Cal Thomas - Telling It Like It Is

Sent to me by a buddy, his comment....."Cal Thomas has done it again. He should be arrested for trying to tell the truth and be sensible.

Cal Thomas, is a political commentator of a conservative bent and is the co-author (with Bob Beckel - a noted Liberal) of the book, "Common Ground: How to Stop the Partisan War That is Destroying America".

Cal's article:

People who take polls for a living will tell you that depending on the methodology, the sample, how a question is asked and the understanding of the ones being polled, the outcome can pretty much be predetermined.

If you are dependent on a superior for your job and that superior tells you he wants a certain conclusion reached about a policy he wishes to implement, that, too, can affect the outcome.

Such is the case with President Obama, who has told gay rights groups he intends to end the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy and allow homosexuals to serve openly in the military. From the comments by Joint Chiefs Chairman Admiral Michael Mullen and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, it appears the president's message has placed their job security above what is best for the military and the country. Many lower-ranking officers do not share their opinion about the effects openly gay service members would have on our military.

The Pentagon poll touted by Gates and Mullen was "rigged," said a recent editorial in The Washington Times, which noted, "From the outset, the Pentagon had no interest in eliciting honest responses from the troops about whether the law ... should be preserved or repealed. Instead, soldiers, airmen, sailors and Marines were addressed in terms of implying that repeal is inevitable."

Furthermore, said the newspaper, "63 percent of respondents live off-base or in civilian housing and consequently answered that a change in policy might not affect them. Those in combat roles -- where unit cohesion and trust are life-and-death concerns -- gave a different response."

Of all the arguments made by the Obama administration for repealing the law, the one mentioned by Secretary Gates is the least defensible. Gates said Congress had better act before the law was "imposed immediately by judicial fiat." Perhaps Gates should re-read the Constitution, especially the part about the separation of powers. Article 1, Section 8 empowers Congress to make rules for the government and regulate land and naval forces. A National Review Online editorial labeled Gates' comment, "... blackmail via judicial imperialism."

What is more likely to happen if the policy is reversed is that tens of thousands of those currently in service will retire, or quit. During Senate Armed Services Committee hearings last week, Senator John McCain (R-AZ), cited another Pentagon survey, which found that repealing the ban could create an "alarming" troop retention problem at a time when the military is already shorthanded.

McCain said, "If 12.6 percent of the military left earlier, that translates into 264,600 men and women who would leave the military earlier than they had planned." McCain wondered if that is a "good idea in a time of war." The question should answer itself.

Gates and Mullen suggest that the troops can be conditioned into accepting openly gay service members. Would that include chaplains and religious soldiers for whom homosexual behavior is thought to be a sin? Will chaplains be disciplined if they counsel someone who is gay that they can change and be forgiven, just as heterosexuals who engage in sex outside of marriage can also repent and discover a new path? This proposed change in the law has more of a "fundamentalist" tone than fundamentalism. Submit, or else.

Why are we witnessing so many challenges to what used to be considered a shared sense of right and wrong? It is because we no longer regard the Author of what is right. Loosed from that anchor, we drift in a sea of personal "morality," deciding for ourselves what we want and ought to do and defying anyone who shouts "wrong way" as a fascist imposer of their personal beliefs.

The military is one of our primary national underpinnings. So is marriage. No wonder the gay rights movement seeks to undermine both. There are consequences when foundations are destroyed. The Congress has a duty to save us from the pursuit of our lower nature if we won't listen to that other voice. If they care.

TSA Experience - Are You Kidding Me!

Received this from an Army Sergeant Major, who received it from someone else in the service…..Left untouched with the exception of the adult language.

The letter begins,....

As the Chalk Leader for my flight home from Afghanistan , I witnessed the following:

When we were on our way back from Afghanistan , we flew out of Baghram Air Field. We went through customs at BAF, full body scanners (no groping), had all of our bags searched, the whole nine yards. Our first stop was Shannon , Ireland to refuel. After that, we had to stop at Indianapolis , Indiana to drop off about 100 folks from the Indiana National Guard. That's where the stupid started.

First, everyone was forced to get off the plane-even though the plane wasn't refueling again. All 330 people got off that plane, rather than let the 100 people from the ING get off. We were filed from the plane to a holding area. No vending machines, no means of escape. Only a male/female latrine.

It's probably important to mention that we were ALL carrying weapons. Everyone was carrying an M4 Carbine (rifle) and some, like me, were also carrying an M9 pistol. Oh, and our gunners had M-240B machine guns. Of course, the weapons weren't loaded. And we had been cleared of all ammo well before we even got to customs at Baghram, then AGAIN at customs.

The TSA personnel at the airport seriously considered making us unload all of the baggage from the SECURE cargo hold to have it reinspected. Keep in mind, this cargo had been unpacked, inspected piece by piece by U.S. Customs officials, resealed and had bomb-sniffing dogs give it a one-hour run through. After two hours of sitting in this holding area, the TSA decided not to reinspect our Cargo-just to inspect us again: Soldiers on the way home from war, who had already been inspected, reinspected and kept in a SECURE holding area for 2 hours. Ok, whatever. So we lined up to go through security AGAIN.

This is probably another good time to remind you all that all of us were carrying actual assault rifles, and some of us were also carrying pistols.

So we're in line, going through one at a time. One of our Soldiers had his Gerber multi-tool. TSA confiscated it. Kind of ridiculous, but it gets better. A few minutes later, a guy empties his pockets and has a pair of nail clippers. Nail clippers. TSA informs the Soldier that they're going to confiscate his nail clippers. The conversation went something like this:

TSA Guy: You can't take those on the plane.

Soldier: What? I've had them since we left country.

TSA Guy: You're not suppose to have them.

Soldier: Why?

TSA Guy: They can be used as a weapon.

Soldier: [touches butt stock of the rifle] But this actually is a weapon. And I'm allowed to take it on.

TSA Guy: Yeah but you can't use it to take over the plane. You don't have bullets.

Soldier: And I can take over the plane with nail clippers?

TSA Guy: [awkward silence]

Me: Dude, just give him your damn nail clippers so we can get the F%*# out of here. I'll buy you a new set.

Soldier: [hands nail clippers to TSA guy, makes it through security] To top it off, the TSA demanded we all be swabbed for "explosive residue" detection. Everyone failed, [go figure, we just came home from a war zone], because we tested positive for "Gun Powder Residue". Who the F%*# is hiring these people?.

This might be a good time to remind everyone that approximately 233 people re-boarded that plane with assault rifles, pistols, and machine guns-but nothing that could have been used as a weapon. Can someone please tell me What the F%*# happened to OUR country while we were gone?

Regards,

Sgt. Mad Dog Tracy

Interesting Statistics Draw an Unwanted Conclusion

A friend of mine sent me these stats. Pretty interesting. Shows how the U.S. just may be a third world country before long.

Thirty years ago, ten percent of California ’s general fund went to higher education and three percent to prisons. Today, nearly eleven percent goes to prisons and eight percent to higher education.

In 2009, 51 percent of United States patents were awarded to non-United States companies.

The World Economic Forum ranks the United States 48th in quality of mathematics and science education.

Of Wal-Mart’s 6,000 suppliers, 5,000 are in China .

There are sixteen energy companies in the world with larger reserves than the largest United States company.

IBM’s once promising PC business is now owned by a Chinese company.

The legendary Bell Laboratories is now owned by a French company.

Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. (computer manufacturing) employs more people than the worldwide employment of Apple, Dell, Microsoft, Intel and Sony combined.

No new nuclear plants and no new petroleum refineries have been built in the United States in a third of a century, a period characterized by intermittent energy-related crises.

United States consumers spend significantly more on potato chips than the government devotes to energy R&D.

The world’s largest airport is now in China.

In 2000 the number of foreign students studying the physical sciences and engineering in United States graduate schools for the first time surpassed the number of United States students.

Federal funding of research in the physical sciences as a fraction of GDP fell by 54 percent in the 25 years after 1970. The decline in engineering funding was 51 percent.

GE has now located the majority of its R&D personnel outside the United States. Cowboys Comment - yeah, probably most of them in Iran.

Manufacturing employment in the U.S. computer industry is now lower than when the first personal computer was built in 1975.

In the 2009 rankings of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation the U.S. was in sixth place in global innovation-based competitiveness, but ranked 40th in the rate of change over the past decade.

China has now replaced the United States as the world’s number one high-technology exporter.

In a survey of global firms planning to build new R&D facilities, 77 per-cent say they will build in China or India .

China has a $196 billion positive trade balance. The United States’ balance is negative $379 billion.

Sixty-nine percent of United States public school students in fifth through eighth grade are taught mathematics by a teacher without a degree or certificate in mathematics.

Ninety-three percent of United States public school students in fifth through eighth grade are taught the physical sciences by a teacher without a degree or certificate in the physical sciences.

Of the Big Three American automakers, one is now owned by a firm in Italy (after having been previously sold by a German firm), and another is 60 percent owned by the United States government.

The United States ranks 27th among developed nations in the proportion of college students receiving undergraduate degrees in science or engineering.

Forty-nine percent of United States adults do not know how long it takes for the Earth to revolve around the Sun.Cowboy's Comment: Yeah, and most of them are Democrats.

The total annual federal investment in research in mathematics, the physical sciences and engineering is now equal to the increase in United States healthcare costs every nine weeks.Cowboy's Comment: Wait until Obamacare fully kicks in and that period will be reduced to 3 days.

Bethlehem Steel marked its 100th birthday by declaring bankruptcy.

The United States ranks 20th in high school completion rate among industrialized nations and 16th in college completion rate.

In less than 15 years, China has moved from 14th place to second place in published research articles (behind the United States).

China’s real annual GDP growth over the past thirty years has been 10 percent.

According to OECD data the United States ranks 24th among thirty wealthy countries in life expectancy at birth.Cowboy's Comment: With the crap we eat and drive for self destruction, high obesity and Type II diabetes rate,..you could wonder?

The average American K-12 student spends four hours a day in front of a TV.

China’s Tsinghua and Peking Universities are the two largest suppliers of students who receive PhD’s—in the United States .

Sixty-eight percent of U.S. state prison inmates are high school drop-outs or otherwise did not qualify for a diploma.

Six of the ten best-selling vehicles in the United States are now foreign models.

Since 1995 the United States share of world shipments of photovoltaics has fallen from over 40 percent to well under 10 percent—while the overall market has grown by nearly a factor of one hundred.

Among manufacturers of photovoltaics, wind turbines and advanced batteries, the top ten global firms by market capitalization include two, one and one United States firms, respectively. The other firms are from China, Denmark, France, Germany, India, Spain, Taiwan and the U.K.

By 2008, public spending in the United States on energy R&D had declined to less than half what it was three decades ago in real purchasing power. By 2005, private investment had declined to less than one-third of the total.

A single Japanese automobile model constitutes about half of the U.S. hybrid market.

Last year Mitsubishi introduced the world’s first mass-produced all-electric car.

A Japanese company produces over 75 percent of the world’s nickel-metal hydride batteries used in vehicles.

Japan has 1524 miles of high speed rail; France has 1163; and China just passed 742 miles. The United States has 225. China has 5612 miles now under construction and one plant produces 200 trains each year capable of operating at 217 mph. The United States has none under construction.

Roughly half of America ’s outstanding public debt is now foreign-owned—with China the largest holder.

The increase in cost of higher education in America has substantially surpassed the growth in family income in recent decades. United States current and former students have amassed $633 billion in student loan debt.

There are 60 new nuclear power plants currently being built in the world. One of these is in the United States.

All the National Academies Gathering Storm committee’s recommendations could have been fully implemented with the sum America spends on cigarettes each year—with $60 billion left over.

Youths between the ages of 8 and 18 average seven-and-a-half hours a day in front of video games, television and computers—often multi-tasking.

Almost one-third of U.S. manufacturing companies responding to a recent survey say they are suffering from some level of skills shortages.

According to the ACT College Readiness report, 78 percent of high school graduates did not meet the readiness benchmark levels for one or more entry-level college courses in mathematics, science, reading and English.