Interestin g Items by Alex Gimarc
Monday April 29, 2013 Interesting Items 4/29 - Howdy all, a few Interesting Items for your information. Enjoy – In this issue: 1. FAA 2. Scopes 3. Coolness 4. Congress 5. Internet Tax 6. Gun Control 1. FAA. The latest round of the Obama administration’s war against the American public for refusing to raise taxes took place last week as the FAA furloughed 10% of Air Traffic Controllers both at Air Route Traffic Control Centers (ARTCCs) and control towers at airports. Also announced was closure of hundreds of control towers at smaller airports. The resulting flight delays snarled traffic nationwide early in the week causing the predictable public backlash. The FAA ate about a 4% total budget; managed to turn it into a 10% cut in manpower of the people who run the system; leading to a delay of 40% of all air traffic nationwide. Like the story about the military commissary system a few weeks ago, this is intentional, intended to inflict the maximum pain on the general public. Early last week, the WSJ ran an editorial describing flight delays as political strategy. Their numbers were stunning, as the FAA took essentially a $600 million budget cut which they chose to solve by purposely snarling air travel nationwide. The FAA last year also spent over $500 million on consultants and $325 million on travel and supplies. A few less consultants at the public trough and a smaller travel budget would have solved this little speed bump without anyone noticing. The FAA was pretty cagey with their manpower cuts, leaving the Washington-area airports fully manned, so Our Political Masters would not be inconvenienced. None of this worked however, as the public blowback from this was significant; so significant in fact that Harry Reid’s majority of democrats rushed through legislation allowing the Department of Transportation to reprogram other monies to cover the shortfall in FAA manpower for air traffic controllers. As of weeks’ end, the legislation was on its way to the House for action and then to Obama’s desk. The democrats blinked on this one and caved like a cheap suit. Remember that the traveling public funds the majority of the air traffic control system via taxes and fees paid as part of ticket prices. If the democrat political appointees are unable to hack it without taking their anger out on the traveling public, perhaps it is time to put them out of our misery and privatize their positions completely. Sequestration may be a very good thing before it is all over, as it demonstrates quite starkly the level of control that the political class has on our daily lives. Time to start moving that power out of their hands and back into the hands of responsible Americans. Sooner would be better than later. Here is last Monday’s WSJ editorial on the festivities. http://online.wsj.com/article/ SB1000142412788732487420457843 8913145965432.html 2. Scopes. Fox News carried a story out of Fort Wainwright here in Alaska about political correctness and anti-Christian leadership in the Army running amuck. The Army uses Trijicon sites on their rifles. Trijicon was founded and led for years by a committed Christian gentleman who lived and practiced his faith. One of the things he did was include a short reference to Biblical verse as a suffix to serial numbers on scopes sold. In recent years, the practice has reportedly been stopped. Someone in the newly Politically Correct Army found out and ordered active duty Army soldiers at Fort Wainwright here in Alaska to Dremel the few characters off the individual sights. Note that the older sites, which have been ordered cleaned up fully met the government specification for the product. Trijicon has fallen all over itself assisting the cleanup, as it does not want to lose the contract. They also make an excellent product. But the time, effort and manpower wasted in this anti-Christian bigotry is breathtaking. Link to a Fox News article about the order along with photos of the Army cleanup instructions follows. http://radio.foxnews.com/ toddstarnes/top-stories/army- removes-bible-reference-from- scopes.html 3. Coolness. One of the more interesting blogs I read is Big Lizards. The writer is based in California and posts infrequently. He ran a series of posts last week attempting to figure out why democrats win national races and Republicans lose them in recent years. His explanation is “coolness” as in the winner at the presidential is cooler than the loser. And if you work your way back the last 40 years or so, for the most part the observation is accurate. This means that all the wonk, policy stuff we conservatives rely upon to make our case to the general public is a secondary weapon. We must adopt the primary weapon of the left and figure out how to appeal to the emotional side of voters, and more importantly that 45% of voting population that regularly sits home and refuses to vote. Yes, I know this is playing on the battlefield as defined by the left. Still, all we have to do to dominate that battlefield is operate inside their OODA loop, something we have failed to do on the national level on a regular basis since 2004. Dafydd, who writes Big Lizards describes “coolness” as containing the following criteria: * A strong connection to the culture of most Americans -- "I am one of you, not one of them!" * A forceful pledge to protect ordinary families and individuals from violent attack and economic upheavel [sic] -- "I will stand beside you and protect you from harm as your guardian angel!" * A promise of fundamental change that ushers in a new, transcendent era of peace, prosperity, and justice -- "I am the One to lead you to the promised land!" In the second post about this, he reviewed Reagan’s formula for winning. First he converted his supporters emotionally. Then he gave them the underlying information and logic to justify that passionate support. This is what Obama (and to a certain degree Clinton) did. Obama promised the fundamental, transformative change to a future Utopia. Of course, what he intended was European socialism at best. Reagan promised a return to our national roots. Both applications of the same technique worked on the electorate. At the state and local levels, conservatives have no problem making the emotional connection. Here in Alaska, Palin did it in 2006, though when in office, she blew a historic opportunity to redirect the economic fortunes of Alaska. She also did it at the national level in 2008, keeping McCain from getting his shorts totally blown off by the Obama campaign. Joe Miller did much the same thing in 2010, but was destroyed by the media campaign against him and his personal flaws as an individual and as a candidate. Self sufficiency is cool. Doing what you want; when you want to do it; and how you want to do it within the constraints of your means and ambitions is cool. The life of Julia is not. Time to make that case. Interesting reading and worth your time. http://biglizards.net/blog/ archives/futurism/future_of_ the_g/ 4. Congress. Our Political Masters in Washington DC tried pulling a fast one last week, as discussions about exempting them and their staffs from the ravages of ObamaCare started leaking out into the general public. Obama’s family, Biden’s family and members of the Cabinet are exempted by law from ObamaCare. Republican attempts to rope them in have been blocked in Harry Reid’s Senate. Democrats and a few Republicans wanted the same for themselves and their staffs. A few congressional democrats trotted out the tired old saw that their staffers were simply too poorly paid to participate in ObamaCare and the increased costs for medical care under it. Word of this started leaking out into the blogosphere a week or so ago. At first there was not much obvious reaction. But the real reaction must have been breathtaking as the congress critters scurried like cockroaches when the light is turned on. By midweek, all discussion stopped and congress moved as far away and as fast from this as humanly possible. Perhaps it is still possible to get their attention in some small way. Next up for a public blowback is immigration reform. 5. Internet Tax. Legislation that will allow the states to levy sales taxes on internet sales is making its way through the Senate. This double taxation will be a nightmare for small businesses to collect and pay. It will also be a bonanza for lawyers who feast upon the complexities of the law. Brick and mortar businesses who do not do a lot of online businesses are publicly pushing this monstrosity on fairness grounds. It may be one of the first times in a very long time where a Commerce Clause violation will be an accurate argument against it. Increased taxes will tend to drive online sellers to states and territories that do not have state sales taxes levied, which will further isolate and impoverish the Blue States. I am not hopeful that the House will kill this monster, but hope to be surprised. 6. Gun Control. Noise out of democrats in the Senate is that gun control will be back toward the end of the year – likely when nobody is watching. I hope they try to sneak something through around Christmas, as their Christmas present for this year will replace the well deserved lump of coal with tar and feathers and a ride out town on a rail. Go ahead, guys. Please. More later - - AG "If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, go home from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains set lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen." - Samuel Adams, speech at the Philadelphia State House, August 1, 1776. Note: Interesting Items can be found at the following locations: Our Home Page http://interestingitems.org/ Archives can be found at http://home.gci.net/~agimarc Anchorage Daily Planet http://www. anchoragedailyplanet.com/ MatSu Valley News http://matsuvalleynews. blogspot.com/ Subscriber and supporter Elbert Collins at http://thatselbert.wordpress. com/ Rod Martin's The Vanguard site is also a long-time supporter of this column: http://www.thevanguard.org/ This is the right way to transform the country. Article. V. The Congress, whenever two thirds of both Houses shall deem it necessary, shall propose Amendments to this Constitution, or, on the Application of the Legislatures of two thirds of the several States, shall call a Convention for proposing Amendments, which, in either Case, shall be valid to all Intents and Purposes, as Part of this Constitution, when ratified by the Legislatures of three fourths of the several States, or by Conventions in three fourths thereof, as the one or the other Mode of Ratification may be proposed by the Congress; Provided that no Amendment which may be made prior to the Year One thousand eight hundred and eight shall in any Manner affect the first and fourth Clauses in the Ninth Section of the first Article; and that no State, without its Consent, shall be deprived of its equal Suffrage in the Senate. ********** Looking for a break? I found one. Sunday nights I tune in old-time radio (mostly the 1940's) Twilight Zone, Johnny Dollar, Red Skelton, Marshall Dillon (starring Robert Conrad aka Cannon) Many others. Sundays only starting around 7PM to Midnight http://www.wlobradio.com/index.php When replying to this message, plz cc: [email protected] to assure prompt reply. ........................................................................................ Your 401K Google --> Help you manage your 401K 19 trillion consumer investments office for older dodd frank Your Gun Google --> NRA memo government ap guns register Looking for a break? I found one. Sunday nights I tune in old-time radio (mostly the 1940's) Twilight Zone, Johnny Dollar, Red Skelton, Marshall Dillon (starring Robert Conrad aka Cannon) Many others. Sundays only starting around 7PM http://www.wlobradio.com/index.php The Ponder By Shonda Ponder Updates daily Just visit http://www.shondaponder.com When replying to this message, plz cc: [email protected] to assure prompt reply. TEA Party Nation Top Ten Tips For Getting The Most From Your TPN Membership! http://www.teapartynation.com/?xg_source=msg_mes_network I’m as mad as hell, and I’m not going to take it any more. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q_qgVn-Op7Q Mrs. Richard "Peggy" Martin (1935 - 2012) http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/dfw/obituary.aspx?n=margaret-irene-martin-peggy&pid=159081400&fhid=12241#fbLoggedOut http://www.legacy.com/guestbook/dfw/guestbook.aspx?n=margaret-martin&pid=159081400&sort=1 <> <> <> -- -- To join RichsRants, send email to: [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/richsrants?hl=en --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RichsRants" group. 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