Day By Day

Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Avatar

I had some reservations about the movie mostly because many of the reviews I had been reading had negative comments about the script/plot. I heard about how the script singles out Corporate White humanity as the embodiment of evil while the good Gaea worshipping druids all sported racial characteristics not normally associated with your typical WASP...

People it's a freaking movie! It's - a - freaking - movie! This is Dances With Wolves on Rigel 9; The same plot updated to fit a sci-fi/fantasy world. Since there is an antagonist needed for the plot line they chose greedy white corporate drones backed up by ex-marine mercs; that works. The protagonist is a non-technological native civilization that's in tune with the spiritual Gaean earth mother; that works too. It's like Al Gore made a Disney movie with tall skinny blue people and set the whole thing in a fluorescent rain forest illuminated by black lights. It's a pothead's dream. This movie borrows from many things that came before it, there are snatches of Aliens, tough Latino marine chicks, construction robots updated for combat, Sigourney Weaver,  Dances With Wolves, Running Silent, The Matrix you name it, Cameron has lifted a bit from here and there. There is an ecological undertone to the plot. So what? It's not like we hadn't seen that before how many times? The scenario of an ecological cataclysm isn't exactly a new plot line even if you are freshly loaded up with self righteous loathing for greens after the recent climate farce in Copenhagen. I swear some people would object the a story about Atlantis claiming it was "eco propaganda" or something equally stupid. My advice to the people who are hung up on the plot is get over it; take two suck pills and don't bother me again.

The movie is visually stunning. Period. It may be groundbreaking; It's certainly a thing of beauty to watch and my impression is that it's as stunning today as Star Wars was in 1977; that's 32 years of technology applied in one magnificent 2 hour and 40 minute flick. See it in 3D at a theater, don't wait for the DVD.

I had two criticisms for the movie, and they are both nits. The 3D glasses were not that comfortable fitted over my eyeglasses. In parts of the movie there are near field objects that are out of focus. Perhaps because I wasn't totally comfortable with the glasses over glasses feel I found myself fatigued by attempting to pull those objects into focus and for the first 1/2 hour or so I thought I was going to get a headache; I got over it and just relaxed and went with the flow.

The movie is visually stunning. If this is even close to your thing go see it.

Thursday, December 24, 2009

The Ghost of Christmas Past

Bob Hope one of the greats!





They passed it

The senate passed the health care bill in a totally partisan vote, 60-39.

With the public overwhelmingly against this bill we have a government in willful revolt against the people.



Wednesday, December 23, 2009

The angy mob

I've been giving some thought to where we are in the US today. Disgusted with George Bush the electorate ushered in a Democrat super-majority in 2008 not realizing just how ill advised that decision would be. The Democrats decided that they had a mandate to run amok, at least until 2010, and have decided to bet the farm on making some changes they believe will be permanent changes, even if they lose their majority. First out of the barrel they paid off their supporters with massive pork in the stimulus bill. It appears that the spending in Democrat districts is almost 2:1 over spending in Republican districts. Not only is that unfair, it's criminal.

Party Affiliation
For our analysis, we looked at the 435 congressional districts in the United States plus the District of Columbia, but excluded Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and foreign stimulus recipients, such as Canada. The average number of awards per district is 128, and the average dollar amount awarded per district is $355,103,891.
There are 177 districts represented by Republicans and 259 represented by Democrats.  On average, Democratic districts received 1.6 times more awards than Republican ones. The average number of awards per Republican district is 94, while the average number of awards per Democratic district is 152.
Democratic districts also received 1.89 times more stimulus dollars than Republican districts. The average dollars awarded per Republican district is $232,047,857, while the average dollars awarded per Democratic district is $439,200,100. In total, Democratic districts received 73.47 percent of the total stimulus funds awarded. In terms of numbers of awards, Republican districts received 29.77 percent of the total, while Democratic districts received 70.22 percent.
Despite the nearly $1 trillion dollars spent on the stimulus unemployment continues to rise and real unemployment is closing on 20% in most of the country while poorer states face even higher unemployment.


The deficit is ballooning out of control, so much so that the normally passive voters are becoming increasingly nervous about Government spending. We took to the streets this summer to protest and our elected majority and their lapdog press called them terrorists, used crude sexual remarks to insult them and accused them of being ignorant redneck hicks. Yet the tea party protesters were a cross section of people of all races, religions and political persuasions. By summers end, most Democrat politicians hid from their constituents or held sham "town hall" events where the audience was screened for troublemakers. Others refused to discuss these topics, insulted their constituents to their face and in general demonstrated that ideology trumps representation. Republicans were by no means exempt from criticism, and the national Republican Party attempting in a most ham handed way to capitalize on the tea party movement only to find that they aren't any more popular with tea partiers than democrats. In fact many previously reliable republican voters believe that it was the Republican's out of control spending spree during the Bush administration that is responsible for the Obama presidency and democrat supermajority in congress. Republicans continue to trash blindly in the wilderness because they haven't yet internalized the message and they remain leaderless and mostly without a clue, a strategy or a plan more involved than a conservative 'purity' test dreamed up by people who still haven't come to grips with the issue. 


At the same time the Imperial President hasn't stopped his campaign; relying on campaign trail rhetoric he's busy blaming everything on Bush; we grow ever weary of this nonsense, at some point Barack it's your economy, it's your war, it's your job to make the decisions and be accountable for the results. 
But Barry has plenty of time to jet about, with his lame attempt to sway the Olympic committee, with yet another chorus of "I" from the man who has done nothing more than flit from one job after another that was handed to him effortlessly while taking credit for his audacious hope. The public is bored with the endless speeches about how "I Barack Obama" did this or that wonderous thing when you haven't done much of anything. They grow angry at the continuous world apology tour, the bashing of the country you represent, while kissing the ass of our enemies. We object to the unaccountable Czars taking command of the government, the continuous race baiting, name calling and bald faced lies offered up in an attempt to silence criticism. We're bored with the medias fascination with the trivial while they ignore what's important. The parade of radicals in high level jobs is a clear indication that this President intends to make major changes, permanent changes to the political landscape of the US with or without the consent of the governed.


Congressional deafness on the topic of health care is just another in a series of assaults on the voting populace. The Senate health care bill is a joke, it's a massive subsidy of the insurance industry with millions of new customers delivered by legislative fiat at the point of a gun. It's a metric crapload of new taxes; taxes that don't impact the unions or the congress, just the unwashed masses of taxpaying voters. This is oligarchy in action, the creation of a fascist economy that benefits the industries who pay their campaign costs. Imperial Senate majority leader Harry Reid put a nice tidbit in the health care bill, one that insures that the 'death panels' will NEVER go away!





The health care bill is so bad that it required the bribery of a number of Senators to get a vote for cloture, bribery of those Senators with our money! Yet I'm a white supremacist for opposing the bill. 





The global warming scam continues unabated, despite Obama's promises ideology trumps science and we're all going to pay for carbon indulgences so Al Gore can cash in while the prototype undemocratic world government is born via the hopenhagen agreements. Once again pollution can be abated by allowing the undeveloped world the ability to shake down the first, that's the science of wealth redistribution. 


At every turn thinking voters are lied to, insulted, called names, classified as extreme racists and potential terrorists and ignored by the imperial congress that knows better how to spend our tax dollars and the tax dollars of our children and grandchildren, yet most of these politicians have never made a payroll, worked in a manufacturing job, or managed a successful business of any kind. 


So yes we're angry, we're damn angry and getting angrier by the day, but not only are we angry because our elected reps refuse to hear us, call us names, but because they berate us for the audacity of wanting to be heard. 


We're angry and we vote. I'm betting we're going to vote that anger in record numbers in 2010. 

Iowahawk does "It's a wonderful bill!"

Iowahawk is one of the funniest guys on the net and always a pleasure to read. This one is no exception.


Scene 14: Christmas Eve, inside Bedford Falls Town Hall. Senator George Bailey confronts an angry mob of constituents protesting his vote on the new health care bill.
MAN #1 
Come on Bailey, you can't hide forever! Let us in!
WOMAN #1 
Yeah, what is this mandatory insurance nonsense? Stop cowering behind that podium George! We want answers!
crowd erupts into shouting
GEORGE BAILEY
Now now now, everybody calm down, see? If you'll, well, see, just let me explain...
MAN #2
You should've explained these death panels before we elected you! Let's get 'em!
WOMAN #2 (shaking pitchfork)
Yeah! 
MAN #3
Hey, pipe down youse mugs, let the man talk. It'll be 15 minutes before the tar is hot enough to pour. Out with it Bailey!
GEORGE BAILEY
Well well, thank you for that Pete. Now folks, see, you just gotta understand how Washington works. Remember how you, you sent me there to bring back free things to Bedford Falls, like free heath care and jobs and that new George S. Bailey retractable midnight basketball court for the high school gym? 
MAN #4
Hey Bailey, do know how many kids drowned at the prom last year from that stupid thing?  
GEORGE BAILEY
Well, now now now, Clem, sure a few kids drowned. But look at all the jobs it created down at the Potter Retractable Basketball Floor factory. And that's my point. Now, see, down in Washington there's a whole Senate full of regular guys like you and you, and me, and we represent thousands of places just like Bedford Falls. And all of those places want their own jobs and healthcare and retractable basketball courts. And it turns out all of this costs money, so we have to get, well, revenues...
WOMAN #3
You mean taxes?
GEORGE BAILEY
Well, yeah, Helen, if that's how you want to put it. See, we put all those revenues in a, a, a, big pile there in Washington, and then we start making deals and such, to make sure we can all bring some home. Sometimes we run out, and have to make up for it with other fees...
MAN #2
You mean taxes? Why don't you get it from Old Man Potter?
WOMAN #2
Yeah! Get it from Potter!
GEORGE BAILEY
Now, now, I hate old man Potter just as much as the rest of you. Maybe more. He lives in that cold old mansion up there on Beacon Hill, while you're getting laid off and trying to make ends meet. It just isn't right, and that's why I organized the big ACORN march against him last year. But I'm telling you, even if we confiscated every penny he has, we couldn't pay for your free universal health care. That's why we have to charge you for some of it, and make sure you don't use too much. But don't worry, I sent my top trade representative Uncle Billy over to China to get a payday loan for the rest.
WOMAN #5
But won't we have to pay them back?
GEORGE BAILEY
Well, Marge, yeah, technically, but only until you're all dead. After that it'll just be your kids.
MAN #4
Stop your malarkey, Bailey! Keep your ridiculous health care bill. We want our money back!
CROWD
Yeah! Give it back!
GEORGE BAILEY
Now now now, Clem, let's take it easy there. Sure it's your money. And yours, Violet. And yours too, Reverend Larson. It's everybody's money, and belongs to everybody. Especially me because I'm a Senator. We need that money to make the deals to make the legislation to make sure you get the things you want. Now if you'll all be patient, I'm sure that Uncle Billy will be getting back from Peking any time now...
MAN #1
I've heard enough of this! Let's get 'em!
CROWD
Yeah!
MAN #2
Tar's ready!
GEORGE BAILEY
Gulp!
George runs flailing through the snowy streets of Bedford Falls, the torch-weilding mob in hot pursuit

Read the rest at the link above...

A Senate so corrupt CBS notices?

If CBS notices the stench of corruption the smell must be really foul.

Sunday, December 20, 2009

The cloud mystery

It's fairly long but you can get the theory from this first clip. The theory is that cosmic rays, both from the sun and the galaxy create aerosols that allow the formation of low clouds. Low clouds reflect more of the sun's energy back to space and the earth cools. A correlation between the earth's galactic position, and the climate over eons provides anecdotal evidence in support for the theory. Experimental results simulating cosmic rays to see how they effect aerosol creation supports the theory. It took these scientists years to get their study published because it didn't fit the narrative of AWG.  Here's the money quote (from part 2)

"the whole climate community really hated the idea that sun should have a major impact on climate; that was seen as a disaster."




This is a fantastic video.

Saturday, December 19, 2009

It's not often you see all 4 in the air

In early 1979 my squadron took a 4 plane flight from NAS Miramar in San Diego to NAS Whidbey Island in Seattle. I took this shot out the flight tech window of the lead aircraft


4 aircraft is the entire squadron and seeing all 4 flying together was a rare sight.

One of the things that always upset me was that sometime after I separated I somehow lost my squadron ballcap.  I have a friend who is currently a Chief serving with an F-18 outfit who sent me a surprise gift, a new hat, a pic of the E2-C with the new 8 bladed props and a challenge coin.


That's blogger central right there. 

 

I need to get a decent scan of the aircraft pic. Thanks Crash for sending me this.

While I'm on a WW2 roll.....

My father passed away much too young and my family was devastated by it; I think it hit me particularly hard because, like so many boys, my father was the indestructible hero of my childhood, a retired USAF pilot, a veteran of Vietnam, the family provider who never failed to clothe and feed us, the smartest man I ever knew even if I didn't recognize that until my late 20's. A few years later my mother decided to remarry; she married a man who I didn't warm up to, he seem to be the used car or insurance salesman type, overly enthusiastic, pushy, obnoxious and who knows what else. His marriage to my mother took place as I was going through a separation and eventual divorce and he decided that he'd give me the benefit of his experience. That didn't go real well for either of us, words were said. Over the years I began to appreciate that he was good for my mother and since that's all that matters he and I began to warm up a bit. One Easter he mentioned his service in the USN, as a signalman 2nd on an LST in the WW2 Pacific. Like many veterans of any war, he hadn't talked about the war much. I managed to get him to tell me the "name" of his ship; it didn't have a name just a number LST-221. I had pressed him to tell me about it but he was reluctant, he did share a story with me that I'll try to reconstruct here.
I can remember one day I was on the bridge and we were carrying a load of bombs. We were unrepping those bombs to the USS Hancock. It was a beautiful day and I remarked to the Captain how beautiful the clouds were. The Captain turn to me and said "Goddammit Covert those are war clouds! Don't you ever call them beautiful again". 
That story stuck with me. For the next Christmas I decided to see if I could find about about LST-221. I searched the internet and what I found was this picture, a picture of that day in the Pacific taken from the deck of the USS Hancock.



I also found this picture was in a book about LST's. I gave Jim that book as a Christmas gift and when he opened the package I told him to turn to the page with the picture. Then I said "do you remember telling me about that day?", the look on his face told me that our relationship would be different from that day on.

Thanks for your service Jim!

Here is another pic of LST-221 loading men and equipment during a practice landing in New Guinea.


The Pacific

Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg are following up their hit Band of Brothers with another HBO miniseries The Pacific. This will tell the tale of the First Marines island hopping campaign in the war against Japan. You can see the trailers here:

http://www.hbo.com/events/pacific/video.html

This is a must see in my opinion, Band of Brothers was an awesome accomplishment; a tribute to the men who fought the long and nasty campaign in Europe, I expect that The Pacific will do the same for those men who fought their way up the beaches and through the jungles of island after island in the Pacific.

The first episode of The Pacific is scheduled to air on March 14, 2010

disclaimer: Dear FTC morons, HBO didn't pay me for this go away.

Gray Eagles

I'm an aviation enthusiast, I grew up watching my father roar into the air in a B-47 in the 50's and 60's; I was an aircrew man in the USN.  I've always admired the fighter pilot who strapped on his aircraft and went out and faced single combat; pitting their training, skill and luck against an enemy just as determined to perform his duty.
 
As the "greatest generation" of WW2 veterans slips away from us it's heartwarming to see us return to their extraordinary lives and take one last look at the trials they faced as young men and women. This film is visually stunning and emotionally wrenching; I haven't the words to express how much this moved me.

Here we have a short film showing a WW2 Mustang pilot reunited with his aircraft after 60 years. I can't embed it, you'll have to go here to watch it. I recommend full screen if your pc can handle it.

http://www.asb.tv/videos/view.php?v=1bf99434&br=500

The magic of technology

I admit it, I'm a technology geek. Human inventiveness raised us up from primitive hunter gatherer status to what we have today, and unlike the druids of the left I like modern civilization, it's not perfect but it's better for a greater percentage of humanity than what came before. One of the cool things about the internet, and this digital age is that the traditional gatekeepers to accomplishment are falling by the wayside as people of talent have new avenues to demonstrate their abilities. The gent who made this short video landed a huge hollywood contract; the classic rags to riches tale, it doesn't get any better than this. While the music isn't exactly my cup of tea the video does a great job of demonstrating his raw talent.

Apologies

I've been lax, not updating. Two things were going on, first I know I'm getting a few hits on this blog, and can't reasonably expect more but I was getting discouraged by the lack of comments, but I've recently received some feedback through a friend that says I do have a few readers. Second I've been caught up in pure disgust at the current state of reality; We have an arrogant and out of control President who when confronted with a skeptical and angry public treats us like an unruly dog that won't heel. He just attempted to lecture the entire world in Copenhagen and came off looking like an arrogant and pithy fool. The press carries his water most of the time, though cracks in the facade are starting to show. We have the collapse of climate change science, buried in total fraud and yet our leaders seem hell bent on using climate change as an excuse to tighten their control over all of us while redistributing the west's gold to the 'underdeveloped world'.  Kafka has nothing on reality.

Expect a major update soon, I can't wish this all away.

Thursday, December 3, 2009

Gore runs for cover

Run Al run, your scam is unwinding


Former Vice President Al Gore on Thursday abruptly canceled a Dec. 16 personal appearance that was to be staged during the United Nations' Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, which begins next week.

As described in The Washington Times' Inside the Beltway column Tuesday, the multimedia public event to promote Mr. Gore's new book, "Our Choice," included $1,209 VIP tickets that granted the holder a photo opportunity with Mr. Gore and a "light snack."

Berlingkse Media, a Danish group coordinating ticket sales and publicity for the event, said that "great annoyance" was a factor in the cancellation, along with unforeseen changes in Mr. Gore's program for the climate summit. The decision affected 3,000 ticket holders.

"We have had a clear-cut agreement, and it is unusual with great disappointment that we have to announce that Al Gore cancels. We had a huge expectation for the event. . . . We do not yet know the detailed reasons for the cancellation," said Lisbeth Knudsen, CEO of Berlingske Media, in a statement posted by the company.
No content with selling carbon indulgences he actually wanted $1,209.00 for his fanbase to get a photo op?
What a maroon!

NASA hiding climate data?

How much longer can the US media refuse to cover this story in full?
The fight over global warming science is about to cross the Atlantic with a U.S. researcher poised to sue NASA, demanding release of the same kind of climate data that has landed a leading British center in hot water over charges it skewed its data.

Chris Horner, a senior fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, said NASA has refused for two years to provide information under the Freedom of Information Act that would show how the agency has shaped its climate data and would explain why the agency has repeatedly had to correct its data going as far back as the 1930s.

"I assume that what is there is highly damaging," Mr. Horner said. "These guys are quite clearly bound and determined not to reveal their internal discussions about this."

The numbers matter. Under pressure in 2007, NASA recalculated its data and found that 1934, not 1998, was the hottest year in its records for the contiguous 48 states. NASA later changed that data again, and now 1998 and 2006 are tied for first, with 1934 slightly cooler.
Yeah it's the famous Jim Hansen, already forced to correct his data when it was challenged. Now they're back to massaging it again all the while refusing to share the data with people interested in doing a bit of honest peer review. And what does Hansen have to say about it?
James Hansen, one of the world's foremost climatologists, told the Guardian today that he believes the Copenhagen talks are flawed to the point where failure of the talks may be the best way forward.

"The approach that is being talked about is so fundamentally wrong that it would be better to reassess," Hansen said.
Don't fret warmists, Hansen hasn't suddenly decided to turn over an honest leaf, it's just that he thinks cap and trade is a mistake and just wants a tax on all carbon. Yet another politician on a fund raiser for global wealth redistribution and unfraid to make absurd comparisons to slavery or in deference to Godin's law, the Nazis. Practically every kid over 12 knows the argument is over once the Nazi references fly, I guess that's too simplistic for a NASA scientist who is busy correcting his data over and over again.

Just so we are clear on who Hansen is listen to his former supervisor:
Retired senior NASA atmospheric scientist, Dr. John S. Theon, the former supervisor of James Hansen, NASA's vocal man-made global warming fear soothsayer, has now publicly declared himself a skeptic and declared that Hansen "embarrassed NASA" with his alarming climate claims and said Hansen was "was never muzzled." Theon joins the rapidly growing ranks of international scientists abandoning the promotion of man-made global warming fears. …


"Hansen was never muzzled even though he violated NASA's official agency position on climate forecasting (i.e., we did not know enough to forecast climate change or mankind's effect on it). Hansen thus embarrassed NASA by coming out with his claims of global warming in 1988 in his testimony before Congress," Theon wrote.
Hansen, when not correcting data, has called for prison terms for warming skeptics. Clearly James is in need of medication and counseling. Send him out for regrooving...
Now lest you think these NASA scientist guys couldn't be crooks
A former top climate scientist who had become of one the scientific world's most cited authorities on the human effect on Earth's atmosphere was sentenced to probation Tuesday after pleading guilty to steering lucrative no-bid contracts to his wife's company.

It's hard to tell how they fit into the AWG research scandal from their nearly useless website but this is an interesting statement "Animated Earth also develops short movies that explain earth science processes and complement Earth Today".  If you're willing to dig furthur you could watch the short film created for the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies (home of James Hansen global warming hysteric); it's at the bottom and is labelled UARS. Interestingly it deals with the ozone hole, which as I recall was getting smaller, no bigger, no smaller, err not a problem anymore now that we can't use CFCs right (despite the film clip claim). I guess they haven't decided just yet what the ozone hole is doing OR why.

For the most part the general public has afforded science a measure of trust they don't give politicians, businesses, entertainers or lawyers. Until the fraud exposed by the hack of the CRU files is fully exposed and investigated people are far less likely to want to just take scientists at their word, or allow politicians to create expensive life altering legislation based on fraudulent nonsense presented as peer reviewed science.

If you've lost Jon Stewart...

...you've lost

Criminals

Acorn again...a new wrap up.



And now there's a whistleblower, one who approached the NY Times only to find that the Times was unwilling to expose the fraud that would have threatened the eleciton of the candidate they endorsed, Obama.
ACORN whistleblower Anita MonCrief offers stunning revelations regarding the nation's largest radical left organization, where our Community Activist in Chief cut his teeth. The supposedly nonpartisan organization has been illegally pouring taxpayer money into Democrat causes, letting $millions disappear, and renting out goons for intimidation campaigns, while the New York Times deliberately looks the other way.
ACORN and Project Vote are the same organization. MonCrief drew a paycheck from Project Vote, but was given an ACORN email address. Via Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, her testimony before Congress covers the following:
• November 2007 — Project Vote contacted by Obama presidential campaign

• Project Vote received Obama donor list from Obama campaign

• Project Vote solicited Obama donors to pay for voter registration and to "get out the vote"

• Project Vote received donor lists from other Democratic and labor union sources: John Kerry campaign, [Hillary] Clinton campaign, Barack Obama campaign, Democratic National Committee, America Coming Together ("ACT")

• Project Vote development plan was to "approach maxed out presidential donors" and allegedly use the funds raised for voter registration drives

• ACORN "employees" were paid through Project Vote for partisan campaign activities, such as telling voters “don't vote for Albert Wynn (sic) or vote for this person”
There some serious violations of Federal election law listed above and there is more read it all and consider how the election of 2008 may have been stolen through illegal contributions, racketeering and vote fraud.

Since Acorn, the SEIU and the Democrats cannot be seperated what they've done is pull off a coup. It is time for anyone who cares to contact all their representatives and demand a special prosecutor, demand that ACORN be defunded and demand that everyone involved be investigated, prosecuted and punished.