You can see more by Speciallist here.

Hoorah, Seabees?

Oh, but different year. That counts for something, right?

Right?

The case centered around a class Gingrich taught in Georgia called “Renewing American Civilization”;

[H]is critics contended that it had little to do with learning and was in fact a political exercise in which Gingrich abused a tax-exempt foundation to spread his own partisan message.

In other words, just like every leftist professor at college today, right? Shilling for the left and the Democrat Party?

Well, Gingrich was exonerated;

In the end, in 1999, the IRS released a densely written, highly detailed 74-page report.  The course was, in fact, educational, the IRS said. “The overwhelming number of positions advocated in the course were very broad in nature and often more applicable to individual behavior or behavioral changes in society as a whole than to any ‘political’ action,” investigators wrote. “For example, the lecture on quality was much more directly applicable to individual behavior than political action and would be difficult to attempt to categorize in political terms. Another example is the lecture on personal strength where again the focus was on individual behavior. In fact, this lecture placed some focus on the personal strength of individual Democrats who likely would not agree with Mr. Gingrich on his political views expressed in forums outside his Renewing American Civilization course teaching. Even in the lectures that had a partial focus on broadly defined changes in political activity, such as less government and government regulation, there was also a strong emphasis on changes in personal behavior and non-political changes in society as a whole.”

Read it all, spread it around, since not many seem to be interested in the truth.

Also, via Kim, the CNN report from 1999;

Now if the American Idol voters would accept Gingrich or not is another question. You can banter “electability” around all day long, but the truth is the truth and Romney joining in an attack alongside the likes of Nancy Pelosi gives me the creeps; especially as the ethics question is one that should’ve been put to bed in 1999. Forever.

Related articles

• BYRON YORK: What Really Happened With The Gingrich Ethics Case? “The Gingrich case was extraordina… (pjmedia.com)
• Romney Attacks Gingrich’s Record of Ethics Violations, Lobbyist Work (theageofblasphemy.wordpress.com)
• Gingrich Thanks Pelosi For The ‘Early Christmas Gift’ [2012] (gawker.com)
• Nancy Pelosi Threatens to Commit Ethics Violation (morepoliticsasusual.wordpress.com)

Now that’s a response.

Wish Rubio could be President? Or at least VP? So do I.

With our GOP “betters” going full tilt with Operation FUBAR, the Good Ol’ People who thought they knew better turns out to have known squat.

After a decade of things blowing up in their faces, you’d think the GOP would me more careful playing with matches? Matches like McCain v Obama or Romney v Obama, while you’d think they’d be no-brainers with moderates against the hard left, turns out when the hard left pretends to be moderate and calls the moderate “radical” the GOP implodes.

Bottom line, and the sad reality, is  Democrats are better at selling a lie than Republicans are at selling the truth. Can we fix this?

Newt has the word skills and can think on his feet, but his past is coming back to bite him hard, and leaves be banging my head on the desk every couple of days.

Romney is a robot. In Iowa because another candidate refused to use a teleprompter, his aides took away Romney’s and all he could do on the fly was give the same stump speech he gave earlier in the day.

If you could take to two candidates and smash them together into a well-spoken candidate with no ethics or other troubles, maybe the GOP could pull this off.

But now I’m stuck again banging my head on the desk and reading James Carville describe the pending doom as seen from the left;

At any rate, let’s talk a minute about Mitt. He was your guy — he was methodical, meticulous, married once. He has completely blown himself up over an issue that everyone knew was coming. Have you had a chance to look at John McCain’s research operation on Mitt? Wow. And let me assure you, that thing has been supplemented, expanded, and annotated. God only knows about the Obama people — they’ve got a billion dollars! And how about my friends over at American Bridge, the Democrat-leaning political action committee? Clearly Mitt is merely in the beginning of this tax-return, financial-disclosure, Cayman Island (and God only knows what else) fiasco.

Your new front-runner is one of your old front runners, Newt Gingrich. I would like to take a moment to revel: I cannot personally tell you how pleased I am to see old Newt rise to the top after listening to all of your nauseating, sickening lectures on the evils of government and the importance of family values.

Now, you guys have to deal with a $1.6 million Freddie Mac consultant (who says he wasn’t a lobbyist) who has been married three times. Hope you, at least, enjoy the Super Bowl. It could be your last hurrah for a while.

PS — As my former boss once said, I feel your pain. That’s why I didn’t mention Rick Perry.

I’m glad he didn’t mention Perry. That one still hurts.

So now I sit here, wishing it was all just over already. I don’t even care what candidate the GOP stuffs in front of me, just get me to November with the knowledge that the worst candidate up there would be a better President than Obama.

Just…can he (whoever it is) beat Obama and his leftist attack dogs in the media…?

He’d damn well better.

Carville to GOP: You have a disaster on your hands – CNN.com.

Posted to Unified Patriots

Navistar (International Harvester) MRAP

What they were in is called an MRAP (pronounced Emm-Rap), which is a mine resistant (note, not mine proof) vehicle (Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) Armored Vehicles), which features a “V” shaped bottom, or “hull” which deflects a potential IED blast at an angle rather than having the full force of the explosion impacting squarely into the bottom of the vehicle.

One thing the MRAP doesn’t protect occupants from is Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI);

Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) has become the signature wound of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Mine-Resistant, Ambush-Protected (MRAP) combat vehicles provide proven blast protection. Yet, while these steel vehicles may save life and limb, the human body is susceptible to internal injuries induced by shockwaves from roadside blasts. Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) is such an injury.

The Force Protection Center for Brain Research, a collaborative that combines the expertise of Force Protection Industries and the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC), is developing an MRI-compatible “phantom brain” in order to find ways to minimize or prevent the effects of TBI. This knowledge will ultimately be integrated into the design of MRAP vehicles to counter the effects of the shockwaves on the human body – and to save lives.

If you know someone back from Iraq of Afghanistan who may be suffering from TBI, there’s a very good write-up here, complete with a full lesson plan. A lot of good info if you need help understanding what the vet in your life may be going through.

Yeah, I know; from “Hey! Cool video! Lookie!” to a public service announcement. That’s how I roll (ADD posting).

Related articles

• Traumatic Brain Injury: Advances in TBI Evaluations (offthebase.wordpress.com)
• The Blasted Brain (danapress.typepad.com)
• Traumatic Brain Injury Survivor Opens Minds with New Humor Book (prweb.com)
• Marines Tracking Concussions/TBI (theconcussionblog.com)

FREMONT (CBS 5) — After filing for bankruptcy last year, Fremont solar company Solyndra still owes American taxpayers half a billion dollars. But CBS 5 caught them destroying millions of dollars worth of parts.

At Solyndra’s sprawling complex in Fremont, workers in white jumpsuits were unwrapping brand new glass tubes used in solar panels last week. They are the latest, most cutting-edge solar technology, and they are being thrown into dumpsters.

Forklifts brought one pallet after another piled high with the carefully packaged glass. Slowly but surely it all ended up shattered.

Check out the video, then ask yourself who that stuff really belongs to.

It belongs to you. You and I paid for it, and there they are smashing it with hammers. Supposedly the move was okayed by the bankruptcy trustee as the cost of storing the materials exceeds the value.

Why weren’t they sold rather than destroyed? Supposedly Solyndra tried but couldn’t find a buyer. Only problem with that, they didn’t try very hard;

An employee for Heritage Global Partners, the company in charge of selling Solyndra’s assets, told CBS 5 they conducted an exhaustive search for buyers but no one wanted them.

But how exhaustive was that search? The tubes were never included on the list of Solyndra assets put up for sale at two auctions last year.

If they were, David Lucky told CBS 5 he would have bought them. “We certainly would have bid on them, yes,” Lucky said.

As usual, when it’s not their money, throwing it away is no problem.

h/t Rosalie

Related articles

• Solyndra fails to garner bids for sale (reuters.com)
• Bankrupt solar firm Solyndra eyes employee bonuses (sfgate.com)

Via BuzzFeed

A document found online by BuzzFeed appears to be John McCain’s entire, 200-page opposition research file — or “book” — on Mitt Romney from 2008, the year they were bitter rivals. Segments of the book have been posted on RedState.com, but this the first time the document has been shared for public consumption in its entirety.

Now of course, that McCain knows Romney is just like him, you can forget all that messy stuff.

Related articles

• McCain, Then and Now (tribuneofthepeople.wordpress.com)
• Analysis: Romney’s rivals have little time in SC (troyrecord.com)

Via email

Note the “God Bless” at the end used as an emoticon to absolve the writer of their guilt? Maybe.

I note the ignorance; 40 years ago, the writer seems to be claiming, they were in some form of slavery. Or something. 140 years would be believable, but I don’t think the tip stiffer was that old.

So MLK Day was about “getting even”? That’s the way it seems.

Tips are to show appreciation for good service; not as a way of leveling some racist’s playing field. It shows the “content of character” for the giver and the receiver, or lack thereof.

If they got good service and were too damn cheap to leave a tip, just pay the bill and leave, save the finger wagging. Just don’t expect people to appreciate you as a customer.

One note via Twitter

the subnetted life (@subnetted)
1/17/12 10:45 AM
@MichelleInCAL @katmckinley @erickbrockway Wow, I would have reminded her that she never picked cotton, and I never cracked a whip. #dumbass