David Online

The Board of Supervisors in San Francisco, California, a beacon for liberalism gone amuck, voted 10 – 1 Tuesday to provide identification cards to illegal immigrants and trans-genders.

I wonder if transgenders get two cards? 

San Francisco says the identification card program is designed to help illegal immigrants without IDs access free governmental services and to feel safe when dealing with the police.

Let me see if I have this right.  Illegal immigrants who are breaking the law are now supposed to feel safe with the police who should be enforcing the law.

Only in San Francisco would a contradiction like this be unremarkable.

What a dichotomy of service and sacrifice we have in the news this week. “Diplomats” in the State Department who refuse to serve in Iraq and soldiers in the Defense Department who cheat to pass medicals to stay in Iraq.

October 31, 2007

New Iraq policy prompts angry words at the State Department

WASHINGTON (CNN) — Calling it “a potential death sentence,” several hundred diplomats expressed their resentment Wednesday over a new State Department policy that could force them to serve in Iraq or risk losing their jobs.The sharpest comments came from Jack Croddy, a 36-year veteran of the Foreign Service.

To loud applause from his fellow workers, he asked how the State Department could protect people in Baghdad or the Iraq countryside when “incoming is coming in every day. Rockets are hitting the Green Zone.”

“It is one thing if someone believes in what is going on over there and volunteers,” he said, “but it is another thing to send someone over there on a forced assignment. And I’m sorry, but basically that is a potential death sentence and you know it. Who will raise our children if we are dead or wounded?”

November 6, 2007

Troops cheat on brain-injury tests to stay with units

WASHINGTON – “Troops in Iraq and elsewhere have tried to avoid being pulled out of combat units by cheating on problem-solving tests that are used to spot traumatic brain-injury problems, military doctors say.

New versions of the tests were sent into Iraq late last month to prevent the cheating, says Air Force Lt. Col. Michael Jaffee of the Defense and Veterans Brain Injury Center in Washington, D.C.

“With highly motivated individuals, be they athletes, be they our service members in harm’s way, there is a motivation to stay with the unit and stay on the job or stay in the game,” he says.

The tests, administered by medics in the field, are the military’s primary means of uncovering subtle signs of brain injuries from exposure to blasts.

Reports of cheating began surfacing in Iraq during the summer, says Col. Brian Eastridge, a trauma surgeon who supervises medical care in Iraq and Afghanistan from his office in Baghdad.”

Words to describe the despicable, sniveling actions of cowards like State Department Jack Croddy, a mouse of a man who has been living off the largesse of the American taxpayer for 36 years, fail me. I’m trying to keep this blog “clean”, so I can’t say what I’d really think of Croddy and his “applauding fellow workers.”

My feelings echo those of John Carey, here… who knows more and writes better that I do. What I do know is that Croddy and the rest of those self-indulgent, duty-shirking prima donnas took virtually the same oath to defend this nation as did those troopers serving in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The Democrats say we send our children to Iraq. Not so…the children are in the State Department; the adults are in in Iraq.

Remember when grandparents and great-grandparents stated that they only had an 8th grade education?  Well, check this out. Could any of us have passed the 8th grade in 1895?

This is the eighth-grade final exam from 1895 in Salina, Kansas, USA.  It was taken from the original document on file at the Smokey Valley Genealogical Society and Library in Salina, KS, and reprinted by the Salina Journal.

8th Grade Final Exam:
Salina, KS, 1895
 

Grammar   (Time, one hour)

1. Give nine rules for the use of capital letters.

2. Name the parts of speech and define those that have no modifications. 

3. Define verse, stanza and paragraph.

4. What are the principal parts of a verb? Give principal parts of “lie”, “play”, and “run.”

5. Define case; illustrate each case.

6. What is punctuation? Give rules for principal marks of punctuation.

7 – 10. Write a composition of about 150 words and show therein that you understand the practical use of the rules of grammar.

Arithmetic   (Time, 65 minutes)

1. Name and define the Fundamental Rules of Arithmetic.

2. A wagon box is 2 ft. deep, 10 feet long and 3 ft. wide. How many bushels of wheat will it hold?

3. If a load of wheat weighs 3942 lbs., what is it worth at 50cts/bushel, deducting 1050 lbs for tare?

4. District No 33 has a valuation of $35,000. What is the necessary levy to carry on a school seven months at $50 per month, and has $104 f or incidentals?

5. Find the cost of 6720 lbs. coal at $6.00 per ton.

6. Find the interest of $512.60 for 8 months and 18 days at 7 percent.

7. What is the cost of 40 boards 12 inches wide and 16 ft. long at $20 per meter?

8. Find bank discount on $300 for 90 days (no grace) at 10 percent.

9. What is the cost of a square farm at $15 per acre, the distance of which is 640 rods?

10. Write a Bank Check, a Promissory Note, and a Receipt.

U.S. History   (Time, 45 minutes)

1. Give the epochs into which U.S. History is divided

2. Give an account of the discovery of America by Columbus.

3. Relate the causes and results of the Revolutionary War.

4. Show the territorial growth of the United States.

5. Tell what you can of the history of Kansas.

6. Describe three of the most prominent battles of the Rebellion.

7. Who were the following: Morse, Whitney, Fulton, Bell, Lincoln, Penn, and Howe?

8. Name events connected with the following dates: 1607, 1620, 1800, 1849, and 1865.

Orthography   (Time, one hour)

1. What is meant by the following:  alphabet, phonetic, orthography, etymology, and syllabication?

2. What are elementary sounds? How classified?

3. What are the following, and give examples of each: trigraph, sub vocal, diphthong, cognate letters, and lingual.

4. Give four substitutes for caret ‘u.’

5. Give two rules for spelling words with final ‘e.’ Name two exceptions under each rule.

6. Give two uses of silent letters in spelling. Illustrate each.

7. Define the following prefixes and use in connection with a word: bi-, dis-, mis-, pre-, semi-, post-, non-, inter-, mono-, and sup-.

8. Mark diacritically and divide into syllables the following, and name the sign that indicates the sound: card, ball, mercy, sir, odd, cell, rise, blood, fare, last.

9. Use the following correctly in sentences: cite, site, sight, fane, fain, feign, vane, vain, vein, raze, raise, rays.

10. Write 10 words frequently mispronounced and indicate pronunciation by use of diacritical marks and by syllabication.

Geography   (Time, one hour)

1. What is climate? Upon what does climate depend?

2. How do you account for the extremes of climate in Kansas?

3. Of what use are rivers? Of what use is the ocean?

4. Describe the mountains of North America.

5. Name and describe the following: Monrovia, Odessa, Denver, Manitoba, Hecla, Yukon, St. Helena, Juan Fernandez, Aspinwall and Orinoco.

6. Name and locate the principal trade centers of the U.S.

7. Name all the republics of:   Europe and give the capital of each.

8. Why is the Atlantic Coast colder than the Pacific in the same latitude?

9. Describe the process by which the water of the ocean returns to the sources of rivers.

10. Describe the movements of the earth. Give the inclination of the earth.

Notice that the exam took FIVE HOURS to complete. Gives the saying “he only had an 8th grade education” a whole new meaning, doesn’t it?  This also shows you how poor our education system has become… and, NO! I don’t have the answers.

  Minorities…..Are we showing enough sympathy for these people?.

* They travel for miles in the heat and dust.

* They put their lives at risk crossing a border.

* They work long hours for little pay.

* They do the jobs that others won’t do or are afraid to do.

* They live in crowded conditions among a people who speak a different language.

* They rarely see their families, and they face adversity all day… every day.

I’m not talking about illegal aliens; I’m talking about our American soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Doesn’t it seem strange that so many Democrats and some Republicans are willing to lavish all kinds of monetary and social benefits on illegal immigrants, but don’t support our troops and are now threatening to de-fund them?

Hillary Clinton flubbed the last Democratic presidential debate. She flip-flopped on the illegal immigrant’s drivers license position two times in two minutes as candidate John Edwards so aptly put it.

In 1959 an early rhythm and blues vocal group, The Coasters, recorded a song called, “Along Came Jones,” about a “slow-walking, slow-talking” tall, lanky cowboy who always showed up at the last minute to rescue the damsel in distress from the villain, “Salty Sam.”

On Monday, before a postal workers convention in Nevada, hubby Bill came to Hillary’s rescue as “slow-walking, slow-talking Jones”… or he showed up as the villain “Salty Sam” and put Hillary’s nomination in peril once again.

Discussing the efforts of debate moderators – read Tim Russert – and Hillary’s Democratic rivals, Bill Clinton said,

“We listened to people make snide comments about whether Vice President Gore was too stiff,” Mr. Clinton said, “and when they made dishonest claims about the things that he said that he’d done in his life. When that scandalous Swift boat ad was run against Senator Kerry.” “Why am I saying this?” he continued. “Because I had the feeling that at the end of that last debate we were about to get into cutesy land again.”

I find it curious that Clinton would refer to the Swift boat campaign. My Democratic friends have always told me that “swift-boating” is a dirty, underhanded Republican smear tactic used against Democrats. I was surprised to learn from Bill Clinton that “swift-boating” is also a sneaky, underhanded Democratic smear tactic used by Democrats against other Democrats.

Curious as the Swift-boat reference was, even more interesting is the question of why Bill Clinton felt the need to say anything at all about the debate.

Two reasons come immediately to mind as to why Clinton made that speech. Either Bill Clinton doesn’t believe wife Hillary can handle by herself the “meanies” accusing her of flip-flopping… or Bill Clinton doesn’t really want Hillary to win the Democratic nomination for president.

Contrary to current opinion from both sides of the political spectrum, Clinton could have actually believed that coming to Hillary’s rescue from being “swift-boated” by her fellow candidates and Tim Russert; he thought he was saving her bacon. Precluded for all intents and purposes from actively campaigning for Hillary, the best Bill could do was making a speech supporting her and condemning the rest of the cast.

Reason number two would be Bill doesn’t want really want Hillary to be the President of the United States. The supporting argument for this hypothesis is Bill Clinton’s own inflated ego. I’m not sure if there is anything in the world more valuable and precious to Bill Clinton than his presidential legacy – so much so that he has been trying to rewrite its history for the past six years. Would Bill want to chance Hillary annulling and voiding his own re-written presidential legacy?

Say what you will about Bill Clinton, but he does happen to be one of the most skilled and artful politicians in American history. Did Clinton make that speech defending Hillary because he, William Jefferson Clinton, the consummate politician, knew what the backlash would be?

There could of course be a third reason – the spotlight. The only thing Bill Clinton ever loved more than “Intern Night” at the White House was being in the spotlight in front of a microphone and a television camera. Clinton couldn’t keep his hands off a Monica and he can’t keep his mouth shut in front of a microphone.

What in the name of Al Gore is NBC thinking? Forrest Gump used to say “stupid is as stupid does.” Does Forrest Gump now work at NBC?

Last Sunday night during the their televised Dallas – Philadelphia football game, NBC turned off the lights in the studio to kick off their “NBC Universal’s “Green is Universal” week. To punctuate their green imitative, NBC flew reporters to the North Pole, the South Pole, and points in between to televise ‘global warming’ in action for the halftime show.

Turning off the studio lights must have saved about a teaspoon full of carbon emissions. Meanwhile, Newsbusters.org estimates NBC spewed about 25 tons of CO2 on their photo-op stunts in the Artic Circle, Antarctica, and Ecuador. Hell of a trade-off, guys.

I suppose it would be impolitic of me to also mention that as NBC turns off the lights in the studio to save energy, they are spending millions of dollars in advertising promotion to have everyone in America turn on their TVs and tune in to NBC…with the lights off, I would expect.

Investors Business Daily has an interesting take on this NBC stunt.

“Al Gore seems to have found a home at the peacock network. Both he and the network’s symbol like to strut a lot and frequently have their feathers ruffled.”

“This week the peacock’s feathers are a solid green as NBC, among other activities, sends its “Today” show stars, as the promo puts it, to “the ends of the earth” to promote Gore’s agenda of saving the planet and repealing the Industrial Revolution.”

“NBC began its Green Week with Sunday night’s Dallas Cowboys-Philadelphia Eagles football game. Bob Costas solemnly intoned: “As part of NBC Universal’s ‘Green is Universal’ initiative, we have turned out the lights in the studio to kick off a week that will include more than 150 hours of programming designed to raise awareness about environmental issues.”

“Actually, the studio lights were off for about a minute, during which time you could see the giant stadium screen over his right shoulder and glowing video monitors all over the set. At halftime, Costas tossed it to Matt Lauer standing before some sled dogs in the Arctic, bathed in bright lighting flown in for the occasion.”

“The folks at Newsbusters.org have calculated that flying Lauer and two crew to the Arctic Circle in Greenland – from New York to Thule AFB, a 2,487-mile distance – produced six tons of carbon emissions . That’s one ton each way per person. They used the carbon calculator found on Gore’s “An Inconvenient Truth” Web site.”

“Roker’s journey from New York to Quito, Ecuador, again assuming a crew of just two, produced another six tons of carbon emissions. Ann Curry’s trip to Antarctica – 11,686 miles in all – produced a total of 12.9 tons of carbon.”

“That’s a grand total of 24.9 tons of CO2 produced for a momentary photo-op while most people were up getting a beer or making a pit stop. According to Gore’s Web site, the average person produces 7.5 tons of CO2 in a year.”

“Green Week isn’t NBC’s first effort at environmental activism. In July, it provided 75 hours of free air time to Gore not only on NBC but also CNBC, Bravo, the Sundance Channel, Universal HD and Telemundo for his Live Earth concerts.”

“This involved flying rock stars around the planet in emission-spewing private jets to plug their electric guitars into Godzilla-size amplifiers.”