SOLOFLYER

THANK GOD FOR TEACHERS

2006-10-30T06:59:00.000-05:00

Many of us have children and or step children. The usual norm of the day from birth to 18 is at first a parent stays at home till the child(ren) is/are ready for school. Then they go to school and the stay at home parent gets a job. Then normally the only view a parent has of the classroom is what comes home in the way of report cards, notes, test scores the occasional teacher conference and other points of distribution from the teacher. Most people (Including myself) take for granted what goes on in a day of the life of a teacher.

In the past few years I have volunteered at various levels of the grammar school system. I have had the opportunity to view the conduct and behavior of classes from 1st grade to 5th grade and I have to say thank god that there are people that choose to take this profession, they can deal with it, and that are exceptional at it.

From what I have seen, I could not deal with that job for 5 days a week 6-7 hours a day. The next time that you are talking to a teacher thank them for the job they are doing.

JOHN KERRY SUED

2006-10-25T13:45:00.000-05:00

I received the following post from Kelly K.

When John Kerry slandered an entire generation of men who fought in Vietnam he branded them as "war criminals." Today, much of the same thing is being said about our young men and women in Iraq. Now, a lawsuit filed in Philadelphia's Court of Common Pleas will test the very foundation of Kerry's anti-war persona for the first time. It isn't dubious medals or Kerry's disputed service record in Vietnam that is being called into question. This time Kerry may finally be forced to answer for the events that launched his public career, one that made him an anti-war hero for many American liberals and a turncoat for millions of Vietnam veterans. The lawsuit challenges the basis, the factual accuracy of then Lt. (j.g.) Kerry's acrimonious testimony before the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee in 1971. It was there Kerry's public career was catapulted with his now ubiquitous portrayal of American soldiers as murderers, rapists and >torturers "who ravaged the countryside of South Vietnam . . . [and] razed villages in a fashion reminiscent of Genghis Khan." For the anti-war, anti-American protesters, the American soldiers are the >"terrorists," and the enemies are the victims of a barbaric U.S. military which tortures and murders defenseless civilians.That false premise, one of the most vicious and enduring smears spawned by Kerry 35 years ago, will also be put to the test once Kerry's true "Band of >Brothers" are put under oath in a Philadelphia courtroom. The background to this lawsuit is long and complex, but even a condensed version is rich in irony and poetic justice. It had it roots in 2004 with the documentary Stolen Honor: Wounds that Never Heal. Many may recall the film, although it is probably best known for not being seen, suppressed after Sinclair Broadcasting Company courageously announced it was going to air the documentary in its entirety. Thanks to Kerry and his liberal colleagues in the Senate and their enablers in the mainstream media, Sinclair was browbeaten into withdrawing the film, its broadcast license threatened by a Kerry campaign manager in 2004. The film's producer, Carlton Sherwood, a Pulitzer Prize and Peabody Award-winning investigative reporter, interviewed former POWs for the documentary. I was among those whom Sherwood, a decorated Marine combat veteran himself, asked to participate in Stolen Honor. I was a POW for nearly six years, held in North Vietnam prison camps, including the notorious Hanoi Hilton, a place of unimaginable horrors - torture, beatings, starvation and mind-numbing isolation. When Kerry branded us "war criminals," he handed our captors all the justification they needed to carry out their threats to execute us. Thanks to Kerry, Jane Fonda and their comrades in the anti-war movement, our captivity was prolonged by years. The communists in Hanoi and Moscow couldn't have had a better press agent to spread their anti-American propaganda.To guarantee Stolen Honor would never be seen by anyone - not even theatre-goers - the producer was slapped with a libel and defamation lawsuit. That lawsuit was filed by a long-time anti-war disciple of the Massachusetts Senator. He was one of Kerry's key war crimes "witnesses," one of several on whom Kerry claims he based his Senate testimony. The lawsuit put a unique spin on the definition of defamation, claiming that Stolen Honor had damaged the public reputations of himself, Kerry and others by simply quoting their own words and criticisms of America during the Vietnam war! The POWs and the wives of POWs who participated in Stolen Honor refused to abandon the facts conveyed in the film. For some of us, it was the first time since our release by the Communists in 1973 that we were able to have our voices publicly heard, to tell our stories about the consequences of Kerry's treachery. In 2005, we formed a nonprofit organization, the Vietnam Veterans Legacy Foundation (VVLF), to gather records, documents and other materials to form a fact-based, educational repository for students and scholars of Vietnam history and to tell the true story of the American soldiers in Vietnam. The VVLF's mission is "to set the record straight, factually, about Vietnam and those who fought there."For our efforts, we were promptly sued by two long-time anti-war Kerry followers and VVAW members. It was clear that Kerry not only wanted to punish us for Stolen Honor; he intended to use surrogates to sue us into permanent silence and financial ruin. Forced to spend huge sums to defend ourselves from these frivolous lawsuits, we have filed a countersuit against these Kerry surrogates and intend to reveal the truth about the lawsuits and their sponsors. We believe that we can prove that the purpose of nearly two years of litigation was to protect John Kerry, to drain us financially and spiritually, and to prevent us from setting the record straight. At stake is ultimately nothing less than the integrity of the American military in Vietnam, the honor of the men who served their country, the nobility of those who gave their lives, and the truth of America's history in Vietnam. Until or unless we do correct the existing record, the American >military may never be free of the myths and smears of Vietnam, its honor and integrity cleansed as it fights to defend freedom at home and around the world. Our mission is hardly over. We hope you will join us in fighting this battle . . . for our soldiers, then and now.

Upon receiving this e-mail I was reminded of a few of the Jane Fonda Traiterous Bitch e-mails that I have received in the past, and had come after researching the events stated I found out that they were entirely false or grossly exagerated. (No I am not sticking up for the bitch, but I prefer factual evidence instead of false evidence for my bestowing the moniker Bitch infront of Fonda). Truly I think Kerrys is a Bastard, and when I received this e-mail, there were no web addresses included. I did a little checking with the help of google, and as it appears the VVLF is an actual organization and the suit is factual. The VVLF Website has a detailed description of the case and also there are a few other websites that I looked at that carry the case and other incidents.

http://www.americans-working-together.com/id104.html

THE OTHER SIDE OF THE NEWS

2006-09-25T06:00:00.000-05:00

The spinach scare is far reaching. In Chicago a mother was arrested for child abuse. The charge making her kids eat their spinach. Also Popeye finally dies.

According to the French; Osama Bin Laden received a large anonymous spinach delivery about 45 days ago.

Duane “DOG” Chapman while fighting extradition charges to Mexico, is hired by the Mexican government to capture himself.

FISHERMAN AND A BALOONIST

2006-09-20T06:15:00.000-05:00

Hat tip to Eddie H for this one!

A woman in a hot air balloon realized she was lost. She lowered her altitude and spotted a man in a boat below. She shouted to him, "Excuse me, can you help me? I promised a friend I would meet him an hour ago, but I don't know where I am. The fisherman consulted his portable GPS and replied, "You're in a hot air balloon, approximately 30 feet above a ground elevation of 2,346 feet above sea level. You are at 31 degrees, 14.97 minutes north latitude and 100 degrees, 49.09 minutes west longitude. She rolled her eyes and said, "You must be a Republican." "I am," replied the man. "How did you know?" "Well," answered the balloonist, "everything you told me is technically correct, but I have no idea what to do with your information, and I'm still lost. Frankly, you've not been much help to me." The man smiled and responded, "You must be a Democrat." "I am," replied the balloonist. "How did you know?" "Well," said the man, "you don't know where you are or where you're going. You've risen to where you are, due to a large quantity of hot air. You made a promise that you have no idea how to keep, and you expect me to solve your problem. You're in exactly the same position you were in before we met, but, somehow, now it's my fault."

I’M BAAAAACK!

2006-08-27T16:46:00.000-05:00

Sorry for taking a long hiatus this summer but I am finally moved. A lot of the packing is done and I am getting a bit to slow down and do some stuff that I like and have neglected over the past month.

With my many trips up and down 220 this past month I have to say that there are a bunch of Dumb Ass Truckers (DATs) out there. Since July 28th On a weekly average I have seen 3 accidents a week on 220 and 2 of the 3 involved tractor trailer trucks. Most were solo accidents IE tractor trailer truck exceeding safe speed posted for a curve and flipping over, with a few where the tractor trailer truck flipped and took out a car next to it or slid into another car. All up and down 220 the curves are posted with the safe speeds for that curve. On average the DATs just ignore these posted warnings, and blast through the curve and allow the laws of Physics to work against them. Driving a loaded Van with a trailer I quickly learned to respect these signs and the posted limits.

There is a lot of Road Construction going on here. With this I cannot fathom the state of Virginia being able to support racial and sexual equality. The sites are marked with an orange sign, that says flagman ahead, and show this little round headed black dude with a flag. Well first off if I was a baldheaded Afro-American I would take offense. The reason I would take offense is because I think the sign is saying that only bald headed Afro-American Males can hold the stop and slow sign before a one lane road. Well in support of the persecuted people let me tell you, they have had women out there, some old white guy that actually falls asleep standing up in 90 plus degree heat, Mexicans, and only one Afro-American and he had a hell of a lot of hair.

Recently there have been quite a few shows on the various educational channels (IE Discovery, NGEO, SCI etc) dealing with crop circles and UFOs. The surrounding area that I am now calling home is made up primarily of farmland. Wheat fields, hay fields, corn fields abound here. Then there are also over grown pasturelands. Now what I want to know is how come the aliens only hit cash crop fields versus landing in an over grown pasture????

I have another point to my life that is at a juncture. While growing up I was taken on trips by my parents to Lancaster Pa to see the Amish or Pennsylvania (Thank God for spell check) Dutch. These guys and women messed around in clothes from the 1800s and spurned modern day conveniences. IE Automobiles, electricity, and other stuff. (I have been recently informed that they recently started using tractors there, but they must have metal wheels versus rubber) Then a few years later I saw a family of what I thought were Amish driving a car. My mother then informed me that these were Mennonites. Well this area of Virginia is filled with a bunch of people that dress like they are from the 1800s. I one day stated to some locals here that there are a lot of Mennonites here, and was corrected and was told that they were Amish. On another occasion I was corrected for calling them Amish, that they were not, but in fact were German Baptists. Well so I can die a happy man some day, and take all questions out of my mind on what the heck these people are I am going to wait till I see one in the local Walmart, or one cutting his grass or whatever, stop ask and finally find out what the hell is going on here. (Subject for a future post!)

Hope all are having a great summer

Glenn

I'm Not Here

2006-07-19T04:03:00.000-05:00

I know that I have not been posting very much in the past few weeks, and will not be posting very much in the coming few weeks, due to the fact that I am moving. Hope everyone is having a great summer!

Glenn

WARNING SIGNS OF NATURE

2006-06-25T05:52:00.000-05:00

Recently I have become aware of some signs in nature that can predict weather and the presence of predators. Prior to this knowledge being shared with me and then a process of careful observation has actually made me into a believer. The actions of some wildlife and fauna can predict coming rain and also its intensity.

About 2 years ago I was told that if you watch a maple tree when clouds are coming in and in fact these clouds are bringing rain; the leaves of the maple tree will start to turn over. (It shows its lighter bottom side versus its dark top side) This was pointed out to me on a few occasions, which at first I thought was just the wind. After carefully watching this phenomena many times I have to conclude that it is true, and actually the amount of leaves turning over will also predict the intensity of the coming storm.

Next on the list is the chipmunk. We have one that lives under our air conditioning unit and his hole is visible on the side. By watching this hole I can tell if in fact it is going to rain and also the intensity. If rain is going to come, this little guy actually knows, and will plug up the entrance to his hole. The amount of rain is predicted by the amount of dirt that is piled up and around the entrance to the burrow. Plus we will not see him on days like this.

Birds are great weather barometers. Feeders can help gauge the weather by the amount of birds visiting the feeders. Again clouds rolling in and a lot of birds on the feeders equals no storm. Less than average birds on the feeders equals we are in for some rain but not that much. No birds means batten down the hatches we are getting a lot of rain.

Now the American Crow. The crow has been the bane of farmers here in North America for centuries. (Not just the white man farmer but also the Native American farmers too.) However for some farmers it is actually a blessing to have around. If a predator is around a flock of crows will actually detect it, then mess with it until it leaves the area. Again when I first came about this information in an Audubon book I was reading I was more than skeptical. However many times while walking at the Guilford Courthouse Battlefield and in the mountains of Virginia I have heard flocks of crows making a racket, but never investigated what was up. Well after reading this, I decided to investigate this phenomenon and sure enough it was correct. Each time I encountered the noisy flocks of crows there was a predator (Red tailed hawks, Owls and even a Bald Eagle on one occasion on Christmas Tree Island at Smith Mountain Lake) in their midst.

For many years I have heard that Cows are good weather indicators too. If they are laying down it means that it is going to rain. However through my observations it actually means that yes it is going to rain or that it is too damn hot!

Flag Day 2006

2006-06-14T13:19:00.000-05:00

Today is the Nation’s observance and reverence of the Great Stars and Stripes. A Flag that flies from the neighborhoods of Any Town USA, all the way to the White House in Washington DC. This Flag also graces all military posts from the East to the West and North to South.

One thing that does come to my mind when I think of the Flag is The Pledge of Allegiance. I am not alone in this way of thinking, because yesterday the Greensboro News and Record printed an article that referenced Flag day and The Pledge of Allegiance.

Some tidbits of information that I have gleaned from this article, and previously did not know are:

There have actually been 3 pledges through our history. The first was from 1892 to 1923 and stated “I pledge allegiance to my Flag and to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation indivisible, with Liberty and Justice for all.” 1923 to 1954 went “ I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands: One nation indivisible, with Liberty and Justice for all.” Then there is the pledge that we know today (1954 to the present) “I pledge Allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands: One Nation under God, indivisible, with Liberty and Justice for all.

Currently and in times in the immediate past we place our right hands over our hearts when reciting the pledge. Prior to 1942 it was proper to make a roman salute (Like the Nazi sig heil salute) for obvious reasons this was changed in 1942.

The final fact that I would like to present at this time and I find very disturbing is that Michael Newdow an atheist from California sued the school district where his daughter attends school and the US Congress over the pledge.

Though I do not have an insight into Mr. Newdow’s background or if he had served in the military let alone a combat or hostile assignment, but if he did he might have some insight into what President Eisenhower had for insight when in 1954 he inserted under God into the pledge. Remember in Combat there are no atheists.

THE MANY HEADED SNAKE

2006-06-10T07:47:00.000-05:00

Alot of hoopla has been printed in the past few days about the take down of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. I like others that I have talked to and encountered in the past few days, are quite jubillant over this fact. However with initial jubillation I have to question, have we just cut the head off the snake to have 5 more grow in it's place?

MEN AND WOMEN

2006-06-09T02:58:00.000-05:00

This morning I received this from a good friend. Though I will protect his identity with this post I definitely think it is worth putting out there for all to see.

1. NAMES:
If Laurie, Linda, Elizabeth and Barbara go out for lunch, they will call each other Laurie, Linda, Elizabeth and Barbara.
If Mark, Chris, Eric and Tom go out, they will affectionately refer to each other as Fat Boy, Godzilla, Peanut-Head and Scrappy.

2. EATING OUT:
When the bill arrives, Mark, Chris, Eric and Tom will each throw in a $20, even though it's only for $32.50. None of them will have anything smaller and none will actually admit they want the change back.

When the women get their bill, out come the pocket calculators.

3. MONEY:
A man will pay $2 for a $1 item he needs.

A woman will pay $1 for a $2 item that she doesn't need but it's on sale.

4. BATHROOMS:
A man has five items in his bathroom: a toothbrush, shaving cream, razor, a bar of soap, and a towel from the Marriott.

The average number of items in the typical woman's bathroom is 337. A man would not be able to identify most of these items.

5. ARGUMENTS:
A woman has the last word in any argument.
Anything a man says after that is the beginning of a new argument.

6. CATS:
Women love cats.
Men say they love cats, but when women aren't looking, men kick cats.

7. FUTURE:
A woman worries about the future until she gets a husband.
A man never worries about the future until he gets a wife.

8. SUCCESS:
A successful man is one who makes more money than his wife can spend.
A successful woman is one who can find such a man.

9. MARRIAGE:
A woman marries a man expecting he will change, but he doesn't.
A man marries a woman expecting that she won't change and she does.

10. DRESSING UP:
A woman will dress up to go shopping, to water the plants, empty the garbage, answer the phone, read a book, and read the mail.
A man will dress up for weddings and funerals.

11. NATURAL:
Men wake up as good-looking as they went to bed.
Women somehow deteriorate during the night.

12. OFFSPRING:
Ah, children. A woman knows all about her children. She knows about dentist appointments and romances, best friends, favorite foods, secret fears and hopes and dreams.

A man is vaguely aware of some short people living in the house.

13. FINAL THOUGHT:

Any married man should forget his mistakes. There's no use in two people remembering the same thing.

A NEW GADGET DOES NOT MEAN IT IS BETTER

2006-06-05T04:06:00.000-05:00

In the past year I have bought a few gadgets to help around the house, or have received them in connection with a purchase. My main observation for the most part of these gadgets is that yes they might help the lazy person out for the most part and take the manuality out of the tasks, what I have found to be true for the most part is that they actually extend the amount of time required to perform the same task and may have to repeat the task to get it to work properly.

The first item at hand is the Bissell Flip-it. Advertised on TV, this item allows you to first vacuum the hard surfaced floor, then flip it and apply a floor cleaning solution and use a wet vac to remove the dirty solution. (This item is equiped with either a soft pad or a scrub pad to remove stuck on dirt.) In principle this a great gadget and the vacuum portion beats the hell out of using a broom. However utilizing the wet side cannot beat using an old fashioned broom, due to the amount of time needed to finish the floor, the ability to clean the floor, and the ability to dry the floor. (The floor is just as wet as if it was mopped.)

Next item is the Honda mini-tiller. A purchase made so that I would no longer have to use the "CLAW" and manually till dirt around the house and the campground. My observation here is that it actually does a better job tilling the dirt, smoothing the dirt and bringing rocks and chunks of wood to the surface. However It does not save time in executing this type of task. I actually do about the same amount of ground or less vs the "Claw".

Next is the Cambell Hausefield power washer. What I have normally done is used a soft bristle broom and an extendable handle to first wash the surface that I am attempting to clean and then utilize a hose to rinse the surface off. Now with the power washer I have to utilize a ldder to get right up on the surface that I am cleaning, which means on the ladder everytime I want to move to another area, I have to get off the ladder, move the ladder, climb the ladder and clean the new area. Then repeat the process. The use of a power washer extends the time needed to accomplish this task. A saving grace for me is that the powerwasher does take the stress off of my shoulders vs using the soapy broom method. It increases the stress and pain in my knees and ankles going up and down the ladder.

My last item is a power plugger vs a manual plugger. I ordered 1900 plugs of Zoysia grass from Amazoy and was sent a power plugger. This item is nothing more than a small auger bit that fits on a drill. You then drill a hole in the ground, put your plug in, cover it with dirt, and then water. While utilizing the power plugger the electricity went off here and having about 500 plugs to go went to the shed and got a manual bulb plugger that I had. Using this plugger I found that there was no stress on my back. (With the power plugger one must be constantly bending over to make the holes.) It also actually worked quicker and neater.

Just a few observations to pass along to save time and money.

PROFITS, OREO COOKIES, AND GAS PRICES

2006-06-02T05:34:00.000-05:00

The other day I came home and was pleasantly surprised to find a package of peanut butter Oreo cookies on the kitchen island. The bag was open so this meant that the bag was up for grabs and not meant for anything, so I immediately grabbed a handful and a glass of milk and went into my office to check my e-mail and other stuff on the puter. Upon arriving in my office I noticed that the filling in the cookies were quite thin and I could have sworn the package said double stuffed. Further investigation concluded that the package did say double stuffed. As far as I remember, the thickness of the cream inside of the cookies I was holding in my hand were standard Oreos and that double stuff Oreos contained about a half inch of cream in the middle. On further thought I was actually holding the dilemma of a profit margin in my hand.

Most companies really do not want to raise prices; however they do want to raise their profit margins. So what do they do? They find cost cutting measures, and implement them. Let us take a look at a normal Oreo cookie. Currently the cookie is about an inch and a half in diameter, and has about 1/16th of an inch of frosting in the center and for the purpose of this post costs one cent to make. Now we go back to about 1996 and look at the Oreo then and it was about an inch and three quarters and the stuffing was about 1/8th of an inch. However at today’s prices would cost 3 cents to make (For arguments sake) So in the past years with inflationary price hikes the company made the cookie smaller and now gains 2 cents per cookie for profit.

Now let us look at gas prices. The gas companies cannot sell three quarters of a gallon of gas as a gallon. If they did the various State and Federal Standards Bureaus would be all over them like white on rice. So to make their profits they have to raise their prices. In the past month there have been claims that an investigation was conducted in to price gouging by the oil companies, with no evidence to the fact of price gouging.

To me this whole deal has a bad aroma from the President on down the line. I am an avid Republican and Bush supporter, but I can even see the real deal. First item on my list are the first quarter profits. Not in the millions but the billions. I wonder how much of these profits were turned into Political Action Contributions (PAC), or were they deducted before the profit announcements. Last on my list is the legacy of the Bush Family. Their money comes from oil. The words conflict of interest keep ringing into my head every time George W. states that he is ordering an investigation into price gouging. Just my views and observations for today.

Memorial Day 06

2006-05-26T14:26:00.000-05:00

To those that serve and to those that have served, thank you very much for the efforts that you have put forth and are putting forth to keep this nation free from enemies foreign and domestic.

This Monday at 3:00 pm local time an observance will be made of One Nation, One Moment. It is requested that at this time you pause from whatever you are doing and think about or remember people that have paid the ultimate sacrifice to keep this nation free!

This has been established by the US Congress. I am off to the lake, and I wish all a great Memorial Day weekend

Glenn

HOOTER AT YOUR LOCAL FOOD STORES

2006-05-25T19:57:00.000-05:00

The other day while shopping at my local grocery store I was pleasantly surprised to see the Hooters logo in the frozen foods section. The store stocked all the popular appetizers and luck shining on me they had my favorite; Buffalo Shrimp.

I got the weekly supplies and the shrimp, paid and hurried home, anticipating the taste of the shrimp. Well a few minutes after arriving home, they were warmed up and ready to eat. Though the shrimp did taste good, it just was not the same.

The ambience of hooters was missing, along with the friends that I used to go to hooters with. Though while eating theses shrimp the memories of the lunches I had at hooters came to me. Meetings with the punk and his commander and a few good cigars, Other deals that I had made, and the meetings that had taken the process to hooters to be discussed over lunch, The time Sean W. got drunk over lunch and then decided to steal a mule from the mule skinners course, and was going to attempt to get it into the back of Mike R.s Pick up.

My opinion, the shrimp was good, but it's either go there and have some or stay home and do without.

@%^$#!%^&&)(@&%^!!!!!!!!!!!

2006-05-20T04:55:00.000-05:00

About 2 weeks ago my lawnmower died, so of course I did the right thing and looked for another one, compared prices and found one. Well I had looked at Lowes, Home Depot and AAFES ONLINE (The PX for the uninformed that may stumble here). I ordered the lawnmower a Husqarvarna 21 inch cut with a 7 horsepower engine and front wheel drive from AAFES because just in price I was saving a lot of money, and then there is no sales tax, though there was an over size shipping fee but still the price could not be beat. Also I have ordered from AAFES in the past with out any problems and have always been satisfied with my purchases.

Well the other day I was coming home and drove into my driveway and almost ran over this big ugly looking box. With Lawnmower printed on the side of the box. The box was being held together with clear cellophane and tape and the box was beat all to hell. The grass was getting long and I was getting worried about static from the homeowners association. (Get this they can put a lien on your home if you do not abide by their sanctions, this will be another story and post) I opened the box and at first sight everything was alright. Till I pulled the lawnmower out of the box and discovered that the front right wheel was broken off.

Well I was able to graft a wheel off of the Toro that this one was replacing. (By the way do not buy Toro. I have had the Toro for 4 years and with the exception of the first year have had to take it to an authorized service center each year with a minimal charge of $150 per visit. Also according to a Home Depot Associate they are returned more than any other mower that Home Depot sells) Further inspection of the box showed that the only packaging in the box to protect the lawnmower during shipping was two sticks with cardboard between them and the base of the mower. Also written on the box was returned August 2005 along with a Quality Assurance Inspection annotation.

Well then I started looking for the little jug of oil that accompanies new engine equipped lawn equipment, and could not find any in the box. So after checking the book found out that I did have the prerequisite oil on hand, then checked that there was no oil in the engine, filled up the mower with oil and gas. Primed the carb and attempted to start and nothing. Primed again attempted to start and the smell of gas. OK I figured that it was flooded, so I waited for 5 minutes and started the process again. Still the smell of gas so I figured maybe the spark plug is messed up. I look around on the mower and I dont see a spark plug. HMMMMMM I am thinking maybe they hid it. So out comes the book and it appears on the illustration that the plug is not so hidden. So I look in the annotated area on the mower and find a hole where the plug should have gone, and a bit more of a search in the area of the plug location revealed that the plug wire was tucked up under the housing. New plug attained, and installed the mower started no problem.

Well with mower started and running I started to cut the grass. I did not even finish the first pass on the lawn and the mower started making this weird noise and smoke was coming from the front left wheel. The wheel nut was too tight, and the wheel was not free spinning, so when the drive was engaged it was causing the wheel to have too much friction. No problem, loosen the nut and some WD-40 and all is right again. For a few minutes.

Then after about 5 or six passes on the lawn I cant move the mower as I watch the rear left wheel go rolling down the hill of my front yard and into the street. Luckily I found the nut and washer rather easy on the lawn. I then got the wrench retrieved the wheel, re-installed it and then decided to check every nut and bolt on the mower. The only other discrepancy I found was that the right rear wheel was only in with a few threads.

All in all the mower works great after fixing the problems but some of the bare metal parts have rust on them, the handle was bent, and the retaining pins for the handle were missing. I am not a petty person and would not have even contacted AAFES if it was just the broken wheel and the oil. But with everything that was wrong, I decided to contact them. I have sent 2 e-mails to them with no replies. I guess the old adage still holds strong "Let the buyer beware"

"THE BEER PRAYER"

2006-05-11T04:48:00.000-05:00

My father has come up to visit me here in Greensboro, NC from his home near Vero Beach Fl. The reason for his visit is to sort and sparate 50+ years of photographs into 10 year increment photo albums. Also I will supply the technical abilities and narration for slide shows to be put on DVD and distributed to my family. One of the things that we found were an old beer prayer. It was in Czech, so my father translated it for me. (He emigrated here to the United States soon after WWII.)

Though I do not drink anymore ( 14 years this October with only a few slip ups and a yearly glass of wine on my B-day) I have plenty of friends tha do, and have pulled the honor of being the Designated Driver for them on many occassions. I have had lots of fun doing this. Especially when they have "Sobriety Check Points" such as is the case in NY. (Here in NC they have DUI check points.) On a trip to NY on one occassion I drove to a check point with my good friend Al, and a car load of drunks, and immediately said, " Officer this is a sobriety Check point? Well I been sober for 9 years. I like messing with cops like the time I got pulled over in a Government van in SC and the trooper asked me what Branch of Government I was in and promptly answered, "The same branch as you, Executive!" Also another good thing for me and bad for others is an observation made by Mr G, I remember everything that happened on specific occassions because I was not drunk while the situations were occuring.

Well enough of my rambling. For my friends here is the prayer of beer for you:

OUR BARREL OF BEER, WHICH IS STRUCK AND ALLOWS YOUR SWEET SMELL TO GO OVER ALL RESTAURANTS AND BEER HOUSES. FORGIVE US FOR BEING TEMPORARILY SOBER AS WE FORGIVE OUR WAITERS AND BARTENDERS. DO NOT LEAD US INTO THE JAIL HOUSES, BUT DELIVER US OF ALL NASTY NON-DRINKERS. AMEN

AVIATION PIONEER DIES

2006-04-21T04:52:00.000-05:00

Scott Crossfield 84 who was immortalized in the movie "The Right Stuff" died on April 19th, 2006. While piloting his single engined 1960 Cessna 210 he crashed near Ranger, Ga. Scott Crossfield along with Chuck Yeager were the kings of speed in their time. These two test pilots were the first to achieve, break, and double the speed of sound.

DO YOU SPEAK ENGLISH?

2006-04-19T05:19:00.000-05:00

Over the past few weeks I have had to make a few calls to customer service representatives from various companies and also their technical support staffs. One thing that I have found in common with these companies is the fact that these personnel manning these phone lines are not from the United States and have a very limited mastering of the English language.

One company had Hispanics manning their lines, so with my limited and very rusty Spanish speaking abilities I attempted to convey my subject of concern to them. This frustrated them in much the same way as it frustrated me when they were speaking English.

After going through this a few times, I began to question why would a company hire so many limited English speakers to take care of its customer service and technical support. Well after researching this some I have come to find that these people are not hired by the companies. These people actually work for a separate company contracted to do all of this business.

The core of the matter is money. It is cheaper for a mainstream company to forward the calls overseas to these companies and have them conduct the customer service and technical support rather than hire their own staff and conduct the business here in the United States.

This just goes to the fact that when I hear things like, “Buy things made in America,” “Everything is made some where else”, and “You can’t buy anything that is not made in Taiwan.” Now if you want reasons look in the mirror. Though it would be great if we the United States could be self reliant, we have come to the point that we cannot, because the high amount of wages we as Americans demand.

In March I had done a fair amount of research for a PowerPoint presentation for my brother’s fiftieth birthday. One of the points that I researched was the changes in the economy. In 1956 here in the United States the average salary was $5,300 and the federal minimum wage was $1.00 an hour. Accordingly the average costs in the United States were: Milk $.97, Stamps $.03, a house $17,800, a car $2,100, and bread $.18 a loaf.

Included in this presentation were the facts of today’s economy. Here in 2006 the average salary is $85,000 and minimum wages are set by States where the amounts are all above $5.00 an hour. Accordingly milk costs $3.29 a gallon, Stamps $.39, a house $217,000, a car $32,000 and bread $1.18 a loaf.

Now let us look at the states of other countries economies. From our southern border with Mexico on down to Argentina average salaries probably are in the $10,000 and below bracket. Then over the big ponds you have countries like Korea, China, India, Pakistan again average salaries are in the $10,000 and below bracket.

Now imagine yourself as a company and need to establish a plant with 500 workers. If you decide to start the plant here in the United States just the labor for a year will cost approximately $42,500,000. This is just labor and does not include site procurement, building and taxes. You also now have the choice of going outside the US to let us say Ecuador. Your 500 workers now cost you approximately $5,000,000. Along with this figure the site procurement, construction, and tax costs will also be considerably less.

Now figure that when the goods produces when sold will bring in a profit of $100,000,000 (Before paying labor but all other operating costs are paid.) Here you stand to make a profit margin of $95,000,000 with labor outside the US or $57,500,000 here in the good ol USA. Which one would you choose for your profit? Now answer your question why is everything made in Taiwan.

One other note that I would like to make. If you choose to move to Mexico after you retire you can rent a 3 bedroom house on the beach with a pool, utilities included, and your choice of a maid or a gardener for $400 a month. Try to find something comparable here in the US and you will be paying thousands.

THE JOURNEY: PART 5

2006-04-18T05:04:00.000-05:00

Well I got all the family orientated stuff out of the way, so now it was time for some “ME TIME!” My me time consisted of going to one of the local fishing piers on the Indian River in the middle of a windstorm. Attempting to cast my line forward and having it land in the water behind me. (An exaggeration, but I was not getting very much distance casting into the wind.)

My luck on this day was pretty good, I caught a few cat fish, sting rays, sand sharks, and these bass like things that as of yet I have not identified. All were good fighters, and I practiced catch and release on them.

One point of my sitting on this pier, in the wind nothing was happening to the rod. IE the jerking of the rod tip when a fish gets a hold of it. So I reeled in my line to check the bait and much to my surprise it seemed heavy so I figured that I hooked a bunch of seaweed. When I got the line up I was pleased to see that I had not gotten a bunch of seaweed but in fact I had hooked a large Porcupine fish that was inflated with water.

If you don’t know what a porcupine fish is, it is in the puffer family with Blowfish. However when it gets scared and inflates it has barbs or quills that stick straight out from its skin. Well this one had all of its barbs out so the use of a rag around the fish was warranted to protect myself while getting the hook out of its mouth. The rag was not much help because these quills came straight through the doubled up rag. Then in the attempt to get the hook out this thing started spitting the water out of it’s mouth at me.

Also with trying to get the hook out without using any type of device I realized that these things have teeth! Yes it got my finger tip and it hurt, but it took my mind off of the quills going into my left hand. So I reached into the ol’ tackle box and got my hook extractor out. This thing looks like a long necked pair of needle nose pliers where the body is made of aluminum. You stick this in the fish’s mouth and then it is easier to grab and maneuver the hook to get it unset. Well Mr P-fish was not going to have any of this and bit down on the extractor. I was finally able to get the extractor out and this thing actually dented the body of the extractor with it's bite force. I finally gave up on getting the hook out and snipped the hook with a leatherman and let him be on his way

I stayed out there for a good while, and would have stayed longer had my bait not gotten blown away. All for the better I was leaving the next day and needed to get some rest for the upcoming trip and I-95

THE JOURNEY: PART 4

2006-04-17T04:34:00.000-05:00

Another part that was somewhat planned for the journey was a day at Disney Orlando. I have never been there and probably will never go again.

Going to Disney meant starting the travel again on I-95. Now mix in commuters with Blue hairs, Truckers, people that do not know how to drive and snow birds. It is a volatile combination on the road.

Prior to hitting Florida 528 while on 95, I was keeping in my mind “I am going to a happy place; I am going to a happy place.” This all went out the window once I got on 528 because of the tolls. It seems to me that the state of Florida charges its own one way admission price and one way exit price to get to Disney to the tune of $12.00 in tolls.

We got to Disney’s Wild Kingdom Park, and for me it just went downhill from there. First off there was a $9.00 parking fee. Angie has a broken ankle, and we have a wheelchair for her because she cannot be on the ankle for prolonged periods of time. Once a tram showed up I rolled her up to it and during the process of getting her to stand up, almost got knocked over by another family getting into the tram. Yes I did use some brute force, the Oakleys came off and a few words were told to them, as they were sitting there looking scared.

We got to the entrance and we had already decided to get the normal admission and the park hopper for the day. Our goals were the Wild Kingdom and Epcot. That was $375 please (2 adults one child). Then we made our way through the park to the Safari ride. Everyone that we had talked to told us that if you are in a wheel chair you can go to the front of the line. This was bad outdated intel for us, because they have now widened the spaces for the lines to accommodate wheelchairs.

Each ride at Disney now has this thing called Fast pass. All you have to do is insert your ticket into the kiosk for the ride and it gives you a reservation ticket. You return at the designated time and get right on the ride with no waiting in line. This is a good thing but the draw back is if you are not there at the opening of the park you will not get a fast pass.

We waited for an hour to get on a very disappointing ride. The ride consists of getting on a this big truck comparable to an Army Deuce and a half, and the driver gives you a tour of the Africa habitat. The drawback is the speed of the vehicle. Oh there are the Okapis, as you break your neck turning it to first off acquire it’s location then you are granted the site of its butt as you make the next turn and bam no more Okapi. Then here are the Crocodiles, abracadabra no more crocodiles, here is some big antelope. By the end of the safari I was in pain from turning my neck so much. (I have arthritis in my neck)

We looked around a bit and then headed to Epcot. We were hungry, so we decided to get something to eat in the Italian part of Epcot. My complaint here is that I ordered a coke. I got Diet Coke. Then I got a regular coke, and the refill was diet coke. Then I started noticing that other people were having the same problem along with Angie (Who is allergic to Nutrasweet) I thought it was funny after one guy got his 2nd dose of diet coke decided to get up and go outside and buy a coke from an outdoor vendor. The food was decent, but not decent enough to warrant a $125.00 check.

After lunch we went over to the “Land” building and were rewarded with a 2 hour wait to get onto the soaring ride. (Of course no fast passes were available) The ride was awesome. It is an IMAX simulator with wind and the smells of the areas you are going over, IE Flowers, pine trees, and even the hint of jet fuel as you fly over an aircraft carrier.

We also hit the sea building which is a very large aquarium. We were able to see everything from Manatees to sharks here. Most important of all there was no line but some very rude people. After this we had to get going. I left the “Happiest Place On Earth” very very disappointed.

THE JOURNEY: PART 3

2006-04-16T05:38:00.000-05:00

The third day of the journey found us at Kennedy Space Center. On this day I found myself torn between having a great time and getting pissed off. First off to get to Kennedy Space Center (KSC) I had to go on I-95 again. Then when I got there figuring this was a United States Government Agency, like the Smithsonian Institute and others I figured there would be a nominal or no admission fee. Boy was I wrong.

I couldn’t believe the prices. It cost twenty something per adult just to get in with bus transportation around the facility included. Or you could get on a group tour which rocketed to $55, where they packed you on a single bus and you got a tour led by a guide. Also there was a nominal fee to pay if you wanted to see the hall of Astronauts and ride on some IMAX simulators.

I consoled myself to the point that I had figured in NASA’s cost cutting measures meant that this part of NASA was being run by contractors, which I found to be the case. What threw me over the edge again was the buses that were used for the tour were all Government Services Agency (GSA) Vehicles. My friggin tax money were running these vehicles, but I still had to pay to be on them. (If the buses were being paid for by using the admission charges they would then have NAF plates for Non-Appropriated Funds financed vehicles.)

It just got me that the astronomical budgets NASA is granted that John Q. Taxpayer has to pay to see his tax dollars at work. Let alone that during my career in service if I had used a GSA vehicle to make a profit I would have had my head brought to the powers that be on a silver platter.

Now I did have a great time viewing the exhibits, and even some of the tour guides were pretty funny. One pointed out the pipes that are all over the KSC and told people that that was a subway system for the little aliens from Roswell that now work for NASA. (They were water pipes laid above ground because of the high water tables at the KSC)

Last time I was at the KSC, they had a Saturn rocket which was on display outside. In the interim between my visits they had built a building to house the behemoth, and restored it to Smithsonian Standards. Every time I see this thing I am struck in awe at the size and complexity of this machine.

Also on the tour was the display for the International Space Station (ISS). Here they have a mockup of the actual station and also a quick walk over a gantry and you are in the building where they prepare the actual parts of the space station to be loaded onto the shuttle and launched into space. I was very impressed at the complexity and size of the individual modules and what the finished goal of the space station will be.

The last time I was at KSC was in January of 1990. During the tour the tour guide referenced the abundance of alligators on the KSC. Though during that tour we had only seen one alligator. This time I really saw first hand the abundance of alligators. From when we entered the KSC and our travels throughout the KSC there were alligators all over the place. One of the bus drivers even pointed out the fact that the buildings on the KSC each had individual fences with the tops of the fences curved outwards. It seems that gators can climb a straight fence and get over them, using their feet and tails. The curved part of the fence does not allow the gators to get over them. Also each bus driver I encountered this day had their own gator story.

Other points to the tour was the rocket garden where they had all of the rockets used by NASA from Mercury to current times (Excluding the Apollo’s Saturn V), the space shuttle exhibit where you can walk in and see the cockpit, cargo bay and the crane arm. Also on the outside you can touch the skin of the aircraft and get a real grasp of the complexity of the tiled heat shield. The highlight for me was the talk led by Al Worten who was on the Apollo 15.

I would like to summarize at this point that I had a good time at the KSC and even learned a few things along the way. My disappointment is to the fact that this fine agency has sunk to the lows of a common tourist trap with its commercialization and profits.

THE JOURNEY: PART 2

2006-04-15T06:42:00.000-05:00

Our trip to Florida had 2 goals as far as Family was concerned. The first was visit and stay with my father and the second attend a family reunion of Angie’s family. My father lives in Barefoot Bay, Fla. which is right outside of Sebastian, Fla. The location of the family re-union was in Melbourne Beach which is located on the barrier island across the Indian River and is only about 10 minutes away by boat but an hour by car.

Her cousin hosted the re-union. It is a beautiful house right on a point on the Indian river on one side (Brackish water) and a fresh water mangrove swamp on the other. Her cousin owns a nursery, and they grow and sell local plants IE all of the palms, orchids and others.

I got along well with her cousin’s son who is also a private pilot. He owns a 310 (Multi-engined turbo-charged aircraft) He flew down from Colorado, so we had a lot to talk about. I learned about Operations in Class G airspace above 10,000 feet and also that Butch was a diabetic. He was diagnosed with diabetes right after he soloed when he was 17 and had to stop flying. He was able to attain a medical waiver about 4 years ago, so he started flying again and now has built up 800 + hours since. I also came to learn that his mother also flew a Cheyenne in the 60’s and 70’s.

One of the pit falls of living at this location is the fact that they are surrounded by water, and it is a barrier island from the Atlantic Ocean. They get hit very hard by hurricanes just coming off of the ocean. Her cousin is very well prepared with emergency generators and an artesian well system (Water flows without a pump from the well).

Another pitfall comes from the fact that on one side of the property is a mangrove swamp and on the other side is the Indian River. At the entrance of the property while driving in the land is at it’s skinniest. It consists of a one lane dirt road with about 5 feet on each side and then water. This is also a crossing area for a large alligator that goes back and forth from the swamp to the river.

I did not see it, but was shown pictures of it taken by Claire who claims the gator is about 15 feet. One of the pics of the gator was by the mail box and when I walked out to the mail box with the picture fresh on my mind I would have to agree that it is about 15 feet. I also found the route that the alligator takes on the swamp side and the river side, and along with being long he is pretty wide too.

Later on that night after dark I went out for a cigarette (I started smoking again in December) and started walking down the dirt road. It was very dark along and really did not bother me until I started to get to the entrance. It then hit me that this thing could be out there, and Claire’s words started ringing in my head that she would not want to meet this thing at night. I quickly turned around and headed for the security of the lights around the house

Also on this day while driving to the re-union I witnessed a pretty funny sight. An oncoming car got pulled over in Melbourne Beach. The cop was in an SUV (The smaller Suburban) He jumped out of the SUV and was a midget. All I could think about was Mr. “G” who has an aversion to midgets. I knew if he got pulled over by a midget he would freak. Now I have heard a lot of Mr. G’s midget stories. His philosophy is that midgets are hatched in limestone caves in Florida. I always laughed at this, but on this trip I began to think that he might be on to something. After seeing this cop, the next day I was at the local Winn Dixie waiting in the check out line. I started hearing women behind me talking. I turned around and didn’t see anyone and thought I was hearing things. Then I looked down and there were 5 little people there. 6 midgets in 2 days that does make me assess the wisdom of Mr. G

THE JOURNEY: PART I

2006-04-14T10:46:00.000-05:00

Well I just returned from a trip to Florida, and the Blue Hair Trail (I-95). Observations that I come away with is the way people drive on I-95 and the state of disrepair of the highway.

First off I would like to share my observations on the way people drive on I-95. Plain and simple, there are many without a clue on being courteous while they are driving. It seems to me the farther south you go the worse it gets. Here I would like to share the instances that I observed

§ People in the right lane switching their blinkers on and immediately going into the left lane without clearing to their rear, and almost getting rear ended by a faster car in the left lane.

§ People getting in the left lane and not accelerating to the speed of the left lane. Saw this one many times, I almost smacked into one car, and witnessed many other near misses.

§ Cruising along in the left lane at the speed limit. This really gets me, because common sense and normal driver edict tells me that if everyone is driving the speed limit or below, and I use the left lane to pass someone, that means that I will have to go faster than the person or persons that I am trying to pass.

§ Trucks getting in the left lane right before a hill. Again common sense and the laws of gravity show this is a stupid idea. Though I saw this happen many times.

§ Snow Birds. If you are unaware of what a Snowbird is, these are people, (usually retired) from the north that have these large RVs pulling a car in most instances and use I-95 to go to their northern abodes in the spring, but only drive the minimum enforceable speed limit or slower. Again common sense should prevail that by doing this on an interstate you are going to cause congestion and traffic jams, which they do! If you are going to drive that slow (I Passed one doing 35 on I-95 where the minimum speed limit is 40) why not take US-1, 17 or any of the other highways.

Next is the state of disrepair of this highway. It is unbelievable that such an important artery of the eastern seaboard transportation network is in such a state of disrepair. In South Carolina alone going south-bound there is approximately 100 miles of road with the pavement grooved off to prepare to have new pavement laid on both lanes. I am glad that it was not raining because it was hard enough to keep the van going straight on a dry surface. Also construction sites dotting the whole route with no one working.

My trip down I took 40 to 220 to 74 to 95 in North Carolina. For the rest of the trip to Vero Beach Fl I used I-95. On the way back I took a bit of a different route. I-95 up to South Carolina and I-26 to I-77 and then I-77 to I-85 on back to Greensboro. When I got on I-26, the difference from I-95 was like night and day. Though the highways were congested with travelers it just seemed that everyone was driving these roads using their common sense and courtesy. In the future if I can stay away from I-95 I will.

THE HEADLINES!!!

2006-04-06T05:23:00.000-05:00

I got a kick out of reading this article. It seems that a businessman from Tacoma Washington on a business trip to the Far East was sent to the wrong place. The gentleman one Eugene Nelson was supposed to be on his way from Hong Kong to Taiwan, but ended up in Taiyuan, China which is deep in it’s interior, and not on the coast as Taiwan is.

Mr. Nelson survived in this town for a few days, with no money, very little help from American Express in getting money wired to him (It seems that you can't even use American Express where it is supposed to be taken.), getting a flight out of there, almost getting hit by a car, and a definite language barrier.

The AP Article does not state who was responsible for the error. Mr. Nelson is an engineer for Intel ® so I am figuring that the Travel Company that has the corporate contract with Intel may be to blame. If that were the case and this was me the headlines would read “Retired Special Forces Soldier Shoots Travel Agent”

Also on this we cannot overlook Mr. Nelson as far as his degree of fault. If I got a ticket that stated Taiyuan and not Taiwan, I would be questioning this fact by going to the local Chinese restaurant and asking Wonton, “Hey is this how you spell Taiwan in a literal translation into English?” Come to think of it I probably wouldn’t do that because every time I go to Mr. Wonton’s and I say thank you Mr. Wonton to the manager, he doesn’t look too happy. So he would probably tell me yes, and send my happy ass to Taiyuan instead of Taiwan. (Maybe Mr. Nelson did this very same thing in Washington?) Irregardless here we have an educated man with an engineering degree, and he can’t even get to the right city. Just makes me wonder if there should be a minus sign preceding the Intel Logo. (-INTEL®)

STUPID, STUPID, STUPID

2006-04-03T06:02:00.000-05:00

Today's post is follow on to the previous post "UGH GLENN DISCOVER FIRE." In that post I was talking about the simplicity of installing a wireless network in my home, and the problem that I was having with getting the scanner to work on my printer/scanner. After e-mailing and calling Brother and US Robotics I have come to find out that many wireless routers are configured to accept a printer however they are not configured to accept a scanner or a multi-role printer because the communications between the computer, the router, and the printer are all one way when using the printer mode. However for an additional $250 I can get a print/fax/ scan server and am stuck with the router that I already have.

Well my stupidity comes from the fact that when I asked the questions about scanning and printing while utilizing the US Robotics router, the associate at Sam's Club that I was talking to said that it would do everything. My misteak on this one; I BELIEVED HIM! To anyone that is questioning, and read the last post. YES! I am beating my head into a wall.

SPRING IS HERE

2006-03-30T05:53:00.000-05:00

Well I think it is pretty safe to say that here in Greensboro, NC Spring has officially come to this neck of the woods. Today to mark this event I have shaved my beard and started off spring right with a Fu-Manchu moustache. This week has had me doing some spring chores like tuning up the garden equipment, sharpening blades and shovels, oiling up everything metal and insuring that everything works. I also went and filled my 5 gallon gas can which usually lasts me to the end of the cutting season and that cost me about $12.

I also started my outside maintenance of the house, ensured that the hoses all worked properly along with their spickets. Weeded the flower beds and I have one question on this, WHERE IN THE HELL did all the damn weeds come from????? Well I got them all out and laid out some mulch and even planted some flowers for Angie and now my aching back and knees.

I also put in another bird feeder, so now we have Morning doves, robins, sparrows, chickadees, orioles, blue jays, and cardinals crapping everywhere in the front and back of the house now. So another thing to put on the maintenance list, clean bird stuff off of deck, patio and outside furniture.

I am also aiming to cut the grass this week, de-thatch it and lay some fertilizer. Then trim the bushes around the house so they look nice and pretty and not something from the wicked witch’s castle on the wizard of OZ. Get a power washer and clean the entire house, and also while on that get a tall ladder so I can evict the starlings from the vents and clean the stuff under the vents. (Believe it or not I watched this today, the vent started making some noise today, while I was under it, and all of a sudden a starlings butt was hanging out and it did its business. Once I saw the butt I did have the sense to step back)

All in all with the onset of spring I cannot wait till it is winter again so I can go back to being LAZY!

HOW IN THE HELL

2006-03-29T10:34:00.000-05:00

Recently I have been added to yahoos, comedy central. By whom I do not know and it just outright irritates me. Now dealing with and controlling spam in my in-box, I start to get these unwanted comedy routines in my e-mail and now have to do something to get rid of it.

Most of the commercials that I see now a days for different ISP servers have similar points, the reduction of Spam, virus protection, and identity theft protection. Now it just does not make sense to me that a server would allow someone to just add someone anonymously to this list and then proceed to fill up their in-box with this stuff.

I think servers such as Yahoo, AOL, and MSN should change their way of thinking, send an invitation to the selected person and let them have the choice of becoming a member or not becoming a member of their distribution lists.

UGH GLENN DISCOVER FIRE

2006-03-26T06:24:00.000-05:00

Recently I have aided myself in my computer evolution by installing a wireless network here in my home. It’s funny to me, because even though I am pretty adept at computer stuff, when it comes to hooking something new to the electric box, I get outright scared. Versus working on other things, IE Cars, electrical, metal work, wood work and other things.

One thing that I have found out with the electric box is the actual simplicity of the procedures involved. In my years of computer literacy I have installed hardware both internal and external. My first installation was a CD/R drive to my first computer, then came a larger hard drive, power supply replacement, and other things. All accompanied with the same amount of anxiety before hand, and when it is over the same conclusion, man that was easy.

Here at the house we had our own separate computers hooked to the internet utilizing both cable and a phone line, and we each had our own printers. Then we bought a laser copier, printer, and scanner. There was the normal parallel port cable receiver, so I am figuring switch box, and a few cables. Then I noticed the USB receptacle so I got the users guide out at this time, and saw that this computer could be installed on a wireless network. Using the laptop I had already been accidentally receiving signals from a few of the neighbors, who had not protected their networks, so I figure let me try setting up my own network. I figured no switch box, and no cables this should be great. I researched what I would need, went out bought the stuff, then I got home and bam scared out of my skin. I have to install this stuff.

I chose a package from US Robotics. The first thing I installed was the USB adapter on my desktop, and for about a day continued with my accidental reception of my neighbors un-secure wireless network on my desktop. The next day meticulously following the instructions of installing the router, I installed it along with the printer, and voila and $%$# came out of my mouth almost simultaneously. I was able to get the wireless router up, running and encrypted and was surfing the internet on a very strong signal, versus the signal I was receiving from my neighbors. However I could not get the printer to run. So another day goes by with me trying to figure this out.

Starting the next day, and after pouring over the user manuals for both the router and the printer I could find nothing, so I figured somehow I might have hit the wrong button during the installation of the router, so I inserted the start-up disc for the router, and found out that there was another users guide on the disc, so I went straight to installation and to my surprise I found 2 tabs there one for the router and one for the printer. Now the procedures for installing the printer were quite different here than in the book. I found out that I had to go to the router page on my web browser, find out the IP address of the printer (Which I already knew), then go to the printers and Fax folder in Windows XP, and install a new printer. The only difference with this procedure was that the printer had to be installed as an internet printer, which I did. Again the same reaction as the day before Voila and @%@%. The printer worked great. I used the laptop and was able to print from all over the house, including the deck outside. Then I tried to scan. The printer remained quiet. I quit for the day and decided to take this step on the next day.

I arose early with my mission for the day. Get the scanner to work! Well I poured over the manuals for the Printer and the router, nothing. I then went to the start-up discs for both. Nothing about scanners on a wireless network, next step the homepages for Brother and US Robotics, nothing. So now I am awaiting the answers of the technical support staff whom I e-mailed. In the mean time I have been thinking of ways to get the scanner to work, to no avail. Though I have one nagging thought, when I finally hear from the Technical Support geeks, I know the solution is going to be simple and stupid, then upon hearing it I will just have to bang my head on the wall a few times to make my own CPU run better. UGH UGH UGH

JUST A DEPRESSING THOUGHT

2006-03-15T19:36:00.000-05:00

I was just sitting here watching a little TV and started thinking about a phone call I had with my father last night, and some news of the passing of a family friend. My thoughts about this passing made me come to a realization. Since October of last year, as each month goes by someone that I know has passed the bounds of this earth. Just stopping to think a little, reminds me of my own immortality.

MY FIRST YEAR

2006-03-09T05:57:00.000-05:00

Today marks one year since my first Blog post. When I retired starting a blog was not on my list of things to do, let alone knowing what a Blog was anyways. I started one at the urging of my esteemed colleague UH-60 Punk. He had one along with other esteemed individuals Mr. Jinxy, Ronin, MMark and others. Then Mr. G and The Wookie at the same urging and example of the esteemed punk started Blogs. I along with Mr. G and The Wookie have the same opinion, except with the pyramid effect, I started with well the punk has one, they then went well the punk and solo have one.

Ok enough of my mindless dribble. Personally I feel if you are going to do something for the most part, it should somehow enhance you. Having this blog I feel has indeed enhanced my awareness of world, country and personal affairs. When an item comes to mind for the subject of a post, I then research said subject. I am then made more aware of said subject, and learn something or reinforce something that I already know which then enhances me as a person, and most of all my knowledge of various subjects.

Well with that said and about 50 cents I can get a cup of coffee.

Here at the one year mark, I would like to re-run my first post. I have re-run this post throughout the year. This post is the one that I am most proud of:

I would like to honor those who served, and are serving in the war against terror

Andrew Iraq 2005 (KIA)
Chris Afghanistan 2004- 2005
Chuck Iraq 2005 (Returned November )
Fernando Afghanistan 2002 and 2003
Greg H. Iraq 2004-2005 (home)
Jim Iraq - Jan 2005 to present.
John M. Iraq 2005 (Home)
Joshua A. Iraq Jan 03-Jan04 and Apr 05-present
Kelly Iraq 2004-2005 (Last check at home)
Raul Iraq 2004-2005 (Out of Iraq)
Roger Iraq 2005 (At home)
Sean Q Iraq 2005-present (Still there)
Sean W Iraq 2004-2005 (WIA) 2006- present (Somewhere)

To all of the individuals that are listed and to all that are not listed, thank you for your service, and your sacrifices.

TO ERR IS HUMAN TO BE FINED BY THE FAA IS DIVINE

2006-03-05T09:39:00.000-05:00

The title for today’s post is a fact. If you err in controlled airspace, and are cited, when you get that fine, I am sure that there will be holy words included, when you read the citation.

My post for today covers the two pilots that strayed into the Air Defense Identification Zone and the NO-FLYZONE that covers our nation’s capital. AOPA pilot magazine ran an article about the incident and the pilots in January entitled “Flight of Mistakes” Also there is a rebuttal to the article written by a retired Marine Corp AV-8 Harrier pilot included in the March edition. The article and the rebuttal letter state opinions that could have helped the pilots that day, and not brought them to national attention. Some of the items presented were, GPS, Maps (Sectionals), weather/ NOTAM briefs, Pilotage, Pilot awareness and others.

With this post I want to present some related experiences on the matter of what happened, and hopefully help someone so that they don’t find themselves in the same position as those two were. Somewhere they should “not” have been.

During my flight training, I kept hearing the words “Cited by the FAA a fine and/or the loss of your pilot’s license. If you are going into controlled Airspace advise the controller that you are a student pilot so if you make a mistake they won’t cite you. If you don’t close a flight plan you will be subject to an FAA enforcement action. I even was invited to attend a Certified Flight Instructor conference with my CFI Mike R, and again I heard those same words over and over again along with one person joking when talking with the FAA coordinator for the event “Famous last words, Hi I’m the FAA How can I help you”. An assumption that I had was that these enforcement actions were nothing more than $50 tickets and I figured that I could go to “AIRPLANE COURT” and get the tickets reduced or even wiped off of my record with no problem. Boy was I wrong.

I researched this, because of my daring personality; I will try anything once just to see if I can get away with it. So I wanted to know what I could be fined for, and also if my butt could handle it. The first thing that I found out is that an FAA Enforcement is way different than a speeding ticket. With a speeding ticket you get caught by a cop (Executive Branch of Government), and then you go before a Judge (Judiciary Branch of Government) plead your case, and even can request a jury of your peers to decide your guilt or innocence. With the FAA I found out that there is no “AIRPLANE COURT” If you get cited by the FAA there is an appeals process. However the appeals process is handled by the FAA. So my figuring here is if you get busted by the FAA figuring the odds that the FAA will reverse their own decision falls into the ludicrous category. Next thing I researched was the amount of the fines. When you get fined through an FAA enforcement action, you might as well stop by a bank on your way home from the airport and mortgage your house. Just for not closing a flight plan can get you a fine of $10,000. I do not remember precise amounts of the fines and their infractions that I saw but I remember the lowest was $1,000 and there was a few at $20,000. I also did find out that when you land, and if you think that you committed an infraction, if you fill out a NASA report stating the infraction that you are not prosecutable. (Yes there is a blank NASA report in my knee board!)

Seeing these fines and the infractions associated with them really drove home a point. I did not want to get an FAA Enforcement action against myself. In my opinion the best tool that I had was planning my flight. I did my flight training at Grays Creek airport just outside of Fayetteville NC. Controlled airspace in the area includes Fayetteville Airport, Pope AFB, Simmons Army Airfield, Mackall Army Airfield and the infamous R-5311 for Ft Bragg, plenty of places that I could find myself in trouble, so a well planned route, Flight and route awareness was essential.

One of the factors brought up was the flight planning process of the pilots that strayed into the ADIZ and No Fly zone. Proper planning could have helped these guys. My belief here is that a flight and cockpit organization begins the very second that the flight planning process begins. I personally have been complimented (By CFIs) and ridiculed (Thanks Mr G) about my flight planning process and cockpit organization. I have noticed some older/ more experienced pilots that fly the same aircraft and routes over and over again for years become what I call checklist complacent. Again I feel that the checklist for a given flight starts with planning, and if a checklist is used and held to then the ability to make mistakes is almost zero.

The planning process and organization is not fool proof, and we do have to learn along the way. but learning around the ADIZ and no-fly zone is a no brainer, don't do it the ADIZ is no place to learn! On my first Solo Cross Country I made a pretty bad mistake, and if I was in the Washington area I could have ended up in the same boat as these two did. I was flying from Grays creek to Darlington, Columbus county, Wallace and then back to Grays creek. I took off picked up my azimuth and about a half hour later, I was lined up for the runway in Darlington, touch and go and I am off to Columbus County. This is where my problems began. I had a cross wind, and kept a good eye (or so I thought) on the Heading Indicator, Cross referenced with the compass, check points where they should be left door/right door. Then I came upon 2 REALLY TALL AND MONSTROUS radio towers. I thought,” I don’t remember seeing them or selecting them as checkpoints on the route”. Then I figured that a friend of mine was messing with me and gave me a messed up sectional. No problem I can do it I thought. Having the stopwatch running, my checkpoints are where they are supposed to be (Time and location) and I see an airport in front of me. Hell I got point 2 this is easy. Then I got closer and realized that this was an airport, but not Columbus County, the runways are wrong, and there is no huge Lake Waccamaw around. (I got fixated on the immediate area) I could not find the airport on the sectional either. So I fly around a few times to ensure that there are no other planes in the area, and land with out clearance from my CFI or communications for the Common Traffic Air Frequency (CTAF). I stopped the plane got out, evaded getting bit by a dog, woke up some old timer asleep on a lawn chair and asked where the hell am I. I’m told Twin City South Carolina. I explained my situation to the guy who then pulled out a sectional, and showed me that I was about 10 miles south west of where I wanted to be. He then told me how to get to where I wanted to be and so I took off IFRRT (I Follow Rail Road Tracks) and got to Columbus county, took on fuel, and then finished the rest of the route. Other than my CFI and a few people on the ground nobody found out about it. (Meaning the FAA)

This flight taught me a few lessons. First I found out that the towers and Twin City airports are on the sectional, I had the map folded on the board with not enough showing south of my intended route. Lesson learned and procedures I now follow; fold map so that at least 10 miles is visible on each side of the route. Second, most of my selected check points were out of the left door (North of my route and a few were to the south in the beginning) I had not selected any that I would over fly either. Lesson Learned and procedure I now follow; select check points that bracket the sides of the route and that I over fly. Third I found out that when I took off if I had not gotten fixated on the airport, I could have seen Lake Waccamaw and the airport. Lesson Learned and procedure I now follow is that I try to keep myself orientated 20-30 miles in front and not get fixated on a single check point. All in all I was being blown to the south and if I used better planning on my check points I would have been able to have kept myself straight and offset the blowing effect better.

One of the lessons learned stated by the pilot that had only a student rating (with no cross country time) was that he would not ever fly again without a GPS. This is ludicrous! True the GPS will give you some accurate information on your location, but the map information included will not tell you that you have just entered the DC ADIZ or the no fly zone. The ADIZ has the same footprint as the three airports that surround DC (Reagan, Dulles and Baltimore) So what this tells me is that they not only had an incursion into the ADIZ but also violated controlled airspace with out contacting the convening approach control. Being sectional and ground aware of your location however should have kept them safe.

A flight for me starts at least the night before and my checklist for a Visual Flight Rules (VFR) goes as follows:

Plot route on Wall Map, Plot check points every 10-15 miles, Plot map azimuth, make route cards, and airport info cards and laminate for Kneeboard. (These are so that I have each leg and part of the next one on one sheet and rid myself of a bulky map board and also micro planning in this fashion helps familiarize me with the route and check points better.), Designate route in GPS, Get electronic weather brief, Manually plot route (apply wind azimuths etc), Get electronic flight planning (To check what I had already done on my own), and finally, Call (Flight Service Station (FSS) and get weather brief (this is something that the guys in the Washington Case did not do.) I would like to talk about this last item for a bit. Another lesson that I learned from my flight instructor the computer may not have all of the NOTAM updates but the FSS will. A call to the FSS will cover you.

Again another cardinal mistake by our pilots no phone call. They solely relied on the computerized briefing. If they had given their route to a briefer there would have been the normal warnings briefed about the route such as the ADIZ and the NO-FLY zone. Another good step I consider when doing it, is when I get the briefing I record the briefing, First off I am not sitting there trying to write while the briefer is speaking and being a few sentences behind, I can listen to the whole brief, and then play back bit by bit as I go over all the information, and last, If I get into a situation that should have been covered by the brief and was not, if under enforcement action for said instance I can show (Play) that I was not briefed on the event.

Another point of our two intruders was that the pilot in command was lacking in the field of currency (It was reported that he was a CFI but that was just a first minute assumption.) To be current as a pilot able to carry passengers one must have completed 3 day landings with in 90 days prior to carrying passengers for day flights and 3 full stop landings at night for night flights. This pilot had not done so. Also there is a matter of personal currency. Tools that I use to fly as often as possible when I cannot get an actual airplane is a flight simulator. (I use Microsoft simm 2004) This at least keeps the muscle memory in tune, and pattern procedures fresh. I am not saying that this replaces an actual flight because it does not. Also with this, I plan actual cross country flights and fly them. This keeps me somewhat straight. Then if I feel I am getting lazy or complacent with my actual flying, I have no problem hiring a CFI to go up with me and just check me out a bit. This guy did nothing to ensure his currency, competency, and safety of himself and his passenger. Let alone do anything to ensure his abilities to plan a cross country flight were up to snuff.

In conclusion my opinion of the pilots is that their mistakes originated on the ground, and could have been very easily avoided, with proper planning and cockpit organization.

BLOGGERS NOTE: I have read a few articles on this matter, but I still have one question panging, reference this incident. It is the degree of WHOOP-ASS levied by the student pilot on his flight companion.

NISSAN’S AD

2006-03-04T13:50:00.000-05:00

Recently while thumbing through a magazine the included picture was from an ad for Nissan motor company. The first impression for me of the ad was “What an idiot.” He is atop of a mountain; he throws stick, dog runs, dog jumps, dog catches stick mid-air and goes flying over the side of a cliff.

Then I read the ad print on the bottom of the picture which the main focus was “Find somewhere a dog has never chased a stick.” Well duh! There is probably a good reason that a dog never chased a stick there.

Just my observation here as a dog owner, I think Nissan’s ad agency could have come up with a better metaphor to take a Nissan Pathfinder somewhere secluded, or a better place to throw a stick and have a dog run after it. Atop of a rocky pinnacle is not it!

FREEDOM!

2006-03-02T20:27:00.000-05:00

I know that I am a little late coming out of the gate with this post. I have wanted to write about the subject of the cartoons that have offended many in the Muslim world. Until today I was not able to put my thoughts down, because everything that came up in my mind was just missing something. Though here today I have found the missing piece and it is simply “Freedom.”

The past two editions of the Rhino times here in Greensboro have included articles reference the comics. The first week included copies of the actual comics, and the second week was an editorial of the aftermath both good and bad about the first week. The editor’s article stated some thoughts that I share, which he shared with Muslims calling and complaining about the comics. His shared thoughts covered the first amendment, published Christian comics and et al.

These comics and the furor that has arisen over them really stem from 2 points, the presence of freedom and the absence of freedom. Which in my perception reinforces the needs for the missions currently underway in various parts of the world by our nation’s military forces.

When I was about 11 I had joined the boy scouts Troop 45 of Mineola, NY. The tradition of the troop was that you could not be inducted into the troop until you made tenderfoot (The first rank was scout and then tenderfoot.) Once you made the rank of tenderfoot then an initiation ceremony was held, room darkened and a white candle was all that was burning with 3 unlit candles behind. You lit the first candle which was red and the Scout Master would say “Red is for courage and the blood shed in wars protecting freedom” then a white was lit for purity, and a blue one for justice. You then got your troop neckerchief and got your tenderfoot badge and then you were an actual member of the troop.

My point here is that red candle, and fighting for freedom. Though the comic, might insult some Muslims, and their Muslim countries, the original publishers their country of origin, and all the way here to Greensboro, NC and the Rhino times had the right to publish it. The core of this issue boils down to the fact some of the people in the world have the right to freedom, and other people of the world do not have this right, or want to take those rights away, from the I haves.

If we look at the history of terrorism, and it’s henchmen (and women), it usually boils down to the ideology of the terrorist (Who came from a country or region lacking freedom IE Bin Laden) denouncing the freedoms of a specific area of the world.

I close here with this analogy, it wasn’t the comic that started the fuss, it was the freedom to publish the comic that started the fuss.

THERE ARE SOME THINGS THAT I JUST DON’T NEED TO KNOW OR SEE!

2006-02-27T06:11:00.000-05:00

Yesterday with great regret I was putting a DVD in the player, and awaiting the start of a movie, that I did not pick out. With the previews rolling and thinking “ This movie is going to suck my will to live” and getting a drink for myself and other things to have by my side while watching the movie. I returned to my spot on the couch right when the previews for Broke Back Mountain started. The scene being shown was the two of them by a campfire and one holding the other.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

I personally have been able to keep my eyes and mind virgin about this movie by switching the channel as soon as something is mentioned etc. Now thanks to Hollywood and the rental DVD conglomerate I now have seen something that I could have died a happy man and lived a perfect life without seeing in my head.

Personally I have lived a very sheltered life when it comes to dealing with male homosexuals. I do not watch that one show about the gay man living with the straight woman that won all the awards (The name escapes me at this moment). Prior to getting out of the military I had only witnessed a gay couple maybe once or twice. (Now that I have retired and moved away from Fayetteville) I find they are everywhere, my first sighting was while I was working on a roof, the guys that lived across the street came out leaving for the day, hugged and kissed, said their good byes and I almost fell off the roof. One might call me a homophobic or hater and that is the prerogative of the person making the assessment.

However under my rights as an individual I also have prerogatives. My personal feelings about homosexuality is that it is not totally accepted by mainstream society however the attempt is being made by the entertainment industry to force feed it to us, it is a sin, and if the closet door is open someone should close it right now. However along with this if someone wants and lives this type of lifestyle they should have the right to do so in the sanctity and privacy of their own home behind closed doors. Not in the open.

The US Government from the Clinton Administration shares this same view with Gays in the Military. Remember the “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” policy and hoopla a few years back? Make your jokes about the policy, but from my interpretation of the policy, it makes it ok for a gay to be in the military as long as the said person keeps his mouth closed and personal life private. The way it should be.

Homosexuality and Bisexuality fall into the same category of many in this nation, Sexual Deviancy. The causes of this are many in the psychological and physical realm, but still deviancy by mainstream society’s standards. These deviancies should be kept in private, like any other deviancy. When was the last time you were walking in the mall and seen a couple dressed up in S&M gear IE ball gag, handcuffs, whips and chains etc? Never right? Though this is a sexual deviancy, like homosexuality it is not flaunted but kept in the confines of one’s home and does not subject the general public to unwanted witnessing of the life style.

U.S. Senator Unhurt in Air Crash

2006-02-26T06:05:00.000-05:00

The Associated Press reports that New York Senator Hillary Clinton, narrowly escaped injury in the aircraft that she was piloting when she was forced to make an emergency landing in Southern New Jersey because of bad weather. National Transportation Safety Board officials have issued a preliminary determination that pilot error contributed to the accident, and that the senator was flying a single engine aircraft in IFR [instrument flight rating] conditions while only having obtained a VFR (visual flight rating) license. The absence of a post-crash fire was likely due to insufficient fuel on board. No one on the ground was injured.Photographs taken at the scene show the extent of damage to Senator Clinton's aircraft. She was very lucky

Hat tip to Ed H.

PATRIOT ACT: GOOD OR BAD?

2006-02-24T07:00:00.000-05:00

Recently in the news there has been a lot of bickering reference the Patriot Act. Everything that I have been hearing has been against the act. IE the President has too much power, Eavesdropping etc.

Today I opened my e-mail and from Military.com I received one of the editions of Army News, and to my surprise the headline of today’s edition was “SOLDIER WOUNDED IN AFGHANISTAN AND WIDOW WIN 102.6 MILLION FOR ATTACK.” It seems that under the Patriot act that anyone harmed by the act of a terrorist may sue the terrorists or the infrastructure of the terrorist cell. In this instance both soldiers were attacked by the 15 year old son of Al-Quaeda financier Ahmad Sa'id Khadr. His son is currently being detained at Guantanamo Bay, and the lawsuit was against him because he trained his son to be a terrorist.

Though these people will have a hard time collecting this money and in reality may never see the money. However in the event that Ahmad Sa'id Khadr is captured or/and his Estate is frozen and seized by the United States these people will get their money.

Personally I think the Patriot Act is a very good measure in the war on terrorism. Here is another part that makes the terrorists and their infrastructure take responsibility for their actions not just by attacking or arresting them but by hitting them in their wallets.

OUR FRIEND SHAWN BENJAMIN

2006-02-20T06:34:00.000-05:00

With utter shock I say farewell and mourn the passing of Shawn Benjamin. A husband, Father and Friend. A great guy, and someone that whenever I was in his company would have me laughing at his antics. Shawn was injured in a training accident on Thursday February 26, 2006 at Ft. Benning Ga. and passed from the bonds of this earth on Saturday February 25, 2006. He is survived by his wife, 2 children, Mother, Father and Brothers.

BAAAAAAAA WE WEREN'T NOTIFIED RIGHT AWAY

2006-02-16T05:33:00.000-05:00

Unless you have been living in a locked room or out of the country it is hard to miss the fact that Vice President Dick Cheney over this past weekend shot a man accidentally while hunting. The said man received approximately 40 wounds from birdshot which where fired from between 30-40 yards away. Aid was immediately given and the victim was transported to the hospital by Mr. Cheney’s Secret Service Detachment which also then notified local authorities approximately 1 hour after the shooting took place. The local authorities then came out investigated, took statements and deemed it as an accident.

With the above scenario with the exception that Mr. Cheney did not properly identify his target or maybe he did (sorry had to put that one in hehehe) and the target area for a clean shot, I think Mr. Cheney and the Secret Service detachment acted accordingly and with in the steps of managing such a crisis. In the military we had a step by step process for dealing with such a matter if someone got shot on a training range. Step one give aid, Step2 secure the area and weapon, Step 3 transport to hospital. Step 3 fill out necessary reports, get statements and fill appropriate forms.

I am sure Mr. Cheney feels bad for what he did to his friend, and I honestly think the press is making more out of this than has to be made. There is nothing that I have ever read in crisis management that has ever stated notify the press. This was a private incident that has been deemed an accident while this man was taking a few days off to relax. He did not get a DUI, got caught buying dope or anything illegal or prosecutable for that matter. Mr Cheney did not shoot him and then left him out there to die and then called authorities 24 hours later to report the accident and the death. (Oh wait Mr. Cheney is a republican, if he did that he would be a democrat with the name Kennedy) He simply was involved in a hunting accident and took the appropriate measures.

The press WAS notified but of course it was not to their liking, it was approximately 24 hours after the incident. Which I am assuming was probably at their next scheduled press briefing. This makes complete sense, because the White House would have all of the information concerning the incident and the current condition of Mr. Whittington. In my opinion a prudent choice instead of issuing 6 or 7 press updates each one with holes and changes from the previous one just issue one solid statement.

I would ask the press to please return me to normalcy and drop it already.

UFOs: POSSIBILITY OR IMPOSSIBILITY

2006-02-15T07:23:00.000-05:00

UFOs have received my interest since I was in Grammar school. I personally believe in life on other planets and the possibility of the earth being visited by these extraterrestrials. In the recent months I have seen a few shows on the Discovery, National Geographic, and the History channels covering this topic both pro and con on the subject and would like to post my views on this matter today.

In my opinion there has to be life on another planet somewhere. With the infinite amount of stars in the sky that we can see, then there are the stars that we cannot see, because of their distance from us, I think it would have to be one closed minded individual to state that we are the only ones. I am sure there are planets with life on them. Some with life that is just beginning to spawn, and then also planets with life that is millenniums more advanced than us. These are the ones I would like to discuss today along with their technology.

First; a lot of respected scientists have been interviewed about the possibility of UFOs from other solar systems of other galaxies visiting our planet. The common two answers given for this question is; Einstein’s theory is that the speed of light (186,282 miles per second) is the absolute of how fast anything can go or according to the law of physics it would be impossible for a vehicle to travel that fast or faster to make it here in a feasible amount of time.

Personally I think this way of thinking is way inside of the safety of the box and would have to agree with today’s technology that it is impossible and unfathomable to even consider. However to totally dismiss the possibility is ludicrous. Just in the past 100 or so years the evolution of our technology has been tremendous. As far as the laws that could not be broken 100 years earlier (IE the sound barrier) but are broken on a daily basis. Also comes the fact that the helicopter according to the laws of physics should not fly breaks the law also on a daily basis. So if another planet out there is say a million years more advanced than us, then why can’t they have the ability to make a ship that can travel these great distances and actually go to plaid (Space balls) and travel around in speed and style.

Second; many other interviewees are just so stuck on our technology, and do not open their minds to the possibility of advanced technology. One theory of the propulsion of the UFOs is that these ships are powered by an Anti-matter type engine. An interview that I saw being conducted was with a scientist at a superconductor that is located outside of Chicago and according to him it would take something like 45 million years to make a gram of anti-matter. So thus it would be impossible.

Again our technology, versus theirs. I am sure that if a race is 45 million years advanced of ours they would be able to do it considering we have only been able to do it (in the most miniscule amounts) in the past 100 years

Third; If we were able to go back in time 100 years and talk to some of the smartest aficionados of their time and asked them about the possibility of man walking on the moon, the integrated circuit (Computer chip), lasers, breaking the sound barrier, helicopters, and Et al. After the weird looks we would get, I am pretty sure the answers we would get are that they were impossible. Then go back to 1491 and ask about if the world is flat or round?

However here today we have advanced, and broken the laws. Physics and helicopters, Laws of matter; matter can neither be created nor destroyed, but in a nuclear blast a few grams of matter are in fact destroyed and others. In my opinion if we say that UFOs are impossible then we might as well go back to saying that the world is flat. Our advancements have proven from the perspective of people a few hundred years ago that many things are in fact possible so why cant many more things be possible in 100, 1,000 or a 1 million years.

ANOTHER EQUAL OPPURTUNITY CELEBRATION

2006-02-14T09:58:00.000-05:00

Today is Valentines Day and again I see that our society is taking another celebration and making it into another celebration of equal opportunity and political correctness.

Valentines Day as quoted by the 2003 edition of the Britannica Encyclopedia states:

Lovers' holiday celebrated on February 14, the feast day of St. Valentine, one of two 3rd-century Roman martyrs of the same name.

St. Valentine is considered the patron of lovers and especially of those unhappily in love. The feast day became a lovers' festival in the 14th century, probably as an extension of pagan love festivals and fertility rites celebrated in mid-February. Today it is marked by the exchange of romantic cards (valentines), flowers, and other gifts.

Now as far as this holiday goes the exact explanation is the celebration of lovers, as I see it. Now what get’s my goat is the fact that Angie’s son is nine years old, and today for the celebration of Valentine’s day he had to bring in cards for everyone in the class. (Including the boys!) Now what I think should have happened is that first off being given a choice of who to give them to (my preferred decision) or second off just give them to all the girls in the class. I can support this type of ultimatum for Christmas, Birthdays etc. but cannot support this for the celebration of Valentine's Day.

Just another one of my observations here but I think that what went on in this class for the mass distribution of the cards goes entirely against the true meaning of Valentine’s Day and will result in confusion on the way these children celebrate Valentine’s Day in the future

GETTING OUT OF THE MILITARY AND THE CIVILLIAN LIFE TRANSITION

2006-02-13T06:02:00.000-05:00

Today’s post is for the benefit of the Punk who today is officially out of the Army and 2 other former colleagues that are getting out of the service at this time. Here is a 12 step process for doing so:

1. I am in the military, I have a problem. This is the first step to recovery...

2. Speech:
Time should never begin with a zero or end in a hundred, it is not 0530or 1400 it is 5:30 in the morning (AKA God-awful early).Words like deck, rack, and "PT" will get you weird looks; floor, bed, workout, get used to it."Fuck" cannot be used to -replace whatever word you can't think of right now, try "um".Grunting is not talking.It's a phone, not a radio, conversations on a phone do not end in "out"People will not know what you are talking about if you tell them you are coming from Camp Lejeune with the MWSS platoon or that you spent a deployment in the OCAC

3. Style:
Do not put creases in your jeans.Do not put creases on the front of your dress shirts.A horseshoe cut looks dumb, not motivating.A high and tight looks really dumb as well.So does a low reg, but not as bad.A hat indoors does not make you a bad person; it makes you like the rest of the world.You do not have to wear a belt ALL the time.

4. Women:
Air Force girls are easy, very easy, not all women are this easy and will probably punch you in the nuts if you treat them like Air Force girls.Being divorced twice by the time you are 23 is not normal, neither are 6 month marriages, even if it is your first.Marrying a girl so that you can move out of the barracks does not make "financial sense", it makes you a retard.

5. Personal accomplishments:
In the real world, being able to do pushups will not make you good at your job.Most people will be slightly disturbed by you if you tell them about people you have killed or seen die.How much pain you can take is not a personal accomplishment.The time you got really drunk and passed the sobriety test anyway is also not a personal accomplishment.

6. Drinking:
In the real world, being drunk before 5pm will get you an intervention, not a "good for you"That time you drank a 5th of Jaeger and pissed in your closet is not a conversation starter.That time you went to the combat life saver school and practiced giving vodka iv's will also not be a good conversation starter

6. Bodily functions:
Farting on your co-workers and then giggling while you run away may be viewed as "unprofessional".The size of the dump you took yesterday will not be funny no matter how big it was, how much it burned, or how much it smelled.You can't make fun of someone for being sick, no matter how funny it is VD will also not be funny

7. The human body:
Most people will not want to hear about your balls. Odd as that may seem, it's true.

8. Spending habits:
One day, you will have to pay billsBuying a $30,000 car on a $16,000 a year salary is a really bad idea.Spending money on video games instead of on diapers makes you a fool.One day you will need health insurance9. Interacting with civilians (AKA YOU):Making fun of your neighbor to his face for being fat will not be normal.

10. Real jobs:
They really can fire you.On the flip side you really can quit.Screaming at the people that work for you will not be normal, remember they really can quit too.Taking naps at work will not be acceptable.Remember 9-5 not 0530 to 1800

11. The Law:Non-judicial punishment does not exist and will not save you from prison.Your workplace unlike your command can't save you and probably won’t, in fact most likely you will fired about 5 minutes after they find out you've been arrestedEven McDonalds does background checks, and "conviction" isn't going to help you get the job. Fighting is not a normal thing and will get you really arrested, not yelled at Monday morning before they ask you if you won.

12. General knowledge:
You can in fact really say what you think about the President in public.Pain is not weakness leaving the body, it's just pain.They won't wear anything shiny that tells you they are more important then you are, be polite. Read the contracts before you sign them, remember what happened the first time.

Hat tip to Kelly K. for the submission of this 12 step program

BTW Happy Birthday to Dave L., The Wookie, and Myself. We are having lunch today at Hooters in Fayetteville, and hopefully the Wookie wont leave me as collateral there.

A LESSON IN LIFE

2006-02-11T06:46:00.000-05:00

On a recent trip to visit Angela’s Grandmother who is in assisted living, our arrival coincided with a bible study group which her grandmother was attending at the home. We were invited in to listen and participate. I was some what pleased when the group leader started using acronyms. (From my previous life in the military) She brought up two during the study/discussion. The first one being PUSH. PUSH stands for Pray Until Something Happens. The second one being FROG. FROG stands for Fully Rely On God. After hearing this and a few weeks passing I have found myself reflecting on these two acronyms and thinking about their meanings on a daily basis until today.

Today I opened an e-mail from my friend Travis, which contained some very great news. The contents of the e-mail fully enforces FROG and PUSH in my mind. At this time I would like to share this great news and the whole story with everyone that comes to this Blog.

In December 2004, I received an E-mail from Travis that was the result of need and desperation. Travis’ son Jordan was in need of a kidney transplant, and also the need of a kidney donor. His e-mail was asking for volunteers as a donor. I was out because of blood type, and I assume others also. So for a year and two months Travis and his family waited. I am sure that during this time frame there were many prayers from Travis, his family, and his friends for God to help Jordan. With the E-mail I received today, it was apparent that a donor kidney was finally found, and on January 30th 2006 Jordan received his new kidney.

I personally have had Jordan in my prayers for God to help him. Today has firmly cemented the two acronyms in my head FROG Fully Rely On God and PUSH Pray Until Something Happens. Though it took some time, God came through!

COVER STORY UNCOVERED

2006-02-08T11:02:00.000-05:00

The last year I was on active duty status with the Army was 2003. During this year in working the operations side of the house I had many dealings on Simmons Army Airfield at Ft. Bragg. Many times during this year while passing the Area Maintenance Depot (AMD) I noticed CH-47s painted in sand color camouflage pattern, with flags on the rear rotor tower and circular aircraft flag symbols midway on both sides with Arabic writing fore and aft of the symbols and some sort of avionics blister just aft of the cockpit. The question of these aircraft even came up with my dealings with Mr. G, who was surmising that they were Special Operations Helicopters for some mission. I did not have a clue to this and told him so. Also I never asked anyone in the AMD section on what they were for.

Soon after this conversation with Mr. G I was at the Piedmont Hawethorne FBO at Fayetteville’s Grannis field and one of these CH-47s landed there. The crew chief came into the FBO and I was surprised to see this individual wearing the Volleyball net patch of the North Carolina National Guard. I asked him if they were doing joint training with a mid-east country, and even identified myself that I was in the Army and had seen these aircraft at Simmons AAF. His reply to me is that his unit had been given the mission of ferrying these aircraft to Wilmington for shipment to Egypt. He even informed me that these aircraft were being supplied to Egypt as an incentive in the War on Terror. I took the story as truth, it seemed logical, and the flags and markings were indeed Egyptian.

Now we fast forward to the present and the January 23rd 2006 edition of Newsweek. Included in this issue is an article entitled “Iran’s Rogue Rage” reporting on the nuclear situation that is now ongoing in Iran. The picture included here in this post is excerpted from this article and is a picture of the area known as the Natanz atomic plant. The Ch-47 pictured seemed familiar and then I thought back to 2003 and quickly made an assumption that the Egyptians were there as monitors or inspectors for the UN. Then after closer inspection of the pictured aircraft I realized that those were not Egyptian markings but rather they were Iranian.

My question here is did Egypt accept these helicopters and then under minding the US then sold or gave these helicopters to the Iranians, or the US outright sold these helicopters to the Iranians and just pipelined them through Egypt as a cover.

One might argue that the Iranians had CH-47s from the days of the Shah prior to the coup that empowered the Ayatollah Khomeini as the leader of Iran. The picture might enforce this point of thinking because the later Model CH-47D that came out in the 80s has 3 large cargo hooks that are very evident on the bottom that can be seen from the side. This picture does not show any cargo hooks, and then again that was one thing that I noticed of the aircraft parked at the AMD was the fact that they did not have cargo hooks. Another argument that I have on this subject is the coincidence that the Iranians would choose the same paint scheme that was painted in the United States and then transported to Egypt.

In my opinion I think that the helicopters were supplied to the Iranians as an incentive not to get involved with our operations in Iraq, and to keep the unconditional and fragile peace between the US and Iran. Furthermore again the powers that be have made the same mistake that we originally made with Iraq during the Iraq-Iran war. (Support Iraq just to have them turn on us) Now with the nuclear situation that is now present there, it seems that they are going to bite the hand that feeds.

ODE TO THE MH-53J

2006-02-07T10:43:00.000-05:00

During the Vietnam War many exciting and new flying machines were produced and procured by the Armed Services. One of these machines was the CH-53 originally used by the US Airforce to conduct Combat Search and Rescue (CSAR) operations in and around Vietnam. Also used by the Navy for de-mining, ship to ship land to ship supply delivery, and anti-submarine operations.

In the US Airforce inventory this fine aircraft has evolved from the CH-53A Super Jolly Green Giant to the MH-53J Pave Lowe IV Special Operations helicopter. Which is now an integral part of all of the missions within the Special Operations realm. It is equipped with FLIR and SLIR for adverse weather missions, In air refueling capabilities, Folding rotors and tail for ship borne operations, Hoist for the CSAR role, fast rope and exfil ladder equipped, and armed with a combination of .50 cal machine guns and 7.62mm GE Vulcan cannons.

However many in the Special Operations world will agree that the MH-53 is nothing more than a big lumbering dinosaur that has outlived itself. First off this thing is massive, and the rotor wash can only be compared to what the people in New Orleans must have experienced with the winds from Katrina, or survivors of a tornado. I had the privilege to be supported by these aircraft many times during my Special Forces career, and for many occasions, I loved these aircraft and then many more I loathed them.

This morning in my daily e-mail from Rotorhub.com I came to find out that currently Airforce Special Operations from Hurlburt field in Fla. Are at Edwards Airforce base in California. They are there to test, write training and combat doctrine for the new CV-22. This aircraft is an Airforce Special Operations Variant of the Marine Corp V-22.

Though the article did not mention the demise or the Keeping of the MH-53, though I as a casual observer think this is the silver bullet for the MH-53. It will be some time for the Airforce to procure enough to equip all of the squadrons; the days of the 53 I feel are limited. (The Airforce at this time has only procured 2 CV-22s) Once this aircraft is procured, with its quick turn-around for maintenance, Quick pre-flight and start up procedures, the Race will be won by the CV-22 as it flies off for the mission, while the 53 will be on the ground still being pre-flighted.

Ode to the MH-53 as it passes the same way as the UH-1 Iroquois, AH-1 Cobra, CH-54 Tarhe, you served us well, but technology has made you a thing of the past.

KNOW YOUR GOVERNMENT

2006-01-12T06:20:00.000-05:00

If you notice under the sidebar heading for “OTHER GOOD SITES” there is a new site added called “CONGRESSIONAL MONITORING”. This site is a very useful tool that allows us to be notified of the events of votes taken on specific bills, and how our State specific Senators and District specific Congressman have voted on bills in general. I feel this will help the general population see even clearer the voting record of our specific elected officials

One just needs to go to the site and painlessly register. Then set up your monitors by picking your Senators, and your Congressman. (If you do not know who they are there are tools in place that will aid you in selecting the right senators, and the correct district and congressman.) Once this is done one may also monitor specific bills. These can be selected from the Legislation menu by looking at the recently active line, or one can find specific subjects of bills IE Iraq, Personal Firearms, Military Budgets, and other subjects.

When choosing the bills to monitor, one may also read the bill in it’s entirety to inform ones self on what this bill will accomplish. Once the monitor is set up, all one has to do is either check the page on a daily basis or have the site e-mail changes on the bill status almost on a daily basis. With this tool one can watch a bill from introduction, and then its travel through the senate, the house and finally up to the Presidents desk for enactment or if the bill is killed in the house or the senate or vetoed by the President.

In conclusion I post this information, so that my fellow common man will have the power from knowledge when the Voting booths are open and one can then make a better informed decision on what one wants from their government.

IS THERE A SECOND TERM JINX OR IS IT A POLITICAL TIT FOR TAT?

2006-01-10T06:25:00.000-05:00

Having been born 9 months before President Kennedy was assassinated, and not remembering much of the Johnson administration, but with what I can recall from President Nixon on up through the present I as a casual observer have come to the conclusion that there is a precedent or conspiracy in politics for the other side to take the second term president down by what ever means possible. Here I post my observations and hypothesis for you to peruse and draw your own conclusions.

PRESIDENT KENNEDY
Everyone has their own assumptions about the Kennedy assassination, so why should I be any different. My conspiracy theory is that the bringing down of a second term president actually started here. Kennedy as a democrat had a lot of support and probably would have been re-elected. Republicans decided to take a pre-emptive strike against him so he would not get Re-Elected. I bet if we research it the guy that came up with the “Magic Bullet Theory” was a republican and part of the conspiracy.

PRESIDENT JOHNSON
Hailing from Texas, and taking over the remainder of the Kennedy’s tenure of office and being reelected once Johnson did not seek a second re-election as president. In my second term conspiracy or political tit for tat I think Johnson knew what could happen to him with this new order of American politics. It is evident now that Johnson was a womanizer, and could not bear to have this weakness brought to light to the American people let alone his wife. Also the powers that be did not mess with him once he was re-elected because technically he had only been elected once.

PRESIDENT NIXON
Tricky dick, everyone that is in their late 30s or older knows about the political Quagmire that struck this president in his second term. In my theory Watergate was nothing more than a present for the Democratic Commission to Raise Hell on the Second Term Republican President. They were probably searching high and low for some dirt, and all of a sudden a break-in at their Watergate Headquarters and Deep throat comes into the shadows. Though this was the first real attempt at this conspiracy, it was the last real win for the Democratic Party.

PRESIDENT FORD

Not re-elected and was finishing out the term after the resignation of Nixon

PRESIDENT CARTER

As a democrat he was not re-elected so no threat to the Republicans

PRESIDENT REAGAN
One of the greatest Presidents of our great nation. He was elected to a second term, and sure enough the scandal broke out exposed by the Democrat Committee to Harass the Second Term Republican President. A very week charge called the Iran Contra deal or Irangate. This in my opinion was a very weak showing by the democrats, and was easily put to bed by Mr. Reagan when he appeared before a congressional investigation panel. Remember “I have no recollection of those events.” As quickly as this thing rose its head, it was as quickly laid back to rest. Again a very weak showing by the democrats.

PRESIDENT BUSH Sr.

A single term president and no threat to the Democrats

PRESIDENT CLINTON

Here is a conspiracy if I ever saw one. You cannot tell me that this was NOT a planted Scandal. While serving his second term as president the Republican Committee to Harass the Second Term Democrat President came up with a doozy of a plan. They planted Monica Lewinsky into the White House as an intern, (John Goodman in drag was her handler or supervisor with the assumed name Linda Tripp) She then had oral and Cigar sex with the President, and though no pictures or any other type of recordings were made they held onto the evidence of Monica’s Dress with DNA samples from Mr Clinton. First off Monica if you are not part of the conspiracy, YOU ARE NASTY! Why didn’t you get the dress cleaned? If you were holding onto a memento of the President, I am sure you could have gotten something more acceptable. I think Janet Jackson should have re-cut her song Nasty and make it about you. Back to the conspiracy, this scandal definitely rocked the second term president, an impeachment vote was taken, and then he had to deal with Hillary which is a whole other story.

PRESIDENT BUSH Jr

We started to see what was coming from the Democrat Committee to Harass the Second Term Republican President during the 2004 Elections when their point man Sen John Kerry rescinded his support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. Other items they have attacked “W” with are bad intelligence and the naming of a CIA operative. During this second term administration this committee reminds me of a Chihuahua biting at my ankles. It bothers you, and then keeps building till you just kick the little ankle biter into a corner where it stays licking it’s self till it regroups and starts again, and gets kicked again. “W” has done this repeatedly, and every time the committee comes back with something weaker.

SOMETHING IS AMISS AT THE WHITEHOUSE WEB SITE

2006-01-05T06:23:00.000-05:00

Recently in the news there has been charges that the White House web site has a tracking program on it to get information about people visiting the site. The White House countered all that the web site had was a hit counter to count the people going to the site. I decided to investigate this for myself.

I utilize Earthlink to get onto the internet and for my e-mail. One of the tools that comes with the Earthlink protection system is scam blocker. The system scans the site for lets say anomalies and decides if the site is safe or if there are underlying scams on the site such as Spyware, Identity theft programs, Viruses or anything that makes the site a risk for the user.

If a web site is safe according to the scam blocker a green thumbs up will appear as pictured above. (Sorry for the photo, I attempted to use the print screen button, which didnt work, so I used a digital camera, and this is the best picture I could get.) Usually the earthlink home page, The weather channel, AOPA and other websites are indicated as safe.

Now when I went to the White House website, the scam blocker indication was as pictured, an orange circle with a slash and a little ghost guy in the middle indicating that the site was not safe.

In my opinion this is totally unjustified, and a government site should be safe and scam free to the web surfer.

ODE TO 2005: A PERSONAL REFLECTION OF THE PAST YEAR

2005-12-31T08:46:00.000-05:00

Today marks the last day of 2005, (As I state the obvious) and as I find myself doing every year on this date I reflect on the good and the bad that has happened to me, the United States and the World.

Starting off with the bad on the National and International fronts, we started off 2005 with Indonesia reeling from the effects of a Tsunami, and the United States right there to help, unbeknownst to us that later on in the year that a devastating catastrophe called Katrina would hit our shores. We lost more of our valuable fighting men and women in Iraq and Afghanistan along with other campaigns on the War on Terror, and other operations vital to the national security of our nation. Controversy has arisen out of the Bush administration by key personnel leaking the identity of a CIA operative, who can forget Cindy Sheehan camping out at President Bush’s ranch this summer, and the fight over Terry Schiavo’s right to die or live. On a personal note, the loss of my neighbor’s son in Iraq and finding out that I have Osteoporosis, besides several breaks in my back. (And I wondered why I have had extreme back pain for some time!)

Now onto the great things of 2005! Pilots from Jet Blue saved a plane load of passengers after finding out that their front landing gear was inoperable. Face and hand transplants were pioneered (By the French no less). Siamese twins were successfully separated, and on a personal note I started this Blog, and the punk got out of the army so he can move on to bigger and better things.

With the waning week of this year almost over I have culled some news stories that show the lighter side of the News, and would like to share this with you my readers

ROTO ROOTER SURVEY (AP) (http://www.rotorooter.com)

A survey was conducted of various Roto-Rooter franchises to find out what the franchises have been pulling out of drains from the normal to the adverse. Replies on the adverse side included a Civil War Cannon shell, A cat, and empty miniature liquor bottles in an employee restroom. This reminds me of a time when I was dating this one women that thought a toilet could be used as a food disposal unit.

THE MEAT BANDIT OF OHIO

After stealing a purloined roast the robber had the ultimate get away car, a golf cart! His plan was going well, he figured no one would suspect a golf cart, and at first they didn’t he even stopped for gas on his 40 mile trek. Though nabbed by police just 5 miles from his house at his arraignment he told the judge that he had been drinking while taking psychiatric medicine which impaired his judgment.

PACK OF ANGRY CHIHUAHUAS ATTACK OFFICER

A police officer escorting a youth home after a traffic stop in Fremont Ca was attacked by a pack of angry Chihuahuas. The officers injuries were limited to multiple ankle bites and after treatment returned to work.

To all have a Happy New Year
Soloflyer

STARBUCKS AND SUPPORTING OUR TROOPS

2005-12-27T05:51:00.000-05:00

The subject for today's post was brought to my attention via an e-mail from a former supervisor from when I was in service. There has been an e-mail floating about that Starbucks does not support the war effort let alone our troops. So Wild Joe after hearing this, went right to the source and was answered with the following:

Thank you for taking the time to contact Starbucks regarding coffee donations to those serving in our armed forces.

There is an e-mail circulating the internet that contains misinformation about Starbucks and our support of the military. Starbucks was able to locate the author, a Marine sergeant. He was very grateful that we contacted him and apologized for any misunderstanding; he did not intend to spread a rumor. He subsequently sent an e-mail to his original distribution list correcting his mistake, which is included at the end of this letter.

Starbucks has a long history of contributing product, time and funding to a wide variety of local, national and international non-profit organizations. In addition, Starbucks has the deepest respect and admiration for U.S. military personnel. We are extremely grateful to the men and women who serve stateside and overseas.

Starbucks, our customers and partners believe that it is critically important to support our men and women serving their country in times of conflict. There are numerous examples of Starbucks Coffee Company and our partners supporting the troops. Each week Starbucks partners receive one free pound of coffee. Many partners have collected their free coffee and shipped numerous pounds of Starbucks coffee overseas. For instance, partners in our Atascadero, California store sent their weekly allotment of coffee to troops in Afghanistan so they would be able to enjoy a little taste of home. Our Customer Relations and Information Technology departments in Seattle donated thousands of pounds of coffee to the sailors on the USS Abraham Lincoln and troops in Mosul, Iraq.

These are just a few of the many examples of our partners supporting the troops. We recognize and appreciate the very personal connection customers have with us and how they might miss their Starbucks Experience while serving overseas. Additionally, we are humbled that the troops request Starbucks coffee.

To enhance our partners' outstanding grassroots efforts in support of the U.S. military troops, Starbucks is honored to extend our relationship with the American Red Cross in order to provide the comfort of coffee to relief efforts during times of conflict. In November 2004, Starbucks donated 50,000 pounds of coffee to the American Red Cross for distribution to those troops serving in Afghanistan, Iraq and Kuwait. The Company made this contribution through the American Red Cross as part of its long-term, ongoing commitment to share the comfort of coffee during times of conflict.

Sincerely,

Christine
Customer Relations
Starbucks Coffee Company
_______________________________________

After Starbucks contacted the author of the email rumor, a Marine sergeant, he sent an e-mail to his original distribution list correcting his mistake, the text of which is:

Dear Readers,

Almost 5 months ago I sent an e-mail to you my faithful friends. I did a wrong thing that needs to be cleared up. I heard by word of mouth about how Starbucks said they didn't support the war and all. I was having enough of that kind of talk and didn't do my research properly like I should have. This is not true. Starbucks supports men and women in uniform. They have personally contacted me and I have been sent many copies of their company's policy on this issue. So I apologize for this quick and wrong letter that I sent out to you.

Now I ask that you all pass this email around to everyone you passed the last one to.
Thank you very much for understanding about this.

Sgt USMC

Additional confirmation that this is an inaccurate rumor can be found at:
http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Nov2004/n11092004_2004110908.html
http://www.boycottwatch.org/misc/starbucks2.htm
http://www.boycottwatch.org/misc/starbucks2.htm
http://truthminers.com/truth/starbucks.htm
http://www.truthorfiction.com/rumors/s/starbucks-iraq.htm
http://http://www.amillionthanks.org/
http://www.snopes.com/politics/military/starbucks.asp
http://hoaxbusters.ciac.org/HBUrbanMyths.shtml#starbucks
http://www.starbucks.com/aboutus/csr.asp

Thanks Joe for this item and thank you Starbucks for your support of our troops.

A CHRISTMAS MESSAGE

2005-12-25T06:59:00.000-05:00

Today as Christmas day is upon us, and the core meaning of the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ, and all that goes along with it, including Peace on Earth and goodwill to all men, I would like to honor those who serve, and are serving in the war against terror

Andrew Iraq 2005 (KIA)
Chris Afghanistan 2004- 2005
Chuck Iraq 2005 (Returned November)
Fernando Afghanistan 2002 and 2003 (At home)
Jim Iraq - Jan 2005 to present.
John M. Iraq 2005 (Hopefully home for the Holidays)
Joshua A. Iraq Jan 03-Jan04 and Apr 05-present
Kelly Iraq 2004-2005 (Last check at home)
Raul Iraq 2004-2005 (Out of Iraq)
Roger Iraq 2005 (At home)
Sean Q Iraq 2005 (Still there)
Sean W Iraq 2004-2005 (last Check at home)

Merry Christmas to each and everyone of you and thank you for your service.

To all others who might stumble on this blog today a very Merry Christmas to you and yours!

Glenn

NORTH CAROLINA: IS THE GRIP OF THE BIBLE BELT LOOSENING?

2005-12-23T08:34:00.000-05:00

Traditionally North Carolina has been the heart of the Bible belt here in the United States. This condition up until this year has blocked or discouraged the implementation of a lottery and many adult themed venues.

This past year in my opinion has seen the loosening of the hold that the Bible belt has on North Carolina. This summer laws were passed in the State Congress paving the road for legalized lotteries here, and this tidbit of a news story.

This week PHE Inc was honored as being the business of the year for the Hillsborough and Orange County Chamber of Commerce. Innocent enough and great for PHE right? Yes until you look and see what business PHE deals in. PHE deals in Sex toys and Sex Videos and is the parent company for Adam and Eve.

This company has been picketed and rallied against by ministers and religious groups for the past 11 years that it has been in Hillsborough after moving there from Carrboro. Concerns of the local Bible thumpers were that the company would ruin the colonial image of Hillsborough and make it into the porn capitol of the world.

The company thrives there with $70 million in annual revenue, 350 employees and also supports local charities and programs.

The lottery bit has not been implemented yet, however in states with lotteries the benefits to educational institutions have been astronomical. These institutions also include Private Religious academies and schools.

My observation is again the Bible Thumpers just look at the core point IE Gambling and Pornography and do not look at the entire picture. Thankfully the hold of the Bible belt has eased, and the whole picture now has it’s right to be the whole picture

AH! THE SMELL OF THE OCEAN, TACOS, EGGROLLS, AND FRENCH FRIES

2005-12-22T06:25:00.000-05:00

Currently up on Capitol Hill the House and the Senate have completed their conference on HR1815 which is the 2006 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). Now all that stands in the path of this bill is the signature of the President, which will then make it a law. Some good things in this act covering Construction, Iraq, Cutting of federal funds to schools that ban ROTC programs and Recruiters, Benefits for Military Dependant education, Veteran and Retiree benefits, and many more topics dealing with Procurement, Research and Development (R&D) programs of the Armed Services.

One of the R&D Programs that caught my eye is the conversion of Diesel ships in the Navy to be able to burn BIO-Diesel. Bio diesel is a process that many are partaking in where they recycle vegetable oil from various restaurants in their area. Vehicles that will burn the Bio-Diesel require minimum modifications. All that is required is that the vehicle burns diesel, and if it uses rubber hoses for the fuel lines these lines must be replaced because the vegetable oil will eat away at the rubber lines. Also some systems are set up where the vehicle is started and warms up utilizing regular diesel, and then a switch is activated and the vehicle then burns the cooking oil and other cars burn strictly Bio-diesel. (The reasons for this require more research.)

After the vehicle is retrofitted with the new fuel lines, then used cooking oil must be collected, and then after a 2 hour cleaning/ separation process the bio-diesel is then put in the car and is ready to use. On average the cost of the Bio-diesel as a fuel runs about sixty cents a gallon, (After the cleaning process. The cost probably gets cheaper as the equipment required is paid off by the continual savings by utilizing the Bio-Diesel) and one thing that has the Granola Munchers going GA-GA is that it does not pollute. One drawback to utilizing the Bio-Diesel is that the emissions of the burnt cooking oil smell like the food that was prepared in the oil.

I can see it now, Navy vans running around their port cities, going to the various Restaurants, and the seamen saying “Yo man let me get a hold of your used cooking oil”. Then back to the base and some processing and Voila Bio-Diesel. Visitors then go to the port to see the ships, and come away with an urge for Tacos, Fajitas, Egg rolls, French fries after having their sense of smell saturated with these delicious odors. Of course they are going to get hungry, and want to get something to eat.

My observation on this is that the R&D program for the conversion of Navy diesel ships to Bio-diesel is good for the environment, good for the budget, and good for the local economy.

A FESTIVUS FOR THE REST OF US

2005-11-30T11:10:00.000-05:00

Borrowing from the TV show Seinfeld, I have to look at the holiday season now as a melting pot of the holiday season. Another news snippet here from Greensboro, NC has stores now banning the use of the term “Christmas Tree”, instead calling the things they are selling “Holiday Trees” because some patrons of the establishments are Jewish and buy these trees as “Chanukah Bushes.” Now with the last post I fully support wishing a happy holiday to patrons of stores so that we do not offend individuals on their beliefs, but this is going too far.

As far as the Chanukah bush is concerned I do have some insight into this dilemma from the time that I dated a Jewish woman with small children. It was coming around to the Christmas season, and we were in a long distance relationship. One night prior to me coming up there for the holidays, the conversation turned to the subject of setting up a Christmas tree. I figured that she wanted to do this for my benefit, and committed myself to bringing an artificial tree and ornaments.

I got to her place and we set up the tree. Then she had to open her mouth with “What a great Chanukah bush!” My immediate reply was “A Chanukah what?” This is where I learned the meaning of the Chanukah Bush and its self indulgence. It seems that children in the Jewish faith feel left out during Christmas. So Jewish parents then go out and by a Christmas tree, and disguise it under premise that it is a Chanukah Bush. So along with celebrating Chanukah for 8 days, they then also celebrate an additional day of Chanukah on the Christian day of Christmas. To support this self indulgent act, I think it is utterly ridiculous for any store to support this by not wanting to offend anyone because they might call it a Chanukah bush instead of a Christmas tree.

This act of indulging children, and utterly going against their religious beliefs so their children don’t feel left out during Christmas, and then have the audacity to complain when they are insulted because a tree is not called a Chanukah bush.

I thought one of the ideals of this country was the rights of freedom. If you are borrowing an icon from another sect of society, I think it is outright scandalous to expect that that sect of society that was borrowed from to have to comply to make you feel better about buying a Christmas tree so you can pawn it off as a Chanukah bush for your kids.

My point here is where is this all going to stop? I can see our future, so that we do not insult anyone. Laws passed making the last 2 weeks of December into a national Holiday called Festivus. Everything combined into one, and songs changed. From Oh Christmas, Oh Christmas Tree….. to Oh Holiday Forest Growth, Oh Holiday Forrest Growth…… or from Oh Chanukah Oh Chanukah light the Menorah to Oh Festivus Oh Festivus light the 9 candle Candelabra or I’m Dreaming of a white Christmas…. To I’m Dreaming of a neutral color festivus……..

Think about it!

CHRISTMAS, CHANUKUAH AND KWANZA

2005-11-29T18:42:00.000-05:00

Some of the bickering news stories of late here in Greensboro, NC reference the fact that store employees have been ordered to wish shoppers “Happy Holidays” instead of “Merry Christmas.” The order itself has caused individuals to be up in arms, and start demanding boycotts of these stores.

Myself I cannot see the harm in this practice, and personally see it as a good measure taken by the leadership of the various stores not to offend people. I am a Christian and I celebrate Christmas. I would not want to go to a store, buy some stuff and after I pay have the cashier wish me a Happy Chanukah or a Happy Kwanza (Is it happy or merry when included with kwanza, I need to research this!) I would look at them like they had something about inches growing out of their forehead.

So many stores with so many customers, how is one to know who will be offended by being wished a Merry Christmas, when they celebrate Chanukah or Kwanza? ‘Tis the season to be jolly! Why get your panties in a bunch, when someone decides that it is not right and also against the basis of the Christmas Season (Good will to all men.) to show prejudice towards the people that celebrate these other holidays by wishing them a Merry Christmas. Instead take the tactful and tasteful approach and wish all a Happy Holiday Season.

THE GOVERNATOR SCANDAL: TRUTH OR FICTION?

2005-11-07T11:12:00.000-05:00

Last night while watching the news, the story of subject was California Governor Arnold Schwarzeneger taking special interest money. Watching the report on the tube, something was nagging me about the money that he had taken. It was not the fact that Arnold is my hero, or that the news program had a democrat reporting, but the fact that the money was taken by Arnold and the big deal this news network was making about this story.

First off it is legal for politicians to receive money from political interest groups and special interest groups. Personally I don’t agree with this, but the fact is that it is legal and never given a second thought until someone from the opposing side gets a hold of the item and then blows it out of proportion.

Again back to my nagging feeling. After a while of thought I remembered an article in Newsweek that I had read a few weeks ago reference the state of the economy in California, and accompanying this article was a chart that referenced various sources of income for the state of California. This chart had 5.5 million dollars as part of it’s income from no other than the Governator himself. The item of last night mentioned four million dollars taken from special interest groups.

Again Fox News delivered precisely what I find them famous for part of the story and not the whole story. I as a lowly blogger can do the math, but a news Network, with it’s lawyers and reporters cannot figure that #1 he gave the special interest money to the state of California and #2 kicked in 1.3 million of his own or that he got from another source. Instead of booing him and reporting a scandal FOX should be cheering him on along with the state of California and report the scandal of mis-information repeatedly demonstrated by FOX News

THANK YOU FROM A PROUD AND GRATEFUL NATION

2005-10-22T11:18:00.000-05:00

LCPL ANDREW D. RUSSOLI USMC
PAID THE ULTIMATE SACRIFICE
THURSDAY 20 OCTOBER 2005
NASSAR WA SALAAM, IRAQ

AOPA: SERVING GENERAL AVIATION OR SERVING SELF INTEREST?

2005-10-19T11:46:00.000-05:00

Recently here in the Month of October the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA) Headed by one Mr. Phil Boyer has really put all their efforts into discouraging the FAA, Members of Congress and the Department Of Homeland Defense from establishing permanent flight restrictions around our Nations Capital. Mr. Boyer himself sent an e-mail urging members to canvass their Senators and Congressmen against the restrictions, a Pilot Alert was also issued to canvass Senators and Congressmen, and Finally articles in the October issue of AOPAPilot Magazine and the weekly E-pilot referencing the restrictions.

I have written a few posts that reference my stance on the flight restrictions (AOPA wants to thwart National Security, A Cessna 150 is no threat at all, and I’m Nuts?) This month however a piece that was written about a year ago came to mind on how AOPA was going to fight a new Restricted flight area that was going to be imposed on the North Carolina Coast to facilitate a new carrier landing simulator in the vicinity Of the Jacksonville area. As far as I know this restricted airspace is in effect. During the past year AOPA did not mention this at all with the exception of the original article. The question that comes up in this push by AOPA against the flight restrictions over the D.C. Area is why was there not such a push over the restricted area here in North Carolina? (Not that I really care, because I think whatever the Armed Forces need they should get. BTW Great job and my total admiration to every Soldier, Sailor, and airman serving this great nation of ours)

To answer this question of mine we have to look at the President of AOPA. Mr Phil Boyer has been president of AOPA for the past 15 years. I think he has FDR beat as far as years in office, and I am wondering if he is taking Sadaam’s lead and appointing himself President for life because in the past 3 years I have not been notified of any election or ballot to elect a new president of this organization. Also I am not really sure of Mr. Boyers background or biography. However I do know that AOPA is located in Fredricksburg Maryland.

This map was included in an article about the flight restrictions in AOPAPILOT magazine for the October issue. I know that this is a bad representation of it, but it was no better in the magazine. I looked at this picture with a magnifying glass and what I found out was that Fredricksburg according to this representation was just outside the line of the flight restrictions. This means to take off from Fredricksburg in VFR conditions without filing a flight plan one would have the inconvenience of having to fly around the restricted airspace, or to fly through it, file a flight plan.

This whole push against the flight restrictions stinks of self interest of AOPA and especially it’s President. Driving a car or flying an airplane constitutes a privilege, not a right. Since it is a privilege we as pilots have to act accordingly. I know Mr. Boyer and the staff at AOPA drive the beltway and the various roads around Washington DC. Do they go yelling to Congress or the senate every time a road is closed for repairs, or because a presidential or VIP Motorcade is coming through? I don’t think so. Since the head quarters is so close to D.C. there will be modifications of all aspects in their lives because of the home of the United States Government.

AOPA also wants the common pilot to believe that this will just be the pre-cursor to more flight restrictions around large cities. Well I myself don’t really care about taking the chance of attempting to enter the pattern and landing at LaGuardia, Kennedy or Atlanta airports. Personally I do not think a Cessna 150 or a 172 belongs there and again 9/11 changed our nation as a whole forever, and we have to live with that.

DON’T LET AN ANIMAL SUFFER, BUT WHAT ABOUT HUMANS?

2005-10-09T15:42:00.000-05:00

Recent debate, and media frenzy has covered the right to die laws of Oregon. I guess history does repeat itself, except now it is every 10 years versus every 20 years. This very process brought Dr. Jack Kevorkian to being known as a household name in the early 90s for being brave enough to invent a machine for Doctor assisted suicide for patients with incurable diseases who did not want to suffer. It took court orders and a few arrests for Dr. Kevorkian to cease and desist from this practice.

My personal thought on this matter is that this should be a legalized situation, where the decision can be included in a living will, while the person is of sound mind. I myself would not want to suffer endlessly or go by the way of Terry Schiavo being starved and living for an extended period of time starving, decimating away day by day awaiting death.

Currently I own a German shepherd/ Golden Retriever mix by the name of Duke that is approximately 12-13 years old. I love this dog and he is one of the better companions that I have had in my life. Thankfully (Knock on wood) he is healthy, and in good spirits (He cannot jump up any more because of hip dysplacia), and lives a good life. Knowing his age and that around the corner that tomorrow or a year the symptoms of old age will be setting in. I am ready to spend the money, and make his time pleasant here with me when this time comes. I have also made a decision that if nothing helps him, when this time comes and he is just laying here suffering, I will undertake one of the hardest tasks that I can imagine and have him put to sleep to alleviate his suffering.

I have witnessed and have been involved in situations where an animal has been hit by car, and a quick assessment of the situation makes it relevant that there is nothing that can be done, that would save it, got the gun out of the car and shot the animal to end its suffering.

Euthanasia is performed daily to millions of animals. Some are executed as a control measure but to a large percentage to end their suffering. However when it comes to humans, the case then comes to the point of just drugging them up, and letting them lie there and waste away, suffering.

I have been intimate on 2 occasions where humans have been suffering or left without their physical faculties and a law that permitted Doctor assisted suicides would have been helpful.

The first one was a friend and a subordinate while I was in the 82nd Airborne. Dave Worsham, was always doing a lot of physical/ outdoor type hobbies. Mountain climbing, biking, running etc. Well Dave bought himself a dirt bike and took it to the Area “J” mud pits. After going around the mud pits a few times he tried to go up a near vertical wall of the pit, the bike went out from under him and up, and Dave landed face down in the sand, and the bike fell on top of him. This broke his spine and also severed the spinal cord. (I had already PCS’d to Korea when this happened. The above was gleaned from the 15-6 that I had the privilege of seeing. The following was told to me by a close friend of mine and his) While at Womack Army Hospital on Ft Bragg and given the news that he would never walk again and have limited mobility in his arms, he asked the doctor to kill him. Of course the doctor refused his request. After being discharged from the Army and moving in with his mother in Richmond Va. He gain made the same request to another Doctor. Again the request was refused. While his mother was out of the house, he some how got a hold of his .45 and shot himself in the head. Laying there on the floor for his mother to discover on her return from her errands.

The second case involved my mother. In 1990 my mother was stricken with Leukemia. Also a mis-diagnosis was made of acute rather than chronic, and with the mis-diagnosis came mis-medication, and my mother slipped quickly and badly. When the leukemia was first diagnosed, my parents filled out a living will refusing life support or a feeding tube. As I already stated my mother slipped from good to really bad quickly. I personally made the decision at the time if she was still with us for another month that I was going to suggest to my brothers and father that we contact Dr. Kevorkian. My reasoning for this was that I did not want to see her or let her suffer.

Again, many people will take the route of euthanasia with an animal, simply because they want to end the animal’s suffering. My question here is why can’t we do the same for humans and let many die with dignity and free of months of pain, and months of hospital bills?

EVOLUTION OR DIVINE INTERVENTION

2005-10-04T18:12:00.000-05:00

Recent debates amidst the Leadership of Americas Educational system has been the subject of what to teach in respect to the beginnings of mankind. Most arguments on this subject either promote a supreme being (For the purpose of this post “GOD”) or the evolutionary theory. I have never heard an argument for both.

My belief here in my little part of this world, is a compromise between the two arguments. Personally I believe in God, and believe that the Bible is a representation of his word as told to others. However if one is to be solid in his or her belief in the book of Genesis, then they are opening themselves up to be disproved right from the start.

First off if we use the time line set forth in Genesis 1:1 we read in the King James bible, “God created the heaven and the earth.” My recollection is that the earth is approximately 83 million years old. If this is the fact that the earth and the heavens were created at the same time and the same day, then all of the planets and the stars should be the same age. So how come we have stars that are younger than 83 million years old, and then also stars that are farther than 83 million light years away? My answer to this is that the stars and the earth are a constant process of creation and destruction.

Next is the fact of mankind. Genesis 1:26 “And God said let us make man in our image…” This is the argument for the Bible thumpers, and those that say we did not come from apes, and evolution does not hold water. My opinion is that evolution does hold water, and also the fact that God planting the seeds of life does hold water. First off on the origins of mankind, it is believed that the Garden of Eden was actually in present day Iraq. The oldest remnants of mankind have been found there, and other evidence. So if the cradle of mankind was in Iraq, why isn’t everyone in the world Olive skinned with dark hair and looking like modern day Arabs? Simply it is called evolution. People migrated out of the Middle East; they went North, South, East and West. Generation upon generation of the people living in these areas and their bodies had to evolve to fit the climate of the area. Also let us look at the common man of just 100 years ago. The average height was five foot six; here in the modern day the average man stands at 6 foot. We have changed.

To summarize my opinion, God planted the seeds and had made various amino acids combine to make a single cell which then evolved over time and was the seed for everything we see today. Did we evolve from apes? I do not think we came from an ape as we see in a zoo; however what we probably evolved from was in no way what we see in the mirror on a daily basis.

MAIN STREAM MEDIA: CONDEMN THE COMEDIANS, SECONDS FOR REPORTING DISTORTION

2005-09-29T15:42:00.000-05:00

Last night I was flipping through the channels and came upon Jay Leno telling his audience about some military dolphins in New Orleans that cannot be accounted for. According to Jay these dolphins are armed with spear guns. His punch line for this was that the people returning to their homes finally get there and after all that has taken place they get shot in the ass by a dolphin. There were a few other excerpts relating to New Orleans and Katrina, and some of the stuff was pretty funny. Then the talking head comes on and starts on a tangent about how insensitive that these comedians are and goes on and on for about 10 minutes on this.

Then the talking head goes onto a new subject. The initial accounts of what was happening in New Orleans and the Superdome were blown out of proportion and most facts cannot be substantiated. Onto another story………….

I figure I tuned into the programming about a minute to two minutes after the start of the comedian bashing, and figure that it was 10 minutes, where as something so trivial they dedicate their time to, yet where now I have questions they did not dedicate any time to.

These are the guys that have broadcast the images, and the talking heads non-stop from New Orleans, Profiling the Afro-Americans as looters and rapists. Planting the seed that George w. Bush is a racist, and that he did not react quickly enough to an act of God. They have done the same to the state and city governments also.

However when it is on them, it only takes 3-5 seconds of air time, but for them to cast the stone at others, it is 10 minutes of bashing on comedians.

They should order from the punks New Orleans Seafood menu

SOLOFLYER SALUTES AND BOOs

2005-09-22T18:06:00.000-05:00

SALUTE

I would personally like to salute the aircrew of Jet Blue Flight 292. These personnel took off from Burbank Ca for JFK International yesterday and when they raised the gear the front landing gear did not come up all the way and when put back down the wheels instead of facing to the front of the aircraft where turned at a 90 degree angle. Flying around for a few hours to burn off fuel this intrepid aircrew brought their crippled aircraft in, maintained the centerline of the runway, and successfully landed the aircraft with minimal damage and no injuries. A hell of a job well done.

BOOOOOOOOO

Robert Hager of NBC news in Washington DC receives BOOs for a job not well done. The coverage that I saw yesterday was on CNBC. A news station that I do not watch much because the way they report the news, usually not substantiated items and then a half hour of the real story and how messed up they are to begin with. Last night was no different with Mr. Hagar. This individual is the type of guy that loves to hear himself talk and if he doesn’t know something, he will lie about it, which he did in excess last night. He was brought on by the commentator covering the event last night and introduced as quote “An Aviation Expert” unquote. Listening to this guy myself with a Private Pilots license and wanting to throw the BS Flag on this guy every time he opened his mouth. Basically the coverage of the event last night turned into Hagar and Counter-Hagar.

First Mr. Hagar said that they are probably going to fly out over the Pacific Ocean and dump some fuel to lighten the load of the Airbus 320. Counter point by a commercial Pilot also being brought in The A-320 cannot dump fuel.

Next Mr. Hagar stated that there is no training given to pilots on this type of incident, and they probably will not be able to walk away from this. Counter Hagar by another Commercial Pilot Training is given in the simulator for loss of the front landing gear, each of the main landing gear and all of the landing gear. For the front landing gear, the pilots will execute a soft field landing keeping the nose up as long as possible and slowing the plane by keeping steady pressure back on the yoke using the elevators to slow the plane and not using the breaks.

The next Hagar that I will share here really had me laughing. He stated that this was a very rare incident, and there are not many people that know what to do or what will happen. After this comment it was like shaking a tree to get the oranges down. A bunch of pilots, and news men then came in with a bunch of different incidents with Boeings, McDonnell Douglas, AirBus and other aircraft on various dates over the past 10 years. I also have a personal incident where it happened on a Twin Otter I was Jump mastering at Mackall Army Airfield.

I think CNBC finally got the hint that they had an idiot on their hands. About 5 minutes before the plane landed the main commentator asked Mr Hagar a question and there was no response. She then commented that the connection with Washington was lost.

IN MEMORIAM

2005-09-11T06:26:00.000-05:00

Today marks 4 years, or 48 months, or 1,460 days or 35,040 hours since the United States was attacked by Osama Bin Laden. The day as a lot of us recall as the day as life as we knew it changed.

I ask all of my fellow Americans that when the fire whistles blow in memory of this event, think about all the people that perished because of this act, and also think of the people that have perished trying to capture Bin Laden.

The picture that accompanies this post was sent to me some months after the incident. Supposedly this was taken from a camera that was found in the rubble of the disaster of the Twin Towers. I doubt it’s validity because of the way the person was dressed. It is still rather warm in NY city in September, and this guy would have probably been sweating his ass off. I keep this pic as a reminder though. It reminds me of what many people saw while getting into their offices, finishing their coffees or mocha lattes, and looked out the window to see this large jet heading for them. An unprovoked attack that will make us go the distance to seek revenge.

SOMETIMES YOU JUST GOTTA LAUGH

2005-09-10T09:58:00.000-05:00

NAVY LAUNCHES TERRORIST AFTER LONG CAPTIVITY

With the excerpt sent to me yesterday by “Cuntry Ed” he also sent an e-mail with the above attachment. Though this is an old pic and have seen it many times before, I thought with today’s posting instead of going off on a tirade about New Orleans, AOPA, Terrorism, and other things that this world gives me to gripe about, I thought along with this pic from Ed I would sift through my archives and post some funny shots, and maybe bring a laugh or two to everyone.
EXPLOSIVE ORDNANCE DISPOSAL CAN ALWAYS MAKE YOU LAUGH

ONE THING I HAVE ALWAYS KNOWN, THERE IS ALWAYS SOMEONE FASTER!

I DON’T CARE WHAT ANYONE SAYS I WAS NOT FLYING THIS PLANE.

EVER FEEL LIKE YOU MISSED SOMETHING ON A PRE-FLIGHT?

YA’ KNOW THAT MUST HAVE HURT, BUT I WANT TO KNOW IF THE UMP CALLED IT SAFE?

OF COURSE FROM FLORIDA HERE IS A TIP FOR SURVIVAL IN THE EVERGLADES

AS A PARENT HOW DO YOU HANDLE THIS? ESPECIALLY IF THEY ARE TELLING THE TRUTH?

HERE IS SOME HOMAGE TO OUR EX PRESIDENT BILL CLINTON AND HIS MISTRESS MONICA

THE ANSWER TO THE AGE OLD QUESTION

A GREAT PLACE TO EAT

DAMN! WISH I COULD HAVE DONE THIS. REMEMBER NAVY: NOT JUST A JOB BUT AN ADVENTURE

I NEVER FOLLOW THE RULES

I WILL GIVE UP MY FULLY ARMED F-15 WHEN THEY PRY MY COLD DEAD FINGERS FROM IT!

Well I hope I made a few people laugh!

Glenn

An Unnatural Disaster: A Hurricane Exposes the Man-Made Disaster of the

2005-09-09T15:49:00.000-05:00

I received this exerpt today (9Sep) from an old friend of mine "Cuntry Ed" With the chief of FEMA being relieved from his duties with Katrina, and some of the thoughts published here, mirroring my own, I thought it would be a good idea to post this for all to see.

It has taken four long days for state and federal officials to figure out how to deal with the disaster in New Orleans. I can't blame them, because it has also taken me four long days to figure out what is going on there. The reason is that the events there make no sense if you think that we are confronting a natural disaster.If this is just a natural disaster, the response for public officials is obvious: you bring in food, water, and doctors; you send transportation to evacuate refugees to temporary shelters; you send engineers to stop the flooding and rebuild the city's infrastructure.For journalists, natural disasters also have a familiar pattern: the heroism of ordinary people pulling together to survive; the hard work and dedication of doctors, nurses, and rescue workers; the steps being taken to clean up and rebuild.Public officials did not expect that the first thing they would have to do is to send thousands of armed troops in armored vehicle, as if they are suppressing an enemy insurgency. And journalists--myself included--did not expect that the story would not be about rain, wind, and flooding, but about rape, murder, and looting.But this is not a natural disaster. It is a man-made disaster.
The man-made disaster is not an inadequate or incompetent response by federal relief agencies, and it was not directly caused by Hurricane Katrina. This is where just about every newspaper and television channel has gotten the story wrong.The man-made disaster we are now witnessing in New Orleans did not happen over the past four days. It happened over the past four decades. Hurricane Katrina merely exposed it to public view.The man-made disaster is the welfare state. For the past few days, I have found the news from New Orleans to be confusing. People were not behaving as you would expect them to behave in an emergency--indeed, they were not behaving as they have behaved in other emergencies. That is what has shocked so many people: they have been saying that this is not what we expect from America. In fact, it is not even what we expect from a Third World country.
When confronted with a disaster, people usually rise to the occasion. They work together to rescue people in danger, and they spontaneously organize to keep order and solve problems. This is especially true in America. We are an enterprising people, used to relying on our own initiative rather than waiting around for the government to take care of us. I have seen this a hundred times, in small examples (a small town whose main traffic light had gone out, causing ordinary citizens to get out of their cars and serve as impromptu traffic cops, directing cars through the intersection) and large ones (the spontaneous response of New Yorkers to September 11).So what explains the chaos in New Orleans?To give you an idea of the magnitude of what is going on, here is a description from a Washington Times story: "Storm victims are raped and beaten; fights erupt with flying fists, knives and guns; fires are breaking out; corpses litter the streets; and police and rescue helicopters are repeatedly fired on." "The plea from Mayor C. Ray Nagin came even as National Guardsmen poured in to restore order and stop the looting, car jackings and gunfire....""Last night, Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco said 300 Iraq-hardened Arkansas National Guard members were inside New Orleans with shoot-to-kill orders." 'These troops are...under my orders to restore order in the streets,' she said. 'They have M-16s, and they are locked and loaded. These troops know how to shoot and kill and they are more than willing to do so if necessary and I expect they will.' "The reference to Iraq is eerie. The photo that accompanies this article shows National Guard troops, with rifles and armored vests, riding on an armored vehicle through trash-strewn streets lined by a rabble of squalid, listless people, one of whom appears to be yelling at them. It looks exactly like a scene from Sadr City in Baghdad.What explains bands of thugs using a natural disaster as an excuse for an orgy of looting, armed robbery, and rape? What causes unruly mobs to storm the very buses that have arrived to evacuate them, causing the drivers to drive away, frightened for their lives? What causes people to attack the doctors trying to treat patients at the Super Dome?Why are people responding to natural destruction by causing further destruction? Why are they attacking the people who are trying to help them?My wife, Sherri, figured it out first, and she figured it out on a sense-of-life level. While watching the coverage last night on Fox News Channel, she told me that she was getting a familiar feeling. She studied architecture at the Illinois Institute of Chicago, which is located in the South Side of Chicago just blocks away from the Robert Taylor Homes, one of the largest high-rise public housing projects in America. "The projects," as they were known, were infamous for uncontrollable crime and irremediable squalor. (They have since, mercifully, been demolished .)What Sherri was getting from last night's television coverage was a whiff of the sense of life of "the projects." Then the "crawl"--the informational phrases flashed at the bottom of the screen on most news channels--gave some vital statistics to confirm this sense: 75% of the residents of New Orleans had already evacuated before the hurricane, and of the 300,000 or so who remained, a large number were from the city's public housing projects.>Jack Wakeland then gave me an additional, crucial fact: early reports from CNN and Fox indicated that the city had no plan for evacuating all of the prisoners in the city's jails--so they just let many of them loose. There is no doubt a significant overlap between these two populations--that is, a large number of people in the jails used to live in the housing projects, and vice versa. There were many decent, innocent people trapped in New Orleans when the deluge hit--but they were trapped alongside large numbers of people from two groups: criminals--and wards of the welfare state, people selected, over decades, for their lack of initiative and self-induced helplessness. The welfare wards were a mass of sheep--on whom the incompetent administration of New Orleans unleashed a pack of wolves.All of this is related, incidentally, to the apparent incompetence of the city government, which failed to plan for a total evacuation of the city, despite the knowledge that this might be necessary. But in a city corrupted by the welfare state, the job of city officials is to ensure the flow of handouts to welfare recipients and patronage to political supporters--not to ensure a lawful, orderly evacuation in case of emergency. No one has really reported this story, as far as I can tell. In fact, some are already actively distorting it, blaming President Bush, for example, for failing to personally ensure that the Mayor of New Orleans had drafted an adequate evacuation plan.The worst example is an execrable piece from the Toronto Globe and Mail/TPStory> , by a supercilious Canadian who blames the chaos on American "individualism." But the truth is precisely the opposite: the chaos was caused by a system that was the exact opposite of individualism.What Hurricane Katrina exposed was the psychological consequences of the welfare state. What we consider "normal" behavior in an emergency is behavior that is normal for people who have values and take the responsibility to pursue and protect them. People with values respond to a disaster by fighting against it and doing whatever it takes to overcome the difficulties they face. They don't sit around and complain that thegovernment hasn't taken care of them. They don't use the chaos of a disaster as an opportunity to prey on their fellow men. One must ask what about criminals and welfare parasites? Do they worry about saving their houses and property? They don't, because they don't own anything. Do they worry about what is going to happen to their businesses or how they are going to make a living? They never worried about those things before. Do they worry about crime and looting? But living off of stolen wealth is a way of life for them. The welfare state--and the brutish, uncivilized mentality it sustains and encourages--is the man-made disaster that explains the moral ugliness that has swamped New Orleans. And that is the story that no one is reporting.Source: TIA Daily -- September 2, 2005

KATRINA'S AFTERMATH

2005-09-01T18:07:00.000-05:00

Watching the news reports covering the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, I am brought back to times while I was in uniform, and in other less fortunate places in the world. Places like Iraq, Turkey, places in Africa, and South and Central America. Being in these places and seeing bodies on the side of the roads, flooding, starvation, lack of medical attention and diseases, always made me thankful that I was from the United States.

Viewing Katrina’s aftermath these past few days on the television I have to constantly remind myself, that I am not looking at a third world country on the other side of the globe that was hit by a Tsunami, but I am looking at a part of the United States. I remember last year when the Tsunami hit Indonesia, and the photos and video looked like New Orleans does now.

I and I hope everyone that reads this or sees the news offers at least a prayer that the people in the Katrina Disaster zone, have a speedy relief to their current trials and tribulations.

THE BS FLAG IS THROWN

2005-08-30T15:47:00.000-05:00

Oil Companies 50 yard penalty on the BS Flag for hiring oil prices due to Hurricane Katrina.

This really gets me, yesterday before Katrina hit I was watching the news, and the subject was the rise in gas prices due to hurricane Katrina hitting. The hurricane did not even hit yet and the oil companies were already raising the price per gallon. Last summer there were a few hurricanes, and some even took the same path that Katrina took after hitting the main Florida Peninsula, and I didn’t see a rise in gas prices after that.

This is like the time in the 80s with the Exxon Valdez. During that time there were a few price hikes going on and bam the Valdez ran aground, and the next day the pumps jumped ten cents per gallon.

Basically I see this as a RAT BASTARD conspiracy. I don’t think the oil companies will stop till they get $3 per gallon. Also along with this is the State and Federal Governments. Some of the pumps that I go to have a sticker stating something in the effect of 30% of the gas price is for federal taxes and 12% is for State taxes. (these numbers are not the real numbers, because I cannot recall the actual numbers at this time) So along with the oil companies getting rich, The Federal and State Governments have to get their shares too. (And here I thought the Mafia was illegal).

The other day I was reading National Geographic Magazine and the cover article was about powering the future. They also went into the requirements of producing Hydrogen and utilizing it for electrical power, and also for powering automobiles. This article got me thinking. First off I thought back to when I was in 9th Grade and in my science class we did a few experiments with separating water to get Hydrogen and oxygen. I remember using a battery, and this u shaped tube with electrodes (Then after the bang I got from the hydrogen I was resting my butt in the Principal’s office, yes I did exceed the amount of water that was to be used.) Also there was another one with Hydrgen Peroxide and baking soda to get hydrogen.

My hypothesis here is if I can get my hands on this High School Chemistry Experiment, figure out the ins and outs, build a larger version to take a few gallons of water, and then hook it up to an engine first in the same manner as a nitrous oxide booster, and run the car on a gasoline hydrogen mixture and see if gas mileage improves, and then attempt this with hydrogen only.

I will try this in the next few months, so watch the papers for:
Retired Special Forces Soldier Blows Self up with Homemade Hybrid Car

INDICATORS OF A MILLIONAIRE

2005-08-29T05:17:00.000-05:00

You are walking by the pool and you see this. There are only two conclusions that come to mind.

Submitted by Sean C

HEY THAT'S MY APPLE

2005-08-28T06:33:00.000-05:00

Recently the Henrico County Virginia School district had a sale of used Apple laptop computers. The computers sold for $50 a piece. Late comers to the sale, decided to get the early birds. The early birds were thrown to the ground and beaten with chairs, which resulted in 17 injuries. I wonder what would have happened if they were offering Dell Laptops at that price? Cage matches or an ultimate fight for a Dell?

MRS SHEEHAN AND OTHERS:

2005-08-24T16:50:00.000-05:00

First off I would like to extend my condolences to the loss of your loved ones, and also thank them for making the ultimate sacrifice that a Soldier, Sailor, Marine or an Airman can make while serving as a member of the Armed forces.

Though I know your losses are great and heart wrenching, camping out at President Bush’s Crawford Texas home will not bring them back. Though they did not die in vain, they were defending a nation that has finally been liberated, or in operations to find and capture Osama Bin Laden. I think your actions belittle their deeds.

Your children took the following oath I, (And they each stated their names) do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the PRESIDENT of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me god.

9-11, our attack on Afghanistan, and our Liberation of Iraq have all happened between 2-5 years ago, Every soldier when enlisting, or reenlisting or being sworn in as a Warrant Officer, or officer understands the possibility that they might have to make that ultimate sacrifice. However people everyday make that decision to commit themselves to the defense of our nation, and the possibility of making the ultimate sacrifice while in service to this country.

Using your son as a poster child for the pull out of our country from Iraq, demeans what he stood for, and also demeans the oath that he took.

THE BILL BOWLING MEMORIAL CHAPEL

2005-08-14T05:35:00.000-05:00

At the Arrowhead LLC Trailer park located just outside of Penhook Va. on Smith Mountain Lake, there is a floating chapel. Here every Sunday from the second Sunday in May to mid September Pastor Gene Ashworth ministers to the people of the area and boaters on the lake. This has been done for the past 30 plus years.

The Arrowhead LLC Trailer park is owned by my girlfriend who inherited this piece of property from her Grandfather. He bought the land to farm, with no idea that a lake would be coming there. After losing in the vicinity of 50 acres to the lake, which held the apple orchards and the tobacco fields, and no idea what to do with the remaining land he decided to open a Campground after one of his friends asked if they could go up there and camp for the weekend.

When the lake originally came in, the Sandy Level Baptist church and Pastor Bill Bowling set up the chapel on the lake, but at a different location. Then for some reason the chapel had to be moved. Mr. White (Angie's Grandfather) at this time decided to sponsor the chapel on his land. The chapel has been there since with the exception of a few times it has broken away from its moorings and floated around the lake only to be returned by boaters that knew where it belonged. Upon Pastor Bowlings retirement Pastor Gene Ashworth took over the ministry.

There have been a few showings of the working of God in the area. Some years after the chapel was put in, the daughter of the man that originally owned the property before it was auctioned to Mr. White, came by to see what had been done with the land. Upon seeing the chapel she had recounted the fact that early in the 1900s that when the lake was not there actually there was a church in that very location. The lady that owns the next parcel of land has also verified this story, though at this writing she had passed away, but her daughter who owns the land now knows about the church being there, but does not know why the church was abandoned and taken down.

The chapel services start every Sunday during the summer at approximately 9:20. For approximately 10 minutes before the service hymns are broadcast over loud speakers to signify that services are about to start. (Before the official opening of the season there is an Easter Dawn Service)

I have been sitting out there before the Pastor and his helpers arrive, and have personally witnessed the waters being rough, and the winds blowing, and as soon as the music starts everything seems to calm down. I personally think this the working of god because it happens all too frequently to be a coincidence, and usually soon after the end of the service, the roughness and the wind return.

Once the music starts then the people arrive from the local area on foot, car, golf cart, motorcycles and boats. The service starts and lasts for about 35-40 minutes, with Pastor Gene Ashworth telling all about the history of the chapel and delivering the word of God. Though he is a Baptist, he delivers a non-denominational service. Then an offering is taken on land and the water. Gene’s helpers take the offering on land, and another helper and Pastor Gene take the offering and greet the boaters. At times (Mostly holidays) there are upwards of 100 boats out in the cove. They all form a line and come by the chapel with Pastor Gene and his helper standing on the front of the chapel with a large net to get the offerings. Proceeds for the offering are not used by the Sandy Level Baptist Church. The proceeds from the offering go to supporting Missionaries.

Again the services run from the second Sunday in May through mid September. Services are done rain or shine with the exception of Sundays where thunderstorms are about. Then Pastor Gene will not leave the parsonage. If you are in the area it is worth coming to the service.

I AM THE NAAPFH

2005-08-12T15:38:00.000-05:00

For the better part of 29 years of my 42 years I have had some sort of facial hair and have found in this time, that if you have facial hair you have to be ready to be messed with. That is why I am forming the National Association for the Advancement of Peoples with Facial Hair on this day August 12 2005.

Starting at the age of 13 when I was first able to start growing a moustache, I received taunts and jeers over the matter. The military was no help either. When I trimmed my moustache to within military regulations I would be greeted by my comrades with goose stepping salutes, with a sig heil. (I guess I didn’t help matters much with parting my hair on the side, and having hat head where the hair atop of my head would be flattened out.

Though not having much of an opportunity to grow a beard or long moustaches during my military career I took every possible opportunity to do so. So of course I was maligned on that one also. Such as getting read the riot act when I was in a local Ft. Bragg store, while on leave, and seeing my Battalion Command Sergeant Major SGM Rath. The ass chewing commenced when I returned from leave, though my argument was that I was on leave and do not shave everyday on leave, I still received the tirade which then turned to the fact that this guy was still mad because I was not a member of AUSA and the 82nd Airborne Association (A whole other story that took place while I was stationed in the Sinai and nursing a bottle of Tequila.)

Another malignment of me and my facial hair was when I was at a hale and farewell. My friend Larry Peak was telling someone about baby sitting someone’s dog over the previous weekend, which happened to be a Schnauser. The guy had no idea what a schnauzer was, and to explain, Larry asks the guy if he had ever seen me on a long weekend? The guys answers yes, so Larry goes on have you ever seen those dogs that have the same moustache as Glenn on a long weekend? Then it was perfectly clear to the guy.

Also during my military career, when people in command didn’t mind me growing a beard on leave or during times of lax grooming standards, I would receive comments like hey it’s Grizzly Adams et al. I also have witnessed this with my friend Chuck with comments like “You know the guy with the walrus moustache.”

In a military setting it is true facial hair is not the norm, and though moustaches are authorized, they are not welcome. Though one would figure that once out of the military that the maligning of facial hair would be yesterdays bain, I have found that you are set up even worse in the civilian community. A few examples of facial hair bashing that I have received here in the civilian world follow.

I had a full beard and let my hair grow longer and right away I received comments like what are you going for the Jesus look, or the time I was doing some work on my boat on the lake, and a passerbyer commented that I did not need a boat I could try walking on water. Last winter getting ready to go outside with a ski hat on my girlfriend informs me that I look like Yukon Cornelius (From the Christmas classic “Rudolph the red nosed reindeer”)

This summer with the heat that we have been having, I trimmed down the beard to a Fu-manchu, of course this comes with comments also. Hey its Hulk Hogan or Mr Teutel can you build a motorcycle for me et al.

All in all if you have facial hair you have to have some thick skin, however I think it is long overdue that peoples with facial hair should unite and fight this prejudice. Plus it outright gives me a complex and hurts my feelings. (Wait a second you have to have feelings to get them hurt in the first palce)

I'M NUTS???????

2005-08-04T09:16:00.000-05:00

On my post prior to this one CESSNA 150 NO THREAT AT ALL, a comment was left by a person calling them self “REAL PILOT”. The comment left by Mr. Pilot was a statement that I was nuts because of a possible scenario that I had written about where a terrorist utilized general aviation to carry out a terrorist plot. Also I had made some comments that referenced AOPA President Phil Boyer’s view on General Aviation Airport Security and the posing of a non threat status of the Cessna 150.

Upon clicking on Mr. Pilots name in the comments section of this Blog I was immediately taken to the AOPA web site. I know this web site well; I advertise it here on my Blog site and am also a member of this organization. On seeing this and not being able to post directly to Mr. Pilot I offered Mr. Pilot to make comments on this Blog site since I can not directly post to Mr. Pilot on his site because I have no idea who he is. So here I will post an open letter to Mr. Pilot.

Mr. Pilot,

First off I would like to thank you for calling me nuts. The reason that I thank you is that you have placed me in very exclusive company. IE Representative Sweeney of NY, who sponsored HR 3397, and other congressman and senators that also have concerns that reference General Aviation Security. Along with the politicians comes the hierarchy of the FAA, DOT, and Homeland Security.

Through my experiences in the military, attending various security schools, and performing force protection and executive protection duties I have come to the conclusion that security can best be explained as follows:

Security is the act of protecting oneself, personnel, and units from any possible aspect of harm, or theft. To do this we have to analyze and take precautions from every possible aspect to protect those and that which is charged under our responsibility to protect.

9-11 changed the United States forever. Prior to 9-11 we did not see armed guards in an airport, had our boots and shoes X-rayed or any of the other countless security precautions that have been emplaced since at commercial airports.

Admittedly the story in the last post was extreme, but you cannot argue the fact with the way General Aviation Security is conducted that that scenario cannot be carried out. Security at most General Aviation Airports is an out right joke if there is any at all. Precautions must be taken, so that this scenario cannot come to reality.

Our enemies at this time are smart and evolve their practices to fit the situation. When the insurgency started in Iraq, convoys were being blown up first by pressure devices with explosives. The military started to counter these devices, so they insurgents went to a system where someone would be watching and then trigger the system by remote. The military countered this by looking and watching for people with cell phones, taking them out by gunfire or by jamming the possible signal spectrum. Then the insurgents got wise to this, and then they implemented a system where the detonator was receiving a dead carrier signal, and when the signal ended because of jamming the explosive would then detonate. Now the military scans for the signals, and does not block or jam that single signal. Now it is only time till the insurgents come up with another means of detonating bombs, and the military will have to scramble to find another way to deter that way of detonation.

Currently with the implementation of various security measures at Commercial Airports we have made it harder for the terrorist to stage another 9-11 utilizing Commercial Aircraft, so what is the next avenue that they will try to utilize for their benefit? General Aviation is the next logical step.

In the implementation of Counter-Terrorism or Anti-Terrorism measures, the powers that be and the security infrastructure has to think like a terrorist. It has been found and proven that the best Police Officers and Detectives also make the best criminals. What is needed to safeguard and secure our country is someone thinking like a terrorist. People not afraid to think out of the box, and implement the appropriate security measures to take the game away from the terrorist. We also have to look at the other words that are normally associated with terrorists. Words like Extremists, Extremist groups, Radicals etc. They have no rules or qualms about not playing fair.

In the future if another terrorist act is successful here in the United States, I would have more respect for our government if they said, Yes we took every conceivable precaution at the time, however this one slipped by us versus we did nothing about it.

Mr. Pilot if in fact you are a high ranking official with in AOPA, I as a member think that OUR organization would be more beneficial instead of lobbying against Temporary Flight Restrictions, No Fly Zones and other security measures that the organization lobbied for better funding of security measures especially at GA Airports, and anything else that can be done to protect this great nation of ours.

Sincerely,
SoloFlyer
04628942

A CESSNA 150 IS NO THREAT AT ALL.

2005-07-31T16:51:00.000-05:00

I would like to start today’s post with a little story. This has not happened and was only conceived for the purpose of this post.

It is early November of any year, and the phone rings at Cape Fear Aviation, Grays Creek Airport (2GC) located at Grays Creek, NC just to the west of Fayetteville, NC. Carey answers the phone and finds a man on the others side of the line asking if they rent airplanes. It seems his name is Jeff Stewart, he just moved to the area and already has a private pilot’s license, he has flown Cessna 150s, and 172s, he wants to get back into flying here in his new home town, and also would like to progress his licensing. Carey says not a problem, and tells him that he needs to take a check ride with an instructor, and asks when he wants to do that. Mr Stewart answers in a week to 10 days in the morning would be great. Carey sets him up with Sal as an instructor for November 15th at 8:30am. She also tells him to bring his log book, copies of his medical certificate, license, and birth certificate. Not a problem and the conversation is over.

The 15th of November arrives Mr. Stewart arrives at Grays Creek Airport and is met by Sal. It is a cool morning and both men are wearing light jackets. They walk inside where they are met by the dogs. Sal explains the workings of Cape Fear Aviation, reserving aircraft, aircraft log books, paying for flight time, as he gives Jeff the tour of the operations building. They sit down and Sal asks to see his log book which Jeff promptly hands over. Then Sal asks for the medical certificate, license, and birth certificate copies. Jeff hands over all the copies with the exception of the birth certificate. He starts going through his bag muttering that he made all the copies together, and the contents of his bag all over the floor. Sal says don’t worry about it just bring it the next time you come to fly.

Sal then briefs Jeff that they are going to fly a Cessna 150 tail number 6997F, and they will go to the Northeast training area and do some low level work staying below 1500 feet, doing turns on point, S-turns, and emergency procedures. Then they will climb to 3,000 feet and do some steep turns, stalls, and some unusual attitude recoveries. Then off to Fayetteville for some touch and go’s and back to Grays Creek by 10:30. They go out, preflight, run up and take off.

Sal Starts to give Jeff references for the northeast training area and then turns to Jeff and sees that Jeff has a gun out and pointed at him. 2 shots ring out in the aircraft cabin, both enter Sal’s chest and kill him instantly. Jeff is now over the Cape Fear River and flies down on the deck about 50 feet over the water. He then opens the door after unsecuring Sal’s seat belt and lets his body tumble out of the door. He secures the door and then flies to Emmett Brown Field in Elizabethtown, NC (EYF) He enters the pattern, lands and taxis to the parking area. He shuts down the aircraft and walks to the FBO.

Inside the FBO he encounters a line service worker and tells him that he is a salesman for Dupont, and is on his way to a sales convention in Columbia SC. A van will be coming with his display cases. He asks the linesman if he wouldn’t mind opening the gate so the van could drive right up to the plane and aid in loading it faster.

Jeff did his homework. The Cessna 150 can carry 600 pounds, minus 122 pounds for fuel, 11.25 for oil and 200 pounds for him, left him a total usable weight of 266 pounds he had 4 bags coming that were loaded with 1.25 pound blocks of C-4 explosive, armed with simple impact fuses. The van arrives and the bags are loaded, the van leaves, gate is locked and Jeff thanks the linesman and gives him $5 for his troubles. The linesman goes back inside to watch what he was watching on TV and does not pay any further attention to Jeff. Jeff gets inside the aircraft. Two bags are in the rear and ready to be armed, the other two bags are in the front. They are upright with fuses on the bottom, and jeff slips a bag like thing over the bags so that it looks like another person with him. He then starts, Taxis and takes off and heads to Fayetteville.

On approach to Fayetteville he requests to come in and do a few touch and GOs, and then a simulated Instrument Flight (IFR) to Simmons for a Precision Approach Radar (PAR) if they weren’t too busy. Jeff does his Touch and GOs in Fayetteville and then requests the simulated IFR. Fayetteville advises that one pilot must be VFR (Visual Flight Regulations) at all times, simulated IFR is approved and frequency change is approved to Simmons approach.

Jeff starts the route, contacts Simmons and is being guided in. He is waved off at about 100 feet from touch down and given heading directions back to Fayetteville. He then arms the four bags, does not alter his course and flies straight into the US Army Special Operations Command Building. The plane itself hit a large window on the side of the building and easily entered the building where the 250 pounds of explosives that were in the bags were able to detonate and wreak havoc and destruction inside the building.

Again the story here has not happened, however the ability and ease of execution is there. I came up with this scenario in disgust over the fight that the Aircraft Owners and Pilot’s Association President Phil Boyer is waging against safe guarding and securing “Country Airports” It seems that Mr. Boyer has no clue to what security is or the destructive effects of small amounts of C-4, Pentex and a laundry list of other explosives.

Mr Boyers ignorance is shown when he makes comments like “A Cessna 150 poses no threat to National Security” “The Cessna 150 cannot carry enough explosives to do any damage” “There is no need to secure General Aviation Airports” (See http://www.aopa.org/epilot/redir.cfm?adid=7167 for AOPA E-pilot articles)

Again I am going to start my writing campaign first to Mr. Boyer and then to Congress, the Senate and other transportation and security officials.

BASE CLOSINGS AND REALLIGNMENTS

2005-07-24T10:55:00.000-05:00

The War on Terrorism is a costly measure and to pay for this war cuts have to be made by the various branches of the Department of Defense. This will be accomplished by base closings and transfers of various units to already crowded posts. However in all of these changes being presented I have never seen in the past or present changes to ceremonial units or posts in the Washington DC area.

For instance let us take the Army Band and Chorus. For arguments sake lets say the Army Band and Chorus is comprised of 1,000 personnel and on average each person makes $4,000 a month. If we got rid of the Band and the Chorus that would comprise a savings of $4,000,000 a month or $48,000,000 a year. Also add in transportation all over the globe, TDY pay, instrument maintenance, and housing for these personnel and we come up with an additional savings at a rough estimate of about another $50,000,000 a year.

Also in the Army there currently is a decline in recruitment. When you sign up for the Army there is a clause in your contract about the needs of the service. Well these 1,000 people could be put to use in the combat arms field. Think about it 1,000 people are about a battalion and a half.

Next we can cut some units from the Old Guard. Keep the guards on the tomb of the unknowns, and maybe a company size element for dog and pony duty, but do we need a bunch of guys dressed up in revolutionary war era clothing to welcome diplomats and other heads of state?

It just bothers me how the Generals and the various Politicians are very quick to chop away at bases that house the guys that are the tip of the spear, but when it comes to the parade guys they leave them alone. Just another observation of mine.

SMITH MOUNTAIN LAKE, VA

2005-07-16T04:01:00.000-05:00

Smith Mountain Lake is located in south central Virginia. It lies in Franklin, Pittsylvania and Bedford counties. The lake itself is 40 square miles of surface area with over 500 miles of shoreline. The lake is a manmade lake as a result of the damming of the Roanoke River by the Appalachian Power Company in the 60s. Prior to the dam being erected most of this land was farmland. Tobacco, orchards and other agriculture flourished along with cattle and hogs. Most farmers in the area lost some if not all their land to this project.

Through the inception of the lake, and loss of farm land many farmers then converted their newly made lakeside property into camping areas, cabins, and some others outright sold their property for as much as a 500% profit. Today as you sail along the lake, you see a mixture of homes costing in the millions, and also those that cost less than $40,000 with the wheels still attached. People own homes here from the likes of Joe Montana (Former NFL Quarterback his house is pictured below) to Joe Schmoe the common man.

Also Smith Mountain Lake was the backdrop for the early 90s movie what about Bob with Bill Murray and Richard Dreyfus.

There is a lot to do at Smith Mountain Lake, the biggest activity being fishing. The lake boasts some hefty fish. It is stocked with landlocked Stripers, Large and Smallmouth Bass, Walleye and Muskellunge. One of the best fishing spots is in the vicinity of the dam which are commonly called the dam fish, and the fishing spots; the dam fishing spots. From what I have learned from others, the island that is just in front of the dam is an excellent area, again commonly called the dam island.

If you are into machinery and the workings of machinery you can take a tour of the dam. The dam tour is usually self led and you go through the dam exhibits at your own dam pace and read the dam display cards. Also normally there is a dam guide there that can answer your dam questions. A can’t miss is the dam movie which portrays the dam building and the dam workings. Also there is a dam observation deck where you climb some dam stairs to get to the top and see the dam scenery. To get to the dam get off at Gretna from Rte 29 onto rte 40 and head west. Make a right on 626. Or get off of 220 at Rocky Mount and take Rte 40 east and make a left onto 626. Both ways go down about a mile and you will make a right onto the Dam Rd. This will take you straight to the dam for your dam excursion.

Also for a nice panoramic view of the lake and the surrounding area there is a dirt Road that will take you to the top of Smith Mountain. Here a top of the dam mountain you can see far, and really take in the beauty of the dam lake.

No trip to the lake is complete without stopping at Smith Mountain Dock and Lodge. (http://www.petcarp.com/) here they sell popcorn for 25 cents and then you go outside and feed the carp. It is remarkable to see these fish swimming on top of each other just to get the popcorn (Pictured below). The sizes of the carp in my estimation are from 1 pounders up to a few fish that must be in the 40-50 pound range (I have pulled in a few ocean catfish that have been in that range and the carp seem to be about the same size as the catfish so I am figuring their weight to be in that range.)
Other facilities located at Smith Mountain Lake are Arrowhead Campground, Lumpkins Marina, and Pocahontas Landing. These are Mobile Home Parks that once was Farm land. They also have camper spots open for 1 year leases. Also there is Crazy Horse Camp Ground and the Smith Mountain Lake State Park which is administered by Virginia parks and recreation.

There is also the Landing near Hales Ford Bridge in the vicinity of Moneta. A nice expensive place to go to get a bite to eat, shop at some of the stores (Don’t take pictures inside the Art Gallery!) and play a few holes of miniature golf.

If you like to view wildlife or recon your hunting sites for next season, all is abundant here. Deer are all over the place along with turkey. On the water many types of water foul, beavers (Pictured below), and one instance I saw a Bald Eagle in a tree, which then flew down and plucked a fish out of the water and disappeared. (I am still kicking myself because in my shock and awe I did not get my camera turned on quick enough to get a picture.) Close to the dam is a nesting pair of Bald Eagles and they do have a baby in the nest. (Commonly refered to as the dam Eagles)

With the erection of the dam in the 60s here in the 2000s the dam has made it very possible to have a lot of dam related activities at Smith Mountain Lake.

STEM CELL RESEARCH: MORAL RESPONSIBILTY OR MORAL IRRESPONSIBILITY

2005-07-14T07:51:00.000-05:00

Over the past year since Ronald Reagan died there has been a new rising of the argument to legalize Stem Cell Research (SCR). Currently there are stem cells in place harvested from aborted fetuses for the purpose of conducting limited stem cell research under government supervision. Stem cell research in the United States is spurned by many to include our President George Bush and also myself.

In reality SCR could be a god send if supervised properly. Need a liver, well just go to the Liver Farm, pick your liver out, have it installed and live for another 20 or so years. What about the benefit to a child born without eyes or underdeveloped eyes? The child receives an injection that would continue the building of his eyes, and is spared the trauma of going through life blind. These facets of SCR without an argument would be a scientific and medical breakthrough. It would negate the need for organ donors. If in fact these examples could be delivered from stem cell research the world literally would be saved from the traumas of disease, birth defects, and cancer.

However as mankind has proven so far, they can not be trusted to leave well enough alone. This was illustrated in the movie “The Sixth Day” staring Arnold Schwarzeneger. It was legal to clone animals and Human organs, but it was illegal to clone a human being. However the owner of a cloning company, in secret was in fact cloning people and he himself was a clone.

My beliefs came long before the movie did. I just use it as an example of how someone can take one very good thing and then project it into something that would make the person into a Dr Frankenstein. Mankind has a funny way about it. Given an inch it will take a yard. If the scientific and medical communities are given the go ahead to conduct the full research with no safe guards in place I have a feeling that the time line in the next decade will sound like this. First organs grown from stem cells, a year later first stem cell grown Heart is harvested and transplanted into a man. A few years lapse in the time line. Department of Defense through the manipulation of stem cells creates Super Soldier. Again as humans there will be someone out there that will not be satisfied with just growing organs or cultures. They would not be satisfied until they make a complete human.

To me to “MAKE” a human is out of our realm. First off this would be a living and breathing person, second it would be some sort of laboratory experiment or lab rat if you will. Sure it would be nice to have a crop of humans instead of lab mice to experiment on, or test new drugs before they are given FDA approval. To me this would be morally irresponsible, and cannot support taking the responsibility of God and giving it to man.

DREAMWORKS OR DREAMING OF WORK

2005-07-12T07:07:00.000-05:00

Last night the History Channel aired a story of one Robert “Bob” Lazar. It seems that in 1989 Mr. Lazar became somewhat famous among the UFO community when he admitted on a Las Vegas local news show that he had worked at Area 51 inside hangars that were disguised as mountains. His work concentrated on the reverse engineering of flying saucers.

Area 51 has been rumored to be where the US Government through it’s UFO Conspiracy has stored the remains of a crashed UFO that was recovered in July 1947 from Roswell, NM. The UFO was found by a local rancher while checking on his sheep, who within a few days notified the local sheriff who then notified the Army Air Corp. A press release was given to local newspapers that a UFO had crashed and then was recovered. The next day the story was rescinded and was corrected by saying that it was nothing more than a weather balloon.

Listening to the interview of Mr. Lazar last night, I have to say that at first I found his story to be quite believable. However as the show went on, I started questioning some of his statements. When the interview started he really had a good chronology of events and names of personnel that he associated with. However he goes on with his story that over the few months that he worked at Area 51 he was there for maybe a total of 60 hours. During the 60 hours he was there he found where they were keeping the saucers (yes more than one, and he even references one as the sports model), where they kept the fuel, various laboratories, and other information about the place. To me this seems fishy at the least. Hell I know I spent more than 60 hours at the USASOC Headquarters at Ft Bragg, and before my retirement would still get lost in there, and had not been everywhere in the building.

To me the kicker to Mr. Lazars story is the facts of record. The front company that he was hired by to work at area 51 has denied ever employing him, which is typical and cannot be counted on alone especially if they were attempting to dispel his story. However Mr. Lazar claims to hold a Masters degree from MIT and one from Caltech, though neither institution has any record of him attending classes. Mr Lazar counters this by quickly explaining that there is a government cover-up in place to discredit him and he is working to get this cleared up. It seems to me that the best way to clear this up would be to show the diplomas you received declaring you a masteraute. To this day he has not done this, and in my opinion this would clear up a lot if he just showed the paper.

Also he states that he brought his wife and friends out to the edge of Area 51 where they reportedly watched test flights of the saucers 3 weeks in a row, took pictures, and were finally caught by Area 51 security. Again no photos (He explains that the photos were just blobs of white on a black background) and none of his accomplices on the forays to the edge of 51 have ever come forward either.

My expressed opinion on the Roswell incident, Area 51, and Mr Lazar are simple. I personally don’t think that it was a weather balloon that crashed in Roswell. My hypothesis is not a UFO either. A better explanation of the fact is that it may have been some sort of classified aircraft or missile. White Sands Missile Range is within missile shot (Pardon the pun) and at the time there were a lot of Army Air Corp Bases in the vicinity. As far as Area 51 is concerned, though I have never been inside or “Read On” to the operations of the area, I have to hypothesize that it is exactly what the Government has been saying all along. Area 51 is a “TOP SECRET” Department of Defense Test Facility. Now on to Mr Lazar. I think the diagnosis for Mr Lazar can best be summed by the movie "A BEAUTIFUL MIND" staring Russell Crowe. The main character in the movie thinks he is a scientist doing secret work for the government, he even imagines a secret radio intercept site in his garden shed, a handler, his roommate from college and his niece. Maybe Mr Lazar is where the movie got its premise for the main character?

THE DE-MASCULINATION OF THE AMERICAN MALE

2005-07-09T12:36:00.000-05:00

The other day Angie found out that men were invited to a baby shower that she has been involved with.. A list of the men attending was provided to her and also an invitation was extended to myself, which I quickly turned down. My biggest reason for this action is that this is a part of the female conspiracy to de-masculinize the American male.

When I first started Dating Angie, I accidentally ended up at a Baby Shower. Something was wrong with her car and I ended up driving. Original plan; drop off the baby gift and then go get something to eat. What really happened; I got caught in the vacuum and ended up as the only guy at this thing where I was privy to conversations that no mortal man should be subjected to, let alone needs to know! I really could have lived the rest of my life in comfort with out hearing what I did that day.

Growing up in my suburban neighborhood in Mineola, NY I learned a few things reference the roles of males and females, and the types of social events that were MEN only and which ones were WOMEN only. Also women did not attend the MEN only events and the men sure as heck did not attend the WOMEN only events. If the event ended with shower, that meant that this event is a woman’s only function, and if it ended in PAAAAARTY, this could be interpreted as men only if so directed on the invitation (IE Bachelor party) or both sexes were invited. Women in their conspiracy couldn’t leave well enough alone, instead of just being happy with their bridal shower they had to come up with their own brand of equation, the bachelorette party. Now instead of having one get together with the girls where they are the center of attention they get two.

In recent years there has been a movement by women to de-masculine men on the whole and make them more caring, and sympathetic, and feel what it is like to be a women. Examples of this are the showers where men and women are invited, and other events. (Though I don’t mind the Lingerie parties) But I look at it like this, "I am a man I don't have a feminine side!"

The conspiracy has no bounds either, not even the man’s dog is safe. This is evident by just meeting people with my dog. Males will make a comment about my dog such as; He is a nice looking dog, he is friendly, he listens well etc. It really changes with women though. The usual first comment is what a pretty dog followed by have you had him fixed? Here I feel that the conspiracy of women tries to prevail. Though they cannot focus on chopping the master’s testicles off they will go for the next best thing and get the dog's.

I know we live in a time and a society that promotes Sexual Equality, and I might be old fashioned, but I still think that a shower is a women’s party, and men should not attend them. The bastions of Men and Women have been in place for thousands of years. These are traditions that should be maintained.

To any female readers that stumble upon this blog today and if the words “Macho Asshole” come to mind, I would like you to know that it isn’t the first time I have been associated with that phrase and it damn well wont be the last!

THANKS TO OUR HEROES

2005-07-08T14:31:00.000-05:00

Normally I try to run this post at the start of every month, but due to the July 4th weekend, and no internet at the lake I had to resign myself to not making this post on the first, and also getting in some more fishing.

Again I would like to recognize the below individuals and say thank you for your contributions on the War on Terrorism and Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Andrew Iraq 2004 July 2005-present (WIA)
Chris Afghanistan 2004-2005
Chuck Iraq 2005-present
Fernando Afghanistan 2002 and 2003
Jim Iraq - Jan 2005 to present.
Joshua A. Iraq Jan 03-Jan04 and Apr 05-present
Kelly Iraq 2004-present
Raul Iraq 2004-present
Roger Iraq 2005-present
Sean Iraq 2004-2005 (WIA)

Again on behalf of a grateful citizen of the greatest nation on earth, Thank you!

As always anyone that reads this and would like to add someone to the list please e-mail me or leave the name in the comments section. For OPSEC reasons please do not leave last names or units. Just first names, area of service, month and year. Thank you.

DUMB BOATING STORIES DUMB FISHING STORIES AND THE ONE THAT GOT AWAY

2005-06-30T07:36:00.000-05:00

Over the past period of time since my last post again I was up at Smith Mountain Lake in South West Virginia enjoying myself, taking in the sun, scenery and especially all the lake has to offer. From my adventures this post has evolved.

The first story that I would like to share with you is a sailing story. I have a 19 foot aluminum Grumman canoe. This canoe has been in my family for the past 33 years and I still have fun with it. Some time ago my parents bought my brothers and I a modification kit for the canoe where one can mount a sail on it. You really can’t go fast like with a catamaran or a sailfish, but you have to apply the basics of sailing and also since this is a canoe the basics of balance also have to be applied.

We had one good windy day last week, so I pulled out the sail and the necessary attachments and decided to take it out for a spin. I had no intention of actually going anywhere, but when I got out on the water, and saw how well the winds were blowing I decided that Captain Glenn needed to sail to the Smith Mountain Dam. This is about a 5 mile trip by boat and with the great winds would not be a problem, or so I thought.

My first travesty of the trip came while under sail some lady in a power boat, (A large Bayliner) comes screaming towards me raising a wake and the associated waves, then does a power stop with the boat about 20 feet from me. (As I am attempting not to go over into the water as I am being tossed about like a paper cup on the ocean.) This WOMAN (stronger terms were going through my head at the time) asks me if I knew where mile marker #1 was. My answer was not really but that over there is 12 so follow the signs (DUH). She then leaves and again wake behind her, and me doing my balancing act.

The second travesty came at about the half way point. The wind stopped. I figured it would start up again, so I did the best thing one could do in this situation. I laid in the bottom of the boat and started to nap. I guess I napped for about 20 minutes, and when I awoke there was still no wind, and I was mildly sun burnt. So now I decided to start paddling back. I know I have about 2 ½ miles to go so I leave the sail up figuring if the wind starts I will be able to sail. Well the winds started a little bit in bursts of a minute or less so I was stuck paddling most of the way. During this return I thought I saw a pontoon boat speed past me that looked familiar. Well the next day I saw one of the tenants of the campground, he commented that he felt sorry for me as he sped past me, and how the wind had died down. All I could think of was why didn’t he stop and offer to tow me in.

The next part of today’s post is dumb fishing stories. I have found that if I am somewhere fishing and someone is watching me I really do some stupid things with a rod and a reel. Like forget to pull up the line cage before casting, hit myself in the head with the weights and the hook while casting, miss my cast target and wrap my line repeatedly around a tree branch. My best one in my opinion occurred as another fisher man was passing in his boat I waved, watched him pass, cast and watched my net go flying with my lure into the water.

Now we get to the one that got away. This past Sunday I was in the canoe with my line trolling in the water I was headed to my favorite fishing spot. Then the rod started singing as line was being pulled out at a high rate of speed. Tightening the spool and starting to reel in, I came to find that I had a real fight on my hands. The fish then broke the water and I could see that this was a BIG large mouth bass. He put a good fight and I played him to the side of the boat. The whole time thinking how good this thing is going to look stuffed over the fireplace, posting the picture on the Blog and the story that I was going to post. At the side of the boat this thing appeared to be well over 10 pounds, he was splashing and thrashing, and this is where I got stupid. Normally I would just reach over rod with tension in one hand and with the other hand grab the fish by the mouth and bring him in the boat. Not this time, I had to have the brilliant idea to use a net to get him out of the water. He started to put up another fight as I was reaching for the net and then the rod went limp. I figure his lip finally ripped and left me there with net and rod in hand, and no fish. I fished that area everyday after and no bites. Just a fish in the water probably saying SUCKAH!

PUFFDADDY NO MORE!

2005-06-24T07:05:00.000-05:00

During my military career I had a few different "nicknames" and call signs. The one that I had the longest was Puffdaddy. I am not or was not a rapper, the designation came while I was on a Counter Drug Mission in Ecuador. We were training an Ecuadorian Commando unit on sniper and helicopter operations. One of my teammates made the comment that for a third world country not many of the people smoke. Being a smoker I informed him they all smoke, and that they couldn't afford to buy cigarrettes, I then said watch this. At this moment I said to the 20+ ecuadorian soldiers who wants a cigarette while holding a pack in my hand. Immediately I was surrounded by the soldiers with their hands out for a cigarrette. Being a big Gringo, and being surrounded by these tiny guys I guess I looked like an adult handing candy out to a bunch of kids, and thus the nickname "Puffdaddy" was bestowed on me.

I started smoking when I was 14. The high school I attended had a smoking lounge for between period cigarettes, and all my friends were going there, so I succumbed to peer pressure. The cigarrettes really didn't bother me through my life. I have been an avid runner and weight lifter, plus the other strenuous activities associated with the Infantry and Special Forces Assignments were not hindered by my smoking. I was able to laugh at what they said about smoking.

Last year while taking a physical one of the questions asked was do you smoke. I answered yes. The doctor actually made an impact on me at this time about my smoking. It seems that he has had a lot of experience with Special Forces Soldiers, and knows the ins and outs of the physical charachteristics of an SF Soldier. His words to me were that he has seen many guys like me. In really good shape in both cardio and muscular and do smoke. He then went on about his 20 plus years as a doctor serving both the SF Community and the VA. What impacted me is this, he said that most of the people that he knew personally like me contracted emphysema. The bad part of their stories was that the onset of the emphysema was not a gradual occurence like many cases, but with these it was almost overnight, and the repurcussions of the disease were worse. Hearing this I decided it was time to quit smoking.

I decided to go with the smoking cessation program offered by the VA, (which I signed up for last October) I finally was able to attend this course starting this past May. On May 18th 2005 I was able to stop a bad habit that I have had for 28 years and can no longer be called "Puffdaddy" The quitting has had it's moments, but through the classes, the patches and Buproprion it has been easier than other times I attempted to quit. Though rid of the cigarrettes I still cannot give up my Bi-weekly cigar, which in my opinion is the lesser of the 2 evils.

THEY ARE PRISONERS OF WAR!!!!!!

2005-06-18T14:17:00.000-05:00

This posting comes at a time where I am being bombarded with different spins on a single topic. My fellow blogger UH-60 Punk made a post on this subject, articles in newspapers, articles in magazines, and other periodicals, CNN, MSNBC, and other news programs have all put their 2 cents in on the prisoners of Abu Gharib and Guantanamo Bay. After watching a senate hearing yesterday on C-SPAN referencing the treatment of detainees, Habeas corpus and other Latin Legalisms I feel compelled to take my turn and say a few words on this subject.

First off I want to start off with 9/11. On that fateful day, what was the top goal of the day for the US Government and the average American? I bet it was not to get into a war with Al-Quaeda. Myself I was having a pretty good time when I heard about the attacks on the World Trade Center. I was in the parking lot behind my office, talking with the punk and a two other friends after coming off the range after firing a 106mm recoilless rifle. Other things on my mind were to get paper work done, and other duties that I had set aside for the day. I and my fellow team mates had no intentions of going to Afghanistan to do anything to Al-Quaeda. However they came to the shores of my country, the country that I live in, the country that I was sworn to protect, and they attacked us.

The onset of 9/11 is simple a war was started. What does the term war implicate when it concerns Prisoners of War (POW)? It means that all the rights of said prisoner and the responsibilities of the Country holding said prisoner are covered under the Geneva and Hague conventions. Not the US Constitution.

Second off let us look at the treatment of Coalition prisoners by Al Quaeda and Al Quaeda prisoners by the coalition. Al Quaeda and other factions along the lines of the Jihad (Holy War) do not take prisoners. They outright kill anyone living after a successful Al Quaeda military operation. Or they target defenseless Civilians. We on the other hand for the most part treat the prisoners with dignity. The US Military uses the 5 S’s when a person has been Captured. Secure, Silence, Speed, Segregate, and Safeguard. All self explanatory, however we all know that be it Al-Quaeda or Iraqi insurgents getting our US Servicemen The servicemen will not get the same protocol rather they will get the BTK (Beatem then Killem.) So in comparison with what they have done to our personnel and citizens, and what we have done, even with the wayward actions of some clowns in the two prison areas, these people are afforded a better deal than they afford our people.

Third are the clowns that say they are not Al-Quaeda, and were just visiting their friends at the Al-Quaeda campswhen captured and were wrongfully imprisoned and are now suing. This one really gets my goat. Along with the detainees from captured camps are people that have been Couriers, Clerics of Mosques and other institutions, that have been wrongfully detained, because they did not know what was going on and were in no way connected with Al-Quaeda or it’s activities. Statements like these can be the same as me giving a friend a ride to the Bank, I wait outside while he goes in, he then robs the bank and gets in the car, (Though I am unaware that he robbed the bank) I am now an accomplice, and am prosecutable. The same goes for these personnel, you are in the camp, or raising money, or carrying documents or other things for Al-Quaeda, you are at this point Al-Quaeda, which now makes you a combatant. If captured you are now covered under the Geneva and Hague conventions, and are a POW.

Fourth I have read and heard some commentary about the treatment of US Citizens that are members of Al-Quaeda that have fought against US Troops, and have been captured. In all other wars from the revolutionary war all the way to the present there have been Americans that have picked up arms on the opposing side. When these persons have been captured they were NOT afforded special treatment because they were US citizens. They were treated under the conventions as a prisoner of war. In my view in the present these people should be tried ASAP under a military tribunal, where the punishment would be immediate execution for this treasonous act, with no appeals. You killed or helped kill your fellow countrymen, well you can pay the ultimate sacrifice too.

Fifth is the Law suits because they have sat in POW confinement facilities for so long. This is just ludicrous for the judicial to even hear these cases and for the lawyers to even take these cases. Again a POW is covered under the Hague and Geneva Conventions, not the US Constitution. Next A Prisoner of War is normally held for the duration of hostilities so that he can not rejoin the ranks from which he was captured. THIS IS NOT PRISON!!!!!!!!! These are captured militants sitting in POW Detention Centers.

I will close for now hoping that somewhere at sometime someone will come to their senses, and quit all this irrelevant jaw jacking and attempting to wrap these individuals in the same Flag they attacked almost 4 years ago.

SOLOFLYERS SALUTE : MR G

2005-06-15T13:23:00.000-05:00

I would like to salute Mr. G today because I just learned that he completed his in air refueling training successfully. For anyone that is unaware what this encompasses, try placing a grapefruit on the end of a stick on a long pole, in the middle of a hurricane and try to put it precisely into the center of a basket. He did this while flying a helicopter in the prop blast of a C-130. Again I salute Mr G for a job well done

OJ SIMPSON FOUND INNOCENT

2005-06-13T16:30:00.000-05:00

5:30 EDT OJ simpson was found not guilty of all charges that were presented against him.

er I'm sorry I mean Michael Jackson.

See what money buys you in a California Court room.

MULTI-TASKING OR MULTI-ACCIDENTING

2005-06-10T06:41:00.000-05:00

In my own experiences starting with Drivers ED and then on to other various driving schools there has always been one solid core lesson taught. This core lesson has always been concentrate on your driving. The past few weeks I have become aware of some people on the road, and how they feel they can multi-task while driving, but are actually posing a threat to other drivers.

The first case I would like to share with you comes from a few days ago. I was driving down Guilford College Rd here in Greensboro, it was lunchtime and traffic was pretty heavy. I was in the left lane, and one of a few cars stuck behind a car that was slowing down then going fast, also it was going down the road swerving left and right. When I was able to get in the right lane and attempt to pass this person I had the priveledge of being beside her to slow and stop for a red light, and observe her. While driving this woman had the cell phone to her ear, head cocked to keep it there, Food in one hand, and doing her make-up with the other. A triple tasker here.

Other cases have been both men and women with eating and the cell phone while driving. I can always tell when I come behind someone if they are moving slow fast slow fast and swerving it is a good bet they are on the cell and usually when I can pass they are at a minimum on the cell.

The one that takes the cake for me was yesterday. I came to a red light in the right lane, and a woman pulls up along side me in the left lane in a white Chrysler Sebring Convertible. The top was down and could easily see inside the car from my pathfinder. I was in shock, the cell phone use did not phase me but the fact that this woman was rather large breasted and that she was breast feeding her child, talking on the cell, drinking water, and driving did.

The exact number of multi-tasking related accidents escapes me, but I know they are high, and most of all are avoidable. In this era of technology where we can stay in worldwide contact with everyone from our cars, also has the drawback that we take our concentration from driving and cause accidents.

THE ARMY’S ONGOING DEMEANING OF WARRIORS

2005-06-03T05:12:00.000-05:00

In recent years there has been a turn in the army to make everyone special or feel special. Starting with a few years back in 2001 the army started to wear the Black Beret, because General Shineski then Army Chief of Staff, while visiting Ft Bragg and attending a ceremony at the US Army Special Operations Command (USASOC) was impressed by the way the men wearing Green Berets looked. So he awarded the entire Army Berets.

A precedent like this had not been implemented since the 70s. During this time frame every unit had its own distinctive head gear. IE Cavalry units wore their Stetson hats all over instead of at just solely unit functions; the 101st had blue berets signifying their status as an Air Assault Division and other distinctive unit head gears abounded. Then at the end of the Carter Administration this all came to a screeching halt. With the exception of Special Forces everyone went to prescribed Army Head Gear IE ball cap with the old pickle suits, and garrison cap or service cap with dress greens. They could not touch the Green Beret because it was a Presidential Award from John F. Kennedy. Then in the beginning of the Reagan administration the airborne were awarded the maroon beret by the President.

Prior to this, for the most part a beret had to be earned. Special Forces had to earn their berets by attending the qualification course (In earlier years they had to earn their Flash), Rangers earned their berets by volunteering for a ranger assignment and the attendance of Ranger School, Airborne personnel again volunteered to attend Airborne school and then take an Airborne Assignment. Even with the 101st Airborne Division personnel were assigned to the 101st and then attended Air Assault School. These were all distinctive assignments and thus for distinctive personnel, there was a uniform article to distinguish these individuals readily. This is also true of Armies the world over. Distinctive personnel and units are recognized by the distinction of wearing a beret.

One may argue that the Green, Tan and Maroon berets still distinguish these individuals from other individuals, however they don’t. Black berets at a distance cannot be distinguished from a green beret, a person wearing a beret in the past stood out among people not wearing berets, and most of all the right to wear these berets for the most part was earned with Commitment, Self Discipline, and Motivation. Not just passing the Army Physical Fitness Test.

Now we fast forward to the present. Under the guidance of Gen. Schoomaker starting late this summer, if you receive combat pay, you have the right to wear the Combat Action Badge (CAB) Again this is another slap in the face to the Warrior. Currently and in time past if you served in a unit that was in a “War Zone” no matter what your Military Occupation Specialty (MOS) was you were awarded the appropriate campaign decorations, and also got your combat patch. (The patch worn on your right shoulder showing the unit you served in combat with). Now if you were in an Infantry or Special Forces MOS you also received the Combat Infantryman’s Badge (CIB) or the Combat Field Medical Badge (CMFB). There were rules that went with the awarding of these badges. For the most part you had to come under enemy fire/ engagement some time during your tour to be awarded this badge and be holding a position somewhere at brigade or group level or below. This was so clowns with Infantry or SF MOS’s holding positions at lets say the Pentagon couldn’t just fly in for the day and be awarded the CIB or the CMFB.

I am not saying that there are no MOS’s within the Army other than Infantry or SF that deserve a badge to distinguish combat service, however what I am saying there needs to be rules to get this badge other than just collecting Hostile Fire Pay. The jobs that I can say off the top of my head that should be recognized are any jobs that give direct support, or are attached to Infantry or Special Forces units and they must have come under fire or supported a specific amount of missions. IE pilots and crewmembers flying so many combat missions, Field Artillery in direct support of combat operations, Intelligence operators, MPs etc.

The current wording and ease for the awarding of this badge will make this badge into a joke. IE the Army Service Ribbon called the Fire Guard Ribbon, In the mid to late 80s when standards for Expert Infantry mans badge was eased right away EIB stood for Everyone In Battalion. Again warriors earned and earn the CIBs but with the introduction of the CAB and the requirements of it we belittle the CIB and the CMFB itself and hand out a trinket for the people that never left the air-conditioned headquarters, or the internet to oooh and ahhhhh at and make them look like a hero. Even though all they did was count the trucks that were off loaded off of ships as they passed their air conditioned shacks.

DEEP THROAT "THE BOOK", "THE COFFEE CUP", "THE T-SHIRT", AND "THE MOVIE"

2005-06-02T05:39:00.000-05:00

With the recent admission by the person called "DEEP THROAT", W. Mark Felt at the age of 92 has become the record holder of any US Politician, Worker, Representative, or Serviceperson for the amount of time a government related secret has been held. He did it for 30 odd years, but I knew there was going to be a day that he would come out and confess to it. Another surprising fact is to this day the news reporters that he told his story to didn't even bust him out.

This man besides holding the longest running Government secret (Stealth, Witness Protection, and other secrets have not even run this long) Can lay claim to the fact that he is the only person to topple a sitting President without assasinating him. Though other presidents have been impeached, no other presidents have resigned or been removed from office. The latest event of this type was when Monica Lewinsky attempted to blow Bill Clinton out of office.

Now Mr Felt and his family can profit from this secret. Speculation is that a book deal for his story would be worth over $1,000,000. Figure if the book is good then comes the selling of movie rights more millions. Then of course will come merchandising and maybe a sequel. Now if the family is smart they will copyright the name "Deep Throat" and when the porn industry re-publishes the movie "Deep Throat" in their way to commemorate this event, more millions.

Ok this man is the linchpin of an event that shook this nation as a whole, and yes it is interesting to find out finally who this man is. What gets me on this entire subject, is now we will throw millions to this guy because in the 70's he was nothing more than a RAT.

MEMORIAL DAY

2005-05-27T13:25:00.000-05:00

Hello friends and first time viewers to this Blog site. This is my Memorial Day post since I will not be near a computer for the next few days.

Today’s Blog is in recognition of Memorial Day. What does that mean or represent to people. To most people of the nation it means a 3 day weekend, cook outs, camping, maybe a parade, the beach and other activities. It also marks the start of the summer season for many people like campgrounds, resorts and other like places.

Officially this is the day that has been set aside by the US Government, for us as a grateful nation to honor those who have paid the ultimate sacrifice in the cost of attaining and protecting the freedom of this nation and the freedoms of other nations.

To do this I respectfully request that all that read this Blog today hang a flag outside your house, and either go to a memorial that is close by or go to a cemetery with a small flag and find a grave marker that designates that the remains held herewith are those of a person that paid the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom. Once you have found that someone’s remains or you are at a memorial place the flag on their grave or at the base of the memorial and thank them for their sacrifice.

I know of an old grave yard near where I will be. I want to see if there is someone that I can honor that was in either the revolutionary or civil war.

Also again today I would like to recognize those that are serving or have served in the various campaigns against terrorism:

Andrew Iraq 2004 (WIA)Chris Afghanistan 2004-presentChuck Iraq 2005-presentFernando Afghanistan 2002 and 2003Jim Iraq - Jan 2005 to present.
Joshua A. Iraq Jan 03-Jan04 and Apr 05-present
Kelly Iraq 2004-presentRaul Iraq 2004-presentRoger Iraq 2005-presentSean Iraq 2004-2005 (WIA)

For new readers this list is run on a monthly basis. If you have anyone that you want to honor by placing them on this list, in the comments please leave their first name, where they served and the dates and I will include them on the next posting.

IT'S ALL IN THE WAY YOU SAY IT

2005-05-25T04:49:00.000-05:00

Over the past few weeks there have been a few incidents that I have been privy to where words have been used to one’s advantage. This made me think about what I have done in the past and ways that I used words to my advantage.

BREAKFAST NOOK

Being in Special Forces one learns the "BEER RULES" on the first day that one is assigned to a team. If it is your first time doing anything, case of beer. Late to work or a formation, Case of beer. Failure to have your coin in a team coin check, case of beer. So one can imagine the importance of a bar in an SF Team room. There is genuine need for somewhere to store all this beer.

In the early 90s 10th Group started cracking down on the two stateside battalions about not having a bar in the team room. One of the teams defied this order and kept the bar in the team room. Their battalion commander while doing a walk through sees the bar and about blows a gasket. The Team Sergeant asks,” Sir why are you getting all excited?” The BC then answers because of the bar in the team room!!!! The Team Sergeant still cool as ever answers, Sir that is not a bar, it’s a breakfast nook.

The no bar rule finally hit us in 1st Battallion which is in Germany. We had one room set aside as our bar/lounge. So when the no bar ruling came down, and for inspection purposes we made a covering for the bar which then made the bar look like a ski tuning table. It passed Micro Macs inspections a few times.

Another team made their whole lounge disappear. They walled in the hallway door with cinder block, then cut another door from the room next door, and had the door way camouflaged as a wall locker.

MODULAR HOME

One day at work some guys were messing with this guy that he was trailer trash because he lived in MacDougal Downs outside of Ft Bragg. Being the type of guy I am and always support the winning side of a cause I jumped in on the bandwagon. Then some body else in the group noticed that I was also doing the ribbing, and said Glenn don’t you live in MacDougal Downs also? I answered yeah I do, but I am not Trailer Trash I live in a modular home.

THE AVIATOR

I really like this one. I have tangled with a few Naval Aviators on this one. The Navy and some Hollywood pictures would have you believe that a Naval Aviator is better than a pilot.

The Airforce and the Army call guys that make aircraft fly Pilots, in the Navy, Naval Infantry (Marines) and Coast Guard they are called Aviators. Really there is no difference except naval guys land on ships. One might conclude this is why they are called aviators. Absolutely wrong! First let us look at what a pilot is in a maritime sense. A pilot is the person that drives the ship into and out of specific harbors and ports. The pilot is familiar with all the obstacles, dangers and depths of channels in that specific harbor. So calling a Naval Aviator a pilot is a form of insult, saying that he is a boat driver instead of an aircraft driver.

Being the person that I am, the way that I have tangled with the Naval Aviators is that I start off with hey are you a pilot? Of course I then get “I’m better than a pilot I’m a Naval Aviator. This is where I break in and say “Oh really better than a pilot? What port do you drive the boat into????” That really tics them off and they walk away SMOKING! Just another example of inter-service rivalry.

BACK TO THE COUNTRY

2005-05-23T09:34:00.000-05:00

This post is a little late in coming. Earlier this month, I went back to Asheboro airport (KHBI) and did some flying with my neighbor. My main reason for going 30 minutes south of Greensboro was for better maintained aircraft (See archive for May You pay good money is it too much to ask that everything works.) When I got to the Fixed Base Operator (FBO) run by Cardinal Air, I came to the conclusion that there were other reasons to fly out of HBI instead of GSO.

First off is the aircraft. It’s a Cessna 172, an early 70s model with manual flaps (Which I prefer to electric flaps) you put it at 10 degrees day or night you know you have 10 degrees of flaps without looking at a dial or a meter. Most of all over the late 80’s model that I was flying at GSO stuff actually works, Heading, VOR, Attitude indicators, the radios, and the breaks work properly.

Second off but most importantly is the people that work for Cardinal Air. When I flew this last time Roberta (Bobby) was working the desk/ dispatch. One thing about her is that if you are a renter, or just flew in with your own plane be it a Cessna 150 or a Cessna Citation, (and in the past I have witnessed this) you are always greeted with friendly, polite, and professional service. This past flight when I arrived there I received a warm hello, after giving over my log book, medical, and license to be copied (To update my record there it had been 6 months since I flew out of there) I was promptly briefed on squawk status and how much fuel was on board the aircraft.

Third I also met the New Certified Flight Instructor (CFI). I can usually tell if I like someone within the first few minutes of talking with them. I genuinely liked this guy. First off he listened to what I had planned and then offered advice. I never felt like I was in the presence of DADADADUM “SUPER CFI” like up at GSO. The only problem that I see is in the future when I start working on higher certificates, it will become a story of Glenn and Glenn. Problems like not you the other Glenn etc.

Pre-flight done Take off was a snap no ground, tower, or approach calls just CTAF. I actually flew most of my time here versus, asking for and awaiting clearances, before actually taking off and wasting so much time taxiing and holding, holding and taxiing. (though I miss passing the large commercial jets holding short on entering the taxiway awaiting for me to pass. Of course I always at them as I passed them.)

I made my mistake once, I wont make it again. I even suggest to other pilots if you are flying a Hawk, Chinook, Commander, Warrior, Cessna or a Falcon 2000 instead of refueling at GSO go to HBI. It’s worth it. They have Jet-A, 100LL, courtesy car, decent restaurants are in town, plus the quality of service is 100% better than Piedmont Hawethorne. (At P-H I always felt like I was bothering the girl behind the counter for the keys to the a/c or to get fuel or oil.) Also on the airport itself is the Petticord museum. Five dollar admission but it is worth it. They have some nice displays, and they are always changing. The displayed aircraft are actually owned by private individuals, and are on loan to the museum normally on a month by month basis.

TUNING THE MACHINE: PART 12 SUSTAINMENT

2005-05-22T04:59:00.000-05:00

Now that we have a minimum of 12 weeks invested in this program, we have to sustain our weight loss and also improve ourselves.

ABDOMINALS

Increase Floor abdominal exercises (If you so desire) by 5 at a time over a 3 week period

Increase sitting twist by 20 at a time over a 3 week period

Run/Walk

Keep to the heart rate zones that we built up to in Phase 4. For increased burn or improvement try switching your runs by doing one hour on Sundays and then on Tuesday and Thursday run for 90 minutes (30 Minute Zones), then after 3 weeks Sundays an hour, Tuesday 90 minutes and Thursday 2 hours (40 minute zones).

DIET

Maintain your calories with what you have burned through the day. Common sense prevailing, if you eat more than you burn you will gain weight. If you eat the same as you burn you will stay the same. If you eat less than you burn you will lose.

PARTING THOUGHTS

Keep your mindset at all times, remember a Better Life Regimen is a 24/7 regimen

A leaner you is a healthier you

The only thing that stands between you and failure is your mind

I HAVE THE PHASED WORK OUT ON MICROSOFT WORD. USE THE E-MAIL LINK WITH MY PROFILE AND SHOOT ME AN E-MAIL IF YOU WANT IT SENT TO YOU. IT INCLUDES THE PHASED WORK OUT, INITIAL HEART RATE CALCULATIONS, MAX LIFT LISTING, CALORIE TABLES (FOR BURN INTAKE AND LOSS) AND A WEEKLY WEIGH IN TABLE.

If you try this better life regimen, I wish you the best of luck. If you want to share your success with others and I please e-mail, and monthly I will publish success stories

TUNING THE MACHINE: PART 11 Phase 4

2005-05-21T05:35:00.000-05:00

In this phase you will see the most significant improvement in your self as far as getting into and being in shape along with weight loss. Here we take some big jumps, and make radical changes to promote better health and diet. Set weight loss goals weekly (IE loss of 3-5 pounds a week) and monthly.

SUN TUE THU

ABDOMINAL EXERCISES

Attempt to increase ab exercises to 40 reps for floor exercises and 160 reps for the sitting twist.

RUN/ WALK

Increase times now to an hour. Our mid range zone now becomes the low range zone Our original high end number for limits becomes the mid range zone, and ten above becomes our high zone. To explain this better my original high limit number was 157 so rounding down to 150 I had a low range of 130 and mid range of 140 now I will take 5 minutes to warm up to the 140s and run or walk in the 140s for 15 minutes, then 20 minutes in the 150s, 20 minutes in the 160s. Then a 10 minute cool down period to get the heart rate in or under the 120s.

DIET

Again we are making a better stride to lose weight here. Attempt to keep calorie intake within 35-40%. Do not go lower this could have adverse health effects on you. IE if you burn 3200 calories in a day you can eat between 1120 and 1280 calories.

MON WED FRI

ANAEROBIC WORKOUT

Here in Phase 4 if the need to increase is evident to you then increase the weights over a 3 week period. The first week increase the light weights by 5 pounds. The second week increase the midrange by 10 pounds, and the third week increase the high end range by 20. Then stay with these weights for a minimum of another 3 week cycle.

If you are happy where you are at with the weights then stay where you are at. When you are ready to increase the weights do as illustrated in the preceding paragraph.

ABDOMINALS

Do as prescribed for Sun, Tue and Thu

AEROBIC WORK OUT

1 hours worth of aerobic exercise staying within you 3 zone heart range. No time limits apply to be in a specific zone.

GOALS

Set your goals for this 3 week period and for the next cycle and the cycle after that.

TUNING THE MACHINE: PART 10 PHASE 3

2005-05-20T05:47:00.000-05:00

With another 3 weeks over it is time to move on to the 3rd phase of our better life regimen. Hopefully you are seeing improvement in your self.

SUN, TUE, THU,

During this Phase Saturdays are optional. If you feel that you need to work out on Saturday to remain focused and on track then by all means do so. However this day is a day of rest that will be needed as we increase the intensity of the work outs, and weight loss.

ABDOMINAL EXERCISES

Increase the exercises to 25 for the floor exercises and increase the sitting twist to 100.

RUN/WALK

Increase this time to 45 minutes. Break the run/walk time down as follows: 5 minutes warm up to low zone heart rate, 10 minutes in low zone heart rate, 15 minutes in original high zone heart rate (This is now your mid zone) and now 15 minutes in the original watch setting high number.

DIET

Today we start impacting our lives with an entire day of calorie balancing. Utilizing our heart rate monitors we will try to balance all meals today and every day hence forth so that our intake is within 50-75% of our Burn (IE 3200 calories burned in take should be between 1600 and 2400) Eat your meals slowly and break the calories up through out the day to about 5 meals a day.

MON, WED, FRI

ANAROBIC WORK OUT

Here in phase 3 we take our original max lifts from Phase 1 and divide by 2. Again take this number and do 10 times, half it and do it 20, half that and do it 40.

ABDOMINALS

Do as prescribed above

AEROBIC WORK OUT

Same times and ranges as SUN TUE THU

GOALS

In this Phase goals will come into play. Decide on your short term goals for the end of this phase. Be it losing 10 pounds at a minimum or, running the entire time of the run instead of having to walk etc. Also select your mid term goals (About 6 months), and your long term goals for this program.

TUNING THE MACHINE: PART 9 PHASE 2

2005-05-19T04:39:00.000-05:00

Well after 3 weeks are over you are now ready to move on to a more challenging phase. Hopefully in phase 1 you learn something about yourself. How to relax while running, How to breathe when running, and how to keep yourself within the heart rate zones.

SUN, TUE, THU, SAT

ABDOMINAL EXERCISES

Increase the exercises to 20 each for the floor exercises and the sitting twist to 80 reps

RUN/ WALK

Increase the run time to 40 minutes and now try to stay in the lower zone for 15 minutes (5 minute warm-up) and the higher zone 20 minutes (Don’t forget to cool down for 10 minutes after. (IE if 157 was your high number at the beginning of phase 1 you subtracted 10 and 20 to get your high and low training zones)

DIET

Today we start to wear the heart rate monitor continuously. First go into the options section of the POLAR heart rate monitor and when it gets to own zone change it to off. Now when the settings come up change it to 190 for a high and 40 for a low. This will keep the alarm from sounding through out the day.

After working out and its time to eat breakfast keep your intake calories between 50-75% of what you burnt. Keep track of this for as the day goes by you will adjust your calories being taken in to the calories you burnt since the last time you ate. I strongly recommend using the slim fast and or healthy choice meals. The reason for this that the calories are printed on them and it makes it easier to figure the calories coming in. This will be done for both Breakfast and Lunch. Dinner should be a regular meal, eat what you want. Remember Moderation is the key.

MON, WED FRI

ANAROBIC WORK OUT

Here in Phase 2 take all of the max lifts that we found in the beginning of PHASE 1 and divide them by 3 IE 200 / 3 = 67 (Rounded up) this will be the initial weight again do 10 half 20 half 40 (IE 70 35 17.5) ONE NOTE THAT I DID NOT MENTION BEFORE, DO NOT COUNT THE BAR FOR THESE EXERCISES

AEROBIC WORK OUT

Increase the time as prescribed above for run days

DIET

As prescribed for Sun, Tue, Thu

TUNING THE MACHINE: PART 8B PHASE 1 (CONT)

2005-05-18T04:46:00.000-05:00

MON, WED, FRI

On these days we will conduct much of our anaerobic exercise. The muscles that we will be working need to be rested for at least 24 hours after exercising them. In this they will repair themselves, and replenish themselves.

Prior to working out on the first day, before we do each exercise we need to know where we stand. What you need to find out is how much you can actually lift for one repetition. Once you find your max lift divide this amount by 4. This is the weight you are going to start at for this phase. Example max lift 200 pounds 200 / 4 = 50. Keep a record of these max lifts. This days max lifts will give you the starting points for each phases lift. When lifting the weights use a 3 count up and a 2 count down.

STRETCHING

Do the same stretches as prescribed in 8A.

FLAT BENCH PRESS

Again I recommend using a smith press for the bench exercises. When we bench press weights are centered above our chest, we should flex the shoulders down and tighten up on the chest (Pecs) The Back (Lats) Tops of the shoulders (Traps) and the back of the arms (Triceps). With this initial set do 10 repetitions. After the initial 10 take half the weight off and do 20 reps. The third set will be half the weight again with 40 Reps.

INCLINE BENCH PRESS

Again Find out your MAX lift divide by 4 and do the result 10 times, then half for 20, half again for 40

DECLINE BENCH PRESS

Again Find out your MAX lift divide by 4 and do the result 10 times, then half for 20, half again for 40

FRONT LAT PULL DOWN

Again Find out your MAX lift divide by 4 and do the result 10 times, then half for 20, half again for 40. Techniques for this are in the start position arms on the wide portion of the bar, tighten the muscles in the shoulders, traps, pecs, and lats. Pull down on the bar and bring the bar mid way between the nose and the chin. Release it upwards. Throught out the entire repetition keep the muscles taught.

REAR LAT PULL DOWN

Same as the front except the bar will be brought midway between the top of the head and the top of the neck.

PREACHER CURLS

The start position here is with the back straight and arms over the padding of the Preacher bench (Adjust height of padding or seat to assume this position) With arms bent so the fore arms parallel the ground, flex the Biceps (Make a muscle) Tighten up on the pecs, traps and lats, rotate the arms upward until the forearms are vertical. Let the weights down to the same start position keeping the muscles flexed and taught. Again find out max lift divide by 4 and do 10 reps, half 20 and half 40.

TRICEP PULL DOWN

Feet and knees shoulder width apart bent slightly at the waist, pull down on the bar so that it is mid chest level. Flex the traps and triceps and push down on the bar till the arms are fully extended. Bring the weight up till the arms are mid chest again. Again find out max lift divide by 4 and do 10 reps, half 20 and half 40.

SITTING ROW

Sit down on the machine. Adjust the height of the weight pulley so that when you pull back on the weights that it will be a straight line from the pulley to mid chest. Correct body position is with legs fully extended and upper body bent at approximately 80 degrees towards the rear. Again find out max lift divide by 4 and do 10 reps, half 20 and half 40.

ABS

Do the same ab exercises as presented in 8A with the same repetitions.

AEROBIC EXERCISE

On these days I highly suggest not running. Find another activity such as biking, Aerobics classes, or even punching a heavy bag. Do these activities for the same amount of time as presented in 8A (30 Minutes) and try to stay within the prescribed heart rate zone that you figured out for this phase.

EATING

Maintain the diet already prescribed in 8A

TUNING THE MACHINE: PART 8A PHASE 1

2005-05-17T04:32:00.000-05:00

The importance of a phased plan of diet and exercise is paramount. As already discussed if we can make things easier and have bad habits by taking the path of least resistance, why can’t we do the same with improving our lives?

Here is a suggested regimen for phase 1. Most importantly here get to know your body, and discover its potentials and short comings. This first phase is a 7 day work out and will last for 3 weeks. This is to get your body and mind into the swing of things and most of all to keep focused.

SUNDAY, TUESDAY, THURSDAY, SATURDAY

STRETCHING

We need to stretch prior to exercising. If you are following my advice and exercising early, the muscles are not ready to get into the swing of things, so we must stretch them and warm them up.

LONG SIT

Sit on the floor feet and knees together, place hands under your thighs and with slight pressure pull yourself forward. Easily keep adding pressure to increase your bend and do this for 10 seconds. Then do the same with your hands under your knees, then the calves, then the ankles and finally attempt to grab your toes.

SITTING LEG OUT STRETCH

Still sitting on the ground, having your legs spread and forming a 45 degree angle bring one foot in to the groin, and the other leg remains straight with toes pointing to the ceiling. Now bend forward and attempt to grab the toe of the extended foot. Do this for 10 seconds and then switch legs and do the same.

GROIN STRETCH

Still sitting on the ground bring both feet souls together. (Resembling an Indian style of sitting.) now grab the toes, pull up. Again do this for 10 seconds.

WALL CALF AND QUADRICEP STRETCH

Now get up, standing in front of a wall, Feet and knees together, bend slightly at the waist, arms forward and locked lean on the wall. Now take your left foot and put it to the rear about a foot, now put your right foot forward about a foot. Now relax your arms and bend towards the wall leaving the left foot flat on the floor. Hold this for a 10 count, then switch the legs around and repeat.

CALF STRETCH

Now stand on a step with the balls of the feet on the step and everything else rearward off of the step. The feet should be about 6-10 inches apart. Now relax your feet so the heels go down to a point that you feel the rear of the calves stretching. Now raise up so you are on your tippy toes or until you feel the fronts of your calves stretching around your shins. Do this 10 times.

KNEE AND ANKLE STRETCH

With feet and knees together bend the knees slightly. Bend at the waste and place your hands on the corresponding knees. Now rotate from the ankles in a clockwise rotation. Do this 20 times and then reverse the rotation counter clockwise for 20 times

ABDOMINAL EXERCISES

SITUP

Place your feet under something heavy (A couch or something else) Have you legs forming a 45 degree angle at the knees, with back on floor and hands intertwined behind your head. Slowly (use a 3 count) raise your self up past the vertical of the back. Then slowly let yourself down (Use a 2 count) until your entire back and head are on the floor again. Do this for 15 repetitions. Remember do this slowly so that the entire hip flexer muscles and lower abdominal muscles are worked.

CRUNCHES

Lay down with body fully extended, hands intertwined behind the head. Now raise up slowly (3 count) until the shoulders are approximately 6 inches off the floor or the small of the back has naturally flattened to the floor, then lower yourself with a 2 count. Do this for 15 repetitions

Next bend the knees to form your legs at a 45 degree angle with feet flat on the floor. Adjust the angle as needed so the the small of the back is flat on the floor. Using a 3 and 2 count do 15 repetitions

Next form a 90 degree angle with your legs. Calves paralleling the ground. Adjust the legs so the small of the back is flat on the floor. Do 15 repetitions.

Next extend the legs straight up so the whole body forms a 90 degree angle or an “L” shape and do 15 repetitions.

Rest for a second and now extend the left leg out and form a 90 degree angle with the right leg. Adjust the extended leg up or down so the small of the back is flat on the floor. Do 15 repetitions of crunches like this. Then switch the legs and do another 15 crunches.

LEG OVERS

Laying flat on the floor form your hands into fists and place them under your butt cheeks with pinky sides on the floor. With feet and head about 6 inches off the floor, knees locked using a three count raise your legs up until your toes are over the area where your belt buckle would be. Using a 2 count let the legs down to the 6 inches. Keep the head up the entire time so as not to injure the back. Do this for 15 repetitions

OBLIQUE CRUNCHES

Make a 45 degree angle with your right leg (Foot flat on floor) now put your left ankle on the right knee. With the right hand behind the head, left hand on the chest try to raise and twist your body so that the right elbow comes into proximity or touches the left knee. Raise up on a 3 count and relax on a 2 count. Do this for 15 repetitions, switch sides and do another 15 repetitions.

SITTING TWIST

Get a stick that is as long as you are tall. Sit down knees forming a 90 degree angle, back straight, place the stick behind the neck resting on the top of the back and across the shoulders. With arms extended wrap them around the stick. Now turn to the left rotating at the waist. Go in this direction to the point where you feel the sides stretching. Now slowly rotate to the opposite side until you feel the stretching. This is one repetition. Do this 60 times.

WALK OR RUN

Depending how in shape or lack of will determine if you run or walk. Set your POLAR heart rate monitor as per the instructions. Leave the watch with the own zone on. Now with the transmitter on your body, the receiver activated place the watch close to the transmitter. The face will change and will show limits and a high number and a low number. Take the high number and round down to the nearest 10 (IE 157 = 150)

Now subtract 10 from this number this is your high zone for starting this program (IE 150-10=140)

Now take the original number and subtract 20 this is your low zone for starting out (IE 150-20=130)

Now we are ready to start. Using the above examples we want to stay in a heart rate zone between 130 and 149, while running or walking. For Phase 1 our run/walk period will be 30 minutes. The first 5 minutes are used to start out and work our way up to our zone. Use the entire 5 minutes for this. At the end of 30 minutes use an additional 10 minutes to cool down into the 120s or below for your heart rate.

SCHEDULES FOR THE DAY

It is a good idea to plan out your day at the start of the day. Plan your initial exercise into this and also everything else that you have to do in the day. IE Meetings, coordination’s, going to the store et al. In here find ways that you may be able to raise your heart rate above 100 at least 3 times a day. IE park far from store and walk, take stairs instead of the elevator, feasibility to walk instead of driving.

FOOD

Our meals will be as follows in phase 1. We are not going to worry about counting calories for intake and burn yet.

Instead of eating a full breakfast after our work out, drink a can of slim fast or another popular diet drink or use a meal or snack that is less than 300 calories. In about 2 hours or midway between your breakfast and lunch have the same thing again.

Instead of having a full lunch we will eat a salad. Many salads can be bought in restaurants and fast food joints, which are between 500-800 calories with dressing and will fill you up.

Eat a normal dinner. Remember here that moderation is the key. Do not go overboard.

WEIGHING IN

I do not suggest weighing in on a daily basis. Do it weekly on Saturday when you first get up. This way you will get a true weight. Keep track on a weekly basis and watch the pounds leave.

TUNING THE MACHINE: PART 7 AEROBIC AND ANAEROBIC EXERCISE

2005-05-16T05:04:00.000-05:00

When we combine aerobic and anaerobic exercise we put in our possession the best weapons against being fat and unfit. Aerobic exercise naturally burns a high rate of calories and anaerobic exercise strengthens and builds our muscles to aid in raising metabolism.

Aerobic exercise can best be explained as being in a sustained heart rate zone over 100 for a period of time. The key to aerobic exercise is long and slow. Aerobic exercise is broken down into 2 parts or zones. First we have the fat burning zone and then we have the cardio zone. On average the fat burning zone is between 100 and 140 heart beats per minute (BPM). Then the 150 area is a transition zone between fat burning and cardio zone. 160 and above is the cardio zone. These are average numbers and will be affected by sex, weight and age.

When we conduct an aerobic exercise session, and we go long and slow and slowly build our heart rates up, we burn more calories, more efficiently. On average during the first 20 minutes of an aerobic exercise the body is only burning the sugar that is in the blood stream at that specific time. Also with this, going long and slow at a lower heart rate the body then gets prepared to break down and burn fat. If we rush this process and right away go into a cardio or overtraining zone then the body first off burns the blood sugar faster, Second the body does not have time to process the fat to burn, and third the body then turns to muscle and starts to burn that. The result or waste refuse is lactic acid which makes the person fatigued and makes muscles sore. Common sense says that if we stay in a low heart rate condition while exercising and gradually increase through the zones the body then has the time to adjust to the zones, and operate more efficiently. Believe it or not speed will come as the body gets into better shape. Remember this adage “Slow is smooth, smooth is fast.”

We have to also look at when we have to work out as far as an aerobic exercise. With what has been presented in the preceding paragraphs, it is my conclusion that the morning is the best time to do the aerobic work out. That first burn of calories is sustained through out the day because the body is trying to catch up with what the body has already burnt. Utilizing the heart rate monitor, try working out in the morning and wear the heart rate monitor all day. The next day work out in the afternoon and compare the day’s burns to each other. You will be informed at this point that you burned more through out the entire day. This where commitment will play a major role. You may have to get up earlier to work out and meet your responsibilities of the day.

Anaerobic exercise can best be described as exercise where the heart rate does not reach sustained periods of time over 100. These exercises instead stretch the muscles and pump blood to the muscles which in turn make them operate more efficiently. In this we have to say good bye to lifting the heavy weights, and say hello to lighter weights. True lifting massive amounts of weights builds large muscles, but really what composes large power lifter muscles? For the most part it is scar tissue, which really does nothing except makes the muscle big and is caused by ripping the muscle. Also with this process flexibility is diminished and metabolism is slowed down.

Now we have to look at the two types of anaerobic exercises. The assisted is exercise with weights. Most of our upper body parts require the use of weights. Then we have the unassisted which requires no use of weights. Areas this includes are the Abs, and lower body parts. Again we want to promote lean muscle mass to aid in circulation and heightening of metabolism.

TUNING THE MACHINE PART 6B GETTING STARTED

2005-05-15T08:45:00.000-05:00

STOP WATCH

A stopwatch is required and I suggest getting one that can be hung around the neck and with large numbers so they are easy to read. The name of the game now is time and heart rate zone instead of time and distance.

RUNNING SHOES

A good pair of running shoes means the difference between success and failure from injuries. Being a large person, I prefer New Balance shoes. I have been very happy with the performance of the shoes, and how well they hold up. You can go to the product reccomender and fill out the prompted information and it will suggest the best shoes for you as an individual. I also recommend staying away from the Nike air series of running shoes if you are a larger person. The bubbles pop and then cause knee and ankle injuries.

CAMELBACK

While we are running or walking, we are expending liquids from our body through sweat. It is imperative to replace these liquids for both cooling and circulation. You will notice the difference of how you feel before you drink the water or power drink and after. Also you will notice your heart rate slows some because it easier to pump the blood with the ingestion of the liquid.

WALKMAN

Music is great while running or lifting. I get lost in the music as I run and also use it to pace myself. My tapes start off with low tempo (Ballads etc) then it goes to a medium tempo and ending in a high tempo.

WHERE TO WORKOUT

First off let us talk about running/ walking. DO NOT USE A TRACK!!!!!! A straight path is better or a route with one turnaround. You will go crazy going round and round in circles. In my experience it also hampered my heart rate training. It made it extremely hard to maintain heart rate zones.

Next lets talk about a home gym vs a public gym. At a home gym your selection is very limited as far as weight training is concerned. Where as at a public gym there is usually a selection of benches, bars, and machines. Also in my experience the home garage gym is so easy to blow off. I would go out to my garage to lift weights, and end up working on a car, or project. With a public gym, the main part of the battle is already won. You are there and there is nothing to distract you from working out.

FREE WEIGHTS VS MACHINES

I highly recommend not using free weights. It is too easy to injure yourself in the short term and long term sense with them. For bench exercises I recommend using a Smith Press, and for curling exercises using a preacher curl bench. Do not use Nautilus, Universal or Hammer Strength machines. These machines apply added stress during reps when hitting the peak of the rep. This can lead to torn muscles, torn rotator cuffs, shoulder dislocation, and other serious injuries. Machines made by Cybex, Body Masters, Life Masters and Life Cycle do not do this. The aforementioned series of machines were actually first derived for Physical Therapy wards in a hospital. Just makes sense that these would be better for you.

WEIGHT LIFTING SAFETY EQUIPMENT

It is recommended that you buy a good wide weight belt. This will help prevent injury to the back. Also recommended is a good pair of weight lifting gloves with wrist straps. The straps help prevent wrist injury by isolating the movement of the wrist.

TUNING THE MACHINE: PART 6A GETTING STARTED

2005-05-14T07:15:00.000-05:00

First off before we can start our Better Life Regimen we have to have the proper tools to execute our new life style. Below is a list of some basics that are essential for the work out program. Feel free to modify this list by adding or deleting to what suits you.

HEART RATE MONITOR

If you don’t get or do anything else that is on this post, at least buy a heart rate monitor. I recommend getting any of the POLAR models with calorie burn. This monitor I have found to be the greatest invention in the war against fat and being unfit. I wear mine during all waking hours. This tells me how many calories I have burned through out the day, so I can adjust my intake accordingly, and also lets me know when I am starting to relax too much. I can then counter relaxing by standing or walking around a bit to raise the heart rate, and keep the calorie burn going.

WALK/RUN ROUTE

A reconnaissance has to be conducted of where we are going to walk and run. What we want to look for is a place between 3-6 miles, smooth surfaced, even surfaced, soft surfaced, and with very little hills.

The miles required are from start and on phased basis improvement. It is best to have the route selected to take care of your improvement. This way as you improve, you are only adding onto a route that you already know and are used to.

A smooth surface is better for the runner or the walker because it somewhat resolves ankle and foot injuries. If the area that we are running or walking on isn’t smooth, lets say it is bumpy with intermittent grass clods and rocks, then the foot does not land on the ground evenly. Keeping this up for a duration of time will result in injuries to the ankles, feet and even the shins.

Even surfaced again will hopefully prevent injuries to the shins, legs and hips. Running or walking on inclines like on the side of some roads is not recommended. Again like the smooth surfaced route an incline will throw off the center of gravity and put more stress to one side instead of evenly distributing the stress to both sides of the hips and both legs.

A soft surface is preferable to a hard surface. The best way to demonstrate this is to go outside, and jump up and down a few times on the grass. The shock of your feet hitting the ground is absorbed into the soft grass and dirt. Now move into the street and do the same thing on pavement or concrete. Here there is no give and the pressure instead of disipitating into the ground now reflects back into the feet, the ankles and the shins. Running or walking on this type of surface can result in shin splints and stress fractures.

Hills should be avoided when doing this kind of aerobic training. First off it will offset heart rate training that will be explained in part 7. In my experience with this type of training, hills detracted from instead of aiding. Second off, hills again can cause shin splints and stress fractures, from the applied stress of getting up the hill and also the negative stress of going down the hill.

TUNING THE MACHINE: PART 5 SUPPLEMENTS

2005-05-13T12:40:00.000-05:00

VITAMINS

I would like to recommend taking a multi-vitamin such as Centrum or any other type of one a day multi-vitamin. This ensures that we are getting all the vitamins and minerals that our bodies require. If there is too much of a specific vitamin, it gets flushed out through our systems.

Along with the multi vitamin, I would also like to suggest taking a B-50 vitamin. The B series of vitamins are very helpful in diets and work out regimens. They give you energy and also promote a healthy and high metabolism.

WATER

Drink plenty of water!!!!! This is three fold when it comes to the Better Life Regimen. First off for our metabolism to work water is required. If we are properly hydrated it is easier for our body to burn or breakdown the fat cells. (This can be demonstrated in the same manner as when we steam or boil food vs cooking in an oven or in a pan. (The boiled or steamed food cooks faster.) Thus metabolism is easier. It also makes it easier for the heart to pump the blood because it is thinner.

Next is that water is an imperitive ingredient of the bodies cooling system. Liquid in the blood makes it easier for blood to circulate to the skin for cooling and also for us to sweat.

Next is the psychological effect of drinking water. If we drink a half liter of water especially when we are having a food craving, it gives the sensation of a full stomach, and the craving departs.

POWER DRINKS

These are good alternatives to water especially if you have an aversion to water like I do. (Fish have sex in it) Most power drinks have carbs in them, which we need for exercise; also they have water, and last but not least electrolytes. Electrolytes are needed for our nerves to function properly. As we sweat, we lose the electrolytes. Water alone does not replenish electrolytes. A good practice and one that I use when I am outside or working out hard I alternate between water and Gatorade.

FAT BURNING PILLS OR DRUGS

Most fat burning pills come out on the market and claim they are so great and usually they are. Then a few months down the road some study comes out how they effect the liver, kidneys or any number of things. (Remember phen-phen and ephydra?) Most fat burning pills are nothing more than a legal amphetamine or speed. Repercussions from taking these kinds of drugs can lead to heart disease, circulatory problems, and seizures. I strictly advise against taking these pharmaceuticals.

AMINO ACIDS, BETA CAROTEINE, AND PROTEINS

I advise against taking these supplements also. Again an overage of acids in the system leads to cancer, Gout and other things. Beta Carotein can cause liver, colon, and kidney damage. From my standpoint the distant repurcussions far outweigh the close benefits.