I Pledge Allegiance

What a wonderful thing, freedom. Make a point today to celebrate the freedoms we have as Americans. Each one of us has the freedom to believe what we choose, to follow the path in life that pleases us. No politician, no cleric, no cult-of-personality owns our minds. Even as we seem to be losing many of those freedoms, we live in a land where we are all truly free to think, live and worship as we choose.

Some in Washington, Hollywood and other locals might suggest that we as a nation are broken, needing "change" in order to survive. I believe they might be right, but not in the way they think. We do seem to have lost our way a bit. Ours is the nation that saved the world from evil during two great World Wars during the 1900s. We stood strong against the Communist movement during the last half of the last century, leading to the dismantling of the Soviet Union and the Eastern Bloc. We have always stood on the side of freedom and liberty. Millions of Americans have given their lives to bring that freedom to peoples around the globe.

Today, Independence Day, I hope you'll all give some thought to what it means to truly be free. I hope you will appreciate the liberty we have in this country. Liberty that does not come from the government, but is granted to us simply because we exist. Liberty and freedoms we have in spite of government, not because of it.

Finally, I hope you will join me in renewing our allegiance to this great land. Take time to pledge your allegiance to our flag and to our nation. And while you are at it, please take four minutes to watch the following video. The great funnyman Red Skelton explains what the Pledge means, word by word. Enjoy, and pass it along.

Anniversary!

Four years ago today my beautiful wife and I were married. Life is good, and getting better every day. Hope yours is as well.

The Reason I Haven't Been Posting

A few months ago I received a promotion at work, and among my new duties... I'm webmaster of our corporate website. Spending four to five hours a day working on that website pretty much erodes any desire I have to work on this blog. I'll try to post when I can, but it will be sporadic for the near future.

Rutgers University's Trans-Atlantic Sea Glider

It's not what you think.  Students and scientists from Rutgers have launched a small underwater robot, called a glider, off the coast of New Jersey. It's name is RU27, but is better known as The Scarlet Knight, and they hope it will be the first autonomous underwater vehicle to cross the Atlantic Ocean. 

The RU27 moves by sucking in seawater, causing it to dive, then expelling that seawater, pushing it back up.  Wings on the craft transfer that up and down motion into forward momentum. 

As of this morning, The Scarlet Knight has traveled more than 2,700 miles and has completed about one-third of its journey.  You can follow the journey through their blog, as well as through Facebook and Google Earth. 

Bet His Mom Is Proud

A New Hampshire man was arrested yesterday for the 153rd time, just one week after completing a one-year jail sentence for stealing a can of beer. Not surprisingly, defendant says, “I think I was intoxicated.”

Government Snatches Up Private Property For Public Management

Private property owners in central North Dakota now have the federal government to thank for losing exclusive management rights to their property. The Democratic Congress passed, and Obama signed, a piece of legislation declaring that half a million acres surrounding the Missouri River be designated as the Northern Plains National Heritage Area. Sounds simple enough, until you learn that the legislation hands the land over to a public foundation (the Northern Plains Heritage Foundation), and gives them the right to write a management plan for private property. On top of that, it seems all this was done without the approval, or even the knowledge, of the private property owners.

Where's The Change Here?

President Obama has announced his choices for several posts as U.S. Ambassadors, and not surprisingly they are going to major donors to his campaign. Among them:

Louis Susman, 71, a retired Citigroup Inc. senior investment banker, raised between $200,000 and $500,000 for President Barack Obama’s presidential campaign and another $300,000 for his inauguration. He was nominated for the post of Ambassador to the U.K. He was finance chairman for John Kerry’s 2004 Democratic presidential campaign and raised money for the presidential runs of Senators Edward Kennedy and Bill Bradley.

John Roos, chief executive officer of the Palo Alto, California-based law firm Wilson, Sonsini, Goodrich & Rosati, Ambassador to Japan. He raised more than $500,000 for Obama.

Charles Rivkin, chief executive officer of Wildbrain Inc., to France. Rivkin collected more than $500,000 for Obama’s campaign and $300,000 for his inauguration.

Laurie Fulton, a partner with Williams & Connolly LLP, to Denmark. Fulton, 59, raised $100,000 to $200,000.

Since John F. Kennedy became president in 1961, about one- third of ambassadorships have gone to campaign donors or other politically connected individuals, according to the American Academy of Diplomacy.

I ask again... where's Obama's change?

Even This Russian Gets It

In this opinion piece from the Russian newspaper Pravda, a columnist by the name of Stanislav Mishin argues that America's descent into Marxism is happening at breathtaking speed. The author also writes a blog, one that is a bit anti-American. Still, he does see what's happing here much more clearly than most of our fellow countrymen. Among his observations...

"First, the population was dumbed down through a politicized and substandard education system based on pop culture, rather then the classics. Americans know more about their favorite TV dramas then the drama in DC that directly affects their lives. They care more for their "right" to choke down a McDonalds burger or a BurgerKing burger than for their constitutional rights...

"The final collapse has come with the election of Barack Obama. His speed in the past three months has been truly impressive. His spending and money printing has been a record setting, not just in America's short history but in the world. If this keeps up for more then another year, and there is no sign that it will not, America at best will resemble the Wiemar Republic and at worst Zimbabwe...

"Then came Barack Obama's command that GM's (General Motor) president step down from leadership of his company. That is correct, dear reader, in the land of "pure" free markets, the American president now has the power, the self given power, to fire CEOs and we can assume other employees of private companies, at will. Come hither, go dither, the centurion commands his minions.

"So it should be no surprise, that the American president has followed this up with a "bold" move of declaring that he and another group of unelected, chosen stooges will now redesign the entire automotive industry and will even be the guarantee of automobile policies. I am sure that if given the chance, they would happily try and redesign it for the whole of the world, too. Prime Minister Putin, less then two months ago, warned Obama and UK's Blair, not to follow the path to Marxism, it only leads to disaster. Apparently, even though we suffered 70 years of this Western sponsored horror show, we know nothing, as foolish, drunken Russians, so let our "wise" Anglo-Saxon fools find out the folly of their own pride.

"Again, the American public has taken this with barely a whimper..."

The guy gets it pretty much right, doesn't he?

Armed Forces Day

Today is Armed Forces Day. For those who don't know, Armed Forces Day is celebrated on the third Saturday in May. The day was created in 1949, to honor Americans serving in the five services - the Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force, and Coast Guard.

To all active members of the Armed Forces, as well as all Veterans, I thank you for all you've given.

Obama Laughing At Offensive, Distasteful Jokes

The jokes are obviously in poor taste. What's worse, and more disturbing, is the lack of character Obama shows in laughing at both of them. Watch and see...

Only Government Would Do This

The state of Massachusetts, in a move that only government would be stupid enough to perform, is providing some welfare recipients with free cars. In fact, the state pays for the car’s insurance, inspection, excise tax, title, registration, repairs and a AAA membership for one year at a total cost of roughly $6,000 per car. As if that weren't absurd enough...

"...about 20 percent of those who received a car ended up back on welfare, and while they lose the insurance and other benefits, they don’t have to return the car."

Only government could come up with something so unbelievable.

Obama: No Teleprompter, No Speaker

In case you missed the video, here's Barack Obama absolutely unable to speak when his teleprompter goes out. Listen to it, and think about it. His prompter goes out, and he can't string together one coherent thought. Sad...

GoodSearch - Search The Web And Support Good Causes

I tend to use Google or Yahoo for my web searches. Recently, though, I've found a way to raise money for a worthy cause (of my own choosing) while getting quality search results from Yahoo. It's called GoodSearch. The way it works is simple... you use GoodSearch exactly as you would any other search engine. Because it's powered by Yahoo!, you get proven search results.

You choose the charity or school you wish to support (a great many are already listed, or you can list your own). Every time you search the Internet at GoodSearch.com, your charity or school earns money and the more you search, the more they make.

On top of donations made for searching, you can earn rewards for your charity by shopping from one of the hundreds of merchants that have partnered with GoodSearch.

Give it a shot. Check to see if your school or charity is listed, and start earnign rewards for them by searching or shopping at GoodSearch.

Nice Story for a Saturday

The 3-year-old son of one of the players on the Barry University (Florida) baseball team has become something of a baseball prodigy. Check out the story, with video.