Yesterday, September 11, 2011, was a day of remembrance. As we settle back into our lives today, here in the greatest country on Earth, we need to remain vigilant, for there are those out there who wish us nothing but harm.

From dailymail.co.uk:

Protesters set fire to the U.S. flag outside the American embassy in London today during a minute’s silence to mark the moment the first hijacked airliner hit the World Trade Centre.

A group of 100 Muslim radicals, including members of Muslims Against Crusades, shouted ‘USA terrorists’ and brandished anti-American placards.

One protester in Grosvenor Square said: ‘You will always face suffering, you will always face humiliation, unless you withdraw your troops from Muslim lands.’

A small group of Muslims staged a counter-demonstration nearby, holding up placards reading ‘Muslims Against Extremism’ and ‘If You Want Sharia, Move To Saudi’.

Abdul Sallam, 41, who was waving a sign that read ‘Keep The Silence’, travelled down to London from his home in Glasgow to show the strength of his feelings.

He said: ‘I’m a Muslim. What they’re doing is bringing shame on all Muslims.This is not part of the teachings of Islam.

‘Islam is all about peace, but what they want to do is hate other people.

‘Islam teaches you that when you see anything bad or evil, you should speak out against it.

‘If the moderate Muslims all came out and spoke out, that would defeat them.

‘I am proud to be British. I love my country. All these people are doing is breaking Britain apart.’

Meanwhile, back in America, CBS Chicago reported on September 8, 2011:

CHICAGO (CBS) — The head of a local Islamic-American organization says that after this year, except for remembering its victims, it’s time for America to move on from the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

As WBBM Newsradio’s Bernie Tafoya reports, Ahmet Rehab of the Chicago chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations says many people still are under the false impression that Islam is a radical religion, and that its believers want to change the U.S. into an Islamic state.

Rehab says the United States needs to move on from that.

“It was always a gang of criminals, called al-Qaeda, who happened to be Muslim, who are trying to justify their acts through faith and through religion,” Rehab said.

Rehab says the American people should not allow politicians, right-wingers and TV networks make them fear fellow Americans who are Muslim.

He says the way to defeat fear is through hope, and the way to defeat terrorism is through American values and principles.

Do Americans need to “move on”?  I don’t think so.

Three passengers on board an American Airlines flight from Los Angeles to John F. Kennedy Airport caused quite a stir yesterday afternoon.

Sources told CBS News, the three passengers on Flight 34 were disruptive, moving in and out of lavatories, even at one point locking themselves inside. Considering the heightened state of security and general uneasiness air travelers are feeling due to the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks on New York City and Washington D.C., security officials are leaving nothing to chance.

The unruly passengers eventually returned to their seats. They were later questioned by federal authorities and cleared, 1010 WINS’ Sonia Rincon reported. At least one federal air marshal was on board and at no point was the cockpit in danger.

There was “no nexus to terrorism,” FBI spokesman J. Peter Donald said.

“In our eyes, it’s a big nothing,” American Airlines spokesman Tim Smith said.

The North American Aerospace Defense Command scrambled two F-16 jets to shadow Flight 34 until it landed safely at Kennedy Airport at 4:10 p.m. Sunday, the Transportation Security Administration said in a statement. The jets acquired the plane about 100 miles west of New York City and followed until it landed.

The FBI’s Donald said in a statement that the jets were sent to escort the flight “out of an abundance of caution.”

Smith said a “security concern” was brought to the airline’s attention but the plane’s captain never declared any sort of security threat and never requested law enforcement help.

He said the crew used “normal procedures” to assess the circumstances and the plane landed as planned.

Normal procedures include scrambling 2 F-16s?  I’ve never had that kind of escort when I’ve flown.

Another frightening situation happened on a flight out of  Denver:

Police detained three passengers at Detroit’s Metropolitan Airport on Sunday after the crew of the Frontier Airlines flight from Denver reported suspicious activity on board and NORAD sent two F-16 jets to shadow the flight until it landed safely, the airline and federal officials said.

Frontier Flight 623, with 116 passengers on board, landed without incident in Detroit at 3:30 p.m. EDT after the crew reported that two people were spending “an extraordinarily long time” in a bathroom, Frontier spokesman Peter Kowalchuck said.

The Airbus 318 taxied to a pad away from the terminal and police took three passengers into custody, Kowalchuck said. The three escorted off the plane in handcuffs included two men and a woman, passenger Ilona Hajdar, of Charlotte, Mich., told The Associated Press.

She said she realized there was a problem when the plane’s bridge didn’t extend at the gate. The plane then rolled to a remote spot on the airfield. After about a half hour, police SWAT boarded.

“Everybody, put your hands on the seat rest in front of you. Don’t move,'” said Hajdar, 27, who had been asleep for most of the flight and on board with her 2 1/2-year-old daughter.

Authorities cleared the aircraft at 5:15 p.m. EDT after it was searched, the Transportation Security Administration said.

Kowalchuck said luggage was removed from the plane for inspection by police K-9 sniffer dogs. The remaining passengers were taken by bus to the terminal.

Flight 623 originated in San Diego before stopping at Denver International Airport on its way to Detroit.

In Denver, the FBI said that the North American Aerospace Defense Command scrambled F-16 fighter jets to shadow the plane “out of an abundance of caution.” The plane was searched and nothing was found, the FBI said.

FBI Denver spokesman Dave Joly referred further questions about the incident to Detroit authorities.

Let me make this clear.  I don’t believe that all Muslims are waging Holy Jihad against the United States.  However, it certainly is about time  for our Moderate Muslim-Americans to begin speaking out publicly against those who do.

Now is the time for all Americans to stay vigilant.

As our nation prepares for tomorrow’s day of remembrance, in commemoration of the largest Islamic Terrorist Attack ever on American soil, a realization struck me:

If it was up to this country’s Progressive Politicians, Americans would ignore the horrific events of that day, and forever be stuck in a 9/10 state of mind.

Let’s look at the words and actions of New York City’s own Mayor Michael Bloomberg, as an example:

From nydaily news.com:

Mayor Bloomberg touted New York as “the safest place to be” Friday morning, even as an unconfirmed terror threat loomed over the city.

On his weekly radio program, Bloomberg said the city was prepared to handle a sinister plot that surfaced days before the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

“I’m not at liberty to talk about the details of it,” he said. “Keep in mind we have threats all the time: on the Internet, every day, particularly around big sporting events, religious holiday and other commemorations of things like 9/11.

“And each time the NYPD with the FBI, we increase our security, and obviously we’ve done that for this.”

The mayor described the threat as “credible” but not “corroborated,” meaning it comes from a single source.

“‘Corroboration’ means multiple sources, which increases the likelihood that it’s real,” he said. “‘Credible’ means it’s possible.”

Security was ramped up around the city as federal officials reported Thursday night that New York and Washington, D.C., may be in the terrorists’ cross hairs, following a “credible” threat.

Bloomberg said he rode the subway to City Hall on Friday morning, and was planning to go to the U.S. Open tonight.

“It’s serious, but the right answer is go about your business. If you lock yourself in your house because you’re scared, they’re winning.”

In an appearance on the CBS “Early Show,” Bloomberg said the city’s 3,000 security cameras, radiation detectors and far-flung cops would keep New Yorkers safe.

“The level of security in this city probably makes New York the safest place to be,” he said.

The FBI and the Department of Homeland Security warned of a potential plot to “avenge Osama Bin Laden’s death” a decade after the attacks that claimed nearly 3,000 lives.

Bloomberg said New York always hikes up security around 9/11, but said the city is well-protected at all times. This time around, he said on his radio show, security is “a little more.”

“Everyone should feel just as comfortable,” he said.

“The message is, over the 10 years: New York is back, and the terrorists haven’t won.”

This from the same guy, who in 2010, backed to the hilt the building of the Ground Zero Mosque.

And, is excluding New York’s heroic first responders from the official ceremony, per newser.com:

They risked their health and safety in the aftermath of the 9/11 terror attacks, but now officials say some 3,000 first responders will not receive invites to the 10th anniversary ceremony at Ground Zero due to space constraints, reports CNN. The city maintains that the ceremony, which will be attended by two presidents, is for victims’ families. “We’re working to find ways to recognize and honor first responders, and other groups, at different places and times,” says a rep for the mayor’s office.

“The best of the best that this country offered 10 years ago are being neglected and denied their rightful place,” complains the founder of an advocacy group for emergency crews who worked at Ground Zero. “I’m crying because it’s really a big betrayal on the part of the city, to rob me from my way to pay homage and to find that comfort and healing,” says one first responder. Other first responders say they believe they are being excluded from the ceremony to keep those suffering from untreated illnesses related to 9/11 out of the spotlight.

Those brave first responders were family men,  Christian Americans, many just good ol’ Catholic boys (as we say in Dixie).

However, that aspect of their lives, their Christianity, will not be allowed to be spoken of in the New York City official remembrance:

Here is what attorney and Catholic Deacon Keith Fournier  wrote in his op ed, Oppose Mayor Bloomberg’s Exclusion of Clergy and Prayer from 9/11 Memorial, posted at catholic.org:

Like all Americans, 9/11/2011 forever changed my life. I have my “Ground Zero Heroes”  and, I will write about one in particular on that day. I remember the outcry of goodness which followed the evil act; the heroism, the virtue, the demonstration of authentic charity and true solidarity. I remember the spontaneous outpouring of religious expression manifested in our national response. I will never forget the emergence of the Ground Zero Cross and all the memorials which were built everywhere as that crater became a shrine.

However, the Mayor of New York will exclude clergy and will censor religious expression at our National Memorial. His actions are not only insensitive, they are unjust. There has been an outcry from Religious leaders and from most Americans. However, Mayor Bloomberg has unilaterally decided to disregard our history, misinterpret our Constitution and dishonor many who lost their lives on that day which will forever define America. He should be ashamed.

 Here is the tragic toll  of 9/11/01, broken down by the numbers.  Courtesy of nymag.com:

The initial numbers are indelible: 8:46 a.m. and 9:02 a.m. Time the burning towers stood: 56 minutes and 102 minutes. Time they took to fall: 12 seconds. From there, they ripple out.

• Total number killed in attacks (official figure as of 9/5/02): 2,819
• Number of firefighters and paramedics killed: 343
• Number of NYPD officers: 23
• Number of Port Authority police officers: 37
• Number of WTC companies that lost people: 60
• Number of employees who died in Tower One: 1,402
• Number of employees who died in Tower Two: 614
• Number of employees lost at Cantor Fitzgerald: 658
• Number of U.S. troops killed in Operation Enduring Freedom: 22
• Number of nations whose citizens were killed in attacks: 115
• Ratio of men to women who died: 3:1
• Age of the greatest number who died: between 35 and 39
• Bodies found “intact”: 289
• Body parts found: 19,858
• Number of families who got no remains: 1,717
• Estimated units of blood donated to the New York Blood Center: 36,000
• Total units of donated blood actually used: 258
• Number of people who lost a spouse or partner in the attacks: 1,609
• Estimated number of children who lost a parent: 3,051
• Percentage of Americans who knew someone hurt or killed in the attacks: 20
• FDNY retirements, January–July 2001: 274
• FDNY retirements, January–July 2002: 661
• Number of firefighters on leave for respiratory problems by January 2002: 300
• Number of funerals attended by Rudy Giuliani in 2001: 200
• Number of FDNY vehicles destroyed: 98
• Tons of debris removed from site: 1,506,124
• Days fires continued to burn after the attack: 99
• Jobs lost in New York owing to the attacks: 146,100
• Days the New York Stock Exchange was closed: 6
• Point drop in the Dow Jones industrial average when the NYSE reopened: 684.81
• Days after 9/11 that the U.S. began bombing Afghanistan: 26
• Total number of hate crimes reported to the Council on American-Islamic Relations nationwide since 9/11: 1,714
• Economic loss to New York in month following the attacks: $105 billion
• Estimated cost of cleanup: $600 million
• Total FEMA money spent on the emergency: $970 million
• Estimated amount donated to 9/11 charities: $1.4 billion
• Estimated amount of insurance paid worldwide related to 9/11: $40.2 billion
• Estimated amount of money needed to overhaul lower-Manhattan subways: $7.5 billion
• Amount of money recently granted by U.S. government to overhaul lower-Manhattan subways: $4.55 billion
• Estimated amount of money raised for funds dedicated to NYPD and FDNY families: $500 million
• Percentage of total charity money raised going to FDNY and NYPD families: 25
• Average benefit already received by each FDNY and NYPD widow: $1 million
• Percentage increase in law-school applications from 2001 to 2002: 17.9
• Percentage increase in Peace Corps applications from 2001 to 2002: 40
• Percentage increase in CIA applications from 2001 to 2002: 50
• Number of songs Clear Channel Radio considered “inappropriate” to play after 9/11: 150
• Number of mentions of 9/11 at the Oscars: 26
• Apartments in lower Manhattan eligible for asbestos cleanup: 30,000
• Number of apartments whose residents have requested cleanup and testing: 4,110
• Number of Americans who changed their 2001 holiday-travel plans from plane to train or car: 1.4 million
• Estimated number of New Yorkers suffering from post-traumatic-stress disorder as a result of 9/11: 422,000

9/11 was indelibly seared into the collective memories of Americans on that fateful day, regardless of the present-day wishes of a minority percentage of our population.

As we prepare to remember our fallen, I have but one question for the milk-soppish, near-treasonous, Blame America First crowd:

Have You Forgotten?

 

Last night, at 6:05 p.m. Central Time, President Barack Hussein Obama (mm mmm mmmm) strode onto the floor of the House of Representatives, like King Richard the Lionheart returning from the Crusades to address his subjects.

His loyal Democratic minions from the Upper and Lower House were flush with anticipation.  Their master, their messiah, had promised the perfect solution to the misery that the country was presently suffering, having been brought about under an economic plan of their own device.

Obama ascended to his bully pulpit, basking in the glow of the attention provided by his called Joint Session of Congress, being broadcast across America on television and radio.  He knew that the nation was looking to him to impart his master plan which he had promised would put us all back to work and ease our economic suffering.

So, he began.  “Pass the plan!”, he exhorted:

I am sending this Congress a plan that you should pass right away. It’s called the American Jobs Act. There should be nothing controversial about this piece of legislation. Everything in here is the kind of proposal that’s been supported by both Democrats and Republicans — including many who sit here tonight. And everything in this bill will be paid for. Everything. (Applause.)

The purpose of the American Jobs Act is simple: to put more people back to work and more money in the pockets of those who are working. It will create more jobs for construction workers, more jobs for teachers, more jobs for veterans, and more jobs for long-term unemployed. (Applause.) It will provide — it will provide a tax break for companies who hire new workers, and it will cut payroll taxes in half for every working American and every small business. (Applause.) It will provide a jolt to an economy that has stalled, and give companies confidence that if they invest and if they hire, there will be customers for their products and services. You should pass this jobs plan right away. (Applause.)

Everyone here knows that small businesses are where most new jobs begin. And you know that while corporate profits have come roaring back, smaller companies haven’t. So for everyone who speaks so passionately about making life easier for “job creators,” this plan is for you. (Applause.)

Pass this jobs bill — pass this jobs bill, and starting tomorrow, small businesses will get a tax cut if they hire new workers or if they raise workers’ wages. Pass this jobs bill, and all small business owners will also see their payroll taxes cut in half next year. (Applause.) If you have 50 employees — if you have 50 employees making an average salary, that’s an $80,000 tax cut. And all businesses will be able to continue writing off the investments they make in 2012.

Hey, that’s great, Mr. President.  What’s your plan?

Pass this jobs bill, and we can put people to work rebuilding America. Everyone here knows we have badly decaying roads and bridges all over the country. Our highways are clogged with traffic. Our skies are the most congested in the world. It’s an outrage.

Building a world-class transportation system is part of what made us a economic superpower. And now we’re going to sit back and watch China build newer airports and faster railroads? At a time when millions of unemployed construction workers could build them right here in America? (Applause.)

There are private construction companies all across America just waiting to get to work. There’s a bridge that needs repair between Ohio and Kentucky that’s on one of the busiest trucking routes in North America. A public transit project in Houston that will help clear up one of the worst areas of traffic in the country. And there are schools throughout this country that desperately need renovating. How can we expect our kids to do their best in places that are literally falling apart? This is America. Every child deserves a great school — and we can give it to them, if we act now. (Applause.)

Again, that’s great, Mr. President.  What’s your plan?

Pass this jobs bill, and thousands of teachers in every state will go back to work. These are the men and women charged with preparing our children for a world where the competition has never been tougher. But while they’re adding teachers in places like South Korea, we’re laying them off in droves. It’s unfair to our kids. It undermines their future and ours. And it has to stop. Pass this bill, and put our teachers back in the classroom where they belong. (Applause.)

Pass this jobs bill, and companies will get extra tax credits if they hire America’s veterans. We ask these men and women to leave their careers, leave their families, risk their lives to fight for our country. The last thing they should have to do is fight for a job when they come home. (Applause.)

Pass this bill, and hundreds of thousands of disadvantaged young people will have the hope and the dignity of a summer job next year. And their parents — (applause) — their parents, low-income Americans who desperately want to work, will have more ladders out of poverty.

Pass this jobs bill, and companies will get a $4,000 tax credit if they hire anyone who has spent more than six months looking for a job. (Applause.) We have to do more to help the long-term unemployed in their search for work. This jobs plan builds on a program in Georgia that several Republican leaders have highlighted, where people who collect unemployment insurance participate in temporary work as a way to build their skills while they look for a permanent job. The plan also extends unemployment insurance for another year. (Applause.) If the millions of unemployed Americans stopped getting this insurance, and stopped using that money for basic necessities, it would be a devastating blow to this economy. Democrats and Republicans in this chamber have supported unemployment insurance plenty of times in the past. And in this time of prolonged hardship, you should pass it again — right away. (Applause.)

Pass this jobs bill, and the typical working family will get a $1,500 tax cut next year. Fifteen hundred dollars that would have been taken out of your pocket will go into your pocket. This expands on the tax cut that Democrats and Republicans already passed for this year. If we allow that tax cut to expire — if we refuse to act — middle-class families will get hit with a tax increase at the worst possible time. We can’t let that happen. I know that some of you have sworn oaths to never raise any taxes on anyone for as long as you live. Now is not the time to carve out an exception and raise middle-class taxes, which is why you should pass this bill right away. (Applause.)

Those were all wonderful platitudes, Mr. President.  However, the American public was anxious to hear details as to just how you’re going to encourage American businesses to start hiring people again.  Not how you’re going to continue your quest to turn the greatest country in the world into a Socialist Paradise.  We’ve heard all of that before…and Americans still aren’t buying it.

Americans were seeking a common sense economic plan from the leader of their nation last night.  Not the campaign speech of a failed incumbent president desperately seeking re-election.

That was a plan?  No.  That was a campaign speech.

Last night’s Republican Presidential Nominee Debate, turned out to be basically what everyone expected it to be: The Rick and Mitt Show.

Right from the start, the two Republican leaders went after each other, as if the other participants in the debate did not really matter.

And, if you study the polls, they actually don’t.

The current and former Governors got into a spitting contest as to who created the most jobs for their respective states.

From the Washington Times:

“Michael Dukakis created jobs three times faster than you did, Mitt,” said Mr. Perry, referring to the former liberal Democratic governor who lost the 1988 presidential election.

“George Bush and his predecessor created jobs at a faster rate than you did, governor,” retorted Mr. Romney, a one-term Massachusetts governor who made his fortune leading a capital investment firm, as he pointed to the man whom Mr. Perry succeeded in 2000.

Then, they compared the rest of their initiatives, including Massachusetts state-run Healthcare System, Romneycare:

…Mr. Perry took fire over his state’s low rankings on education, Texas’s record-breaking pace of executions of criminals, and his move as governor to try to have all 12-year-old girls in his state inoculated against a sexually transmitted disease – something he acknowledged he would have done differently now.

Meanwhile, Mr. Romney was blasted for his decision as governor to sign a health care law that includes an individual mandate that every resident of his state purchase health care or face a fine.

“It was a great opportunity for us as a people to see what will not work, and that is an individual mandate in this country,” said Mr. Perry, while businessman Herman Cain said he had opposed former first lady Hillary Clinton’s 1990s health care plan, President Obama’s 2010 plan and “now I’m running against Romneycare.”

Mr. Romney said what worked in his state won’t work everywhere, and said one of his first acts as president would be to have his administration issue waivers to every state.

“I understand health care pretty darn well, having been through what I went through as a governor. And one thing I’d do on day one if I’m elected president is direct my secretary of Health and Human Services to put an executive order granting a waiver from Obamacare to all 50 states,” he said.

That’s not to say some of the other candidates did not produce some excellent soundbites of their own.

Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota quipped:

Obamacare took over one-sixth of the economy. This is the issue of 2012, together with jobs. This is our window of opportunity. If we fail to repeal Obamacare in 2012, it will be with us forever, and it will be socialized medicine.

However, Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich fired off the quote of the night when he blasted Debate Moderator John Harris of Politico:

I for one and I hope that all of my friends up here are going to repudiate every effort of the news media to get Republicans to fight each other, to protect Barack Obama who deserves to be defeated. And all of us are committed as a team. Whoever the nominee is, we are all for defeating Barack Obama.

The other three candidates on stage, fomer Utah Governor John Huntsman, Jr., former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum, and the crazy uncle that no family ever admits to having, Rep. Ron Paul of Texas, tried their best to get noticed.

However, none of them garnered any new votes with their performances.

Of course, what would an appearance by Ron Paul in a public forum be without the obligatory Straw Poll.

NBC, being the epitome of broadcast journalism that they are, ran one on their website.  You guessed it, Uncle Ron won again.

Ron Paul 48.1% (37,472 votes), Mitt Romney 18.9% (14,683 votes), Rick Perry 14.9% (11,603 votes), Jon Huntsman 7.2% (5,636 votes), Newt Gingrich 4.2% (3,308 votes), Herman Cain 3% (2,360 votes), Michele Bachmann 2.5% (1,929 votes), Rick Santorum 1.2% (899 votes)

I’m shocked.

I wonder if all those Ron Paul supporters called or texted each other before they slammed the straw poll?

Anyway, the subject of their admiration, the perennial also-ran, Dr. Paul,seems to be trying to take Perry out of the race anyway he can.

For the second day in a row, the good doctor slammed Perry as not being a Conservative, again, per the Washington Times:

In an open letter to the Perry camp, Paul campaign spokesman Jesse Benton hammers the three-term governor’s record and accuses Mr. Perry of acting like a Democrat during his long political career.

Mr. Perry, he said, praised Hillary Clinton’s health care plan in the 1990s, pushed for federal stimulus funds and supported welfare for illegal immigrants. He also notes that Mr. Perry backed a mandate that 12-year-old girls be vaccinated against sexually transmitted diseases, raised taxes twice and more than doubled Texas’ debt during his time in office.

“You supported ALL of these bad ideas that are inconsistent with how most Republicans understand conservatism, yet you now try to swagger your way into the tea party,” he wrote, underscoring the Paul camp’s message that GOP voters shouldn’t trust Mr. Perry.

Dr. Paul brought up the same weak arguments during the debate, in a desperate, but failed,  move to achieve additional notoriety.

After watching and studying last night’s debate, I think its a safe bet to say that Gov. Rick Perry and former Governor Mitt Romney  will be fighting for the Republican Presidential Nomination.

That is…unless somebody else decides to declare…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Teamsters President Jimmy Hoffa showed a lot of class in introducing the president yesterday at a Labor Day Union Rally in Detroit, Michigan.

Unfortunately, it was all low:

We got to keep an eye on the battle that we face: The war on workers. And you see it everywhere, it is the Tea Party. And you know, there is only one way to beat and win that war. The one thing about working people is we like a good fight. And you know what? They’ve got a war, they got a war with us and there’s only going to be one winner. It’s going to be the workers of Michigan, and America. We’re going to win that war.

President Obama, this is your army. We are ready to march. Let’s take these son of bitches out and give America back to an America where we belong.

Upon taking the stage after that reenactment of a scene from The Sopranos, President Obama proclaimed that he was “proud” of Jimmy Hoffa and other labor leaders.

The president’s speech was full of the same pandering class warfare, per politico.com:

Obama was expected to preview the jobs speech he’s scheduled to deliver later this week, though he told his supporters on Monday that he “didn’t want to give everything away right here, because I want you all to tune in on Thursday.”

Here’s what he did say about the plan: Roads and bridges “need rebuilding,” companies are ready to do it, and there are “more than one million unemployed construction workers ready to get dirty right now.”

The problem, Obama said, is the usual suspect: Congress, and particularly Republicans. Dropping his “g’s” as he does in his enthusiastic campaign speeches, Obama said: “We just need Congress to get on board. Let’s get America back to work.”

…“We’re going to see if we’ve got some straight shooters in Congress. We’re going to see if congressional Republicans will put country before party,” he said. “You say you’re the party of tax cuts? Well, then prove you’ll fight just as hard for tax cuts for middle-class families as you do for oil companies and the most affluent Americans. Show us what you got.”

There was no mistaking the political overtones of Obama’s speech. Alluding to the Bush years, he said, “We’ve come through a difficult decade in which … wealth was valued over work, and greed was valued over responsibility, and the decks were too often stacked against ordinary folks in favor of the special interests.”

While Obama was busy playing his usual class warfare game, he also found time to suck up to the Union workers, Big Time:

Now, the fact is our economy is stronger when workers are getting paid good wages and good benefits. Our economy is stronger when we have broad-based growth and broad-based prosperity. That’s what unions have always been about, shared prosperity.

As in, “share the wealth”?

In a recent phone interview with Craig Smith of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, James Sherk, a labor law expert and the senior policy analyst in labor economics at The Heritage Foundation, answered the following questions:

Q: What’s the state of the labor movement today?

A: In the private sector, unions are not doing very well at all. … They’re down to below 7 percent union membership in the private sector. That’s actually about half the rate that prevailed when FDR signed the National Labor Relations Act of 1935.

And the reason for that is basically unions don’t add value to an enterprise. In many ways, they reduce value by making these companies less flexible and less nimble in the marketplace. … What the studies show pretty strongly is (unionized companies) just don’t grow as quickly or they shrink more rapidly.

Q: What about the public sector?

A: Now the public sector is a different animal. In the private sector, you have to earn profits to stay competitive or you lose your marketplace. But if you live in California, you don’t have the opportunity to say, “You know what? I’d rather pay taxes to Texas and receive their services.” You don’t have the option of buying your services from a different government.

So as long as the people aren’t actually physically moving away from the state or from the city, the unions have a far greater capacity to be inefficient.

All that happens is your taxes go up. If you’re a taxpayer, you don’t like that, but from unions’ perspective, they don’t care if you don’t like it as long as you pay. And so in the public sector, they’re steady in their market share — between 35 and 40 percent. They’ve been at that level for basically the past generation.

So, in other words, the Unions within private industry are shrinking, while the Government Service Unions are prospering.

Huh.  Weak in industry, strong in government.

No wonder Obama loves the Unions.

Over 25 years ago, I received a phone call from a friend, who had just gotten a job working for Federal Express, now simply known as Fed Ex.  An ex-nuclear sub jockey, he had landed a position in the new Zap Mail Division.

What was Zap Mail, you ask?

Per the New York Times, in an article published January 18, 1985:

The Federal Express Corporation said today that its recently introduced two-hour mail service, known as Zap Mail, has lost about $83 million since its inception. But James Barksdale, the chief operating officer, told securities analysts that the company expects the service to reach break-even sometime within the next few years.

Mr. Barksdale said the service had an average daily document volume of about 310 units in July, when it was introduced. It has fluctuated since then, he said, and rose to a high of 3,350 daily in December. January volume, however, has not grown at a strong rate, he said, since a promotional campaign has been discontinued. Given current costs, he said, the Zap Mail service would have to produce revenues of between $30 million and $35 million a quarter to break even.

Mr. Barksdale said Federal Express would be introducing soon a machine that frequent users of Zap Mail can install in their offices, giving them direct access to the system.

Years later, in 2011, every office has Zap Mail.  We call it a Fax Machine…and it’s technology is now all but passe, having been replaced by the Digital Technological of Electronic messaging, other wise known as e-mail.

So, you ask, where did e-mail come from?

Computer engineer, Ray Tomlinson invented internet based email in late 1971. Under ARPAnet several major innovations occurred: email (or electronic mail), the ability to send simple messages to another person across the network (1971). Ray Tomlinson worked as a computer engineer for Bolt Beranek and Newman (BBN), the company hired by the United States Defense Department to build the first Internet in 1968.

Ray Tomlinson was experimenting with a popular program he wrote called SNDMSG that the ARPANET programmers and researchers were using on the network computers (Digital PDP-10s) to leave messages for each other. SNDMSG was a “local” electronic message program. You could only leave messages on the computer that you were using for other persons using that computer to read. Tomlinson used a file transfer protocol that he was working on called CYPNET to adapt the SNDMSG program so it could send electronic messages to any computer on the ARPANET network.

The Fax Machine is just one casualty of Digital Technology.  Word came from nytimes.com yesterday that there’s about to be a bigger casualty…a much bigger casualty.

Businessinsider.com summarizes the Times’ report:

…unless the House and Senate take drastic action in the next few months, one of the nation’s oldest institutions — which employs 574,000 Americans — may be forced to shut down.

A combination of labor costs and a declining number of packages and letters has the United States Postal Service running short on cash. The independent government agency will be unable to make a $5.5 billion payment to its employee healthcare plan by the Sept. 30 due date.

“Our situation is extremely serious,” the postmaster general, Patrick R. Donahoe, told the Times. “If Congress doesn’t act, we will default.”

To avoid insolvency, Donahoe says needs Congress to approve the elimination of Saturday delivery and the undoing of the agency’s contract with its union to allow it to layoff up to 120,000 works. The Post Office is also planning to close 3,700 locations.

Ending Saturday delivery would only cut about two percent of the agency’s budget — and is vigorously opposed by many lawmakers from states with large rural populations. They would rather the agency recover the $60 billion it has overpaid into its employee pension plans and pursue less drastic restructuring.

The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee will hold a hearing on the Post Office’s precarious financial position, though no politically palatable solution is in sight.

The United States Postal Service’s origin traces back to our country’s founding:

Following the adoption of the Constitution in May 1789, the Act of September 22, 1789 (1 Stat. 70), temporarily established a post office and created the Office of the Postmaster General. On September 26, 1789, George Washington appointed Samuel Osgood of Massachusetts as the first Postmaster General under the Constitution. At that time there were 75 post offices and about 2,000 miles of post roads, although as late as 1780 the postal staff consisted only of a Postmaster General, a Secretary/Comptroller, three surveyors, one Inspector of Dead Letters, and 26 post riders.

Now, facing the reality of being the Postmaster General presiding over the inevitable demise of an American institution, Donahue’s plan to stave off extinction is to cut $20 billion of the $75 billion in annual costs by 2015. To do that, he wants to close many post offices and slash the number of sorting facilities to 200 from 500 and trim the agency’s work force by 220,000 people, from its current 653,000. (A decade ago, the agency employed nearly 900,000.)

Faced with what postal officials have labeled “the equivalent of Chapter 11 bankruptcy,” Donahue and his staff are asking Congress to enact legislation that would overturn the job protections and let it lay off 120,000 workers in addition to trimming 100,000 jobs through attrition.

Unfortunately for postal employees, that legislation, if passed, will only delay the inevitable. The government bureaucracy of the USPS will be replaced by private industry, just as love letters have been replaced by texting.

Perhaps Zager and Evans weren’t that far off, after all…

Yesterday, in rain-drenched Iowa, former Alaskan Governor Sarah Palin gave a stemwinder of a speech, which left several “Conservative” Pundits grasping at straws for something…anything…that they could attack her with.

Of course , a lack of anything substantial did not stop them.  By perusing the internet yesterday afternoon, one could find criticisms of  the crowd size, her yellow outfit, and even her voice.  One well-known Conservative Pundit called it “The Fizzle in the Drizzle”.  Most average Americans who watched it just said:

Wow.

Per hillbuzz.org, here are some highlights of the speech:

* It’s not just about replacing Obama, it’s who we will replace him with. (Meaning: Yes, the Republican will win in 2012, so let’s start thinking about WHO that Republican will be and what she will do in office come 2013 to hit back at not just the Left, but the Cocktail Party GOP establishment that enables it).

* Repeated references to “the permanent political class” and “the guys who are too concerned with winning future elections to do what needs to be done to get America out of the mess that we’re in”

* the Status Quo won’t work any more…we need real solutions

* The Palin Plan is a working man’s plan…a plan about empowerment of our states, of our entrepreneurs, and hard working individuals.

* Need to rein in the federal government and its out of control spending…enforce 10th Amendment and devolve powers back locally

* WE MUST REPEAL OBAMACARE

* get government out of the way and allow business to breath and grow

* must prioritize and cut spending

* have the “Come to Jesus” moment to address entitlement reform

* what irks her most about White House is the current president threatening not to send seniors their checks, or when he threatens to not send the paychecks to the military…but the president’s family gets posh vacations and Congress gets their checks…stop using seniors and the military as pawns…enough is enough

* robust and responsible energy production will make us an energy superpower

* drill here, drill now, let the refineries and the pipelines be built…stop kowtowing to foreign countries and dictators…stop making America the biggest customer and make us be a producer by tapping into our energy reserves

*no more “fairy dust, sprinkled in glitter” empty promises about green jobs…when real and permanent jobs are there for the making in the energy sector

* energy development is the real stimulus…these are good paying jobs like the one Todd Palin had working in energy sector job…America’s economic revival starts with America’s energy revival

* need to make America most attractive country on Earth to do business in….the tax rates here are too high for business…big corporations skirt the federal taxes and makes America less competitive…it constrains the engine of American development…we need to become the most attractive business environment that will lead to an explosion of growth

* ELIMINATE ALL CORPORATE INCOME TAX…while also eliminating all corporate welfare, tax loopholes, and bailouts. Message to job creating corporations is that we will unshackle you from the highest tax rates in the world, but you will stand or fall on your own like all of us out here on Main Street

* None of that hopeychangey stuff in 2008 created jobs * We need to realize that God has blessed this nation, do not wait for the permanent political class to do anything about reform. Our credit is downgraded, but it’s not their fault. It’s always someone else’s fault, never the Cocktail Party GOP establishment or the DNC

* Obama is adrift. He doesn’t make sense. Obama declares in the exceptionalism of all countries, like Greece…and his path will take us to a place where we are in as bad a shape as Greece. We can confront the problem and achieve lasting reform. The road ahead is not easy. You will be demonized. They will tell you to go to Hell.

* On a trip to see the WWI Memorial, Palin saw again we have a duty to those who died for our freedom, people who purchased our freedom by charging the bayonets and the cannons, they prayed in the trenches and suffered in the POW camps and gave their lives so we could be here today.

* We are born the heirs of freedom

* JFK quote: we are the heirs of those who fought with Washington and those who freed the slaves, those who carved a nation out of wilderness, those who stormed the beaches at Normandy and Iwo Jima…those who made America the greatest and most exceptional nation

* We shall endure because we live by that moral strength we call grace

* A Providential hand has always guided us to a better future

* Reagan quote: if we ever forget we are one nation under God we will be a nation that goes under

* We will fight for freedom, fight for America, God Bless you Iowa, God Bless You United States of America

For an encore, Gov. Palin spent at least 30 minutes out among the crowd, talking to people, just like her, as if she had no other place where she would rather be.

She spoke to families with special needs childen, military families, and teachers: just plain ol’ average folk.  She posed for pictures and helped shoot videos for loved ones.  C-SPAN kept their cameras rolling to capture this remarkable moment.

Y’know, somehow, I just can’t see Romney doing that.

Will she run?  She certainly sounded like it yesterday.

If she does, I know one thing:

Cuda will make some noise and it will be fun to watch.