DADvocate

Americathon is a moderately funny movie from 1979 that portrays an America in which the federal government holds a telethon to save itself from bankruptcy.

Some of the predictions of the movie (via Wikipedia):

• The People's Republic of China embracing capitalism and becoming a global economic superpower.
• Nike becoming a huge multinational conglomerate (In 1979, their "Tailwind" running shoe was just starting to gain popularity).
• The collapse of the USSR. (How many of you under 30 know what the USSR was?)
• Jogging suits becoming fashionable as "casual wear".
• Reality television reaching absurd limits.
• An America with a devalued dollar and heavily in debt to foreign lenders.
• Network television dealing with previously taboo subjects accepted as normal.
• Smoking being banned.
• A great increase in homelessness (Homes are cheap now, but high unemployment has depleted the buyer pool.)

Yep. America has become a B grade comedy. Instapundit often says that Jimmy Carter is a best case scenario for the Obama administration. We've fallen below that and are at the John Ritter level currently.

Thanks to GM Roper.

We don't need no thought control.

Hey, teacher, leave those kids alone.

Perverts in the Classroom

Although they fail at teaching our children the three R's, some teachers believe:

“Oral sex, masturbation, and orgasms need to be taught in education,” Diane Schneider told the audience at a panel on combating homophobia and transphobia. Schneider, representing the National Education Association (NEA), the largest teachers union in the US, advocated for more “inclusive” sex education in US schools, with curricula based on liberal hetero and homosexual expression. She claimed that the idea of sex education remains an oxymoron if it is abstinence-based, or if students are still able to opt-out.

Comprehensive sex education is “the only way to combat heterosexism and gender conformity,” Schneider proclaimed, “and we must make these issues a part of every middle and high-school student’s agenda.” “Gender identity expression and sexual orientation are a spectrum,” she explained, and said that those opposed to homosexuality “are stuck in a binary box that religion and family create.”

Emphasis added.

Excuse me. Is there something wrong with being heterosexual and conforming to your gender role? Is there any amount of bullshit that some people don't think they can push on to the rest of us? How come those preaching "tolerance" are so intolerant? Are you going to stand up and say "Enough!" to these fascist pigs when your time comes? I hope so.

Hat tip to Darren

Instapundint often refers to this song. Listen closely.

They’ll turn us all into beggars ’cause they’re easier to please.

I always wonder if people with "closed mind" bumper stickers ever stop to think if the message applies to them.

They definitely need to update their signage.

During his weekly address this morning, Obama displayed unusual prowess in the use of cliches.

get America’s fiscal house in order
...
get our economy on a stronger footing
...
let’s be honest – neither party in this town is blameless
...
Both have talked this problem to death
...
That’s what drives people nuts about Washington.
...
it’s a place more concerned with playing politics and serving special interests
...
we have a responsibility – and an opportunity
...
it will take a balanced approach, shared sacrifice, and a willingness to make unpopular choices
...
The truth is, you can’t solve our deficit without cutting spending.
...
you also can’t solve it without asking the wealthiest Americans to pay their fair share
...
or without taking on loopholes that give special interests and big corporations tax breaks
...
I don’t think oil companies should keep getting special tax breaks when they’re making tens of billions in profits.

Etc, etc, etc.

Obama just strings together a bunch of cliche ridden sound bites. Mr. Obama, remember the old "Lead, follow or get out of the way" cliche? Try getting out of the way.

This week my youngest son, Alex, and I went backpacking and almost camped at Red River Gorge in Kentucky. Although I've hiked many trails in the Smoky Mountains National Park at much higher altitudes, Red River Gorge provided the most hazardous trail I've ever walked.

The Alum Cave Bluff trail and Charlie's Bunion, at 1,100 feet the highest vertical drop in the eastern U.S., in the Smoky's give the occasional extreme cliff face. The trails in Red River Gorge offer disaster at nearly any step. Wandering off the trail could easily be fatal.

Walking across Sky Bridge Arch, at the narrowest point I could have virtually reached both sides with outstretched finger tips. Rather unnerving while carrying a 40 pound backpack.



An interesting rock on Auxier Ridge Trail. High drop off immediately behind Alex.



View from Tunnel Ridge Road.



Alex on top of Natural Bridge with Lover's Leap in the background in Natural Bridge State Park.



Alex underneath Natural Bridge.



The northern entrance to Nada Tunnel in Red River Gorge. Nada Tunnel was built in 1910-1911 for use by a narrow gauge railway for transporting of logs. It is cut out of solid rock with no supports, approximately 12 feet wide and 13 feet tall and 900 feet long.



Driving through Nada Tunnel, you can see the bare rock.

We hiked approximately 5-6 miles in 90 degree heat. We decided to head over to Natural Bridge State Park and get a room instead of back country camping. Hiking out added another 2-3 miles to our journey, but the buffet at the lodge at Natural Bridge made it worth it. The hiking was the most strenuous exercise I've had in several years.

Black man tries to cash check bank sent him at the bank and gets 4 days in jail.

For 28-year-old Ikenna Njoku, what should have been the simple act of cashing a check turned into four days in jail and the loss of his car and job.

A year ago Njoku, a construction worker, had just purchased his first home and qualified for a federal rebate for first-time home buyers on his tax return.

He says he requested to have the rebate deposited directly into his Chase bank account in Auburn, Wash., but when the IRS rebate arrived, he found out that Chase had closed his account because of overdrawn checks. The bank deducted $600 to cover what he owed and mailed Njoku a cashier's check of $8,463.21 to make up the difference.

When Njoku arrived at the bank to cash the Chase check, he says the teller immediately became suspicious.

Nice to know the federal government is subsidizing old fashion racism as well as the more modern "affirmative action" style racism.

The jet industry is hurting because of Obama's verbal attacks.

Much has been made of President Barack Obama’s repeated demonizing of corporate jets and the people who fly on them in his June 29th press conference.

While pundits and politicians haggle over whether alterations in the depreciation schedule of corporate jets will actually have an impact on the deficit, those in the general aviation trenches are furious.

Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPO) President Craig Fuller told The Daily Caller that Obama’s comments have cast a pall over the industry, causing many who were considering buying a plane to back away from making a purchase.

“The industry has suffered terribly in the last two and a half years and it has just started to recover. Most of the signs were starting to look good,” said Fuller. “We are so angry as an industry and we have all come together to try to bring a more fair and balanced description to the debate.”

Those of us who pay attention to history learned a lesson twenty years ago.

President Bush, in his budget proposals, asked Congress to repeal the 10 percent luxury tax on yachts priced at more than $100,000 (and also on private planes that cost more than $250,000). The repeal, which Congress is likely to approve, would be retroactive to Feb. 1.

Since the tax took effect in January 1990, hundreds of builders of large and small boats have spoken of it as a stake driven into the heart of an industry already suffering from the recession, tighter bank rules on financing and fallout from the gulf war.

In the last two years, about 100 builders of luxury boats -- recreational craft costing more than $100,000 -- cut their operations severely and laid off thousands of workers. Some builders filed for protection from creditors under Chapter 11 of the Federal Bankruptcy Code.

Emphasis added.

Obama's either economically stupid, cares more about his left-wing agenda or both. Just don't wonder why the economy continues to flounder.

Imagine if he had "nothing against black male construction workers."

Racism is never a good policy choice.

Over the years, I've always heard women are better drivers, at least in terms of accidents. A new study shows this may not be true.

Crashes involving two female drivers were "overrepresented" in five out of six different crash scenarios: Variations on crossing another vehicle's path, side-swiping, turning in front of another vehicle, and head on. But here's the baffling part - when both vehicles were driven by a female, the crashes exceeded the expected frequency by at least 50 percent in two scenarios, and more than 25 percent in three others.

The percentage of accidents in which a woman sideswipes another female driver to her left came in at a whopping 52 percent compared to the expected frequency of 15.8 percent. In the same type of accident involving two male drivers, the percentage was 22 percent below the expected level of 36.2 percent.

Similarly, if a female crossed the path of an approaching vehicle driven by another woman, the number of accidents was 50 percent above the expected level of 17 percent.

The percentage of accidents involving one male and one female driver were close to the expected level for all six scenarios.

In a nutshell, what that says is a woman is far more likely to crash into another woman than a man, but a man is less likely than expected to crash into another man.

Plus: "Researchers at Johns Hopkins University found that female drivers were involved in slightly more crashes then men, but the difference was not all that great -- 5.1 crashes per million miles driven for men, compared to 5.7 crashes for women.

Supporting video footage ;) :