Shame on Google

(Via Walls of the City)

You can celebrate every BS event that comes down the pike on your banner, but not D-Day?

Local D-Day story

Yes, I said "story". Singular. One. It's disappointing that on the 65th anniversary of the Day of Days, only one local newspaper could do a story on the veterans of D-Day.

Sixty-five years ago, two teens from the same North Carolina community waited off the coast of France for the start of an invasion that turned the tide of World War II.

Try to overlook the gratuitous Obama mention.

Giving thanks to the thinning ranks

June 6 is one of those dates close to my heart. Instead of the normal sort of D-Day post, I'd like to point you to this instead:

As the 65th anniversary of the World War II Allied invasion of Europe approaches, even the youngest men who survived the bloody beach assaults, night parachute drops and glider landings into northeast coastal France now find themselves in their 80s.

We've been losing WWII vets since WWII. If you've ever watched Band of Brothers, at the very end you hear about various members of Easy Co. who died in the years between 1945 and when the miniseries was done. The rate has, just by nature, accelerated in recent years. These brave men and women are facing their end on this world. We may never see their like again. God bless them all.

Something to smile about

A 23-year-old rancher whose family has fallen behind in their taxes and recently had a mobile home repossessed claimed a $232.1 million Powerball jackpot on Friday, one of the largest undivided jackpots in U.S. lottery history.

Once in a while, things work out they way they do in the movies.

A chance to shine

Penske Auto Group is buying Saturn and with it, a distribution network that is among the best in the industry.

Wouldn't it be rich if Roger Penske turned Saturn into what it always should have been (but was thwarted from being)? You know, a GM killer?

Instruction: How to persuade the public to raise taxes

Like every other government, company and household in the United State (and probably the world), the State of North Carolina is being squeezed by the economy. $4.2 billion in the hole on a $21.4 billion budget, the state House has allowed out details of a budget proposal due Monday. On the surface, it seems to be just what the doctor ordered--massive cuts in expenditures and no tax increases.

But wait...could it be that this was merely the first step in a cunning plan to persuade the public to accept new taxes--even though raising taxes in a recession is exactly the wrong move?

Deep state budget cuts could strip crucial resources from public health agencies and hospitals just in time for the expected arrival of a potentially nastier version of the H1N1 flu virus this fall, North Carolina's public health chief warned Thursday.

and

The state schools chief wants legislators to raise taxes to spare schools and other state agencies some of the most dramatic of the impending budget cuts.

and

State legislators did not need to get their hearing checked. The crowd in front of the Legislative Building on Tuesday really was asking lawmakers to raise taxes.

More than 100 leaders and supporters of nonprofits, service organizations and professional associations warned of the likely damage from the sort of state budget cuts being discussed by the legislature. Many of the groups rely on state government for at least a portion of their funding or for their members' salaries.

and

UNC system President Erskine Bowles is calling in reinforcements in the battle over the budget.

Bowles sent e-mail messages to the UNC Board of Governors and the UNC system's chancellors, asking them to activate their supporters to contact legislators over the weekend and early this week. And he offered talking points with the clear message that an 11 percent budget cut, now under discussion in the House, "would have severe and lasting negative impacts on student access and the quality of education our universities can offer."

and finally, the money shot from the gov herself

Gov. Beverly Perdue said Thursday that a tax increase might be needed to prevent "horrific"cuts in government services as state leaders try to close a projected $4.6 billion shortfall in North Carolina's budget.

Now, let it be known that I'm an employee of said state government in An Agency That Must Remain Nameless. (Yeah, I don't like it and I often feel hypocritical since I have no major love for government at any level. However, it's a job in an area that no longer has a lot of jobs for folks with my particular skill set. Sometimes you have to swallow to keep food on the table.) My job is on the line here. Being laid off will hurt in more ways than I care to think about.

I want each and every one of you who is a North Carolina voter to write your state representative, your state senator and the governor and urge each of them to support the House budget. This is our best chance in a decade to seriously reduce the size of state government. For our families and our futures, this is what must happen.

Well this could be painful

John Walker has posted a worrisome gnome-o-gram about the US Dollar. A currency collapse isn't here yet, but the trend lines are pointing toward one. Keep your eyes open.

Geography and economics

Stratfor has just sent out an an excellent piece entitled "The Geography of Recession" that discusses how the geography of various countries and regions effects the nature of the current recession. However, it goes much further in depth, discussing how the geography of the US, Russian, China and Europe have contributed to (or hindered) their historic economic development and speculating on why the various regions have taken such startlingly different paths.

Well worth your time.

GM reinvents itself

As a 60% government-owned company.



Dear Obama and GM: Allow me to share a little something with you. As the current owner of 4 GM vehicles, it will be a cold day in hell before I so much as contemplate the purchase of a new GM vehicle while the US government owns so much a a single share of GM stock. It might not even be that soon.

I'd sooner drive Ford. More than likely, I'll buy something foreign that was never touched by UAW hands.

Why are conservatives so mean

I heard about this today on the Neal Boortz Show. Very good stuff.

Well, we're printing it like so much toilet paper

Why can't North Korea?

A top North Korean general and close advisor to the country's leader, Kim Jong-Il, has been named by U.S. and foreign intelligence agencies as a key figure in the production of high-quality counterfeit $100 bills, called supernotes, according to documents and interviews cited by The Washington Times.

North Korean Gen. O Kuk-ryol, who was recently promoted to the country's powerful National Defense Commission, is said to be in charge of creating the false $100 bills, which are produced to look nearly indistinguishable from authentic U.S. banknotes. Several members of the general's family are also believed to be involved, The Washington Times reported.

Buzz

(Via FOXNews)

"Chicken fluid"

Mrs. Freeholder and Son are in the process of discussing today's grocery run and the storage thereof.

The phrase "chicken fluid" came up.

No thanks, I'll be eating out this week.

Not buying the RINO BS

Trent Lott gets run out of Washington for an off-color joke at a birthday party, but a wise Latina gets a pass if she'll just apologize.

Senator Graham, you're a coward--on top of being a RINO. Why is it so hard for people to get over Sotomayor's sex and race, look at her record, and see that she is a bigoted intellectual lightweight? Have we been so morally, ethically and intellectually castrated by the PC crowd? Are we so frightened a leftist is going to say that we're "mean"? Have we lost the courage of our convictions?

And if we have, God help us. The great experiment that is United States of America is over, and the descent into another Dark Age has truely begun.