The Republican Party, what can be said about them? One thing is that they are tired about immigration reform taking a back seat to other hot topics like health care and economic reform. Now it looks like 2 states, Arizona and now Minnesota have now made new extreme immigration laws that let police arrest with reasonable suspicion anyone who looks like an illegal immigrant (see image to right). Another area where the republican party needs reform is there slogan stated at the last RNC, and frequently repeated by Sarah Palin, "Dill Baby Drill". Since the oil rig incident in the Gulf of Mexico, there has been a lot of talk and discussion about changing that, and they should. It was a bad idea to begin with and now they are really regretting that poor decision for a slogan. Although I usually don't agree with the Republicans, I do have to concede the fact that the right to own guns is protected by the second amendment and the Democrats shouldn't be so b*tchy about it. Guns are guns, no matter how big they are, but they should e regulated with laws limiting how old you have to be to purchase them.

In a recent move by the Library of Congress, they have decided that Twitter deserves to be remembered for as long as they are in existence.

“The library will archive the collected works of Twitter, the micro-blogging service, whose users currently send a daily flood of 55 million messages, or tweets, all 140 characters or less.”

This now means that we have to be careful what we tweet, as it will all be recorded forever, even those few people who just spam things, like this person, claiming to have gotten a "free" macbook air. Congratulations, your douchiness will go down in history

As I got up this morning to check my email for the last time before I head down to LA on a very educational band tour (with an all day stop at the happiest place on earth), I was shocked by all the articles on my news feed, saying that the House of Reps needs to vote again.

"During an all-night voting session, two points relating to student loans were found to violate Senate procedure..."

is what one aide to Senate majority leader Harry Reid said about it. The whole thing was only 16 lines out of the entire 2700+ page health care bill, and after staying up all night, they finally found it.

"Democratic House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said more than 10 Democratic politicians had reported incidents since Sunday's vote, some of which he described as "very serious"."

This part is sad people. There is too much hate (it is a strong word) around this bill already, like on Sunday, when the House voted on this the first time, people were spitting on Emmanuel Cleaver (D-Mo.), yelling racial slurs at members of the Congressional Black Caucus, and anti-gay slurs at openly gay representative Barney Frank (D-Mass.). This bill is good, why can't the republicans see that and stop their "constituents" (people who watch Glenn Beck) from openly showing why the Republicans are loosing support. If they ever want to win back the house or the senate, the Republicans need to cut ties to the extremists, like Beck and Limbaugh. They also need to educate themselves, because according to a new Harris poll that was talked about on a blog I read (sometimes) the results of witch are still making my head hurt:

• 67 percent of Republicans (and 40 percent of Americans overall) believe that Obama is a socialist.
• 57 percent of Republicans (32 percent overall) believe that Obama is a Muslim
• 45 percent of Republicans (25 percent overall) agree with the Birthers in their belief that Obama was "not born in the United States and so is not eligible to be president"
• 38 percent of Republicans (20 percent overall) say that Obama is "doing many of the things that Hitler did"
• Scariest of all, 24 percent of Republicans (14 percent overall) say that Obama "may be the Antichrist."

 They are right about one thing, the Antichrist is among us, but they are looking on the wrong side of the political spectrum, it's Glenn Beck. Who else would call Jesus a Nazi?

Glenn Beck is very easy to make fun of, I can't deny that. This is what he released as his "new national anthem" after Barack Obama was sworn in as the new President. I am very surprised that he didn't have Palin holding the gun.

People, he has crossed the line now. First Glenn Beck calls President Obama a Nazi, and now late last week he came out that because Christians believe in social justice or economic justice they are Nazis and Communists. Before I go on, i just have to point out that the one thing, that the whole reason for the red scare in the 60's was that communists were "Godless Heathens", and if Glenn Beck actually read something, he would know that, and to say that Christians are Communist is kind of like the idea of a Volvo with a gun rack, just plain crazy talk. Now back on topic, Glenn Beck said that:

"Social justice was the rallying cry--economic justice and social justice--the rallying cry on both the communist front and the fascist front."

I do understand what he is saying, and I do agree with it. The Germans during that time in history were facing the most extreme inflation in recorded history, and they just wanted to correct the wrong that done to them by the Treaty of Versailles. The means that they went by to correct this injustice however, is what everyone thinks of when they think of Nazi Germany. Hate crimes and starting the second World War ans killing about 6 million Jewish people is why I along with most people don't like them. I don't know what he is thinking of, but the definition of Social Justice I found in the dictionary was as follows:

"Main Entry: social justice
Part of Speech: n
Definition: the distribution of advantages and disadvantages within a society"

Now from what I can tell, This seems like a Good thing, making sure that the little people have every same chance for advancement and advantage as the rich people, like Beck, do. I really wonder what goes through his mind before he speaks, if he ever stops to think "maybe I shouldn't say that". All that I know is that there will be some sort of backlash about this, and I will post the video from either Comedy Central show that does something about this. Below is some funny pictures of Glenn from the article, just for a laugh.

We all remember about a month ago when The Supreme Court gave their ruling on corporate rights, right? Well now one little corporation is putting this to the test. Murray Hill Incorporated is running for the 8th district seat in Maryland in the upcoming election.

"Bring on the competition"

That is what the incumbent Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D), who holds the 8th Congressional District, says to this play for corporate power. Who really knows why they are doing this, is it because they really want to show how The Supreme Court has messed things up by making that ruling? or is it simply a publicity stunt to get more clients? Who knows? One thing is for sure, it will be interesting to see how the people of the Maryland 8th District will vote, or if this will even last that long. Below is a video that they recently put on their site, saying that

"Now that Democracy is for sale Murray Hill Incorporated is Offering Top Dollar"

Seriously? Since when was Democracy EVER for sale? I seriously doubt that this is what the founding fathers had in mind when they wrote The Constitution. This is just ******* crazy if you ask me.

    Democrats are planning to have the big vote on this controversial health care bill sometime next week. President Obama even delayed his trip to the south east in order to make sure this thing gets passed.

I’m delighted that the president will be here for the passage of the bill, It’s going to be historic. And it would not be possible without his tremendous, tremendous leadership, his persistence, his concern for the American people, always guided by his statement that we will measure our success by the progress being made by America’s working families.”

This is what Nancy Pelosi said to reporters earlier today as she found out that Obama will be staying for the vote. Let's hope they can actually get this thing done and move on to some other topic like the torture debate like in the post right below this one about the topic.

Marc Thiessen gets to make his point after being steam-rolled over by John on his show last night. All three videos are below where he can finally get his point out.
Part 1


He mentions in this next one that at one time Paul Rester was able to get information on a rat line going from Yemen to Pakistan for only 5 Snickers Bars, showing that you don't always have to water board people.
Part 2


Part 3


I have to say it, but when I was watching this on tv last night, and saw what John was doing to Marc, it almost reminded me of watching Bill O'Rielly just telling a guest to "Shut Up" and not letting them get their point out, and it scared the **** out of, thinking that John has spent too much time watching him trying to get funny stuff from his show. At least in the end Marc was able to get his point across

On his latest show this morning, Rush Limbaugh has stated that if this health care bill is passed in it's current form and they follow through with it, that he will leave this country and go to Costa Rica. I know that some people are saying now, "That's all it would take? THANK GOD" and such, but he does have a point. If this passed, over the next couple of years we will be in even more debt, about another 1 trillion dollars into debt, but on the bright side, no more Rush. We have to ask ourselves this one question, is it worth it?

Cisco systems has made a rather bold statement today. They claim that their new router, named the CRS-3, will "forever change the internet", Claiming that it can download the entire library of Congress in less than a second, live stream every movie ever made, and letting every single person in china to make a video call simultaneously. So ... I know your next question, when can I expect to be able to get this? and how much? Cisco says that sometime later this year it will be out, but no price has been stated. I just want to know when can I start the downloading, I have about 8 TB of space, waiting to be filled.

Both Republicans and Democrats are united in opposition of the latest controversial ruling from the Supreme Court. The SCOUTUS ruling gave corporations an extension on their "freedom of speech" and allowed them to donate an unlimited amount of money to political campaigns. They have actual polls to back this up (Not FOX polls)

This goes to show us, the one way we can get both parties on the same side is to find a common opponent, the Supreme Court.

Senator Chris Dodd is not too happy with the recent ruling from the supreme court, giving corporations the right to donate unlimited amounts of money to political campaigns as a form of free speech. This upsets him, and presumably a lot more senators, that he is doing the one thing that can overrule a supreme court verdict, he is going to try and make it a constitutional amendment, stating that corporations can't donate an unlimited amount of money. To be honest, it seems sad that it has to come down to an amendment to limit corporate involvement in politics, and I was expecting a picture of someone sitting in the senate wearing a nascar suit with all the patches on it.

Correspondent John Oliver investigates the Republican party getting in touch with the average american and there values, at the Hilton Hawaiian Village on Waikiki Beach. I wonder how many average Americans they met down on the private submarine?

Another parody of this scene from a movie based on Hitler's last days, this time he is informed of the iPad, safe to say he isn't too happy either about the new device.

An Air Force research facility in Rome, NY has put in a request that has some puzzled. They have begun a project to try to recreate the way the human brain processes things, like images. They are doing so by using the combined power of about 1700 PS3 Game consoles so far, and reported over 2000 by the time the project is complete. Who knows why they are using PS3's to make this super computer, dubbed "500 TeraFLOPS Heterogeneous Cluster". Maybe they just want to show up the South Korean Air Force's Starcraft Team by making there own Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 team, who really knows?

Ben Bernanke, Chairman of the Federal Reserve, was just reconfirmed by the senate for another 4 years. This being after he stopped us from going into another depression, and being chosen as Time Magazines Person of the Year. The weird thing is that even though he did save our economy from another big depression, there was some doubt that he would get the needed majority, he got a vote of 70-30 for being able to keep his title. Let us hope that he can use some more of his "magic" to pull us all the way out of this pit we are in.




Edit: I had originally made this post on Friday, but for some reason it didn't publish this post, at least it saved it.

During his State of the Union address yesterday, President Obama made what some are calling a rude comment, geared towards the new supreme court ruling that states that since a corporation has human rights like speech and so on, that it can donate unlimited funds to political campaigns for public office. The quote, which was apparently added to the speech by the President on the spot and not originally part of the speech is:
With all due deference to the separation of powers,'' he began delicately, then reverted to his prepared remarks, ''the Supreme Court reversed a century of law to open the floodgates for special interests -- including foreign corporations -- to spend without limit in our elections.
After this was said, and everyone was cheering, the cameras panned over to Justice Alito, who then mouthed to the president "Simply not true", as show in the video below.

I am sorry that this is late, but my laptop with all of my boy scout eagle project papers on it, and it is much easier to just copy what I already did.

In this project I plan to build bird boxes, bat boxes, and owl boxes for the birds, bats, and owls at the Fernandez Ranch property recently acquired by the Muir Heritage Land Trust. I went out to see the site and meet with Beth Pardieck, my contact at MHLT.
MHLT is a nonprofit organization that buys/preserves land in the bay area. They do so with partnerships with companies like east bay regional parks, and donations from many private donors. Fernandez Ranch is there newest acquisition and is nearly 702 acres near the south of Hercules. The property is currently going under major renovation to make it more accessible to the public, and make it better for the wildlife there right now, and my project is going to help in that part.
I plan to do research on the land to find out what specific birds, bats, and owls live there and where on the property they reside. I will then scout out specific areas and mark on my map where each box will go, according to where research says the animals usually are. The bird boxes will be up next to trees, but not hurting the tree in any way. The bat boxes will be in open areas and painted according to the nightly temperatures to assure the survival of any young that might be in there.
Each of the boxes will be made prior to the installation day, and each box will depend on the species attracted to it. They will be made at my home with help from volunteers and later installed at the park. The owl boxes will also be made and placed depending on the type of owls found there. After the boxes are made, I, along with a group of select volunteers will make a trip out to the property and then install the boxes in the selected spots, while leaving no trace of course.

What a way to end 2009

Burj Dubai Arabic for Dubai Tower, has finally opened, making it the worlds tallest tower at a whooping 2717 feet tall. It is also reported to have the worlds highest mosque on the 158th floor and the worlds highest indoor pool, located on the 76th floor.

Its backers wanted the skyscraper to be a monument to the boundless, can-do spirit of Dubai — one of a federation of seven small sheikdoms that make up the United Arab Emirates — but the timing could not be worse. Property prices in parts of Dubai collapsed by nearly half in the past year, the result of easy credit and overbuilding during a real estate bubble that has since burst.

I know what are you thinking, the bigger they are, the harder they fall, and that might be literal in this case. Reports are that

"it has "refuge floors" at 25 to 30 story intervals that are more fire resistant and have separate air supplies in case of emergency. Its reinforced concrete structure, he said, makes it stronger than steel-frame skyscrapers. "A plane won't be able to slice through the Burj like it did through the steel columns of the World Trade Center,"

We will have to wait and see if this monumental tower can help boost the real-estate prices that have dropped by more than 50% in the last year. Below is a picture of the tower on it's opening night.

Reported Threats from Al-Qaida has led to the closure of the US Embassy in Yemen. Reports also state that these threats come from the same group that was responsible for the attempted bomb attack on Christmas Day. John Brennan, deputy National Security Advisor had this to say about the closure

There are indications that al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula is targeting our embassy and targeting our personnel and we are not going to take any chances with the lives of our diplomats and others who are at that embassy,

Also stated in the article and in shown in the picture below,

The president's homeland security advisor told the FOX News Sunday television program the United States is working with the Yemeni government to deal with the terrorist threat.

The British, who also had to close there Embassy due to similar threats, has agreed to co-fund a Yemen led counter-terrorism police force, planned to stop closures like these from happening in the future in Yemen.

Since the terror plot that was executed on Christmas Day, people on the web have been speculating on "how worse airport security will get". Well, they could have always checked the TSA website. Well, it says,

TSA has a layered approach to security that allows us to surge resources as needed on a daily basis. We have the ability to quickly implement additional screening measures including explosive detection canine teams, law enforcement officers, gate screening, behavior detection and other measures both seen and unseen. Passengers should not expect to see the same thing at every airport.

Another commonly asked question is usually is "How long will this last?" The TSA says that "TSA will continuously review these measures to ensure the highest levels of security." Which means that they will slowly decrease the security, like they did, until the next attempt or even the next attack. For now though, they will be using more dogs and more full body scanners like the one below. Better get to the airport even earlier than usual.