Aloha Dump

Time for a pop quiz! No, I’m not going to have you try and guess the combined tonnage of Rosie O’Donnell and Michael Moore, but it is something that will tax your brain just the same. What are the 7 Wonders of North America? And if you say, “The combined tonnage of Rosie and Moore”- you fail. How many of them have you visited? This idea came to me as I read the back of the Tasteeos cereal box, a blatant knock off of another popular but tasteless cereal. While it was refreshing to read something other than desperate attempts to get children to keep pestering their parents for the sweet and expensive cereal, I was reminded of a story I read about the Islamofacists and their jihad to control the world with their 7th century lifestyle. The article, in its entirety is an excellent recount of both Western and Eastern art, music, and architecture and how Muslims reject these influences. The article, found in The Brussels Journal, entitled Why Western Art is Unique, and Why Muslim Immigrat...

In February of this year a dog named Nikko drank some antifreeze and died. This devastated Aaron Coash, a 9-year old boy who had grown up with Nikko since he was a puppy. Nikko apparently wandered off one day and returned home about an hour later. Three days later he died. Aaron started a crusade against anti-freeze since it was determined that it was the most likely cause of death. I cannot find the status of Nikko's Law that was going to be proposed to the Kansas State Legislature that would require bittering agents added to the antifreeze to make it less appetizing to dogs. As a responsible dog owner (at one time), this bothers me. Nikko's death was not a result of the anti-freeze, but of irresponsible dog owners. Period. While it is tragic that so many animals are killed each year from the ingestion of antifreeze (about 10,000 according to the Humane Society), it is not the responsibility of the anti freeze manufacturers to address. There are already pet frie...

Nothing is fair and balanced in the media. This shouldn't come as a shock, but for most will not want to believe it. I have friends on both sides of the political spectrum and some can have a rational discussion while others cannot. I get it- politics is an emotional subject and people are charged with their own ideologies of how the world should be- and that includes media outlets. A lighthearted example can be seen when contrasting The Daily Show with The Colbert Report. Jon Stewart is a left leaning correspondent and rarely takes jabs at the Democratic president. When he does, they are cream puffs like his interview with Obama the other night when the issue of Libya came up. Had George Bush been on that stage and made an asinine comment about 4 dead Americans being "not optimal" Stewart would have ripped his ass. But Obama got a pass because that is what fits the show's agenda. I get it and I don't get pissed about it. The Colbert Report is pitted against ...

It has been almost a week since the Aurora, CO massacre. What else is there to say, really, that hasn’t already been covered? It was a despicable, calculated and act by a hateful coward. The whole gamut of emotion and blame has been shamelessly presented by the media and pundits alike.   Special interest groups are ambitiously capitalizing on this shooting to further their cause. Americans like to assign blame to horrific acts because we just don’t want to believe that an insane, hateful person can succumb to his own psychosis and open fire in a movie theater. No, that will not do. The easiest targets are gun control, video games, Hollywood and over medication. It didn’t take long for the media to try and politicize the event by trying to tie in the Aurora shooter with the Tea Party. Someone at ABC should be horsewhipped for that display of overt irresponsible reporting. But they won’t. The worst thing that will happen is an astute verbal bitch slap by Jon Stewart. I ...

Here is a lesson on cutting through the financial doublespeak from our politicians and getting down to the nitty gritty of our financial crisis by substituting the obscenely large numbers into something more tangible and relevant. U.S. Tax revenue: $2,170,000,000,000 Fed budget: $3,820,000,000,000 New debt: $ 1,650,000,000,000 National debt: $14,271,000,000,000 Recent budget cuts: $ 38,500,000,000 Let's now remove 8 zeros and pretend it's a household budget: Annual family income: $21,700 Money the family spent: $38,200 New debt on the credit card: $16,500 Outstanding balance on the credit card: $142,710 Total budget cuts: $385 If there is no hope for this family budget, then how can there be any hope for our nation's? We need new leadership in the White House. Obama had his chance for 2 years, with both the House and the Senate controlled by the Democrats, to get this economy rolling again and he failed. Cash for Clunker...

Newt Gingrich is gaining momentum and losing headway on a daily basis and I am very surprised to hear anything about him at all. I remember in the late 80's and early 90's when he was an upcoming Minority Whip (and bouncing checks left and right) when he captivated us with his directness and ability to "tell it like it is", long before Oprah coined phrase with that loser Dr. Phil. But the fascination wanned as we found out Newt was just another whacko with a big mouth. He faded into obsurity until recently when he decided to run for POTUS. Quite a shell shock to me. He reappearance in the forefront of politics reminds me of the new fashion trend that put the "ug" in "ugly". Boot wearing became popular fashion faux pas in the 80's with the pant legs tucked snuggly into the tops. I was in high school at the time and only the sluts wore them. Sorry ladies, Uggs fall into this same myopic view for me. Anyway, Gingrich has a tangenical parallel to...

It has been a few months now since the OWS crowd has descended upon our cities. At first, my preconceptions of them were "dirty, stinky hippies" since I could not fathom anyone with a job being able to hang out in parks all day and all night. Boy was I wrong. After caring enough to dig a little deeper into the movement I found that most of them in fact do have jobs. Granted there are only a few polls but perhaps there is more to these people than meets the eye. The Week reports high numbers of job holding, educated and high earning people who went online to complete the survey. The first quesiton that came to mind while reading the survey result is if the 1639 participants an indicative sample of the OWS crowd. Most news agencies do not portray the 13% making over $75k a year or even the 1% that report making >$300k. Why don't the media cover the people that make up this minority? Only 1/3 have no job or are making minimum wage, but we only see or hear of the yet ...

I can't even remember the last time I had the opportunity to post something ragging on the State of Hawaii. I don't keep up with the nonsense as much anymore and usually just laugh at the ridiculousness of the island mentality in some cases. But this recent story rekindled my belief that although people are stupid where ever you go, the people who live in Hawaii are a special kind of stupid. Last week an Air Force couple was arrested for shoplifting and their 2 year old daughter placed in Child Services for about 18 hours. the condensed version of the story goes like this: Add caption The couple allegedly got lost looking for a grocery store and when they finally found a Safeway they stopped in the deli for a few sandwiches. Some stories report the couple getting lost and others do not. The wife is pregnant and needed food. Instead of paying for their food, they opened the sandwich wrappers and started munching away, allegedly intending to pay for the sandwiches a...

I spent 20 years in the military and was subjected to random urinalysis. If I failed I would have been kicked out of the military with a dishonorable discharge. When I retired, I had to submit a urinalyis sample to start working at my current job. I work. I pay my taxes. The government distributes my tax money as they see fit to government assistance programs. Fine. Give my money to bums as you see fit- I don't have a problem with that. What I do have a problem with is giving my taxes to bums who don't have to pass a urine test. If I had to pass urinalysis during my military career and also to secure a job as a civilian, shouldn't people who collect welfare, unemployment and other goverment assistance also pass a urinalysis?  Reply to: Reply to: gary smith All Reply to gary smith Send

I will not be watching September 11th stories today- in fact, I have never and I never will never call this day 9-11.  Pearl Harbor Day is not called 12-7 and I will not discredit the bravery of the American military with a catchy abbreviation. In my opinion, it is the equivalent of the internet and texting shorthand and it does not make me LOL.  I will not be scouring online news sources for remembrance stories. I will not be writing an emotionally charged blog entry filled with images of that day. For some Americans, the true patriots, September 11 will be a time of horror, disbelief and anger- something that we do not need to be reminded of. Montages of people taking stock of their life, as they watch the inferno of the Towers above quickly rush away, is not what this day is about. Some Americans think this day is about the lies of the President as we invaded Iraq and started a war to bring an insane, cruel and evil man to justice. The mismanage...

Youch- 14 million Americans out of work with about 40% jobless for 6 months or more for the month of August.  To make matters worse, there was no increase in jobs for August - at all - and we remain stagnant at 9.1%. Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, over? The Times reported a few factors that contributed to this depressingly bleak outlook of the (once) great financially secure nation of the United States. Of course the debt ceiling debacle made the top of the list. Who can blame employers for cutting back hours and trimming the fat when there was so much at steak stake? Thank you, elected officials, for screwing us (again) without the common courtesy of flowers and chocolate. I have made up my mind; in 2012 I will not be voting for ANY incumbent on that ticket. Not a one. So bring it on crazy third party fruitcakes! Let's see what you got. Obama has his work cut out for him next week as he addresses a war-worn, economically depressed, record high levels of government as...

Bad things happen in three's, this is especially true with celebrity deaths, but this week was a ringer for The Fates. First, earlier this week our debt ceiling was raised. It was a long process marred by sophomoric behavior on both sides and in the end the Democrats caved and Obama tried to pin the compromised on the American taxpayer under the guise of, "it has been your voices that have compelled washington to act." I don't think so, pal. Watching the recaps and reading the pundits I think the Republicans and the Democrats only got it half right. They kept their own best interests in mind and in the end we are not really that much better for it. What good is it to reduce spending and not raise taxes when we can't get people back to work? What good is a debt ceiling when the new Congress will wring their hands like a teenager with a new credit card waiting for something to break it in on. Mark my words, if Obamacare passes the resulting tax ...