Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas!

US leaves Iraq--Thank God!

In August 2010, Barack Obama declared the "combat" portion of the Iraq War was over. Now, the final 4,000 troops left on Sunday about 0745 local time. He tried to extend the US presence but Iraq, now a sovereign nation, decided not to.

Now to the questions that bothers everyone, including Iraq. Is the country stable enough to continue on its own? Will it become an Iranian satilite? Will it hold together without US "glue" or will the Shia-Sunni divisions in Iraqi society tear it to pieces? And let us not forget the Kurds in the north.

I don't think Syria is a threat since Western Iraq is basically an uninhabitable desert. Turkey gets along with Iraq but it is the Kurds that Anakara is worried about. Kuwait wont be a problem but Iran might.

Iraq's problems, as we can see, are mainly internal. If they can handle it, then the mission is a success. If not, then what?

The overall question that haunts America is this: "Was it worth it?"

4,500 Americans died and we may never know how many Iraqis (100,000?) died in the 2003-2011 divisive war that began over Weapons of Mass Destruction that were never found and a link between Saddam Hussein (happily deceased--good bye and good riddance) and al-Qieda that proved to be tenuous at best.

Then President Bush assured us the Iraqis would welcome us with "dates and wine" and shouted "Mission Accomplished" from an aircraft carrier deck. A year later, US troops were fighting a guerrilla war with those Iraqis and "Mission Accomplished" was a bad, and bitter, joke. What started with a display of "Shock and Awe" turned into fighting foot by foot through the rubble of Fallujah thal looked disturbingly like the Battle of Hue in 1968 and on occasion, Plataea in 427 BC. In 2006, the networks were referring to the anarchy in Iraq as a civil war and in 2007, Bush sent a "surge" of 20,000 more troops to tighten the lid.

It worked but why was it not used earlier?

Broke superpowers trying to do something this big on the cheap find themselves flailing and bloodied...they forget two bits of classic advice: (1) do it right the first time and (2) economy of motion. Then there is Number Three, or maybe it should be Number One -- make sure you you have a reason to be there.

Many people have compared Iraq to Vietnam. All wars have a certain common base to them but these can't be traced one on top of the other point for point. That is for another time. I can point out though no one had to leave a besieged embassy by helicopter.

We walked out of there on our own with no one shooting at us.

A trillion dollars (maybe more) later that could have been used elsewhere and we have to have a rapid reaction force of 4,000 in Kuwait just in case.....

Let's call it a win, leave, and don't even look over our shoulder.

The temptation to flip the place the bird might be too strong to resist.....

Unleashing Ares!

Now that The Thesis is done and I have to defend in January or February, possibly March, I have to start thinking about law school or PhD stuff for history. Until then, its on to Book Three--Ares Unleashed!

I will spend a couple of days getting stuff together and start marching forward on it over the weekend.

In case you were wondering about the end of Ares Marching, READ THE BOOK! :-P

Quick recap: Recalto has fallen, our "pal" Beafalo's head is on top of what used to be his castle, Croghen has spurned the peace offering from Fleston and Kejen is ready to take his place on the spearhead of the Northmarcher advance toward the mightiest fortress in Masovia. Yes, the ever boisterous Locklannigh are along for the ride.

Spoiler alert: Schisms will open, allies don't always remain loyal, and the best laid plans of mice and men go astray--History is not linear and nothing is preordained!

Spoiler Alert #2: Masovians can be pretty nasty especially when you back them up.....

THESIS FINISHED!!!

I finished The Thesis today at 1:04pm! Evolution in Greek warfare in the Fourth Century BC.

I had a wildly optimistic plan to finish on September 12, the anniversary of Marathon but that was a little too optimistic. I then went for November 11, thinking that finishing on 11/11 would be pretty cool. I had not finished but I was within sight. The the target date turned into Dec 1....pretty close but I was inching closer.

Today though, I did it!

Tomorrow I will run the grammar check and fix up the bibliography but the "heavy lifting" is done.

I defend in January or February

Pic from HowardDavidJohnson.com

Thankgiving Football!

Nice Corinthian style helmet, wrong team! LOL

The Third Haas Thanksgiving Football weekend got underway on a Friday with the annual Pitt-West Virginia Backyard Brawl. Pitt went to Huntington, WVA and for once, no one was wearing some bright yellow monstrosity "alternate" uniforms nor was Nike allowed to fool around with "futuristic" helmet designs. Pitt and West Virginia wore what they were supposed to. Unfortunately, the Mountaineers won 21-20...

The Football Weekend stayed in the state of West Virginia as East Carolina tangled with Marshall. That Saturday battle went into overtime and the Thundering Herd galloped to a 34-27 overtime win.

The Las Vegas Locos are done for the year, and perhaps for all time, and the Saskatchewan Roughriders, finishing 5-13, never stood a chance of getting to the Grey Cup. British Columbia's Lions clashed with Winnipeg's Blue Bombers in Vancouver (gee, wonder who the home team was....LOL) and the aforementioned home team won like I predicted by a pretty wide margin, 34-23.

That left my Steelers again on a Sunday night. They went into Kansas City against a weak Chiefs team that fought like there was no tomorrow! The Steelers picked off a last desperation pass heaved by Pitt alumni Tyler Palko and hung on for a 13-9 win.

This year's Thanksgiving Football Weekend ended in a 2-2 draw but Michelle's cats were the winners, stealing ham off my plate while I watched the final nerve racking drive.

What have we learned? Ham is just as good as turkey and cats will not be thwarted...

Happy Thanksgiving!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Pic from Moreno10 blog!

Hey--remember Thanksgiving?

This Christmas Creep phenomenon is starting to annoy a lot of people and I am one of them. I have seen Christmas decorations up in October and one radio station last year started Christmas music before, yes before, Halloween! This year they decieded to wait until November at least.

Now stores are opening up on Thanksgiving. First it was 6am on "Black Friday", then it was 4am, followed by Midnight and now 10pm on Thanksgiving and even 9pm.

Why not start on the Fourth of July?

Anthony Hardwick on Omaha, Nebraska started an on line petition to keep his employer of Target from joining the madness. The ultimate barometer will be if they draw any business.

This is the kind of thing that turns people off to Christmas. This is not what the holiday is supposed to be about.

Come on, America. Get some sort of tenuous grip on reality, get your priorities straight and enjoy Thanksgiving.

11-11-11

I am not sure what it means but today it is November 11, 2011....11/11/11....It looks pretty cool! Actually, it is Memorial Day and it coincides with the ending of the First World War....Cease-fire on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month to end the war to end all wars...."First" World War should give you a hint to how that worked out....

Looking back at BofA and Netflix.

Both of those companies are great symbols of everything wrong with a lot of American businesses. Out of touch, arrogant, and setting themselves up for a fall. There may even be criminal conduct taking place.

Netflix had built up a large and loyal customer following. Then out of nowhere is the announcement that they raising rates by 60%. They also added that the company was being split into the CD by mail component (Netflix) and an Internet streaming branch called Quickster (not sure on the spelling). Americans are people of convince. The Netflix CEO had been told by a friend he did not want to have to keep up with two separate accounts but the plan went on despite this warning and insight into the general public's thinking. The 60% rate hike is what really cause the proverbial, uh, waste, to hit the fan. It was not the announcement but rather the smug reasoning that there was more revenue to make. Not anything about licence renewals or costs, just a chance to grab more money.

The lost money and customers.

They dared the customers to follow through on threats to leave. So they did. Nearly 800,000. No Quixter (or however you spell it) though the rate remains at $16 up from $10.

In an era of price gouging and rip offs, the customers struck hard and reminded everyone who signs the paycheck.

Bank of America had its own "Netflix moment". What is seen by may as the greediest and most corrupt bank outside of Goldman Sachs tried to affix a $5 monthly charge on debit cards. In other words, it will cost you $5 a month ($60 a year) to use your own money. That pushed a lot of people towards smaller banks and credit unions.

Bank of America CEO Monyihan replied that BofA "had a right to seek profit" but the tone of that backfired. Combined with this arrogance was the "robo-signing" seizure of houses that was continuing despite serious doubts about paperwork and perhaps legality. What did they think was going to happen?

Droves of people left Bank of America and no other bank would follow BofA's lead on the new fee. Bank of America tried to say that having fewer customers worked in their favor (yeah, right...) but anyone with a TV sees many new BofA commercials with suddenly friendly spokespeople extolling the virtues of superior customer service and new apps.

I have a better idea: Tape to every Netflix and BofA office a sign that reads "THE CUSTOMER IS OUR BOSS."

Once again, Economics 101.

Occupy Nashville-GOP Lovefest

Pic from LA Times

The story from the LA Times for your consideration:


http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/nationnow/2011/11/occupy_nashvile_lovefest.html

Occupying Nashville

Pic courtesy of the Tennessee Report...

The First Amendment to the Constituion states that the people have a right to peacefully assemble and a right to peaceful redress of grievences. Somehow, the Tennessee Highway Patrol forgot that.

They claimed there was a curfew on the square in question facing the state capital and ordered protesters to move out. The protesters did not, were arrested, placed in front of a magistrate.....

....and were let go.

The same scene unfolded again the following night.

What part are they not getting?

Magistrate Thomas said they Occupy Nashville protesters were within their rights and that arresting them was inappropriate (maybe illegal). The Tennessee Highway Patrol, acting on orders of Governor Bill Haslam, argued otherwise but to no avail. The judge had made his ruling...twice.

The Occupy Nashville protesters are within their rights to protest and are continuing to do so.

The police crackdowns are only galvanizing support.

Some of these scenes, especially in Denver and Oakland are looking like Egypt just before Mubaruk threw in the towel. How does our State Department carp on about human rights when the Oakland PD (allegedly) bounces a tear gas grenade off an Iraq War vet's head or when some NYPD inspector maces (not allegedly) four women behind a barricade?

There are serious problems in this country. Congress is not providing much guidance and is apparently part of the problem. What are these problems?

Where do you want to start?

Crony capitalism, a rigged stock market, corporate personhood which allows corporations to pour money into political campaigns, out of control commodity speculation, bailing out banks who then turn around and try to steal the money people put into them, taxes, unemployment.

Attempts to squelch dissent only breeds more and it might not be peaceful next time.

Ask the Soviet Union about 1989.....

US Middle East Policy (?)

The Middle East has always been a crazy place....battles and wars have been raging there for about 5,000 years and it is not going to stop anytime soon. I have no idea why the United States wants to plunge into the middle of it all.

We are finally going to leave Iraq--with no guarantee that after nine years, 4,500 American lives, God knows how many Iraqi lives and a trillion dollars--that the place becomes an Iranian satellite five minutes after the last US soldiers leaves. Our relationship with the largest country in the region is at best poisonous. The United States is in Afghanistan until 2014 and might end up fighting "ally" Pakistan who is noticeably unhappy with the US and is publicly and loudly edging towards China.

In Syria, the US ambassador left today because of threats to his personal safety.

The US spent nearly a billion dollars to kill Khadaffy and now it seems a North African version of the Taliban is taking over, declaring the country will be ruled by Islamic sharia law. In neighboring Tunisia, Islamists have won the election and Egypt is ruled by a military dictatorship after the people overthrew the civilian dictatorship run by Mubaruk.

And our real ally, Israel, publicly distrusts the president in Washington.

A lot of people here do too......

There are a lot of scary things about this administration but the truly frightening thing is is that the only Cabinet member that seems vaguely competent is Hillary Clinton. But then you take a look at the Middle East and you wonder if this is competence, what would incompetence be like?

Instead of just complaining about problems, let me offer a solution.

Here it is:

Get off the oil!

Start a real program to find oil here in the US (we have a lot!) and elsewhere in the Western Hemisphere. Then start a real effort to go to "green" energy.

But as long as the oil companies own DC, it won't happen.

So nationalize the oil companies.

I am not a fan of gov't intervention in the economy but if there was ever a time to confront a clear and present danger to national security, this is it.

Does anyone in Washington have the courage to do this?

Don't hold your breath.

But change is coming.

One way or another.....

Meanwhile, let the idiots in the Middle East decide if they want to live together or kill each other.

Saying hello to Everyone--especially Latvia...

It is not often I look at the stats of this blog but I was surprised to see where this blog has popped up. Mostly here in North America, here in the US and Canada and there are a couple of readers in Mexico. I see readers in Germany, the Philippines, Greece (0f course....LOL)and even Afghanistan too but there seem to be a ton of people reading this in Latvia (!).

I am not sure why but "Thank You!" or better yet "Paldies!"

I like to share my thoughts/rantings with the whole world or at least some of it over the horizon. Hopefully, I can teach you a few things but more importantly, I hope to learn from you (see comments...LOL). It helps to see things from different angles.

After all, I could be wrong on a few things...

...but not that often :-)

Go forth and conquer...and have a nice day!

In the mountains

Michelle and I have been up in the mountains that make up the west end of NC. We hiked around Grandfather Mountain in the rain and wind and noted that the place looks a lot like Scotland....might explain why they call the area the "Southern Highlands."

Crossing the Mile High Swinging Bridge in fifty mile an hour winds and rain was an interesting experience but we did it! I am not exactly sure why we did it....If I had known the bridge was built in 1952, I probably would not have crossed it in 2011...LOL I later found out the metal bridge was constructed in 1999 so I feel a little better about that.

There is a large Scottish descended community there and the area hosts a Highlands game every year. We will definitely go to see that. If Michelle makes me wear a kilt, she is going to have to let me wear a hoplite helmet too complete with hoplon shield.

"It's just like Greece!" She said. "But with trees!"

Forgot to mention the wind and rain but I like crappy weather :-) It is a great place to go on walk abouts even if a lot of it is uphill. It's a lot like Polish Hills in Pittsburgh now that I think about it. And the local college team, the Appalachin St. Mountaineers, wears black and gold, Michelle noted.

Sounds like someone wants to move there.....Can't say I blame her!

Guess I will check if they have a PhD program in Greek and Roman studies....

American Autumn?

Pic from The Atlantic.com

First they try to ignore it, then they denigrate it, then it shows up on the news. Just like the Tea Party.

I don't know how Occupy Wall Street is going to turn out but you have to start somewhere. The American people are fed up with corruption on Wall Street and Washington. Some of the more extreme elements of the protests are railing against capitalism but the remarkable thing about this movement is that it is not anti-capitalist. It is PRO-capitalist. It is against crony capitalism, bailouts with taxpayer money and out of control speculation.

It is also democracy in action.

And its spreading.

Protests started in New York but are now in Boston, LA, St. Louis and even Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Occupy Wall Street says it is drawing inspiration from Arab Spring and combining it with American frustration at a lot of things. Corrupt government, broken economy, a business community once the envy of the world now resembling something out of 1950s Cuba, a foreign policy that gets a lot of people killed (Americans and others) for no particular reason etc....There is a lot to be upset about.

Its starting to boil over...

This could be the beginning of something that is long overdue.

This might be how it started in 1775. If it is, the powers that be should not look at the British playbook from then, That was the exact wrong way to go about, well, anything.

Quick note to those we elect: Listen to the protesters. Do something about the greed and corruption that destroys lives of others and, yes, ultimately, yourself.

Not only can "it" happen here, it might be starting

Today, its just words and slogans being thrown...Take a look at Athens.

Work the rest out yourself.

Happy Anniversary!

This is our anniversary!

I love you, Michelle. Why you love me, I will never know....but I bet the regular showers help....LOL

Pitt in the ACC?

Not exactly earth shattering but still a head turner!

The University of Pittsburgh, along with Syracuse, and possibly UConn, are bolting the Big East for the Atlantic Coast Conference.

I have never been a big college football fan but now it seems I don't have an excuse. Getting a master's degree at East Carolina makes me a Pirates fan and now with Pitt in the ACC, it is getting harder to ignore college football.

I used to say that Florida State was my favorite ACC team but that is going to change apparently.

I would have thought that if Pitt was going to ever leave the Big East, they would naturally go to the Big Ten with former arch-rival Penn State. It is hard to see Pitt in the same conference with NC State and Duke.

But it is going to happen in 2013 or 2014.

The ACC raided the Big East back in 2004, snagging Miami and Virginia Tech (Boston College too but they had contractual obligations that kept them in the BE for another year), and now i seems intent on absorbing the rest of the conference. I think they should and rename it the East Coast Conference. I will send a memo. Maybe I will get a form letter back.....

Pitt was an independent for the longest time along with Penn State. Notre Dame still is though they play a lot in the Big Ten. Back when I was a kid, I had hoped for Pitt to join a conference and I had even created an "Eastern Conference" (sometimes "Northeastern Conference") for them, consisting of Penn State and Notre Dame at the nucleus along with Temple and Rutgers. I thought Army and Navy would be good additions too along with another natural rivalry. Boston College would have probably fallen into that orbit too.

It looks like part of that has come true.

The other part is that I get to see Pitt play here in NC against at least four opponents.

I'll take it.

Now let's see if East Carolina wants in too!

Happy Byzantine New Year!

Could be either September 1 or September 14, depending on which calender you are using but still a good excuse to celebrate....

The Byzantine Empire, although no "Byzantine" ever referred to himself with that description, lasted from 476 to 1453 (with a small inturruption from 1204 to 1261 thanks to the Fourth Crusade). Although it was the East Roman Empire running solo, the language and ethnic basis was not Latin but Greek. The Crusaders and Europeans in the Middle Ages often refered to the Emperor as "King of the Greeks." Since the Emperor was called "Emperor of Rome and King of Greece", they were half right. It did not keep the various Emperors from being offended that their noble Roman connection was ignored resulting in some serious cussing out of said Crusaders in, uh, Greek....

Tenth Anniversary...

September 11, 2001

Jumping Stingrays!

Michelle and I spent most of the week down at the beach and for some reason, every single day, we saw stingrays jumping out of the water!

The first one looked pretty big even from fifty yards out but they just kept jumping...maybe we were watching some sort of aquatic football game?

Stingrays usually jump to make time....water is 800 times denser than air, so they can mover greater distances by doing this...but constantly?

There is a plot afoot by the stingrays!

I am not too worried about them...its the idiots in the Department of Homeland Security I am worried about...they will screw up any operation you put them in charge of and waste gobs of taxpayer money in doing so....

I like the stingrays better :-)

Wild Weather!

Blizzards, hurricanes, and earthquakes (?!)

East NC was shaken by an earthquake and bashed by Hurricane Irene all in one week. Let's not forget the blizzard in January...we can honestly say the temperature ranges for 2011 have been from 0 to 100. Actually, 105 back in July so now you can add heatwave to the list of climate catastrophes....alliteration is alive and well in my world.

The East Coast usually does not have earthquakes. The last major quake on the East Coast was in 1886 in Charleston, South Carolina. I am not sure what the Richter scale reading was on that but I have read that experts, whoever they might be, estimate it somewhere between 6.6 and 7.3. You have to go to 1811-1812 for the last quake before that east of the Mississippi...that was the New Madrid fault that is, still active occasionally, and located near St. Louis.

I didn't feel the August 23 quake. I have felt tremors before in Greece. I remember seeing rocks sliding off of hillsides and some waves rippling across the Bay of Argos so this one could not have been too bad. I have not heard of any damage.

Now, I can talk about Hurricanes....Hugo 1989 in Charleston when I was at the Cesspool by the Sea, and Fran here in NC back in 1996. Floyd in 1999 did a number on the northeast quadrant of the state but missed Fayettenam. I was in Wilmington, NC in 2008 for Hurricane Hanna. The storm itself was actually rather brief but I remember most of all the attempted price gouging gas stations embarked on until several thousand phone calls to the Attorney General's office put a quick stop to that. No attempted gouging this time.....due to the storm at any rate.

I can tell you a lot about blizzards too. The big difference between a Pennsylvania and Saskatchewan blizzard is that in Steel Town, the wind can be blocked by the hills but at the same time channeled down one of the three rivers and into your face. On the Canadian prairies , there is nothing to break the wind for five hundred or so miles. Temperatures in Canadian blizzards are worse but it is so bad, your body doesn't even bother noticing so you are actually colder in Pittsburgh even though the temperature might be 20 degrees warmer. If the temperature is -40, does the wind chill even matter?

Of course, on the East Coast, winters tend to be cold and wet whereas the Canadian Midwest's winters are cold and dry. That might make a difference.

The blizzards in NC don't really compare but they can still be pretty bad. Very wet and the roads freeze up quicker because the DOT, although they do an outstanding job, simply does not have enough salt to toss around the tenth largest state in the Union.

Worst of all, the wet snow is terrible for making snowballs.....

I end this post on a note of irony....In 2006, the Carolina Hurricanes won the Holy Grail of hockey--the Stanley Cup.

Think about it.....

Greece from above

An interesting Youtube video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mq52EWu9ES0&NR=1&feature=fvwp

Attempted Soviet Coup, 1991

Or "The Coup Everyone Expected"

Twenty years ago today, the KGB and some hardliners tried to overthrow the Soviet government. The people, and the army, would not allow it. The Party trembled in the background waiting to see what would happen.

The Soviet Union was ruled by a troika of the Communist Party, the KGB, and the Soviet Armed Forces (usually called the Army since it was (and still is) the senior service. The Army and the KGB did not like each other but were well matched. The Army had the numbers and the raw firepower. The KGB had better training and focus. The Party held the balance between the two since it was the actual government.

The only way the KGB would win was a quick attempted decapitation. They tried with an early morning arrest of Gorbachev, installation of some cronies as an emergency General Secretariat, and orders to the Army to get in line.

What no one was prepared for was the support of the People.

They, as you can see by the picture, provided by referl.com, backed the Army. No great surprise there since soldiers come from....The People.

It was not really a reaffirmation of Gorbachev but a refusal to be pushed back into the darkness after seeing the light of the outside world. People who wish to be free cannot be held down.

This event is naturally being compared to the dimming of the lights we are seeing in the West.

In '91, the American did not hate their government to the degree it is hated today. There was no Homeland Security (KGB), no wiretaps on phones (without warrants), no fear of government retaliation for speaking against it, and, most important, the feeling that our government, incompetent and bubbling though it was, was simply that.

Now The People feel their freedom is being taken away by the same people they elect.

They feel the government is not really thiers but instead is in the employ of Wall Street or special interests. They also feel that their government is out of control and actively seeks their impoverishment and even enslavement. Looking at ObamaCare and calls for even higher taxes while spending increases astronomically into numbers that lose meaning, you begin to think our fellow Americans may be onto something. And any discussion about the Fed is going to be "animated", to say the very least.

Some may say this is simply paranoia. Maybe it is. But remember, sunlight is the best disinfectant.

The morons in Washington work for us. Remind them from time to time.

If the Berlin Wall can fall and the Soviet Union can splinter, what kind of totalitarian system can hope to survive a mass refusal of the people to go along with it?

Some people will shout "The tree of liberty must be refreshed with the blood of tyrants." I prefer to use the Civil Rights mantra of "we don't just shuffle along."

But, just in case, don't forget about the Second Amendment....

AA+

Pic from Yahoo.com

I don't know why anyone could possibly be surprised....

When you are spending four TRILLION more than you take in, be happy anyone will lend you money. Everyone in Washington DC clearly needs a refresher course in Economics 101.

The howls of outrage from the Obama administration can be heard as far as the moon, clearly taking this personally and terrified at the damage that has been done not to the nation's economy or pride but to its re-election prospects.

Yet, President Obama continues to press for tax increases in the worst economic downturn since the (First?) Great Depression while blaming the Tea Party for the first ever downgrade of US debt. Look back at the first paragraph if you are wanting to assess blame---spending money you do not have!

Cut taxes and allow businesses to start hiring!

Let the people keep their money!

Get commodities under control though that seems to be happening as oil has slid to $78 a barrel as of this writing....now if the greedy gas stations would lower the price of gas.....Things like that convince me that greed has infected the soul of the nation and that never bodes well but hopefully I will be proved wrong.

I will be overjoyed at issuing an apology.

The stock market, disconnected from reality, got a rude awakening yesterday, plunging 638 points. It was sitting at 246 points under when President Obama got on the airwaves to reassure investors all was well. How do you think the markets reacted to a man who put the country four trillion in debt this year alone?

The stock market sank another 300 some odd points as people started calling in their markers...a game of musical chairs that ended badly.

Maybe it will recover. Maybe the markets will begin to reflect reality. It better or else it will get worse.

America still has a good credit rating. We can work to get back to AAA status but we need to get our financial house in order. In the long run, this downgrade may be a catalyst for just that.

As the Brits say, "nothing focuses the mind like a good boot in the arse."

Meanwhile, for me, it is back to The Thesis!

HOT!

Pic from 1414 Celsius.com

The Sun has clearly declared war on us!

It is not unusual for the Summer to feature 100 days in NC but I don't ever remember Mother Nature stringing several of them together like this. It must be payback for global warming....

Factoring in the blizzard back in January, I can say the temps for 2011 have ranged from 0-100.....more like 105 but like I have said about -40 windchills in Canada, "does it really matter?" No, we just get another day just like the one before. ("We jist get anada day like da won before"....Michelle just did a Haas impression....Western PA accent in NC never fails to attract attention...LOL)

It was 95 last night at 11pm when I went out for a night run...so much for avoiding the heat. Nonetheless, all the sweat gives you a sense of accomplishment...so don't ruin it with ice cream immediately afterwards, declaring, "I've earned it." Besides, you are better off water.....a lot of water!

I remember once long ago and far away, (1994..LOL), I came back from the store on a hot night,smelling like fish and eschewing the shower, I just dove into my parents' pool...LOL

Now, with my own house and wife and no pool, I have to use the shower after all....so I run at night since I stink anyway....logic is a wonderful thing invented by the Ancient Greeks, I might add..

Speaking of Ancient Greeks, the thesis moves along an inch at at time but we are getting there. It is gratifying to read conclusions I arrived at on my own while researching so at least I am doing something right.

I need to mow the lawn but that is not something I want to do in triple digit heat. On the other hand, if anyone wants to play a game of football, I'll be the first one out there....

...some things don't change!

Congress--worse than useless

America is broke.

There is no nice way to say it.

On August 2, the US government will not be able to pay its bills. It requires the increase of a debt ceiling of trillions (!) of dollars to stay solvent through only 2013.

President Obama talks of cutting spending and "increasing revenue." Since governments only have one source of revenue, he clearly means taxes.

That is the last thing that should even be allowed in the conversation.

What he wants is more money to spend while increasing spending while not being able to pay the bills. Stupidity or madness, take your pick.

In an ear of out of control gas prices, inflation, 9.2% unemployment etc...raising taxes will not only DECREASE government revenue, it will destroy anything that might look like an economic recovery. This is how the Tea Party got started. Americans are tired of having to pay for red ink they did not want their representatives, Republican or Democrat, to vote for. But they did anyway and here we are.

People without money will not spend it and the economy will go into freefall.

American businesses are sitting on a pile of cash estimated at $1 trillion dollars. Why are they not using it to hire new workers? Part of the answer is greed but closer to the truth is that they have no idea what the tax situation will be like.

Obama rails against anyone making over $250,000 a year. Strangely, that would include himself and his biggest donors but push that off to the side for the moment.

Corporations, especially the small ones, are legally people. They make over the magic number of $250,000 and small businesses are job engines---when they are not being forced to make ends meet by high taxes.

If people in Congress got out more or had real jobs at some point in their lives, they would understand.

Cicero was right. Politicians are not born, they are excreted.

Prayers for Norway

Please pray for the people of Norway after those horrific attacks. May your peaceful, beautiful nation remain that way.

Defintion of "Useless"

Regardless of how you feel about the TSA (my feelings are pretty clear...), you have to admit that after you read this, you wonder aloud, "Why are they even there?" Story and image from CBS,

http://boston.cbslocal.com/2011/05/04/passengers-who-assault-tsa-officers-still-allowed-to-board-planes/

Turnabout is fair play

Colorado woman accused of groping TSA agent

http://news.yahoo.com/colo-woman-accused-groping-tsa-agent-ariz-215702921.html

Looks like the TSA is no more fond of having strangers touch them as the American public is. People are standing up to the Terrorist Support Agency more and more.

Let's keep doing it!

Time to nationalize oil?

Pic from fuelfix.com

Oil prices have been out of control since 2005. Every time the economy starts to tic upward, speculators increase the price, which, of course, sends everything spiraling up. There is always an excuse to send the price up. The excuses are Chinese demand, Indian demand, Libyan instability, hurricanes etc...

Back during the first Gulf War, Saddam Hussein was blowing oil wells up in Kuwait and the price of oil never budged. Now, the daily fluctuations are hard to predict. They often defy basic logic

It also has nothing to do with supply and demand.

There is no shortage of oil. China is facing inflation, the Eurozone is falling apart and the US economy is definitely nosediving. Demand is clearly dropping. The US government just released 60 million barrels of oil onto the market. And the price at the pump defies logic too. At $95 a barrel, the price of a gallon should be under $3, not halfway to $4 (See blog entry for gas price calcuations, "POTUS MIA?.", March 4, 2011).

The sad thing is that this sad state of affairs is not due to OPEC. Its our own people doing this to us.

I am not a fan of government intervention in the economy but if there was a time for it, this is it.

I believe in free market capitalism.

What we have seen since 2008 is NOT free market capitalism, this is price gouging...and it is destroying itself and the country with it.

Extreme action leads to extreme reaction.

We voted for hope and change and with gas at $3.50 and unemployment at 9.2%, it is hard to keep blaming Bush. It is hard to even tell the difference. The auto industry bailouts provide good precedents. The question is does this course of action take us down some road that leads straight to socialism or communism, two ideologies that clearly have failed.

But crony capitalism is a abject failure too. Not only does it fail, it leads to something resembling feudalism. A trip back in time is not what we or the world needs. Nor will it last.

Free markets and the rule of law is what made America great. A good dose of common sense would help--force speculators to accept deliver of what they buy and increase margin requirements.

Time to use that again or we open the door to impoverishment and destruction.

Welcome to the world, South Sudan!

The world's newest country--South Sudan! Keep the oil companies out and you will do well!

Sudan can no longer boast about being the largest country in Africa but at least they can say they no longer have the longest civil war on the continent either.

Make peace with the northern half and may you remain friends forever.

TSA gets budget slashed

The TSA got its budget cut by $270 milion dollars and the agency is shouting that it will have to lay off 5,000 screeners. Why do I have the feeling that the TSA administration will not suffer any salary cuts? This move is largely seen as a reaction against the gropefest that it taking place at the airports but I think a better reaction would be for the Senate and House to take a vote on stopping it. On the other hand, there may be more 95 year old ladies confined to wheelchairs lurking in the shadows.......

The story from the Washington Times for your consideration.....

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/politics/house-votes-to-cut-tsas-budget-by-270million/2011/06/02/AGXmnaHH_story.html

Happy July 4th

Happy Canada Day!

Always a big holiday in the Haas Household!

Giving credit where it is due

Picture courtesy of Washingtonstatewire.com

President Obama released about sixty million barrels of oil from the Strategic Reserve last week in order to push down the oil prices that are under cutting any hope of an economic recovery.

The decision came shortly after it was announced that America's economy grew at an anemic 1.8% when it could have been nearly twice that. The reason was that high gas prices were dragging the economy down. Finally, a glimmer of sense from an administration that seems as clueless as the last one but I have to give credit where credit is due.

Good job, Mr President.

Oil is down to $90 this morning which means the price of gas should be around $2.75-$2.85 but the gouging at the pump continues. The Department of Justice has been probing the situation but I really have little faith in Eric Holder. Maybe he will surprise us.

And maybe pigs will fly....

Many oil analysts are upset decrying the move as "an attempt to punish speculators by flooding the market with oil."

What is their point?

If this is punishment, be happy I am not the one meting it out. I would be looking for a sturdy tree branch at least eight feet high...

The Obama administration said they were undertaking this move to make up for the shortfall in Libyan oil. Only there was none since Saudi Arabia upped production but the speculators decided to ignore that.

You reap what you sow.....

Now, let's pull gas down to under $2 and what the economy start to rev up. It won't solve everything but it is a huge half dozen steps or so in the right direction

First day of Summer!

Summer arrives at 1:16pm today but the thermometer has announced its been around a lot longer...lots of 100 or upper 90s days over the last two weeks....

This is also the longest day of the year and Druids used to dance around sacred oaks or rocks after painting themselves blue. Now we play baseball...or if you are the Pittsburgh Pirates, you stand around in the open space of PNC Park and watch the other teams score runs. Maybe I am being too hard on them...they are 35-37 and only 2.5 games out of first so they might have a chance at their first winning season since 1992....

Tomorrow is Michelle's birthday and it is also the start date of my "favorite" war: The German invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941. Apparently Napoleon attacked Russia on the same day in 1812 but I have also seen June 24 cited. But I am an historian of Ancient Greece and Rome and I must tell you that Hannibal massacred a Roman army at Lake Transimene on this day in 217 BC.

If you are a fan of the Romans, don't fret over Transimene. On June 22 in 168 BC, the Romans defeated Macedonia at Pydna

Happy Summer Solsitice

Boston wins Stanely Cup

Congrats Boston Bruins....First Stanley Cup since 1972. Pretty good decade for Beantown sports. Patriots with three Super Bowls, Red Sox win the World Series twice and even the Celtics won a championship.

I never understood why people like to riot after games. I think it started in Montreal in 1968 with the Maurice Richard suspension. Note the guy in the Habs jersey running by in Vancouver, 2011. I guess Vancouver decided to get an expert in post game rioting....LOL Yes,

Show him the door....

...then throw him through it...head first.

Anthony Weiner is not the first moron to wander through Congress and he certainly will not be the last but he still needs to go.

And why stop with just him?

Nonetheless, not only has he lied about tweeting compromising pictures of himself but he did this with a minor...forget resignation, he should be in jail!

This kind of behavior has been the hallmark of both parties and is yet another nudge towards independent political thought and the erosion of the totalitarian.....uh, two party system of perversion, corruption and utter incompetence.

Between Clinton's "I did not have sexual relations with that woman" and Roger Craig's "bathroom Olympics", it seems neither Republicans or Democrats have a monopoly on morality but both seem to be trying to outdo each other in perversion.

Meanwhile, our economy continues to sink under 9.1% unemployment, sky-high gas prices, the specter of higher taxes, the over regulation of business, and deficits that involve numbers that don't have any meaning. Along with the economy, freedom is also under assault with TSA goons strip searching airline passengers and local governments seizing private property under the guise of "eminent domain" while banks do the same without checking mortgage paperwork that they themselves do not understand or even check.

America, you deserve better.

Is it too late to petition Britain to take us back as a colony?

Just wondering.

ObamaCare is illegal.

Over and over, the same assertion and this time by a full panel of both Republicans and Democrats: you can NOT force someone to buy something! What happened to "I want to give Americans the same health care plan as Congress?" Or at the very least, leave it alone. Of course, the best option would be socialized medicine but for some reason the alleged liberals in the White House want to punish Americans buy forcing them to buy health insurance when it is clearly out of control and the country is mired in the worst economic crisis since the Depression. That $750 billion bailout for Wall Street Mr Hope and Change voted for could have been used for something a lot better....

Any ideas?

Yes, that was sarcastic....

Story courtesy of Associated Press:

http://www.fayobserver.com/articles/2011/06/08/1100242?sac=Local

Greece bankrupt, America next?

Here is a couple of frightening articles:

This is about the Moody's credit rating agency possible downgrading America's credit rating since. like Greece, we insist on spending money we don't have and we are doing at a rate ($14 trillion dollar debt) that is simply mind boggling

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Moodys-warns-US-govt-on-apf-2110375752.html?x=0&sec=topStories&pos=2&asset=&ccode=

This article is about "austerity" and what it actually means:

http://newsjunkiepost.com/2011/05/12/greece-austerity-enforced-with-brutality-coming-to-america/

This goes beyond Republican and Democat. You cannot spend money you do not have. Raising taxes is like giving money to a gambling addict. The US MUST reduce spending. We cannot keep spending money like this. Raising taxes actually results in reduced revenue because it all but destroys economic activity.

Cut spending and get commodity trading under control and things will start to get better. It will still take awhile but it is the first step.

It is time to act decisively while we have some measure of control over the situation...

Happy Memorial Day!

Hope you had a great Memorial Day....back into battle tomorrow!

Adventures across Central Carolina

Michelle and I went on a road trip yesterday!

We covered about three hundred miles and completed a circle across the east half of NC.

After she had me model some horrific suits and completely destroy my dignity, we went up I-95 to Greenville, NC to East Carolina to drop in on Professor Papalas and hash out detail on the Thesis...yes, it is capitalized for a reason...LOL

Michelle found a nice place to hide in the air conditioned library while yours truly marched across the campus in 100 degree heat like Xenophon and the Ten Thousand across Persia. The gyros we ate earlier completed the allusion....

After Professor Papalas and I discussed battles of the Corinthian War, Spartan shortcomings, and Theban cunning, we examined the NHL playoffs..He is of the opinion Detroit should have held off San Jose but concedes a Red Wing victory over Vancouver would have been unlikely. I think the Pittsburgh Penguins had a great year considering all of the injuries we had. I think Tampa will go all the way but they have a game seven against Boston tomorrow...winner faces off with Vancouver, who Carl Swanson predicts will win the whole thing.

Discussions off all kind echo in the hallowed halls of academia......

Michelle and I left Greenville and vectored west towards Raleigh but went to Cary, NC. We tromped into a store called REI and looked at "toe shoes" or "shoe skeletons". Wearing these are supposed to mimic running barefoot. Why not just run barefoot?

Then we ventured into Trader Joe's because there are none in Freakville while there are two within a stone's throw in Cary and Chapel Hill. I ate some scones and Michelle looked at some weird kind of sauce before buying some olive oil.

We turned south towards home but set our sights on Lillington, NC where my cousin Angelo has a store. We hopped in just before closing and spent an hour shouting about the Steelers and Cowboys and Michelle looked on as I patiently explained hockey to Angelo.

We decided it was time to nationalize the oil companies but more on that later

Michelle and I kept south, drove through the nighttime countryside (no deer for a change), a deserted Spring Lake and arrived home where the cats demanded to know where we had been all day.

We gave them some food and they might have forgiven our transgressions....

....for a little while.

May 21, 2011--Kronia Pola!

No Rapture today, so I guess I better get back to working on my thesis...

May 21 is my name day. In Greek culture, a name day is the feast day for the saint you were named after...Saint Constantine in this case.

That way, everyone in the village gets to celebrate in one big party...also cheaper than individual birthday parties too I notice....Well, we are dealing with Greeks.....LOL

Saint Constantine was actually Constantine the Great, the Roman Emperor. Legend has it that in one of Rome's civil wars, he saw in a dream the sign of Christ over Malvin Bridge in 313 and painted the symbol on his men's shields. He won the battle and immediately halted the persecution of Christians throughout the Roman Empire. Oddly enough, he did not convert to Christianity until he was on this deathbed in 337. Possibly, the "let the good times roll" until it is about time to check out. This might also be the first recorded "deathbed conversion."

He is also regarded as a sort of "founding father" of the Byzantine Empire. In 330, he moved the capital of the Empire to Byzantium and renamed it Constantinople.

Sounds like Constantine might have had a bit of an ego....

Nonetheless, no Rapture today. If you believed today was the day, I guess you are disappointed but don't worry. It will happen one day.

It just wasn't today.

Don't let that stop you from getting me name day gift though!

Happy Friday the 13th

I don't know why Friday the 13th has such a bad reputation but after hearing some idiot blasting Britney Spears from his radio at 4:30 am, I think there might be something to it after all....LOL

The heat and humidity is starting to make themselves known and even though I live in a forest with a lot of shade, the grass still grows out of control! There must be a large septic tank around here someplace....might explain why the White House has such a green lawn.

Think about it.

I am getting ready to move on the thesis--"Changes in Greek Combat in the Fourth Century, BC"--wait for the movie...LOL

I have a pretty good outline and a good plan of attack and I am hoping to get it wrapped up by September 12, the anniversary of Marathon. Anniversary # 2501 if Phillip August Bockh's calender calculations are correct. I will try to avoid the day before that, of course...

The Fourth Century, 399BC-300 BC, is often neglected. The Fifth of course features the Persian Wars and Peloponnesian War but Hellas was not at piece after the surrender of Athens in 404 BC. The Greeks were just taking a break before resuming hostilities. Eight years after calling for the destruction of Athens, Thebes and Corinth were joining forces with their old enemy in Attica against their old ally Sparta and the whole thing started over again.

Alexander pops up the back end of the century so I am trying to shed a little light on a part of history that does not get a lot of attention.

Yes, I am going to turn it into another book!

And Book Three, following up Ares Marching, I will get to after the thesis.

I am not bored!

Just as well, it keeps me off the streets :-)

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day!

Remember not to look so shocked when they accuse of stealing flowers this year!

Good Job, SEALs!

I had no idea that helicopters carrying US Navy SEALs were moving into position, flying through the skies of Pakistan at about the same time I was writing "moving into position."

I guess that was the idea....LOL

Awesome job and the world is a better place without Osama Bin Laden. I am waiting for some more of the details to come out but it is still a good day for the world.

Now, speaking of going after terrorists, do you think we can turn the SEALs loose on oil speculators?

Moving Into Position...

Today is May 1....a good Communist holiday....LOL

I finished a 25 page paper on British Redcoats fighting here in North America during the French and Indian War (1754-1763) . It was a tough one but I got it done. Counting the bibliography and endnotes, it came out to about 30 pages.

By the way, the redcoats never adapted to American conditions....they created a European war on the North American continent. I found a way to expand that sentence into 25 pages.....

That war was fought in Europe, India, and here in North America. I never understood why it was never called the First World War. I guess 1754 was not as big as 1914. But, still, the 1914-1918 war was called the Great War until Hitler invaded Poland.

I think I have a pretty good case here. Who do I see about changing this?

The French and Indian War, or Seven Years War as it is called in Europe, has always been fascinating to me. It might be because it started near Pittsburgh :-) It might also be because they were fighting since 1754 before officially declaring war in 1756, so your math was indeed right!

French and Indian War is a fun one but it does not compare to the Persian Wars or even Punic Wars. Not a bad second, though!

This paper represents the end of my coursework for the Master's Degree. Well, I have to take a Spanish exam tomorrow but that won't be hard. Just translation.

Then it is on the the thesis-Changes in Greek Combat in the Fourth Century BC--wait until the movie!

First, I am going to play some Madden. The Steelers had a good 2010 season until the end....Now I have time to replay it with a better ending this time.

For a little while anyway ;-P

Happy Easter!

HAPPY EASTER!

Jesus died for you sins so say "Thank you!"

Nothing wrong with the Easter Bunny either....

Tornados!

A massive storm front rolled through the southeast quadrant of the country today and muscled its way up the East Coast, leaving a trail of destruction in its wake across Central and Eastern NC. Unfortunately, some people lost their lives but it could have been worse. We lost power for an hour but there were other parts of the city that suffered a direct hit from tornados and entire neighborhoods were destroyed. It was a pretty bad day but it also gives you an opportunity to be thankful.

The city of Sanford, NC, site of my first radio job, due north was hit pretty bad and our immediate south was hammered too but it seems everyone there is more or less OK.

Marching forward

Copyright, NHL

Coming down the final stretch in coursework. Two papers left to write and then the final exams...In three weeks, I will only have to do the thesis. It is not going to be easy but it certainly is not impossible...plus it only lasts so long!

Romans and Redcoats plus an exam in reading Spanish before a well deserved break!

A good place to draw inspiration--the Pittsburgh Penguins.

They have been without Sidney Crosby since January and they have accelerated to the the near top of the standings. A couple of breaks and they could have passed Philly for the division title (why is Pittsburgh in the Atlantic Division?) but in the NHL, it does not matter. Once you are in the playoffs, you are in!

A lot of people wrote them off after Crosby's concussion and the Penguins even lost their #2 guy Evengi Malkin to an ACL injury. They shrugged it off, called up a lot of guys from the minors no one had heard of and went on a rampage.

If you're feeling overwhelmed, remember, "Pittsburgh Penguins 2011" Maybe they win the Cup, maybe not but they got further than anyone thought they could and they are not done yet.

Going south for the day...

Today Michelle took her nursing test and passed with flying colors...like there was any doubt. She had to take the test down I-95 in Lumberton, NC. I have always called everything to our immediate south "The Pictish Wilderness". The people are nice but I always see something bizarre when I follow a compass heading of 180...today I hung out at a Hardee's reading Tacitus' Agricola for an hour while Michelle blasted through the written part of her test. I saw about a hundred high school kids on their way to a horse race dressed in loud colorful pants and bowties.

I did not wake up that morning expecting to see that....

I made my way into downtown Lumberton looking at the Cold War style architecture wondering if it was actually Depression-era architecture. This car (late 90s vintage) cruises by with some old man waving at anyone he sees. Then I witnessed a police car start travelling the wrong way down a one way street. He realized his mistake, hit the lights and backed up...very strange sight.

What is it about downtown streets in every city? Lots of one way streets that confuse everyone.

I went back to the place Michelle was taking her test and hung around on the bottom floor with my pal Tacitus.

Like I said, Michelle passed with no problem.

I knew she would.

It was after all, April 2, the anniversary of me giving her ring at Heinz Field.

Plus she studied......

Happy Greek Independence Day

Happy Greek Independence Day! March 25, 1821!

Perfect excuse to eat some gyros!

Take a side, son...

When I heard that the US armed forces had attacked Libya, a line from Battlestar Galactica immediately came to mind:

"Take a side, son."

That is preciesely what the US has not done.

Plunging into a THIRD Middle Eastern war, this adminsitration, like the last one, seems to blunder along without any real idea what it is doing.

What is the objective in Libya?

Obama mumbled something about protecting civilians.

By taking out Khaddafy's air force and not getting any boots on the ground, we have assured a stalemate.

In a civil war, which is what is happening in Libya, there are no neutral corners. Either you enter on one side or stay out of it completely. If the US was on the side of the rebels, planes would have been hitting Khaddafy when he was forced back into Tripoli. Hillary Clinton said US policy was to remove Khaddafy, so that means we are not on his side. If Khadaffy wins, he is not going to like us very much and we don't seem to be aiding the rebels.

So what are we doing there?

Answer: push up oil prices....

A stalemate ensures more conflict. Conflict means higher oil prices.

The Pentagon's comment yesterday "expect more strikes in the coming hours and days" is a startling departure from traditional policy of not commenting on operational details. It is also not a smart move to telegraph your next move.

Oil prices, of course, went up when this news spread.

Other things to look at.....

Who is leading this operation? The US was supposed to "hand off" to NATO but so far America has handled 85% of the sorties. US Africa Command, based in Stuttgart, Germany(?), is supposed to be leading this but now it is supposed to be a NATO operation and the North Atlantic Council has yet to meet.

Another question: Who is paying for this? According to Yahoo news, it will cost the US $800 million to set up a "no-fly" zone and $100 million a week to keep it in place.

A country with trillion dollar deficits has no business getting mixed up in protracted wars.
See "Spain, 1588, Netherlands" for further information.

Yes, history repeats itself.

Anyone want to open a debate on the War Powers Act?

Maybe Rahm Emanuel did the smart thing in getting out while he still could....

Back into battle...

Picture from Reuters....

I had a nice Spring Break. I did not go anywhere but I got some work done (welcome to Graduate School...) and caught up on The Office and watched my Penguins advance up the NHL standings with a roster of players I had never seen! There is a lesson for all of us.

Never give up!

Best of all, I got to spend a lot of time with Michelle :-)

And the cats......I love them too.

I am going to be very busy on the final (coursework) stretch. Down the Appian Way towards the thesis, which looks like it is going to be done during the Summer but it is going to be finished. After that, who knows? Teaching? PhD? I should get to Book Number Three. There are so many imponderables.

Then you look at the news and shake your head. Japan, gas prices, NFL on strike (how hard is it to split $9 billion?)

It is easy to dwell on bad news but let's try not to.

I will say one thing though: find your closest Red Cross and see what you can donate for the people of Japan. Especially if you have Type O blood.

I am going to hit the sack early and charge back into the fray tomorrow.

Wherever you are, remember, you are one day closer to your goal.

If you don't have one, find one! And look at the line above again.

GO FORTH AND CONQUER!!!