Jobbed by Zebras

Touchback versus Touchdown, you make the call

To quote the late great St. Louis Cardinal announcer, Jack Buck, "I can't believe what I just saw."

That quote aptly applies to what I and millions of others saw tonight on Monday Night Football. With the Seattle Seahawks down by five points against the Green Bay Packers with eight seconds remaining in the game, Seahawks QB, Russell Wilson, heaves a Hail Mary Pass into the end zone hoping one of his receivers catches the ball.  Eventually, the ball comes down in the left corner of the end zone surrounded by five Packers and one Seahawk, Golden Tate.  And a catch was made. But by whom? 

As one tweeter succinctly tweeted, "it is the first time in NFL history that a quarterback was credited with a touchdown by throwing an interception."

If you did not see this final 8 seconds, find it online. Everybody will be talking about this for days and weeks to come.  So you don't want to look stupid and be left out.

By the way, the scab referees for this game were instantly whisked carried away on the shouldertops of grateful Seahawk fans.   An early Christmas present...if you will. Packer fans not so happy.  Those refs will be in the witness protection program by midnight.

So much for the integrity of the Roger Goodell's National Football League.

What a JOKE!!!!

September mourning

Daily suffering at the South Pool 911 Memorial

At its 122nd annual conference in 2004, the Supreme Council of the Knights of Columbus resolved that September 11th be observed each year as a World Day of Prayer for Peace.

On the sacred grounds at Ground Zero in New York City on April 20, 2008, Pope Benedict XVI offered the following prayer service:

"God of peace, bring your peace to our violent world:

peace in the hearts of all men and women

and peace among the nations of the earth.

Turn to your way of love

those whose hearts and minds

are consumed by hatred.

God of understanding,

overwhelmed by the magnitude of this tragedy,

we seek your light and guidance

as we confront such terrible events.

Grant that those whose lives were spared

may live so that the lives lost

may not have been lost in vain.

Comfort and console us,

strengthen us in hope,

and give us the wisdom and the courage

to work tirelessly for a world

where true peace and love reign

among nations and in the hearts of all."

11 years ago today, almost 3,000 innocent Americans lost their lives to Islamic terrorism.  Let us pray for them and their families.  Moreover, let us pray for peacemakers to succeed and warmongers to lose.

Operation Rebound

True heroes who sustained our freedom

Grateful beneficiaries of those same true heroes

This past weekend my son, Jack, and I participated in a triathlon in our area.  Little did we know that we were in the midst of true triathlete heroes.

This year's race was dedicated to all those athletes who have served in the military and who now participate across this country in ironmans, triathlons, marathons, half-marathons, 10Ks, 5Ks and whatever race is out there.

Many of these veterans both men and women who participate in the many races across this country are permanently and severely disabled from the wounds of war...both physical and psychological wounds.

As Jack's wave started his swim portion of the triathlon, I looked around him and saw two honored veterans who were double amputees. A man and a woman. As I marveled at their guts and strength as they hand-walked into the ocean, I wondered what had happened to them. (I later found out that both triathletes had their legs blown off by IEDs in Iraq and Afghanistan.) Their visible courage quickly altered my ambition for a personal best. They changed me...forever.

One such veteran/triathlete was highlighted in the paper the following morning. His name: Retired Army Captain Alvin Shell, Jr.   Here is a piece of that article:

Alvin Shell, 35, once willingly ran through the fires of hell to save a fellow soldier in Iraq. "An 18 wheel truck got hit, spilling gas all over the road.  We went up to assist and we got ambushed. A lot of people caught fire.  I was close to the impact that it knocked me off the road, but when I came to and saw everybody on fire, I ran into the fire and grabbed one of my sargeants, rolled him around, kicked dirt on him and helped him out."  But Shell, covered in gasoline, caught fire himself and leaped into a ditch to extinguish the flames. Then he helped his platoon fight off their attackers. "I pretty much passed out and woke up 10 days later in a hospital with my wife and my Dad in the room."  Shell underwent 30 surgeries including painful skin grafts. He had to learn to do everything again...talk, walk, feed himself, brush teeth, use the bathroom. 

And what motivated him to move on and embrace life again?  His wife and their three young boys.   He wanted to be there for their kids.  So, he picked himself up and off the mat and said to himself "put up or shut up."

Shell finished this triathlon in style.  Not surprising. He runs 6 miles a day back home in Virginia. And, what do his sons think of him now? The oldest boy said, "My Dad is a huge inspiration for me and my brothers. He's mind-boggling."  Double gulp!!

There are as many reasons as there are athletes why we swim, and bike and run but the indomitable spirit of the Alvin Shells of this country provides in large measure what we need to continue to compete, participate and feel vital and grateful in this world.

Other vets competing that day were:

• Bryce Cole suffered brain injury as a paratrooper
• Daniel Mulverhill suffered brain injury and PTSD
• Justin Pullin suffered multiple burns from IED explosion
• Nathan Hunt lost both legs to a roadside bomb
• Leonard Day suffered traumatic brain injury from roadside bomb
• Joseph Kennedy run over by a military vehicle suffered multiple injuries

Thank you and may God bless Alvin and to all those who have served and are serving our country around the globe.

Energy from Shale

Frontier Drilling fracking unit in Deadhorse Canyon in the land of Thelma and Louise

Have you traveled around the Rocky Mountain area lately?

This summer I had the distinct priviledge of visiting many states in the Mountain time zone.  I saw beauty beyond belief. The western lands of United States of America continued to mesmerize me on my journey with its unsurpassed varied beauty and incredible natural resources.

From Nebraska to Montana to Utah to New Mexico, I saw not only the obvious: the expansive sand hills of western Nebraska, the towering Bitterroot mountains of Montana, the magical canyons of southern Utah, the stunning high desert sky of New Mexico and everything in between.  I also saw hundreds of what is pictured above: drilling stations. 

These drilling stations known as hydraulic fracturing units dotted the western landsape seemingly everywhere I traveled.  These units are drilling way down under almost 5,000 to 10,000 feet to shale rock that is the imprisoned home of huge reserves of natural gas and petroleum. Simply, the 'fracking'  technique is used to release natural gas and petroleum from the shale rock layer. 

The fracking process introduces high pressure water and sand inside a double-encased concrete steel lined pipe casings that "frees" the oil and the gas from the shale layer. The oil and gas is then returned to the surface for collection, transport and refinement. Presently, there are over 500,000 active wells in the United States extracting oil and gas from deep inside the earth.  Supposedly, there is a 100 plus year supply of natural gas reserves buried in shale for generations of Americans.  In fact, presently, there is a glut of natural gas that has caused prices to collapse and its revenues to erode. However, amidst this overabundance of energy produced in our own country, fracking appears to be a growth industry for years to come unless the government shuts it down.

The opposition to fracking comes from the liberal anti-using of natural resources Green Party.  They oppose on reasons ranging from water aquifer contamination to release of methane gas into the atmosphere.   The drilling industry has been drilling these wells for over 60 years and to date there is no evidence of aquifer poisoning from hydraulic fracturing.

Little did I know that after viewing these vertical drill rigs in the open spaces of western America, they were producing the lion's share of usuable energy for our country. With very little visual annoyance above ground, they work miles into the earth securing much needed energy independence from the volatile Middle East.  Let us hope our government continues to allow the safe and efficient energy drilling throughout our country for years to come.

Lord knows we need to be free from the chains of the Mideast and continued fracking is part of the solution.

Obama's Mulligan

The Duffer in Chief, "fore...more years"

In an interview with NBC's Matt Lauer on February 1, 2009, newly-elected President Barack Obama said to the adoring Mr. Lauer that it was up to him to turn the economy around in the next three years and if not he doesn't deserve a second term.

Obama to Lauer:

"Yeah, look, I'm at the start of my administration. One nice thing about the situation I find myself in is that I will be held accountable.  I've got four years. If I don't have this done in three years, then there's going to be a one term proposition."

Fast forward to NOW, here are the alarming Obama numbers for the last 3 plus years:

• 2%, US economic growth remains anemic
• 8% plus, 43 straight months of the highest sustained unemployment numbers since the thirties
• 15 million, underemployed working two jobs to stay alive 
• 55%, of College Graduates cannot find work and/or are underemployed
• $5 trillion plus AND GROWING, has been added to the debt column in 3.5 years, "fiscal cliff" looms, every family owes $55,000 on $16 TRILLION and GROWING
• $743 BILLION, the interest alone on US Debt per year and GROWING.
• 1%,  pays 37% of all income taxes while 50% pay none
• QE3, the FED is days away from a panic buy of billion $ asset purchases to jump start a stalled economy
• $1 in $6, owned by the FED, largest % of GDP in history
• 80.4%, federal debt to GDP ratio under Obama's budget in two years, double since 2008
• 40%, less net worth for taxpayers
• $4 gallon, for gas at the pump
• 1st S&P credit downgrade in 70 years, with threats of more downgrades with no federal budget deal in play
• 22%, of all residential properties remain "underwater", homeowners owe more than what home is worth
• $1 earned on revenue for every $3 spent by government
• 46 million, citizens of food stamps and Americans living in poverty, 16% of the population

If this President was authentic and true to his words as stated to Mr. Lauer, he would not even vote for himself based on his own pathetic record. But no, this narcissistic left wing international man of mystery, Barack Obama, wants another term so he can "finish the job".  Finish what job?  To file Chapter 11 for the entire country!  OMG. And you know what?  There are relatives and neighbors of all of ours who voted for him 4 years ago based on hope and change and will vote for him again in November because of that slick tongue, killer smile, cocksure gait and sleazeball politics regardless of his glaring ineptitude. Fool them once shame on Obama.  Fool them twice shame on them.  

As showman P.T. Barnum stated in the 1890's, "there's a sucker born every minute", and this country seems to have an over-abundance and patent on suckers aka "dupes", "fools".  Suckers who believe in Obama's vacuous claptrap and those who suck voraciously without conscience from the public trough. 

Are there more suckers out there than doers?  President Obama thinks so.  Suckers are his main constituency.  Suckers may give him four more years. That's why he's running so hard for a second term. We'll find out on November 6.  May God help us all!

WAKE UP  51% or more of AMERICA BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE!!!

PC Hits the Boondocks

 Water Closet "WC" in the Rocky Mountains

OMG,  Political Correctness "PC" in the Rockies too!

WARNING: A true potty story ahead

Sadly, the liberal contagion of political correctness infecting every corner of our United States has now come to the remotest of the boondocks, sticks, hinterlands.

I was recently hiking in a remote part of the Rockies and came upon a welcome site, an indoor potty.  'Doing your business' outside loses its magic very quickly and finding a structure with a roof over your head in the wilds is a luxury of sorts.

As I gleefully approached the wc, I was flummoxed at the head scratching sign on the entrance to the potty: Biological Conversion System, Please No Trash!  Is this a potty or a laboratory? After opening the door, I found our that in fact it was a potty, smelled like a potty but was publicly sanitized by a rather ridiculous entry name, Biological Conversion System.

This wc ceased being a bathroom in my mind but a "biological conversion system."  So, I bought into the new lexicon and released my "biology" into the descending sphere of darkness and then pondered on the potty how far adrift we have become in sterilizing innocent words that used to mean something into language nonsense whose intent is in being safe instead of being real.  And for what?  Made me think of the 'bastardization' of other words or phrases in our vocab into creatures of political glossary re-engineering.  Here are some of those words and phrases from the simple past and now with their modern foggy obfuscations and plunderings:

FAT   now,  obese
GARBAGE MAN  now,  sanitary engineer
GHETTO  now,  economically disadvantaged area
ILLEGAL ALIENS now,  undocumented immigrants
JUNGLE now,  rainforest
HEAT WAVE now,  global warming
SECRETARY now,  administrative assistant
TRAILER PARK  now,  mobile home community
WHITE TRASH, still the same but God forbid if you use the N word
FOUNDING FATHERS,  now,  the founders
BUM, now,  homeless person
BROKEN HOME, now,  dysfunctional family
MERRY CHRISTMAS, now,  Happy Holidays
CHRISTMAS TREE, now, holiday tree
BC (BEFORE CHRIST) and AD (ANNO DOMINI), now, before common and common areas
EASTER EGGS, now, spring spheres

and the number 1 and 2 candidates for political antiseptic silliness are:

LESBIANS, HOMOSEXUALS AND QUEERS, now,  gay (a tragic takeover of such a fine word. When is the last time you heard, I had a gay time?)
BLACKS, now,  African Americans (I'm white but the politicos don't label me an Irish American)

So, after digesting that strange interlude in the biological conversion system structure, I continued on my trail journey and was enlightended by the reality that my hike became so much more complicated and correct than just walking on a path to somewhere but a non-specifically ambulatory exercise to mitigate individual obesity on governmental wildlands.





  

"The Fringe President"

This is the first time in Presidential history where an incumbent President has as his voting base an assortment of the most radical fringe groups in our country.  And just who are President Obama's constituencies, and, how many of these citizens will vote in November?  Here's TWW's non-scientific totally subjective list of the Obama Twenty:

1.The Greens. Advocates of windmills, solar energy and electric cars.  Dissenters of coal, natural gas, nuclear power and gasoline.  2 million voters. Rabid 100% turnout.

2.The Queer Nation. Homosexuals, lesbians, transgender, transvestites, switchhitters, namblaites and others.  12 million voters. Rabid 100% turnout.

3.  Academia. Boards, Trustees, Faculty, Staff and Students at Universities.  5 Million voters of which 2 million are recently unemployed as graduates.  50% snooze turnout.

4. Mainstream Media.  Boards. Ownership. Talent. Pages. Print, television, cable, internet outlets.  1 million voters.  Rabid 100% turnout. 

5.  The American Jews. A puzzling group if there ever was one. "They work like Presbyterians and vote like Puerto Ricans." 5 million voters.  A 60/40 (Israel security issue)split 100% turnout.

6.  The Illegals. Latinos, Russians, Asians, South Americans, Africans, or whatever nationality who come into our country illegally and somehow manage to vote. Number of voters unknown, range between 1 million to 15 million. Go with 5 million.

7.  The Abortionists. Planned Parenthood where they rationalize killing a fetus will unencumber a woman's career path.  5 Million voters.  Rabid 100% turnout.

8. Hollywood. George Clooney, the face of the new star-politico who was a drop out derelict/ladies man at Northern Kentucky U., now the conscience of the liberal party. Owners.  Directors.  Writers. Actors. And everybody down the line in tinsel town. 1 million voters. Rabid 100% turnout.

9.  The Euro-American Socialists.  Those in America who long for the discord in Europe to happen here. As Winston Churchill said about socialists, "Socialism is the philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance and the gospel of envy. It's inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery."  Now this is really scary.  12 million voters.  Gulp. 50% turnout.

10. The Food Stamps and Welfare Recepients.  From the husbandless 'Octomom' to the infamous citizen who boldly proclaimed on camera in front of a NYC welfare office, "I want some free Obama money."  45 million and climbing voters. 25% turnout.

11. The Atheists.  Bill Maher, the repulsive talk show host, who represents the worst in our Christian-based society is the prototypical atheist in our country.  Most troubling is the atheist numbers are growing quickly. 5 million voters.  Rabid 100% turnout.

12.  The Occupiers.  From Oakland to NYC, the occupiers main purpose on earth is to create discord and mayhem at the expense of local governments and their more civilized citizens. 10,000 voters.  Small but deadly force. 0% turnout too busy to bother.

13.  The Hempsters. Druggies who want their fix legalized now and free. "Work, what's that?"  25 million drug addicts who share numbers with other groups above.  No need to worry.  They don't vote...too much effort.

14.  The Unions. Public and private makes no difference.  These lemmings are told what to do by coercive, corrupt and cruel labor bosses.  And we, the honest and hard working taxpayers, pay for their gross lifetime excesses. 30 million voters.  60% turnout.

15.  The Tort Lawyers. The sordid darlings of the Democrats who fill their coffers with money while tort judgements against whomever raises all of our costs and diminishes our services across the board.  Per the liberal script, tort reform was excluded from the President's Affordable Care Act. 500,000 voters.  100% rabid turnout.

16. The Billionaire. Warren Buffett who plays both sides of the aisle with Midwestern charm and a snake-charmers devilishness. 2 Votes.  1 for Dems.  1 For Republicans.

17.  The Nerds.  Google, Facebook, Apple all those young idealistic millionaires who vote like #5 above.  200,0000 voters.  Turnout 50% only others glued 24/7 to their laptops, iPads and iPhones.

18.  MoveOn.org. George Soros and his creepy band of hoods, liars and insurrectionists. 100,000 voters.  Turnout 50%.

19.  The Dominant Liberal Woman.  Poster child is Nancy Pelosi who is boss at her home like so many liberal women married to successful capitalists.  They bleed for the less fortunate in front of the cameras and retreat in sleazy silence to their luxurious digs in the Hamptons, the Vineyard, Nob Hill or wherever they call home or, more appropriately, homes.   4 million voters.  Rabid voting base 100% turnout.

20. The Angry Black.  Any vote against the incumbent is racist.  Regardless of the reality of a sorry economy, reckless spending, diminished credit rating, stagnant wages, high unemployment, an anemic GDP growth rate, ballooning debt and divisive governance for four years running. Other than that everything is "hunky dory". 10 million voters.  Voting turnout less than 50%.

So, there you have it, President Obama's constituencies by TWW.  If you add up the projections of the voter turnout, President Obama will garner about 80 million popular votes (however, many groups above have overlaps with each other, so it may be closer to 70 million).  In 2008, Obama received 70 million votes versus 60 million for Senator John McCain. In electoral votes, for which 270 are needed for victory, Obama received 365 to McCain's 173.

In due time, I will assemble Governor Romney's constituencies and add up his numbers in like manner against that of President Obama.

No question about November's election being the most important in history, and it will also be the closest call ever.

Stay tuned.