Carmichael's Position

Red Bull Air Races in San Diego!

While in San Diego this past weekend we had the opportunity to watch some of the Red Bull Air Races... actually they were taking place right outside our hotel room on Coronado! 

Words cannot do it justice, so here's a bit of a photo montage to capture the moments!  If only I had the sound of those props!  Wow!   Enjoy...

    

 

 

San Diego for the past 4 days... More to Come...

Been in San Diego the past four days... Lots to talk about and write about... compiling now... well,... after getting all caught up on the day job stuff!  See you in a few days probably!

Here's a taste!

Republicans Don't Riot!

A lot of hubbub has been raised about Rush Limbaugh's purported encouragement of Rioting in Denver at this year's upcoming Democratic National Convention.

Look... Get real!  Rush in no way would be encouraging his listeners or anyone else for that matter to riot.  However he is stating a premise that bears some honest analysis.  If a riot does happen (a very real possibility being properly planned for by local police) perpetrated by any number of the extremist leftist, anarchist organizations it will have a negative effect on the Peace Love and Understanding, "I feel your pain" Democratic party.

Republicans do not protest in violent actions... it takes too much effort!  First, We would have to take time off of our JOBS!  We would have to buy a new suit!  We'd have to get a haircut, so we looked good on FOX News!  We would have to get or BMW's cleaned so we looked good doing it!  AND... We would have to actually sell some of our Exxon-Mobile or Haliburton stock to pay for our Hotel Rooms at the Magnolia or the Brown Palace.  Nope... we won't be there!  We have a tee time!

Both parties have extremists... The "Ultra" direction of the "Left" or "Right".  And like an "Old weird uncle" when we in the party, hear the rants and ravings of our own extremists like a tourette's syndrome sufferer in church, we become a bit... well... uncomfortable.

This brings me to Recreate 68.  A group I suspect makes the "mainstream" Democrats (if there is there such a thing?) uncomfortable. I have long been of the belief that today's "Progressives" are idealistic nostalgics getting fat on Brady Bunch and Partridge Family reruns!  They want a return to their "Glory" days of 1968, Burning Bras, Burning Draft Cards, Burning the American Flag, and Burning Hemp!  Ah what a great time to be had by all!  Unfortunately they are now a bit frustrated with their previously supportive party.  No longer can the radical left Burn anything without first acquiring a Carbon Off-set from Al Gore.  Remember this convention is to be GREEN!

I am suspicious of groups who state on their website:

Sometimes we need to look back to move forward. In 1968 there existed a spirit of change, the Paris Rebellion, Prague, Chicago, Vietnam, etc. People believed, around the world, that they were capable of taking over the institutions that controlled their lives. The smell of revolution was in the air.

Join us in the streets of Denver as we resist a two-party system that allows imperialism and racism to continue unrestrained.

...We intend to recreate that revolutionary feeling and pick-up where our predecessors left off. It is time to reclaim the ideals that we have forgotten and leap forward by stepping back and using that voice inside of us that has been telling us something is seriously wrong, a voice that is shouting for change, a voice that has realized we live in a police state and we have stopped moving forward 40 years ago.

Uh... Sound like the words of a group bent on PEACFUL statements?  Not to me. 

1968 is not commonly recognized as a "Good Year" for the world.  And to want to return to the "Spirit" of '68 is dangerously misguided!  Anarchy is never a good idea!  Let's briefly recap the events of 1968, shall we?

• Vietnam Battle of Khe Sanh
• North Korea seizes the USS Pueblo, claiming the ship violated its territorial waters while spying.
• Tet Offensive begins, as Viet Cong forces launch a series of surprise attacks across South Vietnam.
• Viet Cong soldiers attack the United States Embassy in Saigon.
• A Viet Cong officer is executed by Nguyen Ngoc Loan, a South Vietnamese National Police Chief. The event is photographed by Eddie Adams. The photo makes headlines around the world, eventually winning the 1969 Pulitzer Prize, and sways U.S. public opinion against the war.
• A civil rights protest staged at a white-only bowling alley in Orangeburg, South Carolina is broken-up by highway patrolmen, leading to the deaths of 3 college students.
• My Lai massacre -
• A demonstration in London's Grosvenor Square against U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War leads to violence - 91 people injured, 200 demonstrators arrested.
• Students at Howard University in Washington, D.C., signal a new era of militant student activism on college campuses in the U.S. Students stage rallies, protests and a five-day sit-in, laying siege to the administration building, shutting down the university in protest over its ROTC program, and demanding a more Afrocentric curriculum.
• Martin Luther King, Jr. is shot at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. Riots erupt in major American cities for several days afterward.
• A shootout between Black Panthers and Oakland police results in several arrests and deaths, including 16-year-old Panther Bobby Hutton.
• Student protesters at Columbia University in New York City take over administration buildings and shut down the university
• "May of 68" is a symbol of the resistance of that generation. Agitations and strikes in Paris lead many youth to believe that a revolution is starting. Student and worker strikes, sometimes referred to as the French May, nearly bring down the French government.
• U.S. presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy is shot at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, California by Sirhan Sirhan. Kennedy dies from his injuries the next day.
• The Prague Spring of political liberalization ends, as 200,000 Warsaw Pact troops and 5,000 tanks invade Czechoslovakia.
• Police clash with anti-war protesters in Chicago, Illinois, outside the 1968 Democratic National Convention,
• 150 women protest against the Miss America Pageant, as exploitative of women. It is one of the first large demonstrations of Second Wave Feminism.
• Tlatelolco massacre: A student demonstration ends in a bloodbath at La Plaza de las Tres Culturas in Tlatelolco, Mexico City, Mexico,

Seriously, Rush in this case is right.  If, there are riots in the streets of Denver this year, it will not reflect negatively on REPUBLICANS! It will illustrate in vivid 24hour a day news coverage, that the "Left" is violently out of control!  And questions among most Americans who are not dedicated party participants will ask, "Do we want these types of people or those perceived as sympathetic to these types (The Democratic Party) running our country?"

If a violent protest does happen in Denver, perpetrated by the extreme anarchist left groups the likes of Recreate '68, Code Pink, or similar (Not something desired by any law abiding Democrat or Republican) Republicans will be the political beneficiary... Democrats (the de facto party of tolerance of these idealistic special interest groups) will have a difficult time pointing an accusatory finger or distancing themselves from the association.  After all, Colorado has a Democrat Governor, A Democratic  majority in their State Congress, and Denver has a Democrat Mayor, all who are responsible for the safety of the DNC.

For the record... I would prefer the macramé heads of the extreme left, remain calm, peaceful and blissfully insane.  Protest what you want in your jubilant costumes and drum banging chants.  But if they choose to follow their anarchist instincts followed by the obligatory "Blame the Man!" accusations... my desire is for them to be fire hosed all the way to the pokey for a long stay! Hell, it'll probably be the first shower many of them will have had in a month!

Peace Out Man!

Move Over Murtha, Pelosi and Reid, There's a New Democratic Party Spokesman in Town!

And his name is Ayman al-Zawahri!  The second in command, behind Osama Bin Laden.

Quoting directly from the MoveOn.org, Code Pink, Democratic Party HQ talking points memo, the Democratic party spokesman, al-Zawahri...

"...in a new audiotape released on a militant Web site early Friday [said] that five years of U.S. occupation of Iraq brought only "failure and defeat," which the Bush administration will pass on as a "problem" to the next American president.

In the recording, Ayman al-Zawahri alleged that by acting on the advice of his top commanders in Iraq, Gen. David Petraeus, and halting further U.S. troop withdrawals from Iraq until after July, U.S. President George W. Bush was "covering up for the failure" of his Iraq policies...."

..."Bush declared that he will grant Petraeus all the time he needs, a ridiculous show to cover up for the failure in Iraq and to allow Bush to evade the decision to withdraw the forces, which is an admission of the failure of the crusader invasion of Iraq, by passing the problem on to the next president..."

Hmmm... And here I though all this type of talk was nothing more than Leftist Amerikan, presidential debate propaganda.  Well! Now I'm convinced, if anyone knows how to cut the head off of the Bullshit, it's Al Gore Qaeda!

And in another show of Solidarity with the Democratic Party and specifically the Obama camp, Ahmed Yousuf, the terrorist organization Hamas' top political adviser in the Gaza Strip had this to say:

"We like Mr. Obama, and we hope that he will win the elections,"... "I understand American politics and this is the season for elections and everybody tries to sound like he's a friend of the Israelis," he said. All that would change if Obama would get elected. "I hope Mr. Obama and the Democrats will change the political discourse.... I do believe [Obama] is like John Kennedy, a great man with a great principle. And he has a vision to change America to make it in a position to lead the world community, but not with humiliation and arrogance,"

All this was stated before meeting the former President Jimmy Carter to discuss how to best neuter Israel.

Seriously... 78 Degrees Yesterday... Today, Notsomuch

Sure sign that Spring has arrived in Denver!  78 Degrees and sunshine followed 18 hours later with 4 inches of snow!  Heheh... Love it!

At Least Your Mother Named You Appropriately... Dick!

I would normally confess that I cannot believe I missed this when published on April 11th... but then again since when to I make a habit of reading the intellectually bankrupt opinion section of the New York Times?

In a piece of shit written by Dick Cavett (yes that Dick Cavett) he takes on the oratory skills of General Petraeus and Ambassador Cocker in their recent testimony before Congress on the progress in Iraq.  Now I too have been critical of public figures oft ignorance of proper oratory, our current sitting president leaps to mind.  However, even if I were to critique someone who's politics I disagreed with (Al Gore and his three step inflection cadence) I would try to focus on the technical aspects of the presentation.  I would not stoop to the insulting degree the "Oh So Perfect" DICK.... Cavett did in penning the following paragraph:

I can’t look at Petraeus — his uniform ornamented like a Christmas tree with honors, medals and ribbons — without  thinking of the great Mort Sahl at the peak of his brilliance. He talked about meeting General Westmoreland in the Vietnam days. Mort, in a virtuoso display of his uncanny detailed knowledge — and memory — of such things, recited the lengthy list (”Distinguished Service Medal, Croix de Guerre with Chevron, Bronze Star, Pacific Campaign” and on and on), naming each of the half-acre of decorations, medals, ornaments, campaign ribbons and other fripperies festooning the general’s sternum in gaudy display. Finishing the detailed list, Mort observed, “Very impressive!” Adding, “If you’re twelve.”

FRIPPERIES!  FRIPPERIES????  You SOB!  for those of you who do not want to waste your time looking it up, Fripperies are "Something trivial or nonessential".

What is it with Liberal Elitist Media Cretins of your ilk that cannot recognize that these Fripperies, are conferred, not handed out freely!  These ribbons, epaulettes, insignia all convey immediately to the KNOWLEDGABLE the service rendered by the one wearing them.  One does not have to know the details of the actions taken by the wearer, to recognize that the Bronze Star!  Is not given for a good one liner right before the commercial break!  You try earning one.. DICK!

And as for your reference to ... “Very impressive!” Adding, “If you’re twelve.” 

Or maybe... Just Maybe!!!...  If you were raised to respect sacrifice?  Dedication to Duty?  Honor? Courage? Commitment? Bravery? Selflessness?  All words of which you appear to be completely ignorant... DICK!

Here's some of what is on the General's Chest (an Oak Leaf signifies additional times the medal was awarded, and "V" device signifies "Valor" in Combat):

  Defense Distinguished Service Medal

  Distinguished Service Medal (with Oak Leaf Cluster)

  Defense Superior Service Medal (with Oak Leaf Cluster)

  Legion of Merit (with 3 Oak Leaf Clusters)

  Bronze Star (with “V” Device)

  Defense Meritorious Service Medal

  Meritorious Service Medal (with 2 Oak Leaf Clusters)

You sanctimonious venal elitist... You sicken me!  I used to find you mildly amusing.  Now that you have unveiled your true colors in your contempt for men like General Petraeus and by proxy all men and women in uniform, I have no use for you or your opinion.  Go sip your Gin and Tonic at the local MoveOn cocktail party cracking malicious mean spirited grammatically accurate vocabulary rich jokes at the Military's expense.  But understand this... those who serve in the Armed Forces get paid to protect YOU and YOUR fellow liberal intellectual's FREEDOMS... All other Americans, they protect because they want to!

Nice... DICK!

My Mind is a Lottery Basket of Thoughts Lately

Have you ever felt just out of mental sorts...  where the jumble of thoughts running through your mind once spilled will be so desultory that Mitchell Feigenbaum himself would say "Dude! Can you get any more random?"

It has been going on for a few weeks now, nailing down a specific thought for me right now is seriously like nailing pudding to the wall.  It probably comes from having 27+ ice cubes in the fire at a time and trying not to let any of them melt. 

My insomniac nature has been in full swing as I continually find myself waking in the wee hours of the morning, when the blessed and civil among us would be better served trying to find light leaks in ones eyelids.  And the causes of these episodes are as random and meaningless as the tangled balls of Cotton doubling as thoughts running though my restless Velcro mind.  I was only slightly comforted, as I lay there counting dolphin safe sheep, of a particularly poetic passage written recently by one of my favorite bloggers describing so elegantly my inconvenient experiences of recent nights.  He quotes:

"Woke early, couldn’t sleep. Restless, head filled with half-formed thoughts and shapeless anxieties. Things which you stuff away in a box in the course of the day, but which peek out and steal away in the early morning hours when the guards doze at their posts. Sometimes I can stuff them back away and return to lethe..."

Oh to be able to wax as poetic as he.

But alas my words, are mine, the feces of my overflowing mind.  I wonder oft if I'm writing too little in an effort to exorcise these slumber stealing thoughts, or maybe too much, constantly trying to string together reasonable and logical syllogistic passages to out maneuver those of opposing ideals.  A jump ball!

So what are some of the random musings spinning aimlessly in my blendtec mind?

• Current politics is annoyingly juvenile, reported by preschool media!
• Barack Obama is Black... so figgn'n what!!! Our nation needs to get off the "Race" horse!  That means everyone!!! White people, Black people, off auburn people, green... just stop!!!! It's Bovine Scatology at its worst!  Diversity training is BS-- how about a little Unity Training!!!
• Think before you vote please.  Is he/she qualified to work in your company?  Then how is he/she qualified to run the free world!
• Is it possible to "Quickly Meander?"
• Big screen LCD TV's tuned to sports or Bikini contests with a bar furnished with comfy leather chairs .. should be mandated by LAW! To be in EVERY department store's Womens' section!  With score cards in a magazine basket next to each seat!  That oughta take the sting out of trying to find a balance between Being a "Man", Being a "Good Husband" and being just plain "Gayishly-"Yes-Dear-Let's-Go-Shopping-while-the-Masters-is-on"-with- your-onions-in-her-hand-Whimpy!"
• Although she does look awesome in that dress!!!!
• Vertical stripes on size 17 women's pants are not "Slimming!" Please don't buy into the marketing!  Buy into a gym membership!
• There's only one kind of Kenmore dryer belt... so when it breaks don't waste the 14 minutes trying to find a model number!  Despite being prompted for one by the lady behind the parts counter at Sears!  seriously!!! THERE IS ONLY ONE!
• Dryer belt stores close at 5!  Liquor Stores close at Midnight, coincidence?.... nope!
• 78 today... Snow tomorrow!... Gotta feel for the tourists in Denver this week.  We?.... Hell we're used to it! 
• The weather matches my brain!
• Mixing peanuts and Exlax is the Lazy Man's way to itch a hemorrhoid! But it sure makes a funny sound in practice, though!

Now, with troubling thoughts like that, how'd you sleep?

Cool Planes and Cool Dudes!

As most of you who read Carmichael's Position know I also serve as the Editor (and writer mostly) of the Tailhook Daily Briefing... cool work if you can get it!

This weekend I wrote a brief article about the 'Saints' of US Navy Adversary Squadron VFC-13 paying a visit to Grand Junction.  While there they also stopped in to visit with a young man Jordan Jones, age 14 fighting testicular cancer.  The Colorado Chapter of Tailhook (of which I am a proud member) has taken Jordan and his family somewhat under our wing, and want to make sure Jordan knows he has tremendous support from a number of folks.

Back to the Saints...  Squadron Commanding Officer, Cdr. Rob "Thumper" Modderman stopped by GJT bringing 9 others of his Squadron, and many saw fit to swing by Jordan's house to wish him all the best and to encourage him in his continued fight!  Who better than those who train Naval Aviators "How to Fight and WIN!" 

Jordan was too ill to greet the aviators as they landed at Grand Junction, but he was feeling much better the next day and his father took him out to the airfield to bid farewell and watch the departures of his new found friends, The Saints of VFC-13!

The men of VFC-13 and the Men and Women of the Colorado Tailhook Ready Room, led by Hans and Kathy Schmoldt deserve our highest gratitude for their dedication to others.  Efforts like these are what help to make all of us Tailhookers proud!

It turns out that the article I wrote has taken on a bit of life as a place where well wishers for Jordan's recovery can leave an encouraging comment.  If you feel so inclined, even though you may not know Jordan, please swing by the Tailhook Daily Briefing and add your wishes... it certainly couldn't hurt, and I bet it would definitely help! [LINK]

   

All the pictures on this post are courtesy of Kathy Schmoldt... and I thank her for sharing!

Where have I been?

This was the question posed by a friend of mine this morning, as he saw my IM show up on his computer.

In answer... Here... On Business.

 

 

Busting my Balls

Played Racquetball yesterday...  In preparation for yesterday's game I went down to the local Dick's sporting goods store to buy a replacement glove for the two that I blew out in Tuesday's games.  Oh, and while I'm there I might as well pick up a couple of cans of balls.

Searching the shelf I find a couple of 3-pack cans of ProPenn green balls.  Racquetball always is better with new balls!  Or so the story is supposed to go!

Things were looking pretty good for our end of the week de-compress.  My racquetball partner Rich and I even managed to reserve the best court at our club.

After stretching and our warm-ups we commence the beatings with the first of the new balls.  We play very competitive racquetball, both of us are rated as "A" players, are very evenly matched and neither of us give up on points too often.  It is a great workout and usually lots of fun.

Well 12 points into the first game... that's right 12 points... the that first ball explodes!  Damn... That's rare, they usually last more than that.  Ok maybe a defective ball, happens.  New ball two. 

Ball 2 ...Lasts halfway into the second game before giving up the ghost!  "What are you friggn' kidding me?... That was a good shot too!"

Third ball... pops after 20 or so points!  "For the Love of....!!!"

Second can...  Fourth total ball.  Blows up on a low passing shot rolling out a whopping 4 feet from the front wall!  Would have been cool if said ball didn't look like it was gasping for air!  Like the two combatants!  JEEEZUS!!! This is NUTS! 

We went through 4 brand new racquetballs in 6 games!  Now, yes, both Rich and I can accelerate a racquetball above the 100 mile an hour mark, but in our combined 57 years of racquetball experience we have NEVER blown 4 brand new balls in 6 games!

So if I may... my appraisal of the ProPenn green Racquetballs is somewhere to the south side of whale poop!  These balls are the worst I've ever played! Dead at the start and even more dead after 50 hits or so... Not a good performance record.  No wonder they claim to be the World's #1 Selling Brand!  You have to buy a CASE of them to get through a tournament!

Ironic that one of the claims on their packaging is "Improved Durability"!  Compared to what?  A marshmallow in a microwave?