For those of you expecting an April Fool’s Day joke out of us, well didn’t you get fooled!  I played a small prank on Molly late in the day while she was distracted, one has to observe the proprieties of the day after all.

I had cause to speak with her grandfather on another matter, he is an interviewer of WWII vets for the Oral History Project at the Nimitz Museum a.k.a. The National Museum of the Pacific War located in Fredricksberg, Texas and I had come across a lead for a potential interviewee who had managed to survive the surrender of Bataan, the Bataan Death March & forced labor camps both on Bataan and in Japan until the end of the war.

As her grandparents are “Winter Texans” and reside in Indiana during the summer months Molly had been wondering when they would begin their northerly migration as we are already unseasonable warm here. When I got off the phone she inquired what I had learned as she heard me asking about this. I off handedly replied with the approximate date as it was not firmly set yet and proceeded to casually mention how her grandfather had mentioned looking forward to starting their trip by spending their first weekend on the road with their favorite Granddaughter and Grandson in-law. (conveniently also their ONLY granddaughter and grandson in law at the moment).

The note of panic in Molly’s artificially high by several octaves voice when she responded ”THEY ARE??!!” accompanied by the sounds of her speedily heading for my location in my office was pure music to my ears. Those same ears which are still ringing from the swat to the back of the head I received when she saw my mischievous grim and realized what had just happened. The blurred vision from the concussion I received coupled with the ringing in my ears precluded me witnessing her departure from the room clearly but I suspect she stormed out of the room in a huff muttering extremely unkind invectives regarding my penchant of April Fools jokes under her breath.

 

 

The Jewish Elbow

A Jewish grandmother is giving directions to her grown grandson who is coming to visit with his wife.

“You come to the front door of the apartment. I’m in apartment 301.

There is a big panel at the front door. With your elbow , push button 301.

I will buzz you in. Come inside, the elevator is on the right.

Get in, and with your elbow, push 3.

When you get out, I’m on the left. With your elbow, hit my doorbell.”

“Grandma, that sounds easy, but, why am I hitting all these buttons with my elbow? “

“What . . . You coming empty handed?”

Don’t Toss Those Coffee Grounds! Use Them In The New Coffee Powered Printer

Are you a regular coffee drinker? Maybe you go through coffee grounds like The Jonas Brothers go through red bull. If so, check out the new RITI printer powered by coffee.

Featured in the Greener Gadgets Design Competition, the RITI printer apparently uses coffee or tea dregs to create computer printouts.

To use the printer just insert a piece of paper, place used coffee or tea grinds into the ink case on the top of the printer, then move the ink case left and right to print the image — no electricity needed, Greener Gadgets reported.

Because it works manually the RITI printer is not ideal for large projects and can only print in black and white, but it will save on the cost of buying ink and electricity.

This is still in a sort of BETA and is not on the market yet, but looks very promising Coffee-drinking computer users may soon have a new use for their old coffee grinds if a new eco-friendly printer hits the market.

No wonder all those letters from Ed Begley smelled so familiar and appealing!

Anchorwoman Sausage Blooper.

http://www.funnieststuff.net/viewmovie.php?id=2905

 

  

If I Were the Devil

Paul Harvey explains how he would take over the United States in “If I Were the Devil”. This version aired in 1993 and is based on the original essay that he wrote in 1965 and updated periodically. I’m pretty sure Paul’s strategy is working.

 

Wise Italian Grandfather
Why Italian Fathers and Grandfathers pass their handguns down through the family.
An old Italian man is dying. He calls his grandson to his bedside, “Guido, I wan’ you lissina me. I wan’ you to take-a my chrome plated .38 revolver so you will always remember me.”
“But grandpa, I really don’t like guns.. How about you leave me your Rolex watch instead?”
“You lissina me, boy. Somma day you gonna be runna da business, you gonna have a beautiful wife, lotsa money, a big-a home and maybe a couple-a bambinos. “
“Somma day you gonna come-a home and maybe finda you wife inna bed with anudder man. “Whatta you gonna do then? Pointa to you watch and say, ‘time’s up’ ?”

You know, this time around, I have to say I think Impish might just be on to something  with this donut thing!

While I might not for a whole pile of different reasons on both sides been able to sneak away and meet up with Impish, he apparently has been sneaking off base and soaking up the local color…as well as soaking in the local ponds bayous and swamps. I have to admit if he managed to pass himself off as a gator he’s at least heeding my warning about people tendencies to shoot weird azzed looking critters and drag them off the me trophy mounted and BBQ’d here in Texas.

LEAGUE CITY, Texas –

An apartment complex in League City is warning its residents about a danger lurking near the property– an alligator in a pond behind the apartments.

The five-foot-long gator has been seen spotted in a retention pond near South Shore Lakes Apartments.

Local 2 called the complex, and a spokesperson tells us they have reported it to parks and wildlife officials. Those experts do plan to eventually remove the animal.

Knowing how fast the “officials” move down here its probably that Impish will be long gone and safely back home by the time they go looking for him with a fresh coat of good Texas clay mud.

 

School Superintendent David Healy says the district has the responsibility to teach children about appropriate interactions.

A New Jersey school superintendent says there’s no policy against hugging in the district, and says the issue of middle schoolers being told by their principal not to hug each other anymore is being blown out of proportion.

The district says Matawan-Aberdeen Middle School Principal Tyler Blackmore made an announcement that its 900 students were in a “no hugging school” following some “incidents of unsuitable, physical interactions.”

School Superintendent David Healy said the district has the responsibility to teach children about appropriate interactions. But he said no one would be disciplined for hugging.

“There is no policy specific to hugging, and we have not, nor will we be, suspending students for hugging,” he said in a written statement. “It is unfortunate that there are those who find purpose and humor in sensationalizing such a routine school-related issue at the expense and inconvenience of our children and our school community.”

The superintendent said he believes the principal acted responsibly in making the recent school announcement regarding hugging. The district’s Board of Education does have policies in place to address bullying, inappropriate relationships and inappropriate conduct, he added.

Students range in ages from 11 to 14 in grades six to eight

What I want to know is exactly WHO decided and told him it was a school district’s responsibility to again usurp a parental child raising responsibility and teach children about “appropriate interactions” as HE DEEMS then to be appropriate? EXACTLY WHAT are his qualifications for teaching this to children? Were the parents of the children in this school district or particular school consulted apprised  or otherwise invited to comment before this edict was handed down from the Liberal Mountain of Correctness  Knowledge and Brainwashing?

I also have a SERIOUS problem with his statement:

“It is unfortunate that there are those who find purpose and humor in sensationalizing such a routine school-related issue at the expense and inconvenience of our children and our school community.”

The issue itself is in fact inherently sensational as an example of just how far the Nanny State thinks it can intrude into your parenting in the name of educating your kids to think like good little liberals. If you ask me an entire generation of emotional repressed children because of idiotic  rules such as this would be inconvenient to the State of New Jersey to say nothing of the kids, their families and friends and dare I say some of the victims of the crimes they will wind up committing because they were emotionally repressed? I can hear the ACLU and Liberal lawyers in 20 years now, “Your Honor he’s not responsible for his actions because he was forbidden from hugging by his school at a critical time is his emotional development!”

What could possibly be next? Prohibitions against smiles, winking and “air kisses”?

 

I recently applied for a building permit for a new house. It was going to be 100 ft tall and 400 ft wide, with 9 gun turrets at various
heights, and windows all over the place and a loud outside entertainment sound system. It would have parking for 200 cars, and I was going to paint it snot green with pink trim.

The City Council told me; Forget it… AIN’T GONNA HAPPEN!

So I sent in the application again, but this time I called it a ‘Mosque’. Work starts on Monday.

I love this country. It’s the Government I’m afraid of…

 

 

Try Gourmet Coffee Recipes: Make Your Own Starbucks Coffee Drink!

Make a Cinnamon Dolce Latte!
Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup strong coffee
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
• 1 1/3 cups 1% low-fat milk

What’s Next:

1. In a large pan, mix the cinnamon and sugar with a bit of milk.
2. Add the rest of the milk and bring to a boil.
3. Just as the mixture comes to a boil, take it off the heat.
4. Pour your coffee into your favorite mug.
5. Pour in the milk and serve immediately.

Molly is in love with Starbuck’s coffee (if it were possible to marry a corporation I might actually have to worry) so upon finding this recipe I sent it to her to try> Here are her comments;

Earnestly, I ran to my kitchen and began heating milk on the stove and brewing an EXTRA strong, half cup of coffee. After the milk heated, I added in the cinnamon and sugar amounts that were suggested on my recipe. Then, I mixed the milk with the half cup of brewed coffee. Wow! It tastes just like Starbucks minus the cute cup and the smiling barista that hands it to me.

So, why am I paying $4.65 for a cup of this, when I can make 20 cups or more for $10? I don’t know! However, since I have made this discovery, I can tell you that when my subconscious mind prompts me to go to Starbucks, I stop myself and say, I think I can make this here today. I brew my cup of coffee, enjoy it just as I would at Starbucks and the $5 I save goes in our “date night out” fund instead.

 

Unstuffed Peppers

If you love the flavor of stuffed peppers, but don’t want all the fuss, try this easy skillet dish that features great taste and less work…what could be better?

Prep: 10 minutes

Cook: 25 minutes

Makes: 4 servings (1 1/2 cups each)

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

1/2 pound ground turkey sausage

1 medium onion, chopped (about 1/2 cup)

1/2 teaspoon dried basil leaves, crushed

2 cups V8® 100% Vegetable Juice

1/2 cup uncooked regular long-grain white rice

2 medium green peppers, cut into 1-inch pieces (about 2 cups)

• Heat the oil in a 10-inch skillet over medium heat. Add the turkey, onion and basil and cook until the turkey is browned, stirring often to separate the meat. Pour off any fat.
• Stir the juice and rice in the skillet. Heat to a boil. Reduce the heat to low. Cover and cook for 10 minutes. Stir the peppers in the skillet. Cover and cook for 10 minutes or until the rice is tender and most of the liquid is absorbed.

Ok we got coffee and we got us a meal so now we have to have dessert right? Got that covered.

Sour Cream Banana Cake

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Cook Time: 35 minutes

Makes: 12 servings

Ingredients

1 pkg. (18.25 oz.) Yellow Cake Mix
3  Grade A Large Eggs
1 c. mashed ripe bananas
1 c.  Sour Cream, regular, light or fat free
1/4 c. Extra Light Olive Oil
1 tsp. banana extract

• Icing:

1 pkg. (8 oz.) Cream Cheese
1/2 c. (1 stick) Unsalted Butter, softened
1 pkg (16 oz.)Powdered Sugar
1/4 c. Fat Free Milk
1 c.  Walnut Pieces

Instructions

Heat oven to 350°F. Line bottom of two 8 or 9-inch round or square cake pans with parchment paper. Spray pans with nonstick cooking spray and set aside.

Combine cake mix, eggs, bananas, sour cream, olive oil, and banana extract in an electric mixer bowl and beat for 2 minutes. Pour batter evenly into prepared cake pans and bake on center oven rack for 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in pans for 15 minutes and then remove from pans and cool for 15 more minutes. Carefully remove parchment paper.

Combine cream cheese and butter in a clean electric mixer bowl and beat on medium speed for 2 minutes or until smooth. Gradually add powdered sugar 1/2 cup at a time and beat for 30 seconds or until all sugar is added. Slowly add milk and beat until icing has a smooth consistency with soft peaks.

Place one cake layer on a cake platter and ice the top and sides. Add second layer and finish icing top and sides. Press handfuls of walnut pieces onto the sides. Cover cake with a cake cover or a large bowl and refrigerate until ready to serve.

Personally I think either strawberries or dark chocolate chips beat the hell out of walnut pieces anyway. Aww hell why bother choosing? Put Strawberry halves then fill in between them with the dark chocolate chips!

 

 

Recession Dining : Cheap Meals and Easy Dinner Ideas

#1 Eat Out For Less With Restaurant.com Discounts and Coupons

You can certainly eat out for much less if you so choose. For example, you can take a look at these restaurant discounts and dining coupons that can immediately cut down the costs of your dining experience. Some of these coupons are a pretty good deal if you enjoy dining at the restaurants that provide these price breaks.

#2 Feed A Family of 4 For Under $10 With Cheap Meals and Easy Dinner Ideas!

Now if you’re one of those people who’ve decided to cut food costs by limiting your excursions to restaurants that serve the fancy meals because of our iffy economy, it still doesn’t necessarily mean that you should be resigned to boring your taste buds with endless pizza and ramen. Could there be home cooking alternatives that are both cheaper and healthier?

Have you heard of the terms “recession dining” and “depression cooking”? These are just new terms that have caught on to refer to those affordable meals we can make, eat and still enjoy. Following are a few ideas for cheap meals you can cook at home to save money that you may find useful.

 

 

 

Seems that the Towel head in Chief and his Campaign for Four More Years of Liberal Terror advisors are rapidly being beat up by one of their target voter blocks, the disenfranchised youth and twenty-something crowd in an extremely public forum and in 150 characters or less too!

#Gen44: Conservatives Usurp Obama’s Twitter Hashtag…Again

• Posted on March 25, 2012 at 12:14am by Erica Ritz

The president is promoting the Twitter hashtag #Gen44 as part of his youth outreach and, once again, conservatives have stepped in to hijack the hashtag.

On Friday, Barack Obama’s official Twitter account said, “If you’re proud of Obamacare and tired of the other side using it as a dirty word, complete this sentence: #ILikeObamacare because…”

Conservative responses included:

@JamesNolan: #IlikeObamaCare because I’m tired of making my own healthcare decisions…

@anthropocon: #ILikeObamaCare because I want unelected bureaucrats making as many personal decisions for me as possible.

@yidwithlid: #ILikeObamacare as much as I like My father-in-law’s wife

@SaintObama: #ILikeObamacare, Because I think if you work, then I should benefit.

@iowahawkblog: #IlikeObamacare because the best things in life are free. Give or take $2 trillion.

Before that, the College Democrats asked tweeters to use the hashtag #WhyImIn to describe why they’re voting for Barack Obama. Responses ranged from, “Free stuff! #WhyImIn“ to ”Because I want my electricity rates to necessarily skyrocket.”

And now, the Obama administration is asking people to use the hashtag #Gen44, saying “The president is counting on young people this November.”

Responses have included:

@ExJon: #Gen44 Because nothing says “youthful rebellion” like following orders from the president.

@FigDreston: #Gen44 Because I believe the largest economy the world has ever known can be run on solar panels, windmills and algae.

@SBroadie: #gen44: Because this time I want Obama to win all 57 States

@lee_ritz: #Gen44 cuz I have a masters in post modern transsexual feminist lit and $100k in student debt but for some reason can’t find a job.

@angelaisms: Because “endowed by their Creator” means “bestowed by a beneficent government.” #gen44

Many of the president’s detractors are wondering when the administration will pick up on the trend and stop issuing the hashtags. They have garnered so much attention that Friday afternoon “ILikeObamacare” was the most popular hashtag in the world (but for every positive, there were ten sarcastic negatives).

(highlighting and emphasis are mine so our resident Liberal loon and our resident closet liberal [yes we have another, a female expat who hides in the closet and denies her Pro Obama feelings to Impish and my face accidentally outed herself in both our Inboxes recently] do not conveniently while residing in denial miss the FACTS)

In case they continue, “#anotherObamaHashtagFAIL” has already been started.

(H/T: Twitchy)

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/gen44-conservatives-usurp-obamas-twitter-hashtag-again/

OMG! (in this case I mean Oh My God!)

1. Who would have ever thought that Twitter had an actual positive and legitimate use? Expressing  the public’s unhappiness with Obama and his policies RIGHT TO HIS FACE and in so blatant and graphic a manner!
2. OMG! (Oh MY GOD!) HOW DUMB can Obama’s Campaign for Four More Years of Liberal Terror advisors POSSIBLY be??!! They keep getting their ass handed to them publically and in a highly embarrassingly and funny (well not for them) manner and yet they just keep coming back begging for more and more!  If this does not CLEARLY demonstrate the level of denial, fantasy and epic cluelessness that are the hallmarks of his administration nothing does!

 

 

News Headlines We’d Like To See: Supreme Court Ready to Escort Obama on a Surprise Visit to Reality

 

In honor of the 44th President of the United States, Baskin-Robbins Ice Cream has introduced a new flavor: Barocky Road.

Barocky Road is a blend of half vanilla, half chocolate, and surrounded by nuts and flakes. The vanilla portion of the mix is not openly advertised and usually denied as an ingredient. The nuts and flakes are all plentiful.

The cost is $92.84 per scoop…so out of a hundred dollar bill you are at least promised some CHANGE..!

When purchased it will be presented to you in a large beautiful cone, but after you pay for it, the ice cream is taken out of the cone and given to the person in line behind you at no charge.

You are left with an almost empty wallet, staring at an empty cone and wondering what just happened. Then you realize this is what “redistribution of wealth” is all about.

Aren’t you just stimulated?

GracieMJ apparently in an Introspective mood of her own sent in these justifications of why she apparently intends to vote Democratic in the next election. Don’t hold it against her now, she’s been judged medically deficient in common sense and mental health works have been dispatched to aid here with a boondocker delivered common sense booster!

When your family or friends cannot explain why they voted Democrat, give them this list. Then they can then pick a reason from this “TOP 12”.

1. I voted Democrat because I believe oil companies’ profits of 4% on a gallon of gas are obscene, but the government taxing the same gallon of gas at 15% isn’t.
2. I voted Democrat because I believe the government will do a better job of spending the money I earn than I would.
3. I voted Democrat because Freedom of Speech is fine as long as nobody is offended by it.
4. I voted Democrat because I’m way too irresponsible to own a gun, and I know that my local police are all I need to protect me from murderers and thieves.
5. I voted Democrat because I believe that people who can’t tell us if it will rain on Friday can tell us that the polar ice caps will melt away in ten years if I don’t start driving a Prius.
6. I voted Democrat because I’m not concerned about millions of babies being aborted so long as we keep all death row inmates alive.
7. I voted Democrat because I think illegal aliens have a right to free health care, education, and Social Security benefits, and we should take away the social security from those who paid into it.
8. I voted Democrat because I believe that business should not be allowed to make profits for themselves. They need to break even and give the rest away to the government for redistribution as the Democrats see fit.
9. I voted Democrat because I believe liberal judges need to rewrite the Constitution every few days to suit some fringe kooks who would never get their agendas past the voters.
10. I voted Democrat because I think that it’s better to pay billions to people who hate us for their oil, but not drill our own because it might upset some endangered beetle, gopher or fish.
11. I voted Democrat because while we live in the greatest, most wonderful country in the world, I was promised “HOPE AND CHANGE”.
12. I voted Democrat because my head is so firmly planted up my ass it’s unlikely that I’ll ever have another point of view.

(Special thanks to Spiderman for webbing up that title header for us when we could come up with nothing.)

Actor Ashton Kutcher has signed up to go to space as the 500th “astronaut” of Sir Richard Branson’s
forthcoming Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo rocket plane. Kutcher is the former host of the MTV show
“Punk’d,” in which he played pranks on celebrities.

 

The Top 5 Ways to Punk Somebody in Space

5> “Open the restroom door? I’m sorry Dave, I can’t do that.”

4> “What do you mean, I didn’t buy a return ticket?!?”

3> Convince the other passengers that that’s not actually Joan
Rivers, but an alien queen who has infiltrated the ship.

2> Squirt a little mayo in the air and announce “I just had
a space-gasm!”

and The Number 1 Way to Punk Somebody in Space…

1> Fall on the table, convulsing, then Verne Troyer bursts
through your T-shirt.

[ Copyright 2012 by Chris White/TopFive.com ]

 

Well this is going to be a really interesting “The Parting Shot”. We’re likely to see my praises sung by the Liberals and have the Conservatives and our Jewish readers screaming for my head on a platter or a pita. For the row & ruckus this is likely to cause I DO apologize but before we start I’d like to remind the readers of a couple things;

• We here at DragonLaffs Electronic Media Enterprises champion this little thing called ‘free speech” also known as the First Amendment of the United States Constitution. I am as entitled to my point of view as you are to yours. Usually many of you claim I am preaching to the choir, occasionally any congregation is likely not to like the sermon being delivered from the pulpit. Please keep that in mind today.
• Impish and I speak from (at least when it comes to politics) a more or less Centrist and Common Sense view point. Political agendas, Big Corporation interests generally have no place in the opinions we render. We are trying to be as object and practical with our points of view as we pragmatically can be.
• Oft times we have the benefit of experience or knowledge that because most of you were not service personnel you may not have because it was not widely publicized or was personal experience.
• We do not expect you to like everything we say here, but we would ask that you think about it. There are often more than 2 sides to modern issues and the facts, truth and best workable solution usually are found someplace not at any extreme but the middle ground some place.

Pentagon wants Congress to help Israel fund ‘Iron Dome’ defense system

Published: Wednesday, March 28, 2012 By The Associated Press

WASHINGTON — The Pentagon will press Congress for more money for Israel’s Iron Dome system designed to intercept short-range rockets and mortars, a boost for Israel as the Obama administration tries to dissuade the Mideast ally from launching a potential unilateral strike on Iran.
The announcement from the Pentagon on Tuesday also comes as Obama has faced election-year criticism from Republican presidential candidates and GOP lawmakers that administration support for a longtime friend has been inadequate.
“Supporting the security of the state of Israel is a top priority of President Obama and Secretary (Leon) Panetta,” Pentagon press secretary George Little said in a statement. “The Department of Defense has been in conversations with the government of Israel about U.S. support for the acquisition of additional Iron Dome systems and intends to request an appropriate level of funding from Congress to support such acquisitions based on Israeli requirements and production capacity.”
The Pentagon cited the effectiveness of the system, which in recent weeks intercepted more than 80 percent of the nearly 300 rockets and mortars fired by Palestinian militants from Gaza at southern Israel.

In a special request in the 2011 budget, the Obama administration and Congress agreed on $205 million for the Iron Dome system. The current budget included no funds for the program, but did provide millions for other Israeli missile defense programs.
Obama’s budget for next year calls for $3.1 billion in military assistance for Israel, a slight increase over the current level and the most for any foreign country.
The Pentagon statement provided no specific numbers, but congressional aides said a possible request would be the purchase of 10 battery systems at a cost of $50 million each.
Earlier this month, Obama met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and pressed for diplomacy and sanctions to thwart Iran in its alleged pursuit of a nuclear weapon. Netanyahu made it clear that his country has the right to defend itself from an Iranian nuclear threat.
The chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee said Israel’s missile defense system, including programs such as David’s Sling, Arrow and Patriot weapons, should give Iran pause.
Israel’s missile defense is a “real deterrent to Iran threatening to go nuclear,” Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., said in an interview.

In a speech earlier this month to AIPAC, Levin had said, “When Iran faces the fateful nuclear decision before it, it will have to recognize that should it cross the red line which would bring about military action against its nuclear facilities, its ability to retaliate, or even credibly threaten to retaliate, against Israel will be severely degraded by Israel’s missile defenses.”
Republicans see a political opening in the uneasy relationship between Washington and Jerusalem over Israeli settlements in the West Bank and the state of Mideast peace talks, further complicated by the Obama administration’s pressure on Israel to hold off on a possible military strike against Iran’s disputed nuclear development program.
The Iranian threat to Israel has stoked the bitter rhetoric both in Washington and on the presidential campaign trail, where Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich have accused Obama of throwing Israel under a bus and emboldening the Palestinians. The fierce talk reflects that Jewish voters, who comprise only 2 percent of the electorate nationwide, are a critical part of Obama’s base and could be the difference in close battleground states such as Florida, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Nevada.
Financial contributions from Jewish voters are critical for both parties.
Congressional Democrats welcomed the Pentagon announcement as a fresh sign of the administration standing with Israel.
“Iron Dome helps give Israel the ability to protect its civilians while giving its leaders the strategic space and time to take the appropriate action to root out terrorists and carefully plan their next steps,” said Rep. Steve Rothman, D-N.J., a member of the House Appropriations defense subcommittee.
Rep. Howard Berman of California, the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, is a co-sponsor of legislation that would authorize the president to provide aid to Israel to buy additional Iron Dome anti-rocket systems if it requests it.
“Iron Dome is a game changer,” Berman said. “The threats Israel faces from incoming, indiscriminate terrorist rocket attacks are countered by this cutting edge anti-missile system. Iron Dome is fundamentally shifting political, diplomatic and military realities on the ground, while saving lives of innocent Israelis. Today’s statement is a further step in the right direction.”
Republican Rep. Howard “Buck” McKeon, the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, had complained in a February letter to Obama that his “record low” budget request jeopardized Israel’s security. The letter failed to take into account the billions in military assistance for Israel that Obama had asked Congress to provide.
In a statement Tuesday, McKeon said he was “pleased that the president now acknowledges the need to increase funding to counter a deadly threat.”

 

The Pentagon wants Congress to help pay for Israel’s “Iron Dome’? defense system!

What wrong with this sentence anyone care to take a shot at answering  me? No? Gee Lethal it seem a fairly well constructed sentence grammatically and all the words are spelled right, I don’t see anything wrong with it! Well I bloody well do! Here let me show you, I’ll correct it like a teacher or editor would-

The Pentagon wants Congress already financially overburdened US Taxpayers and a US Government already 14 TRILLION dollars in debt and close to bankruptcy to help pay for Israel’s “Iron Dome’?!

Now THAT is nearly a true and accurate statement of the facts but Its still not quite yet totally right so lets have a go at it again shall we?

The Pentagon wants Congress already financially overburdened US Taxpayers and a US Government already 14 TRILLION dollars in debt and close to bankruptcy to help pay for Israel’s ( an “ally” of dubious worth who fairs regularly to take our council but depends on and demands that once they goad the Palestinians &or Arabs into attacking them the we help defend their arrogance and honor or military treaties with them by pouring money into them like a black hole for which we get little or no return) “Iron Dome’?!

Now, DO NOT MISUNDERSTAND ME! I believe in the right of the State of Israel to exist and I DO think the Palestinians are a bunch on leeches trying to use the entitlement approach to carve something for nothing out of Israel whose claim to the area is my older and more valid than either that of the Palestinians or the Muslims.

That having been said, it’s high time that Israel learned that if you are going to be a drain on our economy and military resources on a continual basis at the level which they are, that you have to dance to the majority of the tunes that the US Pipers are calling when we call them!

The US/Israel relationship situation reminds me a lot of this picture which is humorous unlike the situation.

The problem however is that While in the photo Israel is represented by the kitten in reality they try to treat us like they are the dog and the senior partner in this alliance.  The kitten thinks it has an unbreakable leash Treaties and defense agreements) attached to a choke chain (America’s Jewish population whom the vast majority of are extremely pro-Israel, represent a great deal of PAC money and are a formidable voter bloc.) which from it’s point of view allows it to drag us into what ever situation it deems in its best interest and not heed a damned thing we say, while simultaneously using the collar and leash to bleed us heavily (US Taxpayer dollars pouring into Israel to aid with “protect” them).

While it is commonly reported that Israel officially receives some $3 billion every year in the form of economic aid from the U.S. government, this figure is just the tip of the iceberg. There are many billions of dollars more in hidden costs and economic losses lurking beneath the surface. A recently published economic analysis has concluded that U.S. support for the state of Israel has cost American taxpayers nearly $3 trillion ($3 million millions) in 2002 dollars.

 

“The Costs to American Taxpayers of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: $3 Trillion” is a summary of economic research done by Thomas R. Stauffer. Stauffer’s summary of the research was published in the June 2003 issue of The Washington Report on Middle East Affairs.

 

Stauffer’s findings were first presented at an October 2002 conference sponsored by the U.S. Army College and the University of Maine. Stauffer’s analysis is “an estimate of the total cost to the U.S. alone of instability and conflict in the region – which emanates from the core Israeli-Palestinian conflict.”

“Total identifiable costs come to almost $3 trillion,” Stauffer says. “About 60 percent, well over half, of those costs – about $1.7 trillion – arose from the U.S. defense of Israel, where most of that amount has been incurred since 1973.”

 

[The Yom Kippur War, Ramadan War or October War also known as the 1973 Arab–Israeli War and the Fourth Arab–Israeli War, was fought from October 6 to 25, 1973 – Lethal]

“Support for Israel comes to $1.8 trillion, including special trade advantages, preferential contracts, or aid buried in other accounts. In addition to the financial outlay, U.S. aid to Israel costs some 275,000 American jobs each year.” The trade-aid imbalance alone with Israel of between $6-10 billion costs about 125,000 American jobs every year, Stauffer says.

The largest single element in the costs has been the series of oil-supply crises that have accompanied the Israeli-Arab wars and the construction of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. To date these have cost the U.S. $1.5 trillion (2002 dollars), excluding the additional costs incurred since 2001, Stauffer wrote.

 

Time to drag out the Head of the DragonLaffs Electronic Media Enterprises Accounting Department here for some auditing…oh wait! That’s me!  Bloody hell! OK let’s see (scribbling on a legal pad) we got as detailed 1.7 Trillion in defense spending + 1.8 trillion on special trade etc + 1.5 trillion to protect ourselves against oil supply problems the Israeli’s antics could potentially cause us… that comes to 5 trillion 2002 dollars, (and only cover a time frame up to 10 years ago) convert to 2012 dollars (checking charts- yes there really ARE charts for such things Google it and you’ll find them)…ok conversion factor of 1.248 got it. OK so adjusted for 2012 dollars and remembering this does not address the additional cost for the last 10 years we’re looking at a total figure of 6.24 trillion dollars of support poured into Israel from 1973 until 2001.

That figure is approaching HALF of our nation deficit boys and girls! If we average the spending over that 28 year period represented and ignore such things as inflation, high costs due to technological advancements the trend to continually increase our commitment to Israel and the steadily ever climbing cost of oil for the Strategic Reserves we obtain an (IMO) extremely conservative estimate of another 2.45 trillion dollars pumped into Israel between 2001 and 2012. If you add that to the already proven 6.24 trillion you get roughly 8.7 trillion dollars, MORE than HALF the National Deficit Albatross having about our governments neck! We’re not even addressing the damage to our economy caused by the 125 thousand jobs lost every year because we’re propping up Israel’s economy at the cost of our own! The reason quite frankly (aside from addressing it being superfluous after the other figures is quite frankly I cannot even begin to figure out how to figure out the costs and damage from that!

OK so now we have a pretty clear cost analysis of what supporting Israel is  and has cost us more or less. Time to check the other side of the equation and see what benefits exactly we are reaping from this arrangement. I mean, we have to be garnering SOME tangible benefits from this arrangement since it’s costing us more than half our National Debt and threatening to bankrupt us right?

• Intelligence: Access to Israeli intelligence is often termed as “sparse”, “reluctant”, hesitant” & “begrudgingly supplied”. The Mossad [short for HaMossad leModi’in uleTafkidim Meyuchadim (Institute for Intelligence and Special Operations)] is more concerned with obscuring its methods and protection of its sources and assets than with timely dissemination of intelligence outside of Israel. In short you can only expect to learn what they want you to know to the degree they want you to know it (or is best for them) and when its in their best interest for you to know it.
• Co-Operation with Allies: Israel always feels it should be in the driver’s seat of any and all operations in the Middle East regardless of the possible repercussions, ESPECIALLY repercussions to the U.S. Intelligence with suddenly dry up, ‘leaks’ will suddenly turn any operation they’re are refused control of into the Titanic. Foreign intelligence assets have found themselves suddenly declared ‘persona non grata’ or ‘tagged, bagged and dragged’ across the Israeli boarders, which is exactly what it sounds like.
• Behaving Like an Ally Instead of a Recalcitrant Spoiled Child: During  Operations Desert Shield & Desert Storm (1), more diplomatic efforts went into keeping Israel OUT of the fighting so as not to fracture the miraculous coalition the Bush Sr. had assembled than into assembling it or keeping it together. Israel did not like the fact that the coalition even existed and apparently felt threatened insulted and humiliated by the Arab insistence at their exclusion from it. Israeli demands for concessions and saber rattling were a daily occurrence and Patriot Missile batteries that SHOULD have been protecting American troops and collation forces had to be diverted to Israel to deal with the possibility of Scud missile attacks falling on Israel because it was Billboard obvious to Saddam Hussein that if he could get just ONE into Israel he could fracture the collation because Israel would with out heed to the potential dangers and damage they would do to an ally ( the US who had forces in potentially hostile countries &/or minimally friendly ones w/o a clear evac route. Israel threatened to launch its own uncoordinated with the collation air strikes by fighting their way through air space which was hostile to them and expected the US to provide them with aid to do this or they would do it anyway and the US led collation be damned because nobody attacks Israel.  Fortunate diplomacy did manage to carry the day but the Patriot Missile Batteries that before the war they were denied because of concerns that Israel, once protected by them, would become too emboldened and as a result a destabilizing influence in the region never came back home. Israel once again opportunistic as ever managed to  get its way by placing the US under extreme duress. This sound like the actions of an Ally to anyone?
• Observation of Etiquette as it Related to Allies: The first unwritten rule of which is ‘Thou Shalt Not Spy On Your Allies, Nor Commit Acts of Espionage Against Them’. Apparently this loses just about everything when translated into Hebrew because Israel has made a habit of it from Day One. Does the name Jonathan Jay Pollard ring any bells?  How about Shamai K. Leibowitz, an FBI translator of Hebrew who was providing intel the the Israelis on our efforts to stop their spying and espionage on US soil? Israel takes US tech and then sells it to non US friendly countries, in some cases at the expense of the total collapse of  some US businesses who’s Tech they have stolen. See & read here:

Former CIA counterterrorism officer Philip Giraldi says Israel conducts more espionage against the United States than any other US ally.  http://www.presstv.ir/detail/184016.html 

A 2009 article on the subject states:

March 10, 2009  |  

Scratch a counterintelligence officer in the U.S. government and they’ll tell you that Israel is not a friend to the United States.

This is because Israel runs one of the most aggressive and damaging espionage networks targeting the U.S..  The fact of Israeli penetration into the country is not a subject oft-discussed in the media or in the circles of governance, due to the extreme sensitivity of the U.S.-Israel relationship coupled with the burden of the Israel lobby, which punishes legislators who dare to criticize the Jewish state.

Israel’s spying on the U.S., however, is a matter of public record, and neither conspiracy nor theory is needed to present the evidence.   When the FBI produces its annual report to Congress concerning “Foreign Economic Collection and Industrial Espionage,” Israel and its intelligence services often feature prominently as a threat second only to China

IF you have the stomach for it, you can read the rest of that article here: http://www.alternet.org/world/130891/breaking_the_taboo_on_israel%27s_spying_efforts_on_the_united_states/

This kind of crap is only going to continue until the cost of doing so becomes extremely prohibitive to Israel in the form of cut off US Aid that it’s too dangerous to their survival to continue.

THE STRATEGIC FUNCTIONS OF U.S. AID TO ISRAEL

By Stephen Zunes

Dr. Zunes is an assistant professor in the Department of Politics at the University of San Francisco

Since 1992, the U.S. has offered Israel an additional $2 billion annually in loan guarantees. Congressional researchers have disclosed that between 1974 and 1989, $16.4 billion in U.S. military loans were converted to grants and that this was the understanding from the beginning. Indeed, all past U.S. loans to Israel have eventually been forgiven by Congress, which has undoubtedly helped Israel’s often-touted claim that they have never defaulted on a U.S. government loan. U.S. policy since 1984 has been that economic assistance to Israel must equal or exceed Israel’s annual debt repayment to the United States. Unlike other countries, which receive aid in quarterly installments, aid to Israel since 1982 has been given in a lump sum at the beginning of the fiscal year, leaving the U.S. government to borrow from future revenues. Israel even lends some of this money back through U.S. treasury bills and collects the additional interest.

In addition, there is the more than $1.5 billion in private U.S. funds that go to Israel annually in the form of $1 billion in private tax-deductible donations and $500 million in Israeli bonds. The ability of Americans to make what amounts to tax-deductible contributions to a foreign government, made possible through a number of Jewish charities, does not exist with any other country. Nor do these figures include short- and long-term commercial loans from U.S. banks, which have been as high as $1 billion annually in recent years.

Total U.S. aid to Israel is approximately one-third of the American foreign-aid budget, even though Israel comprises just .001 percent of the world’s population and already has one of the world’s higher per capita incomes. Indeed, Israel’s GNP is higher than the combined GNP of Egypt, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, the West Bank and Gaza. With a per capita income of about $14,000, Israel ranks as the sixteenth wealthiest country in the world; Israelis enjoy a higher per capita income than oil-rich Saudi Arabia and are only slightly less well-off than most Western European countries.

Even with all these advantages offered to no other country and as dependent as Israel is on us and the threat of US intervention in any war with Israel for its very survival they attempt to disrespect us, lead us about by the nose, circumvent our national policies, steal technology and bankrupt our companies, sell that technology to other less than friendly to the US countries.

The Pentagon want to continue its program of testing out new weapons systems using Israel as their sandbox that’s fine with me, I always felt better about deploying with a proven weapon be it personal or a weapon system I’m all for using Israel for testing them out PROVIDED-

1. We taxpayers do not have to continue to foot the bill let Israel pay for it with all the ill gotten gains they have amasses from stealing from US Corporations or let the weapons makers who are selling these systems to the Pentagon in the first place donate the systems for extensive field testing.
2. Appropriate measures are taken to keep Israel from selling the technology to ANY country let alone ones not friendly to the US.
3. The US government gives Israel a swift boondocker encased foot right in the schvantz and tells them in no uncertain terms that the US is plotz with them and their antics, that their gonif spy and espionage games are oys,  Opgeflickt and we mean permanently. Otherwise we’re going to play the part of a Moyel with an unsure hand and emasculate the flow of cash and aid they get.

I think it’s high time we stop turning the other cheek to the kind of treatment and behavior we are getting from this “ally” we have enemies who respect us and treat us better than this!

To those of our Jewish readers whom I have incensed with this apparent attack on Israel, let me ask you, what are you? An American of the Jewish faith or a Jew who lives in America?

If you are the former, then you should be as mad as I am and if you have been paying through the years to support Israel though the aforementioned tax free Jewish charities, slightly furtummelt upon finding out what has really been going on.

If you number yourself among the latter case,  please make arrangements to complete all personal business in the US and a reservation on the first available El Al fight you can possibly make after completing that business and get the HELL out of my country . You are a HUGE part of my countries problem with Israel and probably are assisting them in keeping us under their treaty abusing thumb. Besides if you are so ‘Pro-Israel’ you’ll probably want to go claim your Tarvor or Galil Assault rifle and begin your mandatory period of service in the IDF just as soon as you possibly can.

With the money we can save from ceasing to support a seemingly hostile ally we can make serious strides in deficit reduction and economic recovery, especially when we repeal all those trade favors and tax those donations to a foreign nation besides.

I AM THE LETHAL LEPRECHAUN AND I BLOODY WEL SAY IT HIGH TIME THAT THE BUCK STARTED SHOWING BANG FOR ITS SPENDING WHEN IT COMES TO FOREIGN AID AND IF WE AREN’T GETTING IT THEN IT SHOULD BLOODY WELL STAY IN OUR OWN DAMNED POCKETS!

Slan go foill is Gaelic for ‘Good Bye For Now’, the rest well that should explain itself!

Good morning campers!  Back to work this morning, still TDY to NAS JRB Ft. Worth, TX.  It sure is an unusual place.  The Base has it’s own lake.  Okay, well, not it’s OWN lake, but part of the lake front is on the base.

It looks really nice and over the weekend, there were people swimming and boating and such on the lake.

Those square signs that you can see are pointing out toward the water warning anyone coming from the other side of the lake that this is United States Government Property and trespassing is not allowed under penalty of death.  A little further down the beach you come to this sign:

So, the signs warning you to keep off the government property are like every 50 feet and the signs warning of alligators is 2…on this side of the lake.  Hmm,

Hope you all have a great week, you’ll hear from me again, soon.
Cheers,

Impish Dragon

Good Morning Campers!  Well, as of the final draft of this issue of your favorite e-zine is being tightened up, it’s Friday night before it’s publication date.  I’m still on the road in Texas and sadly, it looks as though the Leprechaun and the dragon are not destined to meet up this time around either. 
I know.  It’s really sad.  I’ve a tear in my eye as I write this. 
But I do know that both of us have entries into the huge mega-millions lottery that is going on tonight, so if either one of us hits, he will not only share with the other, but will make arrangements for us to finally meet face to face.  So, if for some reason you guys don’t get your dragon laffs in the morning, it may be because we are 600+ million dollars richer and we’re out celebrating!
But, if you’re reading this now, it means that we didn’t win and it’s all a moot point anyway.  I’ll wait to publish this till in the morning and you can expect to find out the results in the Last Word.

But for now…

Well, anyone that knows me, knows that I’m addicted to mine.  When my boss saw this cartoon, he sent it around through email to all the guys who know me and said, “I saw this and I just thought of him.”

Well, at least it’s a somewhat safe addiction.

Maybe we can talk him into running. He appears to have what most politicians lack.

This is great fun…and clean.  Imagine that!

Although you can see the punch line coming from a mile away, it’s still a funny joke

Never Believe An Irishman
An Irishman was drinking in a bar in London when he gets a call
on his cell phone.
He orders drinks for everybody in the bar as he announces his wife has just produced a typical Irish baby boy weighing 25 pounds.
Nobody can believe that any new baby can weigh in at 25 pounds,
but the man just shrugs,
“That’s about average up our way, folks…like I said – my boy’s a typical County Clare baby boy..”
Two weeks later the man returns to the bar.. The bartender says,
“Say, you’re the father of that typical Irish baby that weighed 25
pounds at birth, aren’t you?
Everybody’s been making’ bets about how big he’d be in two weeks
…. so how much does he weigh now?”
The proud father answers, “Seventeen pounds.”
The bartender is puzzled and concerned. “What happened?”
“He was 25 pounds the day he was born.”
The father takes a slow swig of his Jameson Irish Whisky, wipes his lips on his shirt sleeve, leans into the bartender and proudly says,
“Had him circumcised.”

I really like this guys attitude!  LOL!

 

 

 
Lethal Leprechaun’s cat acts an awful lot like he does in the morning.

Caught on tape, this really is as bad as it gets.  I tried to find it on youtube so you wouldn’t have to click a link, but I couldn’t find it. So, here’s the original link that was sent to me.
http://rmirror.net/r/videos/comments/q5hu9/car_accident_nsfl/ 

As of the writing of this particular piece, the mega-million lottery is over 600 million dollars.  It would be wonderful to win the money and be set for life…be able to be philanthropic and help people, buy a house for cash.  Leave a hundred dollar tip for a cup of coffee, the biggest though, would be not having so much worry. 

Anyway, in the spirit of the odds of winning, here are 15 things that are MORE likely to happen to you then winning this lottery.

15 Things More Likely to Happen than Winning Mega Millions

Mar 30, 2012 4:45 AM EDT

The odds of winning the Mega Millions are a long shot at 1 in 176 million. From landing dream jobs to unfortunate demises, The Daily Beast lists much more likely occurrences.

The Mega Millions jackpot has grown to $540 million, and people across America are dying to score the lucky ticket. According to lottery officials, the odds of winning the massive prize are about 1 in 176 million. Despite the excitement, those odds are not good. In fact, there are many other things—good and bad—that are much more likely to happen to a person than winning that money. From landing dream jobs to unfortunate demises, The Daily Beast lists much more likely occurrences.

Death by Vending Machine

Odds:  1 in 112 million

On average, two people in the U.S. are crushed to death underneath vending machines each year. Please snack responsibly.

Dying in an Airline-Related Terrorist Attack

Odds: 1 in 25 million

No one has died in an airplane-related terrorist attack since 9/11. The pat-downs of elderly people and toddlers are really paying off.

Having Identical Quadruplets

Odds:  1 in 15 million

Identical quadruplets would be adorable, but you wouldn’t be able to support them because you probably won’t win the lottery…

Becoming President

Odds:  1 in 10 million

Mitt Romney has seen these odds and he likes them.

 

Dying From Bee, Hornet, or Wasp Stings

Odds:  1 in 6.1 million

Who knew bees were so scary? Then again, bees may not be as much of an issue this year.

Dying From Being Left-Handed

Odds:  1 in 4.4 million

It’s a right-handed world. Apparently, a fair number of left-handed people die each year from using right-handed products incorrectly.

Becoming a Movie Star

Odds:  1 in 1,505,000

There’s more than one way to make money in this world, and movie stardom is a better bet than playing the lottery.

Dying in a Plane Crash

Odds:  1 in 1 million

If you are too scared to board a plane, why did you just buy a lottery ticket?

Death by Flesh-Eating Bacteria

Odds: 1 in 1 million

Not as rare as one would hope, but there are worse ways to die. Maybe.

Getting Struck by Lightning

Odds: 1 in 1 million.

A lightning strike is probably still preferable to flesh-eating bacteria.

Dying in a Bathtub

Odds: 1 in 840,000

These odds are not an excuse to stop bathing.

Dying in an On-the-Job Accident

Odds:  1 in 48,000

If this applies to you, you may want to take a risk and buy that lottery ticket.

Murder

Odds: 1 in 18,000

Hopefully it won’t be over a lottery ticket, but if it is, at least your murderer probably won’t win either!

Dying in an Asteroid Apocalypse

Odds: 1 in 12,500

The good news is that this will probably never happen. That is, until the year 2040, when it’s totally going to happen!

Dying in a Car Accident

Odds: 1 in 6,700

Good luck driving to the store to buy that lottery ticket.

Andrew Carter is an editorial assistant at Newsweek and The Daily Beast.

For inquiries, please contact The Daily Beast ateditorial@thedailybeast.com.

Oh Google!  You are in SO much trouble.

Thanks to K² for this quick opinion piece.  Couldn’t have said it better myself:

Capitalism akbar

After reading the headlines about the US soldier who shot up

Afghanistan civilians, I couldn’t help noticing an irony.  There is
all this clamor to try this guy quickly and execute him, never mind
his having suffered a traumatic brain injury. 
Yet this Major Hasan, who shot up Fort Hood while screaming Allah
akbar, still hasn’t stood trial, and they are still debating whether
he was insane, even with the clear evidence regarding his motive:
slay as many infidels as possible.  So we have a guy in a war zone
who cracks, and he must be executed immediately. 
But this Muslim psychiatrist who was stateside in a nice safe
office all day murders 13, wounds 29 of our own guys, and they try to
argue the poor lad suffered post-traumatic stress syndrome, from
listening to real soldiers who had actual battle experience.  Two and
a half years later, they still haven’t tried the murderous bastard.

I’ll bet there are a lot of you out there that thought I was a big winner in the megamillions lottery because this is so late in arriving.
Sigh!
I wish it were true.
Instead, because I waited and didn’t set the issue to autopost, when the power was shut off this morning, I had no internet connection to send it out.  I gathered that this was a planned outage, across the whole base.  But if it was planned from 0700 to 1700 hrs…10 hours, I know it’s impossible to have generators at every building, but I would think that lodging would have their own.
Nope.
But they did plan to bring one in.
And here they are hooking it up:

The actual generator is out of the picture to the left in the parking lot.  These guys are running the wires to the junction box and hooking it up so that we’ll have some ‘lectricity.  But…. what the heck are they doing?

Yes…that’s a rubber glove being used as an insulator.  Well, whatever works and whatever gets me power!  Go guys!  Go!

So…why wasn’t it set up the night before?
That’s a really good question…and maybe they planned on it and other things got in the way.  Who knows.  But at about 1000 hrs local, the power did come back on and I was able to check the Megamillions web site and …
I WAS A WINNER!!!!!
Holy crap!
I won!
I WON!!
I WON!!! I WON!!! I WON!!!
Yup.
I did!
I bought five tickets at a dollar a piece, and on one of them I got the power ball number correct, so ….
according to the web site….
I won….
$2!
…
Wait, what?
So…
I’m actually $3 in the hole?
And counting the $5 from the last time that I didn’t win anything, I’m now $8 in the hole…
But…
I won…
Didn’t I?

 

 (thanks to my favorite Target Impish Dragon for helping me out with this graphing as well as my Parting Shot one)

Well it’s been 11 days since St Patrick’s Day and I’m feeling like me old self again with one exception. my previously epic hang over fueled/caused  bad mood and attitude has not really improved all that much. Just ask Impish, he has silent, stoically and somewhat heroically suffered  it since he had the misfortune to be taken in bad the writings of an obvious St Patrick’s Day hater talking out their bum about the true meaning and roots of the customs of the IRISH holiday the rest of you make so free with.

I’ve managed to get over that and apologized to Impish at some length for the more unkind of me remarks, but I’m still in a mood and on a tare. See basically, ever since St Patrick’s Day it seems someone has more or less been constantly relieving self on me trouser leg while looking me in the eye and assuring me that it was in fact fecking raining. That sort of thing bloody well gets me Y-fronts all in a bunch. If you’re going to have the stone to deliberately piss on my leg, have the stones and respect to admit you just did it to my face. Don’t then try and bloody well insult my fecking intelligence too otherwise I’m apt to consider you a Democrat, a liberal and bloody complete imbecilic moron or mistake you for Obama! This applies not only to politics, and people but to corporations, property management companies and churches as well!

Mean while as if all that isn’t enough, Impish is purportedly running around in Northern Texas someplace. There is even the threat of his possibly ending up landing on my doorstep at then end of the week. While it would mark the first time we have actually ever met face to face while simultaneously putting to rest once and for all the rumors that were are a single severely schizophrenic individual, I am concerned a bout my ability to keep some of our more militant red necked good ole boy yokels from shooting him keeping his head for a trophy mount and his hide for a next set of boots then Barbecuing or smoking ‘that weird azzed flyin’ gator critter’s remains’ for a fajitas party.

Ok enough of my ranting like a lunatic, lets be on with the festivities shall we?

 

  

Although my father has lived in America for almost 60 years, he’s never lost his Irish accent or fiery temperament. One cold, snowy winter day, he realized he had locked his car keys in the car. My mother went into a nearby store to see if she could get some help.
When she returned, my dad introduced her to a tall policeman from Ireland, who had unlocked the car door. After she thanked the policeman, he explained, “I couldn’t leave a fellow countryman in distress.”
“How did you know he was your countryman?” Mom asked.
“Well,” he replied, “I haven’t heard language like that since I left Ireland!”

In the course of the last week to ten days I think Molly has heard a WHOLE BUNCH of this sort of ting and NOT just in Gaelic! I am lingual swear proficient in about 6 languages including one dead one besides English and I suspect she might have at one point or another heard all 6 strung together in one long litany of frustration!

 

 

A Humorous Review of Apple’s “New iPad”

http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/c22442cae5/new-ipad-review?rel=player

The Mother of All Ethic Jokes

At last an Equally Offending, Universally Politically Incorrect Joke has been achieved!

An Englishman, a Scotsman, an Irishman, a Welshman, a Latvian, a Turk, a German, an Indian, several Americans (including a southerner, a Texan, a New Englander and a Californian) , an Argentinean, a Dane, an Australian, a Slovakian, an Egyptian, a Japanese, a Moroccan, a Frenchman, a New Zealander, a Spaniard, a Russian, a Guatemalan, a Colombian, a Pakistani, a Malaysian, a Croatian, an Uzbek, a Cypriot, a Pole, a Lithuanian, a Chinese, a Sri Lankan, a Lebanese, a Cayman Islander, a Ugandan, a Vietnamese, a Korean, a Uruguayan, a Czech, an Icelander, a Mexican, a Finn, a Honduran, a Panamanian, an Andorran, an Israeli, a Venezuelan, a Fijian, a Peruvian, an Estonian, a Brazilian, a Portuguese, a Liechtensteiner, a Mongolian, a Hungarian, a Canadian, a Moldovan, a Haitian, a Norfolk Islander, a Macedonian, a Bolivian, a Cook Islander, a Tajikistani, a Samoan, an Armenian, an Aruban, an Albanian, a Greenlander, a Micronesian, a Virgin Islander, a Georgian, a Bahamian, a Belarusian, a Cuban, a Tongan, a Cambodian, a Qatari, an Azerbaijani, a Romanian, a Chilean, a Kyrgyzstani, a Jamaican, a Filipino, a Ukrainian, a Dutchman, an Ecuadorian, a Costa Rican, a Swede, a Bulgarian, a Serb, a Swiss, a Greek, a Belgian, a Singaporean, an Italian, a Norwegian  and even a Saudi and 12 Africans walk into a fine restaurant with  a duck, a dog a chicken, a Leprechaun and a Dragon in tow…
 
Brace yourself….

…
…..
………
…………

“I’m sorry,” says the maître d’ – scrutinizing the group one by one and barring their entrance – “you can’t come in here without a Thai.”

 

 

 

[Actual Oklahoma billboard (or was).  Located on I40 at exit 80 headed west.]

I’d love to see this Picture on every billboard in America and on television too!

MONEY AND POLITICS: An analysis by USA Today finds that only five people are behind 25 percent of all money flowing into “Super PACs” working to influence this year’s U.S. presidential election. One of those five is Sheldon Adelson of Las Vegas, Nev., the CEO of Sands, which owns the world’s largest casinos. “I’m against very wealthy people attempting to or influencing elections,” Adelson said. “But as long as it’s doable, I’m going to do it.” (RC/USA Today) …That gap is the difference
between stated belief and practiced ethics. The latter being something no politician today has any of owing to their surgical removal upon entry into politics at the Dog Catcher level.

WAL-MART vs. The Morons (in Federal Government)

1. Americans spend $36,000,000 at Wal-Mart every hour of every day.
2.This works out to $20,928 profit every minute!
3.Wal-Mart will sell more from January 1 to St. Patrick’s Day (March 17th) than Target sells all year.
4.Wal-Mart is bigger than Home Depot + Kroger + Target + Sears + Costco + K-Mart combined..
5.Wal-Mart employs 1.6 million people, is the world’s largest private employer, and most speak English.
6.Wal-Mart is the largest company in the history of the world.
7.Wal-Mart now sells more food than Kroger and Safeway combined, and keep in mind they did this in only fifteen years.
8.During this same period, 31 big supermarket chains sought bankruptcy.
9.Wal-Mart now sells more food than any other store in the world.
10.Wal-Mart has approx 3,900 stores in the USA of which 2,906 are Super Centers; this is 1,000 more than it had five years ago..
11.This year 7.2 billion different purchasing experiences will occur at Wal-Mart stores. (Earth’s population is approximately 6.5 Billion.)
12. 90% of all Americans live within fifteen miles of a Wal-Mart.
13. Wal-Mart has gross sales that total more than the total revenue of all the countries in the world, except 6 countries.
**********************

You may think that I am complaining, but I am really laying the ground work for suggesting that MAYBE we should hire the guys who run Wal-Mart to fix the economy This should be read and understood by all Americans Democrats, Republicans, EVERYONE!!

To the President and all 535 voting members of the Legislature, both parties.

It is now official – you are ALL corrupt morons:

a..The U.S. Postal Service was established in 1775.  You have had 234 years to get it right and it is broke.

b..Social Security was established in 1935. You have had 74 years to get it right and it is broke.

c..Fannie Mae was established in 1938. You have had 71 years to get it right and it is broke.

d..War on Poverty started in 1964. You have had 45 years to get it right; $1 trillion of our money is confiscated each year and transferred to “the poor” and they only want more.

e..Medicare and Medicaid were established in 1965. You have had 44 years to get it right and they are broke.

f..Freddie Mac was established in 1970. You have had 39 years to get it right and it is broke.

g..The Department of Energy was created in 1977 to lessen our dependence on foreign oil. It has ballooned to 16,000 employees with a budget of $24 billion a year and we import more oil than ever before. You had 32 years to get it right and it is an abysmal failure.

In every “government service” you have shoved down our throats while overspending our tax dollars. AND YOU WANT AMERICANS TO BELIEVE YOU CAN BE TRUSTED WITH A GOVERNMENT-RUN HEALTH CARE SYSTEM ??

YOU THINK YOU CAN RUN THE AUTO INDUSTRY….. THE BANKING SYSTEM?????

MAYBE WE OUGHT TO KICK YOUR EGG-HEAD BUDDY BUMS OUT OF OFFICE AND HIRE WALMART TO RUN THE GOVERNMENT ??? WALMART SEEMS TO KNOW HOW TO RUN A BUSINESS…

WHY DON’T YOU GUYS JUST ADMIT IT’S WAY BEYOND YOUR PAY GRADE, AND QUIT?

Folks, keep this circulating. It is very well stated. Maybe it will end up in the e-mails of some of our “duly elected’ (they never read anything) and their staff will clue them in on how Americans feel.

“You can’t fix stupid, but you can vote it out.” 

Quesadilla Pie

A healthy family is a happy family

Here’s a fun take on a tried-and-true favorite.

Here’s what you’ll need:

• 1 (2-lb) rotisserie chicken, skin removed, meat shredded
• 2 cups chunky salsa, divided
• 1/4 cup low-fat sour cream
• 3 (7 1/2-inch) whole-wheat tortillas
• 1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar
• 1 cup raw baby spinach

Let’s get started

1. Preheat oven to 375
2. Combine chicken, 1 cup salsa, and sour cream in a large bowl. Spread 1/2 cup salsa on bottom of a 9-inch deep-dish pie plate.
3. Press 1 tortilla into pie plate; top with half the chicken mixture. Sprinkle with an even layer of cheese and half the spinach. Repeat, reserving about 1/4 cup cheese. Top with final tortilla; spread with remaining 1/2 cup salsa and sprinkle with reserved cheese.
4. Cover with foil; bake 20 minutes. Remove foil and bake 5 more minutes, until cheese melts.
5. To serve, slice into wedges.

Nutrition Facts:

Serves 4. Per serving: 460 cal, 26g carbs, 40g protein, 21g fat, 115mg chol, 1,380mg sodium, 4g fiber.

Works good with shredded Beef and Pork too. I’ve even done something similar with leftover Chili (substitute beans for spinach)

 

A Veterans tribute with just a deck of cards and a beautiful ending.

A Soldier’s Deck of Cards

 

 

Capitalism akbar

After reading the headlines about the US soldier who shot up Afghanistan civilians, I couldn’t help noticing an irony. There is
all this clamor to try this guy quickly and execute him, never mind his having suffered a traumatic brain injury.

Yet this Major Hasan, who shot up Fort Hood while screaming Allah akbar, still hasn’t stood trial, and they are still debating whether he was insane, even with the clear evidence regarding his motive: slay as many infidels as possible.

So we have a guy in a war zone who cracks, and he must be executed immediately.

But this Muslim psychiatrist who was stateside in a nice safe office all day murders 13, wounds 29 of our own guys, and they try to
argue the poor lad suffered post-traumatic stress syndrome, from listening to real soldiers who had actual battle experience. Two and a half years later, they still haven’t tried the murderous bastard.

IMHO that makes the USA, the “Great Satan’ the “most merciful and compassionate”, NOT the followers or Imams of Allah!

Mood buttons for every occasion

We are big around DL/LL Enterprises on non verbal communication with regard to the mood of the top brass here. Our employees find it extremely helpful to know ahead of time when asking for a raise or being the barer of bad news is likely to cause a serious hit to their sick days. Here are a few of the better ones running around our offices.

 

No, I will NOT reveal which of these are Impish’s and which are mine. That would be WAY too easy a shot at Impish and I would never embarrass the big guy that way…Dragon tears stain like mad! I WILL say however several of those buttons in the above collection belong to Mrs. Dragon and to Molly as well as those belonging to Impish and myself.

 

Been quite a spell since I share any tips from me Pot o’ Gold with ye on how to save your own gold by finding things cheaper, for free or locations for decent money saving coupons. Well lets fix that right now with a whole bunch a tips.

Surprising Things You Can Get for Free

By Woman’s Day | Financially Fit – Wed, Mar 14, 2012 6:48 PM EDT

As much as I love the word, I have to admit it makes me suspicious. Just this week I won a “free” vacation, but the fine print says I need to send in a cashier’s check to claim my prize. Sadly, “free” is usually a sneaky way to clean out my wallet. Photo by: Comstock

But every now and then an exception comes along that’s truly free-no strings attached, no hidden agendas. Here are my favorites, and all you really need is an Internet connection to go online.

Business cards
VistaPrint is an online printing company known for its amazing offer of 250 free business cards. They’re good-quality, too. Visit vistaprint.com, create your card and all you have to pay is about five bucks for shipping.

Why’s it free? VistaPrint would like you to join their 12 million customers who buy printing online, so they offer this enticement. Just know that once you get your business cards, you may hear from them a lot.

Expert computer help
If you’ve ever had a computer problem and wanted to pull out your hair in frustration, this is for you. Need to solve a hardware glitch? Want to learn how to use HTML? Submit your question at protonic.com and you’ll get a pretty prompt answer e-mailed to you from a volunteer expert.

Why’s it free? It’s no secret that many computer manufacturers provide mediocre support for their own products and charge good money for it. The folks at Protonic are tired of this sort of treatment, and believe it or not, their service is free because they enjoy helping people.

Spanish lessons
Want to learn the basics of practical spoken Spanish? Sign up (some classes are 12 weeks) and you’ll get weekly e-mails from a teacher with lessons and learning tips. You can also learn French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Greek, Mandarin Chinese and more. Go to bbc.co.uk/languages

Why’s it free? The BBC, one of the world’s largest broadcasting corporations, is on a mission to enrich people’s lives with programs and services that inform, educate and entertain.

Business classes
Learn everything from how to write a business plan to how to finance your venture through the Small Business Administration’s website (sba.gov). Online courses are free and self-paced; they take about 30 minutes each to complete. Free in-person classes are also offered at SBA district offices and resource partners around the country.

Why’s it free? The SBA was created in conjunction with the government to help U.S. citizens learn how to become successful entrepreneurs. Support comes through financing of SBA loans.

Credit report
If you haven’t done this already, do it now. Everyone is entitled to one credit report from each of the three major credit bureaus each year free of charge. Go to annualcreditreport.com and follow the directions. You will be offered many options for which you must pay, but stay on target for the free report. Caution: There are dozens of services on the Internet that pose as sources for free credit reports, but they really cost you money. Ignore them.

Why’s it free? It’s mandated by law, and this site is sponsored by the three major companies-Equifax, TransUnion and Experian.

Wi-Fi hot spots
Would you like to know which restaurants and coffee shops in your neighborhood offer free wireless Internet access? Get a directory at wififreespot.com.

Why’s it free? The company probably wants to build traffic to its site and derives financial support through advertising.

Time-management organizer
Create an up-to-the-minute to-do list complete with reminders via instant message or e-mail through RememberTheMilk.com. Upload Remember The Milk to your cell phone and you’ll always have your grocery list with you. And when someone at home adds to the list while you’re walking into the store, you’ll be sent an update.

Why’s it free? The majority of the site’s features are free, but a subscription ($25 for the year) gives you access to some additional premium features.

Online checking account
Hang on, this is huge. We’re not talking savings account, but an online checking account that is completely free, with no monthly fee attached. Electric Orange, through ING Direct (ingdirect.com ), is a paperless checking account (no checks or checkbook!) that pays you up to 3.4 percent interest on your balance (as of press time). You can do everything-deposit your paycheck, pay bills, send a paper or electronic check, transfer money-securely online. (Of course, you’ll pay a fee if you send paper checks, drop your overdraft line of credit balance below zero or require a stop payment.)

Why’s it free? ING is looking to add new customers. And because they use no paper and have no branches, costs are low.

Cookbooks
The popular website Allrecipes.com, which features recipes from home cooks, now offers free downloadable cookbooks for many occasions (listed under “Tips & Advice”). The pictures are incredible and there are many to choose from. My favorite? Summer Picnics.

Why’s it free? This site derives its revenues through advertising and other sources, so members pay no fees.

Sheet music
Want arrangements of classical pieces for free download? MutopiaProject.org has 1,272 pieces available based on editions in the public domain, including works by Bach, Beethoven, Chopin, Handel, Mozart and many others for piano, guitar, cello, voice and more.

Why’s it free? This is a labor of love by a team of volunteers who are involved in typesetting the music for electronic distribution. High-quality copies are available for a cost, but you’re not pressured to buy them.

Radio service
Pandora.com is like your own personal radio service. You type in an artist, and the service plays songs by that artist and others with a similar style. You can’t download music, but you can listen and manage your own “stations.”

Why’s it free? The site offers a free ad-supported service as well as a paid option where you don’t see ads.

Gently used stuff
One person’s castoff is another person’s treasure at freecycle.org. By joining your local Freecycle chapter, you can get used furniture, household appliances and a variety of other items. Just know that those who take are also expected to give. However, no money is allowed to change hands.

Why’s it free? Freecycle is a grassroots, nonprofit movement of people committed to helping the environment by reusing goods and keeping stuff out of landfills.

Photo organizer
Picasa (picasa.google.com) is a free software download from Google that helps you locate and organize all the photos on your computer. You can edit and add effects, share photos with others through e-mail, print them or upload them to the web. It’s fast and easy.

Why’s it free? Originally a pricey piece of software, Picasa was purchased by Google, then made free as an enhancement to the whole family of Google products.

Directory assistance
If you’re tired of paying a fee each time you dial 411, here’s your alternative. Dial 800-FREE-411, then follow the prompts to get your desired number by phone or text message. Works for both residential and business listings throughout the U.S.

Why’s it free? This service is advertising-driven. You dial in, listen to a 10-second sponsored message, then proceed to get the number you need.

Family calendar
Finally, all the information you need in one place. Famundo.com is an online calendar, address book and message board. The site merges each individual’s schedule into one calendar, which you can access with a personal code from any computer. Very cool.

Why’s it free? The basic free version is ad-supported but not in an in-your-face way. Famundo wouldn’t be upset if you upgraded to the “Plus” version for about $10 a month, but it’s not required, nor will you be hounded.

Original article appeared on WomansDay.com.

Now before some bloody wise guy up and asks… NO I BLOODY WELL DO NOT read Woman’s Day except for when Molly buys it for the recipes because she thinks they sound good to her and then ONLY the recipes!). I saw the article on Yahoo and follow a link to a Yahoo Shine page full of tips.

Got a note from an apparently new reader this week who has evidentially been going thru the back issues archived on the blog site. They want to know…

Were things really going so bad for the Keebler elves that you repossessed their tree house and how did you turn it into a high-rise dwelling? The commercials always show it as a 2 story tree house. Will this impact my supply of Keebler Toll House Cookies adversely?

(Signed)

The Keebler Cookie Monster

Dear Keebler Cookie Monster~

Don’t worry about your cookie supply, I may have evicted those elves from the tree house but I leased them Bilbo Baggun’s Hobbit hole (pictured here)

Up in the Texas Hill Country to make their cookies out of. They could more easily afford the space because the overhead on it is much lower <snicker>.

As far as the Keebler tree house, now known as Keebler Towers goes…

That ain’t no damp moss covered giant mushroom you’re looking at KCM! As to how I converted it into a high rise from what appeared to be a two story tree dwelling;

1.) Trees naturally grow and the representation you see of it in those commercials was done over 40 years ago as a set for filming those commercials.

2.) When you take into account the growth rate of trees in a magic forest exposed to magic being done everyday, is it nay wonder I had room to expand? (I also have to say that when it comes to fertilizer, fairy poop beats Miracle Grow & Bat guano hands down!)

3.) What you see in commercials is not reality. Keebler had already expanded to 3 adjacent trees and four levels in most of them before I foreclosed.

Thanks for writing in KCM and thanks for reading DL/LL!

 

It’s Illegal To Do That

February 27, 2012 by The Underground Conservative

John Stossel’s Illegal Everything is an insightful look at just how much our basic freedoms and liberties have been infringed upon by an out-of-control government.

 

Well-known horror stories like local authorities bullying children into shutting down lemonade stands and ceasing front-yard sales of Girl Scout cookies. criminal prosecution of individuals holding Bible studies in their homes and mind-numbing encounters with the bullies from the EPA. Yes, government bureaucrats terrorizing ordinary citizens because of endless federal regulations. One of the people Stossel interviewed was a man who spent six years in prison for breaking a Honduran regulation on packing lobsters.

Stossel is a well-known libertarian. One of the topics he tackles is the issue of legalization of drugs. He spent some time talking with individuals in Portugal about the effects of nationwide decriminalization of drugs. It’s an issue dear to the heart of most libertarians and one on which I have mixed emotions. While I believe Americans have the freedom to destroy their bodies in any manner they wish, when taxpayers are required to support and even enable that destruction, then that freedom stops. How so? Drug addicts have been granted access by well-meaning liberals to SSI and SSDI. Drug addicts have been determined to have a disability by federal bureaucrats and federal judges and have been granted protection by the Americans With Disabilities Act.

Once access to SSI and SSDI has been cut off — that’s my tax dollars, for those of you who graduated from Racine Unified — and ADA protection eliminated, you can poison your bodies all you want as long as I don’t have to pay for it. The same basic premise will dictate the government’s “right” to tell you what you are allowed to eat and drink, too, once ObamaCare kicks into full effect. Since the government is paying the bills, the government can dictate what you eat, what you drink, how you live. Just like Mommy and Daddy did when you were a child.

How’s that Nanny State that so many Americans love when it comes to someone else’s life working out for you again?

 

Employers asking for applicants Facebook username, password in interview process

Published: Tuesday, March 20, 2012 By The Associated Press

SEATTLE — When Justin Bassett interviewed for a new job, he expected the usual questions about experience and references. So he was astonished when the interviewer asked for something else: his Facebook username and password.
Bassett, a New York City statistician, had just finished answering a few character questions when the interviewer turned to her computer to search for his Facebook page. But she couldn’t see his private profile. She turned back and asked him to hand over his login information.
Bassett refused and withdrew his application, saying he didn’t want to work for a company that would seek such personal information. But as the job market steadily improves, other job candidates are confronting the same question from prospective employers, and some of them cannot afford to say no.
In their efforts to vet applicants, some companies and government agencies are going beyond merely glancing at a person’s social networking profiles and instead asking to log in as the user to have a look around.

“It’s akin to requiring someone’s house keys,” said Orin Kerr, a George Washington University law professor and former federal prosecutor who calls it “an egregious privacy violation.”
Questions have been raised about the legality of the practice, which is also the focus of proposed legislation in Illinois and Maryland that would forbid public agencies from asking for access to social networks.
Since the rise of social networking, it has become common for managers to review publically available Facebook profiles, Twitter accounts and other sites to learn more about job candidates. But many users, especially on Facebook, have their profiles set to private, making them available only to selected people or certain networks.
Companies that don’t ask for passwords have taken other steps — such as asking applicants to friend human resource managers or to log in to a company computer during an interview. Once employed, some workers have been required to sign nondisparagement agreements that ban them from talking negatively about an employer on social media.
Asking for a candidate’s password is more prevalent among public agencies, especially those seeking to fill law enforcement positions such as police officers or 911 dispatchers.
Back in 2010, Robert Collins was returning to his job as a security guard at the Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services after taking a leave following his mother’s death. During a reinstatement interview, he was asked for his login and password, purportedly so the agency could check for any gang affiliations. He was stunned by the request but complied.

“I needed my job to feed my family. I had to,” he recalled,
After the ACLU complained about the practice, the agency amended its policy, asking instead for job applicants to log in during interviews.
“To me, that’s still invasive. I can appreciate the desire to learn more about the applicant, but it’s still a violation of people’s personal privacy,” said Collins, whose case inspired Maryland’s legislation.
Until last year, the city of Bozeman, Mont., had a long-standing policy of asking job applicants for passwords to their email addresses, social-networking websites and other online accounts.
And since 2006, the McLean County, Ill., sheriff’s office has been one of several Illinois sheriff’s departments that ask applicants to sign into social media sites to be screened.
Chief Deputy Rusty Thomas defended the practice, saying applicants have a right to refuse. But no one has ever done so. Thomas said that “speaks well of the people we have apply.”
When asked what sort of material would jeopardize job prospects, Thomas said “it depends on the situation” but could include “inappropriate pictures or relationships with people who are underage, illegal behavior.”
In Spotsylvania County, Va., the sheriff’s department asks applicants to friend background investigators for jobs at the 911 dispatch center and for law enforcement positions.
“In the past, we’ve talked to friends and neighbors, but a lot of times we found that applicants interact more through social media sites than they do with real friends,” said Capt. Mike Harvey. “Their virtual friends will know more about them than a person living 30 yards away from them.”
Harvey said investigators look for any “derogatory” behavior that could damage the agency’s reputation.

E. Chandlee Bryan, a career coach and co-author of the book “The Twitter Job Search Guide,” said job seekers should always be aware of what’s on their social media sites and assume someone is going to look at it.
Bryan said she is troubled by companies asking for logins, but she feels it’s not violation if an employer asks to see a Facebook profile through a friend request. And she’s not troubled by non-disparagement agreements.
“I think that when you work for a company, they are essentially supporting you in exchange for your work. I think if you’re dissatisfied, you should go to them and not on a social media site,” she said.
More companies are also using third-party applications to scour Facebook profiles, Bryan said. One app called BeKnown can sometimes access personal profiles, short of wall messages, if a job seeker allows it.
Sears is one of the companies using apps. An applicant has the option of logging into the Sears job site through Facebook by allowing a third-party application to draw information from the profile, such as friend lists.
Sears Holdings Inc. spokeswoman Kim Freely said using a Facebook profile to apply allows Sears to be updated on the applicant’s work history.The company assumes “that people keep their social profiles updated to the minute, which allows us to consider them for other jobs in the future or for ones that they may not realize are available currently,” she said.
Giving out Facebook login information violates the social network’s terms of service. But those terms have no real legal weight, and experts say the legality of asking for such information remains murky.
The Department of Justice regards it as a federal crime to enter a social networking site in violation of the terms of service, but during recent congressional testimony, the agency said such violations would not be prosecuted.
But Lori Andrews, law professor at IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law specializing in Internet privacy, is concerned about the pressure placed on applicants, even if they voluntarily provide access to social sites.

“Volunteering is coercion if you need a job,” Andrews said.
Neither Facebook nor Twitter responded to repeated requests for comment.
In New York, Bassett considered himself lucky that he was able to turn down the consulting gig at a lobbying firm.
“I think asking for account login credentials is regressive,” he said. “If you need to put food on the table for your three kids, you can’t afford to stand up for your belief.”

LOL where do I start on this one? Such fertile material and so little time, space and reader’s attention span!

1.) We need to punch this preverbal camel right in the nose with a horseshoe loaded boxing glove just as hard and fast as we can. IMHO this represents (aside from the obvious another unwarranted intrusion into your personal life) a giant step backwards in employer/employee relations. Unions have recently suffered HUGE set backs and concessions because of the recession and the resulting number of corporations looking for “give backs” to avoid bankruptcy or the need for a bailout. This is simply another manifestation of Corporations trying to set the clock back to the 1930s when they were at the peak of their power and control over their employees and their personal lives. I am reminded of employees living in company towns getting paid with company script and forced to shop in company stores. In effect the company you worked for under those conditions OWNED  you and kept you in debt to them so you could not quit could not bitch about your hours and we’re permitted nothing the company did not want you to have or do.

What’s that I hear some one foolishly calling out?

But Lethal some of them only want me to sign in so they can see my page they are not asking for my password!

Ever hear of key loggers? Published estimates in business media of 75% of a company’s band width and 25% of total employee time being devoted to personal use of the Internet.  Computer Security Institute (CSI) in San Francisco working with the FBI has done research on computer security and illegal behavior of workers and found out 90% of companies suffered from computer security breaches, and of the 45% of those that calculated the cost the total cost was estimated around $455,848. Among the most expensive part of the loss was related to financial fraud and stealing of intellectual properties. 80% of companies in the research suffered from financial loss in relation to their employees. Is it therefore any surprise that employee monitoring is a growth industry or that the FIRST thing employers ask about is key logging software? I should know I’m in the Cyber-Security business and I get as many calls about installing it as I do from angry employees wanting to know how to circumvent it!

Employee monitoring can be a invasion of privacy if it is not handled right. At the same time employee monitoring does not not have to invade the privacy of the employees, if it is done properly. However, the lines and leeway for invading the privacy of prospective or potential employees (the difference between the 2 is that prospective employees have been culled from the pool of potentials for a hard look as having met the baseline requirements for the job.) Now doing thorough investigations on prospective employees may be in some circumstance warranted but having access to the personal information of everyone who comes through the door? I think not!

Even the law recognizes (at least so far) that an employers right to monitor employees relates ONLY to an Employers computers and work done on them because it is in effect the property ( real and intellectual) of the employer.  (For those interested you can get a pretty good idea of the law concerning this area here: http://www.staffmonitoring.com/P32/thelaw.htm)

1.a.) Let us assume hypothetically for a moment that you are not concerned or upset with this POSSIBLY employer asking for all this personal information ( you despicable closet liberal you!) and you give it to them but fail to obtain any employment with them. Does anyone know FOR SURE what happens to the records of those who don’t make the cut? I do, they go into storage “someplace” within the company for varying periods of time. Is that storage secure? Not really, it’s likely in some remote out of the way place in the facility. Are the people handling those records trustworthy? Just as trustworthy a minimum wage bottom rung of the ladder menial worker minions can be!

After the company determines the records are no longer needed what happens to them? Dumpster time! Are those records shredded or disposed of securely? Eh maybe then again maybe not. Securely disposing of records requires time and expense. At a minimum either someone has to run them thru a shredder by had or you have to rent one of those big jobs that will take a whole file box full in a single gulp for a day. Do you REALLY believe that a company that didn’t think enough of you to hire a year a go is going to give a second thought to protecting your personal info in an employment application when if something happens its unlikely you can prove they were responsible for the loss of that info? Yes your expressions of jaded doubt & arched eyebrows smirking in derision are exactly my point!

2.) Remember all my “preaching to the choir” about the liberals and their insidious intrusion via the schools that think they have a right to dictate your kids personal rights and behavior right down to interfering with and censoring their free speech AFTER school is out? See any parallels here? IF the schools do not (or at least SHOULD not have the right to monitor your child’s off campus after hours behavior, why should corporations have the right to monitor yours?

As a minor aside point, this has been going on for so long now that those first subjected to this sort of intrusion have been brainwashed into believing there is nothing wrong with this sort of over the top behavior and graduated into the workforce. We are in effect reaping the benefits of that weed of intrusion which we did not object to being sown at the time.

In both situations the issue of disparaging remarks is often touted as a key issue claiming they are simply trying to defend against damage to their reputations. How conveniently that shield is to hide behind when things SHOULD be coming out! The question regarding the VALIDITY of the disparaging remarks is never asked you are simply wrong, automatically guilty and subjected to their will for having made it in the first place! I am reminded of something an Insurance Argent told me a long time ago, I had something of a show car when I was deployed it spent most of its time in a storage facility. At their recommendation I looked into theft and vandalism insurance which was prohibitively high. When I asked why it was so high I was told that the industries experience was that the only people who wanted such insurance were the ones that expected to need it and therefore the risk was so much greater hence the excessive pricing. If you ask me the same logic applies to Corporations seeking the right to monitor( by friending an HR employee, by requiring your Facebook page to be and remain public as a condition of your employment or by requiring you to sign a Non-disparage Agreement, namely that only them that figure they are going to have reason or know damned right well they are intent on less than ethical treatment of employees would be the one requiring these things in the absence of any other compelling reason

3.) This is but one of several reasons I avoid the entire social networking thing like an envelope suspected of containing an unidentified white powder or any container, packaging with the biohazard symbol on it or talking to liberals. The potential for disaster is just too damned great. Play a gain get a nasty nearly impossible to remove Trojan virus for your troubles. Laugh at a politically incorrect joke someone else posts on your wall there by offending some faceless HR drone at a potential employer, loser the job opportunity. Hell it doesn’t even have to be YOUR doing! Some one post a 25 year old spring break picture on their facebook page or the page say of your class reunion which is linked to yours and that bored HR drone decides to “get a sense of what you are like” by the company you keep and BANG! you’re screwed out of that job yet again!

4.) Finally on a slightly off tangent but still related point this sort of situation is exactly why I recommend you maintain at least 2 of everything, 2 e-mail addresses, 2 social networking accounts (if you absolutely MUST join in the Internet equivalent of the CB fad), 2 IM names, etc. YOU keep one strictly and virtuously professional and impeccable under as generic and vague a form of your real name as possible ( to help protect you from identity theft and embarrassment) and you use the other  one the one with the made up screen name (what? You thought Lethal Leprechaun, a.k.a. S. Phibber McGee was my REAL name?) for your everyday mucking about with friends family etc. When you do this you absolutely do not post photos to publically accessible accounts! Personally I would prefer my clients did not even post them on private accounts however if they feel strongly about it private  password protected and permission to see are absolute musts.

This way when liberal schooled privacy invading HR drones demand your accounts and their locations you can give them the clean ones that are directly linked to your name and publically accessible (Likely they will have already done a search under your name before hand and know there is an account- a another test to see if you are truthful or think you have something to hide, would prefer they don’t know about or outright think is none of their business (not an attitude compatible with Big Brother Business’s Big Camel Nose in your life.) Then if they ask you if there are any other accounts “under your name” you can look them in the eye and answer truthfully and legally “I am unaware of any other accounts under my name.” You answer the exact same way if they ask you “do you have any other accounts?”

 As long as you have kept both sets of accounts religiously and scrupulously separate and the screen name account PRIVATE not public you should be safe, good to go and legally protected. Let your lawyer argue letter of the question and its answer versus spirit of the question if it ever gets to that, it’s what they are for and good at.

In closing I think the BEST attitude and way of handling this situation head on was expressed by my friend Bob A. who hails from as he calls it “the Seattle Rust and Moss Farming Belt” who is an occasional reader of our fine blog (poor SOB lives so far out in the boonies that he cannot get cable or DSL and has to make due with Dial UP being short of coin to afford the satellite based alternatives). We were discussing this subject as a result of his asking if I had a Facebook page as I was writing this Parting Shot and his retort when I informed him of this relatively recent privacy invasion development was:

I’d tell them sure you can have mine..just as soon as you, your Department head the person I’ll be ultimately be working for and the owner of this company give me your personal passwords in exchange. If there is nothing wrong with you people invading my privacy and going thru my files then the same view should hold true for me going through yours. Wadda ya say? You folks show me your privates [social networking accounts] and  I’ll show you mine. Otherwise lets forget you exhibited the unprofessionalism and bad taste to attempt such a blatant invasion of my personal privacy and move on shall we?

That’s a pretty damned good solution if you are in a position to walk away from the interview without worrying about the possibility of having deliberately thrown away a potential job to stand up for your principles and a darn hard act to follow up on so I’m not even about to try.

ROFL ok so I was apparently wrong about that. No sooner had I finished tweaking the issue and uploading it to the blog for auto posting (my goal each week is to have the next issue uploaded and ready no later than the Sunday before by 8 PM) than  the following article rolled across my other screen. While its nice to have my position some what vindicated and championed, couldn’t they have done it earlier for easy inclusion?? DEADLINES gentlemen! We writers live and die by them!

New York senator joins Blumenthal in asking feds to investigate employer requests for Facebook passwords

Published: Sunday, March 25, 2012 By The Associated Press

SEATTLE — Two U.S. senators are asking Attorney General Eric Holder to investigate whether employers asking for Facebook passwords during job interviews are violating federal law, their offices announced Sunday.
Troubled by reports of the practice, Democratic Sens. Chuck Schumer of New York and Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut said they are calling on the Department of Justice and the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to launch investigations. The senators are sending letters to the heads of the agencies.
The Associated Press reported last week that some private and public agencies around the country are asking job seekers for their social media credentials. The practice has alarmed privacy advocates, but the legality of it remains murky.
On Friday, Facebook warned employers not to ask job applicants for their passwords to the site so they can poke around on their profiles. The company threatened legal action against applications that violate its long-standing policy against sharing passwords.

A Facebook executive cautioned that if an employer discovers that a job applicant is a member of a protected group, the employer may be vulnerable to claims of discrimination if it doesn’t hire that person.
Personal information such as gender, race, religion and age are often displayed on a Facebook profile — all details that are protected by federal employment law.
“We don’t think employers should be asking prospective employees to provide their passwords because we don’t think it’s the right thing to do. While we do not have any immediate plans to take legal action against any specific employers, we look forward to engaging with policy makers and other stakeholders, to help better safeguard the privacy of our users,” Facebook said in a statement.
Not sharing passwords is a basic tenet of online conduct. Aside from the privacy concerns, Facebook considers the practice a security risk.
“In an age where more and more of our personal information — and our private social interactions — are online, it is vital that all individuals be allowed to determine for themselves what personal information they want to make public and protect personal information from their would-be employers. This is especially important during the job-seeking process, when all the power is on one side of the fence,” Schumer said in a statement.
Specifically, the senators want to know if this practice violates the Stored Communications Act or the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. Those two acts, respectively, prohibit intentional access to electronic information without authorization and intentional access to a computer without authorization to obtain information.

The senators also want to know whether two court cases relating to supervisors asking current employees for social media credentials could be applied to job applicants.
“I think it’s going to take some years for courts to decide whether Americans in the digital age have the same privacy rights” as previous generations, American Civil Liberties Union attorney Catherine Crump said in a previous interview with the AP.
The senators also said they are drafting a bill to fill in any gaps that current laws don’t cover.
Maryland and Illinois are considering bills that would bar public agencies for asking for this information.
In California, Democratic Sen. Leland Yee introduced a bill that would prohibit employers from asking current employees or job applicants for their social media user names or passwords. That state measure also would bar employers from requiring access to employees’ and applicants’ social media content, to prevent employers from requiring logins or printouts of that content for their review.

WELL! Two DEMOCRATIC U.S. Senators plus a state senator from arguably the most liberal of the fifty states all thinking like me! That tells me I must be spot on target with my view on this privacy infringement. The only two things that worry me now are if Obama’s minion and flunky Holder will do the right thing or rule again in favor of Big Brother and the Nanny State. From where I sit its a coin toss. The Obama Administration despite the bailouts is NOT considered a friend of big business but IS in favor of being as intrusive in your life as it can possibly be.

That was the first thing, the second thing that worries me is having these 3 liberal Democrats agree with my position. It’s a little like that old saw about 1 in 4 people being crazy. Look at 3 of your closest friends, if they are not crazy, you must be. My concern is, does them thinking like me make them Common Sense Centrists or me a closet liberal? Come to think of it why is it the DEMOCRATS that are raising a stink about the invasion of personal privacy? Where are the Republicans and why are they silent on this issue? Damn! Now I am REALLY worried!

Until next we meet….

Well ONE of Great Uncle Brian’s Leprechauns at any rate!

Please Note:

No trees were killed in the publishing of this blog. However, a large number of electrons were terribly inconvenienced.

Just a quick update my camper friends, after class today, my coworker and I went to the World Famous Stockyards of Ft. Worth!

And what are the stockyards famous for?  Well, steers actually.  And what did we see?

Elephants and Camels,

a circus, Mini horses

 

 

 

But not a cow in the bunch….unless you count the one that we stood besideSo, we thought we’d make up for it with dinner, because where there’s beef, there’s steak.  But we discovered why there weren’t any cows around the stockyard!  They are an endangered species!  They must be!  Because at those prices, it’s not like they must be plentiful!  I ain’t paying forty bucks for a steak!  For that prices, that cow better jump up on the plate and cut itself up!
So, what did we dine on at the world famous Ft. Worth Stockyards?
Italian!

And that stuff was good!

Till next time!  Cheers my friends!