Posts Made By: James C Chandler Jr

Watch it with the sound off, looks like a pep rally. Lots of applause and inappropriate grinning going on for a memorial.

Mel Maki said:

Politicians would rather talk about Arizona. Congress has put entitlement spending on autopilot and soon tens of millions of people will quit working and contributing and start taking money for retirement. Politicians that said soc sec was ok and just needed some tinkering should be punished. We have over-promised entitlements by tens of trillions of dollars. Think anything will be done in 2012? 2014?

This song goes out to Bernanke, Nancy, Harry and Barack!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5OhRMDaJd8c

Trouble with you is
The trouble with me
Got two good eyes
but we still don't see
Come round the bend
You know it's the end
The fireman screams and
The engine just gleams

Drivin' that train
High on cocaine
Casey Jones you better
watch your speed
Trouble ahead
Trouble behind
and you know that notion
just crossed my mind

===

Or maybe this one--

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKujVmip1qY

Fireman says, "Casey, you're runnin' too fast,
You run the block signal the last station you passed."
Jones says, "Yes, I think we can make it though,
For she steam much better than ever I know."

Jones says, "Fireman, don't you fret,
Keep knockin' at the firedoor, don't give up yet;
I'm goin' to run her till she leaves the rail
Or make it on time with the south-bound mail."

Around the curve and a-down the dump
Two locomotives were about to bump.
Fireman hollered, "Jones, it's just ahead,
We might jump and make it but we'll all be dead."

Mel Maki said:

http://www.usnews.com/opinion/blogs/mary-kate-cary/2011/01/21/gops-25-trillion-in-proposed-spending-cuts-are-commonsense

Reining in entitlements is more important but these cuts could be made.

A good quote: Until recently, politics was only about a few things; today it is about nearly everything.

In the past, when a new program was proposed, a great debate ensued about whether it was an appropriate area for the gov to enter. Not any more.

Thanks Mel

In addition to the targeted cuts, I hope they can just do some across-the-board cuts. Equal pain for every department.

In that case, it would be up to individual administrators to cut the fat, maintain essential services more efficiently. Do the same with less or whatever. There wouldn't be as likely big turf wars about who is getting unfairly slashed of funding.

The result may depend on the competence of the administrators. Some admins may be skilled enough to deliver virtually identical service on 5 percent less funding. Others may be so incompetent (or spiteful) that they gut the most important parts of their depts to account for the cuts. Those administrators would be obviously expendable, though very little is obvious in government, apparently.

Lee Spain said:

He dies his hair. Big time!

And he is a windbag. Big time!

Regardless of what shakes out in Egypt or other middle eastern nations, is there anything we can do about it? Or should do if there happened to be anything we could influence?

Seems we are always paying heavily for bad blowback from previous meddling. Iran in the 1970's was blowback from our meddling in the 1950's, which we are still paying for.

How much future blowback can we pay for?

Hi Refet

I don't know whether 24mm would be better than 19mm. I really like my 24mm Pan. It is very well behaved and has good eye relief for my taste.

Had thought about buying a 19mm Pan, but the published eye relief of the 19mm Pan is shorter. Maybe I have longer than average eyelashes, but short eye relief eyepieces, I tend to get them gunked up with eyelash oil and have to clean them too often.

I read a couple of years ago that 19mm Pans would probably be discontinued by Televue. Dunno if that was unfounded rumor. If that is possible, then if you have some 19mm Pans and do not need the money out of them right away, then in the future if you keep them in mint condition perhaps they would appreciate in value? I don't know. Just wondering.

BHO has an "infinite supply" of "free" aviation fuel to fly near daily making speeches, so it isn't a problem that affects him.

Lee Spain said:

What's it like in Nashville, TN?
Which suburbs are nice, safe, & low crime?
Is the place a teeming hive of scum and villainy?
Do I need a good blaster at my side at all times?
Are there any decent places to rent?
Is the city rising or declining?
How are utility costs?
How's the economy?
Inquiring minds want to know... 8)

From what I know of Nashvegas, it is a city I could stand to live in. Haven't been up there in a couple of years, but over the years have done numerous biz trips up there for up to a week duration and have always got the impression I could tolerate living there. I'm pretty picky and there are not many largish cities I'd say that about. I wouldn't be especially thrilled to even visit Atlanta for instance. Wouldn't want to live in Knoxville, though that region is OK I guess. I would be even less interested in visiting Memphis than Atlanta.

Nashville has bad sections of town as all cities do. It is probably somewhat expensive in the nicer parts of town. The countryside is pretty. Almost as pretty as the countryside around Chattanooga, but Chattanooga has some of the prettiest eastern scenery.

Nashville people are generally friendly and laid-back. I don't know of a city > 1 million population that is friendlier. There are some places right down-town where it is not dangerous to walk the streets in the wee hours of the morning.

Me, wife and coonhound drove up there a couple years ago and stayed at a hotel in Gallatin (north east of Nashvegas) when I bought a used scope from a Nashville fellow. Me & wife thought the Gallatin and Hendersonville vicinity looked scenic and quite livable. Looked maybe too upscale for our income. Lots of absolutely beautiful palacial country estates with horse pastures and such. Many of those "modest country hovels" probably have million dollar recording studios in the barn. I once visited a lady in Hendersonville who had at least a quarter-million dollar recording studio in her upper-yuppie suburban attic! Can't swing a cat without hitting a recording studio in Nashville.

If I was gonna ask details about moving to Nashville, I have a few acquaintances up there, but would also ask on a forum www.tngunowners.com

That is a friendly forum with quite a few down-to-earth Nashville folk who wouldn't pull any punches with advice about living there.

If I was gonna move, would be most inclined to move further out in the sticks in the Chattanooga area. But it is not a great place to find a high-pay job and remote enough that only a true masochist would commute. It is so beautiful out in the Reliance Benton Tellico area that property values are quite high, though most people buying are looking for "as many undeveloped acres as they can afford" and it is 99.9 Percent vertical landscape woods with narrow twisty 2 lane paved roads leading to even narrower twisty 1 lane roads that have gravel if you are lucky. And most folks paying the big bucks for the property intend to keep it that way. We drove out there last weekend, and I couldn't stand to visit out there very often. It was an irresistable compulsion to sell everything, buy 40 acres, pour an RV slab and go hermit in the RV the rest of my life. I'd live in a two room tin shack for the privilege of living out there, but wife wouldn't get that extreme about it.

Tom Baty said:

After all these decades of playing the race card perhaps the democrats could face the Republicans playing the Trump card. So what do you guys think of the Donald running for POTUS. I think it would be very interesting, I would pay admission to watch that one. Come late 012 I could almost imagine the new Pres-elect walking into the oval office and telling apprentice Obama....YOUR FIRED!!

I could no more vote for Trump than I could stand to watch more then 5 minutes of his reality show.

Herman Cain is about the only one in this crop I have much liking for.

Obama now holds the record of having fired more cruise missiles than any other Nobel Peace Prize winner in history!