Papamoka Straight Talk

Facebook Timeline

2012-01-27T09:23:00.006-06:00

If you are the kind of person that enjoys your privacy then chances are you do not have a facebook account. Facebook is what one might call a useless addiction. For some unknown reason people readily open up their most inner thoughts on its pages for the public to see. For those of you that are not facebook users aka addicts, its like writing in you personal diary but everything you write appears on a billboard advertisement on every highway across the world.

Some employers before hiring you will actually check your facebook pages to see what kind of person you are and if your personal life is normal or a train wreck. For all the folks that blurt every thought they have ever had, good, bad, and the ugliest, it's time to change your ways. And as some people think, facebook has become Big Brother of George Orwell fame.

Everyone should be aware that facebook is coming out with mandatory changes called "Timeline" where everything you have ever written on facebook can be easily reached by all. You will have seven days to go back years and delete every single post one at a time. Check it out here...

BOSTON -- If you are one of the 50 percent of Americans who are Facebook members, it's time to do some housekeeping. Within the next few weeks, a new design called Timeline will replace old profile pages. And that means everything you've ever done in your Facebook history will be resurrected.

Read more: http://www.thebostonchannel.com/news/30308285/detail.html#ixzz1kfoBeRgZ

Many people have opted into the new Timeline format on facebook and many more have not. Personally, I don't care for it. And the old saying stands true as always. If you don't like something you can't change then you have the choice to not use it. Facebook is not giving you an option. You will be assimilated into the collective of Timeline. Resistance is futile. (Borg accent) Facebook just made your online footprint bigger than life for all to see.

Breakout your erasers. You have seven days to erase and delete everything you have ever said that might be ever so embarrassing.

Papamoka

Obama and Brewer Debate

2012-01-27T07:25:00.004-06:00

I keep finding interesting translations of the Obama Brewer finger pointing event at the airport in Arizona. This one I borrowed from Facebook...

Papamoka

Starting A Green Energy Company

2012-01-14T13:50:00.007-06:00

I've decided to make the move and finally start my own Green Energy Company. I am obsessed with the idea of building solar hot air heaters. After months and months of research and experimentation I think that I can build a solar hot air heater that works beyond the expectations of most consumers and many commercial applications. It can and will save consumers and business owners a large share of the heating costs when the sun is shinning.

I'm thinking that the majority of my business will come from commercial green companies that work only during the day. Free heat is good for the bottom line during the winter months. Heating a manufacturing area or office space would be the ultimate goal of the solar hot air heater I have designed. It can pump out free heat from nine in the morning till almost three in the afternoon and the system can be expanded with duct work to heat multiple areas. My heat retention systems inside the unit will hold the heat when the sun is clouded over thus saving time for the reheating process. The average hot air duct on a gas forced air heater is around 160F give or take. My unit can meet that and beat it. The concept is new and unconventional but it works.

I'm starting this adventure knowing that every step is a learning opportunity and the benefits of doing it are not only mine but the environments as well. Every renewable energy source that can be used to offset a home budget or business budget is money available for other needs. Times are tough right now and if I can be of help with my garage designed solar hot air heater then I am more than glad to do so.

Check back soon to see when Papamoka is hiring solar hot air box builders and hiring heating and cooling installers. Building the economy on new green energy products is a new industry and I'm jumping at it. Wish me luck.

Papamoka

Mass Senate Seat Up for Grabs

2012-01-12T20:12:00.006-06:00

In the eyes of the nation the second chair in the US Senate still belongs to the Liberal Lion, former Senator Teddy Kennedy. He was the spokesman for the liberal left on what our government should be doing for the middle and lower class folks. And if you think about it in regards to tax revenue for the US Treasury, that is where the bulk of the cash comes from. Why not use it for programs to help the middle and lower classes? That is what Teddy Kennedy did all of his years in the senate, he gave back. And then some.

In politics it is a known fact that Massachusetts is one of the bluest of the blue states with a Democrat majority. How Scott Brown won Teddy Kennedy's seat is or was a culture shock. And honestly, I don't see how he can keep it. His political party is out of line with what most people of the state think or believe. He can't be counted on from a Democrat state to stand up for what the people of his own state want if he is to perform in step with his Republican members of the senate. You can't sit on the fence and get things actually done. It would be curious to see how many times his vote in the senate canceled out Senator Kerry's? I don't have the facts but I am curious.

The politics of the campaign for this senate seat are heating up and the chances of Elizabeth Warren actually unseating him are looking better and better. One key choice of words including this name, Karl Rove, need to be repeated over and over in television ads and radio commercials until people actually get who is in the background of Scott Brown's campaign. Karl Rove by the way is the only reason George W. Bush was elected President, not once but twice. He gets the job done and I give him credit for having an incredible political sense of genius. But the undoing of Scott Brown is the constant reminder to the good people of Massachusetts is that they are voting for someone that Karl Rove believes to be a good Republican just like George W. Bush was. NOT THE LIBERAL LION! He just plays one on tv.

Papamoka

PA Governor to Save Millionaires

2012-01-10T19:31:00.004-06:00

How do you save a millionaire? You take the food away from babies with parents that can not find jobs. When the economy is as bad as it is every possible morsel of food for fat rich dudes wearing suits counts. Looking at the picture of the good Governor though it looks like he could use a few weeks away from the public trough so to speak.

PA Governor Corbett (R no shit) is declaring war on food stamps to save money. Stimulate growth (crime rate) and create jobs (criminal ones). We need more Republican's like this governor to stimulate the economy during these robust times. Why on earth should someone be on food stamps when you can get a job anywhere. Everyone is hiring, and at good pay for good long term jobs. Besides, everyone knows that obesity among minorities is high and they are the "One's" sucking off the public to eat. Let those babies go a couple of months without food and loose those unhealthy pounds.

Needless to say, in national politics, we need more people on the GOP side to act like this so the folks on the other side of the fence look like saints. Here is the article clip...

Republican Gov. Tom Corbett has announced a major assault on the food stamp program that feeds 1.8 million Pennsylvanians, including 439,245 in Philadelphia. Pennsylvania's Department of Public Welfare announced that on May 1, people under 60 with more than $2,000 in savings or other assets will be barred from receiving food stamps. People over 60 would have a $3,250 cap.

... the move to cut food stamps is way out of line with what other states are doing: “Pennsylvania plans to make the amount of food stamps that people receive contingent on the assets they possess — an unexpected move that bucks national trends and places the commonwealth among a minority of states.”

The trend during the Great Recession, with millions falling into poverty, has been to remove such barriers to assistance. Gov. Ed Rendell eliminated the state's asset test in 2008. Pennsylvania now joins 11 states with asset tests — including Indiana, Kansas, Missouri and South Dakota. - City Paper

Papamoka

What is Truth

2012-01-02T16:38:00.004-06:00

A friend that I have much faith and belief in asked me to write a post about what is truth. Truth is almost an oxymoron. Depending on your perspective of what you perceive or see then the truth is what you want to see and believe. Albert Einstein had a theory about the speed of light that more or less said that it could not be broken. But in truth, if you see an object from a great distance traveling at the speed of light then you are actually seeing something that breaks his theory down to simple perception. It will move across the night sky quickly but slow enough for the eye to see. Isn't that what truth comes down too? You see what what you want to see?

Ten people can see the same situation and come away with ten different perceptions or ideas of what the truth is. Pick a subject, be it any situation in your everyday life. Ten people in line at a checkout counter may all see that the clerk manning the register is slow but the clerk manning the register sees that the scanner is broken and just trying to do their job as quickly as the broken machine will let them do it. Ten angry customers will still come through the line. Any law enforcement officer will tell you that if there are five witnesses to a crime they will come up with five different stories as to what they saw and what the truth is. To them it was what they perceived.

Put yourself in the perspective of the broken machine at the supermarket. We are all human and sometimes we break down and have faults in our operating systems. As that machine are you not upset that you can not function properly? The truth is like that. It only comes out once all of the facts come out. Or the company comes to the realization that the machine is broken. The company would be you trying to fix that machine.

Some people like to mangle the truth for their own personal gain but the truth is like an air bubble in a fish tank. It always floats to the top and in doing so provides life saving oxygen for the fish in that tank. No matter how you try and manipulate the truth be it in your personal life or work or even politics, it will always come to the surface. It is a battle that can never be won if you try to suppress it.

It has been said by some that you need to lie to move forward in certain situation but that is still a lie that is hiding some other ulterior motive. If you have confidence in your own personal being then you need not lie about anything to anyone. If you have faith in your gut that your decisions in your life are right then there is no doubt or shame. My question is how you decide the choices that the truth gives you when it comes to the many situations that the truth gives to you. I think the answer to that is how you used your choices before and how you feel about them today.

Can the truth hurt you? Absolutely, but it still is the truth. Can we learn from the truth? Absolutely! Only the truth in your life can make you stronger and a better person. If you choose to live in a lie then you always will have doubts no matter what the lie is but the truth is a light and beacon that never fades. It can't. It is your own self conscious telling you where your path should be.

We live our lives in uncertainty and if you picture it as a dark room with a door ajar, on the other side of that door is a bright light. That bright light is you. All of the darkness in the room has no meaning if you continue your life in search of the truth. Nothing else matters as long as you continue to walk towards that door with the light in it. That is the truth of your life.

The truth will set you free. Words to live by. The true test of living you life in truth is how you perceive it. When someone questions your truth then you need to ask questions of yourself and others and let those bubbles float to the top. It is the path of those bubbles rising to the top that is the discussions or arguments or understandings that two or more souls come together to recognize as the truth.

Papamoka

UPS Store Screw Fest at Christmas

2011-12-19T20:31:00.005-06:00

I went to the UPS store to ship a couple of packages for Christmas and got royally screwed over. Mind you, I needed them to box up the two packages and I have no problem paying for that service. I didn't have time. My problem is the actual freight charges for a 5 pound box and a six pound box, both with a guaranteed delivery date before Christmas. Keep in mind I was in panic mode and wanted to make sure that my kids and my grandchild received their packages before Christmas. I was at the UPS Store on December 19th and the packages would arrive Thursday December 22nd.

At the UPS Store, which by the way is owned by Mailboxes Etc, they charged me $40.96 for the five pound package and $93.51 for the six pound package. Add the cost of the boxes and you end up with a total screwing over of $146.70 with tax of $.096. They were nice enough to offer not to charge me for putting the items in the actual boxes I paid them for.

I placed a call to UPS and they told me that I had to call the 888 number for Mailboxes Etc. They could not help me. They did tell me that I got screwed. Mailboxes Etc. was closed and I didn't want to bother at that point since UPS already told me that each UPS Store is privately owned as a franchise.

Note to self. Use FedEx or the USPS next year and do it earlier. I will never use UPS for any of my business and personal needs in the future. And as you can see, this nationally known blog is pissed at UPS because they own the overcharge after everything is said and done. Their name is on the store.

$146.70 to ship two packages weighing a total of 11 pounds with a three day delivery is gross overcharging and abuse of consumers prior to Christmas. I'll be fighting with them on the phone.

Papamoka

US Military Powers Turned on Americans

2011-12-03T14:53:00.011-06:00

This is one of the most strange issues I have come across in a long time when it comes to the Congress and the President passing a bill to basically fund and authorize the activities of our United States Military. I happened to get this link (working link to read the actual bill on Naturalnews.com) from a really pretty girl that thinks my blog is awesome and she thinks I'm pretty hug-gable but I need not reveal who my girlfriend is other than the fact that you should check out the following links when it comes to your basic American rights.

The basic summation is that the US Military can be authorized to detain indefinitely citizens of the United States here in America based on requirements that are not defined in the bill. The requirements can be defined in any manner if you are protesting against the US Government and the military could have the authority to pick you up off the street and detain you with a simple label of terrorist. Even if you were protesting against the wars.

The ACLU is up in arms over Senate Bill S1867 because of two sections of the bill, 1031 & 1032. Check it out at the ACLU site. HERE or read the actual bill sections below.

Here is the actual language in question:

S.1867

National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012 (Engrossed in Senate [Passed Senate] - ES)

Subtitle D--Detainee Matters

SEC. 1031. AFFIRMATION OF AUTHORITY OF THE ARMED FORCES OF THE UNITED STATES TO DETAIN COVERED PERSONS PURSUANT TO THE AUTHORIZATION FOR USE OF MILITARY FORCE.

(a) In General- Congress affirms that the authority of the President to use all necessary and appropriate force pursuant to the Authorization for Use of Military Force (Public Law 107-40) includes the authority for the Armed Forces of the United States to detain covered persons (as defined in subsection (b)) pending disposition under the law of war.

(b) Covered Persons- A covered person under this section is any person as follows:

(1) A person who planned, authorized, committed, or aided the terrorist attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001, or harbored those responsible for those attacks.

(2) A person who was a part of or substantially supported al-Qaeda, the Taliban, or associated forces that are engaged in hostilities against the United States or its coalition partners, including any person who has committed a belligerent act or has directly supported such hostilities in aid of such enemy forces.

(c) Disposition Under Law of War- The disposition of a person under the law of war as described in subsection (a) may include the following:

(1) Detention under the law of war without trial until the end of the hostilities authorized by the Authorization for Use of Military Force.

(2) Trial under chapter 47A of title 10, United States Code (as amended by the Military Commissions Act of 2009 (title XVIII of Public Law 111-84)).

(3) Transfer for trial by an alternative court or competent tribunal having lawful jurisdiction.

(4) Transfer to the custody or control of the person's country of origin, any other foreign country, or any other foreign entity.

(d) Construction- Nothing in this section is intended to limit or expand the authority of the President or the scope of the Authorization for Use of Military Force.

(e) Authorities- Nothing in this section shall be construed to affect existing law or authorities, relating to the detention of United States citizens, lawful resident aliens of the United States or any other persons who are captured or arrested in the United States.

(f) Requirement for Briefings of Congress- The Secretary of Defense shall regularly brief Congress regarding the application of the authority described in this section, including the organizations, entities, and individuals considered to be `covered persons' for purposes of subsection (b)(2).

SEC. 1032. REQUIREMENT FOR MILITARY CUSTODY.

(a) Custody Pending Disposition Under Law of War-

(1) IN GENERAL- Except as provided in paragraph (4), the Armed Forces of the United States shall hold a person described in paragraph (2) who is captured in the course of hostilities authorized by the Authorization for Use of Military Force (Public Law 107-40) in military custody pending disposition under the law of war.

(2) COVERED PERSONS- The requirement in paragraph (1) shall apply to any person whose detention is authorized under section 1031 who is determined--

(A) to be a member of, or part of, al-Qaeda or an associated force that acts in coordination with or pursuant to the direction of al-Qaeda; and

(B) to have participated in the course of planning or carrying out an attack or attempted attack against the United States or its coalition partners.

(3) DISPOSITION UNDER LAW OF WAR- For purposes of this subsection, the disposition of a person under the law of war has the meaning given in section 1031(c), except that no transfer otherwise described in paragraph (4) of that section shall be made unless consistent with the requirements of section 1033.

(4) WAIVER FOR NATIONAL SECURITY- The Secretary of Defense may, in consultation with the Secretary of State and the Director of National Intelligence, waive the requirement of paragraph (1) if the Secretary submits to Congress a certification in writing that such a waiver is in the national security interests of the United States.

(b) Applicability to United States Citizens and Lawful Resident Aliens-

(1) UNITED STATES CITIZENS- The requirement to detain a person in military custody under this section does not extend to citizens of the United States.

(2) LAWFUL RESIDENT ALIENS- The requirement to detain a person in military custody under this section does not extend to a lawful resident alien of the United States on the basis of conduct taking place within the United States, except to the extent permitted by the Constitution of the United States.

(1) IN GENERAL- Not later than 60 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the President shall issue, and submit to Congress, procedures for implementing this section.

(2) ELEMENTS- The procedures for implementing this section shall include, but not be limited to, procedures as follows:

(A) Procedures designating the persons authorized to make determinations under subsection (a)(2) and the process by which such determinations are to be made.

(B) Procedures providing that the requirement for military custody under subsection (a)(1) does not require the interruption of ongoing surveillance or intelligence gathering with regard to persons not already in the custody or control of the United States.

(C) Procedures providing that a determination under subsection (a)(2) is not required to be implemented until after the conclusion of an interrogation session which is ongoing at the time the determination is made and does not require the interruption of any such ongoing session.

(D) Procedures providing that the requirement for military custody under subsection (a)(1) does not apply when intelligence, law enforcement, or other government officials of the United States are granted access to an individual who remains in the custody of a third country.

(E) Procedures providing that a certification of national security interests under subsection (a)(4) may be granted for the purpose of transferring a covered person from a third country if such a transfer is in the interest of the United States and could not otherwise be accomplished.

(d) Effective Date- This section shall take effect on the date that is 60 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, and shall apply with respect to persons described in subsection (a)(2) who are taken into the custody or brought under the control of the United States on or after that effective date.I am by far not a lawyer or ever want to be one but the idea that the US Military would be or could be directed against its own people, inside our own country, is an indirect possibility of S1867. The power it gives to the President is vague. The White House is ready to veto the bill as it stands.

This all still has to go through the House so it should be an interesting bill to follow to see if the House is willing to abandon its people because they too are sheep.

Papamoka

Occupy Movements Without Consequences

2011-11-20T17:03:00.005-06:00

I've been following many of the occupy movements across the nation and I'm bothered that people are so critical of the people trying to send a message that is 100% true. The top 1% of income earners in this nation run the government based on the support from contributors that run the industries in this nation.

The occupy movement is a simple explanation that people are pissed off working for companies declaring billions in profits per quarter and yet keep employee wages, benefits, and job security at the lowest possible level. In the meantime these billion dollar companies think nothing of giving out bonuses to top managers that are fifty to ten thousand times what the lowest paid employee of the company would make in a lifetime. If you think about it, and I mean really think about it. The protest across the nation is no different than the union organizers against the mines, the steel factories, and the trucking industry that decided that you as an employee did not matter as long as the top was paid like the royalty of Europe before King George.

The violence against these protesters and by the same protesters against police is a clear example that THERE IS A PROBLEM in America. The inequality of income is at the breaking point. How can it be justified when a company anywhere in America is making millions or billions of profit per quarter and yet many of its employees are losing their homes? It just propagates hate for the upper class of 1% to 20% of income earners that own the businesses that employees cash a check from every week. That is if they are lucky enough to have a job.

Back in the early 1990's, many corporate offices closed plants here in the good old USA to only move the equipment south of the border in Mexico. It was a good corporate decision to close plants costing millions of dollars to operate in the USA and there was no penalty for moving the jobs from the government. The only winners in that decision were the few people that got bonuses as the lords and masters of the business that closed all of the plants. It was and still is a classic case of Marie Antoinette telling her people that they could have the cake left over from her party.

Where is the payback for these corporations? Wall Street. The company beats the street estimate of earnings and the stock goes up. Investors are happy! CEO gets a bonus, underlings get bonuses, the company looks like a solid investment.

What is the consequence? Look around in your own neighborhood. People used to own those house that now have for sale signs on them. You can say hi to those same neighbors down at your local Walmart working for minimum wage. Or at the Wendy's, McDonald's, or any other service industry job creator. You might also be working with them. The end result is that every plant shut down in your area is lost tax revenue to pay for your local schools, your fire department, your police, your roads and your community. Your community takes the hit so someone on Wall Street that has no idea where your city or town is can pocket a huge bonus. It is what it is.

Before you judge the Occupy Protestors you should look around your little piece of the world and honestly see what is going on?

Papamoka

Happiness

2011-11-06T16:16:00.007-06:00

Some people say that happiness is just a useless expression of the human mind that I beg to differ with. Happiness can come from so many different events in your life that it can not be cornered into one human emotion. Some people would be happy to have the egg yoke not break for their morning breakfast which for other people can be a tragedy. Some people would look at love being a direct relationship to being happy but love has so many different perspectives to perceive it from that it could never be explained in a simple post like this one. Loving your mother and father is different from loving your children or the person you're are supposed to be sharing your life with.

You can be happy with a home improvement job that as a novice you managed to complete with some self satisfaction knowing that you had no clue what you were doing to begin with. That isn't happiness. You can be happy with a work project that you poured you heart into and know that you gave it your best. That isn't happiness. You can be happy with a child that made the honor role even though you know that they didn't have to work hard to get it because they are smart beyond their age. That will make you happy but it isn't true happiness.

Happiness in some peoples definition is pure adrenalin when everything is going your way and all of the barriers of other emotions are dropped and not considered. I tend to be very happy when I have a Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie from one particular establishment. But that isn't happiness. All of my other cares, fears, dislikes, hates, and darker thoughts are gone while I eat that cookie but it is not true happiness. The cookie is what makes me happy for the moment. Then I am sad when the cookie is gone. Sadness is a topic for another post.

Take it one step further when you have a relationship with someone, a person that you spend time with, love, argue with, discuss deep thoughts, and just have the sense that you are happy with that person. That person is the core of your happiness. When you see them, the muscles in your face create a smile which some people would say is the lazy way of greeting someone since it takes fewer muscles to smile than frown. That is the same happiness when you see your child, your mother, your father, sister and brother, etc, etc. Happiness is found in love and acceptance of another

Happiness is an individuals definition of their own life. It can come from the simple love of your children and the understanding that they will love you till the day you die. It can not be defined by what anyone else thinks or believes that should mean or demand that you be happy. Nobody can tell you what is your definition of happiness. The ground work for any personal happiness has to begin with every single person. It can not be rammed down your throat. Happiness can not be forced on you because someone else thinks that you should be happy.

The end result of happiness is defined by you. How you accept and deal with all of the actions and reactions in your life is where you may or may not find your happiness. It may have been my mother or someone else influential in my life that told me to never let anyone destroy what would make me happy in my life. Thinking about that thought, I am thankful for the many friends that I have and very thankful that my life is better spent seeking out happiness. If you find love in your life from another person that loves you for all your gifts and for who you are then that is one path to happiness. It will not be easy but it is the best path to follow if love is there.

Thus, I am happy with my life, where I am in it, and where my future will go. I am in new love and look forward to many years of this love. In that respect I know where my happiness is and I can embrace it and respect it. The rest of the crap that life throws our way is just details that need to be worked on to get through. That is the crap that you should never let keep you down and away from your own happiness.

At the end of your life, would you rather have regrets or thankful thoughts that you spent your life happily embracing love and living life to the fullest?

Comment if you like on how you define happiness. There is no wrong answer.

Papamoka

Divorced Dad Venting

2011-10-30T17:46:00.005-05:00

First off... A lie is a lie as long as no person denies or refutes it. I am done being silent. This post is honesty from the heart. My perspective that is never heard or spoken of.

This is a very personal post that I needed to write and say out loud. It sucks being a divorced dad with kids and having to be so distant from them. It FUCKING SUCKS! This is a personal blog and if and when one of my children read it then you will understand where my heart is regarding my five baby girls at this point in time. I am a divorced father of five very beautiful daughters that it breaks my heart to be so far away from, but the closeness to their mother would have put me in a casket. I am very proud of each and everyone of my girls. I will love them all till the last breath I have on this earth and beyond. And yet I am a divorced Dad. Served my divorce papers by the boyfriend that broke up the marriage. Sometimes the truth of why two parents divorce becomes confused when only one parent has the ear of the children when the other parent, me, had to get as far as possible from the poison pill.

I was the devoted dad that spent all his free time with his girls. I was the idiot that when all the bills were run up re-mortgaged the house to pay for more debt that was idiotic. Only to have her go out and buy a new vehicle to replace the savings . I was the one grocery shopping and making sure we as a family had what we needed. I was the one that was stupid and looked the other way when mom needed her "Me" time and a night out with the girls. I was the stupid one that she asked if she looked good in her outfit while she went out every weekend "With the girls". I own that stupidity 100%. I am very familiar with humility but the truth is the truth.

In retrospect, I was the one making supper for the girls, I was the one running the washing machine and dryer and drying the multi color clothes that didn't look right. I'm not ashamed that I baked cookie with my baby girls because I liked the cookies just as much as they did, fresh and hot out of the oven. Ice cold milk all around if they wanted it. Letting them stand on a kitchen chair and watch me cook potato pancakes and more. Watching rented movies with the lights out and microwaved popcorn was always fun with the girls till they crashed to the lala land of the sandman. The little ones I could carry to their beds and the older ones were always fine to sleep till the morning on the couch. Mom was still not home well after midnight and beyond.

While I was trying to be the good dad and husband, there were far too many private calls that had to be taken behind closed doors by Mom. Far too many. And yet I was the monster in the children's lives? Was I a disciplinarian? Yes! I was the only one there! Was there deception in making supper for the girls? No, but there was deception in another party.

I tried committing suicide at one point during the separation prior to the divorce. She made a point of either be calling or visiting and verbally being so abusive that I felt like such a scum bag. Not worthy of any of my baby girls. Obviously, I failed. To this day I thank God that I failed. At that point in my life I felt like a piece of shit and the X made sure that as her "Best Friend" she reinforced what a piece of shit I was every single day. I am not proud of that day that my oldest child had to babysit her father. It was at that point that the control of me from her was broken. But I would not be safe if I stayed close where she could badger and beat me down every single day. I had nowhere to go and had to move. I sold my family heirloom to get gas to go to my brother in Florida and that was the plan. I flipped a coin between an offer from family in Missouri and family in Florida. It turned out that Missouri is a pretty damn good state to live in. After two years it seems that my X had plans for me if I moved in with my brother and he was good to go with them. That is when I lost respect for my brother.

What angers me most is that my baby girls are thinking, or present the thought that I never loved them because I had to get 1200 miles away from their mother to a safe place where she could not badger and beat me down anymore. I hate the separation and distance more than they know but I was not the one to start the breakup of the family. Yes, life was tough, money was tight, but my love for my children has never stopped.

I love my baby girls more than life itself but I could not do that now without getting some serious distance from the person that dissolved the family for her own personal reasons. She tried her best to bury me and I chose my own path after she took the kids from me that was safest for my survival. But I care about and love all of my children. I always will. My nightly prayers always start out with God bless my Nicole, my Kathryn, my Shannon, my Casey, and my Hannah. Always will till the day I die.

Poison in the mind of a child against a loving father will always come back to bite you in the ass. It is just a matter of time before the person placing the poison faces the truth and will become the victim. A lie will only hide for so long and time brings all things and truth to the surface.

This is my private blog and my thoughts on how I feel. My vow on the alter of marriage was never broken by me. And yet I am the divorced Dad of five daughters.

I am working through it with the help of an amazing person. I thank her for every day I have with her and appreciate her more and more every day.

Papamoka

What is Love

2011-10-09T16:30:00.004-05:00

I was talking with my future brother in-law on the phone and he asked me to write a piece on my blog that was pure emotion. At first I thought he was drunk or talking bullshit like most people that want to get into your mind and find out how you tick. Trust me, he wants to know who the hell I am whereas he is very protective of his baby sister. Then I thought about it and decided that it is a challenge well worth undertaking. He didn't say what topic to talk about other than that it had to be who the hell Papamoka is.

I chose the topic of love and what it means to me and in the different situations that it can be in one persons life. Love knows no boundaries, no limitations or exceptions. Love is the one human emotion that can never be explained. You can love mashed potato's with extra butter and sour cream but it is not the same as loving you child? You can love your mother or father but it is not the same as loving the person you are with. You can love your child and it is not the same love as the love you have for the person that you created that child with.

In my personal situation I have five beautiful daughters that I love them all to no end for each individual child that they are and yet one of them I adopted because I love that child more than she will ever know. And to this day she is still my pride and joy just as much as her sisters are. There is a bond of parenthood even if it is not biological that happens between a father and a daughter that also happens between fathers and sons that is just pure love. How you as a parent interpret that love and raise the child is the latter effect of love for the child. Have you ever heard of a parent saying that it is "Okay" to mess with their child? Harm their child physically or mentally? Never happened unless mom and dad were too messed up on whatever to care. That is parental love. And to the day that you die that parental love will never end because of the bond and love that you as two people share as a parent and a child. And then the bond and love travels beyond the grave. Ask anyone who lost a parent or child how long it has been since they passed and they will always tell you that it seems like it was just a short time ago when in reality it was several years or decades. Love of a child and parent know not what time is.

Then you have love of a man and a woman that I will express as my personal situation but the same theory of love works no matter what the relationship is. When I look at the woman I am in love with, I love her to no end. She makes me smile, she makes me laugh, she picks me up when I am down, she hugs me when the world sucks. And I do the same for her. Are we in love? Hell Ya! I look at her and she is the most amazing woman to me. This bond of love is strong and we let the relationship develop and grow by accepting that both of us have weaknesses that the other is willing to help with. This is before the thought of sexual relations even comes into the equation of what love is. I see a woman that is so beautiful but thinks she is not and I laugh. I see a million dollar smile and she tries to hide it. Her smile by the way is infectious. I see a woman that loves me and accepts me for who I am and that works for me. I see my woman and I see happiness and love. She completes me in more ways than she will ever understand. And in the end, she loves me just as much as I love her.

Then we get to personal love. It is impossible to love another person if you do not love who you are as a person. When you want to talk about love, I think it is always best to look in the mirror and ask the person there if they love who they are. Till you do that you need to look in that mirror and fix that person.

Other than that... I'm PRO LOVE! Love my baby girls, love my girlfriend, love life. Love is good.

Papamoka

John Myste Responds has linked in to this post. Thank ya!

Buffet Tax and Jobs Bill

2011-09-18T17:30:00.003-05:00

Is President Obama on target to fix the broken finances of the U.S. Government with his two recent proposals? In one hand he is asking for a jobs bill to create jobs and in the other he is proposing a tax increase on millionaires. In some respects I think he has the right idea but needs to go further with fixing the budget and the nations ongoing debt problem.

Common sense tells you that you can’t pay all of your household bills if you have less coming in than going out. Common sense also tells you that in order to fix that problem you have to cut spending first and increase income. No matter how you look at the process the two are joined for the end result. All of the bills need to be paid and paying down the nations debt should be a prerogative for both political parties.

The “Buffet Tax” where millionaires will pay a minimum percentage is a good start at a second job income coming in for the treasury. It makes sense to tax someone like Warren Buffet that pays less tax percentage wise than someone raising three kids on a middle class paycheck. The majority of income that financially sound millionaires make is from income from investments that are taxed at 15%. If you have three kids on your middle income salary you are taxed around 23% of your total income on average. With the treasury shelling out more than it takes in then you need the extra job income from the “Buffet Tax”.

Then comes the jobs bill that is supposedly paid partially for with the above mentioned tax increase on millionaires. What jobs are going to be created is the long term question? Green jobs are good but the nation needs jobs in the manufacturing sector where products are made and goods are sold that feed more MADE IN THE USA jobs. You can not hand out checks to industries that are going to take the money and run for the border to outsource even more American jobs. Or in the case of some “Green” jobs, file bankruptcy after a couple of years. Do we really need a jobs bill? Damn straight we do! What the jobs bill needs is some meat and potatoes of long term good jobs that will be in America for more than two or three years. It can be done and it can be done in several American Made industries. One industry is where I suggest that the jobs bill should start.

When you look at jobs in this country, one of the largest is the automotive industry that has the single ability to feed growth of new jobs down the supply chain. Ergo why George W. Bush had no choice other than to bailout the industry when the economy crashed. When you build automotive plants no matter who the brand name is, it builds second stage, third stage, fourth stage, fifth stage, sixth and seventh stage and even more jobs outside of that plant in suppliers plants and the transportation industries. Thousands of small companies all across this country feed the automotive industry with parts and each widget made here is made by someone paying into the U.S. Treasury in the form of a payroll tax.

It’s time to bring the jobs back and you do that by offering incentives to overseas companies to build more automotive plants here in the United States. How do we do that? The same way local communities do by offering companies tax incentives and financing for the new plants. Every plant that is built is a win win for long term good paying American jobs. The trickle down from the automotive industry and each plant no matter where it is placed is phenomenal. Entire cities and thousands of jobs, homes, and communities are built around them and that is just common sense. Who looses?

Can we get these companies to build plants in America? Of course we can and it is a plan that both political parties can and should agree on. The President could charm any manufacturer to build their goods here in America and Speaker Bohner could sell it to his political friends in the business community. Together they could get it done. But they won’t.

It is more important for the political parties to bicker over politics rather than put bread on American workers tables. The end result is that both of them will be eating cake after a two hundred dollar dinner of good food and good drink. But you should know that they both really care about good long term jobs for America.

End of discussion is that the President wants a jobs bill but that would make him look good if it succeeded and that would make the Republican’s look bad and the only outcome that is acceptable to the GOP is no new jobs and no new taxes. How that is politically sound for a struggling economy is beyond me but they do wave the flag pretty damn good so I’m sold on it. NOT!

I guess Marie Antoinette was somewhat right. But no cake for all of you looking for a good job at a good wage. But make sure you vote Republican because that will help you get a good job at a good wage and then you can continue to pay more than millionaires in taxes percentage wise if you can find a job. It only makes sense. And pigs will fly.

First class if they are on the menu at the RNC fund raising dinner. Try applying in the food service industry. It is after all a job.

Papamoka

Perry Social Security Shot in the Foot

2011-09-12T21:46:00.006-05:00

Just to be real, Rick Perry (R) Bovine Governor of Texas has never looked kindly on the Social Security System. It is in fact the ultimate ENTITLEMENT program that he would love to kill. Screw you retirees and scum sucking liberal retiree's. If you get a check from the government then you are sucking on the tax payers tit and you just suck. Pardon the double metaphor. Even though you paid into the system all your life. You still suck. You are scum because you are not a millionaire that can and will still cash a Social Security check when they turn 65 years of age. Why? Because they paid into the system too!

I am going to be honest with the American people. Our elected leaders must have the strength to speak frankly about entitlement reform if we are to right our nation's financial course and get the USA working again.

Snippet...

We must have a frank, honest national conversation about fixing Social Security to protect benefits for those at or near retirement while keeping faith with younger generations, who are being asked to pay. - USA TODAY

Third RAIL! What the Governor means is that we should kill Social Security even though it is not part of the federal budget system of accounting. When Governor Perry or should we call him Governor Worry touches the sacred cow of Social Security that every person over 65 depends on for the bulk of their income, he shoots himself in the foot. No politician has ever won the White House since FDR created the Social Security system even thinking about changing Social Security that FDR enacted to eliminate elderly poverty. And that is what the system still does to this day. Screw Rick Perry with wanting to reform a system that takes care of our elderly! Be it now or thirty years from now.

Thank God Rick Perry is the GOP favorite son in the polls. My candidate, President Obama, will be a landslide winner. Keep talking Ricky and Michelle and Mitt. Keep bashing the pocket books of the elderly that vote. I'm loving this!

Papamoka

9/11 Memorial

2011-09-11T18:05:00.003-05:00

There will never be enough tears for that horrible day on September 11, 2001. The beautiful waterfalls on the footprint of each tower and the names of each person lost will never bring them back. NEVER. The water falling over those beautifully built memorial decorations will never match the amount of tears cried. When you think of the actual intent of the attack on America it was a political mental masturbation by one person that corrupted an entire religion for the sake of what he personally thought God wanted. In reality, it was two political systems sick that used to be in cahoots with one another and they were simply tired of dealing with each other. The two sides could no longer work together and then became enemies. ALL POLITICS!

The end result was thousands of innocent lives lost on 9/11 that will live on in American history as a reason to fight extremist of every kind. Our nation has paid a heavy price for our vengeance and those days need to end. We need to move forward and stop paying the vengeance forward with our military sons and daughters. We as a nation do not need to fight the war that is thousands of years old of who killed who's goat that has been going on for over a millennium in the Middle East.

There was a mindset in this country several generation ago in law enforcement when it came to the Gangster Wars. They make our jobs easier if they keep killing each other. And in the words of Ule Brenner as the Pharo in the classic movie The Ten Commandments, "So let it be written and so let it be done. We need to get out of the Middle East and back in touch with the people of America. Our nations resources in law enforcement do not need to forget the mission but our troops need to come home. Ten years is enough. Let them settle tribe differences the way they have always done. Vengeance, and more vengeance, and more vengeance, and more vengeance. It is a way of life in their countries. It is not ours. That is not the American way. Never has been and never should be.

I have a little watched link in the sidebar that counts the number of troops that have been killed since these two wars started that you should look at. Add it to your own site if you like. It scares me that the number keeps growing and the end result is that nothing will ever change if the mentality of revenge keeps existing. You can not change a culture that is refusing to accept change. You can not bomb or kill enough people where the culture that you are fighting only sees that a reason for revenge. It has never happened as the result of war. Never. And it never will.

For all of my friends that have a close six degree of separation to 9/11, you are in my thoughts and prayers. For all the military families that have lost a loved one, you are in my prayers also. One thought that keeps coming back to my mind is that I can never forget all of the innocents killed on that day. I just can't get that out of my head. Call me stupid for thinking that enough blood has been shed for a goat killed 1000 years ago. But I think we all can say that the leader of the extremist group has been taken out, the leader of Iraq has been taken out, and the leadership Taliban in Afghanistan has been taken out? What left is to be done? Can we get the hell out of there now? Or do we have to bring Jesus Christ back to make it an okay plan that is acceptable to all political faction to get the hell out of the Middle East?

God bless all of the souls of the fire fighters, police, and all of the other first responders that went in where everyone else was running out that paid the ultimate price for saving another persons life. For all the innocents lost to a madman and his quest for revenge I pray for eternal peace for your souls. Rest in peace and dance with Kings.

Papamoka

Rick Perry Third Rail

2011-09-07T19:37:00.005-05:00

In politics there are several topics that are hot spots that can burn your ass. One such topic is Social Security. People like Social Security because it is a plan they have paid into all of their lives and it is supposed to be guaranteed. As much smoke and mirrors that is played into the funding of it the system is sound for decades. Most people never plan for retirement and that is going to be the only income they have in their retirement. For some people that is all they can afford and it is what it is. Not everyone is a business owner, some of us are the people doing the work to make that business thrive for meager wages.

Along comes the Tea Party and the folks that think that the government does not owe you a retirement even if you paid for it all you life. Then comes the politicians running on the extreme fringe like Rick Perry (R) Texas, that thinks that he can friend the extremist while he runs for President under the GOP ticket. NOT going to happen Ricky. Even hinting that Social Security needs to go the way of the dinosaurs is a third rail in politics. I should explain.

Social Security was enacted to protect the workers of America that could not save for retirement and ended up on the streets, no support, and eventually buried in poppers fields because they were the workers that worked for poor wages and lived in poverty all of their lives. The only ones profiting from their hard work were the business owners. President Roosevelt ended that cycle by passing Social Security to make people have a guaranteed income when they were in their declining years. FDR passed it to protect the lower classes and the elderly. And yes he screwed over business owners to make them take care of their workers. God bless his heart.

I should explain further that the Presidency of this country can only be won with the swing of the moderate vote of both parties. A larger portion of the political pie than people think. Be you Democrat or Republican, and if phasing out Social Security is a political candidates forum, would you vote for them? Hell NO! Stupid move on Governor Rick Perry's part.

Grab that third rail of politics Rick Perry and I guarantee that you will be the Governor from Texas that just ran for President and was blown out of the water by some old folks in their fifties to eighties that saw your threat on their wallet and voted no for you candidacy. You sir are a Double Dumb Ass winner. You sir need someone that has a clue as how to run a national campaign. You should call Mitt Romney or hitch a ride on Sara Palin's bus.

Just stupid.

Papamoka

Politics of Faith

2011-08-28T17:27:00.007-05:00

I'm told by friends and family that you can not be a Democrat if you are Catholic and by other friends and family that you can not be a Republican if you are Catholic. I'm not an extremist on any single issue and that makes me the beast stuck in the middle of the voting block.

If you are a Catholic then the big abortion issue comes up where you must be pro life and thus you must be a Republican. Only because the GOP has cornered the concession stand at the bible belt and you have to pay whatever prices they want for the product. I can see some of that point but the Republican party only cares about defending the life of the child and not the circumstances to which that child will be forced to live in. Rape, incest, whatever the reason, the woman and mother does not have a say over her body. I don't agree with that theory. It is her choice and no man can or should be able to decide for that woman. That makes me a very bad Catholic in the eyes of some. And before you cast your venom, clean your own house of pedophiles within your church.

If you are Catholic then the issue of taking care of the poor as Jesus asked comes front and center. The Catholic Church does more work behind the scenes without question serving millions of poor people all across the world. I applaud that service and have helped in that effort. That is what the Democrats want to do but with a political sledgehammer. You must tow the party line or be lambasted as a reject or worse not worthy of the party.

My dilemma is that both political parties and my own religion are telling me that I suck and yet they all want my support. What if I just stick to the middle and tell all three sides to bite me? Tell the Democrats that I don't want their brow beating on budget issues where I have to give my national treasury away to the lower classes at my expense. Tell the Republicans to suck my... on giving tax breaks to the rich while the rest of the nation is faltering in debt. Then when the church asks me to give a little bit more then all I can do is beg that we not mix politics and religion. The difference between all three is that I go to confession to confess my sins and none of the other are ever accountable. And that my friends is why the founding fathers separated church and state.

Religion has no place in politics. Not in this country. I'll leave your politics alone when you leave my personal relationship with my God alone.

Papamoka

Standard and Poor's Under Investigation

2011-08-12T11:30:00.006-05:00

Standard & Poor's recently chucked the American people the finger by downgrading the nations credit rating. That lead to a major sell off in the stock markets around the world. Which then lead to a credibility issue and lack of confidence in the American people to be able to repay their debt.

One thought. Don't mess with the United States of America. We don't screw around when it comes to our reputation here at home and around the world. It does not take a genius to figure out that you DO NOT mess with the US Government.

I digress to this article in the Financial Times...

The Securities and Exchange Commission has asked credit rating agency Standard & Poor’s to disclose who within its ranks knew of its decision to downgrade US debt before it was announced last week, as part of a preliminary look into potential insider trading, people familiar with the matter say.

The inquiry was made by the SEC’s examination staff, which has oversight of credit rating firms, one person familiar with the matter said. The exam staff can make referrals to the SEC’s enforcement division if it believes any laws have been violated, but the inquiry might not result in a referral. - Financial Times

Can you say that payback is a bitch? Look for the IRS to investigate S&P for questionable tax filings going back several years next in the news.

Be loud and be proud America. We are not taking any crap from Wall Street and the gang that helped to flush the toilet on our economy to begin with.

Papamoka

Thank you Memeorandum for the link!

Atheist and God

2011-08-05T16:54:00.002-05:00

I’m confused about the understanding of what a true Atheist is. An Atheist is someone that does not believe in God and that life is just a biological experiment. We are all test tube babies made from another test tube baby and there is no significance to our lives other than to be a larger part of the living world that we exist in.

I disagree with the theory that there is no God. I bare no ill will to my friends that partake in the theory that God does not exist. For the most part I congratulate them on thinking out what is a very difficult theory. The end of that theory is that we are here now and worm food in the end. It does have one simple flaw.

Hope.

Hope is an amazing virtue of the human race. We can have hope that our children will grow up to be better than we as their parents could ever be. We can have hope that our parents will live longer than the average expectancy for a human being. We can have hope for numerous reasons and inside that envelope of the definition of hope is the thought process of prayer and guidance from God.

Many times in my life I have asked God for help to understand the things going on in my life. It is when I am at my weakest point that I need my faith the most because that is the last point of hope for me. I would like to think that I promote my sense of hope on others but I may be lacking the skills to do so. I’m not a preacher but I am someone that tries to make a difference in every life I touch. No matter how small a difference

I’m not a bible thumper and never want to be one. I just come to odds when someone that once believed in God is suddenly detriment to the theory that I can still have my faith in God.

The saving grace in this whole dilemma is that I am thankful that I live in a country where I can not be prosecuted for my religious beliefs and neither can my friends for their lack of belief. That is the beauty of America.

God Bless America!!!!

Papamoka

Batshit Bachmann

2011-08-04T20:21:00.003-05:00

Can it just be said that batshit isn't just for breakfast anymore?

RIP Amy Winehouse

2011-07-23T13:45:00.002-05:00

The Mirror has the news of Amy Winehouse young death.

Missing Person Jackie Cracchiolo ALERT

2011-07-17T17:58:00.008-05:00

FOUND!!! ALIVE AND WELL!!! 7/26/11

Missing person alert from the Allentown/ Birdsboro, PA area for 19 year old Jackie Cracchiolo. Any information you may have please call 484-614-9799 or contact your local police to report seeing Jackie Cracchiolo.

Please post this to your Facebook page or blog to spread the word. The more people that know about this missing girl the better. Please post it. Blog ALERT to all of Papamoka's blog friends and family. Time is of the essence when it comes to missing children. Let's get this little girl back home to her mom and dad safe and sound.

I'm taking a step forward and contacting everyone I know that can get the word out about this little girl. Everyone needs to do the same nationwide. You can make a difference! Spread the word please. We can do this! Click and forward the word. JUST DO IT!

Thank you,
Papamoka

Whole Foods Parking Lot

2011-07-16T14:46:00.005-05:00

I know several people that love shopping at Whole Food's. I give Whole Food's huge kudos for having a perfect market niche. All the power to them.

For the record... This was stolen from The Omnipotent Poobah.

Papamoka

Coke or Pepsi

2011-07-15T12:28:00.001-05:00

Tension was high and the outcome was inevitable. Pepsi was in the wrong place at the wrong time. It's clear to see who really won the Pepsi challenge.

Bachmann Passes Romney in Iowa Poll

2011-07-11T21:10:00.006-05:00

There is a God. Thank you God. I'm going back to church and doing all the things I said I was going to do. Michele Bachmann has surpassed Mitt Romney in Iowa polling data according to one source. It doesn't matter who the source is, I just want to see a debate between President Obama and Michele Bachmann. Can we get a hell ya from the choir? Mind you, this is a source that is for Republicans only....

Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann has surpassed former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney in a recent Iowa poll that was conducted by TheIowaRepublican.com. With Bachmann now leading in Iowa, Romney has fallen to second place, but he is still well ahead of third place finisher Tim Pawlenty, who has overtaken Herman Cain my a miniscule margin. - The Iowa Republican

For the record. I voted for Mitt Romney for Governor of Massachusetts. But that was only because we had a one party state. I wanted a check and balance government and not a runaway state government and Mitt was the man that stopped that as Governor. I voted for Bill Weld previously for Governor for the same reason. Checks and balances.

But to think that Michele Bachmann is Presidential material is totally nuts! God bless the GOP and go with GOD! Please go with GOD and move this nut job of a congresswoman to the front of your ticket. I would so love to see the embarrassment on national television as she tries her best to ramble through any tough questions with President Obama as her opponent.

You can use your own computer to find out that she is one watt light of light bulb you could read a book by. Michele Bachmann is a lunatic frindge of the extreme right which puts her out of contention for all moderate votes be they Republican or Democrat. And yes I voted for Ronald Reagan TWICE!

Bachmann does not have a snow balls chance in hell of even visiting the White House never mind be the first woman President. Nuts you get from trees and she fell out of the tree years ago.

Papamoka

Who Owns The Debt and Deficit

2011-07-10T13:19:00.006-05:00

It cracks me up to no end when you see Republican's demanding that we pay the debt when the man sitting in the White House is a Democrat. If you actually take the time to look at all the facts of where that debt came from and who actually authorized it, it was Republican Presidents! President Reagan started the steam roller of financial unbalance by selling the US Treasury to the highest bidder with his military build up and tax cutting giveaways to the top income earners in the country. Racking up $2 Trillion in debt but the nation was proud to fly the flag again. President Bush senior followed the gospel according to Ronnie and continued the Wimpy of Popeye fame tradition of "I will gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today."

Along comes President Clinton and WORKING with a Republican Congress he balances the budget and actually has a plan to pay the ENTIRE NATIONAL debt off within ten years. The Treasury is running a surplus for the first time in decades but that is a bad thing to Republican's and the nation and we elect Bush Jr. who gives all the credit card payments to his buddies in the top 5% of income earners in the form of tax cuts and then opens up two wars and drives the national debt through the roof in two terms.

And the nation reacts to that by going into a recession and elected a Democrat to change the course. But if you look at all of the facts that the Republican's are espousing, President Obama is the cause of $14 Trillion in debt? It has nothing to do with President Bush scrubbing President Clinton's plan to pay off all of the debt? It has nothing to do with three Republican President's that went on drunken spending spree's. Obama owns it all. Is this more stereotyping from the extreme right where the black guy is always the one to blame? Total GOP bull crap and ridiculous!

Think about it.

Papamoka

Saudi Arabia Collapse

2011-06-09T21:07:00.004-05:00

Given all the turmoil in the Middle East it is a given question if Saudi Arabia is the next country to collapse with citizen revolt. And is this possible revolt the result of education of the countries citizens abroad? Could the education systems in the United States and other nations where the law of religion is not the norm and their citizens actually see another way of life that is not state dictated posing a problem for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia? There are so many what if’s but the certainty is that the Kingdom is prime for revolt and the King knows it but has no clue how to deal with it other than throw money out the window.

Over at the New York Times they have a great piece on this very subject…

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — As one nation after another has battled uprisings across the Arab world, the one major country spared is also its richest — Saudi Arabia, where a fresh infusion of money has so far bought order.

The kingdom is spending $130 billion to pump up salaries, build housing and finance religious organizations, among other outlays, effectively neutralizing most opposition. King Abdullah began wielding his checkbook right after leaders in Tunisia and Egypt fell, seeking to placate the public and reward a loyal religious establishment. The king’s reserves, swollen by more than $214 billion in oil revenue last year, have insulated the royal family from widespread demands for change even while some discontent simmers. - New York Times

Saudi Arabia may be a friend to the United States but it is in fact an abomination to human rights when it comes to woman. Woman can not drive in Saudi Arabia. Woman can not vote in Saudi Arabia. Woman in general have no voice or say in Saudi Arabia.

Absolute monarchies are dead in these times we live in and the nation of Saudi Arabia is prime for revolt when the leaders of the nation refuse to listen to its own people. Much like here in the United States they want to throw massive amounts of money at the problems they have in their society and yet still demand that the status quo is the way life will be. This is the rule from men in their upper seventies and eighties in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Times change and so will Saudi Arabia. Sometimes throwing money out the window of your limousine at a problem is not the best solution when all that you had to do was talk to your people. Which raises the larger question if the people in power even care what their own people think? Which I doubt.

Papamoka

Sarah Palin on Paul Revere

2011-06-05T19:02:00.005-05:00

No she doesn't know her American history. She got it all wrong and somehow she is going to re-write American History to suit her politics? Fox News should have called Sarah the beauty queen, former governor and former Fox News talking head out on this but the fluff journalism continues.

You can google search Paul Revere and find tons of credible information from the Boston area on what he actually did that night. It was in fact a simple ride to warn the colonist and NOT the British. He never fired a shot, he never rang a bell, it was a simple ride and call to arms for the colonist. You can read the actual history from the Paul Revere House website HERE.

Stay tuned for when Sarah Palin declares her next version of history and that George Washington was a double agent for the British and that we are still loyal subjects of the queen because she likes the tiara dress code. Freaking fruit loop whack job!

Papamoka

Pat Robertson On Muslims

2011-06-03T15:18:00.004-05:00

Is Pat Robertson nuts or is he pandering to the fear mongers? No matter how you look at it he is spreading hate of an entire people based on the fact that a few of them are just nut jobs? I'm Irish and some of us Irish are very difficult people to deal with, aka stubborn, head strong, throw a punch first. Does that make us all total jerks? Hell NO!!!

In this video Pat Robertson equates all Muslims to the Nazi's of WWII and that is just wrong no matter how you slice it. If you have to play the Nazi card to sell hate of a religion you think is an abomination then you lose the argument. His thoughts are complete bigotry and this poor man is pandering to closed minded people.

Why is it that people like Pat Robertson that claim to be Christian sometimes say the most un-Christian things? Makes no sense.

Westboro Baptist Church heading for Joplin, MO

2011-05-28T11:15:00.005-05:00

In yet another disgusting and repulsive stand to get their piece of crap church message out, the Westboro Baptist Church has decided to picket the funerals for victims of the recent Joplin, MO tornado. This is the same group that travels the country desecrating veteran’s funerals.

The Westboro Baptist Church (WBC) has found a new group of people to rally against. The Kansas church, most infamous for its hatred of homosexuals, posted a document last Monday on its website celebrating the deaths of the Joplin, Missouri tornado victims.

“Thank God for 89 dead & counting in Joplin, Mo & 1 dead in Reading, KS!” the document declared in capital letters. “God’s whirlwind is pounding the enemies of Christ! WBC will picket your raging blasphemous stinky memorials!”

The members believe this tragedy in Joplin—and all other tragedies around the world—happened because God wants to punish people for homosexuality. The group plans to protest at the memorial service planned for Sunday, and will rally against President Barack Obama’s visit as well. – San Diego Entertainer Magazine

Fred Phelps and his group are subhuman pieces of crap disguising themselves as Christians. I’ve been posting articles about this group for years because of their protesting at veterans funerals. Shouting out vial phrases how God is happy that their son or daughter is dead. How they deserved to die. Things that you would want to inflict physical harm on them for doing so. Under the first amendment, they have the right to say such things and the Supreme Court recently backed them up on it. The courts also backed up the rights of families to sue the Phelps family and Westboro Baptist Church for personal harm and the families have started to do so.

Patriot Guard Riders is a quiet group of folks that run interference at veteran’s funerals for the families of fallen vet’s and they do a damn great job! We need to put the call out to all of the folks that have a heart to run the same kind of interference for the families of the Joplin, MO tornado victims. Bring a big as life American flag and stand proud between the Westboro Baptist Church protesters and the families while they bury their dead. It wouldn’t hurt to say a few prayers for those still missing too.

Papamoka

UPDATE: Memorial Day 2011

300 Bikers show up to foil Westboro Baptist Church protest! Click HERE

Beware of Political Sink Holes

2011-05-26T08:51:00.004-05:00

If you’ve not been paying attention to politics lately because there are no real elections going on then you need a heads up. Apparently, the GOP is in self destruct mode and nobody in the entire political party has the abort code because they don’t believe in abortion. This is how the GOP feels about your Medicare benefit for when you retire? You know the plan that is supposed to take care of you if you get sick after you RETIRE. The same Medicare that you have paid for your entire working life… Same one.

The GOP continued its bloody walk into the Medicare buzzsaw Wednesday, when 40 out of 47 Senate Republicans voted in support of the House GOP budget, and its plan to phase out and privatize the popular entitlement program.

The test vote failed by a vote of 57-40. But the roll call illustrates that Medicare privatization -- along with deep cuts to Medicaid and other social services -- remains the consensus position of the GOP despite the growing political backlash against them. -TPM

Next up… Let’s move on over to all those poor folks that lost everything in the massive tornados that went through Joplin, Missouri. Did you know that those people are demanding some kind of federal help? NOT GOING TO HAPPEN if the GOP DID NOT get its way…

In a stunningly heartless move, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) put strings on emergency relief for the victims of the killer Joplin tornado, saying that other government services would have to be cut to offset aid spending. Yesterday afternoon, the House Appropriations Committee passed an amendment by Rep. Robert Aderholt (R-AL) to add $1 billion in funding for the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) disaster relief fund, offset by cutting $1.5 billion from the Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing Loan Program at the Department of Energy. - Think Progress

We are not done yet… What does the GOP think of your Social Security benefit? They think it is constitutionally illegal… Can’t make this stuff up…

This past January, the House GOP caucus insisted that the session of Congress be launched with a reading of the Constitution. The member of Congress who led this idea into fruition was Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) and he was also the first reader.

But at a town hall meeting that took place last week and was captured on YouTube, Goodlatte showed his pre-20th century view of the Constitution. At one point during the town hall presentation, Goodlatte displayed a pie chart to the audience showing the various programs that consume the federal budget, with Social Security and Medicare consuming the biggest sections.

One constituent, referencing the pie chart, said that everything on the chart is unconstitutional. Goodlatte responded that he agrees, but that the courts keep ruling the opposite way. – Think Progress

And that is all that needs to be said about that when it comes time for the next election. One political party is blindly stepping into a sink hole because they think it’s the right thing to do to keep gaining political power. Its political suicide as every political science theorist will tell you. You don’t win national power by isolating all of the moderates of the opposing political party. But it is how you piss off the moderates of your own political party and have them vote for the other party come election day. The third rail of politics, Social Security, Medicare, and as George Bush AKA George Katrina Bush, you don’t act as if you are doing nothing for disaster victims in the United States.

Papamoka

End of the World

2011-05-20T08:29:00.003-05:00

I'm not sure which we are going to need, tanning lotion or barbecue sauce...

Osama Bin Laden Dead

2011-05-03T21:27:00.012-05:00

It was only a matter of time before they got the son of a bitch. Thank you to the United States Military and all of the folks working in the background to end the long nightmare of Osama Bin Laden breathing. No offense to Muslims but I would have preferred that he would have been buried at sea wrapped in bacon or some kind of pig fat. Our military was too kind to him honoring his religious burial rights. Osama Bin Laden didn’t care about the burial rights of all the people he ordered to be killed on 9/11/2001.

But I must digress…

One liners from Funnygrins.com

Bin Laden must have had his contact information in his PlayStation account…

What did al-Qaida learn from Osama bin Laden’s death? Location, location, location.

At least he got to see the royal wedding before he went out.

This is good news for the other guys on the top 10 wanted list – finally they get to move up in the rankings.

Wait! Nobody celebrate until we find Waldo too!

My birth certificate? Seriously Trump? Trump this, bitch.

How sad. Mrs. bin Laden just updated her Facebook status to Single/Widowed…

Man, I would NOT want to be 72 virgins right now…

With that all being said, I have to call FTD to send flowers to the graves of 72 Virginian’s and thank them for beating the hell out of Osama Bin Laden and tossing his sorry ass out of heaven. Express route, no security check, no luggage check. Straight to hell! If he thought it was hot in the desert then he really knows what the meaning of hot is now.

The end result is that the SOB is dead and many of the families that lost way too many loved ones can finally find some kind of closure knowing that the man that killed their loved ones is no longer able to harm anyone else. Do fish get indigestion?

Papamoka

UPDATE 5/4/2011

Graphic Pictures Warning: The following link goes to actual pictures from the mission to get Bin Laden, NOT FOR THE AVERAGE PERSON TO SEE: CLICK HERE

Solar Air Heater

2011-05-01T20:22:00.003-05:00

I’m a solar heater junkie. My prototype looks like crap but the science and data makes it a winner when it comes to solar heating. You can find lots of videos on the subject on You Tube regarding soda can solar heaters and such and I have to give the inventors of that theory on gaining free heat from the sun credit for a great idea. I don’t go to meetings for my solar heater addiction but I love the idea of free heat from the sun. My addiction is making the theory better and more accessible to the masses. Thus, I have been working on a box geared more towards the elderly and people on fixed incomes that can move a heating unit from one window in the morning to the next in the afternoon depending on where the sun is coming into their home. Having a fixed unit that just faces south has never been something I have ever been fond of. Permanent installation either. Why not move the unit as the sun moves if you are at home anyway? Why not have a system built into the solar heater that stores the heat longer when cloud cover comes in? Why not build a box that can not only be placed in a window but just moved to a sunny spot of sun that is already coming into your home? Place it by a slider door, on a living room coffee table, wherever the sun is shining into the house. If it is getting full sun then our heater will give free heat! Free Solar powered heat for you home that will supplement your existing heating system.

As Emeril says, can we kick it up a notch? My box is a simple two foot by two foot wooden box with a bunch of systems inside that retain heat and amplify heat when the sun is partly clouded. Testing on my unit and tweeking of the unit have been going on for weeks and it still is in the testing phases but I think it is a marketable solar heater design. I’m trying to keep the cost to consumers below $400 retail but the parts needed to make it totally renewable energy are high with metal pricing fluctuating daily.

Testing today in the early hours between nine AM and eleven AM facing the morning sun (East) resulted in significant results that I am very pleased with. High atmospheric clouds came and went and the unit worked like I thought it would. The backup systems of the solar heater with no moving parts or outside source of energy other than the sun to retain heat cycled in and out was amazing. Results below are after the unit was heated just by the sun for twenty minutes with high atmospheric clouds intermittently.

Testing results for 4/30/2011 Between 9:00 AM and 11:00 AM CST

Average ambient air temperature: 65.83 F
Average Air Exhaust Heat after reaching 110F Temperature: 125.99 F
Average Heat Retention System Temperature after Reaching 100 F: 113.6F
Average Heat Gain After reaching 110F ambient air temperature: 60.18F
Maximum heat gain from ambient air to heat exhaust: 70.2F

What does this mean to you? The average temperature of the heated air coming out once the unit is heated is 125.99 degrees F based on today's testing results and that is free heat from a two foot by two foot box that can be moved from room to room. Give the unit one half hour to heat up in full sun and it is pumping out the heat for free.

What I find very interesting is the cycles of the air to heat retention systems cycling plus and minus of one another in opposite directions. One goes up and the other goes down in temperature. New science results with the data for me to experiment with. I’m having a blast with it. The applications beyond just heating air are enormous! Pick a topic that relates to providing heat to a home and it works in a simple little box.

Check back soon to see when we are actually selling my toy. Free heat is good. Email us if you would like more information. Papamoka (at) hotmail (dot)(com).

Legal disclaimer: This unit will not heat your entire home but it is a kick ass supplement to whatever heating system you have when the sun is hitting the unit directly.

Papamoka

Call for HELP

2011-04-28T20:51:00.005-05:00

We all know that the cost of health-care is very high. It is especially high if you have an unexpected hospital stay. This is a call for help to everyone and anyone for Aaron Schulz. Aaron is a 22 year old young man that came down with an unexpected serious health problem recently. While at home he became short of breath, felt some chest pain, and became dizzy. His family brought him to the hospital where they realized that the Poplar Bluff Hospital in Missouri could not handle his immediate care needs and flew him by helicopter to St. John's Mercy in St. Louis, MO. Doctors at the hospital at first diagnosed Cushings disease but further tests are pending. All of these tests and the hospital stay are far more expensive than you could ever imagine. Aaron went in for surgery for complications and blood clots. This makes almost three weeks in the hospital and the bills keep getting larger.

Aaron grew up in Poplar Bluff, Missouri and graduated from Poplar Bluff High School. His health has never been a problem and to have it strike him down at such a young age is a serious matter. Aaron could only get part time work with the Department of Agriculture and didn't qualify for health insurance with his employer.

If you can donate to help with the hospital bills it will be greatly appreciated by Aaron and his family. Please give whatever you can afford in these hard times. All donations are going directly to pay for his medical care. Donations are not tax deductible. Well wishes and prayers are also greatly appreciated. Feel free to leave a comment below with your kind thoughts.

The family has arranged an account with a local bank to help pay for Aaron's care. Anything you can donate and send to help pay some of the expenses will be appreciated.

Please mail donations to:

Poplar Bluff Federal Credit Union
C/O Aaron Schulz
2438 Katy Lane
Poplar Bluff, MO 63901

Thank you and God bless from the entire Schulz family.

PLEASE REPOST THIS ON YOUR FACEBOOK PAGE OR PERSONAL BLOG.

Loud No to Trump for President

2011-04-20T20:07:00.006-05:00

I'm thinking that Donald Trump sounds cool as president. Then we could install slot machines at the White House and really gamble our future away. But our hair would look fabulous!

Is that really a double comb over???

Tax Time for Some and Not Others

2011-04-18T19:28:00.009-05:00

The Bernie Sanders Ten, per release....

1) Exxon Mobil made $19 billion in profits in 2009. Exxon not only paid no federal income taxes, it actually received a $156 million rebate from the IRS, according to its SEC filings.

2) Bank of America received a $1.9 billion tax refund from the IRS last year, although it made $4.4 billion in profits and received a bailout from the Federal Reserve and the Treasury Department of nearly $1 trillion.

3) Over the past five years, while General Electric made $26 billion in profits in the United States, it received a $4.1 billion refund from the IRS.

4) Chevron received a $19 million refund from the IRS last year after it made $10 billion in profits in 2009.

5) Boeing, which received a $30 billion contract from the Pentagon to build 179 airborne tankers, got a $124 million refund from the IRS last year.

6) Valero Energy, the 25th largest company in America with $68 billion in sales last year received a $157 million tax refund check from the IRS and, over the past three years, it received a $134 million tax break from the oil and gas manufacturing tax deduction.

7) Goldman Sachs in 2008 only paid 1.1 percent of its income in taxes even though it earned a profit of $2.3 billion and received an almost $800 billion from the Federal Reserve and U.S. Treasury Department.

8) Citigroup last year made more than $4 billion in profits but paid no federal income taxes. It received a $2.5 trillion bailout from the Federal Reserve and U.S. Treasury.

9) ConocoPhillips, the fifth largest oil company in the United States, made $16 billion in profits from 2007 through 2009, but received $451 million in tax breaks through the oil and gas manufacturing deduction.

10) Over the past five years, Carnival Cruise Lines made more than $11 billion in profits, but its federal income tax rate during those years was just 1.1 percent. - Chicago Sun Times

Just saying. Big business really needs a tax cut to create jobs. Nobody said where they would create them though did they? Like this on Facebook to speak loud and clear on the bullshit that is trickle down taxes. Big business pays less so that you can pay more. It works if you are a Republican! We all should endorse this plan of corporations making billions and paying little if no taxes to make more jobs anywhere but here in America because it is the right thing to do... NOT!

If you think it is wrong that big corporations pay little or no taxes and yet make billions of dollars in profits then please "LIKE" this and pass it on to everyone you know on Facebook!!!! Maybe we could balance the federal budget if everyone was on the same playing field! There is no common sense in this form of taxation. NONE!

Papamoka

Online Poker Sites Seized

2011-04-15T22:04:00.005-05:00

According to the latest report from the Los Angeles Times, the top three online poker sites were shut down and seized by the FBI for money laundering activities. PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker, and Absolute Poker have been shut down and the websites now only offer a FBI and Department of Justice notification that the poker game is over…

The founders of the three largest online poker sites were indicted on Friday in what could serve as a death blow to a thriving industry.

Eleven executives at PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker, Absolute Poker and a number of their affiliates were charged with bank fraud and money laundering in an indictment unsealed in a Manhattan court. Two of the defendants were arrested on Friday morning in Utah and Nevada. Federal agents are searching for the others. – LA TIMES

Check out the links here if you like:

PokerStars
Full Tilt Poker
Absolute Poker

No need to ante up for the next poker hand anymore. That is unless you would like to play a few hands of poker with an FBI agent for coffee money. You can read the full indictment HERE.

Papamoka

***Thank you Memeorandum for the link...

Arizona to Tax Fat People

2011-04-01T22:53:00.004-05:00

In an announcement today from Governor Jan Brewer of Arizona, she plans on taxing fat people and smokers for being unhealthy. Arizona like many other states is running a budget deficit and the Governor has to be creative with her ideas to balance the budget. Late reports and rumor is that McDonald’s Corporation is pissed and is refusing to install scales at every register and drive through in Arizona. I honestly don’t think she is wrong. She is right on track. Being a far right wing nut job myself, I would like to propose a national masturbation tax that would balance the federal budget in less than three months and pay off our nation’s entire debt in less than two years. But I digress to this report from ABC News...

As part of a plan to revamp the state's Medicaid program, Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer announced on Thursday that she is proposing fees for adults who lead unhealthy lives.

Childless adults who are obese or suffer from a chronic condition and who fail to work with their doctor to meet specific goals would be charged $50 annually. The $50 annual fee also would apply to all childless adult smokers. – ABC News

My plan starts with any subscribers to pornographic magazines will be forced to pay a non-tax deductible premium for any issues with pictures in it. We all know you don’t buy that kind of magazine for its articles. My plan would also include placing key IRS agents at every municipal water treatment facility to test the waters so to speak. This data would then be collated and appropriate tax bills would be sent out by neighborhood. Police thy self is the theory behind this creative revenue generating theory. I’ve emailed several high tech water treatment companies and asked them for their guidance on who should be monitored more closely and they all came up with the same reply. Any household with teenage boys will work.

The second stage of my plan involves the honor system that will be secretly taped by the Department of Homeland Security in all Catholic Church confessionals. Pay your penance, pay your tax. To speed up the payment process, debit card machines will be installed in all confessional booths. We of course will have to grandfather in all right wing perverts under the provision of “They have been doing it since childhood and didn’t know it was taxable income (or should it be outcome) in some diluted clause in the bill.

Please feel free to add your thoughts to the plan I’ve set forth. Together we can make America safe from fat people, smokers, and masturbators. Balancing the budget and paying off our debt is just a bonus on the backs of those hot dog eating, nicotine smoking, and self pleasuring idiots from the left side of the aisle. Governor Brewer should be running for President! NOT!!!!! She is just nuts.

My thanks to Memeorandum for the heads up and the opportunity report on this very important issue.

Not the Papamoka

Just Saying

2011-04-01T09:27:00.001-05:00

Stolen from The Far Left Side. Thanks Mike!

Who Owns the Sun

2011-04-01T07:51:00.004-05:00

With the rising cost of energy these days there will be an opposite reaction from the public to seek out renewable energy sources for their energy needs. Let the games begin when it comes to garage mechanics coming out with the next best solar powered contraption.

"I'd put my money on solar energy...I hope we don't have to wait till oil and coal run out before we tackle that." Thomas Edison, in conversation
with Henry Ford and Harvey Firestone, March 1931

What are you thinking about doing?

Papamoka

Alzheimer’s Association News

2011-03-30T19:48:00.004-05:00

Having loved and lost my dad to Alzheimer’s disease I can honestly say that it is a disease I would not wish on my worst enemy. To see someone you love slowly degenerate into someone so helpless and lost it scares me. And there by the grace of God go I. As we baby boomers age the chances of us coming down with this disease is very high. Some people say one in ten, others claim three in ten. Even if you look at the least amount it is still ten percent of the population. There is a way to cure this disease and the way to do it is to speak out on it, talk about it, and if you can afford to do so, donate to the people that want to fight it head on at the Alzheimer's Association.

Check out the links below and if you can ACT on the issue of Alzheimer’s then you are looking out for the one in ten that could be you. We will never know what causes this debilitating disease if we keep it and our loved ones afflicted with it in the closet. The time to fight and beat Alzheimer’s disease is now.

Thank you for your support in defeating this terrible disease. Please check out the links below and ACT accordingly to your heart’s desire.

10 Signs of Alzheimers

Alzheimer Myths

Related Dementia’s

Diagnosing Alzheimer's

Papamoka

Radiation Good – Ann Coulter Bad

2011-03-19T11:30:00.004-05:00

I couldn’t make this stuff up if I wanted too. Ann Coulter is on video with Bill O’Reilly stating that some forms of radiation are good for you when talking about the nuclear radiation coming out of Japan. We should take up a collection to send her over to Fukushima Japan to camp out next to the nuclear power plant that is leaking the love fest juice that she believes to be good for us. Or we could all pitch in to buy her a nice condo over at Three Mile Island. Land prices are cheap for some unknown reason. She could plant a nice garden and maybe start an apple orchard or something. (PUN intended) I found this video regarding her stance on radiation being good for you over at the Huffington Post…

The bat shit loon's article is here!

Before Ann Coulter goes quoting scientists on the effects of radiation on the human body she should read all of the facts from those scientist and not just the headlines. You have to give O’Reilly kudos for practically calling her a journalistic hack to her face. Does the woman not know how to use Google? Double dumb ass on her.

Papamoka

Bohner FU to WWI Last Veteran

2011-03-04T22:52:00.005-06:00

In classic double speak that politicians have to practice in the mirror to keep their job, Speaker of the House John Bohner screwed up. The last surviving veteran of World War One, aka WWI, was forsaken a memorial tribute at the capitol rotunda on his passing by the GOP head honcho in charge. The man was 110 years old, he was the last doughboy! This was courtesy of the military pro and we love our veteran’s political party Speaker of the House John Bohner. I’m sure he was thinking out of his ass when he blocked a wake at the capitol rotunda for the LAST VETERAN of WWI.

Two West Virginia senators and a documentary filmmaker are expressing their dismay after House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) blocked a movement to allow Frank Buckles' body to lay repose in the Capitol Rotunda.

Buckles, the last living American World War I veteran, died in West Virginia at the age of 110 last week. Shortly after his death, Sens. Jay Rockefeller and Joe Manchin III released statements urging Boehner to reconsider.

"My resolution is simple. It would have provided a fitting tribute to Frank Buckles – the nation's last Doughboy," Rockefeller said in a statement posted to his Web site. "Surely, Speaker Boehner can agree that the Congress should pause for a moment to pay its respects to Mr. Buckles and all our World War I veterans." – New York Daily News

Frank Buckles did nothing to the Democrats or the Republicans other than be the last man out of this world that served his country in World War One. And this is something that Bonehead has a problem with? WTF is wrong with him and the rest of the GOP? Apparently, they only support people in uniform while you are actually in the line of fire. Guns, bullets, and God bless our troops. After that their seems to be a middle finger that keeps coming up over and over again when it comes to veterans.

Screw the Republicans if they think that a 110 year old man that was the last surviving man from WWI does not deserve a national tribute. Plant the old geezer at Arlington is what Bohner said. We’ll send a bugler that will put down a boom box, hit the play button and hold a fake bugle to his lips.

Bullshit doesn’t always come from the back end of a bull. Sometimes it is right in front of you and we call him the Speaker of the house.

Papamoka

Viral Laughing Baby

2011-03-04T15:07:00.001-06:00

You can't just watch it just once.

Governor Walker - Koch Prank

2011-02-23T19:12:00.005-06:00

It does not surprise me that a politician will never shut up but Governor Scott Walker (R) of Wisconsin was all to eager to talk with David Koch about his union busting agenda. If you don't know who David Koch is then you need to think extreme right wing of the Republican party. Except this was not David Koch calling.

A prankster called the Governor and surprisingly was able to get through posing as David Koch. And the Governor didn't have to be prompted to spill his guts on all the dirty political tricks he is willing to pull against Democrats to bust the public service unions in Wisconsin. Listen in from You Tube to part one...

And then we have part two...

This Governor is not a man of the people when people in his own state legislature can not get through to him but a billionaire financier from California can. His agenda is single minded and it is anti union across the board. When he praised President Ronald Reagan for firing the air traffic controllers it is just the beginning of the end of this mans political career.

Governor Scott Walker gets the scumbag of the year award for being a double dumb ass for falling for a prank call and for just being a total ass. If he honestly believed in his legislation to break the unions, he would have included all unions in the state bargaining agreements. Not leaving out certain ones because of public safety or any excuse he gave. He didn't include all of the states public employee unions because some of them actually back him, and those that don't are screwed.

Papamoka

Zynga Mega Billions

2011-02-21T20:43:00.004-06:00

If you happen to play Mafia Wars, or Farmville, or Cityville, and the list goes on then you already know who Zynga is. They are your Facebook drug dealer that you always feel the need to click and click and click and click. You click on the games so much that your computer mouse is an abused animal that puts you at the top of PETA’s hit list. I have a constant fear that the Zynga task force unit is going to break my door down on a daily basis. And yes I am addicted to Zynga online games.

Out on Wall Street, the folks at Zynga are up for a huge pay day with the company being valued at almost ten billion in an initial public offering. The number of visitors to the online gaming site is unreal at 275 million users per month. That leads the company to the street in their IPO to raise $500,000,000.00. That is a sweet payday for them.

Zynga, the company behind many of the Web’s most viral games, is in advanced discussions on an investment that would value the company at nearly $10 billion and could pave the way for an initial public offering next year.

SNIP

Zynga has emerged as one of the fastest-growing companies on the Internet, propelled by the popularity of games like CityVille and FarmVille.

In CityVille, which began in December, users create and manage virtual cities, constructing buildings and collecting taxes.

The game, like most in Zynga’s stable, has flourished on Facebook, where it reigns as the site’s top-ranked game with 96 million active users a month, according to AppData. FarmVille is second, with 51 million players.

All together, Zynga’s games attract more than 275 million users every month on Facebook, making it the most popular gaming service on the platform and a major contributor to the social network’s revenue. – New York Times

I’m thinking that I need to create an online game at how fast you can bounce the checkbook. Or how about adding more duct tape to your vehicle so it passes inspection? Zynga has a gold mine thanks to all of the people addicted to Facebook but that was an article we already discussed here.

One thing is sure, Mark Pinkus, the big dog at Zynga will never have to worry about borrowing lunch money ever again. Good for him and all the people behind the scene at Zynga! I just wonder what level he is in Farmville, Mafia Wars and…

Papamoka

Renewable Energy Job Creation

2011-02-19T13:30:00.003-06:00

Republicans are proposing slashing the DOE budget by two billion, in areas where renewable energy breakthroughs are playing a huge roll in America’s energy independence. As we all know, the republican’s are very concerned with saving money at the federal level as long as it doesn’t touch their pockets or friends with campaign donations pockets. You know the players as big oil, big coal, and mega electric industries with their more than generous checkbook to the GOP political base.

The Continuing Resolution as it stands would slice over two billion dollars from the DOE's budget alone and would have detrimental impacts on the state of American energy innovation. The budget cuts would force the layoffs of scientists and engineers, shrink the capabilities of laboratories and universities to perform the most critical cutting-edge energy research projects, and, by cutting funds for highly-leveraged loan guarantee programs, steer private sector funds away from American entrepreneurs and small businesses looking to demonstrate and deploy their innovative energy technologies on American soil. – WattHead Energy

It’s going to be hard to stop the renewable energy industry now that it is rolling along and the dividends being paid are in long term good paying Green jobs. Jobs are about to pop up in Wyoming that were born from many of the same programs the Republican’s are slashing to the bone regardless.

Gestamp has partnered with Ohio-based Worthington Industries, Inc. to create a joint venture, Gestamp Worthington Wind Steel, LLC. Together, they will produce towers for wind turbines constructed in the North American market. The initial production facility will stand on 30 acres in Cheyenne, and could employ as many as 150 people when fully operational.

The proposed facility will produce utility-scale towers for 2 to 3-MW wind turbines. The partners plan to begin shipments of 80 to 100-ft long tower sections in early 2012. – Windpower Engineering

Holy crap, who’d of thunk that renewable energy funding would have created long term jobs? How can that be possible if it’s renewable energy? Isn’t that an oxymoron? Or as some on the right side of the aisle that don’t believe in science would suggest, it takes more energy to build a solar panel than it creates in its working lifetime. WRONG!

Could it be that the American economy is broken, busted, out of money because it plays favorites with far too many old industries such as oil, coal and electric? Where are the budget cuts for those industries in the Republican money saving plan? They don’t exist is where those cuts are? The DOE budget for administering fossil fuels is cut but the subsidies are not. You know why, I know why, it’s just more of the same pretentious and shamefulness of politics and our government at work.

My good friend, a conservative at heart, is constantly telling me that the government should stay out of business peoples business. I agree to a point. I don’t agree that the monopoly that is our archaic energy system in America should be given a free ride over new technology that is beneficial to our children’s health, energy independence, and future.

Papamoka

Hand Made Soap

2011-02-16T21:35:00.005-06:00

I’ve never been one to use any all natural products when it comes to bathroom shower products. Shaving cream comes out of a can, always has for as long as I’ve been alive. Shampoo for the hair has always been something that comes in a plastic bottle that the instructions tell you to wash rinse and repeat. Boring reading but it gets the job done. Soap to shower with has never been something that I have ever thought of till recently. Having a girlfriend that is into nothing but all natural things tends to tweak your thought process when you read on your regular brand of soap that it was made somewhere via a mysterious process that might be next to a nuclear power plant that has a record keeping problem for what happened to ten tons of missing spent fuel, there might be a reason for concern. I like to read in bed but I don’t feel the need to have my body soap residue provide the light.

A friend of mine just opened her own hand made soap business, and being my friend for many years I felt the need to try her product to support her entrepreneurship. Or I just needed a shower and she had soap that I needed. Either way, I was amazed at her soap product the first time I tried it. Tea Time is one of the soaps that I received and the soap is incredible. The feel of the soap on your body is so different from anything that has a name brand. I didn’t just feel clean, I felt refreshed and ready to tackle anything ahead of me for the day.

I don’t do product endorsements but I feel the need to do one for my friend Chell that owns Huckleberry Glen. Chell makes soap in her home by hand with all natural ingredients and each bar is labeled with all of the ingredients. I actually checked the label twice and there is no mention of any dye’s or chemicals that I could never pronounce or even dare to try and spell. Chemicals with long names and strange placement of letters in them is something to watch for if you want all natural ingredients for anything you want in contact with your body.

Check out Huckleberry Glen and try the soaps. I highly recommend the product and I don’t do endorsements unless I believe in the product. She has all kinds but I’m hooked on the Tea Time soap for now. Huckleberry Pancakes, Star Dust, North Wood, Honey Oatmeal, Coffee, Sweet Rose, and of course my favorite, Tea Time are just some of the soaps she has available. Amazing stuff that lathers up good and it is nice to know that it is all made by hand with all natural ingredients. Check the site often because I hear from the grapevine that she is coming out with other soaps that just might be up your alley.

CLICK HERE to visit Huckleberry Glen and thank you for supporting a hard working mom starting a small business here in America.

Papamoka

Death of American Innovation

2011-02-13T09:32:00.005-06:00

The United States of America has long been known for its abilities to produce the next great machine. Expanding our nation’s abilities by building products in factories and relying on its workforce to innovate original designs, streamline production, increase product quality, and in return supply a living wage to our citizens. Innovations come from people making a product in a factory and being proud of the next great widget that they were a part of from the start. They don’t come from an office worker sending a production order to be built overseas or just over the border where wages are disgustingly low but corporate profits are high.

More and more, American companies are outsourcing their manufacturing out of the country and that is a potential blow to our future economy no matter how you look at it. The cost savings today to the American companies are paid for in lost American jobs for future generations. This then begets a “Do you want fries with that” economy. An economic engine where two cars in every driveway, parents being able to send the next generation to college, and the demise of the American dream of home ownership will not be realistic to sustain.

Over at the New York Times they have a great piece on this subject by Louis Uchitelle…

“The big debate today is whether we can continue to be competitive in R&D when we are not making the stuff that we innovate,” she says. “I think not; the two can’t be separated.”

THE loss of manufacturing capacity, measured in lost workers, is startling. From the high point in the summer of 1979, through last month, employment in manufacturing has fallen by 8.1 million, to 11.6 million, with most of the drop in just the last decade. While consumers have benefited from lower prices, made possible by unrestricted imports, on the other side of the ledger are tens of billion of dollars in lost manufacturing wages.

Something else is gone, too. “We had a storehouse of knowledge and skill built up in these workers and we can’t use it now,” says James Jordan, president of the Interstate Maglev Project, promoting a high-speed rail technology that uses special magnets to levitate and propel trains. Maglev was invented in the United States, but equipment based on that technology is manufactured and used today in Japan.

Mr. Jordan argues that as manufacturing’s presence — and status — shrinks in America, the odds of a Henry Ford or a Thomas Edison or a Steve Jobs appearing in the next generation are reduced. -New York Times

How do we fix this? My thoughts are the same as they always have been. Make it costly to corporations that want to export existing manufacturing jobs out of the United States. When you come right down to it, we should have a “Keep the Jobs in America” campaign and it doesn’t matter which political party wants to get behind it. Either party that does back such a movement will deserve thumbs up from the next generation of innovators. People that will be thankful that they will not have to look forward to a thirty plus year career at Walmart stocking shelves full of products that used to be manufactured for good wages right here at home.

Feel free to comment and shout out on products no longer made in this country. It would be interesting to see a list of industries that have died but were born in the USA.

***Yet another related Posts from Gun Toting Liberal concerning Walmart and their selling out of America...

Papamoka

Bachmann Backpedals on VA Cuts

2011-02-05T08:49:00.004-06:00

Thanks to people like you that responded to this and other blogs, Congresswoman Michele Bachmann is reversing her position on cutting disabled veteran benefits. Click HERE for the original post that first brought up the subject. Thankfully, she saw the public outrage over this issue and decided to remove this particular section from her proposals on reducing the size of our federal government.

We have this to report from her congressional web page…

"One point on my discussion list was a $4.5 billion proposal that would affect payments made to our veterans. That discussion point has received a lot of attention and I have decided to remove it from consideration. The problem of government spending must be solved, but not on the backs of our nation’s war heroes. I have always been a proud supporter of the United States military and I continue to stand with our veterans. In the months ahead I look forward to working with our Veterans Service Organizations to ensure that we fulfill our commitments to those who sacrificed so much in their brave service for our country.” Michele Bachmann

We will keep you updated when she pulls another batshit loon move. I’m sure it won’t be long.

Papamoka

Just Stay

2011-01-31T20:32:00.007-06:00

I received this in an email from my sister Mary and I can't help but think that there is a rare but remote chance that it is true. People are funny and Marines are even funnier when it comes time to simple actions for another person. God bless our men and woman in uniform and SCREW YOU Michele Bachman when you think about screwing over our nations veterans!

A nurse took the tired, anxious serviceman to the bedside.

"Your son is here," she said to the old man. She had to repeat the words several times before the patient's eyes opened.

Heavily sedated because of the pain of his heart attack, he dimly saw the young uniformed Marine standing outside the oxygen tent. He reached out his hand. The Marine wrapped his toughened fingers around the old man's limp ones, squeezing a message of love and encouragement.

The nurse brought a chair so that the Marine could sit beside the bed. All through the night the young Marine sat there in the poorly lighted ward, holding the old man's hand and offering him words of love and strength. Occasionally, the nurse suggested that the Marine move away and rest awhile.

He refused. Whenever the nurse came into the ward, the Marine was oblivious of her and of the night noises of the hospital - the clanking of the oxygen tank, the laughter of the night staff members exchanging greetings, the cries and moans of the other patients.

Now and then she heard him say a few gentle words. The dying man said nothing, only held tightly to his son all through the night.

Along towards dawn, the old man died. The Marine released the now lifeless hand he had been holding and went to tell the nurse. While she did what she had to do, he waited.

Finally, she returned.. She started to offer words of sympathy, but the Marine interrupted her.

"Who was that man?" he asked.

The nurse was startled, "He was your father," she answered.

"No, he wasn't," the Marine replied. "I never saw him before in my life."

"Then why didn't you say something when I took you to him?"

"I knew right away there had been a mistake, But I also knew he needed his son, and his son just wasn't here. When I realized that he was too sick to tell whether or not I was his son, knowing how much he needed me, I stayed."

"I came here tonight to find a Mr. William Grey. His Son was Killed in Iraq today, and I was sent to inform him. What was this gentleman's Name?"

The Nurse with Tears in her eyes answered. "Mr. William Grey"

And that my friends is how veterans feel about one another and their families. They love their brothers in service and care for them beyond the point of being in service to our nation. It is a blood that can't be given but earned and that is something Michele Bachmann and her ilk will never understand.

I'm not a Marine but I am the son of a man that served as a medic caring for Marines. God bless the Marines and all that serve our country.

Papamoka

Bachmann to Screw over Veterans

2011-01-28T17:12:00.013-06:00

The picture to your left is of the cemetery in Normandy France which best sums up how Michele Bachmann (R-Minnesota) would like to see how all veterans are treated. You are better off dead and buried than wounded and needing lifetime care for your service to your country.

There are literally thousands of useless government programs that can be cut, shut down, eliminated, and torched, but the batshit loon, Michele Bachmann from Minnesota thinks that going after disabled Veterans benefits is the best way to cut government expenditures. She’s all for God and Country, defending our homeland from terrorists but when it comes time for the wounded people that need care that served in our nation’s military, she will give them the one finger salute every chance she gets. Isn’t that just so Tea Party Patriotic?

Tea party favorite Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., has unveiled a plan for cutting $400 billion in federal spending that includes freezing Veterans Affairs Department health care spending and cutting veterans’ disability benefits.

Her proposed VA budget cuts would account for $4.5 billion of the savings included in the plan, posted on her official House of Representatives website.

Paul Sullivan, executive director of Veterans for Common Sense, said cutting veterans’ health care spending is an ill-advised move at a time when the number of veterans continues to grow as troops return from Iraq and Afghanistan. Sullivan said he finds it difficult to see how VA could freeze health care costs without hurting veterans. – Air Force Times

Apparently, the congresswoman thinks that her stating that veterans are a drain on the federal government is a plus to her Tea Party buddies. After all, she is only looking to cut the cost of government for the people that most need our nation’s gratitude and help when they stood in the line of fire for our freedom.

How about jumping on board Congresswoman Bachmann with Democrats to end the two wars that are causing the enrollment of new veterans that need benefits?

For a full list of all the things she wants to cut/eliminate… you can go to her congressional page. CLICK HERE! It’s a screw you to everyone including veterans, farmers, education, the environment, homeland security, job training, the elderly, and eliminating the nations entire transportation systems. It’s a total screw you package without any common sense. Typical batshit crap from the dipshit Bachmann.

And our Veterans are pissed off. This from the VFW site...

VFW Will Defeat Bachmann Plan

"No way, no how, will we let this proposal get any traction in Congress."

January 28, 2011

WASHINGTON, D.C., January 28, 2011 — America's oldest and largest major combat veterans' organization announced it will do everything within its power to defeat a plan introduced by Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) to cut $4.5 billion from the Department of Veterans Affairs.

"No way, no how, will we let this proposal get any traction in Congress," said Richard L. Eubank, the national commander of the 2.1 million-member Veterans of Foreign Wars of the U.S. and its Auxiliaries.

Amen to that VFW!

Papamoka

***CROOKS AND LIARS is linking in... Thank you Mike!
***Gun Toting Liberal is linking in... Thank you Gunny!

UPDATE 2/5: Bachman Backpedals on VA CUTS

Congress to Consider State Bankruptcy

2011-01-23T11:12:00.004-06:00

(Reuters) - Legislation that would allow U.S. states to file for bankruptcy will likely be introduced in Congress within the next month, Newt Gingrich, the former speaker of the House of Representatives and a powerful Republican party figure, told Reuters on Friday.

Is Newt Gingrich nuts or right on the money? Should states like California, New York, Illinois, and others be allowed to belly up to the bankruptcy court with tens of billions of debt?

Will people that retired from or work for these states all lose their pensions because the state never fully funded them? Will this or will it not open the flood gates of litigation for other states to walk away from bigger than life debt like the Big Dig in Massachusetts? What about the potential loss of reliable state public works contractors for future projects? And what about the union agreements of existing state workers, do those all get trashed?

One thing that is certain, none of the states that could benefit from this kind of legislation are interested in it because the downward side of the bankruptcy would bankrupt the political leaders that choose to use it. If you honestly think about it from a politician’s point of view, democrat or republican, would you want your name and political party synonymous with “State of (insert state name here) Bankrupt” as a Governor? Would your state political party leaders even let you as their Governor consider filing bankruptcy on behalf of your state? No, and HELL NO!

The way that this “State’s Bankruptcy” legislation will go down in the congress is that the Republican’s will pass it in the house and the Democrat’s will kill it in the senate. Then they will each politically spin it so they look like the ones defending the American peoples pocketbook. In the meantime the states with a serious accounting problem will still be in the toilet. Why don’t they just forget about all that wasted time debating it and figure out a realistic way to get the troubled states back on their feet? I’ve said it right here once before that politicians don’t really care about taking care of the actual problem, they just care about blaming the other side for it.

Last thought, Newt, you have been out of public service since 1999, just shut the hell up.

Papamoka

Memeorandum Goes Fox News

2011-01-13T21:12:00.004-06:00

Is it just me or has the Google search engine equivalent for political news known as Memeorandum gone all right wing politics like Fox News? Granted the latest news cycle is all about things happening in the right side of the political aisle but my thoughts are that the news from Memeorandum has been hijacked. Spin is spin and it is what it is.

It almost seems that every post that they point you toward lately is and has been extremely right wing. Just saying. I’ll be looking for a new source for political news. I hear that Real Clear Politics is good. Checking them out and will keep you posted.

Papamoka

Blood Libel Meaning

2011-01-12T20:56:00.005-06:00

Sarah Palin put out a Facebook statement regarding the horrific events in Arizona and the death of far too many innocent people at the hands of a madman at Congress woman Giffords gathering. Having actually read the whole speech from Sarah Palin I honestly have to say that I think she was actually right on message. And this opinion is from a true blue blood Democrat.

Vigorous and spirited public debates during elections are among our most cherished traditions. And after the election, we shake hands and get back to work, and often both sides find common ground back in D.C. and elsewhere. If you don’t like a person’s vision for the country, you’re free to debate that vision. If you don’t like their ideas, you’re free to propose better ideas. But, especially within hours of a tragedy unfolding, journalists and pundits should not manufacture a blood libel that serves only to incite the very hatred and violence they purport to condemn. That is reprehensible. – Facebook

We live in a time when politics and the debate of just life in America is very harsh and cold. Political pundits with a microphone or television show will spin it to blame an opposing political party for the actions of a madman simply because they can. The pay for such so called political valor is high. I have to say that I have followed Sarah Palin online to see what she has to say and she used the term “Blood Libel” appropriately to describe the idiots behind the microphones. I believe that would be a “bitch slap” to Rush Limbaugh from the former Vice President Candidate from Alaska. She wasn’t looking to hurt anyone with the statement other than tell the shock jocks to shut the hell up.

Even Alan Dershowitz, the Harvard Law Proffesor agrees with me...

The term “blood libel” has taken on a broad metaphorical meaning in public discourse. Although its historical origins were in theologically based false accusations against the Jews and the Jewish People,its current usage is far broader. I myself have used it to describe false accusations against the State of Israel by the Goldstone Report. There is nothing improper and certainly nothing anti-Semitic in Sarah Palin using the term to characterize what she reasonably believes are false accusations that her words or images may have caused a mentally disturbed individual to kill and maim. The fact that two of the victims are Jewish is utterly irrelevant to the propriety of using this widely used term. – Big Government

Sarah Palin said nothing that was offensive unless you speak a language that is lost to the ages. Now I have to go throw up for defending her speech. I hope that she never has a more clear and to the point speech ever again.

Papamoka

***Crooks and Liars linking in... Thank you Mike!

The Google Information Age

2011-01-08T12:11:00.003-06:00

How many times have you heard someone in the course of your day say something like “I don’t know, look it up on Google?” People in sales use Google to research potential new customers in markets they never thought to tap before. People in purchasing use Google to find parts and product that are hard to source for manufacturing. Lawyers and people that think they can represent themselves in court use Google to look up old law cases and precedent. People even use Google to research whatever medical ailment they have. In my own day to day observations, Google-ing happens far too many times that I have to conclude that our information source for knowledge has gone from the hard cover of books and looking things up in any given reference to something as simple as a point and click Google search.

Welcome to the Google information age. Like it or not, it’s here to stay.

Word to the newly graduating class of 2011, being a librarian is not a long term employment position that is long for this world. Google might be hiring if you can use those same skills to help them out with what I’m sure will be the next level of information technology. Googlepedia’s! No door to door salespeople needed. Just point and click.

Papamoka

Merry Christmas

2010-12-23T10:43:00.003-06:00

I get a charge out the sense of humor from The Far Left Side.

Merry Christmas to all.

Census Shift in Political Power

2010-12-21T20:49:00.003-06:00

Some of the folks on the right side of the political aisle might be chuckling over the political shift of lost seats from the Northeast to the south and west of the nation but it is actually a double edged sword. Census results for 2010 have turned what was up and what was down upside down. Ergo the house of representatives is all in a tizzy over lost or won seats in red and blue states.

WASHINGTON — The Census Bureau rearranged the country’s political map on Tuesday, giving more Congressional seats to the South and the West, and taking away from the Northeast and the Midwest, in largely anticipated changes that will have far reaching implications for political life cycles over the next decade. – New York Times

Speaking as someone from the left side of the political spectrum, I look at this whole situation as a win for new political blood in states where there was nothing but desert before. It is all just a matter of perspective as to how the nation is just a bunch of migrant Americans that just happen to love warmer weather. Most of the movers are retired voting Democratic voters moving into warmer climates where they will vote. DNC operatives know this and now it is clear that some of those red states in the warm climates have an influx of blue state voters that just might want to be heard.

Time for the people that know how to actually run a political campaign and influence voters to start spending some time in states they thought were a “gimmee” to Republicans. There be Democats’ in them there states now!

Look at little old me for instance, once a New England die hard liberal now living in the land of the “Show Me” state of Missouri. Am I going to vote Republican just because my MA turned into MO on my return address labels? Hell no!

Papamoka

Alzheimer’s Disease Breakthrough

2010-12-14T21:48:00.004-06:00

For my Dad... to the left aka Grampa Jack

From the point of view from someone that actually has Alzheimer’s disease it must be frustrating to know that you are slowly losing everything you know that is you. You will forget who you wife or husband is and fear them. You will forget who your own children are and be cautious and accusatory toward them. Eventually, you will forget everything that ever mattered in your life and find yourself crying because you will know that you are lost. Having seen my own father go through it, it would terrify me to think that there but for the grace of God go I. This debilitating disease robs your mind of all of the memories that were your life and as we baby boomers get older and more fragile we better start to care more about the research that is needed to make it the Small Pocks cure for our generation, and the next, and the next.

Researchers are now finding new answers to old questions by looking at the reverse angle of Alzheimer’s Disease. Beta amyloid build up in the brain otherwise known as plaque was thought to be the body building to much of the needed chemical in the brain but current thought is looking at it as the body not being able to dispose of the beta amyloid properly. Amazing stuff if you care to read about it over at the New York Times…

Alzheimer’s researchers are obsessed with a small, sticky protein fragment, beta amyloid, that clumps into barnaclelike balls in the brains of patients with this degenerative neurological disease.

It is a normal protein. Everyone’s brain makes it. But the problem in Alzheimer’s is that it starts to accumulate into balls — plaques. The first sign the disease is developing — before there are any symptoms — is a buildup of amyloid. And for years, it seemed, the problem in Alzheimer’s was that brain cells were making too much of it.

But now, a surprising new study has found that that view appears to be wrong. It turns out that most people with Alzheimer’s seem to make perfectly normal amounts of amyloid. They just can’t get rid of it. It’s like an overflowing sink caused by a clogged drain instead of a faucet that does not turn off.

That discovery is part of a wave of unexpected findings that are enriching scientists’ views of the genesis of Alzheimer’s disease. In some cases, like the story of amyloid disposal, the work points to new ways to understand and attack the disease. If researchers could find a way to speed up disposal, perhaps they could slow down or halt the disease. - New York Times

When you think about all of the programs in America where mentors that are retired are helping the younger generations to avoid the mistakes they made in business and in life it is such a waste to see so many brilliant minds lost to Alzheimer’s disease. There is no greater loss in the world than knowledge and inside each one of these senior citizens minds is a wealth more valuable than gold.

This disease should be on the fast track to cure and yet it is just one of those old people problems that nobody thinks about till it actually punches you in the gut and it is someone that you love that is affected. Then it never leaves your conscious thought even after your loved one is long gone. And I’m not talking about dead and buried.

Papamoka

Bachmann to Torpedo Tax Cuts and Unemployment Extension

2010-12-06T21:45:00.003-06:00

Michelle Bachmann needs to be told a little story about Marie Antoinette by her own political party that she does not want to say no to everything. The Tea Party queen is telling the long term unemployed and the mega boo-coo buck tax break buddies of George W. Bush to just eat cake. Her latest comments and intentions are intended to torpedo the GOP battle cruiser on extending Bush era tax cuts for the mega rich and simply harpoon the long term unemployed dingy of President Obama. Ergo she is throwing a tantrum because she can't have her cake and eat it too.

A House Tea Party leader said Monday that GOP lawmakers might vote down an extension of tax cuts if it's tied to an extension in unemployment aid.

Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.), the chairwoman of the House Tea Party Caucus, said Republicans could balk at voting to extend all the tax cuts for two years if it's tied to a long-term extension of jobless benefits.

"I don't know that Republicans would necessarily go along with that vote. That would be a very hard vote to take," Bachmann said on conservative talker Sean Hannity's radio show on Monday.

President Obama is said to be amenable to extending all the tax cuts for two years as a concession to Republicans as long as unemployment benefits and certain tax breaks are extended as well. – The Hill

Everyone knows that when you teach a two or three year old how to say no that they will say it nonstop even if they really mean yes. The baby wants the juice bottle but loves to say no. The baby wants to watch their favorite cartoon but loves to say no. The baby loves its crackers but loves saying no even more. That is what happens when a baby learns to say no. And every parent knows that the process of educating a baby on what they want or do not want is a long process of yes and no.

Let the “Party of No” aka GOP, proudly stand behind the batshit looney Michelle Bachmann on saying NO to extending long term unemployment benefits and also saying NO to extending Bush era tax cuts for the top 2% of income earners in America simply because she can say no. She isn’t offering any alternative plan other than saying no. Isn’t it refreshing to hear in a nation that is depending on the mega rich to create jobs and the unemployed depending on funds to get past one of the worst economic hardships since the great depression that someone is intent on just saying screw you all?

Maybe all that we need to do for little miss Michelle is rephrase the questions so that even a two year old will understand that No means yes?

Papamoka

Wormtown Taxi Passing Lane

2010-11-29T19:47:00.004-06:00

Jeff Barnard 12/08/1948 to 11/28/2010

My blogging friend Jeff Barnard passed away on Sunday. Jeff was fighting the good fight with melanoma cancer and true to form he blogged about his daily routine as best he could and when he could on his Worcester blog, Wormtown Taxi. His last post was so much true to his form and spirit and it was to his wife Kathy. It was just a simple thought from him to let his wife know that he loved her very much, she was his angel.

Jeff was a good friend to me when it came to my blog writing and many a time he would email me to point out where I needed to tone things down a bit when it came to my thoughts on the local level or just outright delete and idiotic post with a well worded explanation as to why.

He was a good man and a good friend too many, the world will be a little less reported on with Jeff’s Taxi signing off of his last shift. For all of the bloggers in Worcester and around the nation that knew him, raise a glass of beer to him and always tell a story. It will make Jeff very happy.

Rest in peace my friend. May the good lord keep you in the hollow of his hand or put you on the writing desk at St. Peters Gate. God bless ya Jeff.

Papamoka

O'Connor Brothers is handling arrangements

Iran Nuclear Plans Cyber Screwed

2010-11-27T22:43:00.005-06:00

With all the saber rattling from the president of Iran on his nation standing up against the nuclear powers of the world it is almost ironic that somehow his nuclear program was cyber screwed by a computer virus. Where it came from, who sent it, who built the virus, seems to be perfect karma for the idiot from Tehran that threatened the world with his potential nuclear threat.

The construction of the worm was so advanced, it was “like the arrival of an F-35 into a World War I battlefield,” says Ralph Langner, the computer expert who was the first to sound the alarm about Stuxnet. Others have called it the first “weaponized” computer virus.

Simply put, Stuxnet is an incredibly advanced, undetectable computer worm that took years to construct and was designed to jump from computer to computer until it found the specific, protected control system that it aimed to destroy: Iran’s nuclear enrichment program. – Fox News

The lowdown on the virus or worm that crippled the Iranian enrichment of nuclear fuel processing is that it was brilliant in every phase according to everyone that has been privy to study it. The article is a must read. The worm hid and remained dormant for long periods of time and changed at will till it found the computer systems it wanted to be in. Once there it manipulated the system to make all operations look normal while it slowly screwed up the centrifuges by varying the speeds of the centrifuge units burning out the bearings. All the while systems looked perfect to the Iranian scientist and engineers who ended up with garbage for nuclear fuel with no explanation.

Sitting back in my chair while I write this it would not surprise me in the least if this was an internal virus or worm built by very intelligent Iranian computer geniuses. It isn’t a secret that the religious government of Iran has always looked at its own scientific people as dangerous to the religious movement and murdered, persecuted, imprisoned, and harassed them to no end in the past. And yet they wanted the best of their scientific minds to build the worst potential product that could be used as a weapon to kill millions simply because the saber rattling was not enough. I’d bet a dozen Persian carpets that the Iranian Nuclear Program was sabotaged from within and I may just be right by the number of nuclear scientist in Iran that have simply disappeared. Or should I say merely wandered off into the desert due to the high rate of Alzheimer’s in the scientific community in Iran.

My next best bet would be a bunch of teenagers in Iran that thought they were buying a goat on Iran’s equivalent of Ebay and they accidently hit the wrong button and found themselves deep inside of the uranium centrifuge program. Ya that must be what really happened! NOT!

OR, and this might be a long shot, Imadinnerjacket pissed off so many nations around the world with his threats and saber rattling that they decided to put their best computer geeks minds together and screwed him and his program over. That would make more sense.

Papamoka

***Current has linked in. Thanks!

Common Sense to Offshore Wind Power

2010-11-25T09:34:00.002-06:00

Developing new wind power farms off the Atlantic coast of America received a much needed shot in the arm this week from the Obama administration. One of the largest deterrents to expanding wind power offshore is the multiple levels of federal, state, and local red tape that every project must go through before even one wind turbine can be built. The U.S. Department of the Interior announced a fast track process that will remove years from the process by pre-qualifying potential tracts offshore for potential developers that are considering new offshore wind projects. The new initiative has been rightfully named, “Smart from the Start”.

BALTIMORE, MD -- Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar today launched a ‘Smart from the Start’ wind energy initiative for the Atlantic Outer Continental Shelf to facilitate siting, leasing and construction of new projects, spurring the rapid and responsible development of this abundant renewable resource. “Our ‘Smart from the Start’ Initiative for Atlantic wind will allow us to identify priority Wind Energy Areas for potential development, improve our coordination with local, state, and federal partners, and accelerate the leasing process,” Salazar noted. “If we are wise with our planning, we can help build a robust and environmentally responsible offshore renewable energy program that creates jobs here at home.” The accelerated leasing process is being simplified through a regulatory change, enabling leases to be issued in 2011 and 2012. – U.S. Department of the Interior

With our nation still heavily dependent on foreign sources for our energy needs then it makes for common sense that our government does everything possible to expedite our weaning from those energy sources.

The Cape Wind project off the coast of Massachusetts is just one example of regulation gone mad with the project taking almost ten years before even one watt of energy is harvested. Cape Wind once completed will supply 75% of the electricity needed by the residents and businesses on Cape Cod. Just imagine dozens of such wind farms off the Atlantic coast and the impact that would have on reducing our energy dependence.

Several states like Maryland, New Jersey and Rhode Island have already taken steps to speed up the process for new offshore wind power farms and the added streamlining by the Department of the Interior is a win, win for renewable energy in America.

Papamoka

Obama a One Term President

2010-11-14T16:47:00.003-06:00

News reports, although never realistic based on push polls, can not be trusted when you insert reality or simple common sense into the scenario. Polls are out asking if President Barack Obama will be a one term president. I’m just thinking that the President still has two years left to his term but I’m funny like that wondering how this can even be realistically polled or predicted?

Alzheimer’s is rampant in the electorate given the last election results! We all know people are fickle and will vote their wallet and this fact is true because everyone forgot how screwed we all were under the leadership of George W. Bush. That is why Obama won the White House over Republican candidate John McCain in the first place! One has to ask if the voting public are sheep that will run the first time someone screams wolf? This past elections proves that theory given the fear factor of the Tea Party candidates that actually won and all of the democrat’s that were tossed out of office. Common sense lost and fear won.

Even Congressman Alan Grayson in Florida’s 8th Congressional district, a die hard for the people candidate was ousted. There was no common sense fiscally to understand his ousting at the polls knowing that he was a closet conservative budget watch dog on spending that just happened to be a liberal democrat.

Politically, it will look amazing in the history books on all of the accomplishments that President Barack Obama has been able to do in just his first two years as president. Obama passed Health Care Reform and when you look at history, every president since Harry Truman has tried to pass some form of national health care reform and none have succeeded. Obama passed banking and investment reform of Wall Street that cleaned up the mess that was disguised as pure capitalism but really was a house of magic where accounting tricks and mirrors were only the beginning to undermine the investments of all Americans. A banking industry where anyone that was breathing could qualify for a mortgage and bingo the house of cards in the housing market collapsed.

President Obama passed credit card reform and dealt a blow to the unscrupulous banking industry that gouged consumers simply because they could. Turning the employment numbers around since his predecessor, George W. Bush, whom is apparently the “New Ronald Reagan”, from a constant loss to positive yet small growth in the private sector was not a simple thing to do and it took leadership.

I find it amazing that it is even suggested to think that Obama will be a one term president. Yes, he was dealt a severe loss with the recent election but his presidency is only two years old. The party of “NO!” now has the House of Congress but they do not have the Senate. And the only real loser’s in this past election is the gridlock and bull that the GOP will unleash to stop any progress to help the people of America to not get out of a recession.

When I hear the crack heads in the GOP wanting to touch the third rail of Social Security, reducing benefits, cutting or even eliminating benefits for some, I’m reminded of my own advancing age. That brings up the “Get Out of my Pension” factor. AKA the GOP. That third rail burns anyone that touches it and that will be the reason President Obama will see a second term. When rich politicians touch seniors that vote in larger than life numbers based on the only income they have coming in then the third rail candidates always lose! Go GOP and crack heads.

As a political writer, the GOP taking the House of Representatives is a godsend. I’m wondering where all of these fiscally conservative people were when our nation went to war on two fronts and saw no problem with no bid contracts? Same folks want grandma and grandpa’s pension to bail out the deficit but see no problem with war profiteering? Go GOP!!!

Papamoka

Keith Olbermann Suspended

2010-11-06T09:31:00.005-05:00

This was in the email today... I signed it and you should too.

BREAKING: MSNBC has suspended star anchor Keith Olbermann following the news that he donated to three Democratic candidates this election cycle.

Sign our emergency petition to MSNBC. Tell them to put Olbermann back on the air NOW!

Then, pass this to your progressive friends.

Media are writing about this breaking story right now, and our growing petition will display the public outrage.

NBC policy does not prohibit employees from donating to political candidates. But MSNBC president Phil Griffin is miffed that Keith didn't get "prior approval" first. Seriously. His feelings are hurt.

Meanwhile, Republicans Joe Scarborough and Pat Buchanan also gave political contributions -- but are not suspended. It must only be ok for MSNBC employees to give to Republicans, not Democrats.

Thanks for getting Keith's back. I've said it here once before... MSNBC SUCKS!

Papamoka

Renewable Energy News Update

2010-10-30T09:27:00.007-05:00

This is just a quick round-up of Renewable Energy news items for this past week that are going on in America.

SunPower and Iberdrola To Build 30-MW Solar Plant

Colorado, United States -- SunPower said this week that it's going to design, build and supply panels for a 30-MW PV project in Colorado. The project, called the San Luis Valley Solar Ranch, will begin construction this year. If all goes as planned, the plant will be fully operational by 2011. – Renewable Energy World.Com

Calico Solar Project a GO

San Bernardino, California - Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger applauded the California Energy Commission (CEC) decision today to approve the Calico Solar Project, the seventh solar thermal power plant licensed by the state in the past two months, totaling 3,493 megawatts (MW) of renewable solar power.

The Calico Project will generate 664 MW of clean, renewable energy and create nearly 900 jobs in San Bernardino County. – Imperial Valley News

Wood Pellet Manufacturer’s List

If you have a wood pellet stove in your home or business then this handy list of manufacturer’s of wood pellets might be of use to you. Give them a call to find the nearest retail or distributor for their wood pellet products for your home heating needs.

WoodAndCoal.com

And if you are curious how the mechanics of a wood pellet stove works then check out Outdoorwoodstoves.com

Wood Pellet stoves have become more and more popular as an alternative to fossil fuels for home heating because of their renewable source. Installation is fairly simple where the exhaust from the stove can be vented straight out the wall. Unlike tradition wood stoves where you have to constantly feed the fire, you simply fill the hopper with wood pellets, set the desired heat level, and enjoy the heat for hours on end.

Wind Power Offshore Mega Watt News

Wind turbine MW output is going up and up and that is always a good thing for the planet. With the massive potential to feed the energy needs of America located just off of our coasts it’s awesome to see one industry pair up with another to solve the many technical problems associated with offshore wind power.

Turbine OEM and shipbuilder launch offshore agreement

A wind energy OEM and a shipbuilding operating in Newport News, Virg., have agreed to cooperate on offshore wind technology. The agreement calls for the companies to cooperate on the U.S. launch of Gamesa’s first G11X-5.0 MW offshore prototype using Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding’s expertise in heavy load logistics, systems performance, and reliability and the applications of such technologies offshore. To erect the first G11X-5.0 MW offshore prototype in the U.S., Gamesa and Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding are setting up an initial team of as many as 40 engineers in the Hampton Roads, Virginia over the next month. – Wind Power Engineering

Check back soon for more updates and breakthroughs.

Papamoka