Have Satellite Truck, Will Travel.

Sarasota, FL - In an sterling example of how heated things can get in politics, especially with hot button topics like guns, Dan Cooper was asked to resign as President of Cooper Firearms after it became common knowledge that he supports Sen. Obama over Sen. McCain. Stepping down from the business he founded and that bears his name is the price he paid for "betraying" gun owners and defenders of the Second Amendment everywhere.

In a USA Today article Cooper said:

that he has voted for Republicans for most of his life, but he is backing Obama "probably because of the war. And also because the Republican Party has moved so far right in recent years." Cooper said he was attracted to the Democrat's message about "the retooling of America, which involves the building of middle-class jobs and helping American small business be competitive with those overseas."
USA Today: Rifle maker bounces boss who supports Obama

The article also stated that Cooper gave $3,300 to the Obama campaign.

The resulting storm of fury from gun owners was off the scale. The blogosphere and message boards exploded with righteous outrage from gun owners that one of their own sold them out to Sen. Obama.

Some gun bloggers, such as one who blogs on snowflakesXXXXXX.com,* had posted the company's e-mail address and telephone number, encouraging gun owners to boycott Cooper Firearms the company and contact its top executives.

"This needs to get around," wrote the blogger who identifies himself only as "Sebastian, a thirty something, self professed 'gun nut' living somewhere in Pennsylvania." He added: "Gun owners need to know which companies sell their interests down the river. Here's contact info for Cooper Firearms. I would talk to them, and be sure they know Obama's record, why you're not voting for him, and why you'll never buy one of their products."

The company said in a statement to USA TODAY that it had received more than a thousand emails over the controversy.
USA Today: Rifle maker bounces boss who supports Obama

There is so much wrong with this situation it is difficult to pick a place to begin.

So now Mr. Cooper pays for his political beliefs by walking away from the company he started rather watch it go down in political flames putting the remaining 38 employees out of work. There is now a note on the company web site with words to the effect that Mr. Cooper's views are his own and do not reflect the those of the company and its employees. And there is no guarantee the company will survive even at that.

The fact that a man can be forced from a company that he founded simply over publicly stating his choice for president is beyond offensive. I don't care who he is supporting, it is his choice. The repercussions are exactly the same offensive tact taken by Hollywood when one of the fold strays over to the conservative side of the fence.

In retrospect I am reminded of Dixie Chick Natalie Maines' shock and horror in discovering that her anti-Bush comments in London were so badly received by the people that listen to and buy her music. Neither Maines or Cooper considered their customer base before speaking publicly on highly charged political matters. And both appear to be shocked at the backlash. Maines forgot that the overwhelming majority of her fans where running around in pickups with rifle racks in the back windows and "W" stickers on the bumpers.

Through a stunning lack of market research and/or memory, Cooper forgot that very few democrats can pass the gun enthusiast test. Sen. Obama's views on guns have waffled from favoring an all out ban on hand guns in Illinois in 1996 to his present day middle of the road non-answers on the subject. People that own guns have very long memories and very little trust in Democrats, especially those that have a track record of favoring gun bans of any kind.

Copper is also a fool to place his trust in Sen. Obama's current stance on guns. Sen. Obama cannot be trusted to keep his word on anything. Just take at look at the way Sen. Obama "refined" his positions on keeping his campaign funding to public limits and his vote on the FISA bills for just a couple of examples. Let's face it, over the last nine months Sen. Obama did more "refining" then Exxon-Mobile.

But that ignorance and misplaced trust should not have cost him the business that he started and built. That is a black mark on gun owners that I would have only expected out of the Hollywood Elite. I would rather suffer the damage of an Obama presidency then have an electorate that is afraid to speak their minds.

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"And it's not surprising then they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations."
- Sen. Barack Obama

*If you want to see the web sight, change out the XXXXXX for inhell to get there. I'm not going to help their traffic count of Google rating.

Sarasota, FL - As a rule I tend to avoid 95% of meme's like a case of the bandwidth clap. However, this one I will pass:

Copy this sentence into your livejournal if you're in a non-same-sex marriage, and you don't want it "protected" by those who think that gay marriage hurts it somehow.

From paltergo

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I think that gay marriage should be between a man and a woman.
- Arnold Schwarzenegger

Sarasota, FL - From Sen. Obama's very first speeches, it was painfully obvious he is dangerously naive when it comes to national security and international relations. Aside from what Sen. Obama, Sen Biden and his people tell us through speeches, press releases and debates, this fact is reinforced by various outside indicators as well. The fact that Hamas thinks Sen. Obama is a good idea is one of those indicators.

The latest indicator of world wide concern about Senator Obama's foreign policy skills comes from France. French President Nicolas Sarkozy views Sen. Obama's stance on Iran as "utterly immature" and comprised of "formulations empty of all content." Funny, that's basically what I've been saying, just worded far more eloquently.

In case you missed it the first time, that is the French President that said that. This is the leader of the very same French government that condemned us on Iraq.

It is remarkable looking at the people Sen. Obama seems to be right at home with. He is friends with and worked with Bill Ayers, the former terrorist that had no problem with bombing police stations and federal buildings. Ayers once told a follower concerned about patrons in a restaurant next to a police station they were planning to bomb, "In a revolution, innocent people have to die." Ironically, an interview he gave ran in the New York Times on Sept. 11, 2001 where he stated that he and his radical Left Weather Underground didn't do enough in the way of bombing.

Another recent flap has to do with Rashid Khalidi, former PLO spokesperson. (Recently he has taken to denying that he was an official spokesman for the PLO. However that point is debatable based on the amount of time he spent giving interviews in Yasser Arafat's name.) It seems Sen. Obama attended a party with Khalidi in which many disparaging things were said about Israel. Some of this party and those remarks were caught on video tape. However, the Los Angeles Times failed to mention if Sen. Obama had anything to say about those remarks and refuses to release the tape. Their latest reason for not releasing the tape is they are protecting the confidentiality of a source. So we may not know, at least before election day, what, if anything, the Senator had to say about Khalidi's remarks. The fact the paper is sitting on the tape and refusing to say what Sen. Obama said, if anything, on that tape is remarkably suspicious.

Let us not forget the ever charming and talented Rev. Wright. For more then 400 sermons (twice a month for twenty years, according to the Senator) Sen. Obama sat and listened to The Right Rev. Wright spew his hate and lies to the congregation. This church was so far out of whack that even Oprah wouldn't go there. But for 20 years, Sen. Obama, and then his family, went and sat and listened to Rev. Wright preach things that a white person would have been arrested on Hate Crimes charges for saying.

So maybe it is natural that Sen. Obama would feel right at home having a chat with President Ahmadinejad. Their political beliefs don't seem to be all that far apart.

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"One of the ways a man is judged is by the company he keeps."
-My Father

There are a few that do not seem to get the "Joe the Plumber" media storm, so I'll try to explain it here.

In this now infamous exchange Sen. Obama explains his tax ideas to Joe the Plumber. He talks in glowing terms about how he will take extra money from those making over a certain amount of money for the good of those less fortunate. Then, with 1.02 remaining in the clip, he said the words that would be US leaders with socialist leanings should never say out loud, "I think that when you spread the wealth around it's good for everybody."

The problem with this socialist idea is that government has nothing of its own to give away. When government gives something away, like spreading the wealth around, government must take it away from someone else. How is it good for anyone to have anything taken away from them just because some government bureaucrat thinks they have too much? Do we really want the clueless idiots that just gave $700 billions dollars to failing investors deciding how much is too much?

During the clip Sen. Obama explains how under his tax program Joe would be able to build his business faster at first. Joe would have less of a tax burden which would give him more capitol to play with. At least right up until he hits that magic $250 Thousand line. The Senator explains to Joe that his 15 years of hard work and building a successful business will be rewarded under his plan with higher taxes and a leg up for his smaller competition. You can listen to Sen. Obama explain this beginning at -4:11 in the video clip.

When Joe the plumber looks at a business that is growing toward the that higher tax line, he has a couple decisions to make. One of those decisions is whether or not he wants to expand beyond that point and pay the higher taxes. Take a look at this chart:

How Senator Obama's 3% tax boost at $250,000 will affect net take home pay

Taxable Income	Federal Tax Rate	Tax Due	Disposable Income
245,000.00	36.00	88,200.00	156,800.00
246,000.00	36.00	88,560.00	157,440.00
247,000.00	36.00	88,920.00	158,080.00
248,000.00	36.00	89,280.00	158,720.00
249,000.00	36.00	89,640.00	159,360.00
250,000.00	39.00	97,500.00	152,500.00
251,000.00	39.00	97,890.00	153,110.00
252,000.00	39.00	98,280.00	153,720.00
253,000.00	39.00	98,670.00	154,330.00
254,000.00	39.00	99,060.00	154,940.00
255,000.00	39.00	99,450.00	155,550.00
256,000.00	39.00	99,840.00	156,160.00
257,000.00	39.00	100,230.00	156,770.00
258,000.00	39.00	100,620.00	157,380.00
259,000.00	39.00	101,010.00	157,990.00
260,000.00	39.00	101,400.00	158,600.00
261,000.00	39.00	101,790.00	159,210.00
262,000.00	39.00	102,180.00	159,820.00

(Does anyone else have a problem with making $249,000 and only getting to keep $159,360 for yourself? And that is BEFORE Social Security, state and local taxes.)

You see there is going to be a gap where he will end up with less money in his pocket even if the business nets more profit. You see the net result of that three percent post is that Joe will have to make another $12 Thousand in profits to get back even to the amount he get to keep when he made $249 thousand. (See chart under the cut below) I don't know what Joe's mark up is, but I am willing to bet that is probably around $120,000 of gross revenue.

If he decides against that, then that is one more job that will not come on line. He may have to cut back on some of his work which will cut back on the amount of money he is pumping back into the local economy.

As with most things, Sen. Obama is as clueless as clueless can get when it comes to economics. Somewhere he got it in his head that over taxing the golden goose is a good idea. Any good salesman will tell you, it is never a good idea to make life hard for any of your revenue streams, let alone your biggest customers.

In reality, like throwing gasoline on a fire, he is going to accelerate the mass exodus of wealth producing jobs and business form our shores. We have the second highest business tax rate in the world. When you combine that with the the massive amounts of red tape businesses are forced to deal with in this country the only logical choice becomes painfully obvious.

The stupidity of punishing success with higher taxes has got to stop. The only thing Sen. Obama's plans will do is drive what is left of the wealth producing industry and capitol out of this country to friendlier territory. We need that like we need a collective hole in the head.

The immorality of taking money away from individuals that "have too much money" to give to those that make less shouldn't even be in question.

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"I passed a homeless man holding a sign that said, 'Please help, God Bless" on the way into a restaurant. Inside the restaurant our server was wearing an "Obama 08" button. I asked the server if he believed in everything Obama stood for. He said yes. "Even redistribution of wealth," I asked. Our server was most emphatically in favor of sharing the wealth. When I paid the $70 check, I left the server a note that read, "Your service was excellent. I respect your belief in Obama's redistribution of wealth. I noticed that you made a great deal of money in tips from your other tables. In keeping with the spirit of your beliefs, I am giving your $20 tip to the homeless man out front." The homeless man was happy. The server was angry. Welcome to what life will be like with Obama in the White House.
- From an e-mail, author unknown.

Why is it that many Obama supporters think it is impossible to support McCain and not be a racist? At best some of these people, on line and in person, told me that I "might not be a racist" but I am throwing my lot in with the racists and bigots. Still others seem to think be against Sen. Obama is to be against the LGBT community to the point of being homophobic.

To all the people that think this way, let me offer up the following:

You don't have to be a racist and/or a homophobe to know that Sen Obama is a really bad idea for President of the United States. All you need is a basic understanding of US and world history, a calculator and some common sense.

The percentage of those people that cannot see any other reason for opposing Sen. Obama then racism or some other hate motive is astonishing. The number of people that think Sen. Obama is a good idea, his economic programs are "progressive," his far left ideas are going to create the ideal world and his international policies will secure our country is a shining testament to the lack of education our public schools are delivering.

Nice work on the part of The NEA along with their state and local chapters. You programed the majority of a entire generation to be completely clueless sheep.

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You don't fight racism with racism, the best way to fight racism is with solidarity.
- Bobby Seale

St. Petersburg, FL - Why am I walking around singing "Take me out to the ball game..." I really like working with the MLB. They are far more cooperative and friendly the the NFL or even the never-to-be-sufficiently-damned NCAA. Even here at the world series the Rays Management and the MLB people are bending over backwards to accommodate everyone. What a welcome change from most major sporting events.



Some of the local police getting a pre-game briefing.


Setting up for the on field pre-game shows.


A camera that is also a Phillies fan. Go figure.


My ride is here at last. Someone took this tiny little thing away from its mother too soon. But it is handy for running around inside the stadium and can go up and down the ramps to all the levels.


A surprise guest came to visit.


Press this one? Ok... Why can't Phillidephia see the game anymore?


Tampa bay is ahead and playing really well. Much better then yesterday. Looks like this series could go the distance.

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Baseball is ninety percent mental and the other half is physical.
- Yogi Berra

Grand Junction, CO - Does anyone, aside from myself, find it amusing that the left wing feels the need to attack Joe The Plumber? Looks like he struck a nerve.

Good for him.

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"Don't blame me, I'm just the messenger here."
- Louie "The Snitch" Deltonio's last words before the boss shot him.

Photo from video courtesy of TBS

Los Angeles, CA - Only in California would the county coroner have a sign with an electronic message board. I love it!

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The safest course is to do nothing against one's conscience. With this secret, we can enjoy life and have no fear from death.
- Voltaire

Los Angeles, CA - Today I learned that executives of AIG, the insurance giant that just got a "life or death emergency" $85 billion loan from the United States taxpayers, enjoyed a retreat at the posh St. Regis Resort in southern California. But not just any retreat, we are talking buffets (probably a notch or two up from Golden Corral), golf trips, spas and ultra plush lodging.

Days after it got a federal bailout, American International Group Inc. spent $440,000 on a posh California retreat for its executives, complete with spa treatments, banquets and golf outings, according to lawmakers investigating the company's meltdown.

AIG sent its executives to the coastal St. Regis resort south of Los Angeles even as the company tapped into an $85 billion loan from the government it needed to stave off bankruptcy. The resort tab included $23,380 worth of spa treatments for AIG employees, according to invoices the resort turned over to the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.

The retreat didn't include anyone from the financial products division that nearly drove AIG under, but lawmakers still were enraged over thousands of dollars spent on outing for executives of AIG's main U.S. life insurance subsidiary.
Associated Press: AIG execs' retreat after bailout angers lawmakers

So let me make sure I got this straight...

While their company is being bailed out by we humble tax payers, over-priced glorified managers are blowing close to half a million dollars on a retreat? It is things like this that inspire enough rage within me to pollute my very soul with its poison.

This stunning slap in the face did not go unnoticed by members of the senate.

In a letter to Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke, Democratic Sen. Max Baucus of Montana said reports that AIG spent over $400,000 at a luxury hotel in California after the Fed gave it an $85 billion rescue loan were a cause for outrage.

"This kind of behavior is an insult to taxpayers, whose dollars are used to protect and preserve private companies," Baucus wrote in a letter in which he asked what procedures were in place to assess AIG executives' activities.

He also asked for a list of Fed employees who authorized or knew about the AIG retreat, as well as for an explanation why AIG was now receiving an extra $37.8 billion loan. On Wednesday, the Fed said it will take up to $37.8 billion in investment-grade securities from AIG in exchange for cash.
Reuters: Senate demands answers from Fed on AIG's spending

Sen. Obama caught wind of it too. He demanded that the participating executives be fired.

Here is a flash news flash. If you just felt that disturbance in the force, that was me agreeing with Sen. Obama. They should be fired. But not just fired. Fired, stripped naked, escorted from the building and pilloried for 72 hours in the public square along with a large supply of rotten tomatoes for anyone that wishes to make their feelings felt in a more personal nature. And they can forget that golden parachute crap. They spent that in California.

So... Does anyone still think the $700+ billion bailout from the public coffers is a good idea?

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Stupidity, outrage, vanity, cruelty, iniquity, bad faith, falsehood - we fail to see the whole array when it is facing in the same direction as we.
- Jean Rostand

Los Angeles, CA - A happy birthday to delosd. Don't do anything I wouldn't.

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For my birthday I got a humidifier and a de-humidifier... I put them in the same room and let them fight it out.
- Steven Wright