R.I.P. Frank Buckles

Frank Buckles, the last surviving American Veteran of WWI, died Sunday in West Virginia at the age of 110. 

Buckles, who was only sixteen years old when the U.S. formally entered WWI in 1917, tried repeatedly to enlist in the war effort.  He succeeded in joining the army only after convincing a captain that he was eighteen.  The captain had asked to see his birth certificate, to which Buckles replied that it did not exist and that the record of his birth was recorded in a family Bible.

Story at Fox News.

EyeWitless News: According to CNN's Candy Crowley, To Love Obama is to Crispify Him

Mentally challenged (or deranged Moonbat, your choice, just semantics) CNN reporter Candy Crowley recently interviewed former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld.  Rumsfeld served under President George W. Bush.

During the interview, Crowley repeatedly asked Rumsfeld if he was aware of how much the world loves president Obama and just how much the rest of the world likes America now that Obama is president.  It should be noted here that Crowley was not really asking a question so much as she was seeking validation for her desire to give Obama a mega-hummer.  Rumsfeld repeatedly replied that data does not support the basis of Crowley's questions.  At least as to how much the world now loves Obama and America.

Andrew Malcolm at the Los Angeles Times did come up with the data, in photographic form.  Consider the following evidence that Malcolm found in India:

Or consider the evidence Malcolm found in Barry's adopted home country of Indonesia:

Read about the interview and see Malcolm's other evidence here.

By the way, Barry isn't loved as much at home according to Scott Rasmussen.

And in other news, Senator Lurch, D-MA, was confronted by the ghosts of his VVAW past and insulted a Holocaust denier*.

*How the left treats persons who do not worship at the Church of AlGore, Sobsisters of Gorebal Warming.

Hideout of the Fourteen Cowards

Fourteen Cowards, otherwise known as democrat senators from Wisconsin, have gone into hiding rather than do their elected duty as senators for their Wisconsin districts.  They oppose a bill supported by Governor Walker, which would limit the collective bargaining rights of public servants, but do not have the courage to show up and oppose the bill.

Here are the names of the Fourteen Cowards:

Jon Erpenbach
Jim Holperin
Robert Wirch
Tim Carpenter
Lena Taylor
Tim Cullen
Mark Miller
Julie Lassa
Robert Jauch
Fred Risser
Dave Hansen
Kathleen Vineout
Spencer Coggs
Randy Hopper

Here's where they are hiding:

Best Western Clock Tower Resort
7801 East State Street
Rockford, IL 61108
Telephone: (815)398-6000
Fax: (815)229-4032

Wisconsin residents, particularly those represented by the Fourteen Cowards, should call the Clock Tower Resort to speak to their cowardly senators, or should fax their disapproval to their cowardly senators.

If any Wisconsinites are serious about taking back their state from the blood-sucking leeches of the public employees' unions, some protesting at the Clock Tower Resort wouldn't hurt.

The Government Storage Unit

Many of us have storage units, whether of the kind that are rented at some mini-storage complex or of the kind that we have set aside on our property.  Years ago it was commonplace for this storage to consist of food storage, often referred to as the pantry.  When I was a kid growing up in Alaska, we had a significant amount of space dedicated to storage of canned and frozen foods.  My parents probably had enough food stored away to last us six months.  Although nearly all food has to be shipped into Alaska from the lower 48, I suspect that the amount of stored food had more to do with my dad having lived through the Great Depression as a young man than any real threat of scarcity.

Today, few families have pantries or any significant food storage.  Most people seem to rely on the grocery stores to be open and fully stocked.  For my generation, our grandparents lived in a time when food scarcity was a real issue and having a significant food supply at home was the norm.

Aside from the grocery stores, our country today seems to believe that it is the government's job to put away reserves of food, particularly grains such as wheat and corn.  At some time in the past we became accustomed to the idea that the government had some vast "storage unit" where surplus grain and other food commodities were stored.  These surpluses have been used to help regulate the price of commodities and to ensure a supply when harvests are not sufficient.

I would like to posit a thought on the idea of the government storage unit filled with grains on behalf of the citizenry.  Even if the storage unit were full, does anyone actually believe that the government, and the current regime in particular, would just unlock the storage unit in the event of a food crisis?  This is the same regime, as represented by Rahm Emanuel, that said, "Never let a crisis go to waste."   In essence, if the government were to dispense from its storage unit in a crisis, there will be a price to pay.  I believe it will be:  Your liberty for a loaf of bread.

From what I have been reading from various news sources, the storage unit is near empty.  That is actually a good thing.  Not for the sheeple and welfarites, but for free men and women.  Why would any of us who cherish liberty want to rely upon the government to maintain our food storage unit?  Such a reliance flies in the face of the principles of good stewardship and taking personal responsibility as the price of liberty.

Each of us as free men and women should have our own storage units full of wheat, corn, and other foodstuffs.  Not just as preppers for some future crisis, but as fulfillment of our personal responsibility to provide for our selves and our families.

Now is the time to recognize that the government is not only morally and financially bankrupt, but is also unable to care for the citizenry it has covered with its ever-expanding umbrella of promises. Expect that the government, with its storage unit of food being empty, to confiscate food supplies from responsible citizens, citing the cause of the "general welfare".

We are seeing rising prices of food stuffs as I write this.  Some of this rise in price is due to scarcity.  Some is due to inflation.  But what is inflation?  A common definition is "too many dollars chasing too few goods."  In other words, abundance of money and scarcity of goods.  Some, such as Kellene Bishop (here and here), are predicting a six month window of opportunity between the wholesale rise in commodity prices and the retail rise in prices. 

Right now is the time for preppers to make substantial additions to their long-term storage of grains and other foodstuffs and for those without food storage to get with the program and make substantial purchases.  In one respect, this is an investment, provided that one buys non-perishable foods.  Money spent today will likely be money not spent in the future, because the food can be incorporated into one's daily menu if the looming food crisis does not arrive.  This is a far better strategy than believing that the government food storage unit will be both full and opened to the public.

Corn-itive Dissonance

There is something puzzling about the state of corn reserves in the United States.  Corn prices keep going up, and corn reserves are reported to be at fifteen year lows.  Blame is being placed on demand from the ethanol industry, which manufactures ethanol from corn to be blended with gasoline for motor fuel.   Story here at NY Times. Corn for food is in competition with corn for fuel on American cropland.  The possibility exists that we will experience shortages of corn for food and that what corn does exist for food will command high prices.

On the other hand, the U.S. has a gasoline supply glut the like of which has not been seen in 17 years, according to this story.  If there is a glut of gasoline, theoretically market factors would dictate less production of gasoline until the glut subsides.  If there is less production of gasoline, theoretically market factors would dictate less production of ethanol to blend into gasoline.  Less production of ethanol would ease the demand for corn.

Questions:  If the U.S. is in the midst of a gasoline supply glut, should there not be a reduced demand for ethanol to blend into the gasoline, and therefore a reduced demand for corn to be used to make ethanol?  If so, should there be more corn being produced for food and less for ethanol production?  If so, where is the corn?

I don't profess to entirely understand how commodities markets function, but something does not seem right.  It makes me think that some other factor is at play, and that the ethanol industry is being blamed for high corn prices and a possible shortage.  What the other factor is, I don't have a clue.  It does warrant a wary eye, both as to preps and to stay ahead of what may be an engineered crisis.

Quote of the Day

"DHS is a honey pot for political preeners, unpromotable time-servers, affirmative action misfits and well-mannered sociopaths. In other words, it's a badly led catch basin for the otherwise unemployable. It's extraordinarily well funded and well equipped even by D.C. standards. It has a nearly unlimited mandate and the powers to go with it. Even so, it excels only at pratfalls and conspicuous incompetence. DHS is "predictably unpredictable" and dangerously so. It's an aimless but determined malevolency lurching between imagined threats and self-created crises, issuing and retracting bizarre directives as they go. FEMA and TSA are two of their outfits. Enough said. What they offer, you don't want. You'll have no emergency so dire they won't make it worse. Wariness isn't enough, dodge any—any—avoidable contact."

Ol' Remus, Woodpile Report issue number 203, on Reichsfuhrer Incompetano's Department of Homeland Security.

Could not have said it better myself.  If you have not, read the whole thing.

Stupid Politician Tricks #5

The Republicans are proposing $32,000,000,000.00 in budget cuts out of a $3,700,000,000,000.00 federal budget that already exceeds federal revenues by over $1,500,000,000,000.00.  Let's see, that's less than 1% of a budget that needs to be cut by more than 40% to be balanced.  Story here.

That is like throwing a bucket of water on a house afire.

Why not just vote for more spending and throw us over the cliff that we are precariously perched on?

I'm tired of waiting for the apocalypse.  The Republicans should just join the Democrats in finishing off the Grand Experiment, rather than jerk our chains with this faux fiscal responsibility. We have been in need of a good revolution since 1913.  Bring it on.

Balancing the budget is not impossible, but a lot of sacred cows will have to take a one-way visit to McBurgertown.  John Stossel has a plan to make a lot of hamburger, but it would result in a balanced budget.

Too bad our politicians are too busy playing stupid tricks on us to save our great-great-great-great-granchildren from crushing debt.