Macho Sauce Productions

You know you go to YouTube for all sort of reasons. Please take about ten minutes to listen to this guy and subscribe to his rants. He really tells it like it is (or should be IMHO).

Theism, Deism, Whateverism

The American Humanist Association has recently issued a press release asking the President-elect Barrack Obama to decline any offer from the Boy Scouts of America to be the honorary president of their organization. Their argument is, essentially, that since the BSA openly promotes theistic principals and values, the President of the United States should refuse to be associated with them. What a load of crap! Perhaps the AHA should also issue a press release asking the incoming president to refuse to attend church since whatever church the Obama family decides to attend would not be welcoming to non-believers. Rather than suggesting that the President decline to be the titular head of an organization that the AHA disagrees with, perhaps they should request that he also accept an honorary leader position in their organization as well. That would show just how inclusive and accepting President-elect Obama really is.

Rah Rah Rah - Go Sea Kittens!

From the category of "never underestimate the power of human stupidity" comes another ridiculous article about PETA making a request to a high school principal in the city of Spearfish, South Dakota (pop. 9500-10000) to change the name of the school from (DUH!) Spearfish High School to Sea Kitten High School (I am not making this up!). I can only imagine the reception that the PETA representatives would get from the boys football team (2008 season record = one win, seven losses) at SHS when they explained their rationale. Hopefully, their response would be something along the line of up yours with a red hot spear - fish, that is.

Pearl Harbor Redux

The military power that is present in any one of our U.S. Navy aircraft carriers is phenomenal. Even my first ship, USS Midway (CV-41), was quite a powerful package though it was the smallest carrier in our fleet at that time. During the period prior to, during, and after World War II, the arsenal of battleships we had represented a comparable collection of enormous firepower that could be quickly brought to bear in a crisis. The Japanese were keenly aware of this. So much so, that on December 7, 1941, they attempted to eliminate our fleet of dreadnoughts in one fell swoop. They almost succeeded due in large degree as a result of the strategic mistake of "putting all of our eggs in one basket" as it were - the stationing of the bulk of our battleship fleet in one port. I lived on O'ahu for 17 years and I saw evidence of the attack still to this day.

The junior U.S. Senator from my current home state of Virginia, the honorable Jim Webb, seems to have forgotten that little bit of military history of our country. Sen. Webb believes that the U.S. Navy has not made a compelling argument to justify relocating one aircraft carrier from Norfolk, Virginia to Mayport, Florida. Sen. Webb has compelling political interest in maintaining the status quo regarding the number of ships, particularly aircraft carriers, in the Tidewater area of Virginia, which includes not only Norfolk, but Portsmouth, Hampton, Suffolk, Chesapeake, and Virginia Beach as well. The "care and feeding" of the each ship and its crew has a tremendous economic impact in the immediate area of the homeport. Sen. Webb's reports says:

The Navy’s proposal is fiscally irresponsible. Estimates put the project’s cost at $600 million to $1 billion, while the Navy estimated that it had $4.6 billion in unfunded priorities for fiscal year 2009.

Imagine what would happen if a larger scale terrorist attack than those already inflicted upon our country, both here and around the world, were to target the ships, aircraft, and bases in the Tidewater area. If only one ship were destroyed, the cost to replace it would be at least $4.5 billion. That price tag does not include the cost in human lives and suffering that would be a tragic coincident. It makes too much sense to me that at least one, if not two or three, aircraft carrier should be moved from Naval Station Norfolk to some other homeport.

DCF = Don't Care Factor

My morning routine when I arrive at my desk each day is basically the same: fire up the computer, launch Outlook, check that Inbox and Calendar, sign-in to Messenger, check the Hotmail Inbox, and peruse the highlights that come up in the Windows Live Today panel, move on to more important things, etc.

Usually, I only briefly look at the items that appear under Hot Gossip on the "Celebs" panel, but this morning there where one that caught my eye:

"Lindsay Reportedly Rings in 2009 with Flip-Out, Fisticuffs"

After a quick read of this non-news, it dawned on me that my DCF Meter was almost pegged. Who gives a damn about LiLo and her latest escapade? On a scale of 1 to 10 ("only interested if there is nothing else on/to do" to "Please kill me now so that I do not have to endure any more of this"), LiLo's lastest tantrum scores around an 8.5. And while I'm at it - if she's going to be (or continue to play at being) a lesbian, couldn't she at least pick a prettier partner?

New Year Resolution

I hereby resolve to get out of the house and go hiking more often. I was reading my latest issue of Backpacker magazine and realized that I have not been out in the woods or on the trail nearly as much as I wish. Hopefully, my good friends, Kelly and Sue, will be able to come out and play with my wife and me too.