ROFASix

The "Secret" Prison in Afghanistan

2009-11-28T18:09:00.000Z

After reading the NY Times story, U.S. Still Running Secret Prison in Afghanistan today, you realize immediately what is really wrong with it. It's hardly a secret anymore is it, NY Times?

Of course the NY Times has never worried about "secrets" before, has it? This time at least, as a result of this story, covert operators won't be getting killed. But someone who will, will be the President by his outraged ultra left wing of his party. They already have the tee-shirt!

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Obama's War

2009-11-27T15:27:00.000Z

November 2009, Afghanistan is no longer George Bush's War. Welcome to the the reality of being the President of the US, Mr. Obama. My only question is whether you have studied the lessons and role of LBJ in the mid-1960s? If not, you should.

British Army Helicopter Shortage

2009-11-27T14:58:00.002Z

Inadequate rotary wing assets is a problem that has plagued the British since it fought the counterinsurgency in Malaysia in the late 1940s. It has been a recurring theme in Northern Ireland, Oman, and now Afghanistan.

Why does this Army, generally one of the finest you will ever find on any field of battle continue to shortchange its wonderful warriors like this? That question nags at you as you read, "The Déjà Vu Behind the Helicopter Debate" which points out this problem is not new nor is the requirement now suddenly recognized because of Iraq and Afghanistan. Missing is the "why?"
It it because the Americans took the lead in developing helicopter operations and "not invented here" is is play? Or is it because a helicopter force is an expensive investment? It is costly to procure and sustain. Training must be continuous and demanding. Yet, it seems that the capability helicopters bring to the force are too vital to provide if you give a damn about your soldiers.

Which of course drives the question ... do they give a damn? Or the class distinction that always characterized society in the UK still make the soldier less valued? When I lived in the UK I was always struck by the fact that half of the citizens there seemed to be embarrassed that they had an Army in the first place, seeing it as some vestigial remnant of British colonial history. I don't know how the "bloke in the street" actually sees its Army today, but wish the Brits would figure it out. They owe their warriors that much at least.

For years small countries such as Singapore have maintained helicopter units in the US for training. The Brits only recently began using US military training areas in the southwest US ostensibly because terrain there is similar to Afghanistan. Hopefully, the UK will avail itself to use of US training areas. For years Germany kept a squadron of fighters in the El Paso area that trained over the desert there. It was not that unusual to fly NOE through the mountains up there and come upon a German jet 100 feet above you moving like a bat-outta-hell.

It is long past time for the UK to bite the bullet and make that investment in rotary wing support. It is what you do if you truly support your military. You demand your warriors get the finest hardware out there and then you provide the means to train to use it. The UK government is out of excuses, the British citizen has to demand its government do whats right or demand they pull their warriors from the field.

Sorta "Home Delivery"

2009-11-27T04:51:00.004Z

Call me a curmudgeon if you like. My request to the Huntsville Times was simple and I though clear.

"Sell me a newspaper box and I will install it. Then insist the carriers put the newspaper into the box I bought from you."

The result? Not impressive customer service is it?

A Turkey Day Tradition

2009-11-27T04:03:00.005Z

In past years #1 son has been our main chef for Thanksgiving. After he finished grad school he took up cooking as a hobby and has become quite an accomplished cook. Our friends often vie for invitations to our house for Thanksgiving when they hear he is coming into town to do the cooking.

This year, he decided to come for Christmas instead. We get him longer and he will again take over the holiday cooking. But it meant that we were no longer the "Thanksgiving invite to have." With #1 son not here, we understood that.

So #1 gal had full Thanksgiving culinary responsibility for the first time in years. An accomplished electrical engineer, she has only been in training as a cook from the boy for a little over a decade. So she was a wee bit nervous. I could see it, but she had trained well under the boy. The result was superb as it always is ... but enter #1 friend.

My gal's #1 friend is a rascal. The two are thick as thieves and concoct great and little pranks as the occasion demands. This time #1 friend decided that #1 son needed to be reminded how vital he was to the process.

Hence the pix above. Ol' #1 friend brought the wee bit of scorched poultry for the pix to send to #1 son. They took great glee in putting it all together. Personally I though the ramming of the celery and carrots in the poor birds orifice was obscene ... but my vote didn't count.

A Thanksgiving in America

2009-11-26T16:44:00.014Z

It's Thanksgiving Day and there is a new move afoot for which we can at long last be truly thankful. One see's it at "Tea Parties" and hears it in certain conservative media that simply does not mindlessly bash the progressive socialists in power. You can find it whenever people announce they are running for office as independents - unaffiliated with either of the two major political parties. It was not long ago that only Bernie Sanders, a committed socialist, ran as a independent. It's funny isn't it Bernie, you ended up being more mainstream with your progressive leftist brothers that you ever thought was possible when you were a town mayor in Vermont. Joe Lieberman is the other style independent. He is more conservative than a classic "blue dog Democrat," yet quite liberal when if comes to whether government ought to regulate personal behavior as conservatives seem to think is a part of their charter.

These new style politicians refuse to deal with the broken politics, lack of integrity, and ethical failures that so characterize both mainstream political parties in America. They eschew the Tamney Hall and Richard Daley Chicago style machine politics that elected so many Presidents through out our history.

More and more, one sees this Gadsden Flag in place of the stars and stripes. It is not that the owner of the flag loves his country any less, but that he fears the direction she is going. This flag flies to remind all that we once stood for something very different from what we have become. Those who fly this flag know that government does not create jobs, only the private sector can do that. They know that government is now the destroyer of individual liberty and the rights to property. Today, they see governments that are in direct contrast to the earlier governments in this country that allowed the individuals in this country to dream, grow, and accomplish for their own selfish self interests, not some collective.

They have also reached a pretty much irrefutable conclusion that government changes little, no matter who they elect. For the few that bought into the current President's "change," they now know that was a lie and they got snookered. That is clear as we see another government that views all wealth as government property that may be seized and doled out to others on whim and for special interests of those in power. They know government does not create wealth, it only seizes it via taxation and if one listens only a short time to the news, they will hear of some new scheme to seize more of it. Just today, it was in the guise of something called a "war tax."

The recent health care "reform" is a classic example of how government has shifted its role to that on master over the individual citizen. This concept is so alien to what our founding father's sought to put in place.

Since the 1960s we have seen an ever increasing burden of regulation on every aspect of health care. Each distended the market forces that used to operate in health care. Costs increased and quality declined as a new class of "entitled" demanded their "right to health care" be satisfied. The very idea of health care being a right is not laughed away, but taken seriously by government. They forget that no one has a "right" to obtain goods and services created by others by force or coercion. They never realize that when government forces the "right" by law the result is the coercion and sacrifice of others to satisfy that right. Our founders never envisioned a "right" to made a claim to economic goods. Instead, that right dealt with freedom of action and choice.

One has only to turn on television to see how tangential our government has become to main stream America. We look with dread toward next month when our government will further eviscerate our economy by embracing cap' n' trade in Copenhagen next month.

And we can see that our President is likely going to throw more American blood and treasure into Afghanistan, not because he has decided how winning there is vital to our national security, but because he fears losing reelection if he is seen as losing. President Obama has become LBJ and Jimmy Carter. It truly ended up being no "change" at all, just deja vu and flashback to the failed policies of earlier Presidents.

So this Thanksgiving day, I am thankful that a small seed of an idea has begun to spout. It is not that dissimilar to the spark that grew in our forefathers breasts to become a fire that demanded individual freedom, freedom to think, freedom to act and freedom from the yoke of tyranny in 1776.

So my "thanks" is perhaps different from many. I have hope there is real change coming. It is a hope that we will soon elect a government that understands it's role and it's place. It cannot happen soon enough.

George Washington's 1789 Thanksgiving Proclamation

2009-11-26T13:18:00.002Z

Whereas it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor; and Whereas both Houses of Congress have, by their joint committee, requested me to "recommend to the people of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer, to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness:"

Now, therefore, I do recommend and assign Thursday, the 26th day of November next, to be devoted by the people of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being who is the beneficent author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be; that we may then all unite in rendering unto Him our sincere and humble thanks for His kind care and protection of the people of this country previous to their becoming a nation; for the signal and manifold mercies and the favorable interpositions of His providence in the course and conclusion of the late war; for the great degree of tranquility, union, and plenty which we have since enjoyed; for the peaceable and rational manner in which we have been enable to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national one now lately instituted for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed, and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge; and, in general, for all the great and various favors which He has been pleased to confer upon us.

And also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech Him to pardon our national and other transgressions; to enable us all, whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually; to render our National Government a blessing to all the people by constantly being a Government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed; to protect and guide all sovereigns and nations (especially such as have shown kindness to us), and to bless them with good governments, peace, and concord; to promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the increase of science among them and us; and, generally to grant unto all mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as He alone knows to be best.

Given under my hand, at the city of New York, the 3d day of October, A.D. 1789.

h/t Patriot Post

Cookie Rides Too

2009-11-24T18:00:00.000Z

(Click Image for larger)

A dog rides in a U.S. Soldier’s backpack at Combat Outpost Jeleran, Afghanistan, Nov. 20, 2009. The dog, named Cookie, is the unofficial mascot of 1st Battalion, 17th Infantry Regiment. (DoD photo by Tech. Sgt. Francisco V. Govea II, U.S. Air Force/Released)

Senior health care solution

2009-11-24T15:03:00.003Z

Feeling marginalized now that health care "reform" seems inevitable? Maxine has the solution. Now, with the "reform" all but guaranteed, you don't have to shoot anybody in Congress (no matter how attractive that idea might be to many. When "reform" hits, all you have to do is refuse to buy the mandated health care the new law mandates. Voila! You're a criminal and all the benefits Maxine suggests become in play anyhow.

(According to Maxine)

So you're a senior citizen and the government says no health care for you, what do you do?

Our plan gives anyone 65 years or older a gun and 4 bullets.

You're are allowed to shoot 2 senators and 2 representatives.

Of course, this means you will be sent to prison.

There you will get 3 meals a day, a roof over your head, and all the health care you need.

New teeth, no problem.

Need glasses, great.

New hip, knees, kidney, lungs, heart?

All covered.

And who will be paying for all of this?

The same government that just told you that you are too old for health care.

Plus, because you are a prisoner, you don't have to pay any income taxes anymore.

IS THIS A GREAT COUNTRY OR WHAT?

Time to Boycott Nestle

2009-11-24T02:56:00.003Z

With great glee, the "Stopbeck" website announced that Nestle had rolled over and was pulling it's ads from the Glen Beck show and Fox News.

To the credit of the movement to "stop Beck," they have done an excellent job making companies think that Glen Beck does not represent main street America. Now, it is time for the real main street to boycott Nestle to remind them that they made a really dumb decision.

But, there is another aspect in play here. It is simply whether Beck has the right to express the views that he does. The lefty group behind shutting down Beck clearly fears what he has to say and is willing to use any tactic to shut him down. Why?

It is censorship of course. Something that the left has no hesitation to use, should you dare to have the temerity to disagree with its point of view. Get used to it comrade ... it is a glimpse of all of our futures if we continue on the present course.

Eco-wackos get tacky, tasteless and vulgar

2009-11-23T22:13:00.004Z

It's amazing really. While "real" scientists say the number of polar bears are increasing, movie wonks accuse them of "bad science" and insist governments impose draconian measures on humankind to "save the bears." Whom do you believe, Joe Moviestar or the Ph.D? Too many vote for Hollywood. You won't have to look very far to discover some actually think the recent movie "2012" is actually based on fact not fiction.

The polar ice continues to increase too. Polar ice, arctic ice and antarctic ice footprints are always dynamic. We have been monitoring them now for what, 50 years? And then have the temerity to suggest this reflects a planet ending trend! But as I said, lots of folks believe the movie, "2012" is based upon fact.

They always have been and will be climate and weather changes on our planet, whether human kind changes the behaviors the "eco-wackos" of the week insist upon or not. One has only to look at the increase in the heat of the sun to see it. Despite how much Al Gore's minion's Photoshop satellite pictures it doesn't change the real inconvenient truth - Al Gore was wrong, and change is a constant when it comes to the earth's climate and most likely there is little humankind can do to influence that one way or another.

So how did we get this cinema ad, proudly done by an agency named "Mother?"

I imagine the conversation at agency went something like this:

"Hey mates, you know we gotta make a dramatic statement to our politicians so when they go to the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, Denmark on 7 Dec, they do the right thing."

"We need them to insist on wrecking developed national economies, giving the underdeveloped nations a pass, and moving closer to a one-world government and eviscerating the sovereignty of every nation. Climate change is the easiest way to cut down the arrogant developed nations to size."

"Hey! We need to be circumspect though and not say any of that or the Yanks will have conniptions."

"Naw ... don't worry about it, their President is one of us."

We need to stress cutting emissions of greenhouse gasses, developing nations getting a pay-off from the developed ones all managed by the UN of course."

"Also, divert any idea that this is in any way similar to Oil for Food program the UN ran. If that happens, somebody will recall that lots of UN officials got pretty rich off that."

"The 'foo's' have such short term memories and sense of history. Al Gore is counting on it too, he is making such a bundle off his "going green" ruse - talk about laughing all the way to the bank."

"I gotta better idea on how to make a statement somebody might notice!"

"Let's accuse airline travelers of killing polar bears, make it dramatic, lots of blood and shock value."

"Shall we say this about all or just some of the airline travelers"?

"Let's pick on the short flight ones, and see if we can shame our politicians and attendees into not flying to Copenhagen."

A short while later:

"Watch the video!"

"Whoa!"

"That's tacky and vulgar." Polar bears falling from the sky with jet noises in the background ... sorta like 9/11 ... that might upset some people.

"Don't worry, they need to be shook up, our cause is righteous and just. We can stretch the truth whenever we need to do so."

"Yeah man, this environmental stuff is how we are gonna change the world and bring justice to the worker and put the proletariat back on top."

"See ya in Copenhagen comrade!"

"Real" Reason for Health Care "Reform"

2009-11-23T06:08:00.003Z

Color me cynical, but I have long thought that this whole health care "reform" idea was a ruse for other things. Look at the natural outcomes of the government "fixing" what it is largely responsible for "breaking" in the first place and it is the only logical conclusion.

Outcomes? Few argue that the end state of health care "reform" will be rationed care, reduced medical resources, and huge taxes on the few who will be able to find a job.

The real reason for health care "reform?" Simple, reduce the number of claimants who are now and in the future beginning to demand their entitlement payout long promised by the US "Gummint." What those people face is the reality that their government long ago spent that money they were told would be put away for them, when they had earned retirement. Instead, there is a $100 trillion IOU that has to be paid and their is no money.

Since the government has only money it takes from others this creates a tremendous problem. It can print more money, devalue the money we have, and of course reduce the demand on that $100 trillion IOU. The administration is already doing the first two steps. This "reform" gets them the third.

One has to admire the insidiousness of the approach. Sun Tzu would be proud.

Cancel the 1st Amendment?

2009-11-23T04:49:00.006Z

As one watches the video suggestion by uber-liberals that free speech be prohibited for Glen Beck, one must never lose sight of the real principle inherent in the 1st Amendment. It is simply that the true test of a free society in terms of freedom of speech is not whether popular and "responsible" speech is protected from government assault but instead whether the most vile and despicable speech receives such protection. It is something neither liberal progressives or conservatives seem to understand.

Free speech is one of those things that both terrorists and those who fear losing power want to eliminate or at least control. In every tyranny from Iran to Burma, people are free to publish what the government supports, but arrested and harassed if they write or say what is viewed as "irresponsible." If we do it too here, as these lefty thinker liberals suggest, America becomes little better than those other cesspool nations.

In the rest of the world at least, free speech it is an idea that has long been cast aside in the name of the common good of society. Free speech is feared by despots, totalitarian governments and of course most religions that demand the individual submit as individuals to the will and whim of the collective. Today in America, we have eliminated freedom of speech for "commercial speech" for the common good. It is the slippery slope.

Ringing the Bell for Fallen Warriors

2009-11-20T17:21:00.002Z

Wow! This story is both heartwarming and sad. A man decides honor the fallen warriors of North Texas in a way I had not seen before. It's a wonderful tradition I would love to see spread across our land!

173rd Cav - Airborne Recon sir!

2009-11-20T17:04:00.004Z

(Click Image for larger)

U.S. Soldiers from 173rd Cavalry Airborne Reconnaissance Squadron out of Fort Bragg, N.C., meet at a rally point after being air-dropped into the urban operations complex in the Nevada Test and Training Range in Nevada Nov. 18, 2009, by an Air Force C-17 Globemaster III aircraft and a C-130 Hercules aircraft. The soldiers are participating in the biannual Mobility Air Forces Exercise (MAFEX), which provides realistic training for combat air force, mobility air force and U.S. Army personnel. (DoD photo by Tech. Sgt. Michael R. Holzworth, U.S. Air Force/Released)

11 Hercs in "Ground Trail"

2009-11-20T16:55:00.001Z

A row of C-130 Hercules aircraft taxi on Nellis Air Force Base, Nev., Nov. 18, 2009, during a Mobility Air Forces Exercise (MAFEX). The aircraft are participating in the biannual exercise, which provides realistic training for combat air force, mobility air force and U.S. Army personnel. (DoD photo by Airman 1st Class Stephanie Rubi, U.S. Air Force/Released)

The health care "reform" lie

2009-11-20T13:14:00.007Z

Health care "reform" is all a lie you know. What Congress is promising is to "fix" is what it was responsible for breaking in the first place, beginning many years ago. As proposed, health care "reform" will be fatal to the US economy and fatal to many Americans who once could count on getting medical care when they needed it. I continue to suspect that this is really about finding a way of whittling down the "baby boomer" generation as they start looking to draw their promised entitlements from Government. Of course, the system has no money. Congress has been spending that money like drunken sailors since LBJ was President. Congress has refused to address the issue for years. They didn't want the voter to notice that if they were not in Congress, what they were doing was outright theft and in the rest of America, a jail-able offense. What better way to reduce the future demand on the system than pass a bill that effectively initiates a pogrom against old people?

It was not a major surprise when the House passed the "reform" bill. With the very real prospect of the Senate passing a "health care reform" bill too, we will complete the cycle of lies about health care that we have been hearing for so long from the politicians that many of us accept them without question. You know like I do, until we get these folks out of office, this is not going to quit. For a majority in Congress, "success" is defined as passing laws, whether they are needed or affordable or not. That is the only reason they could claim to believe the Senate's health care bill will extend coverage to 31 million Americans while cutting deficits by $127 billion over 10 years. It would be the first profitable entitlement ever! Can they spell H-O-A-X?

When Senator Reid and Senate Democrats announced they will file cloture on the motion to proceed regarding ObamaCare it was evident we are entering the final scene of this Congressional health care Kabuki dance. Reid will go to the floor for cloture on the motion to proceed to a House-passed tax bill, to begin the Senate debate on ObamaCare. The motion for cloture requires 60 votes and will likely occur Saturday. While several Senate Democrats say now they will not vote for the bill, remember how the system of special interest and pay-offs really works in Congress.

"Want my vote Senator Reid? Then give me a huge piece of pork for my constituents or promise to throw the party support behind some zany and probably unconstitutional bill I want to pass."

Do not be surprised if many Senators have a sudden change of heart over the bill. Cloture is a three day process - file on day one, day two is an intervening day for arm twisting and making promises and the vote occurs on day three.

Here are some of the "features" of Senate "reform" bill:
Hides the $1.8 Trillion price tag by not accounting for actual costs.
Implements major reductions in Medicare befits to seniors.
Implements major tax increases on every American to pay for the "reform."
Increases the Medicare payroll tax.

Meanwhile, the Republicans are rabidly attacking this bill. They propose "their" version of health care "reform" instead. In other words, lets have Republican rules and legislation instead of Democratic rules and regulations. In either case the end loser is the American taxpayer.

The situation was best described in, "A Republican government takeover of health care" which summed it up like this.

Unfortunately, in health care and elsewhere the conservative/Republican leadership is really the followership of the left. Proposals like this one highlight that they have no genuine understanding of what free markets are or why they are good, whether in health care or anywhere else.

Like liberals, they hold the statist view that government is morally and practically obliged to feed and nurture the population.

In modern conservative/Republican lingo, a “free market” is one that is controlled slightly less than whatever the liberals happen to want at the moment (and usually more controlled than the one the liberals used to want).

Witness that in the 1960s, the Republicans opposed Medicare — our biggest government takeoever of medicine — as inimical to a free market; today, they are fierce defenders of this entitlement program, which they proudly expanded earlier this decade to include prescription drugs.

What they do to us Saturday will be irreversible without a revolution at the ballot box in 2010. Unfortunately for all of us, there really are very few alternatives between the two main political parties in America. Until there are, we will continue to see more erosion of individual liberty and freedom and some government bureaucrat in charge of how you live and when and how you die.

Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business (SDVOSB) Program

2009-11-20T04:02:00.002Z

I confess I am conflicted when I read about the Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business (SDVOSB) program the Federal Government runs. It is no secret that when you give any group preference over another, it's discriminatory. Yet, should veterans get a special break? The Feds say yes and the system has been on-going for years.

But there is a problem with it. It is explained in a recent GAO report, "Case Studies Show Fraud and Abuse Allowed Ineligible Firms to Obtain Millions of Dollars in Contracts." It is simply that the "system" has no way of verifying a company is eligible for SDVOSB status and if one cheats and gets caught, there is no penalty.

The bottom line. What we have is another "feel good" government program vulnerable to fraud and abuse, which could result in legitimate service-disabled veterans’ firms losing contracts to ineligible firms.

This GAO report looks at 10 case-study firms which received approximately $100 million from SDVOSB contracts through fraud or abuse of the program, or both. For example, contracts for Hurricane Katrina trailer maintenance were awarded to a firm whose owner was not a service-disabled veteran. GAO also found SDVOSB companies used as a pass-through for large, sometimes multinational corporations. In another case a full-time federal contract employee at MacDill Air Force Base set up a SDVOSB company that passed a $900,000 furniture contract on to a company where his wife worked, which passed the work to a furniture manufacturer that actually delivered and installed the furniture.

Both veterans and American citizens deserve better from our government.

Brit Apaches Train for Afghanistan

2009-11-20T03:49:00.003Z

Where do the UK warriors go to train up on their new MTADS system prior to deploying to Afghanistan? Arizona, of course.

Dad's Home!

2009-11-20T03:13:00.002Z

US Air Traffic Control Breaks (again!)

2009-11-20T02:48:00.005Z

It was a perfect storm so far as air traffic delays and glitches seemed to conspire to make sure that if you were flying somewhere Thursday on the US air route structure, you were either late or canceled. The FAA continues to remain a case study on how not to "upgrade" a computer system as was evidenced in, "FAA Cites Software Failure in U.S. Flight Disruptions."

But in all fairness to the FAA the problem is not only theirs, but also (big surprise) caused by your friendly politician who uses air travel funding as another area to earmark pork and get their name plates on things, such as airports, control towers, and runways. The video below addresses that. I have long advocated privatizing the US air traffic control system. The US controllers unions of course are vehemently opposed.

What I didn't know was that the Canadians have not only provided an example of how NOT to do health care "reform" but have provided an excellent example of what happens when you privatize air traffic control functions. It works in Canada, and if the video below is accurate, works well. At least, it would insure that headlines of delays and computer problems like we saw today in the US would not happen in Canada.

One thing the video does not address is the on-going move toward Global Air Traffic Management (GATM). It provides a technological insertion into our existing ATC system. But if what we saw today is any indication. The US may not be ready for GATM any time soon, while the Canadians will do just fine. The reason? The system in Canada is in the private sector and flexible, while the system in the US is dependent on Congressional appropriations, egos, and pork.

Faux message from the American Marijuana Growers Association

2009-11-20T01:58:00.003Z

A faux message from the American Marijuana Growers Association!

"Thanks for keeping it illegal. It keeps profits high, inflates costs, means all sales are untaxed, and of course it provides hundreds of jobs to agencies devoted to eliminating marijuana."

Who really wins here? Think about it.

Get your Peace Prize Here

2009-11-19T03:30:00.002Z

3 Ways to Get a DUI

2009-11-19T03:03:00.003Z

Drunks - only funny to watch, rarely fun to encounter.

United Breaks Guitars

2009-11-18T13:41:00.005Z

A musician named Dave Carroll recently had difficulty with United Airlines. United apparently damaged his treasured Taylor guitar ($3500) during a flight. Dave spent over 9 months trying to get United to pay for damages caused by baggage handlers to his custom Taylor guitar. During his final exchange with the United Customer Relations Manager, he stated that he was left with no choice other than to create a music video for Youtube exposing their lack of cooperation. The Manager responded,"Good luck with that one, pal."

In July, he posted his retaliatory video on Youtube. The video has since received over 6 million hits in the couple of months it has been on Youtube. Reportedly, United Airlines contacted the musician and attempted a settlement in exchange for pulling the video. Not surprisingly, his response was, "Good luck with that one, pal".

It turned out OK though. Taylor Guitars sent the musician 2 new custom guitars in appreciation for the product recognition from the video that has lead to a sharp increase in orders.

Here's the video ....

Don't miss his second music video either ... yep, same subject ... very well done. "Take that United!!"