Friday Funnies

Missed FF yesterday.  Lots going on with the family.  Since we just moved into a new house and have experienced the joy of waiting for deliveries and workers, this seems appropriate!

Cool Pic

Maybe not for everyone but it's my blog so...

Useless Knowledge...Sorta

Says It All...

Justice

A Marine was deployed to Afghanistan. While he was there, he received a letter for his girlfriend. In the letter, she explained that she had slept with two guys while he had been gone and she wanted to break up with him. She also wanted the pictures of herself back.

So the marine did what any other man would do. He went around to his buddies and collected all the unwanted photos of women he could find. He then mailed about 24 pictures of women (with clothes and without) to his ex-girlfriend with the following note:

“I don’t remember which one you are. Please remove your picture and send the rest back,”

Motivation Monday

Cool Pic

Rules

A friend posted this on Facebook.  It's pretty funny.  But it'll probably get me in trouble...

Friday Funnies

In light of the disaster that is the ill-fated Obamacare web site, this seems appropriate...

Cool Pic

We don't normally see these kind of sights in SoCal.  Really beautiful!

Sounds About Right

Rivalry

We've all got our favorite rivalries.  College football probably sparks the most fierce emotions.  Saw this photo while doing some surfing.  Some say the Ohio State-Michigan rivalry is the best.  I think that's arguable, but whoever owns this toilet can safely be called a die hard fan!

Life Changes In An Instant

Every region has it's difficulties with mother nature.  Fires, floods, hurricanes, avalanches, tornadoes, sink holes, etc, etc, etc.  In SoCal our particular hell are fires.  They can be devastating.  Pretty scary. Another one of those natural disasters that changes life in an instant is a tornado.  We don't see these in SoCal and every time one hits and does extensive damage it is heartbreaking.  Like everyone I've seen the photos and listened to the stories.  But this aerial photo of the swath of the tornado really tells the story.  Imagine living in the path of this monster.  One minute life is pretty normal...and then life changes in an instant!

Classic

This has always cracked me up.  Don't know why...just has.

DUDE!!!!

If you haven't seen "The Big Lebowski"...well, you need to see it!

Cool Pic

Ben Was A Wise Man!

Good Advice

Motivation Monday

Obama's Folly

I've been very tempted to sit down and write a rant about the unbelievable disaster that is Obamacare.   But I couldn't come close to some of the articles and analysis that is inundating us every day.  Is there anyone who doesn't think this is a huge disaster?  You'd have to be living under a rock not to acknowledge how bad it is and will continue to be both politically for Obama and for all the people who have lost their healthcare.  And it's only beginning.

There are some things that seem obvious but I need to say them:

1. Obama lied.  Simple as that.  He is so detached, so self-centered, so above us all that he thought he'd get away with it.
2. It's too big, too comprehensive, too far reaching.  Think about this.  It's going to impact one-sixth of our economy and not one republican voted for it.  How could the Democrats have the gall to push something this impactful through without one vote from the other side?  But they did.
3. Stand by for 2014.  People are pissed.  And they are going to get more pissed.  Watch the Dems start to run away from this thing.
4. How could anyone who is familiar with the monstrous US Government bureaucracy believe they could take on something this big and this complicated?  It was doomed from the start.
5. Think about how arrogant you have to be to declare that someone's insurance isn't good enough and they have to buy more expensive insurance that might include things they don't want from the government.
6. Obama has proven himself to be an empty suit to many of the people who bought his act.  He is hot air who simply cannot lead.  He can talk.  He can pontificate.  He can blame.  But he can't lead.  He's proven that over and over.
7. Wait...I said I wasn't going to rant.  Okay, I'm done.  I actually have more but I'm done.

But one more thing.  I travel internationally for my job on occasion.  In fact right now I'm in Dubai.  It is shocking to talk to people and read the papers about America.  The conventional wisdom is that we have retreated.  We have given up our leadership position in the world.  Our influence is on the wane.  Only one person to blame for that.  You guessed it.  Even well into his second term he is an amateur.  He has created a leadership vacuum in the world and it's being filled by some pretty unsavory characters.  The world is a big, nasty, scary place.  Something will happen to wake us up.  I just hope it isn't too bad.

Elected Idiots

Have you been following the saga of this moron who is the Mayor of Toronto?  He admits to drunken rampages, using crack, buying drugs, and by implication being an idiot.  Reminds me of the quote from Animal House, "fat, drunk, and stupid is no way to go through life".  I mean, why can't people who are such idiots just go away?  And how do they even get elected in the first place?  Talk about a disengaged electorate!

This is obviously photoshopped, but sorta tells the story...

North Korea

Scary...but tragically funny!

Friday Funnies

A bit late...I was on an overnight flight from Tokyo via Bangkok to Dubai last night.  Still getting my bearings.

I think this is pretty true in most bathrooms shared by members of the opposite sex...

Dogs Are Great

But sometimes they just can't help themselves from getting in trouble...

Motivation Monday

It's Veterans Day.  Can't get much more motivating!

Couldn't Help Himself!

Friday Funnies

They do it different in Russia...

Attention to Detail!

Looks like maybe Vladimir had a few too many Vodkas before he got this line painting job in his rural Russian town...

Ponder This...

Cool Pic

Lot of Truth Here

Having Fun

Boy, do these guys look like they are having fun.

And then I started thinking back to an earlier day when I participated in some similar foolishness on the flight deck of an aircraft carrier with 5000 of my friends.  Ahhhh...Steel Beach!

Fair Question

From Peggy Noonan's blog yesterday,  "In your entire life, from community organizer to lawyer to politician, did you ever buy an insurance policy? Were you always on your wife’s plan, or immediately put on a plush government plan? Did you ever have to do anything like what you’re telling the people of your country to do?”

Greatness

For those of you who have been here before, you know I have a "love/hate" relationship with Tom Friedman's writings.  I frequently disagree with his opinion and sometimes think he's gone off the deep end.  But every once in a while, a column will resonate with me.

His column in today's NYT is one that I think is pretty accurate.  It's titled "Calling America: Hello? Hello? Hello? Hello?" And you can read it here.  The thrust of the column is that we are in decline.  The rest of the world is questioning everything from our role as a world leader, to the government shutdown, to the healthcare debacle.  I think he makes some very good points and has some very astute observations.  I don't agree with everything he says in the article, but it's generally pretty good.  Here's the pull quote that really got my attention,  "how could the people who gave us Amazon, Apple, Microsoft, I.B.M., H.P. and Google not be able to build a workable health care website? I know it had five million users, but there are 48 million Indonesians on Facebook!"

I think that there is a lot of truth in this article.   We have huge problems, and for the first time in my life I just don't see a bright horizon as far as our ability to regain our place in the world.

From my perspective this all started when we decided to invade Iraq and go to war.  I truly believe that our leaders were acting on what they thought was credible information about WMD.  But they were wrong.  And not just GWB.  Everyone was wrong.  That war led to a view of us in the world as bully's.  Right or wrong, it was a war we didn't need to fight against a foe who was weaker, corrupt, and didn't pose a national security threat.  And we did it instead of finishing what we started in Afghanistan.   Everyone understood going after the perpetrators of 9/11 in Afghanistan.  There was worldwide support for that.  It was a coalition of forces against these seventh century assholes who killed over 3000 innocent Americans.  But it all got muddled.  I think we were very good at winning the battles but not so good at winning the war.  The people in charge really screwed it up...Rumsfeld, Bremer, Gen Franks, Gen Sanchez, Cheney...a lot of folks screwed it up.  The only thing that saved us in Iraq was the surge.  I give GWB lots of credit to go down that road.  And it proved to be successful.  Meanwhile Afghanistan has been an ongoing struggle.  But once we left Iraq, Afghanistan was winnable.  There was a strategy in place.  But then Obama set the timetable.  And that doomed any chance for success.  So now we are coming home with our tails between our legs.  The worlds greatest (or used to be greatest) military power slinking home.

The war(s) were contributory, but not the only thing.  In 2008 we elected a far left zealot to lead the country.  He has alienated and divided the country like no President before him.  He has stimulated a strong backlash by a loose group of people called the Tea Party.  These folks generally started as a revolt or protest against increased taxes.  Unfortunately many of these people have become zealots for a far right wing idealogy.  They have a large following and have put forth policies that are as far right as Obama is left.   But they have been able to get many people whom they sponsor elected.  So the polarization continues.

Like I said, I don't see it getting better anytime soon.  I keep thinking that people are going to wake up to Obama's emptiness.  All he does it talk.  There is absolutely no followup.  I don't know if he and his staff are totally incompetent, or they have some political agenda that believes stonewalling and lying are the way to get ahead.  The health care debacle is typical.  Lie, lie, lie and see what you can get away with.  We are now finding out how bad this whole thing is going to be.

The Tea Party people are just as bad.  Their tactics are stupid.  Shut down the government?  Please.  That is just dumb.  Defund the President's signature project?  No way.  But they press ahead.  They seem to not be able to understand that they may win a few battles, but they can't win the war.  There is no way that they can win.  Period.

So I'll go back to some earlier posts.  We have to find someone who can lead.  We have to find someone who can reach across the aisle.  We have to find someone who is not perfect to either side but is acceptable to the majority.  Don't know who that is.  But they better step up.  There is a vacuum to fill.

And to return to the beginning, we are increasing viewed as irrelevant by the rest of the world.  The simple truth is that we should be leading the world.  That we don't makes the world that much more dangerous.

Motivation Monday

The sooner you realize that the universe doesn't conform to your plans, the better off you'll be...