Sunday, August 19, 2007

Weird America :- World of Art Cars 4 -:

VIDEO:  Here we wrap up the Art Car quad of videos. 

WWII - Veteran John Traylor

John Traylor - THIS AMERICAN - Veteran John Tralyor - 46th Infantry Brigade- 5thArmored Division, is interviewed on Aug 16, 2007 as part of a weekly volunteer Veterans History Project by ME3TV. Traylor talks about the action on 2 April 1945 at the Dutmund-Ems Canal Bridge near Munster, Germany. 5 veterans were interviewed this day in New Jersey. A part of each interview will soon be available here on ME3TV. Complete interviews will be available on DVD for the veterans themselves and for the National Veteran's History Project. A VETERANS CHANNEL on ME3TV will collect all the interviews into one easy to find location. Me3TV accepts volunteer help from anyone. Contact by e-mail.

Thursday, August 09, 2007

LOUISIANA WOMAN, MISSISSIPPI MAN - The JIM OWEN Show

Jim Owen has these clips on youtube. Great music from a good time.

Scarred for Life

I think this fellow is telling it like it is. I am impressed with his bearing and his sense of reality and leadership qualities. Need more like this fellow. me3tv.org

Tuesday, August 07, 2007

about Revlon... stock

Well, nieces and nephews ---  to be honest... I gave up on Revlon ... it was a bad pick by me. It may yet pan out but there never appeared to be any real change in direction or management and the stock would fall back after every weak attempt to move up.  SO ... I SOLD IT  with just a little profit (luckily) and have re-invested.

I am convinced the earth will melt on cue as Al Gore has told us.  To benefit from that tremendous heat from the sun ... I looked around for a way to invest in the trend of the melting earth.

I discovered solar power.
Now ... China is building a new coal burning plant every week to create electrical energy for the growing demand of its people. (The USA has not built a coal burning plant in 20 years and has not built a nuclear plant in 30 years.. makes you wonder).  Now, China knows it has a  problem with its carbon footprint. They watched the movie "convenient lie" also - by Gore. So they are throwing all kinds of effort at alternative energy sources and with cheap labor to boot.  Two or three companies in china are now building photovoltaic cells as fast as they can to meet the Al gore demand for solar power cells. Their market is the world - not just China.

One such company is JA Solar Holdings Co., Ltd. (JASO). YOUR $30 investment ($60) is now invested in TWO shares of JASO instead of 50 shares of REV.

Here is a chart of JASO ... and REV compared....
http://finance.yahoo.com/charts#chart4:symbol=jaso;range=1y;compare=rev;indicator=volume+stochasticslow;charttype=ohlc;crosshair=on;logscale=off;source=undefined

see the difference GORE can make? 

Not to worry that China is a commie nation.  We will be too in a few months when Hillary gets elected.  Then - the GORE magic on solar will go even stronger because we will become even more aware of how quickly the planet is melting.

UNCLE VIC

Online film on modern Russian history

Carl Z says this is a must see.
See this excellent movie on modern Soviet & Russian history from Revolution
(1917) to the present free online. Not to be missed:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6084375137594323518

Green Township (4) Lackawanna Line

A HISTORY (PART 4) by Kelsey Falkowski. This was produced as a part of an Eagle Scout Service Project. Anyone from Green Township will appreciate the history in these videos. There are SEVEN segments for more than an HOUR of interesting information. Learn more about GREEN TOWNSHIP HERE. The township of Green offers the DVD at the Town Hall. Sparta, NJ is another small NJ town in Sussex County - with a video featured on ME3Tv. You may enjoy a DVD "Voices of The Land" about NW-NJ History. The county produced an overview of the rural tourism opportunities that you can view HERE. Northwest NJ is surprisingly rural.

Saturday, August 04, 2007

The Real War

This is the most cogent and powerful essay on the threat of Islamic terrorism I have seen. Dr. Vernon Chong. It is without a doubt the most articulate and convincing writing I have read regarding the War in Iraq. If you have any doubts please open your mind to his essay and give it a fair evaluation. It's also eerily aplicable to other current issues such as Iran's nuclear program, immigration, NAFTA's impact on American jobs, trade deficits, etc.. I had no idea who Dr. Chong is, or the source of these thoughts, so when I received them I almost deleted them, as well- written as they are. But then I did a Google search on the Doctor and found him to be a retired Air Force surgeon and past commander of Wilford Hall Medical Center in San Antonio. If you would like to see who this fellow is, go to this Air Force web site and look him up: http://www.af.mil/bios/bio.asp?bioID=5000

-------- Subject: Muslims, terrorist and the USA : A different spin on Iraq war. This WAR is for REAL! Dr. Vernon Chong, Major General, USAF, Retired To get out of a difficulty, one usually must go through it. Our country is now facing the most serious threat to its existence, as we know it, that we have faced in your lifetime and mine (which includes WWII) The deadly seriousness is greatly compounded by the fact that there are very few of us who think we can possibly lose this war and even fewer who realize what losing really means. First, let's examine a few basics 1. When did the threat to us start Many will say September 11, 2001. The answer as far as the United States is concerned is 1979, 22 years prior to September 2001, with the following attacks on us: * Iran Embassy Hostages, 1979; * Beirut, Lebanon Embassy 1983; * Beirut, Lebanon Marine Barracks 1983; * Lockerbie, Scotland Pan-Am flight to New York 1988; * First New York World Trade Center attack 1993; * Dhahran, Saudi Arabia Khobar Towers Military complex 1996; * Nairobi, Kenya US Embassy 1998; * Dares Salaam, Tanzania US Embassy 1998; * A! den, Yemen USS Cole 2000; * New York World Trade Center 2001;* Pentagon 2001. (Note that during the period from 1981 to 2001 there were 7,581 terrorist attacks worldwide). 2. Why were we attacked? Envy of our position, our success, and our freedoms. The attacks happened during the administrations of Presidents Carter, Reagan, Bush 1, Clinton and Bush 2. We cannot fault either the Republicans or Democrats as there were no provocations by any of the presidents or their immediate predecessor, President Ford. 3. Who were the attackers? In each case, the attacks on the US were carried out by Muslims 4. What is the Muslim population of the World? 25%. 5. Isn't the Muslim Religion peaceful? Hopefully, but that is really not material. There is no doubt that the predominately Christian population of Germany was peaceful, but under the dictatorial leadership of Hitler (who was also Christian (?)), that made no difference. You either went along with the administration or you were eliminated. There were 5 to 6 million Christians killed by the Nazis for political reasons (including 7,000 Polish priests). (see http://www.Nazis.testimony.co.uk/7-a.htm ) Thus, almost the same number of Christians were killed by the Nazis, as the six million holocaust Jews who were killed by them, and we seldom heard of anything other than the Jewish atrocities. Although Hitler kept the world focused on the Jews, he had no hesitancy about killing anyone who got in his way of exterminating the Jews or of taking over the world - German, Christian or any others. Same with the Muslim terrorists. They focus the world on the US , but kill all in the way -- their own people or the Spanish, British, French or anyone else. The point here is that just like the peaceful Germans were of no protection to anyone from the Nazis, no matter how many peaceful Muslims there may be, they are no protection for us from the terrorist Muslim leaders and what they are fanatically bent on doing -- by their own pronouncements -- killing all of us "infidels." I don't blame the peaceful Muslims. What would you do if the choice was shut up or die? 6. So who are we at war with? There is no way we can honestly respond that it is anyone other than the Muslim terrorists. Trying to be politically correct and avoid verbalizing this conclusion can well be fatal. There is no way to win if you don't clearly recognize and articulate who you are fighting. So with that background, now to the two major questions: 1. Can we lose this war? 2 What does losing really mean? If we are to win, we must clearly answer these two pivotal questions: We can definitely lose this war, and as anomalous as it may sound, the major reason we can lose is that so many of us simply do not fathom the answer to the second question - What does losing mean? It would appear that a great many of us think that losing the war means hanging our heads, bringing the troops home and going on about our business, like post-Vietnam. This is as far from the truth as one can get. What losing really means is We would no longer be the premier country in the world. The attacks will not subside, but rather will steadily increase. Remember, they want us dead, not just quiet. If they had just wanted us quiet, they would not have produced an increasing series of attacks against us, over the past 18 years. The plan was, clearly, for terrorists to attack us until we were neutered and submissive to them. We would, of course, have no future support from other nations, for fear of reprisals and for the reason that they would see; we are impotent and cannot help them. They will pick off the other non-Muslim nations, one at a time. It will be increasingly easier for them. They already hold Spain hostage. It doesn't matter whether it was right or wrong for Spain to withdraw its troops from Iraq Spain did it because the Muslim terrorists bombed their train and told them to withdraw the troops. Anything else they want Spain to do will be done. Spain is finished. The next will probably be France Our one hope on France is that they might see the light and realize that if we don't win, they are finished too, in that they can't resist the Muslim terrorists without us. However, it may already be too late for France. France is already 20% Muslim and fading fast! Without our support Great Britain will go too. Recently I read that there are more mosques in England than churches. If we lose the war, our production, income, exports and way of life will all vanish as we know it. After losing, who would trade or deal with us if they were threatened by the Muslims. If we can't stop the Muslim terrorists, how could anyone else? The radical Muslims fully know what is riding on this war, and therefore are completely committed to winning, at any cost. We better know it too and be likewise committed to winning at any cost. Why do I go on at such lengths about the results of losing? Simple. Until we recognize the costs of losing, we cannot unite and really put 100% of our thoughts and efforts into winning. And it is going to take that 100% effort to win. So, how can we lose the war? Again, the answer is simple. We can lose the war by "imploding." That is, defeating ourselves by refusing to recognize the enemy and their purpose, and really digging in and lending full support to the war effort. If we are united, there is no way that we can lose. If we continue to be divided, there is no way that we can win! Let me give you a few examples of how we simply don't comprehend the life and death seriousness of this situation. President Bush selects Norman Mineta as Secretary of Transportation. Although all of the terrorist attacks were committed by Muslim men between 17 and 40 years of age, Secretary Mineta refuses to allow profiling. Does that sound like we are taking this thing seriously? This is war! For the duration, we are going to have to give up some of the civil rights we have become accustomed. We had better be prepared to lose some of our civil rights temporarily or we will most certainly lose all of them permanently. And don't worry that it is a slippery slope. We gave up plenty of civil rights during WWII, and immediately restored them after the victory and in fact added many more since then. Do I blame President Bush or President Clinton before him? No, I blame us for blithely assuming we can maintain all of our Political Correctness, and all of our civil rights during this conflict and have a clean, lawful, honorable war. None of those words apply to war. Get them out of your head. Some have gone so far in their criticism of the war and/or the Administration that it almost seems they would literally like to see us lose. I think some actually do, I hasten to add that this isn't because they are disloyal. It is because they just don't recognize what losing means. Nevertheless, that conduct gives the impression to the enemy that we are divided and weakening. It concerns our friends, and it does great damage to our cause. Of more recent vintage, the uproar fueled by the politicians and media regarding the treatment of some prisoners of war, perhaps exemplifies best what I am saying. We have recently had an issue, involving the treatment of a few Muslim prisoners of war, by a small group of our military police. These are the type prisoners who just a few months ago were throwing their own people off buildings, cutting off their hands, cutting out their tongues and otherwise murdering their own people just for disagreeing with Saddam Hussein. ! And just a few years ago these same type prisoners chemically killed 400,000 of their own people for the same reason. They are also the same type of enemy fighters, who recently were burning Americans, and dragging their charred corpses through the streets of Iraq. And still more recently, the same type of enemy that was and is providing videos to all news sources internationally, of the beheading of American prisoners they held. Compare this with some of our press and politicians, who for several days have thought and talked about nothing else but the "humiliating" of some Muslim prisoners -- not burning them, not dragging their charred corpses through the streets, not beheading them, but "humiliating" them. Can they be for real? The politicians and pundits have even talked of impeachment of the Secretary of Defense. If this doesn't show the complete lack of comprehension and understanding of the seriousness of the enemy we are fighting, the life and death struggle we are in and the disastrous results of losing this war, nothing can. To bring our country to a virtual political standstill over this prisoner issue makes us look like Nero playing his fiddle as Rome burned -- totally oblivious to what is going on in the real world. Neither we, nor any other country, can survive this internal strife. Again I say, this does not mean that some of our politicians or media people are disloyal. It simply means that they are absolutely oblivious to the magnitude of the situation we are in and into which the Muslim terrorists have been pushing us, for many years. These people are a serious and dangerous liability to the war effort. We must take note of who they are and get them out of office. Remember, the Muslim terrorists stated goal is to kill all infidels! That translates into ALL non-Muslims -- not just in the United States, but throughout the world. We are the last bastion of defense. We have been criticized for many years as being 'arrogant.' That charge is valid. We are arrogant in that we believe that we are so good, powerful and smart, that we can win the hearts and minds of all those who attack us, and that with both hands tied behind our back, we can defeat anything bad in the world! We can't! If we don't recognize this, our nation as we know it will not survive, and no other free country in the world will survive if we are defeated. And finally, name any Muslim countries throughout the world that allow freedom of speech, freedom of thought, freedom of religion, freedom of the press, equal rights for anyone -- let alone everyone, equal status or any status for women, or that have been productive in one single way that contributes to the good of the world. This has been a long way of saying that we must be united on this war or we will be equated in the history books to the self- inflicted fall of the Roman Empire. If, that is, the Muslim leaders will allow history books to be written or read. If we don't win this war right now, keep a close eye on how the Muslims take over France in the next 5 years or less. They will continue to increase the Muslim population of France and continue to encroach little by little, on the established French traditions. The French will be fighting among themselves, over what should or should not be done, which will continue to weaken them and keep them from any united resolve. Doesn't that sound eerily familiar? Democracies don't have their freedoms taken away from them by some external military force. Instead, they give their freedoms away, politically correct piece by politically correct piece. And they are giving those freedoms away to those who have shown, worldwide that they abhor freedom and will not apply it to you or even to themselves, once they are in power. Muslims have universally shown that when they have taken over, they then start brutally killing each other over whom will be the few who control the masses. What is happening in Iraq is a good example. Will we ever stop hearing from the politically correct, about the "peaceful Muslims"? I close on a hopeful note, by repeating what I said above. If we are united, there is no way that we can lose. I hope now, after the election, the factions in our country will begin to focus on the critical situation we are in, and will unite to save our country. It is your future we are talking about! Do whatever you can to preserve it. I reiterate. A national election is months away. After reading the above, we all must do this not only for ourselves, but our children, our grandchildren, our country and the world. Whether Democrat or Republican, conservative or liberal and that includes the Politicians and media of our country and the free world! Please forward this to any you feel may want, or NEED to read it. Our "leaders" in Congress ought to read it, too. There are those that find fault with our country, but it is obvious to anyone who truly thinks through this, that we must UNITE! Lastly, I wish to add: At the risk of offending someone, I sincerely think that anyone who rejects this as just another political rant, or doubts the seriousness of this issue or just deletes it without sending it on, is part of the problem. Let's quit laughing at and forwarding the jokes and cartoons which denigrate and ridicule our leaders in this war against terror. They are trying to protect the interests and well being of the US and it's citizens. Best we support them.

Thursday, August 02, 2007

I think it's over

http://www.bentbay.dk/in_oldDays.html
Thanks, Carol,
i can see Catherine in a lot of those kinds of memories.
God Bless Her, She was a good woman.... and always treated us like we were just as good as everybody else.
Well, what she never knew wont hurt a thing.  We'll miss her.  Vic

Three Bad years-Vietnam

http://www.archives.gov/research/vietnam-war/casualty-statistics.html
Very few of my college classmates joined up , some became school teachers and my fellow EE classmates got defense contractor related jobs to stay out.Most of my working class neighborhood friends ended up going in for one reason or another.The National Guard and Reserves, another great place to hide, got all types from various economic classes .Gee our current Gung Ho President took this route I believe and still has not completed his part-time six years. (From RG - marine)
... From me- Navy... I was from High School Class of '67 and my class had a high percentage to go. I was a latecomer because I worked and sold off my cows and eventually muddled through 4 years of college - but joined after the #8 draft lottery (Navy-Reserves) so I could go the officer route - thinking I might even want to make it a career but later figured out I was not great military material.
It was almost a fluke I wound up in Vietnam at all. Most of my buddies from HS let the draft take them so they could get out of it over with in two years. All in our area were lower economic strata. The route Bush took was earlier than mine but if you wanted to FLY, maybe his was not a bad choice. Alas, he was in "thunderthuds" which were really meant for a nuclear bomber support fighter/bomber. These were heavy and not agile and did not have great "recycle value" after a few trips over N. Vietnam. As the war wound down Bush was becomming eligible for this type combat flying -- but the "thuds" were ALREADY out of use there and in fact by that time, ALL the forces were encouraging people to leave early to thin out the cost structure. They were probably very happy to encourage him to fly less and hurry his exit. My brother did 2 years of college (which was expensive for the family) and joined the Navy in 1968. By luck of the draw - he became a stateside based operating room technician instead of an assignment to the fleet marines. Today he is a Capt. in the Medical Service Corps - USNR. So much is fate - but for sure the draft could be avoided more easily by those with money and connections.

Blue Angels

http://www.bentbay.dk:80/blue_angels.htm
Great Photos of Blue Angels. This chief took over Admin for Blue Angels in 1967. That is the year after my Dad retired from the Navy and the year I graduated High School. Dad was an ADJ Chief (jet mechanic). He worked with VT-4 that kept the same hangar (home field) as the Blue Angels. I often went "to work" with dad and several times, I had my shoes shined by the man who shined the shoes for the "angels". Dad was native to the area and we grew up on the family farm nearby at www.chumuckla.blogspot.com.