safely go home and visit his mother, who didn’t even know he’d defected six months earlier. I was there in-country as a part of history. By God, as a soldier I felt proud to have been there. It was a great time to be alive.

The fall of the Berlin Wall paved the way for German reunification, which was formally concluded on October 3, 1990, about 3 months after I left Germany.

Last weekend former German Chancellor Helmut Kohl, at the beginning of the celebrations to make the anniversary of the fall of the wall, standing together with former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev and former U.S. President George H. W. Bush, said, “We Germans in our history don’t have very much to be proud of.” But he continued. “I have nothing better to be proud of than German reunification.”

On November 9, 2009, Berlin will celebrate the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall with a "Festival of Freedom", during which over 1,000 foam domino tiles over 8 feet tall will be stacked along the former route of the wall in the city center and toppled. Mega rock band U2 played a free concert for 10,000 fans at the Brandenburg Gate on Thursday night, surrounded by a two-meter high barrier wall to obscure the view of the show by non-ticket holders. How ironic that Champion Of Freedom, almighty Bono, does a show to commemorate the fall of the Berlin Wall from behind a new Berlin Wall.


And notably absent from the celebrations will be Mister Freedom Himself, B-Hussein-Obama. His Obamaness has decided to snub fellow world leader Angela Merkel and not go to Berlin for the celebrations. I find this odd; he’s a total media whore and loves to make speeches. Even if his Brotherhood of the Traveling TelePrompter can’t set up his favorite screens with a 240-volt converter, I’m sure he can borrow one while over there. Obie loves to travel to foreign lands on our dime to kiss peoples’ asses, so why turn down a trip this time? Maybe it’s because he’d be celebrating freedom and the Right’s victory over socialism in the Cold War and that’s distatseful to him?

He claims that he’s too busy getting ready for an upcoming trip to Asia, and I guess he needs to study up on who to bow to and who he needs simply to apologize to. Uber Democrat JFK famously told the locals, "Ich bin ein Berliner." On the 20th anniversary of the last century's biggest triumph of freedom, Obama is telling them, "Ich bin beschäftigt" - i.e., I'm busy. Nice way to repay that crowd of up to 200,000 that came to see you in Berlin last year, Obie, you dunce.

How's that Hope & Change working out for you, Germany? Feeling lied to? Join the club, meine freunden

I sense a great disturbance in The Force

Hey gang. I know I haven't written much the past few weeks. Been filling in for my boss, who had heart surgery. I just don't have a lot of spare time right now. Plus, working at 4AM means I'm up at 2:30 AM, before some of you on the west coast are even asleep.

Sadly, I lost two subscribers this week. I dunno why. I found it an interesting coincidence to lose two places on my "followers" list after I put up a blog in favor of gay marriage. Maybe someone got their feelings hurt that I questioned religion, or that I had a viewpoint on a certain topic that wasn't conservative enough for them and sounded too Liberal.

I assure you, dear readers, that I am NOT a Lib. I just look at certain things from a differing viewpoint. I've become a bit worn out from constantly writing about politics, and have been seeking less mentally taxing topics to write about. Perhaps I've become boring now that I'm spending less time skewering the administration?

I take my readership seriously. I've tried really hard to provide something that's entertaining & fun to read, in addition to being thought-provoking. I love the fact that my obscure little corner of the universe has grown so much this year and that I'm now associated with so many top-notch fellow bloggers.

Fear not...I have some stuff I'll be writing about this weekend that should be what you've become used to...some people have been pissing me off and I'll unload in my usual fashion.

Peace.

Maine votes on gay marriage

Most people say they’re for equality, so long as everyone conforms to what they believe in…

Well, whattaya’ know? It’s Election Day. Perhaps the Republicans will score a few victories today and begin the march towards 2012. I know that’ll sit pretty poorly with my liberal friends, but hey, most everyone knows I’m a conservative. If not, they do now.

Up in my former home state of Maine, voters are today deciding on whether to overturn their law allowing same-sex marriages. I sincerely hope that Maine’s voters vote “No” on ballot question 1 and keep marriage equality for all Mainers. I’m sure that’ll sit poorly with my conservative friends, but hey, everyone knows I’m okay with gay marriage.

In fact, I’ve written about gay marriage, or at least mentioned it, a few times in the past:
http://mojosteve.blogspot.com/2009/06/didja-know-june-was-gay-pride-month.html
http://mojosteve.blogspot.com/2008/06/just-legalize-gay-weddings-already.html
http://mojosteve.blogspot.com/2007/10/i-hear-that-train-comin-its-comin-down.html
http://mojosteve.blogspot.com/2007/05/some-stupidness-from-news.html

and my two posts for National Coming Out Day:
http://mojosteve.blogspot.com/2008/10/happy-national-coming-out-day.html
http://mojosteve.blogspot.com/2009/10/happy-coming-out-day-2009.html

Does this make me gay? Not hardly. I’m a devout heterosexual who happens to have gay friends and supports those same friends. You don’t catch the Gay Cooties, and hanging out with homosexual friends doesn’t turn you gay. That’s absurd. Just because a cat has kittens in the oven, that don’t make ‘em biscuits.

Does this make me Anti-Marriage? Not at all. That’s also absurd. I’m such a fan of marriage that I’ve done it twice. Didn’t quite get it right the first time, but I’m rather enjoying it the second time around.

Does this make me Anti-Family? No. I have a family, so how can I be against families?
Does this make me Anti-Christian? Possibly. I’m not gonna start stoning you in the street or beheading you on streaming internet though. I would prefer to say I’m more along the lines of Anti-Forcing-Your-Religious-Views-On-Everyone-By-Saying-God-Will-Send-You-To-Hell.

Face it, good Christians; with one face you espouse this notion of forging a personal relationship with God and that this Christian God is loving and forgiving and understanding and all-knowing and infallible, and with the other face you tell people that God hates them and they’re going to Hell.

Mmmm’kay…did the Lord whisper this in your ear via a burning bush that these people were hated? I mean sure, you interpret that from the book you like to thump about at your convenience, but hey, aren’t there verses in there too that could be interpreted as promoting slavery, too?

If God created these gay people, why wouldn’t He love His creations? Why would God hate something He created? Seems silly to create something you know you’ll hate, no?
And about that “personal relationship with God”? If homosexuality is so sinful that it earns you a ticket to Hell, then really shouldn’t that be between God and the gays themselves? Why do YOU have to mediate? Their salvation or lack thereof is between them and their chosen deity. You, as a mere mortal human, cannot bestow salvation or damnation upon anyone’s soul so stay out of it. To think otherwise, to think that you have the right to keep two consenting adults from declaring their love and receiving the same rights, privileges, and burdens that heterosexuals enjoy by mere virtue DNA programming, is folly. One could even argue that it is sinful, in that in your own prideful conceit you have the right to judge and thus withhold from another the right to marry.

Here’s a clue: they’ll still be gay whether you let them marry or not. Next you’ll be establishing Gay Gulags for forced hetero reprogramming or extermination should they fail to be what you want them to be.

And, to summarize, here’s a paraphrase of something my friend Wil wrote today on Facebook:
“A man who is notorious for cheating on his wife was featured on TV in front of a Catholic church (rallying) to Protect Marriage. Check your closet for skeletons before making such a stand. Marriage involves a lot more than just two people being married. It involves love, honor, compassion, equality & trust. That's grounds for ex-communication from the Catholic Church as well. And as a former Catholic, I can promise that Jesus Christ would never condone the use of his words or his Father's words as a way to judge, belittle, and/or segregate people. Shame on you! All you need is love!”

Halloween's Over? Holy Crap, November's here!

I guess that I can finally cave in and call it Fall here in South Carolina. I mean, Halloween's over and WalMart has the Christmas stuff out already. Seemingly the city of Detroit wasn't burned down Friday night, as people are hoarding anything that burns to make it through an Obama Winter.

A Detroit Furnace

Halloween was a subdued event here. We didn't bother getting candy because no one ever comes by. We live far enough outside of the main area of town that no one bothers; instead they all caravan in to three of four established trick-or-treating neighborhoods. It was close to 85 degrees yesterday, hardly weather that makes one feel like carving a pumpkin that invariably will rot faster in the heat and draws ants & flies to your door until some wandering group of asshats comes up & smashes it.

Total number of times my house was visited: Zero. I never even saw a single kid anywhere in my neighborhood. In fact, my neighborhood looked deserted. By 9:30 PM you couldn't even see house lights on inside the houses, let alone porch lights beckoning kids forth.

No parties to go to this year either. Saved us from having to be both disgusted an amused by a visit to the party shops and Halloween stores to see what fart-related or dick-joke-related men's costumes were hot this year. For the women, it'll always be the same, whatever slutty version of something you can contrive, be it a slutty witch, slutty barmaid, slutty princess, slutty queen, slutty biker, or slutty biker babe. Anybody with an ounce of creativity stretched a silver trash bag around a couple hula-hoops to look like that balloon thing in Colorado and said they were dressed as a hoax.


At about 11 last night it started pouring, making me glad I didn't wash my car as I'd planned. And of course, bright & sunny today and a whopping 63 degrees. Big change and almost feels fall-like, though nothing like when I was in Maine. Up there, fall starts on August 31 and winter starts September 15th. The leaves change before your very eyes and then drop off to leave a desolate bleak dead landscape till the end of April/middle of May.


Portland, Maine December 2008, courtesy of Wil Whalen

Here in SC the leaves, what few do change, just turn brown and whither away over the next few months. By mid-March things will be green again for the most part.Sometimes it's hard to get in the Yule spirit when it's 70 outside and the grass is a sickly brownish green, but it beats freezing my ass off.

Most assuredly not route 17-A through the Lowcountry.


And half the houses I pass leave the Christmas lights up all year, so it's always festive here.

Daddy gots a new laptop

Actually both of us do. I was getting pissed at the boggy performance I'd been getting lately from Windoze Vista on my Dell Inspiron 1501, and Mrs. Steve wanted to throw her laptop against the wall on a daily basis (a 4 year old Dell B130).

Today we both received bright & shiny new Dell Inspiron 1750's. Hers is pink, with a donation for breast cancer research, and mine is ice blue. The 17" HiDef screens are a trip; I'm not used to such a big screen on a notebook. I just have to transfer about 150GB of files from my external drive (though I'll likely just store the excess on the external for now & transfer the important stuff...)

The biggest thing that I have to get used to now is that I'm running Windows 7. Pretty spiffy so far. Daddy likes.....any of my regulars out there running W7 too?

Hope to get some new material up & posted soon, guys. Thanks for staying subscribed!