Yet another "Gun Control" FAIL!

Guns are for all intents and purposes banned in Mehico. They have been for most of recent history. The lack of civilian gun-ownership is partly responsible for stories like this:

Gunfights leave 10 dead in Reynosa

Groups of hundreds protest at Mexico border crossings

By DUDLEY ALTHAUS Houston Chronicle Mexico City Bureau
Feb. 17, 2009, 11:19PM

MEXICO CITY — Running gunbattles between Mexican soldiers and gunmen flared in a quiet neighborhood in Reynosa near the Texas border Tuesday, leaving at least 10 people dead and 15 wounded, as protesters in border cities railed against the troops.

The gunbattles, which are escalating in their intensity, and the protests, which are mounting against the federal government, are pitching Mexico, particularly the border regions, even deeper into turmoil.

Reynosa, across the Rio Grande from McAllen, was the scene of both a protest and the firefights, which one local reporter said lasted nearly three hours.

Other anti-military demonstrations erupted in the border cities of Ciudad Juarez and Nuevo Laredo and in the industrial hub of Monterrey. All were peaceful.

Yet the protests, involving several hundred people in each city, suggested a popular discontent against President Felipe Calderon’s 25-month war on Mexico’s drug syndicates. At least 9,000 people have been killed in the violence, mainly between rival drug gangs and security forces and between the gangs themselves.

Local media in Reynosa reported that Tuesday’s dead included five federal policemen and five gunmen. However, two of the dead were middle school students killed running across a park to safety, according to unconfirmed reports. The conflict could not be resolved Tuesday night.

The firefights, which involved automatic weapons and grenades, began when police stopped a vehicle at a checkpoint near an elementary school in an upscale neighborhood of Reynosa, according to reports. That set off gunbattles through the streets, with gangsters commandeering vehicles and using them to block intersections.

Dead gunmen in streets

“There were grenades, I heard them,” said 27-year-old Roger Olivarez, an engineer standing with other residents outside their bullet-ridden neighborhood. “You’d hear shots, then two, three seconds later explosions.”

Photographs from the scene showed dead gunmen laying in residential streets. An industrial city that’s home to many U.S.-owned factories, Reynosa is considered the territory of the Gulf Cartel drug-smuggling organization and its assassins, the Zetas.

Thousands of troops have been dispatched to Reynosa, other border cities and several violence-plagued interior Mexican states since Calderon launched his offensive in December 2006.

Mexican officials have dismissed the protests, which include women and children, as paid for by the gangsters.

In Reynosa, Arturo Ramirez, 25, said he had witnessed his second round of violence in two years in the city and was getting accustomed to the scene of people running into homes and shops for cover. He pulled a bullet casing out of his pocket — a souvenir, he said.

Olivarez, the engineer who heard the explosions, said the violence had to stop.

“I’m kind of scared and kind of angry at the insecurity we’re in right now,” he said. “It’s too dangerous to go out at night. Last year they had curfews, and tonight I’m afraid to go to work.”

As he spoke, two bullet-pocked Escalades were towed from the scene.

Althaus reported from Mexico City, Lynn Brezosky from Reynosa.

Go here for another scray story about Mehico imploding.

The problems on the Mehican border areas are only going to get worse and Mehico is unable to do anything about them, due to long-rampant corruption in the Mehican Government. Phoenix is experience record numbers of kidnappings for ransom and Mehican nationals coming across the border, are responsible for it.

The US/Mehican border should be clamped down now (as if this hasn't been needed for the last 10 years) because the problems in Mehico will be coming to many more of our own neighborhoods very soon. Unfortunately, their problems will be our problems soon, because no one in US Government has the courage to do what needs to be done, to stop it from happening.

Remember, "We're all Socialists now"...

Is this the "Hope and "Change" they talked about?

The markets are loving them some O'Bama!

Just remember, you can't blame it on Bush forever...

Brutal February for Blue Chips

A late burst of selling sealed a dismal finish for the stock market, which hit a fresh 12-year low on Friday as Citigroup sold a bigger chunk of itself to the government and General Electric slashed its dividend, spooking investors who were already jittery.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 119.15 points, or 1.7%, to end at 7062.93. The blue-chip benchmark ended down 937.93 points, or 11.72% on the month -- the worst percentage drop for February since 1933, when it fell 15.62%. The Dow industrials have fallen six months in a row and are now more than 50% off their record highs hit in October of 2007.

Cool.

This too.

Awwww...

Just got these in an email.

LOL!

Class warfare.

Again.

Maybe O'Bama and the DemocRats will be happy when the DOW is at 6,000...

Obama's Budget: Almost $1 Trillion in New Taxes Over Next 10 yrs, Starting 2011

February 26, 2009 12:00 PM

President Obama's budget proposes $989 billion in new taxes over the course of the next 10 years, starting fiscal year 2011, most of which are tax increases on individuals.

1) On people making more than $250,000.

$338 billion - Bush tax cuts expire
$179 billlion - eliminate itemized deduction
$118 billion - capital gains tax hike

Total: $636 billion/10 years

2) Businesses:

$17 billion - Reinstate Superfund taxes
$24 billion - tax carried-interest as income
$5 billion - codify "economic substance doctrine"
$61 billion - repeal LIFO
$210 billion - international enforcement, reform deferral, other tax reform
$4 billion - information reporting for rental payments
$5.3 billion - excise tax on Gulf of Mexico oil and gas
$3.4 billion - repeal expensing of tangible drilling costs
$62 million - repeal deduction for tertiary injectants
$49 million - repeal passive loss exception for working interests in oil and natural gas properties
$13 billion - repeal manufacturing tax deduction for oil and natural gas companies
$1 billion - increase to 7 years geological and geophysical amortization period for independent producers
$882 million - eliminate advanced earned income tax credit

Total: $353 billion/10 years

It's not like we didn't know it was going to happen...

I didn't think it be so soon.

Should've known...

Obama to Seek New Assault Weapons Ban
The Ban Expired in 2004 During the Bush Administration.

By JASON RYAN
WASHINGTON, Feb. 25, 2009

The Obama administration will seek to reinstate the assault weapons ban that expired in 2004 during the Bush administration, Attorney General Eric Holder said today.

"As President Obama indicated during the campaign, there are just a few gun-related changes that we would like to make, and among them would be to reinstitute the ban on the sale of assault weapons," Holder told reporters.

Holder said that putting the ban back in place would not only be a positive move by the United States, it would help cut down on the flow of guns going across the border into Mexico, which is struggling with heavy violence among drug cartels along the border.

In a brief interview with ABC News, Wayne LaPierre, president of the National Rifle Association, said, "I think there are a lot of Democrats on Capitol Hill cringing at Eric Holder's comments right now."

During his confirmation hearing, Holder told the Senate Judiciary Committee about other gun control measures the Obama administration may consider.

"I think closing the gun show loophole, the banning of cop-killer bullets and I also think that making the assault weapons ban permanent, would be something that would be permitted under Heller," Holder said, referring to the Supreme Court ruling in Washington, D.C. v. Heller, which asserted the Second Amendment as an individual's right to own a weapon.

The Assault Weapons Ban signed into law by President Clinton in 1994 banned 19 types of semi-automatic military-style guns and ammunition clips with more than 10 rounds.

"A semi-automatic is a quintessential self-defense firearm owned by American citizens in this country," LaPierre said. "I think it is clearly covered under Heller and it's clearly, I think, protected by the Constitution."

As Ace of Spades notes, the sale of armor-piercing ammo has been illegal for about 20 yrs. More good stuff coming from the administration of incompetents...

I've been waiting for something like this!

I knew it wouldn't be long.

Pretty cool.


H/T: RofaSix

Why is Kalifornia such a mess?

VDH knows.

Meanwhile a popular parlor game out here is to argue over what caused California’s mess—an inept Terminator as governor; a wacky state legislature that is the dividend of insanely gerry-mandered districts; refined, out of touch elite environmentalists who sued and blocked everything from agriculture and forestry to oil, natural gas, and nuclear energy production?

Or was it the murderous tax code that, to pay for income redistribution, demands the highest sales and income taxes in the nation, and drives out the best and brightest, while welcoming in the high-school dropout and eighth-grade graduate?

Or was the problem state regulations that make it almost impossible to run profitably a small business in compliance with rules that no one can fathom, and which seem designed only to employ more unproductive state bureaucrats?

Or was it the 4-million plus illegal immigrants who over a span of some 30 years, on average per capita will draw well over $50,000 more in entailments than they contribute in taxes?

Or was the rub a powerful state employee bloc, one that consistently demanded raises not tied to performance, but often well over the rate of inflation? (Indeed, many making over $100,000 got raises this year while the state remains nearly $40 billion in debt).

Or was it the out-of-control unionized, overcrowded prison system, that, after hundreds of law-suits and hundreds of millions in court costs, elevated incarceration into some utopian enterprise?

Or was it, to be candid, the screwed-up, shared California mentality, that wants everything now and in perfection, but has not a clue how to pay for it, or a care about the nebulous distant, but evil “they” who are to provide for it. (And a growing state work force that votes for its own excess, since it rarely sees any more the entrepreneur who once paid for it [and is on his way to Idaho or Nevada]).

I don’t know the precise calculus of failure.

Coming soon...

...to a neighborhood near you!

Don't think it can't happen here?

Britain faces summer of rage - police
Middle-class anger at economic crisis could erupt into violence on streets

Police are preparing for a "summer of rage" as victims of the economic downturn take to the streets to demonstrate against financial institutions, the Guardian has learned.

Britain's most senior police officer with responsibility for public order raised the spectre of a return of the riots of the 1980s, with people who have lost their jobs, homes or savings becoming "footsoldiers" in a wave of potentially violent mass protests.

Superintendent David Hartshorn, who heads the Metropolitan police's public order branch, told the Guardian that middle-class individuals who would never have considered joining demonstrations may now seek to vent their anger through protests this year.

He said that banks, particularly those that still pay large bonuses despite receiving billions in taxpayer money, had become "viable targets". So too had the headquarters of multinational companies and other financial institutions in the City which are being blamed for the financial crisis.

Hartshorn, who receives regular intelligence briefings on potential causes of civil unrest, said the mood at some demonstrations had changed recently, with activists increasingly "intent on coming on to the streets to create public disorder".

The warning comes in the wake of often violent protests against the handling of the economy across Europe. In recent weeks Greek farmers have blocked roads over falling agricultural prices, a million workers in France joined demonstrations to demand greater protection for jobs and wages and Icelandic demonstrators have clashed with police in Reykjavik.

In the UK hundreds of oil refinery workers mounted wildcat strikes last month over the use of foreign workers.

Intelligence reports suggest that "known activists" are also returning to the streets, and police claim they will foment unrest. "Those people would be good at motivating people, but they haven't had the 'footsoldiers' to actually carry out [protests]," Hartshorn said. "Obviously the downturn in the economy, unemployment, repossessions, changes that. Suddenly there is the opportunity for people to mass protest.

I heart Morgan Freeman!

Nothing else needs to be said...


H/T: BlackFive

6 seconds in Ramadi

I found this video in the comments at AOSHQ's post about "Taking Chance".

(Side Note: MajGen. John Kelly (in the video) was also with Chance Phelps when he was killed. Go to the link to see what he wrote to LtCol. Mike Stroble about what happened the day Chance was killed. It's a personal note from a General Officer to a fellow Marine. There's also a note from the Navy Corpsman that was with Chance when he died.)

I don't know if this was on the CBS Evening News or not, but it's the only MSM coverage I've seen on those two heroes.


Semper Fidelis

A dog's 10 Commandments

From Xavier Thoughts:

1. My life is likely to last 10-15 years. Any separation from you is likely to be painful.

2. Give me time to understand what you want of me.

3. Place your trust in me. It is crucial for my well-being.

4. Don't be angry with me for long and don't lock me up as punishment. You have your work, your friends, your entertainment, but I have only you.

5. Talk to me. Even if I don't understand your words, I do understand your voice when speaking to me.

6. Be aware that however you treat me, I will never forget it.

7. Before you hit me, before you strike me, remember that I could hurt you, and yet, I choose not to bite you.

8. Before you scold me for being lazy or uncooperative, ask yourself if something might be bothering me. Perhaps I'm not getting the right food, I have been in the sun too long, or my heart might be getting old or weak.

9. Please take care of me when I grow old. You too, will grow old.

10. On the ultimate difficult journey, go with me please. Never say you can't bear to watch. Don't make me face this alone. Everything is easier for me if you are there, because I love you so.

If you run...you'll only die tired.

A great start to a Saturday morning!

Two minutes of pure joy.


H/T: Jawa Report

Don't forget...

Taking Chance

Sat on HBO.

Today was their day...

...but as usual, the MSM failed to take notice.

LCpl. Jordan Haerter and Cpl. Jonathan Yale were awarded the Navy Cross today.

Posthumously

Here's what they did to earn it:

The sun had barely risen when the two sentries spotted a 20-foot-long truck headed toward the gate, weaving with increasing speed through the concrete barriers. Two Iraqi police officers assigned to the gate ran for their lives. So did several Iraqi police on the adjacent street.

Yale and Haerter tried to wave off the truck, but it kept coming. They opened fire, Yale with a machine gun, Haerter with an M-16. Their bullets peppered the radiator and windshield. The truck slowed but kept rolling.

A few dozen feet from the gate, the truck exploded. Investigators found that it was loaded with 2,000 pounds of explosives and that its driver, his hand on a "dead-man switch," was determined to commit suicide and slaughter Marines and Iraqi police.

The thunderous explosion rocked much of Ramadi, interrupting the morning call to prayers from the many mosques. A nearby mosque and a home were flattened. The blast ripped a crater 5 feet deep and 20 feet across into the street.

Shards of concrete scattered everywhere, and choking dust filled the air.

Haerter was dead; Yale was dying.

Three Marines about 300 feet away were injured. So were eight Iraqi police and two dozen civilians.

But several dozen other nearby Marines and Iraqi police, while shaken, were unhurt. A Black Hawk helicopter was summoned in a futile attempt to get Yale to a field hospital in time. A sheet was placed over Haerter.

When it was considered safe to take Haerter's body to a second helicopter, his section leader insisted he be covered by an American flag. "We did not want him carried out with just a sheet," said Staff Sgt. Kenneth Grooms.

Read my original post here.

Semper Fi, Marines


H/T: My Pet Jawa for the heads-up.

Socialist countries WISH they had it this good!

Hopefully the people that voted for him are happy...

Transportation secretary says taxing how much we drive may replace gasoline tax

By JOAN LOWY

Associated (with Terrorists) Press Writer

7:17 AM EST, February 20, 2009

WASHINGTON (AP) — Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood says he wants to consider taxing motorists based on how many miles they drive rather than how much gasoline they burn — an idea that has angered drivers in some states where it has been proposed.

Gasoline taxes that for nearly half a century have paid for the federal share of highway and bridge construction can no longer be counted on to raise enough money to keep the nation's transportation system moving, LaHood said in an interview with The Associated Press.

"We should look at the vehicular miles program where people are actually clocked on the number of miles that they traveled," the former Illinois Republican lawmaker said.

Most transportation experts see a vehicle miles traveled tax as a long-term solution, but Congress is being urged to move in that direction now by funding pilot projects.

The idea also is gaining ground in several states. Governors in Idaho and Rhode Island are talking about such programs, and a North Carolina panel suggested in December the state start charging motorists a quarter-cent for every mile as a substitute for the gas tax.

A tentative plan in Massachusetts to use GPS chips in vehicles to charge motorists by the mile has drawn complaints from drivers who say it's an Orwellian intrusion by government into the lives of citizens. Other motorists say it eliminates an incentive to drive more fuel-efficient cars since gas guzzlers will be taxed at the same rate as fuel sippers.

Besides a VMT tax, more tolls for highways and bridges and more government partnerships with business to finance transportation projects are other funding options, LaHood, one of two Republicans in President Barack Obama's Cabinet, said in the interview Thursday.

"What I see this administration doing is this — thinking outside the box on how we fund our infrastructure in America," he said.

LaHood said he firmly opposes raising the federal gasoline tax in the current recession.

UPDATE: O'Bama threw LaHood under the bus, because he talked.

Cheer up!

If you think you've got it bad, think about this guy.

Just remember...things could always be worse.

SAN DIEGO (June 17, 2008) Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy (MCPON) Joe R. Campa Jr. speaks to U.S. Army Spec. Joseph Serino after meeting with chief petty officers during a chief petty officer call at Naval Medical Center San Diego. Serino, a native of Palmdale, Calif., was injured by an improvised explosive device in southern Baghdad on June 16, 2007. U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Jennifer A. Villalovos

What makes a Warrior?

The men in this video are the absolute best this country has.

Sadly, what this country is becoming, is not worthy of what they've seen and done.

Unfortunately, I fear America's best days are behind her.


H/T: Jack Dunphy at Patterico

She could be your daughter...

An Afghan girl waits in a queue during a CIMIC (Civil Military Cooperation) operation on February 16, 2009 in Dawlatkhel, in the Alassay valley. A NATO soldier and nine Afghan civilians died in attacks across insurgency-torn Afghanistan while military offensives killed at least 17 suspected militants, officials said Monday. (JOEL SAGET / AFP / Getty Images)

If you didn't think the UN was a joke before...

U.S. "war on terror" eroded rights worldwide: experts

By Laura MacInnis Laura Macinnis – Mon Feb 16

GENEVA (Reuters) – Washington's "war on terror" after the September 11 attacks has eroded human rights worldwide, creating lingering cynicism that the United Nations must now combat, international law experts said on Monday.

Mary Robinson, who was the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights when al Qaeda militants flew hijacked planes into the World Trade Center and Pentagon in 2001, said the United States caused harm with some of the ways it responded.

"Seven years after 9/11 it is time to take stock and repeal abusive laws and policies," the former Irish president said, warning that harsh U.S. detentions and interrogations in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba gave a dangerous signal to other countries that could easily follow suit.

While new U.S. President Barack Obama has announced he will close Guantanamo to break from the practices of his predecessor George W. Bush, Robinson said sweeping changes needed to take place to ensure Washington abandons its "war paradigm."

"There has been severe damage and it needs to be addressed," she told a news conference in Geneva. "We are not more secure. We are more divided, and people are more cynical about the operation of laws."

Arthur Chaskalson, former chief justice of South Africa, said that the United States should launch an inquiry into its counter-terrorism practices, including acts of torture by individual security and intelligence agents.

Although counter-terrorism issues have faded from the front pages since the change of government in Washington, Chaskalson said such practices have shifted around the world and could keep restricting liberties if they are not confronted head-on.

"We all have less rights today than we had five or 10 years ago, and if nothing happens, we will have even less," he told a Geneva briefing to launch an International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) report on counter-terrorism and human rights.

ABUSE MONITORING

The report found that many undemocratic states have referred to U.S. counter-terrorism practices to justify their own abuses, a trend Robinson said was particularly alarming.

She called on the U.N. Security Council and Human Rights Council to step up their abuse monitoring and to assist poorer nations with police training to better target rights violators.

Counter-terrorism policies worldwide should also be put under the microscope, according to Robinson. "It could warrant a special session of the Human Rights Council," she said.

The 47-member-state body has previously had special sessions on Israel and the Palestinians, Sudan's Darfur region, Myanmar, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and high food prices, and will assess the global financial crisis on Friday.

Robinson also questioned the effectiveness of the Council's universal periodic review, under which every U.N. member has its rights record assessed on a regular rotation.

"We have looked at some of the universal periodic reviews of countries that we know from our hearings have severely abused human rights in their counter-terrorism measures, and it is a soft review, there is no accountability," she said. "There is a necessity now for leadership at the United Nations."

Countries recently reviewed by the Council include China, Russia, Germany, Canada, Saudi Arabia, and Mexico. Hearings for the ICJ report took place in Bogota, Nairobi, Sydney, Belfast, London, Rabat, Washington, Buenos Aires, Jakarta, Moscow, Delhi, Islamabad, Toronto, Ottawa, Jerusalem, Cairo, and Brussels.

Unbelievable...

You had to see this coming...

The "Hummers" of food?

When will this insanity cease?

Hamburgers are the Hummers of food in global warming

When it comes to global warming, hamburgers are the Hummers of food, scientists say.

Simply switching from steak to salad could cut as much carbon as leaving the car at home a couple days a week.

That's because beef is such an incredibly inefficient food to produce and cows release so much harmful methane into the atmosphere, said Nathan Pelletier of Dalhousie University in Canada.

Pelletier is one of a growing number of scientists studying the environmental costs of food from field to plate.

By looking at everything from how much grain a cow eats before it is ready for slaughter to the emissions released by manure, they are getting a clearer idea of the true costs of food.

The livestock sector is estimated to account for 18 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions and beef is the biggest culprit.

Even though beef only accounts for 30 percent of meat consumption in the developed world it's responsible for 78 percent of the emissions, Pelletier said Sunday at a meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

That's because a single kilogram of beef produces 16 kilograms carbon dioxide equivalent emissions: four times higher than pork and more than ten times as much as a kilogram of poultry, Pelletier said.

If people were to simply switch from beef to chicken, emissions would be cut by 70 percent, Pelletier said.

Another part of the problem is people are eating far more meat than they need to.

"Meat once was a luxury in our diet," Pelletier said. "We used to eat it once a week. Now we eat it every day."

If meat consumption in the developed world was cut from the current level of about 90 kilograms a year to the recommended level of 53 kilograms a year, livestock related emissions would fall by 44 percent.

"Given the projected doubling of (global) meat production by 2050, we're going to have to cut our emissions by half just to maintain current levels," Pelletier said.

"Technical improvements are not going to get us there."

That's why changing the kinds of food people eat is so important, said Chris Weber, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at Carnegie Mellon University in Pennsylvania.

Food is the third largest contributor to the average US household's carbon footprint after driving and utilities, and in Europe - where people drive less and have smaller homes - it has an even greater impact.

"Food is of particular importance to a consumer's impact because it's a daily choice that is, at least in theory, easy to change," Weber said.

"You make your choice every day about what to eat, but once you have a house and a car you're locked into that for a while."

The average US household contributes about five tons of carbon dioxide a year by driving and about 3.5 tons of equivalent emissions with what they eat, he said.

"Switching to no red meat and no dairy products is the equivalent of (cutting out) 8,100 miles driven in a car ... that gets 25 miles to the gallon," Weber said in an interview following the symposium.

Buying local meat and produce will not have nearly the same effect, he cautioned.

That's because only five percent of the emissions related to food come from transporting food to market.

"You can have a much bigger impact by shifting just one day a week from meat and dairy to anything else than going local every day of the year," Weber said.

Public Relations FAIL!

More good news from "The Religion of Peace". This happened in Buffalo, NY last week.

I'm sure it will be "Breaking News"...NEVER!

This is what she looked like prior to having her head cut off.

BUFFALO 'BEHEADING'

An upstate TV exec who set up a channel promoting Muslims as peace-loving people was stressed about his failing business in the days before he allegedly chopped off his estranged wife's head, a friend of the couple said today.

An order of protection barring Muzzammil Hassan, 44, from the couple's upstate home had been taken out by his wife, Aasiya, 37, less than a week before she died.

The couple was in the process of divorcing after bouts of domestic violence, her lawyer told the Buffalo News.

Hassan, who founded Bridges TV in 2004 to counter anti-Islam stereotypes following 9/11, turned himself in to cops Thursday in the Buffalo suburb of Orchard Park. Police later found his beheaded wife in the TV studios.

He was charged with murder.

"He was worried about the station's future," said Dr. Khalid Qazi, a friend of the couple and president of the Muslim Public Affairs Council of Western New York, who last spoke to the Hassans a week ago.

"He was stressed, but this has left me absolutely shocked. I still cannot believe it."

Police have still not found the weapon used in the killing, an officer said today.

Bridges TV was set up with $10 million in backing from more than 50 investors. Two years ago, Hassan told Arab News magazine he needed another $5 million and was reaching out to supporters in Saudi Arabia.

Hassan, a father of four who moved to the United States from Pakistan 25 years ago, worked as a banker in Buffalo before quitting to start up the station.

The family home was empty today. A police note stuck to the door five hours before Aasiya's body was found asked her to contact cops.

Nobody at the Orchard Park Police Department today could explain why officers wanted to speak to her.

Qazi said the killings went against the teachings of Islam and damaged the image of Muslims that Hassan worked to promote.

"Domestic violence is despicable, and Islam condones it in no way whatever," he said.

Murders are being committed in the US every day by people of all faiths."

Heh.

When you're stressing over your finances, cut your wife's head off.

That's what I always do...

It just keeps getting better...

Over at "The Corner", they figured out that it only took Congress 17 DAYS to come up with "The Biggest Boondoggle In History". (And no one read it.)

Twenty-four days into his presidency, Barack Obama recorded last night a legislative achievement of the sort that few of his predecessors achieved at any point in their tenure.

In size and scope, there is almost nothing in history to rival the economic stimulus legislation that Obama shepherded through Congress in just over three weeks.

Here's another way of calculating the haste with which Congress enacted the $789 billion stimulus bill. Representative David Obey introduced it on January 26. Final passage took place on February 13. Minus Sundays, that period was all of 17 days. Including floor sessions, committee proceedings, and backroom dealing, let's generously assume that Congress was working on the bill 12 hours a day. Do the math, and you find that Congress was deliberating on the bill at a rate of just over ... one million dollars a second.

So in the time it takes to open a Valentine's Day card, Congress has blown five million dollars.

Son finds his long-lost Dad, at the same Police Department.

This is a great story that I found posted on GlockTalk.

There's no doubt that they're father/son.

A workplace reunion for father and son

MELODIE N. MARTIN TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER
Published: February 12, 2009

For most of his life, an unsolved mystery lingered in the back of Petersburg police Sgt. Chris Walker's mind.

Then one day at work, he began hearing a name that rang familiar: Claiborne Hamilton -- a Richmond police veteran and newly hired detective at the Petersburg Bureau of Police.

The name was similar to one revealed, after the death of the grandmother who had raised Walker, as that of his real father. Walker researched the name on the Internet but didn't find anyone who fit the profile.

But Detective Clay Hamilton did.

Following up on his hunch, Walker visited Hamilton's desk and casually asked him some questions. He found that Hamilton was 53, about the right age and -- matching up with his mother's account -- grew up in the Richmond area, hung out with people in Goochland County and dated a girl named Billie Joe.

Walker, 37, spoke to his mother on the phone that night and told her generally about Hamilton. She insisted that his father's first name was Clayton, not Claiborne.

Walker then asked if she knew a Billie Joe Walker.

"There was a pause on the phone, and she said, 'That's your dad,'" Walker said, referring to Hamilton. Billie Joe was his mother's old nickname, coming from Bobbie Gentry's 1967 song "Ode to Billie Joe."

Walker then called Hamilton and told him, "I think you're my father."

"It shocked me, but I always believed that there may have been a possibility at the time," Hamilton said. "When I first talked to him on the phone, I cried."

Results of a DNA test came back a week and a half ago and confirmed that the two Petersburg police officers, who never met each other before working together, are father and son.

Hamilton said he had a brief romance with Walker's mother when he was 15. She was a few years older and separated from her husband at the time.

Hamilton said he lost touch with her after she became pregnant, went back to her husband and moved away. He said he tried to locate her and the baby he suspected was his son, but was unsuccessful.

Despite the separation, Hamilton and Walker followed similar paths in life, including stints in the military and choosing to work for urban police departments despite growing up in the suburbs.

They have spent the past month getting to know each other's families: Walker's wife and 5-year-old son, and Hamilton's wife, 12-year-old son, 35-year-old daughter and granddaughter, 8. They plan to have a family get-together that will include Walker's mother.

"I feel like we've got a lot of time that we've missed. Of course you can't ever make up for lost time. We're going to do what we can to make it up," Hamilton said.

Walker credits faith, as well as fate, for bringing them together.

"There's no hard feelings from me because I knew he did everything he could to locate me. He's my dad, and I love him, and I look forward to a lot of years with him," Walker said. "God works in mysterious ways."

Indeed He does.

ZooBorn from the SF Zoo

Sweet!

This is pretty much what the video would look like if the same thing ever happened at my house (if I was home).

I'm in love...again.

She's like a cross between Teri Hatcher and Famke Janssen.

Wow.


H/T: HotAir

Another one bites the dust!!!

I bet this turd regrets the last 18 seconds of his miserable life...


H/T: Xavier Thoughts

How's that working out for you?

I thought so...



H/T: Jammie Wearing Fool

If Barry drinks beer...

...I'm the King of Siam!


H/T: Gateway Pundit

This should help out quite a bit...

...to increase the crime-rate, that is!

Another brilliant decision by the 9th Jerkit Court of Schlemiel's.

Judges tentatively order Calif. inmates released

Feb 9, 6:50 PM (ET)

By DON THOMPSON

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (A w/T P) - A special panel of federal judges has tentatively ruled that California must release tens of thousands of inmates to relieve overcrowding.

The judges say no other solution will improve conditions so poor that inmates die regularly of suicides or lack of proper care.

They say the state can cut the population of its 33 adult prisons through changes in parole and other policies without endangering public safety.

The three judges said a final population figure would be set later.

In Monday's tentative ruling, the judges said they want the state to present a plan to trim the prison population in two to three years.

Glenn Beck on missing TX girl kidnapped in Mexico.

She was kidnapped in Mexico, on here way back home from a concert with some of her friends.

Her dad has been trying to find out what happened to her. Her dad found her car in a police impound lot. She was stopped by Mexican Policia and that's the last time anyone saw her. The female Mexican Policia officer that signed the impound paperwork was subsequently killed.

The US and Mexican have offered ZERO help to her father and her family. Dozens (or more) of Americans are missing in Mexico.

Shameful.

Republican Traitors

Olympia Snowe, Susan Collins and Arlen Specter are not only traitors to their party and their constituents, but to America too. They are going to side with the DemocRats, instead of America, to pass "The Biggest Boondogle in History".


They should be removed from office when they're up for re-election. Unfortunately, that opportunity won't start for another TWO YEARS!

Scum.

Video added.



Idiot.


H/T: Gateway Pundit

A record-setter!

Feel-good vid of the day.

Jason McElwain.

This happened three years ago, but it's still cool.


H/T: Israeli Cool via The Jawa Report

Now that's "Change" we can believe iN!

They overpaid by $78 BILLION!

How much will they "overpay" on $800+ billion?

Watchdog: Treasury overpaid for bank stocks

Feb 5 11:32 AM US/Eastern
By JIM KUHNHENN Associated (with Terrorists) Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) - A government watchdog group says the federal government overpaid for stocks and other assets from financial institutions under its $700 billion rescue program.

The chairwoman of the Congressional Oversight Panel for the bailout funds told the Senate Banking committee Thursday that Treasury in 2008 paid $254 billion and received assets worth about $176 billion.

The figures were reached by extrapolating the results of a study of 10 government transactions.

The Treasury by Jan. 23 had spent about $294 billion on more than 300 companies under the Troubled Asset Relief Program. In one bright spot, the inspector general in charge of reviewing the funds said the federal government has received more than $271 million in dividends from preferred shares obtained through the program.

H/T: Greta VanS and Ace

Stimulus will be "Unmitigated Disaster"

Peter Schiff: Stimulus Bill Will Lead to "Unmitigated Disaster"

Posted Feb 06, 2009 08:05am EST by Aaron Task

The fiscal stimulus bill being debated in Congress not only won't help the economy, it will make the recession much worse, says Peter Schiff, president of Euro Pacific Capital.

Schiff scoffs at the notion the economic decline is starting to level off and concedes no government action means a "terrible" recession. But the path of increased government intervention will lead to "unmitigated disaster," says Schiff, who gained notoriety in 2007-08 for his prescient calls on the housing bubble and U.S. stocks.

The problem, he says, is the government is trying to perpetuate a "phony economy" based on borrowing and spending. With the U.S. consumer tapped out, the government is "now taking on the mantle" of consumer of last resort, he continues, predicting the bond bubble will soon burst - if it hasn't already - ultimately leading to a collapse of the dollar and an "inflationary depression worse than anything any of us have ever seen."

If nothing else, Schiff is an nonpartisan critic of American policymakers, comparing President Bush to Herbert Hoover and President Obama to FDR, and neither in a favorable way.

H/T: HotAir

Who's right?

Two guesses.

Barry:

Obama warns of need for stimulus bill right away

Feb 5 12:28 PM US/Eastern

He said: "The time for talk is over, the time for action is now."

Republicans and some Democrats have expressed reservations about the growing price tag of the package—more than $900 billion. Senate Democratic leaders hope to have a bill completed by Friday.

Earlier today, Obama warned that failure to pass an economic recovery package could plunge the nation into an even longer, perhaps irreversible recession, as senators searched for compromises to whittle down the enormous bill.

Senate moderates gathered behind closed doors in an effort to find at least $50 billion in spending reductions that might make the $900 billion-plus package more palatable to centrists. Democratic leaders hoped to pass the legislation by Friday at the latest.

Obama painted a bleak picture if lawmakers do nothing.

In an op-ed piece in The Washington Post, the president argued that each day without his stimulus package, Americans lose more jobs, savings and homes. His message came as congressional leaders struggle to control the huge stimulus bill that's been growing larger by the day in the Senate. The addition of a new tax break for homebuyers Wednesday evening sent the price tag well past $900 billion.

"This recession might linger for years. Our economy will lose 5 million more jobs. Unemployment will approach double digits. Our nation will sink deeper into a crisis that, at some point, we may not be able to reverse," Obama wrote in the newspaper piece

The CBO:

President Obama's economic recovery package will actually hurt the economy more in the long run than if he were to do nothing, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said Wednesday.

CBO, the official scorekeepers for legislation, said the House and Senate bills will help in the short term but result in so much government debt that within a few years they would crowd out private investment, actually leading to a lower Gross Domestic Product over the next 10 years than if the government had done nothing.

CBO estimates that by 2019 the Senate legislation would reduce GDP by 0.1 percent to 0.3 percent on net. [The House bill] would have similar long-run effects, CBO said in a letter to Sen. Judd Gregg, New Hampshire Republican, who was tapped by Mr. Obama on Tuesday to be Commerce Secretary.

The House last week passed a bill totaling about $820 billion while the Senate is working on a proposal reaching about $900 billion in spending increases and tax cuts.

But Republicans and some moderate Democrats have balked at the size of the bill and at some of the spending items included in it, arguing they won't produce immediate jobs, which is the stated goal of the bill.

The budget office had previously estimated service the debt due to the new spending could add hundreds of millions of dollars to the cost of the bill -- forcing the crowd-out.

CBOs basic assumption is that, in the long run, each dollar of additional debt crowds out about a third of a dollars worth of private domestic capital, CBO said in its letter.

Awesome

H/T: HotAir

This is a MUST READ!!!!

From The Corner at NRO.

Read all the crap that's in the "Greatest Boondoggle EVER!".

Tom Coburn yesterday:

We are going in exactly the wrong direction. We ought to be standing on the principles that made this country great. There ought to be a review of every program in the Federal Government that is not effective, that is not efficient, that is wasteful or fraudulent, and we ought to get rid of it right now. We ought to say, Gone, to be able to pay for a real stimulus plan that might, in fact, have some impact.

I would be remiss if I didn't remind everybody that next week we are going to hear from the Obama administration wanting another $500 billion. Outside of this, they are going to want another $500 billion to handle the banking system. Still not fixing the real disease—the pneumonia—we are going to treat the fever or treat the cough, but we are not going to treat the real disease. Until we treat the real disease, this is pure waste. It is worse than pure waste. It is morally reprehensible, because it steals the future of the next two generations.

I am going to wind up here and finish, but I wanted to spend some time to make sure the American people know what is in this bill. I think once they know what is in this bill, they are going to reject it out of hand. Let me read for my colleagues some of the things that are in this bill. The biggest earmark in history is in this bill. There is $2 billion in this bill to build a coal plant with zero emissions. That would be great, maybe, if we had the technology, but the greatest brains in the world sitting at MIT say we don't have the technology yet to do that. Why would we build a $2 billion powerplant we don't have the technology for that we know will come back and ask for another $2 billion and another $2 billion and another $2 billion when we could build a demonstration project that might cost $150 million or $200 million? There is nothing wrong with having coal-fired plants that don't produce pollution; I am not against that. Even the Washington Post said the technology isn't there. It is a boondoggle. Why would we do that?

We eliminated tonight a $246 million payback for the large movie studios in Hollywood.

We are going to spend $88 million to study whether we ought to buy a new ice breaker for the Coast Guard. You know what. The Coast Guard needs a new ice breaker. Why do we need to spend $88 million? They have two ice breakers now that they could retrofit and fix and come up with equivalent to what they needed to and not spend the $1 billion they are going to come back and ask for, for another ice breaker, so why would we spend $88 million doing that?

We are going to spend $448 million to build the Department of Homeland Security a new building. We have $1.3 trillion worth of empty buildings right now, and because it has been blocked in Congress we can't sell them, we can't raze them, we can't do anything, but we are going to spend money on a new building here in Washington. We are going to spend another $248 million for new furniture for that building; a quarter of a billion dollars for new furniture. What about the furniture the Department of Homeland Security has now? These are tough times. Should we be buying new furniture? How about using what we have? That is what a family would do. They would use what they have. They wouldn't go out and spend $248 million on furniture.

How about buying $600 million worth of hybrid vehicles? Do you know what I would say? Right now times are tough; I would rather Americans have new cars than Federal employees have new cars. What is wrong with the cars we have? Dumping $600 million worth of used vehicles on the used vehicle market right now is one of the worst things we could do. Instead, we are going to spend $600 million buying new cars for Federal employees.

There is $400 million in here to prevent STDs. I have a lot of experience on that. I have delivered 4,000 babies. We don't need to spend $400 million on STDs. What we need to do is properly educate about the infection rates and the effectiveness of methods of prevention. That doesn't take a penny more. You can write that on one piece of paper and teach every kid in this country, but we don't need to spend $400 million on it. It is not a priority.

How about $1.4 billion for rural waste disposal programs? That might even be somewhat stimulative. New sewers. That might create jobs.

How about $150 million for a Smithsonian museum? Tell me how that helps get us out of a recession. Tell me how that is a priority. Would the average American think that is a priority that we ought to be mortgaging our kids' future to spend another $150 million at the Smithsonian?

How about $1 billion for the 2010 census? So everybody knows, the census is so poorly managed that the census this year is going to cost twice—in 2010 is going to cost twice what it cost 10 years ago, and we wasted $800 million on a contract because it was no-bid that didn't perform. Nobody got fired, no competitive bidding, and we blew $800 million. We have $75 million for smoking cessation activities, which probably is a great idea, but we just passed a bill—the SCHIP bill—that we need to get 21 million more Americans smoking to be able to pay for that bill. That doesn't make sense.

How about $200 million for public computer centers at community colleges? Since when is a community college in my State a recipient of Federal largesse? Is that our responsibility? I mean, did we talk with Dell and Hewlett-Packard and say, How do we make you all do better? Is there not a market force that could make that better? Will we actually buy on a true competitive bid? No, because there is nothing that requires competitive bidding in anything in this bill. There is nothing that requires it. It is one of the things President Obama said he was going to mandate at the Federal Government, but there is no competitive bidding in this bill at all.

We have $10 million to inspect canals in urban areas. Well, that will put 10 or 15 people to work. Is that a priority for us right now?

There is $6 billion to turn Federal buildings into green buildings. That is a priority, versus somebody getting a job outside of Washington, a job that actually produces something, that actually increases wealth?

How about $500 million for State and local fire stations? Where do you find in the Constitution us paying for local fire stations within our realm of prerogatives? None of it is competitively bid—not a grant program.

Next is $1.2 billion for youth activities. Who does that employ? What does that mean?

How about $88 million for renovating the public health service building? You know, if we could sell half of the $1.3 trillion worth of properties we have, we could take care of every Federal building requirement and backlog we have.

Then there's $412 million for CDC buildings and property. We spent billions on a new center and headquarters for CDC. Is that a priority? Building another Government building instead of—if we are going to spend $412 million on building buildings, let's build one that will produce something, one that will give us something.

How about $850 million for that most "efficient" Amtrak that hasn't made any money since 1976 and continues to have $2 billion or $3 billion a year in subsidies?

Here is one of my favorites: $75 million to construct a new "security training'' facility for State Department security officers, and we have four other facilities already available to train them. But it is not theirs. They want theirs. By the way, it is going to be in West Virginia. I wonder how that got there. So we are going to build a new training facility that duplicates four others that we already have that could easily do what we need to do. But because we have a stimulus package, we are going to add in oink pork.

How about $200 million in funding for a lease—not buying, but a lease of alternative energy vehicles on military installations? We are going to bail out the States on Medicaid. Total all of the health programs in this, and we are going to transfer $150 billion out of the private sector and we are going to move it to the Federal Government. You talk about backdooring national health care. Henry Waxman has to be smiling big today. He wants a single-payer Government-run health care system. We are going to move another $150 billion to the Federal Government from the private sector.

We are going to eliminate fees on loans from the Small Business Administration. You know what that does? That pushes productive capital to unproductive projects. It is exactly the wrong thing to do.

Then there is $160 million to the Job Corps Program—but not for jobs and not to put more people in the Job Corps but to construct or repair buildings.

We are going to spend $524 million for information technology upgrades that the Appropriations Committee claims will create 388 jobs. If you do the math on that, that is $1.5 million a job. Don't you love the efficiency of Washington thinking?

We are going to create $79 billion in additional money for the States, a "slush fund,'' to bail out States and provide millions of dollars for education costs. How many of you think that will ever go away? Once the State education programs get $79 billion over 2 years, do you think that will ever go away? The cry and hue of taking our money away—even though it was a stimulus and supposed to be limited, it will never go away. So we will continue putting that forward until our kids have grandkids of their own.

There is about $47 billion for a variety of energy programs that are primarily focused on renewable energy. I am fine with spending that. But we ought to get something for it. There ought to be metrics. There are no metrics. It is pie in the sky, saying we will throw some money at it. Let me conclude by saying we are at a seminal moment in our country. We will either start living within the confines of realism and responsibility or we will blow it and we will create the downfall of the greatest Nation that ever lived. This bill is the start of that downfall. To abandon a market-oriented society and transfer it to a Soviet-style, government-centered, bureaucratic-run and mandated program, that is the thing that will put the stake in the heart of freedom in this country.

I hope the American people know what is in this bill. I am doing everything I can to make sure they know. But more important, I hope somebody is listening who will treat the "pneumonia'' we are faced with today, which is the housing and mortgage markets. It doesn't matter how much money we spend in this bill. It is doomed to failure unless we fix that problem first. Failing that, we will go down in history as the Congress that undermined the future and vitality of this country. Let it not be so.

Man up!

This guy deserves a lifetime supply of beer!

Awesome!

(Warning: Language)

The Generational Theft Act of 2009

If you started the day Jesus Christ was born and spent $1 million every day since then, you still wouldn’t have spent $1 trillion.

Biggest boondoggle in HISTORY!


H/T: Gateway Pundit

Comedy Gold!

In other words, everyone in America (and all their dead relatives) are being unemployed EVERY MONTH!

Genius!

Manassas woman alleges police discrimination

Pia sent me this little tidbit:

Manassas woman alleges police discrimination
February 4, 2009 - 5:42pm

MANASSAS PARK, Va. - A routine traffic stop has sparked a complaint of police discrimination in a community where tensions are already high over immigration.

On Monday night, a Manassas Park Police officer pulled over 38-year-old Agueda Dominguez at the intersection of Mathis Avenue and Manassas Drive in Manassas Park - not far from where Dominguez lives and works.

At the time, Dominguez was on her way to a meeting with a mortgage broker who was helping to save her house from foreclosure.

The mother of three and immigrant from El Salvador has had financial trouble since her husband died several years ago.

Dominguez has been in the United States legally for 11 years, and has a work permit and driver's license.

But when she was pulled over, Dominguez - who doesn't speak English - did not have her driver's license with her. Dominguez says she gave the officer her green card and social security card.

Speaking through an interpreter, Dominguez tells WTOP the trouble began when the police officer tried to give her a ticket for a burned out headlight on her used Isuzu Trooper.

"I told him I wanted someone speaking in Spanish before I signed [the ticket] because I didn't know what I was being pulled over for," says Dominguez, who still has bruises on her face and arms.

Dominguez refused to sign the ticket.

"By the third time he told me to get out - I hadn't gotten out because I was scared - he sprayed me with pepper spray," Dominguez says.

Dominguez says the officer kicked her and pulled her hair, then handcuffed and arrested her for resisting arrest. She was taken to a local hospital and treated for facial injures.

On Tuesday, a judge released Dominguez until a future court date, noting she had a clean driving record.

Speaking at a convenience store near where the incident took place, some of Dominguez's friends say her arrest was a clear case of discrimination.

Dominguez plans to file a formal complaint after consulting a lawyer.

Police would not comment on the specifics of the case. Manassas Park Police Maj. Mark Matthews says an internal probe is underway.

The officer - whom Channel 7 has identified as Lt. Rupert Prinz - was also injured in the incident, Matthews says.

Virginia state law requires an officer to arrest anyone who refuses to sign a ticket.

Sounds like much adoo about nothing. If it was at night, the officer more than likely, couldn't even see who was driving. I'd bet my paycheck, discrimination had nothing to do with this incident.

I'm quite sure that had Ms. Dominguez spoken English, this unfortunate incident probably wouldn't have happened. Who knows, I wasn't there...

Facebook

Over the past few months, I've gotten into contact with some people from my past.

Facebook is good for that.

Over the weekend, I got back in touch with a girl I dated back in 1985, when I was down in San Diego, in the Marine Corps.

I talked to her on the phone yesterday and got caught up on the past 23+ years. She has two grown kids. Her youngest is about the same age as I was, when her and I dated.

Wild.

When I was younger (during that time in my life), I was pretty immature and did a lot of stupid stuff, not really thinking about the consequences. Living for the moment type of thing. I didn't always treat people the way they should've been treated (I guess I still don't, sometimes. But I try.)

She was one of those.

Sandy, If you happen to read this...I'm sorry. I was young. And stupid. In so many ways...

It's nice to get back in touch with you.

14 kids!

She already had 6, now she has 8 more!

What. The. Hell.

(Note: This picture is only representative of the woman in question. No Mormon families were actually harmed while taking this photograph.)

Going back in time...

It used to be similar to this back in the early 90's, applying for Law Enforcement jobs in California.

Hundreds line up for days for Miami firefighter positions

MIAMI (WSVN) -- With the unemployment rate in South Florida rising, Miami Fire Rescue was inundated with hundreds of applications for only a few positions.

Hector Mirabile, the director of employee relations at the City of Miami offered a harsh reality of the job application process. "There are 35 openings that we have," he said. "We will accept 750 qualified applications who will compete for those 35 positions."

The City of Miami accepted the applications on Monday morning from hundreds of job seekers, some of whom had waited outside since Saturday to apply. By noon, there were still people in line with no guarantee to be hired.

Fernando Figueroa is one of approximately a thousand people hoping for a chance to become a Miami firefighter. He stood amongst hundreds Sunday hoping to get a chance at employment. "I'm unemployed. I just got out of active duty for the Marines. I have a son. I have to pay the bills, and pretty much it's tough times," Figueroa said.

Over the weekend and into Monday morning, the line wrapped around an acre of land at Miami Riverside Center and first in line stood Alex Valdez. "It's hitting really hard. People are trying to survive and people are desperate," Valdez said.

Valdez said he endured an array of the elements as he waited a total of 50 hours to turn in his application. "It was freezing Saturday night, and it was raining last night, and then, during the day, it was hot," he said.

Travis Miller also camped out early to apply for the job. "I really love this job, and I'm basically wiling to do anything for it at this point," he said.

The unemployment rate in Florida is the highest it's been in 16 years. In Miami-Dade, the unemployment rate is at seven percent, and in Broward County just under seven percent. Both are up almost three percent since December 2007.

Was O'Bama lying then or now?

I'm going with then.

From John Lott's website:

The Obama administration has asked the military's Joint Chiefs of Staff to cut the Pentagon's budget request for the fiscal year 2010 by more than 10 percent -- about $55 billion -- a senior U.S. defense official tells FOX News.

But this is what he said during the campaign:

Actually, Obama wants to increase defense spending. He wants to add 65,000 troops to the Army and recruit 27,000 more Marines. Why? To fight terrorism.

Hope and Change

The Cardinals' extra player on the field.

I know he's there.

When the Arizona Cardinals take the field in Tampa for Super Bowl XLIII, in their first-ever Super Bowl appearance, there will be an extra player on the field. You won't see him, but he'll be there nevertheless. And he'll play the entire game with his Cardinals.

His presence was felt as the Cardinals posted a surprising win in their playoff game against the Carolina Panthers, a game in which everything seemed to be in the Cardinals' favor. And his presence will no doubt be felt in Tampa, as the Cardinals, playing in the Super Bowl for the first time in team history, square off against the Pittsburgh Steelers, a team making its seventh Super Bowl start and hoping for its sixth Super Bowl win...
_______________________________________

The Cardinals are definitely the underdogs in this matchup, and that's a role that suited Pat Tillman just fine. Often considered "too slow to be a great safety, and too small for an NFL linebacker," Tillman was a fierce and determined player, known for hard hits. He was also grateful for the opportunity he was given when the Arizona Cardinals selected him in the seventh round of the 1998 draft, the 226th player chosen.

In 2001, Tillman turned down a higher salary offer from St. Louis to stay with the Cardinals, out of a sense of loyalty to the Cardinals for giving him the opportunity to play a position for which he was considered too small. The St. Louis quarterback at the time? A guy named Kurt Warner, who led the Rams to the Super Bowl that year, where they lost to the New England Patriots in the final seconds of the game. Warner had previously led the Rams to a Super Bowl victory in 1999, when he was named both league MVP and Super Bowl MVP, only the sixth player in NFL history to earn both titles the same year.

We know Pat Tillman will be on the minds of Cardinals players and fans, and we have no doubt he'll be right there in the stadium, continuing to inspire the Cardinals, whose 2008 season embodies Tillman's spirit. They believed in themselves, and by doing so, they achieved so much more than people thought they could.

They've done so largely through the leadership of veteran quarterback Kurt Warner, who has been one of our favorite NFL players since his days with the Rams. And although the Cardinals have never played in the Super Bowl before, Kurt Warner has, and he has the ring to prove it. That experience, combined with Kurt's steadfast leadership in the locker room, will serve the Cardinals well.

Regardless of the final score, the Cardinals have proven themselves winners just by making it to the Super Bowl when no one thought they had a chance.

And Pat Tillman will finally get the chance to go to a Super Bowl on the same team with Kurt Warner.

H/T: BlackFive

Never leave home without it!

Your gun, that is.

LAPD officer shot and wounded while off-duty

LOS ANGELES (A w/T P) An off-duty Los Angeles police officer about to leave his home to play golf was shot Saturday after he was attacked by two possible gang members, authorities said.

Officer Anthony Razo, a 14-year veteran, was getting into his car just before 5 a.m. when he was approached by a shaven-headed juvenile in his middle to late teens armed with a revolver, Los Angeles County Sheriff's Deputy Rick Pedroza said.

A fight ensued and Razo pulled out his own gun. During the struggle, Razo, 49, dropped his gun and a second suspect grabbed it off the ground then shot Razo once in the right shoulder, Pedroza said.

The officer was hospitalized in serious but stable condition, sheriff's Sgt. Diane Hecht said.

The attack happened in the unincorporated City Terrace area east of downtown.

The two suspects fled the scene in a green, late '90s Toyota Camry.

Pedroza said the attack was possibly gang related and authorities are looking for witnesses.

It was not known what motivated the attack and the investigation was ongoing.

Once A Marine

Gunny Nick Popaditch.

Biggest boondoggle IN HISTORY!

More than double the New Deal (which doubled the length of the Great Depression).

This isn't a "stimulus" plan, it's the biggest government spending program in U.S. history! It includes pretty much every Liberal/DemocRat wish-list for the last 30 years.

Unbelievable.


H/T: Suitably Flip