1994 BMW - 200,000 Miles

My 1994 BMW 325i just hit another milestone this last Monday as it passed 200,000.

I took almost 3 years to drive 10,000 miles with it.

The question now is 'Now what?'

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Congressman Rangel emails all taxpayers soliciting for donations

Upon hearing that DC House Member Eleanor Holmes Norton was out soliciting lobbyists with issues before her Congressional Committee, Congressman Charles Rangel realized that, he too was Chairman of the House Committee on Ways and Means, which among other things, oversees Taxation, Social Security and Medicare. With this in mind, he too decides to ask for cash from those whose livelihood his work in Congress has impacted; Every taxpayer in the US. Since there are too many to call, he decides to email everyone.

Here is a copy of one of his solicitation emails:

Dear Taxpayer/Social Security or Medicare Recipient,

This is Congresswoman Charlie Rangel. Uh, I noticed that you have given to uh, other colleagues in Congress.

I am a, um, Senior Member, a thirty nine year veteran and recent Chair of the Chairman of the House Committee on Ways and Means. I’ve handled the writing of our tax laws which govern how much taxes people pay and how much (if any) benefits people receive.

I was, frankly, uh, surprised to see that we don’t have a record, so far as I can tell, of your having given to me despite my uh, long and deep uh, work. In fact, it’s been my major work, uh, on the committee and it’s been essentially having a direct impact on your quality of life.

I am, I’m simply candidly calling to ask for a contribution. As a recent senior member of the um, committee, we have (chuckles) obligations to raise, uh funds. And, I think it must have been me who hasn’t, frankly, uh, done my homework to ask for a contribution earlier. So I’m trying to make up for it by asking for one now, when we particularly, uh, need, uh contributions, particularly those of us who have the seniority and chairmanships and are in a position to raise the funds.

I’m asking you to give to Rangel for Congress. I’ll send you a follow-up note with appreciation for having heard me out. Thanks again. - Transcript found at Big Government

Clearly, he didn't send this email. But if Congresswoman Norton can solicit funds as she has been caught doing, then Congressman Rangel can solicit as I suggest above. This is merely an example of why this kind of donation solicitation is wrong. Her message sounded like a shakedown. Given that the recipient released the message to the press, he clearly thought so as well.

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Obama - Raising Taxes vs Tax Cuts: 'I've got a whole bunch of better ways to spend that money'

To add to my post from yesterday 'Bush Tax Cuts Are not the Problem, Spending is...'

What I am saying is that if we are going to add to our deficit by $35 billion, $95 billion, $100 billion, $700 billion, if that's the Republican agenda, then I've got a whole bunch of better ways to spend that money - President Obama (Via The Hill)

Of course he does. Hell, if given the chance, President Obama and his Democrat buddies have no end of 'better ways to spend your money'. The trick is, they have no plans of spending it on the people that they are taking the money from. Worse, they have no plans on spending this money on you either.

At least the President's words give good insight into how the President thinks. Basically he sees letting people keep their own income as Government spending. It is backwards and wrong. This money is owns and somehow we collectively decided to lets the idiots in control of the Government spend it on our behalf.

As for the number that the President is commenting on there above, while being large, they pall in comparison to the actual deficit total. As for the $700 billion cost the President mentions, that is the cost to extend the tax cuts for the rich for the next ten years. In comparison, 'The total deficit for fiscal year 2009 was $1.42 trillion'.

Government spending is a reckless joke. Look at all the money that has been spent and basically wasted. Just how much more needs to be spent before we all feel good? Me, all I am thinking about is my income tax going up at the end of the year and eating away any raise that I might have coming. It get worse given the tax on dividends will go up. There is nothing that the Government can do for me to compensate for the additional tax money they are going to seize from me. And frankly, I am not interested in having that money being used to help other people, like in the recent billions spent as called for by the President to save teachers jobs in a number of states. That for me is a state issue. If those states are willing to lay off teachers, firefighters, whoever, then that is their decision. If they want to keep them, then the state needs to figure out how to pay their salaries. It is asinine to force me to pay for teachers in another state in addition to paying for those here.

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Bush Tax Cuts Are not the Problem, Spending is...

Seems that President Obama has set his sights on letting the Bush tax cuts expire for the richest Americans at the end of the year. This move is purely designed to both punish the richest Americans as well as a political move for the next election to show his core voters (Other than those rich idiots who voted for him) that he is doing his best to 'stick it' to the group of American who already pay the most taxes. They claim that the rich need to pay more because otherwise the deficit will continue to grow.

The reason why I call BS on this is that reinstating the Bush Tax Cuts will do absolutely nothing to reduce the deficit. Take the following story found on the Huffington post noting that the cost to the Government to keep the Bush Tax cuts for the next ten years is between $2.5 and $2.9 Trillion. That is about $250 billion a year.

President Barack Obama favors making the cuts permanent for middle class families, those individuals making more than $200,000 and couples making more than $250,000.

The Tax Policy Center, a Washington think tank, estimates it would cost $2.9 trillion over the next decade to extend all the tax cuts, while Obama's plan is estimated at $2.5 trillion over 10 years. - Huffington Post

Now take the following recent news noting that President Obama's Administration has managed to add over $2.5 trillion to the national debt in just 19 months in office.

(CNSNews.com) - In the first 19 months of the Obama administration, the federal debt held by the public increased by $2.5260 trillion, which is more than the cumulative total of the national debt held by the public that was amassed by all U.S. presidents from George Washington through Ronald Reagan. - CNS News

Given the numbers above, any politician who claims that we have to end the Bush tax cuts for the sake of the national deficit should be run out of office. These idiots in power will just use the addition revenue as a reason to spend twice as much.

Take a look at this graph (from Wikipedia) noting the difference between what the Government is taking in and what it is spending.

The problem is not revenue collection. It is spending. The amount of additional revenue by expiring the tax cuts for the richest would not be enough to cover Medicare spending in the graph above. And as you can see, it is a mere sliver of the additonal revenue needed to close the gap.

And for all these people out there saying that it is OK for people earning more than you to pay more taxes, keep in mind that they already pay more.

Also, as noted in my post 'Obama's 2010 Budget Spends Almost $12,000 Per American!' the level of Government spending is not only unsustainable, it is truly an irresponsible amount of spending:

Now comes the President's 2010 budget that is also screaming that this is something the Country can't afford.

After taking office in January, Obama released a bare-bones version of his budget in February that offered a spending plan for 2010 carrying a price tag of $3.55 trillion. The White House revised up the size of the spending plan to $3.59 trillion. - Yahoo News

At $3.59 Trillion, the Government will be spending around $11,970 per American (Given 300 million Americans). That comes out to Government spending of $47,900 for a family of four.

This is an impossible spending figure for the country to sustain. Hell, it will take years, most likely decades of taxation just to pay this one year's deficit back. - Link

I can't believe that there is any excuse to continue spending like this. None.

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Labor Day Gadsden Flag - Photo

The house I bought earlier this year came with a flagpole. It was a nice bonus and saved me the trouble of flying a flag from the house. Plus, the wife would not have been too eager for me to put up a flagpole.

But since I have one, I fly the flag every day. And for special occasions I throw up the Gadsden Flag as well.

Given that the wife is not American, I needed to educate her on 'the snake flag', which I did by giving her a copy of wikipedia's Gadsden Flag entry.

And no, I am not TEA Party, but I support many of their beliefs, including less government, less taxes, less spending, tackling illegal immigration and getting rid of that awful health care law. This of course means that the Democrats need to lose control of Congress. And by default this also means that there is no such thing as a good Democrat Congressman this election as a vote for any of them is a vote for keeping Pelosi and Reid in power. Given how crappy the Republicans have been I am not too happy about having to vote for them to get this change. I am however encouraged that it appears that I am not the only one pissed off and is finding new Republicans to replace many of the problem ones. I would like to see more of that.

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Japanese Dolphin Kill Documentary 'The Cove' to Air on the Animal Planet channel

The Japanese Dolphin slaughter documentary will be shown on Animal Planet on Sunday night. So if you have not seen it yet, now is your chance:

Academy Award Winner, The Cove chronicles activist Ric O'Barry's fight to reveal the monstrous dolphin massacres that are taking place in various pockets of the world's waters, capturing the wrongdoings of the secretive dolphin industry in Taiji, Japan. - Animal Planet

Here is a trailer of the documentary. I have watched it and found it to be very interesting as well as very disturbing. The Japanese people should be very ashamed that this is going on in their country. As if killing whales under the ruse of 'research' wasn't enough already.

Trailer link.

Visit the documentary website here.

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There is no reason to build a mosque at or near Ground Zero

Like many people, I have been following the Ground Zero Mosque. Of course, the President has to weigh in on the side of the mosque builders. Unfortunately, a real President would have sided on the signs of Americans in opposition to building this mosque where they want to.

Here are some issues I have with the Ground Zero Mosque.

As noted on the Ace of Spades Blog, they want to build this right against the Ground Zero site.

(Map Source: America's Independent Party National Committee)

Along with the location issue, just how many muslims live in lower Manhattan? There can't be all that many given that it is a business area. There does not appear to be many at all given this search in Google Maps, which shows only a few mosques and centers in all of Manhattan.

The lack of mosques in Manhattan in general is a perfect example of how this new mosque is not needed. After all, it is not like Manhattan was built yesterday and they had not yet gotten around to building the mosque. New York City is one of America's oldest cities and has been around for a couple hundred years. There is a reason why there are no large mosques in Manhattan.

This brings out another issue in that Islam has no real historical roots in Manhattan. There is no abundance of mosques up in Northern Manhattan where Harlem is, where you would think there would be, if anywhere. Islam was just not present. So why should some outsiders all of a sudden simply be allowed to shove a mosque in where it doesn't belong.

Mosque building is a funny thing. I have been to a number of muslim countries. In general, muslims build two things; mosques and bombs. Sure, you have places like Dubai, which has built a whole city out of the sand. But that was not based on any sort of rational decision-making. Cities grow because they are alive. Dubai was built with the idea that if you build it they will come. That seems to be the same idea with this mosque. Manhattan was built into a great city because the people came to it and it grew from that life.

Finally, as a larger issue, I do not think that Islam in general is a religion that is compatible with the spirit of the US. It is repeated over and over that the 9/11 terrorists are not symbolic of islam in general. In they they hijacked islam. My position is that this is representative of islam. Because if islam was hijacked, why is there no evidence of that. (See my post: Islam was not Hijacked)

So if the builders of the Obama-endorsed Ground Zero mosque want to exert their right to build a mosque on the edge of an islam-invoked terror-site. I look forward to others invoking their right to not help them in their task. There is already a call for construction workers to take a pledge not to help build the mosque. That is a great start. There are lots of others who can join in that pledge as well to thwart the construction, such as truck drivers, suppliers, equipment lessors, etc. New Yorkers and Americans in general can do anything they put their mind to. the Government for some reason has seen fit to endorse this project. It is now up to the people to stop it.

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U.S. Frees Puerto Rican Terrorist Leader Decades Early

Furthering the Democrat problem of being soft on terrorism and the Obama mission of embracing our enemies, the Obama Administration has released a domestic terrorist for no reason whatsoever, other than to make friends with those who have waged war with the US and it's population:

An unrepentant terrorist who helped orchestrate more than 100 U.S. bombings as a member of a violent Puerto Rican extremist group has been quietly released from prison after serving less than half of his sentence.

Mum’s the word from Camp Obama but it’s likely that Attorney General Eric Holder was behind the abhorrent action. After all, Holder bypassed Justice Department procedures to push through Bill Clinton’s scandalous last-minute pardons and commutations, including those of 16 members of the same Puerto Rican terrorist group, known as Armed Forces of National Liberation or FALN for is Spanish acronym.

The recently freed FALN leader, Carlos Torres, served only 30 years of his 78-year sentence for his role in carrying out numerous attacks within the United States during the late 1970s and early ‘80s. The militant separatist group executed around 130 bombings of government and financial buildings in the nation’s capital, Chicago and New York, killing at least six people and injuring scores of others to protest the relationship between the U.S. and Puerto Rico. - Judicial Watch

Just what was the FALN:

The Fuerzas Armadas de Liberación Nacional (English: Armed Forces of National Liberation, FALN) was a Puerto Rican clandestine paramilitary organization that, through direct action, advocated complete independence for Puerto Rico. At the time of its dissolution, the FALN was responsible for more than 120 bomb attacks on United States targets between 1974 and 1983. The United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) classifies the FALN as a terrorist organization. - Wikipedia

This terrorist was a leader of a group that carried out attacks within the US that resulted in deaths and injuries. And Obama saw fit to set him free. Just another example of what people voted for. Before this Presidency is over, they will be calling for the release of the DC sniper, because in Obama's eyes, he is a victim too.

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Drill Sergeant as Therapist - Video

I saw this cool Geico commercial once on TV. Not sure why they are not showing this more:

Does a former Drill Sergeant make a terrible therapist? You be the judge after watching R. Lee Ermey in one of the latest GEICO commercials - Link

I love it!

Now just image... Barack Obama as therapist...

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Finnish Women Need Foreign Men!

Having lived in Finland for a couple years, the fact that there was an overabundance of woman in the Helsinki Capital City area was not exactly news to me.

Approximately 3,000 Finnish citizens marry foreigners each year. These unions increase immigration into this country, although of course in some cases the couples choose to live elsewhere.

Common-law marriages and marriages account for something like 60,000 foreign nationals having come to Finland - a figure well in excess of the refugee population, for instance.

In Helsinki, the numbers are already substantial: more than one in four marriages in the capital are between a Finn and a foreign partner. There is no great wonder in this, since Helsinki boasts thousands more women of marriagable age than it has eligible bachelors.

Many educated urban Finnish women actually go and seek out a spouse from Western Europe. For example, four out of five of the British citizens living in Finland are male. As a general rule, they are also well educated. - Helsingin Sanomat

When my wife read this her first comment was that of the available Finnish men, about 30% of them are un-date-able, making the shortage even greater. From my experience, there were Finnish women who only dated foreigners. This is why Helsinki is such a great place to work or go to school, if you are a foreign male. Oddly enough, the same is not true for foreign women. At least not according to my MBA classmates.

The story also goes into the problems that foreign men have in finding employment in Finland, despite being highly educated and trained. This problem I can relate to given how hard I tried to find work while living there, before giving up and moving back to the States. Traditionally, the excuse not to hire a foreigner has been the inability to understand the Finnish language. This excuse appears to be wearing thin as more and more foreigners actually learn the language. I still remember the shock of one interview when I responded to him, in Finnish, when he mentioned that I needed to speak Finnish for the job. Quickly Finnish was not to important any longer and Swedish (Finland's other official language) was what I needed to know. Basically, for many of the jobs, lack of Finnish language skills was being used as a simple excuse not to hire a foreigner.

Murat Yüzlü opens up his diary-cum-order-book on the table of a café in downtown Helsinki. It is full.

There is no shortage of work for a business consultant and interpreter, it seems. But as far as Yüzlü's specific field is concerned - managerial positions in the hotel and travel business - things are rather different: in fifteen years of living in Finland he has not managed to find work in his own branch.

Yüzlü, 41, speaks excellent Finnish. - Helsingin Sanomat

So, if you are looking for a Scandinavian woman and you have no idea how to get the Swedish Bikini Team member, you might want to broaden your search as Finland has women looking for you! What is the trade-off? Well first, they are not Swedish, although some are Swedish-speaking. And some people consider Finland not to be part of Scandinavia. That however only becomes a problem if any of your friends ever manage to get themselves a Swedish babe. And the chances of that happening are low.

And once you have found her, you are probably much better off bringing her back home. It really is difficult to find work in Finland and when you do, the salaries are almost always much lower, and the taxes much higher. It was a painful decision for me to move back but seeing how many of my friends continue to struggle, I know that it was the right decision for me. We often entertained the idea of moving back prior to purchasing a house earlier this year. But the plan was to buy our own business instead of trying to find a good-paying job.

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Same-Sex Marriage Invented in 1969!

Every time there is a news story about judges backing gay marriage I end up working on this post. However, I never get enough energy (or interest) to bother posting it. However, today's ruling in California must have pushed me enough to publish it in response to all the BS in attacking real marriage. So here goes.

Don't take this post the wrong way. I am all for having some form of legal union for same-sex couples.

However, I am against turning our society upside-down by liberal attempts to change the definition of marriage into something that marriage has never been. And that is the point of this post.

The argument by the left to legalize gay marriage has been presented as some sort of historical injustice where (traditional) marriages have been given legal recognition and that gay marriages have not, as part of some sort of discrimination against gay couples.

The problem for me is that upon further investigation, the real history of gay marriage goes all the way back to...1969.

Basically, gay marriage is just another bad idea that came out of the sixties.

Take a look at Wikipedia's entry for gay marriage. Sure it refers all the way back to ancient times, but the whole story is all guessing. the one conclusion that you can get from reading the 'history' of gay marriage is that there was no gay marriage in the past. Really, here are a couple of examples. Take this concerning Greece:

In Hellenic Greece, the pederastic relationships between Greek men (erastes) and youths (eromenos) were similar to marriage in that the age of the youth was similar to the age at which women married (the mid-teens, though in some city states, as young as age seven), and the relationship could only be undertaken with the consent of the father. This consent, just as in the case of a daughter's marriage, was contingent on the suitor's social standing. The relationship consisted of very specific social and religious responsibilities and also had a sexual component. Unlike marriage, however, a pederastic relation was temporary and ended when the boy turned seventeen.

At the same time, many of these relationships might be more clearly understood as mentoring relationships between adult men and young boys rather than an analog of marriage. This is particularly true in the case of Sparta, where the relationship was intended to further a young boy's military training. While the relationship was generally life long and of profound emotional significance to the participants, it was not considered marriage by contemporary culture and the relationship continued even after participants entered into traditional marriage to women as was expected in the culture when men reached age 30.(citation needed - Wikipedia

Hmm, pretty thin as far as gay marriage goes. And take this history of same sex marriage in the US:

In the United States during the 19th century, there was recognition of the relationship of two women making a long-term commitment to each other and cohabitating, referred to at the time as a Boston marriage; however, the general public at the time likely assumed that sexual activities were not part of the relationship.

Rev. Troy Perry performed the first public gay wedding in the United States in 1969, but it was not legally recognized, and in 1970, Metropolitan Community Church filed the first-ever lawsuit seeking legal recognition of same-sex marriages. The lawsuit was not successful. In March 2005, two Unitarian Universalist ministers Kay Greenleaf and Dawn Sangrey were charged with multiple counts of solemnizing a marriage without a license in the State of New York. The charges were the first brought against clergy for performing same-sex unions in North America, according to the Human Rights Campaign, a Washington, D.C.-based gay rights group.

The earliest use of the phrase "commitment ceremony" as an alternative term for "gay wedding" appears to be by Bill Woods who, in 1990, tried to organize a mass "commitment ceremony" for Hawaii's first gay pride parade. Similarly, Reverend Jimmy Creech of the First United Methodist Church performed his first "commitment ceremony" of a same-sex couple in 1990 in North Carolina. In January, 1987, Morningside Monthly Meeting of the Society of Friends became the first Quaker Meeting to take a same-sex marriage under its care with the marriage of John Bohne and William McCann on May 30, 1987. Although several other Meetings held “Ceremonies of Commitment, Morningside was the first to refer to the relationship as a marriage and afford it equal status. - Wikipedia

So there you have. The strongest historical reference in the US of gay marriage is something that was not really a marriage at all, basically living as female roommates. And the first real US gay marriage was in 1969 and now the courts are fighting to declare it equal to marriages that have been going on for centuries. This boggles the mind.

Interestingly enough, fresh from Europe comes a ruling noting that there is no human right for gays to gay marriage. Given the lack of any true founding in society of gay marriage, it is not a surprise to see this kind of ruling. It is only a surprise given that you would think Europe would support this in all areas as part of their progressive agenda.

A panel of seven judges ruled unanimously Thursday that the couple was not covered by the guarantee of the right to marry in Europe's human rights convention.

The judges said there was "an emerging European consensus towards legal recognition of same-sex couples," but left it to individual states to decide what form that should take. - Yahoo News

And here is a neat explanation of how this new invention of Gay Marriage is getting shoved into our society:

Up until the early 1990s, when judges started acting as engines to install same-sex marriage, it did not seem to occur to most people that marriage meant anything other than the marriage of men and women. Judge Tauro’s affectation is to have us believe that it is quite as natural and legitimate now to assume that any couple of the same sex would be as plausible a candidate for marriage as the coupling, more familiar, of a man and a woman. One would hardly know, from Tauro’s opinion, that there are compelling arguments, grounded in nature and moral reasoning, that call into serious question the coherence of any arrangement that would call itself “marriage” while detaching itself from the union of a man and a woman. Tauro might have serious arguments to make against that case, but that argument has to be made. This late in the seasons of our experience, the overthrow of the traditional understanding of marriage is an act still sufficiently momentous that it deserves to have the reasons assembled to justify itself. Tauro simply begins by presupposing the legitimacy of same-sex marriage and the “irrational prejudice” of anyone who would deny it. As Bertrand Russell once said, presupposing has every advantage over demonstration that theft has over honest labor. - Bench Memos, National Review

Note again that this is all current (recent) history all trying to pervert centuries of common practice.

Also note that I am for some sort of civil arrangement to give gay couples benefits that they are looking for such as next of kin, etc. I would also say tax benefits as well but wonder exactly what benefits that might be given that the marriage penalty is coming back. One issue I do have though is that if we are going to start accepting the registration of alternate associations, where do we draw the line?

Finally, the position I have is that marriage is what it always was and it is assinine to attack it as part of appeasement to progressives. It is like arguing about how many cents are in a dollar. It is just plain stupid and those who do this are the very people that are helping to destroy this country.

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Obama Administration - Failure to Enforce Immigration Law - 'Foreign Policy'

I have to say that I am not surprised to hear today that the drunk driver who killed a nun was an illegal alien. Sadly this is because when I first heard the name of the drunk driver I immediately wondered if he was an illegal alien simply because he had a Hispanic name. And not for anything, this is not the first time an illegal alien killed on the highways of the Capital region.

The man suspected of drunken driving and killing a Catholic nun in Prince William County this weekend is an illegal immigrant who was awaiting deportation and who federal immigration authorities had released pending further proceedings, police said Monday.

The man, Carlos Montano, a county resident, had been arrested by police twice before on drunk-driving charges, and on at least one of those occasions county police reported him to federal authorities.

"We have determined that he is in the country illegally. He has been arrested by Prince William County Police in the past," said Officer Jonathan Perok, a police spokesman, who said U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement was notified at the time of one of those arrests. - Washington Times

So here we have an illegal alien who had multiple contacts with the police, mainly through drunk driving, who for some reason the Federal Government decided that he was not enough of a criminal to warrant detention and deportation. You see, non-deportation by the Federal Government is actually part of some bizarre foreign policy. How do we know? Because the US Government's complaint to stop Arizona's illegal alien law states so:

And it will interfere with vital foreign policy and national security interests by disrupting the United States’ relationship with Mexico and other countries. - Arizona Complaint

And they further state in their complaint that the Government:

may even decide not to pursue removal of the alien if deferred federal enforcement will help pursue some other goal of the immigration system. See 8 U.S.C. § 1229c. - Arizona Complaint

It would be logical to assume that the Government would naturally want to remove from the country an illegal alien with a drunk driving arrest, and especially one with multiple drunk driving arrests. Again, the Government's complaint notes that the Government is busy trying to target illegal alien criminals, and even used this reason in their fight to stop Arizona's law, because of some fear that they will not be able to target these criminals if forced to deal with ordinary illegal aliens:

In exercising its significant enforcement discretion, the federal government prioritizes for arrest, detention, prosecution, and removal those aliens who pose a danger to national security or a risk to public safety. Consistent with these enforcement priorities, the federal government principally targets aliens engaged in or suspected of terrorism or espionage; aliens convicted of crimes, with a particular emphasis on violent criminals, felons, and repeat offenders; certain gang members; aliens subject to outstanding criminal warrants; and fugitive aliens, especially those with criminal records. - Arizona Complaint

This makes me wonder, just what kind of illegal alien criminals is the Government targeting to reduce the threat to 'public safety'? I would think that deporting drunk driving illegal aliens a given. Apparently not so. Also makes you wonder about their comment just what an illegal alien gang member have to do before he becomes targeted by ICE?

Not for anything, why is the Government spending all this money to hunt down criminal aliens while at the same time letting other criminal aliens out of jail? Perhaps the Government should be reminded of the simple proverb 'a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush' which Wiktionary so nicely explains:

It is preferable to have a small but certain advantage than a mere potential of a greater one. - Wiktionary

And as a bonus, the Government would not have to spend money to hunt these people down given that they are already in custody. It just boggles the mind that police are letting free illegal aliens criminals instead of simply deporting them.

And since this latest crime drove me to post on this let me comment about the following recent illegal alien death.

EL PASO, Texas - A 15-year-old Mexican boy shot and killed by a U.S. Border Patrol agent was among El Paso's most wanted juvenile immigrant smugglers, according to federal arrest records reviewed by the Associated Press.

The records show Sergio Adrian Hernandez Huereka had been arrested at least four times since 2008 and twice in the same week in February 2009 on suspicion of smuggling illegal immigrants across the U.S.-Mexico border. Hernandez was repeatedly arrested along the U.S. side of the border near downtown El Paso, not far from where he was killed, but was never charged with a crime by federal prosecutors. - AZ Central (Click to read the whole story)

This story is troublesome because the Government knew that this teenager was smuggling illegal aliens across the boarder and still they did not throw him in jail. Oddly enough, he would probably be alive today if the Government prosecuted these criminals. Instead, they taught him that there was no real fear of being caught because nothing would happen to him. Unfortunately for him, this assumption contributed to his death.

And just to be clear, this was not any human smuggler. As the story notes, he was 'was among El Paso's most wanted juvenile immigrant smugglers'. and still, the government let him go. This is beyond irresponsible. It is criminal behavior on behalf of the Government.

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Battlestar Gallactica Spinoff to Cover 'Young William "Husker" Adama in the first Cylon War'

At the end of the 'Re-imagined' Battlestar Gallactica series, many wondered what possible spinoffs might come from this series to carry on the story. One spinoff is Caprica. However, I was hoping that another spinoff would go back to the first Cylon war and carry on the story that was introduced in a couple of webisodes during the series. This seems to be coming to life in the near future:

An online series called "Blood & Chrome" is in the works, one that would follow the experiences of a young William "Husker" Adama in the first Cylon War. - Chicago Tribune

And note that this is coming online and not straight to TV:

"Blood & Chrome" would consist of nine or 10 episodes of nine or 10 minutes each, and it would make use of cutting-edge digital technology and special effects to depict the Cylon War. If it is greenlit to production, it will be filmed using green screens and virtual sets, not unlike Syfy's "Sanctuary" or James Cameron's "Avatar." - Chicago Tribune (Go click to read the whole story)

I look forward to this coming out. I guess this is a test to see if they can make a full series out of it.

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It is Financially Irresponsible To Buy A $41,000 Chevy Volt!

So word comes out that Chevy's new 'Green' car, the Chevy Volt is going to sell for the insane amount of $41,000. Are they crazy?

The long-anticipated Chevrolet Volt, General Motors' electric car, will cost $41,000, the company announced Tuesday, leaving consumers to decide whether its environmental appeal is worth a price far above that of similarly sized conventional autos.

Electric-car technology has been around for years, but the high cost to make the vehicles has prevented automakers from producing them for the mass market. The price announcements for the Volt and its electric rival, the Nissan Leaf, have been highly anticipated as a result. Nissan, the only other major manufacturer expected to bring such a vehicle to market this year, said the Leaf will cost $32,780.

GM and Nissan are relying on a $7,500 federal tax credit for buyers of electric vehicles to offset some of the added cost, and they're hoping that the allure of their novel power source will make up the rest. - Washington Post

First, forget the tax credit because you need to pay for the whole car, and I suspect that many people once they get the credit, will use it to either pay other bills, such as higher interest rate credit card, or simply blow the money on some other personal 'reward.'

A look at a car loan calculator gives an $800 monthly payment for a 5 year loan. This is on top of insurance and other costs. For most all Americans, this is an unreasonable monthly expense for a car to the point of being irresponsible.

Given the amount of debt that many Americans are carrying, this car does not make sense given the investment required. Hell, I wonder when it would make sense given that there are many nice alternatives as half the price. And since many families are 2+ car families, this choice is a great way to load up on crushing debt.

And people wonder why GM was in financial trouble. This car is a good example why. buying this car will just give you a share of GM's troubles.

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Obama Grants PLO Officials in US Diplomatic Immunity

I guess this falls in the catagory of 'Smart Power'.

After a year and half in office, Obama recognized that his previous view of the Middle East was wrong. And as a pragmatist, he has embarked on a new course.

Yet before the ink on their proclamations had a chance to dry, Obama demonstrated that their enthusiasm was misplaced. Late last week the administration decided – apropos of nothing – to upgrade the diplomatic status of the PLO mission in Washington.

From now on, the PLO will be allowed to fly its flag like a regular embassy.

Its representatives will enjoy diplomatic immunity just like diplomats from states.

Indeed the PLO delegate in Washington Maen Areikat claimed that the administration’s move equates the PLO’s diplomatic status in the US to that of Canada and states in Western Europe. - JPost

And just what did they do to earn this? While he is at it, why not just extend the same courtesy to the Iranians? Or how about the Taiwanese?

TO PUT this move in perspective, it is worth comparing the PLO’s new status to that of the US’s firm ally and fellow democracy – Taiwan, the Republic of China. Whereas the PLO now has a “delegation general” in Washington, Taiwan has the “Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office.” - JPost

Maybe if this Administration can find the time, perhaps they might consider strengthening our relationships with our friends for a change...

Update: 28 July

And what about Tibet? How about extending them the same courtesy...

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