Month: January 2010

Russian T-50 Stealth Fighter

Russian Stealth Fighter

Sukhoi T-50 Stealth Fighter – RIA Novosti

Also referred to as the Sukhoi PAK FA.

Some of  the following information are estimates of the plane and may not be accurate.

NATO Designation: Firefox

Dimensions

Wing: 14.2 m ( S=78.8 m^2)
Length: 22 m
Height: 6.05 m

Weight

Max 37,000 kg
Normal 26,000 kg
Empty 18,500 kg

Speed : 2,100 km/h  (M=2.0)

Altitude: 20,000 m

State of the Union Speech

General points:

  1. I hated the bailouts but it was necessary. No it wasn’t, Mr. President. It’s natural for businesses to come and go. Economies always correct themselves when unburdened by meddlesome, manipulative governments trying to micromanage that which they don’t understand.
  2. New fees on banks. Such fees will merely be placed on the already burdened backs of Americans, not the banks nor the bank owners.
  3. New jobs bill. Because the so called stimulus bill failed utterly to created jobs.
  4. Take borrowed money that was repaid and re-borrow it to other smaller banks. Sorry, but no. Our country is in debt as it is, the free ride is over for all.
  5. Small business tax credit. Sorry, I don’t trust a guy claiming to be about helping small businesses when he’s trying to kill businesses with health care reform taxes and cap-and-trade taxes among who knows what else lying in wait by the tax-and-spend crazies in Washington.
  6. Raise taxes on companies sending jobs over seas and lower taxes on those who keep them here. Agreed so long as the taxes apply only to actual jobs in and out of country. No BS with companies being headquartered in the U.S. to get the tax breaks while jobs are done outside the country.
  7. Financial reform. Too bad what Washington calls reform, is anything but.
  8. Create clean energy jobs by imposing cap-and-trade. And watch American companies crumble under the tax burden while pollution actually increases. Just as the Euros how well cap-and-trade failed to do anything and green ecofascists like Al Gore will reap huge profits off the backs of the American workers and business.
  9. The government is going to help double exports over the next 5 years. Heh. Right. It’s not free trade or fair trade if the government dictates exports. Statist socialist fool.
  10. I want healthcare reform even if Americans hate it. It’s dead, Jim…er..Barack.
  11. Freeze government spending after 2011. So why not immediately? And why just a piddly ten billion or so when the country is facing trillions from President Obama’s and Congress’ disastrous spending spree? Why only three years? Why not ban pork barrel spending? Why not a balanced budget amendment? Hmm?
  12. Limit lobbyists. Agreed, but the SOTUS just killed anything short of a constitutional amendment declaring corporations and non-person entities are not entitled to the same rights as people as the Framers of the Constitution intended. Until then, the U.S. as a democracy is dead. We’re a corporate hegemony at worst and a corporatocracy at best.
  13. Democrats need to govern and Republicans are meanies for not kowtowing to us. Yeah that turned out sooo well this year, ignoring the fact that a number of Dems joined the Reps in opposing some of the insanity gripping Washington, DC.
  14. Securing nuclear arms materials. Not many people think it’ll amount to much nor care at the moment considering international efforts in that area have failed (I.e. North Korea and Iran).
  15. Repeal ban on gays in the military. Agreed, but didn’t President Obama promise that last year. Just do it already by executive order if need be and end the friggin’ issue. Most people I know in the military don’t give a rat’s ass about whether a fellow soldier is gay or not, just that they can do their job.

“And one year later, the worst of the storm has passed.”

LOL. Yeah, right, sure. Out of touch, delusion little fool.

Lame speech, trying to lazily portray himself as a “populist” and tap into Americans genuine anger of not only Congress but of the entire government and the rot of corruption eating away at the nation from the arrogance of the Presidency to the corporate sellouts at the Supreme Court to the stinking corpse that is the Halls of Congress. Sadly the fool  thinks a few platitudes and trying to divert the people with classism and division will appease the masses so that the corruption can continue as before. He’s wrong and clearly desperate.

Regime Change 2010.
Current score: People: 1 Government: 0

Woe to the Republic: SCOTUS Undermines Democracy

Supreme Court overturns ban on direct corporate spending on elections – latimes.com

I wish I could say I am surprised that the Supreme Court made this decision, but I am not. Once again the Supreme Court of the United States undermines American citizens and democracy in favor of corporate hegemony. The last anti-civil rights agenda supported by the Supreme Court was approving eminent domain being used to steal property from citizens so that land could be given to corporations. See the trend?

The notion that entities like corporations and unions have the same rights and often times accorded more rights than citizens is ludicrous. Unfortunately, the SCOTUS now appears to be firmly in the belief that the “rights” of corporations supersede the rights of the citizenry.

Another defeat for American democracy at the hands of those who are supposed to uphold said democracy. Democracy by it’s very definition is for the people, not corporations. Too bad those on the Supreme Court who approved this undermining of democracy have forgotten this simple concept. When corporations and government combine you have fascism.

Woe to the Republic!

Since entities like corporations and unions have all the money and influence to counteract said money and influence I propose new laws be implementing requiring both corporations, unions, and other entities covered by this decision as well as lawmakers be required to reveal their supporters to the public (including monetary amounts) via newsletters, radio ads, commercials, et al., in advance of any vote. Additionally, make a mandatory spending limit for those seeking elections. Remove the hegemonists their paths of influence and we’ll be on the path to regaining control of democracy.

Questionable Presidential Executive Orders

Obama stealth executive order creating firestorm

New ‘Secret’ Executive Order Raises Questions – Politics – CBN News – Christian News 24-7 – CBN.com

While I don’t subscribe to the more sinister thoughts of some on President Obama’s recent spate of executive orders, I do wonder why they are being done in such a relatively secretive fashion and how they could be twisted to usurp American rights, laws and sovereignty especially eliminating Posse Comitatus and States Rights.

Add to this Obama’s consideration of issuing an executive order to create a budget reform panel (which is the sole purview of the Legislative Branch not the Executive Branch of government) to advise congress on the issue. You’ve got to wonder if Obama even understands that he’s not Ol’ Joe Stalin. He can’t simply order the country to do what he wants. In any case, the answer is simple: don’t spend what you don’t have like the people do. But then this is Washington we’re talking about here, they barely have a passing nod with reality.

Regime Change 2010.

Brown Defeats Coakley

Brown Defeats Coakley for Massachusetts Senate Seat

I’m glad Brown defeated Coakley, not because he is a Republican or because she is a Democrat, but because he may be able to blunt the insane big government tax-and-spend agenda involving health care “reform, cap-and-trade, and other assorted statist agendas the White House had intended to foist on the American public without debate, concern, or consent. Whether he does that remains to be seen.

More importantly will the national parties realize their self-serving special interest agendas are not the American people’s agenda? If they do not, they will both suffer the consequences of their failure to understand and listen to the citizens. So far some of the Democratic leadership has shown they still don’t get insisting they’ll force Obamacare through even by means legislative trickery. Most seem to have gotten the message. Much can be said similarly of the Republican side, with some GOP leaders foolishly thinking Brown’s victory indicates they can push their own petty agendas while others realize they too much be mindful of the public’s desires and intentions.

So for now, I’ll be content if the insanity that is called health care reform is stopped by Brown’s election, along with other insane bills like cap-and-trade and Card Check.

The power of the people is alive and well.

Regime Change 2010.

Phoenix Council Considers Food Tax

Phoenix City Council Considers Food Tax

As the city wrestles with a budget shortfall estimated by the city manager at $245 million, at least 6 of the nine City Council members say they support or at least are open to the idea of a sales tax on food items purchased at grocery stores and other retailers.

Yes, the same city council that thinks wasting money on unneeded and unnecessary dog parks rather than keeping to a budget thinks that imposing a food tax is going to solve the problems brought about by their own irresponsible misspending of taxpayer dollars. This at a time when food prices are climbing with further inflation looming on the horizon and a bad economy with unemployment at its highest in decades? Nonsense. Like the public, government needs to live on a budget and learn to make do with less. The average citizen can not simply demand and automatically receive more money from their employer rather than cut the extraneous from their budget. They’d likely be laughed at or even fired for doing so in the current market. So too government should not be allowed to impose a tax just because they believe they are entitled to do so.

I shouldn’t be surprised that this so called council that harasses the homeless, ignores the voters, turns a blind eye to crime, welcomes illegals with just about free everything, and wastes money on dog parks somehow thinks further punishing the citizens of the city (particularly the poor, hungry, and homeless) with a tax on food is somehow going to solve all their problems. Fools, one and all!

It may sound okay for a little tax here. But consider every time Phoenicians turn around  a new tax is added: a tenth percent for schools here, a percent for roads there, a quarter percent for another school, raising property taxes for some corporate project, and so on. It soon adds up to too much! There is a reason the TEA Party movement is growing. It’s name is the reason why: Taxed Enough Already. It’s coming to the point where Americans can no longer live because they are being over taxed by everyone from the corrupt Federal Government on down to corrupt city councils. Enough!

Should they pass their food tax, it will simply be thrown out in a citizen drive initiative as was done in the 1980s. That was the last time these feckless individuals sought to make life miserable for millions of Phoenicians rather than take genuine responsibility and fix their budget concerns through eliminating unneeded services and spending.

Sweet or Sweeter: Sugar v HFCS

A more trivial post than usual follows.

So I’ve started seeing stupid commercials trying to defend the over use of high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) in the United States by trying to imply it’s no different than sugar and has no deleterious effect when “used in moderation”. Neither does sugar when used in moderation. The problem arises (and is conveniently ignored in the commercials) that HFCS is nearly impossible to be taken “in moderation” as it is in practically every processed food item in the United States. Perhaps most annoying is it is used in items that people think are healthy: fruit juices, yogurt, to name but a couple of items.

The problem with HFCS is not that it is used to replace sugar (because it’s cheaper) or its potential relations to obesity (studies conflict on whether this is true or not). The problem lies in some of the independent scientific studies indicating HFCS may be related to increase in insulan resistance (which can lead to Type II diabetes), elevated carbonyl compunds that can cause diabetic complications (I.e. eye damage, nerve damage, etc.), and some traces of mercury (admittedly seen in a limited study).

Really it comes down to just trying to avoid processed foods with added sweeteners regardless of whether they are made with sugar or HFCS. I just become annoyed at industries trying to imply their product is no different from another when in fact they are. Sugar is not HFCS and HFCS is not sugar regardless if they are used to do the same thing.

It never helps a product to ignore concerns over its use. Worse still, putting out advertising encouraging others to ignore the concerns is even less helpful. Afterall we know how trustworthy coorporations are. Right?