Happy Halloween!

Twelve Days of Christmas ~ 2009

The 2009 PNC Christmas Price Index

The Cost of the Twelve Days of Christmas!

One Partridge in a Pear Tree

$159.99

Two Turtle Doves
$55.98

Three French Hens

$45.00

Four Calling Birds

$599.96

Five Gold Rings

$499.95

Six Geese A-Laying

$150.00

Seven Swans A-Swimming

$5,250.00

Eight Maids A-Milking

$58.00

Nine Ladies Dancing

$5,473.07

Ten Lords A-Leaping

$4,413.61

Eleven Pipers Piping

$2,284.80

Twelve Drummers Drumming

$2,475.20

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Total for 2009

$21,465.56

Goat Major Retires

Goat Major L/Cpl Ryan Arthur of the 1st Battalion, The Royal Welsh, leads the regiment's goat William Windsor on his retirement parade Wednesday May 20, 2009. The Royal Welsh Regiment is saying so long to a military buddy. After seven years of U.K. Army service, Billy the goat, whose full name is William Windsor, has retired amid pomp and ceremony Wednesday. The battalion has had a goat in its ranks for more than 200 years. To this day, the regimental goat marches in front of the battalion at ceremonies.

Fighting the Taliban ~ Come as you are!!!

Specialist Zachary Boyd, from the US Army First Battalion, 26th Infantry, takes defensive position at firebase Restrepo after receiving fire from Taliban positions in the Korengal Valley of Afghanistan's Kunar Province. (May 11, 2009)

Fighting the Taliban - Come as you are!!!

Texan, Zachary Boyd, woken up by an attack on Firebase Restrepo in the Korengal Valley of the Kunar Province, got his helmet, body armor and gun to fight off the Taliban.

Without a thought, he went out in his "I Love NY" boxer shorts (pink), red t-shirt and flip flops.

Read more about it here and a great video of his parents here

I can't help but wonder, did the boxers become pink because he washed it with that red t-shirt?!

Failed Bailout

Cartoon by Chris Muir - click to enlarge
follow his work here: http://www.daybydaycartoon.com/
get reminders on Twitter http://twitter.com/daybydaycartoon

General Eric (let's make them all wear Chinese made berets) Shinseki, has made a proposal to President Obama that they both seem quite enthusiastic about. If a soldier is wounded while fighting the wars the President sends them too, they should pay for their war wounds with their private insurance. What private insurance does a government employed soldier have, exactly?

The Commander of the American Legion met with the President on Monday, and left infuriated.

Here is his statement from the American Legion site http://ourvoice.legion.org/story/1448/legion-white-house-dont-bill-our-heroes

WASHINGTON, DC (March 16, 2009) – The leader of the nation’s largest veterans organization says he is “deeply disappointed and concerned” after a meeting with President Obama today to discuss a proposal to force private insurance companies to pay for the treatment of military veterans who have suffered service-connected disabilities and injuries. The Obama administration recently revealed a plan to require private insurance carriers to reimburse the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) in such cases.

“It became apparent during our discussion today that the President intends to move forward with this unreasonable plan,” said Commander David K. Rehbein of The American Legion. “He says he is looking to generate $540-million by this method, but refused to hear arguments about the moral and government-avowed obligations that would be compromised by it.”

The Commander, clearly angered as he emerged from the session said, “This reimbursement plan would be inconsistent with the mandate ‘… to care for him who shall have borne the battle…’ given that the United States government sent members of the armed forces into harm’s way, and not private insurance companies. I say again that The American Legion does not and will not support any plan that seeks to bill a veteran for treatment of a service connected disability at the very agency that was created to treat the unique need of America’s veterans!”

Commander Rehbein was among a group of senior officials from veterans service organizations joining the President, White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emmanuel, Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric Shinseki and Steven Kosiak, the overseer of defense spending at the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). The group’s early afternoon conversation at The White House was precipitated by a letter of protest presented to the President earlier this month. The letter, co-signed by Commander Rehbein and the heads of ten colleague organizations, read, in part, “ There is simply no logical explanation for billing a veteran’s personal insurance for care that the VA has a responsibility to provide. While we understand the fiscal difficulties this country faces right now, placing the burden of those fiscal problems on the men and women who have already sacrificed a great deal for this country is unconscionable.”

Commander Rehbein reiterated points made last week in testimony to both House and Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committees. It was stated then that The American Legion believes that the reimbursement plan would be inconsistent with the mandate that VA treat service-connected injuries and disabilities given that the United States government sends members of the armed forces into harm’s way, and not private insurance companies. The proposed requirement for these companies to reimburse the VA would not only be unfair, says the Legion, but would have an adverse impact on service-connected disabled veterans and their families. The Legion argues that, depending on the severity of the medical conditions involved, maximum insurance coverage limits could be reached through treatment of the veteran’s condition alone. That would leave the rest of the family without health care benefits. The Legion also points out that many health insurance companies require deductibles to be paid before any benefits are covered. Additionally, the Legion is concerned that private insurance premiums would be elevated to cover service-connected disabled veterans and their families, especially if the veterans are self-employed or employed in small businesses unable to negotiate more favorable across-the-board insurance policy pricing. The American Legion also believes that some employers, especially small businesses, would be reluctant to hire veterans with service-connected disabilities due to the negative impact their employment might have on obtaining and financing company health care benefits.

“I got the distinct impression that the only hope of this plan not being enacted,” said Commander Rehbein, “is for an alternative plan to be developed that would generate the desired $540-million in revenue. The American Legion has long advocated for Medicare reimbursement to VA for the treatment of veterans. This, we believe, would more easily meet the President’s financial goal. We will present that idea in an anticipated conference call with White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emmanuel in the near future.

“I only hope the administration will really listen to us then. This matter has far more serious ramifications than the President is imagining,” concluded the Commander.

Barney Bites the Bad Guys!

Good Dog!

Saving the Planet with George Carlin

George Carlin passed away earlier this week.

This is a wonderful and funny performance.

Thanks for the laughter, George!

Air Force Cartoonist ~ SSG Austin May

Air Force 1st Lt. Kenneth Dahl, call sign “Barbie,” is the star of the online Web comic strip, Air Force Blues. The fictional fighter jock is the creation of Air Force Staff Sgt. Austin M. May, a public affairs specialist deployed to Soto Cano Air Base, Honduras, from Laughlin Air Force Base, Texas

U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Austin M. May works on a character from his comic strip, Air Force Blues. May, a public affairs noncommissioned officer deployed to Soto Cano Air Base, Honduras, recently published a book of his comics, and the strip is slated to appear in an upcoming issue of Airman Magazine. U.S. Air Force Photo by Tech. Sgt. Sonny Cohrs

Cartoonist Continues Strip, Publishes Book While Deployed

By Tech. Sgt. Sonny Cohrs, USAF
Special to American Forces Press Service

SOTO CANO AIR BASE, Honduras, Jan. 4, 2008 – It’s hard being only a figment of someone’s imagination. Just ask Air Force 1st Lt. Kenneth Dahl, an F-15 fighter pilot with the imaginary 809th Fighter Squadron.

Dahl, call sign “Barbie,” is the star of the online comic strip “Air Force Blues,” and is a hero, of sorts, to his Internet following. The fictional fighter jock is the creation of Air Force Staff Sgt. Austin M. May, a public affairs specialist deployed here from Laughlin Air Force Base, Texas.

The general process for production is this: an idea born in May's brain makes its way on to paper. From there, the comic is scanned into a computer, and eventually is published on www.afblues.com. The site boasts as many as 1,000 hits per day when the comic is updated.

Dahl's antics were published in a new book that made its debut in November. The strip also is slated to appear in an upcoming issue of the Air Force's flagship publication, Airman Magazine.

May, who has been drawing since he was a child, said he began the comic strip in February 2007 because he felt it was time to “step things up.”

“For almost a year, I had been doing random Air Force-related comics for a friend’s Web site, but I was ready to try launching my own site,” he explained. “I wanted a consistent base, a recognizable duty station, and above all, a main character everyone could eventually relate to.”

The sergeant said he chose a fighter pilot as his main character for a variety of reasons, the biggest being the wealth of comic potential associated with that particular group of airmen.

“Everywhere you look there are movies, books, video games and more, all glorifying fighter pilots,” he said. “Why not a comic to make fun of them? After all, they do some pretty off-the-wall things sometimes.”

May should know. As a former aircrew member stationed at a specialized undergraduate pilot training base, he has spent practically his entire Air Force career surrounded by fliers.

He noted that the comic doesn’t make fun of any specific group of people as a whole, but lumps several stereotypes into one character who becomes the butt of most of the strip’s jokes, a proven formula for a successful comic. Just as Beetle Bailey is only one goofy soldier in the Army, Dahl is not necessarily representative of today’s men and women in uniform, May said.

The sergeant’s first comic strip, AWACker, was started while he was deployed to Southwest Asia as an airborne battle management systems operator on the Airborne Warning and Control System E-3 Sentry. When he wasn’t flying missions, May put pen to paper and drew comic after comic to circulate among his fellow fliers. His deployment helped him compile a binder full of comics, which was the basis for the now defunct domain AWACker.com. The site, founded with a fellow AWACS crewmember, had a good run until it was hacked in August 2005, he said. The site never recovered.

“I went on to cross-train into a new career field, and neither of us really had time to rebuild the Web site from the ground up,” he said.

Helping May with the current Web site is Air Force Senior Airman Justin Coffman from the 552nd Computer Systems Squadron at Tinker Air Force Base, Okla., who volunteers his off-duty time as the webmaster, forum administrator and “faithful lackey,” he said.

Coffman is a recurring character in the strip and is described as the “Airman Agitator” who pokes fun at the other characters. However, it's all in good fun, Coffman said.

“I think humor is a required part of daily life,” he explained. “If you aren't laughing, you aren't living. Everyone knows it's just a comic and that it's exaggerated.”

Longtime reader Air Force Reserve Master Sgt. William Gordon, from Homestead Air Reserve Base, Fla., agreed, saying the comic pokes “good-natured fun” at the idea of a stereotypical throttle jockey.

“I enjoy the entire concept of Air Force Blues,” he said. “It brings together all types of people from different parts of the Air Force who normally would not interact. It (also) has opened my eyes to different things about the Air Force that I would not have considered before.”

Dahl’s personality developed as May elaborated on his new creation, reflecting himself. The character is an F-15 fighter pilot stationed at the fictional “Elmendork” Air Force Base. May's first duty station was at the very real Elmendorf Air Force Base, Alaska.

“He’s very young. He’s pretty new to the Air Force still, and he is so in love with himself and his job,” May said in describing the character. “He’s like a kid who realized what he wanted to do when he grew up and stuck to it,” a trait that rings true for the artist today.

“My parents used to take me to air shows when I was little kid. I didn’t know what I wanted to do, only that I wanted to one day join the Air Force,” said the 25-year-old native of Katy, Texas.

Donations from readers help to fund the project, and May said his greatest reward is knowing people enjoy his creations. Many readers e-mail him saying how much they look forward to the new strips, he said.

Though some money comes in, none of it ends up in his pocket, the sergeant emphasized.

“I don’t do it for profit at all,” May said. “All the money I make from selling coins, stickers and the books goes back into the site for Web hosting, drawing supplies, more coins and stickers. I’ve also sponsored a couple of events at the Laughlin Club.”

Dahl is gearing up for a deployment to support the real global war on terrorism at a fictional air base abroad. Readers can follow along online to learn what makes deployments so special for Dahl: “deployment mustaches,” he said in a recent strip.

But just because the faux fighter pilot won’t be flying real combat missions in his F-15, he will be delivering humor from his cockpit in cyberspace to a desktop near you.

(Air Force Tech. Sgt. Sonny Cohrs serves with Joint Task Force Bravo Public Affairs.)

To see all of SSG May's work Air Force Blues

Balloon Pilot

Yes, this really happened!!

Taking off from my town, in a lawn chair with 105 helium filled weather balloons attached, Ken Couch floated from Bend, Oregon 193 miles to Union, Oregon - near the Idaho border.

This picture shows the central Cascade mountains - Broken Top and the Three Sisters - and the smoke from the wildfires we have had this year.

Message from the President.... And, he's not happy

Normally, I start these things out by saying "My Fellow Americans."

Not doing it this time. If the polls are any indication, I don't know who more than half of you are anymore.

I do know something terrible has happened, and that you're really not fellow Americans any longer.

I'll cut right to the chase here: I quit. Now before anyone gets all in a lather about me quitting to avoid impeachment, or to avoid prosecution or something, let me assure you: there's been no breaking of laws or impeachable offenses in this office.

The reason I'm quitting is simple. I'm fed up with you people.

I'm fed up because you have no understanding of what's really going on in the world. Or of what's going on in this once-great nation of ours. And the majority of you are too damned lazy to do your homework and figure it out.

Let's start local. You've been sold a bill of goods by politicians and the news media.

Despite the shock to our economy of 9/11, the stock market has rebounded to record levels and more Americans than ever are participating in these markets. Meanwhile, all you can do is whine about gas prices, and most of you are too damn stupid to realize that gas prices are high because there's increased demand in other parts of the world, and because a small handful of noisy idiots are more worried about polar bears and beachfront property than your economic security.

We face real threats in the world. Don't give me this "blood for oil" thing. If I was trading blood for oil I would've already seized Iraq's oil fields and let the rest of the country go to hell. And don't give me this 'Bush Lied People Died' crap either. If I was the liar you morons take me for, I could've easily had chemical weapons planted in Iraq so they could be 'discovered.' Instead, I owned up to the fact that the intelligence was faulty. Let me remind you that the rest of the world thought Saddam had the goods, same as me. Let me also remind you that regime change in Iraq was official US policy before I came into office. Some guy named 'Clinton' established that policy. Bet you didn't know that, did you?

You idiots need to understand that we face a unique enemy. Back during the cold war, there were two major competing political and economic models squaring off. We won that war, but we did so because fundamentally, the Communists wanted to survive, just as we do. We were simply able to outspend and out-tech them.

That's not the case this time. The soldiers of our new enemy don't care if they survive. In fact, they want to die. That'd be fine, as long as they weren't also committed to taking as many of you with them as they can. But they are. They want to kill you. And the bastards are all over the globe.

You should be grateful that they haven't gotten any more of us here in the United States since September 11. But you're not. That's because you've got no idea how hard a small number of intelligence, military, law enforcement and homeland security people have worked to make sure of that. When this whole mess started, I warned you that this would be a long and difficult fight. I'm disappointed how many of you people think a long and difficult fight amounts to a single season of 'Survivor'.

Instead, you've grown impatient. You're incapable of seeing things through the long lens of history, the way our enemies do. You think that wars should last a few months, a few years, tops.

Making matters worse, you actively support those who help the enemy. Every time you buy the New York Times, every time you send a donation to a cut-and-run Democrat's political campaign, well, dammit, you might just as well Fedex a grenade launcher to a Jihadist. It amounts to the same thing.

In this day and age, it's easy enough to find the truth. It's all over the Internet. It just isn't on the pages of the New York Times or on NBC News. But even if it were, I doubt you'd be any smarter. Most of you would rather watch American Idol.

I could say more about your expectations that the government will always be there to bail you out, even if you're too stupid to leave a city that's below sea level and has a hurricane approaching.

I could say more about your insane belief that government, not your own wallet, is where the money comes from. But I've come to the conclusion that were I to do so, it would sail right over your heads.

So I quit. I'm going back to Crawford. I've got an energy-efficient house down there (Al Gore could only dream) and the capability to be fully self-sufficient. No one ever heard of Crawford before I got elected, and as soon as I'm done here pretty much no one will ever hear of it again. Maybe I'll be lucky enough to die of old age before the last pillars of America fall.

Oh, and by the way, Cheney's quitting too. That means Pelosi is your new President. You asked for it. Watch what she does carefully, because I still have a glimmer of hope that there're just enough of you remaining who are smart enough to turn this thing around in 2008.

So that's it.

God bless what's left of America. Some of you know what I mean.

***********************

I stole this from Soldier's Angels Germany. Thank you!

Farewell, Johnny Hart

Johnny Hart
February 18, 1931 - April 7, 2007
Rest in Peace
Thank You for the smiles and humor!
The B.C. Collection
www.comics.com/creators/bc

Happy Groundhog Day!!!

Happy Groundhog Day!!!

Got an email this morning,

reminding me that the troops think this is more appropriate!!!

What Goes Round Comes Round...

On his holiday trip to Iraq, 'Jon Carry' found himself eating all alone in the US Embassy dining room - notice the lack of uniform clad people around him....

Chris Muir - Day By Day

Click the link for a larger view of the cartoon.

Planning a Vacation ? Here's a Thought !

United annouces its new destination:

We are pleased to announce nonstop services to Kuwait City!

Beginning in October 2006, three flights weekly, Washington-Dulles to Kuwait City on our Boeing 777 service

***************************************************

A vacation dream come true?!!!