Hillary Clinton - Memory Loss

Yes, they look like a couple of lesbians,
but looks can be deceiving at times...

Huma Mahmood Abedin-Weiner, Secretary Hillary's Clinton's assistant and according to some shameless cynics, her life partner, post Bill, is at Clinton's side at a New York hospital. Most of you know by now that Secretary Clinton, who has been anxious to set the record straight over the Benghazi Scandal, suffered a brain clot -- following a concussion. This sort of traumatic brain injury can impact specific memories, but I'm sure that the Democratic Party will still want her to run for President in 2016. 

I'm not concerned for Secretary Clinton, but for her good friend, Huma, who is married (still?) to former Congressman Anthony Weiner (D-NY) who had to resign in 2011 after being discovered texting pictures of his penis to women nationwide while he was on the floor of Congress. It appears as though both Huma and Hillary have had man problems.

On Capitol Hill, Republican legislators who are anxious to find out what Secretary Clinton knew about the Benghazi Scandal and when she knew it. Secretary Clinton was too busy traveling to appear before Congress. Coincidentally, when the heat grew intense enough to compel her witness, she tripped and suffered a concussion. Now on the heels of that, there are short term memory losses associated with a blood clot that doctors discovered. 

But what about Huma? Yes, it's obvious that whatever Secretary Clinton knew about the Benghazi Scandal will be a blur. But will she also forget her relationship with Huma? Could Huma be kicked to the curb in favor of a more famous lesbian who could do more for Hillary's run for the White House in four years. We know that she resigned as Secretary of State to run. Now the  65 year old Clinton may be unable to recall. That sort of memory can be a tricky thing, and I'm sure that it wouldn't keep her out of the White House.

Blue Christmas

I'll have a blue Christmas without you
I'll be so blue just thinking about you
Decorations of red on a green Christmas tree
Won't be the same, dear, if you're not here with me

And when those blue snowflakes start falling
That's when those blue memories start calling
You'll be doin' all right with your Christmas of white
But I'll have a blue, blue, blue, blue Christmas

Christmas Carols - and a Good Terrorist

Sure, I agree, the only good terrorist is a dead terrorist, however, Jingle Bombs is one of those Christmas favorites that runs through my head whenever I hear the traditional "Jingle Bells". I can't help it. Because I've run with crowds of rogues through much of my life, many of the wonderful traditional songs were perverted and the twisted lyrics vibrate at times. This is but one example:

Dashing through the sand
With a bomb strapped to my back
I have a nasty plan
For Christmas in Iraq
I got through checkpoint A
But not through checkpoint B
That's when I got shot in the ass by the U.S. military
Ooo, Jingle bombs, jingle bombs mine blew up you see
Where are all the virgins that Bin Laden promised me
Jingle bombs, jingle bombs your soldiers shot me dead
The only thing that I have left is this towel upon my head
I used to be a man, but every time I cough
Thanks to uncle Sam my nuts keep falling off
My bombing days are done, I need to find some work
Perhaps it would be much safer as a convenient store night clerk,
Ooo, Jingle bombs, jingle bombs I think I got screwed
Don't laugh at me because I'm dead or I keel you

Way out Christmas Carols

Electronic "noise" is blasting out from Earth in an ever-expanding sphere as we share our culture with the universe. Where are our favorite Christmas tunes now? And --- who is listening to them?

The Obama Economic Dividend

In the last six months, 621,000 of the 847,000 new jobs created have been in government, not the private sector, according to CNSNews.com. That's 73% of all jobs — not a healthy labor market.

As for that big "drop" in the unemployment rate, all of it was due to the fact that 540,000 Americans are no longer looking for work. They either dropped out, took early disability or retired. Since the start of 2009, 9.7 million Americans have fallen into this category.

All told, more than 24 million Americans who want jobs don't have them, driving the labor force participation rate to 63.6%, just above August's 31-year low of 63.5%. This is the worst labor market in a recovery ever.

And it may get worse. The quarterly Wells Fargo/Gallup small-business survey found that 21% plan to cut jobs over the next six months — a surge from 10% last June and a record high. (IBD)

The reported food stamp number for September was a doozy, with 607,544 new Americans becoming eligible for food stamps, as a record 47.7 million Americans are now living in poverty at least according to the USDA. The monthly increase was the highest since May 2011, and with August's 421K new impoverished America, over 1 million Americans made the EBT card their new best friend. Those numbers have increased every month since September  and now fully one in six of every Americans is receiving food stamps. Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) said that it helped the economy. I'm sure that you all have your 'free' ObamaPhones but -- Maybe food stamps are your Obama Economic Dividend?

If you voted for Obama and have just been laid off work, you should consider the following things to say - Not original with me, it's bouncing around the Internet:

1. “Hey, at least that successful Mormon businessman didn’t win.”

2. “Didn’t your lady parts warn you this would happen?”

3. “Look at the bright side. Gay marriage passed in four states.”

4. “Hey, Big Bird still has a job. Isn’t that the important thing?”

5. “I am sure Obama cares deeply about your situation. Maybe he’ll send you a postcard from Hawaii.”

6. “Well, look at the bright side. Rush Limbaugh is getting a massive tax increase.”

7. “Hey! Now you’ll have more time to play with your unicorn.”

8. “Isn’t it worth losing your job to know that religious organizations now have to pay for abortions and contraceptives?”

9. “Well, now you and Keith Olbermann have something else in common.”

10. “Forward!”

Another Mars Lander (built from spare parts)?

Why are we  reinventing the wheel?

LOS ANGELES – NASA says it wants to launch another mega-rover to Mars modeled after the wildly popular Curiosity. 

The space agency said Tuesday the spacecraft will be built from spare parts from Curiosity. It would also use the novel landing system that delivered the car-size rover to Mars in August. The new mission is scheduled for 2020 and is estimated to cost about $1.5 billion. But scientists haven't hashed out exactly what the rover would try to accomplish on Mars. (LINK)

There are people, and I'm not one of them, who feel as if we need to send a manned mission to Mars in the 2030's. I'm one of the most pro-space exploration techies that I know, but sending a manned mission to Mars is foolish when we're (a) broke and (b) don't know what men could do that robots couldn't. A manned mission to Mars will cost 1,000 times (at least) what the average unmanned mission costs with no general benefits to glean other than saying that we did it. 

In my opinion, we would be far better off sending that sort of rover to Europa or any of the Jovian "icy moons" with an expanded mission to search for life under the ice in seas that we believe are present and 'heated'. The only reason that JPL is talking about going back to Mars with the same thing that we just flew is because it's safe and there's an indication that it would be successful. What we would learn from such a mission given the other opportunities out there would be minuscule compared to other un-manned missions. Sending an icy moons orbiter as a prelude to robotic landings or sending a Titan orbiter in prelude to landing on Saturn's largest moon simply makes much more sense.

The race to the Moon was a marvel of human achievement and given that it was managed on slide rule computations is amazing. We needed to go to the Moon for a number of reasons, not all of them scientific. Sending human cargo to Mars, when we are generally sure that it's a dead rock is not the same thing at all.

A Very Obama Christmas

After December 17, it's likely that the Leader of the Free World, and Santa Claus to many Americans on the dole, will not be thinking about the 'fiscal cliff' as he vacations in Hawaii.

According to notices distributed to residents of an exclusive waterfront neighborhood in Hawaii, they can expect to enjoy restricted access and other inconveniences to their homes and normal lives from December 17 through January 6 while the First Family is on vacation. That's about a 50% longer holiday vacation than last year, but winning an election has its perks.

The vacationing Obamas and a large number of their accompanying friends are moving into a neighborhood and renting a number of mansions. Obama's staff will have to put up with rooms in a nearby luxury hotel.

The Coast Guard will patrol surrounding canals. The Secret Service will stand their posts when they're not chasing skirt in Honolulu - off duty.

Will the big party go on past December 21, when the Mayan Calendar predicts that the world will end? I don't know. It's one of those wait-and-see things.