How to get a free cell phone from the government!

I feel like Ed McMahon sometimes when I read things - "I did not know that!" I'll bet that you don't know this either. You know the "Universal Service Fund" Fee on your cell phone every month? Probably not, I had seen it, but I didn't pay much attention to it. I pay $1.97 every month, so let's round up and call it $24 per year. I pay for 4 phones in my house (yay! Kids eat free!) so let's just say I pay $100 per year. After tax mind you, so it took $150 of my sweat to get the $100. But I digress.

What is this fund for? Let's check out the official gov't explanation:

The USF helps to make phone service affordable and available to all Americans, including consumers with low incomes, those living in areas where the costs of providing telephone service is high, schools and libraries and rural health care providers. Congress has mandated that all telephone companies providing interstate service must contribute to the USF. Although not required to do so by the government, many carriers choose to pass their contribution costs on to their customers in the form of a line item, often called the “Federal Universal Service Fee” or “Universal Connectivity Fee”.

Seems noble enough - but surely the government wouldn't allow people to ABUSE the free phones would they. I mean, since 2008 when a new President got in and all, and the economy went south - surely the President, who is fond of pointing at "loopholes" that benefit the "rich" (like you and me, say the mortgage interest deduction) has made sure that things have been tightened up right?

Let's take a look?

Well that is just awesome - the user base has doubled in the 4 years since Obama took office, and the cost to us has essentially doubled. Investigations by the media - not the gov't - has revealed massive fraud, people with 9 free phones and other abuses that are too horrid to contemplate - such as cushy "provider" deals to cell suppliers that make the right kind of "contributions".

So the next time you want to take your spouse out for that special evening on the town, but just don't have the $100 to justify it, sleep well in the knowledge that a pimp in Detroit is able to get 9 free phones, with your money. Sucker.

Zzzzzzzzz.........

Stratocaster 0001 - the first Strat?

David Gilmour of Pink Floyd fame has a Fender Stratocaster #0001, which has been well documented and photographed. In close examination by a number of experts, they believe that it is actually a 1954 model from the first year of manufacture. Some have contended that it is a Frankenstrat put together of old parts (1957 neck and 1957 body) but the pickups appear to be original 1954 and so do the tuners.

Although stamped with the #0001 serial number, it’s not the first ever-made Stratocaster. The unusual color and the gold hardware indicate that it might be a showpiece made for a special occasion or for an employee - perhaps an "unveiling".

Other researchers indicate that it was the first Stratocaster to have a serial number via a neck plate, and that there were most certainly other Strats produced ahead of Gilmour's. There is talk of a 1953 "prototype" as well as the original "body contour design" model given to musician Bill Carlson for testing. There are also pictures of what appear to be a Stratocaster with a Tele neck that Leo Fender used as a test bed during the Stratocaster development.

The neck is signed “TG 6.54”, referring to Taddeo Gomez June 1954 and the body has a handwritten signature “Mary 9.28.54”, referring to Mary (this could very well be Mary Lemus, a Fender factory employee. Mary began work at Fender in 1954 as an assembler, eventually becoming a final assembly supervisor) signing off on it September 28. 1954.

According to Guitarist journalist David Mead, who examined the guitar for an article in 1995, the ash body is indeed white although it might appear to be aged Olympic White, pale green or even blue-ish on some pictures. The guitar features an anodized gold 8 hole 1-ply pickguard, custom gold plated tremolo system and output jack and Kluson Deluxe tuners. The pickups appear to be original 1954 Fenders with a 3-way pickup switch (the 5-way switch didn’t surface until the mid 70’s).

First Strat? Probably not. Worth enough to buy a mansion? Undoubtedly.

Great Indian Rock Singers

Gobi West

Bindi Lauper

Papadam and the Ants

Siouxsie and the Bhajees

Raita Coolidge

Raita Said Fred

Tikka That

Jalfraizee goes to Bollywood

Emerson Lake and Pilau

Pat Bhunatar

Chapati Labelle

Sisters of Methi

Aloo Rolls

Ketchup Chips Pops Blogger Balloons

This lady said her blogs were about dance, movies and she liked sex....

T

 This lady said she was into Horses, Fashion and Food. I combined them for her.......

 This guy said he had a phobia about insect bites. I think he may be a little freaked after my reply:

 This lady writes a blog about interior decor and admonished us plebes to be more adventurous with color selection. I'm hoping this note served to shut her up.....

This guy insisted he was the Edison of India and could invent anything. Let's see him try and top this!

Hybrids have worse fuel economy than many other cars on the road

A Honda customer is taking the road less traveled to sue the Japanese auto maker for allegedly making false mileage claims about her 2006 Civic Hybrid.

Heather Peters is set to appear in court Jan. 3rd,  2012 in Torrance, Calif., the home of American Honda Motor, to argue that her vehicle never delivered the 50 mpg touted by the auto maker in a sales brochure.

Peters said that her car never delivered "more than 41 or 42 mpg on its very best day," adding that the mileage normally came in around the high 30s.

All of this for a car with a $7,000 premium in its price tag and a $7,500 greenie weenie rebate paid for by you and I the taxpayer. Total cost of this vehicle today without rebate?

$26,000.

A bit pricey for a weed- whacker you say? The contention of the green goblins was that you would "make up the difference" in the overpriced, over-subsidized, uncomfortable, unsafe vehicles by recouping money on fuel. Of course - the economics of that fall apart when fuel is less than $3.50 per gallon.

Let's read some more of what Ms. Peters has to say about her hybrid. She said she became really "ticked off" last year when Honda performed a software update to prevent vehicle batteries from deteriorating too quickly. The car's mileage suffered as a result of the battery fix, Peters said, dropping to the high 20s per gallon, which eventually forced her to take legal matters into her own hands.

Peters, a former corporate defense attorney, is urging other disgruntled Honda customers to opt out of a class action lawsuit over the mileage claims, and seek a larger payout in small claims court.

She launched a website "Don'tSettleWithHonda.org" with the intention of taking her legal fight viral.

Peters said claimants could be awarded up to $10,000 in small claims court, as opposed to the $200 in cash and a rebate of $500 to $1,000 toward a new Honda vehicle that will be awarded in the class action settlement.

"Class actions are great for little cases, but not for cases like this where Honda's false advertising is costing already cash-strapped families more every day at the gas pump," Peters said.

Peters estimates that if other customers follow her lead, the automaker could be forced to pay $2 billion for its questionable fuel-efficiency claims - all of which were backed, endorsed and certified by (wait for it!) - the government agency responsible for all false claims of greenness - the EPA!

So let's take the high road and give the Hybrid Civic a 34 MPG COMBINED city/highway rate since she mentions both high 20's and low 30's - we'll split the difference. We'll analyze what the difference is between a wind-up mobile and a real car if you are thinking with your head, and not with your tiny greenie weenie. Surely no non-hybrid car could approach the EPA ratings of these expensive, uncomfortable, poor performing and dangerous little cars? Let's take a look:

Jetta TDI Diesel

• Diesel engines get better mpg generally speaking, but they are still a tough sell in North America. The 1970s brought several underpowered, smelly, smoke-belching diesels to American shores, and the buying public hasn't forgotten them. It's too bad, because clean diesel technology powers the sleek Jetta to a muscular 41 mpg on the highway with a very respectable 34 mpg for combined highway and city driving.

Wow - the Jetta is at least as good as the pie-brid.

Mini Cooper

• The Cooper delivers good fuel efficiency, along with a cool factor, though the luster has worn off a bit since its release. Very good highway numbers (37 mpg) bring the Mini's combined mpg to a robust 32.

Wow - I can look cool, and get the same mileage as the pie-brid?

Chevy Cobalt

• A surprise for Americans is that they have such a versatile gas-sipper in their own backyard. The Cobalt uses a large overdrive gear and direct injection to achieve 37 mpg on the highway, which more than offsets its middling 25 in the city for a great 32 mpg average.

            American made? And still as efficient as a hybrid? For $10,000 less????

Ford Focus

• Another American-born entry quietly delivers solid numbers by virtue of its gaudy 34 on the highway. The low city number of 24 prevents this from being a standout pick, but 29 mpg combined makes it worth consideration.

Wow - 10% more gas than the hybrid - over the course of a year it will cost me an extra $100 bucks or so to have a cool car with comfort and power - not to mention the $10,000 savings?

Nissan Versa

• There's not a "2" in sight on this miser's stat sheet. A superior 30 in the city (that's just three less than the tiny Dumb for Fortwo) yields a combined 32 mpg. City dwellers often suffer in the mpg category, but the Versa spreads the wealth for outstanding surface street driving and an adequate highway number of 34 mpg.

Larger trunk space, better handling, no batteries, seats 4 comfortably, priced some $15,000 cheaper than the hybrid Civic and has BETTER mileage? Given this range of choices, calling your vehicle a "Smart Car" can't make up for the fact you are a dumb consumer. Hang your heads in shame.

Next on Ketchup Chips - the Great Battery Bailout, or when the value of used hybrids falls to zero in the next two years.

I love your blog - vote for mine!

Okay - just to put a point on automated responses this weekend - people like my blog on blogger, vote for it, and then shamelessly ask me to vote for their blogs of which I have never read. I usually use the opportunity to dis them. Silly foreigners. I offer these for your amusement:

Democrats by the Numbers - 14 to 0 for the Dishonesty Party

A total of four Democratic officials and political operatives have now pleaded guilty to voter fraud-related felony charges in an alleged scheme to steal a New York election. 

The latest guilty pleas expose the ease with which political insiders can apparently manipulate the electoral system and throw an election their way, by the forging of signatures of unsuspecting voters that are then cast as real votes. 

"The phrase they use is: 'making sure they vote the right way,'" said a source close to the case, which is unfolding in Troy, N.Y.  "It is not  just a Democratic thing. ... It is criminal." 

Former Troy Democratic City Clerk William McInerney, Democratic Councilman John Brown, and Democratic political operatives Anthony Renna and Anthony DeFiglio have entered guilty pleas in the case, in which numerous signatures were allegedly forged on absentee ballots in the 2009 Working Families Party primary, the political party that was associated with the now-defunct community group, ACORN. 

The four have pleaded guilty to one count of various charges, ranging from forgery to falsifying business records, and criminal possession of a forged instrument. 

"Getting at the truth has always been the primary goal of this investigation," Special Prosecutor Trey Smith said in a statement, while also thanking New York State Police efforts to "bring those responsible for the voting fraud to justice." 

Numerous voters told news agencies that they were stunned that their signatures were faked on absentee ballot applications and ballots, which were cast as real votes for Democratic candidates in their names in the 2009 primary election. 

Brian Suozzo's absentee ballot application claimed that he was "at home recovering from medical procedure," which he told us was not true. "Someone took my signature and voted with it and I feel extremely violated," Suozzo said when Fox News first broke the story nationally in 2009. "The whole thing seems dirty to me." 

Jessica Boomhower's absentee ballot application falsely claimed that she was in Boston. 

"I can't believe they thought they would get away with this," she told reporters. "I didn't get to cast my vote on my own. They're corrupt. They stole from me. I am sure this goes on a lot in politics, but it's very rare that they do get caught." 

Two of the ballot applications claimed that the voters were unavailable, because they were supposedly on a "bus trip to casino." 

Smith, at one point during the two-year long investigation, even obtained court orders to take DNA samples from five of the seven Democratic members of the Troy City Council. The goal was to try and compare the samples to any DNA evidence found on the absentee ballot envelopes. 

No Republicans were implicated in the alleged conspiracy, but one political operative claimed that such voter fraud occurs "on both sides of the aisle." 

In November 2009, Democratic operative Anthony DeFiglio told New York State police investigators that faking absentee ballots was a commonplace and accepted practice in political circles, all intended to swing an election. 

"This is an on-going scheme and it occurs on both sides of the aisle," he told police. "The people who are targeted live in low-income housing and there is a sense that they are a lot less likely to ask any questions." He said that "it was common knowledge that these people were never going to receive an absentee ballot. This is a political strategy to get control of a third party line." 

DeFiglio claimed that "the reason that this came to light in this election, was the sheer number of absentee ballots that went out to the Working Families Party. ... To political insiders in the county, what appears as a huge conspiracy to non-political persons is really a normal political tactic." 

Troy City Council President and Democrat Clem Campana pleaded not guilty on Tuesday to charges including falsifying business records and illegal voting. 

When Fox News asked him about the case last year, Democrat Campana was adamant that he did nothing wrong. "No one tried to steal any election," he claimed. "I did nothing wrong, I don't know if anyone did, and if they did, they should be held accountable for it." 

Democratic City Councilman Michael LoPorto and Democratic County Elections Commissioner Edward McDonough were indicted earlier this year and they face trial on the felony charges next month. LoPorto also denied the allegations when Fox News questioned him last year. 

"Did you do anything wrong?" Fox News asked. 

He answered, "No." 

"Did you try to steal an election?" 

"No." 

"Did you forge any ballots?" 

"No," said LoPorto. 

"They did steal an election," claimed Bob Mirch, the pugnacious former Republican Majority Leader of the Rensselaer County legislature, who first discovered the alleged fraud and started the investigation. For his efforts in trying to expose what happened, Mirch says he was voted out of office after serving 16 years and was replaced by a Democrat. 

"This is just the tip of the iceberg," he said about voter fraud. "This case in Troy shows that the Democratic political insiders had this scheme down pat. Two years ago the public didn't believe me, but they know it now."

The case in Troy echoes a similar election fraud investigation that is now ongoing in Indiana. 

St. Joseph County Prosecutor Michael Dvorak, in South Bend, is currently investigating allegations that numerous signatures on 2008 Democratic Presidential primary petitions for then candidates Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, were faked. There are claims that so many signatures were fraudulent, that the Obama campaign may not have actually obtained enough legitimate signatures to have legally qualified for the ballot. And just like the New York voters in Troy who told news agencies that they never signed absentee ballots, voters in South Bend and Mishawaka told us that their signatures were forged too. 

No Christmas for Naughty America this year

In a suprising twist from the usual Obama Muslim tradition of decorating the national Christmas tree with ornaments of Chairman Mao, pictures of drag queens and pictures of himself on Mount Rushmore, the White House seems to be content to remove all notions of Christmas from the national agenda.

The official White House holiday card makes no mention of the word ‘Christmas’ and instead focused on Bo the First Dog based on the demands of the First Family.


“From our family to yours, may your holidays shine with the light of the season,” read the inside of the card, featuring the presidential seal.


The front of the card features Bo the First Dog lounging by a fireplace. Holiday greenery is draped over the fireplace mantle. Holiday presents are placed on a table underneath a poinsettia – instead of a Christmas tree. There is no Christmas greeting.


Los Angeles-based artist Mark Matuszak told the LA Times that he was asked to create the card by the
White House social secretary. The White House lists a sanitized version of Mr. Matuszak's resume as a "deginer, illustrator, artist and "concept designer", although no mention or evidence of any of his previous works can be be found - other than the current postal card issued by the White House.


“They wanted to do an inside shot, something home related,” Matuszak told the newspaper. He said one of the ideas was to focus on the Obama’s family dog. “So we thought, let’s put Bo in front of a fireplace.”


Traditionally President's have focussed their Christmas message on traditional values such as family, faith, freedom and goodwill. The Hope and Change crew have eschewed those notions to one that saniztizes the notion of a Christmas and replaces them with Muslim  symbols and perspectives such as beasts bowing before fire and "trees of blood" as in the table decoriations.


Former President Bush had a history of including Bible passages on the White House Christmas Cards.
For his final Christmas in office, the president sent a greeting card that included a verse from the Gospel of Matthew.


 “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven,” the card read.

How to defeat Obama - Part II of II

Note to Newt - if you fall into the trap that has been set by the "ad hominem" crowd - you won't be able to go up against the facade of personal charm that the Media has built for Mr. Obama. You need to say exactly these things:

Mr. President, the people that you assosciate with are bad people. People such as Frank Marshall, Bill Ayers and Jeremiah Wright have earned no right to influence any President.It is too late to distance yourself from them - you should have seen what influences they would have on anyone's character and run away at the time. It is too late now, and your association with these people speak volumes about your character as a man, as a human being, and as an American. Shame on you, and shame on us for letting the media and the Democratic party believe that form mattered more than substance.

Sir I can speak for 20 minutes without a teleprompter about what I believe in - you cannot. I therefore infer that what you say is not what you believe, but rather what you want us to hear, and that your words are intended to mislead. You will not be given any more chances to mislead us.

You haven't done anyting prior to becoming President that indicates you should have been given the most important job in the world, and your record as President is both shameful and embarrasing. We, as Americans, pledge to do better.

You have apoligized for this country - the greatest and most benevolent country that has every existed, and you have shamed those of us that believe in the greatness of America.You have made us weaker in the eyes of those around the world that seek to do us harm, and you have almost certainly guaranteed that our children will have to again take up arms to defend us from external agression. People have fought and died to deliver the benefits that you apologize for, and Sir, almost any citizen in any other country of the world would walk across a desert barefoot to be here. Any many do. Please stop disrespecting all of us.

Your economic policies, delivered during a time of world-wide financial crisis have been based on buying votes and rewarding your political cronies at Solyndra and Big Unions and others. You have abandoned us for your own ego needs when we needed you most. You have made our lives tougher, more dangerous, more difficult and less enjoyable, while you take two jumbo jets to go on vacation 100 miles from your house. You should be ashamed of yourself. Actually, don't worry about it - we will all feel the shame collectively for you.

Sir - I am making these arguments against your record, against your experience, and yes, against your character and your ethics. I believe now, as I believed 5 years ago that you are wrong for this country and you do not have what it takes to be President. We have all been proven right. Not because you are African American - but because your character and experience are weak.
Sir, with no due respect you are not worthy of our votes, and you will not fool us again. 

It's a Drag - How Drag Slicks Work

Slick distorts during launch to maintain traction

You see them on only the most powerful of cars, and only on the strip. These massive meaty mound of round rubber are what powers NHRA cars to 330 MPH, without flying apart all the while looking cool.

The first drag racing slick was developed by a company called M&H Tires (Marvin & Harry Tires) in the early 1950s. It was the only company in the world that produced and sold original drag racing tires. Later, competitors stole or reverse-engineered molds, and began making their own tires.

Drag racing slicks vary in size, from slicks used on motorcycles to very wide ones used on Top Fuel Dragsters. For "closed wheel" cars, often the car must be modified merely to account for the size of the slick, raising the body on the rear springs for the height of narrower slicks, and/or replacing the rear wheel housings with very wide "tubs" and narrowing the rear axles to allow room for the wider varieties of tires. 


Open wheel dragsters are freed from any such constraint, and can go to enormous tire sizes. Some use very low pressures to maximize the tread contact area, producing the typical sidewall appearance which leads to their being termed "wrinklewall" slicks. A Goodyear tech checks the pressure of each tire of a top fueler on the line to ensure no disasters. Inner tubes are typically used, to ensure that the air does not suddenly leak catastrophically as the tyre deforms under the stress of launching. While Goodyear has the majority of the pro market locked up, other manufacturers such as Hoosier and Mickey Thompson (M/T) are seen regularly.

"Wrinklewall" slicks are now specifically designed for the special requirements of drag racing, being constructed in such a way as to allow the sidewall to be twisted by the torque applied at launch, softening the initial start and thus reducing the chances of "breaking traction", or "smoking" the tires. As speed builds, the centrifugal force 

Slicks get "taller" as they rotate faster, making the car  faster

generated by the tyre's rotation "unwraps" the sidewall, returning the energy to the car's acceleration. Additionally, it causes the tyres to expand radially, increasing their diameter (i.e. - the tire gets "taller) and effectively creating a higher gear ratio, allowing a higher top speed with the same transmission and/or rear end gearing.

There are some really neat high speed pictures out there capturing the tires as they "distort" during a run - at some points they form a semi-circle, and at other points almost a 3 leaf clover effect is seen.

Slicks get roasted during the burnout. A good thing.

Typically the track is sprayed during preparation with SVT (a glue used to promote adhesion) and during the "burnout" the racer lays down a track of fresh, hot, sticky rubber for which to launch from. There is no problem creating the power to run down the track - the real skill is in managing the tires and clutch packages to deliver the power to the wheels in a manner that won't cause the slicks to break loose and "smoke".

Pretty basic piece of gear, but without slicks, there would be no real drag racing.

[edit]

The Flaming Volts - Not a Punk Band

The NHTSA sat on the news of the Volt fires for six months.


Why? I dunno, let me think of a few reasons for a gov't to put it's people in danger while promoting a green (Solyndra!) agenda:

• The federal government still owns about a third of GM.
• The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is part of the federal government.
• GM and the federal government have invested billions of dollars in the Volt.
• The federal government further underwrites each Volt by giving purchasers a $7,500 tax credit.
• The federal government is the single largest customer of the Volt.

 When apprised of these issues - the writers at the Detroit Free Press said that these types of comments are the results of "entrenched Republicans" or "global warming deniers".

You have to be a gullible in-the-tank-for-Obama editorial writer for the Detroit Free Press not to have suspicions about the why's and whyfor's of these investments. One writer compared the "investment" in green technology to NASA. "Where would we be without the often battered investment we made in NASA?" he asks poignantly, just as the gov't abandons NASA for the efficiency of private, for profit enterprise, blithely ignoring the fact that the gov't "investment" in NASA in the late 50's was PURELY MILITARY, DEFENSIVE and STRATEGIC.


I guess when you are green, you pretty well remove yourself from reality.


Unless of course, you are on fire. 

The Destruction of Science

Further to my previous blog about how rogue scientists were manipulating data in order to artificially create the leftist panic that is global warming and climate change, I wanted to explore on both a practical and philosophical level these manipulations cause to legitimate research, science and scientists. These acts consist of taking scientific data and observations (evidence) and manipulating it for purposes of an agenda – any agenda, in this case a leftist agenda.

Burying the results, destroying the evidence, distorting the data, secreting the findings, covering up the proof, presenting only partial findings and suppressing the rest, and slandering anyone who doesn't adhere to the belief system.

It’s all part of the program – and all part of the pattern.

To be clear – I am NOT saying that the scientists did these things to highlight a particular belief system they hold (in violation of all scientific principles), I am saying, and the evidence supports the supposition, that they did it for personal, economic benefit.

Some would say the downside of this bamboozling of weak leaders, inept governments, limp bureaucrats and a lazy public is that in corrupting the fundamental principles of science these lab-coated thugs have created an environment where all of us have to be over-skeptical of real science – even science practiced ethically and correctly. 

If governments were enticed to spend taxpayer money based upon an intentional fraud…that’s not a political act, it’s a conspiracy to commit a crime. It is probably even treasonous in its most liberal definition (small L liberal). And those who act as accessories after the fact are no less guilty.

It is worse than that. The damage is FAR worse than unwarranted skepticism of legitimate science.

Now political and economic entities know that “science” can be bought. Science USED to be considered as the impartial arbitrator in all disputes. Now everyone knows the “ref” can be bought off. Want to impose a tax? Buy off a scientist to support your position. Want to create benefit for one group of people over another? Have a thug-intist invent a data/study to “scientifically” support your position.

Want to exterminate Jews? Have a scientist paid to create a study that purports that their inter-breeding with the general population is dangerous. After all, this position is backed up by a “scientist”. Warm up the ovens.

Again, it’s not about having a hypothesis and finding out that it can’t be verified. It’s about hiding the truth from the public, while taking their money in a scheme to deprive them of the truth that is the evil here.

Slandering anyone who points out the fraud is equally despicable and multiplies the bad intent. 

Birther. Truther. Global Warming Denier. Republican. It's all the same to these folks.

Unless the scientific community is willing to do some major house cleaning and serious introspection, research is fast on its way to becoming nothing but a propaganda tool. And those with the deepest pockets, especially the government and corporations, will determine what science is and what it is not.

It’s not that good scientists are never wrong in the science…that’s how science gets better.

It’s when bad scientists are wrong in the ethics. That’s how science gets destroyed.