GOP and College

I've moved!

2008-09-08T17:31:00.004-06:00

In more than one way!

The long wait is over, and I can officially say I am no longer GOP & College. I received my Mechanical Engineering Degree on August 2nd, and have since moved down to Atlanta where I am working as a Process Engineer.

I have also moved my web address...

I created a new blog, Red State, Blue City. So GOPAC will stay here for reference purposes, but I'm going to be posting at RSBC from now on!

See you there!

Oh Yeah...

2008-07-25T10:31:00.004-06:00

As a slight update on the site, the countdown to the day when the title "GOP & College" becomes obsolete is almost here!

I graduate with my Bachelor's of Science in Mechanical Engineering on August 2nd at 10 AM!

Money Trail Points To Media Bias

2008-07-25T08:02:00.003-06:00

The split between the words of comfort that large media companies give, claiming no bias, and what happens with their political donations are two completely different things.

Although the media continually claims neutrality, studies have repeatedly shown the opposite to be true, and this one adds more fuel to the fire.

A total of a little more than $315,500 of money goes to Democrats, while only a bit over $22,500 went to Republicans.

Of that statistic, 4 journalists donated directly to John McCain, 80 donated directly to Barack Obama. Among strictly Journalists, there were 235 donations by journalists to Democrats in general, and 20 who went to the Republican Party. In the media as a whole, including anchors, and such showed a similar pattern at 311 to Democrats, 30 to Republicans

Looking deeper, the majority of Republican donations went to Ron Paul, who is flaunted by many liberals, and to Rudy Giuliani, Mayor of New York City. No statistic was given about how many of the Democrat Donations were towards Hillary Clinton though.

Will Franklin has the same thoughts.

Senator McCain's Editorial Rejected By The New York Times

2008-07-21T10:26:00.003-06:00

Here is a direct transcript of the Editorial (a direct rebuttal of Obama's editorial) that was declined publishing by the NYT.

In January 2007, when General David Petraeus took command in Iraq, he called the situation “hard” but not “hopeless.” Today, 18 months later, violence has fallen by up to 80% to the lowest levels in four years, and Sunni and Shiite terrorists are reeling from a string of defeats. The situation now is full of hope, but considerable hard work remains to consolidate our fragile gains.

Progress has been due primarily to an increase in the number of troops and a change in their strategy. I was an early advocate of the surge at a time when it had few supporters in Washington. Senator Barack Obama was an equally vocal opponent. "I am not persuaded that 20,000 additional troops in Iraq is going to solve the sectarian violence there,” he said on January 10, 2007. “In fact, I think it will do the reverse."

Now Senator Obama has been forced to acknowledge that “our troops have performed brilliantly in lowering the level of violence.” But he still denies that any political progress has resulted.

Perhaps he is unaware that the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad has recently certified that, as one news article put it, “Iraq has met all but three of 18 original benchmarks set by Congress last year to measure security, political and economic progress.” Even more heartening has been progress that’s not measured by the benchmarks. More than 90,000 Iraqis, many of them Sunnis who once fought against the government, have signed up as Sons of Iraq to fight against the terrorists. Nor do they measure Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki’s new-found willingness to crack down on Shiite extremists in Basra and Sadr City—actions that have done much to dispel suspicions of sectarianism.

The success of the surge has not changed Senator Obama’s determination to pull out all of our combat troops. All that has changed is his rationale. In a New York Times op-ed and a speech this week, he offered his “plan for Iraq” in advance of his first “fact finding” trip to that country in more than three years. It consisted of the same old proposal to pull all of our troops out within 16 months. In 2007 he wanted to withdraw because he thought the war was lost. If we had taken his advice, it would have been. Now he wants to withdraw because he thinks Iraqis no longer need our assistance.

To make this point, he mangles the evidence. He makes it sound as if Prime Minister Maliki has endorsed the Obama timetable, when all he has said is that he would like a plan for the eventual withdrawal of U.S. troops at some unspecified point in the future.

Senator Obama is also misleading on the Iraqi military's readiness. The Iraqi Army will be equipped and trained by the middle of next year, but this does not, as Senator Obama suggests, mean that they will then be ready to secure their country without a good deal of help. The Iraqi Air Force, for one, still lags behind, and no modern army can operate without air cover. The Iraqis are also still learning how to conduct planning, logistics, command and control, communications, and other complicated functions needed to support frontline troops.

No one favors a permanent U.S. presence, as Senator Obama charges. A partial withdrawal has already occurred with the departure of five “surge” brigades, and more withdrawals can take place as the security situation improves. As we draw down in Iraq, we can beef up our presence on other battlefields, such as Afghanistan, without fear of leaving a failed state behind. I have said that I expect to welcome home most of our troops from Iraq by the end of my first term in office, in 2013.

But I have also said that any draw-downs must be based on a realistic assessment of conditions on the ground, not on an artificial timetable crafted for domestic political reasons. This is the crux of my disagreement with Senator Obama.

Senator Obama has said that he would consult our commanders on the ground and Iraqi leaders, but he did no such thing before releasing his “plan for Iraq.” Perhaps that’s because he doesn’t want to hear what they have to say. During the course of eight visits to Iraq, I have heard many times from our troops what Major General Jeffrey Hammond, commander of coalition forces in Baghdad, recently said: that leaving based on a timetable would be “very dangerous.”

The danger is that extremists supported by Al Qaeda and Iran could stage a comeback, as they have in the past when we’ve had too few troops in Iraq. Senator Obama seems to have learned nothing from recent history. I find it ironic that he is emulating the worst mistake of the Bush administration by waving the “Mission Accomplished” banner prematurely.

I am also dismayed that he never talks about winning the war—only of ending it. But if we don’t win the war, our enemies will. A triumph for the terrorists would be a disaster for us. That is something I will not allow to happen as president. Instead I will continue implementing a proven counterinsurgency strategy not only in Iraq but also in Afghanistan with the goal of creating stable, secure, self-sustaining democratic allies.

H/T; Drudge

To People Who Are Planning On Voting With Their Wallet...

2008-07-19T09:02:00.005-06:00

I just wanted to give a reminder to everyone who is thinking about voting Democrat this election cycle because they feel that Obama will do things to give them more money.

The average Tax Freedom Day of Democrat states is 10 days later than the average Republican state. Just think about the affect on your finances losing 2 weeks of pay could do when you push that button on Election Day.
This information is for 2006, but TaxFoundation.org has the data for 2008 out as well.

Just Breaking, Iranian Fauxtography Scandal

2008-07-10T09:24:00.004-06:00

Malkin posted the story less than 30 minutes ago, but it has been building for some time now.

At least some of the images provided by the Iranian government about the missile launches this week have been shown to be FAKES. And looking at some of the images, I have my doubts that the images provided in so many papers were even from this year.

Looking at Snapped Shot, I notice something about the altered photo, and the image from 2006. They both have one legitimate rocket with a yellowish exhaust trail, surrounded by missiles with a white exhaust trail. This makes me wonder if the "Launch pictures" from this week are merely recirculated images from 2006.

Unfortunately there aren't enough ground features to determine if this is the case since the angle that pictures were taken from are so different. My suspicion is that the image from 2008 is simply a picture of the two furthest left rockets, and the yellow smoke rocket from a different angle, with the addition of a horribly faked 4th rocket, but without further in depth research, I can't be sure.

Kaminger shows reason to think otherwise, as the 2006 image did in fact show up almost unaltered again this week.

H/T: Malkin, Snapped Shot

Psssssssssssst! IT'S FANTASY FOOTBALL TIME!!!!

2008-07-08T10:59:00.003-06:00

HWC Football is taking on managers.

The league limit is only at 12( possibly up to14), so GET IN HERE NOW!

Those already in;
Myself
The Man
J Wookie
Hector Vex
Trench Coat Reynolds
Mr. Pigg

Past year competitors (that need to join)
Wyatt
bRight & Early
RFTR
webcats
Jerk Store
Lawhawk
Pat from T(v)RWC

Saddam Did Have The Ability To Produce Nuclear Materials

2008-07-08T08:20:00.002-06:00

How do we know? Because 550 metric tons of Saddam's Yellow Cake Uranium just made it safely to Canada.

The intended use for this cake is merely speculation, but it does show that there was a very large amount of radioactive material available to use as he desired. However it is important to note that Saddam was very vocal in the 1990's about getting information and technology to be able to produce weapons grade enriched uranium. Also to be noted is that after the end of the Gulf War where Saddam signed a treaty to dismantle/render harmless all WMD's, there were 40 nuclear research facilities, including 3 Uranium enrichment sites that were completely hidden for over 7 years from the outside world.

Not only was Saddam very effective at concealing his intentions, but he was also moderately effective at concealing the physical aspects of his intentions. This, after all, is the guy whose air-force went missing for almost 5 months before discovering them buried under more than 10 feet of sand, right under the Coalition Force's nose. Who knows what could lie 100 or more feet below the Iraqi sand.

The Final Knock-Out Punch

2008-07-08T08:10:00.002-06:00

Did anyone in the US hear this from a major news source?

American and Iraqi forces are driving Al-Qaeda in Iraq out of its last redoubt in the north of the country in the culmination of one of the most spectacular victories of the war on terror.
After being forced from its strongholds in the west and centre of Iraq in the past two years, Al-Qaeda’s dwindling band of fighters has made a defiant “last stand” in the northern city of Mosul.
A huge operation to crush the 1,200 fighters who remained from a terrorist force once estimated at more than 12,000 began on May 10.
Operation Lion’s Roar, in which the Iraqi army combined forces with the Americans’ 3rd Armoured Cavalry Regiment, has already resulted in the death of Abu Khalaf, the Al-Qaeda leader, and the capture of more than 1,000 suspects.
... American and Iraqi leaders believe that while it would be premature to write off Al-Qaeda in Iraq, the Sunni group has lost control of its last urban base in Mosul and its remnants have been largely driven into the countryside to the south.

Perhaps the military wanted to keep it hush-hush, but something tells me that it may not be the case. I think some one needs to put this report on Barack Obama's desk. Maybe then he'll realize we're not losing there, and need to stay until the job is done.

H/T Instapundit, (via Hot Air)

Epic Fail

2008-06-23T22:09:00.001-06:00

From ShipmentOfFail.com

ROFLZ!

The Reddest of Meat

2008-06-23T12:05:00.002-06:00

Serve this up to the dogs shall we? Pure oxygen pumped in a sealed package doesn't produce meat this red.

The line "We only want to hear your opinion if we agree with it," seems so lacking in this situation. Especially when the average temperature of the Earth last year dropped to the extent that scientists around the world are now warning of Global Cooling...again.

Scott Kalitta Dies In Funny Car Wreck

2008-06-21T17:09:00.005-06:00

During the 4th round of qualifying this afternoon Scott Kalitta's engine exploded, and before the car could get slowed down, his car ran into a barricade at the top of the track going at what can only be described as a VERY high speed.
Scott's engine exploded shortly before the finish line and the speed trap measured his speed at 300 MPH, and from there until the impact with the barricade, no sign of braking could be seen.

Drag racing is a highly dangerous sport, and the NHRA has unfortunately had the loss of 2 drivers in as many years. Eric Medlen passed away last year during a test session, and now Scott Kalitta has passed away during an event.

Scott, the son of legendary NHRA driver Connie Kalitta, was 46 years old, and is survived by his wife Kathy and 2 sons, Corey and Colin.

ESPN2's coverage of the event included this clip of the accident, but I must warn you, as they do in the video; this video shows the wreck that ended his life, and if you are the kind of person who would scream "Oh my god," at a shocking video, you may not want to watch it.

How To Speak Democrat

2008-06-21T14:01:00.002-06:00

Hot Air has a great video from the Congressional Floor from this week. It sucks though that they missed John Shimkus ripping into Democrats and more over Nancy Pelosi for not allowing a bill to open the Continental Shelf for oil drilling; one that 67% of Americans agree with, according to a recent poll.

Here's a bit of what he said.

So now we find ourselves in a dilemma. It's Economics 101. It's supply and demand. Limited supply, increased demand, higher prices.

Here's the problem. January 2001, the price of a barrel of crude oil was $23, just 7 years ago. When the new majority came in in January of 2006, the price of a barrel of crude oil was $58.31. This was not acceptable. I didn't like this. That's why we passed, in between this time, the 2005 Energy and Policy Act. And on this floor, that bill had the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in it. Of course it went to the Senate and it went there to die. And they pulled ANWR out.

Today the problem has grown by exponential amounts. Today the price of a barrel of crude oil is $136.39. So I'd like to keep this debate simple. This is a problem. So what is a solution?

And we're going to hear a lot, we've heard a lot of solutions from the other side. None of their solutions talk about bringing on more supply.

And we've had some great victories this week. FISA, Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, funding of the troops, no restrictions, GI bill expansion, great victories that came about through bipartisan compromise on this floor, bills that will get signed by the President. And we're all pretty pleased with the work we did this week.

We can do that with this. There is a congressional majority that would vote for more supply. There's only one hang up. It's the Speaker of the House will not let these bills on the floor.

So you have done a great job, and I used my 1 minute, Congressman Westmoreland, to sign your petition. And I want to challenge and encourage all my colleagues, in a bipartisan manner, to come down and sign this petition, this pledge. And I hope the constituents from all over the country ask their congressmen have they signed this pledge.

The pledge is pretty simple. I will vote to increase U.S. oil production and lower gas prices for America. And there I am, right there, just signed it.

67% of Americans say drill here, drill now, but the Speaker of the House refuses to allow the bill on the floor. Maybe it is a time for change. Time to kick the jack-asses out of the House.

H/T: Hot Air

GOPAC Is For Smart Readres...

2008-06-13T05:53:00.001-06:00

Woo Hoo!

Junior High!

H/T: Wyatt (Elementary School)

Top Gear Reviews The Prius

2008-06-11T08:25:00.002-06:00

And what is a Prius good for you might ask? Look and see.

H/T: Jawa Report v3.0

Greatest Golf Grouping...Evah!

2008-06-10T13:36:00.003-06:00

Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, and Adam Scott all tee off together on Thursday and Friday. The crowd will be HUGE. They tee off at 11:06 AM Eastern Time Thursday and 4:36 PM Eastern on Friday, and I'm sure the bandwidth usage of PGA.com will be maxed out if they broadcast their whole round.

In fact, all of the top 12 are grouped together. Here are the other 3 groups;
(1) Ernie Els, Justin Rose, Geoff Ogilvy
(2) Stewart Cink, Sergio Garcia, and Vijay Singh
(3) KJ Choi, Jim Furyk, and Steve Stricker.

ESPN's coverage begins at 1 PM Eastern time on Thursday.

Divided We Fail?

2008-06-05T11:43:00.002-06:00

It's a novel concept; If Democrats and Republicans united to create good legislation that would benefit everyone in society, then government would be a success.

Then you start to scratch the surface only a little bit, and you find a VERY important bit of information. The "Independent" organization backing DWF is none other than AARP.

This is the same AARP that is hell-bent on keeping the government in charge of retirement finances, as opposed to giving the responsibility to the worker.

Let's put this into perspective. The maximum benefit you can withdraw from Social Security is currently $26,220 per year (Max income to add money to SS of $102,000 per year based on 2008 FICA limit). Assuming you use your Social Security benefits for 15 years (starting at 65 and ending at death at 80) you have used a total of $393,300. If you simply put money in a savings account (making no interest) from when you were 30 years old until you retired at 65, you would need to save $936.42 per month....out of the $8,500 per month that you were making. That is 11% of your gross income. Currently Social Security takes 12.4% of income, which is $1,054 per month (a loss of 117.58 per month)

WAIT A MINUTE!!!!!

You're paying in 12.4%...and only getting out 11%??!! THAT'S NEGATIVE INTEREST!!!!

Now, let's run the numbers on a "privatized" Social Security fund, and see how much you make at varying interest rates, from 0%, to the market average 12% when we add that $936.42 per month to a mutual fund/IRA, here is how much you retire with;

0% - $393,300
1% - $471,067
2% - $569,868
3% - $696,151
4% - $858,488
5% - $1,068,292
6% - $1,340,798
7% - $1,696,381
8% - $2,162,357
9% - $2,775,406
10% - $3,584,875
11% - $4,657,259
12% - $6,082,300

So, is Social Security really worth saving for future generations? The longer you wait, the more it costs you.

Even investing just $100 per month at 12% for 35 years nets you $649,527. That's 65% more than Social Security.

Hillary Jumping The Fence Again

2008-06-03T16:05:00.003-06:00

First she was against running for president, then she was all for it.

Then she was against campaigning in Florida and Michigan (and even signed a pledge not to with the other nominees). Then after telling people she wouldn't break the pledge, she was all for breaking it just 5 days later.

Last week she was against accepting the Vice President offer from Barrack Obama in a bargain for her to bow out, now she's all for it.

What else does she claim to be "totally against," now only to change her mind?

Troop Casualties Lowest In War

2008-06-01T08:57:00.004-06:00

Nineteen for the month of May. Out of the over 150,000 troops currently stationed in Iraq. Lies.com has been covering what has become the lack of truth in the liberal "Iraq in the new Vietnam" argument. I will admit that the similarity was there at the beginning of the war, but ever since about January of 2007, not only did Iraq start to look nothing like Vietnam, but ever since the peak in May of 2007, Iraq has followed a pretty steady downturn, and last month, the lowest casualty count for the entire campaign was recoded at just nineteen.

First, the view of each war through to September of 2007,

Then zoomed out to compare to the entire Vietnam War.

BEST "Cubs Suck" Site...EVER!

2008-05-28T15:42:00.003-06:00

HAHAHAHAHAHA! I love it!!! In celebration of the Cubs reaching the Century mark since winning their last World Series, here's a mockery of them.

Then, check these out;

Did you know that CUBS is an acronym? Check it out!

* Completely Useless By September
* Could U Beat Somebody
* Could you be suckier?
* Can Usually Blow Saves (or Series)
* Completely Useless By Spring
* Champions Until Baseball Starts
* Can Usually Be Swept
* Cork Used By Sammy
* Can't Undo Being Sucky
* Can't Understand Baseball Scoring
* Can't Understand Baseball Strategy
* Constantly Uttering Bull SH@* (When talking about Cub fans)
* Choke Under Baseball Stress
* Children Use Better Stategies
* Crap up baseball's sanctity
* Completely underachieving batters, starters
* Cry unnecessarily 'bout Stoney
* Constant untimely base-running snafus
* Cubs Utter Baker Sucks
* Continually Upstaged By Sox
* Chicago's Underachieving Baseball Squad
* Constantly Using Bad Strategy
* Coming Up Behind Sucks
* Completely, Utterly Blown System
* Chicago's Ultimate Bitch Squad
* Completely Underachieving Baseball Scrubs

And as a Cardinal's fan, my personal favorite...

A Very Large Ouch

2008-05-20T16:47:00.002-06:00

Senator Ted Kennedy got a very humbling announcement today. Doctors found that he has cancer, and not only that, but that it is in his brain and will more than likely kill him within a couple years.

I will admit that I was looking forward to him being out of office, but not like this.

Senator Kennedy, God Speed to you, and I hope that you can do everything you desire in the next few years.

That Was A Fun Weekend!

2008-05-19T19:18:00.007-06:00

This weekend I went with my parents to Bristol, TN for the first two days of Qualifying in the NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals, and it was pretty frickin sweet! Friday afternoon/night was cold and windy, but an already fast racing surface that started at only 85 degrees at 3:30 PM dropped to a cooler and faster 74 degrees (Air temp was only about 55 degrees) by the time the second round started, and leading the charge was Tony Schumacher with a 4.502 blast down the quarter mile with a top speed of 327.43 MPH through the speed trap in the last 60 feet. Also there were the sportsman divisions (Super Stock, Stock, Comp Eliminator, etc...) Pro-Mod, Pro Stock, and Nitro Funny Cars. For a taste of the action, enjoy this picture of Tony Pedregon and Melanie Troxel (who ended up winning the event).

Sunday, my dad and I went to Mountain Glen Golf Course in Newland, NC to play 18 holes, and although it was rainy and a little cold, we had fun. I was worried after hitting some practice balls at the range because after a smooth practice swing, I would step up to the ball, and literally feel like I didn't know how to swing a club. This little mental freak out then caused me to to try and hit the ball...and in the process forget to hit the ball.
Fortunately though I played pretty well on the course, and I wish we had kept track because on one streak my dad had 4 pars and 2 birdies, and possibly shot around a high 80. I on the other hand mostly played bogey golf and shot around a 90 to 95, which isn't too bad for me.
I wanted to put a picture in of me blasting out of a bunker, but Blogger kept turning it sideways, so I'll settle for this one from when I went the first time back in '06. It's a very pretty course, and if you're ever up there, I recommend going.

**UPDATE** I GOT THE PICTURE TO WORK!! Flickr, you rock.

Make That Three Strait

2008-05-02T21:42:00.002-06:00

For the third strait semester I've gotten over a 3.0 in my classes (4 total), and have now gotten my overall GPA up to a 3.03 with just 7 hours of classes remaining until I GRADUATE! Here's a rundown of the grades I got;

Energy Systems Lab (2 hrs) - B
Applied Machine Design (3 hrs) - B
Steam Power Plants (3 hrs) - B
Turbo-Machinery (3 hrs) - B
Noise Control (3 hrs) - A

And I had one easy class, Art Appreciation (3 hrs) which was an easy A.

All together it was 17 hours with 3 extra hours of labs, and at the end of the semester it got to be really hectic. In about 10 days I had 2 tests, 3 presentations and 3 reports due, then the next week was exams...Yuck.

But finally, this semester is over and after this summer I will graduate with my Bachelor's of Science in Mechanical Engineering. Also hopefully in a few weeks I will get my certificate stating that I passed the Fundamentals of Engineering Exam, which is step one in getting my Professional Engineer license.

Too Cool To Pass By

2008-04-30T10:46:00.002-06:00

Now is this not some Bad-Ass LEGO work? I can almost hear "Danger Zone" starting somewhere...

H/T Wyatt

Actual Quote From Class Today

2008-04-24T12:09:00.003-06:00

If anyone is unaware, this week is the national "Empty Holster Protest" from Students for Concealed Carry on Campus. This is a protest advocating concealed carry laws on campuses which currently outlaw them, leaving students defenseless in the case of an armed attacker. The campus hierarchy assume that the campus police will be sufficient to eliminate the threat, but on campus here at TTU there are 15 officers for over 9,000 students, and although the campus can call upon city and possibly county law enforcement, incidents at Virginia Tech, Columbine, and other "Gun Free Zones" have shown how "effective" that police presence is.

Aside from the empty holsters, students have been carrying signs which can get the point across. Here is an example of some.

"This is a GUN-FREE ZONE! If you are planning on shooting a bunch of innocent people and then yourself, we're sorry, but that is not allowed here."

"This is a VIOLENCE-FREE ZONE! You cannot be raped, molested, murdered, assaulted, beaten, mugged, shot, strangled, or stabbed on this campus, because IT IS AGAINST THE RULES"

There are others, but nothing comes close to the next quote that was said in a class today.

One of the professors here at Tech is strongly against concealed carry on campus, and one of the students was/is wearing an empty holster.

I'm not sure if it was in relation to the holster, but the teacher asked the person next to him "Do you feel safe sitting next to him?"

Without thinking the other student responded, "I'd feel safer if he was armed."

Amen.