Woodpecker Phunny

A Mexican woodpecker and a Canadian woodpecker were in
Mexico arguing about which country had the toughest trees.

The Mexican woodpecker claimed Mexico had a tree that no
woodpecker could peck.

The Canadian woodpecker accepted his challenge and promptly
pecked a hole in the tree with no problem.

The Mexican woodpecker was amazed.

The Canadian woodpecker then challenged the Mexican
woodpecker to peck a tree in Canada that was absolutely
'impeccable' (a term frequently used by woodpeckers).

The Mexican woodpecker expressed confidence that he
could do it and accepted the challenge.

The two of them flew to Canada where the Mexican
woodpecker successfully pecked the so-called 'impeccable'
tree almost without breaking a sweat.

Both woodpeckers were now terribly confused.
How is it that the Canadian woodpecker was able
to peck the Mexican tree, and the Mexican
woodpecker was able to peck the Canadian tree,
yet neither was able to peck the tree in their own country?

After much woodpecker pondering, they both came to the same conclusion.

Apparently your pecker gets harder when you're away from home.

Schteveo

...and I should feel sorry WHY?

I'm not rabid anti-union, which has previously pissed off several of our members.  Having said that, SOME unions are over the top in their demands.  These clowns are on the abusive, self-important, WTF list.

IMHO anyway.

The West Coast ports that are America's gateway for hundreds of billions of dollars of trade with Asia and beyond are no stranger to labor unrest and even violence.

Now, the contract that covers nearly 20,000 dockworkers is set to expire, and businesses that trade in everything from apples to iPhones are worried about disruptions just as the crush of cargo for the back-to-school and holiday seasons begins.

With contentious issues including benefits and job security on the table, smooth sailing is no guarantee.  

On one side is the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, with its tradition of fierce activism dating to the Great Depression, when two of its members were killed during a strike. On the other is the Pacific Maritime Association, which represents shipping lines and operators of terminals at 29 West Coast ports.

Both acknowledge that they are unlikely to agree on a new contract before the current one expires June 30, but they plan to negotiate past that deadline. That would fit the pattern from contract talks in 2008 and 2002. In 2002, negotiators didn't reach an agreement until around Thanksgiving, following an impasse that led to a 10-day lockout and a big disruption in trade.

The union's total control over the labor pool means huge bargaining leverage, which negotiators have parlayed into white-collar wages and perks for blue-collar work. A full-time longshoreman earns about $130,000 a year, while foremen earn about $210,000, according to employer data. Workers pay nearly nothing for health coverage that includes no premiums and $1 prescriptions.

I knew the longshoremen made good money, but that's friggin' ridiculous.  They're manual laborers for Christ sake, not rocket surgeons or brain scientists.  I'm not sure what the answer is, but more money isn't it.  Anyone making that kind of bread, in this economy, thinking they 'deserve' more, isn't going to negotiate in good faith.

Lock the bastards out and hire scabs.  Scabs willing to pay at least a $10 scrip fee at CVS, Walgreens or the Vons Pharmacy. 

THE WAR IS OVER!!!! It's VW-DAY!!!!

From the Rose Garden, President Barack Obama outlined a timetable for the gradual withdrawal of the last U.S. troops in Afghanistan and said confidently, “This is how wars end in the 21st century.”

But less than three weeks after his May 27 announcement, there is a sudden burst of uncertainty surrounding the way Obama has moved to bring the two conflicts he inherited to a close.

 First and foremost, modern American Presidents need to learn that a 'war' is NOT over, when they draw a line on a calendar, and say, "...I want all the troops out by this date, and  this is how wars end in the 21st century!!!"

What a waist fresh air is a statement like THAT!?

A war is 'over', Mr. Obama, when your enemy is so demoralized by you killing him and his people that he and they NEVER want to take you on again!!!  Since August of 1945, we have totally, utterly and absolutely forgotten that simple fact.

And that we have allowed each successive generation of young men, and now young women, to be sent out to fight in our country's name, by men who do NOT fight to beat our enemies to that ultimate finish is a failure of them to fulfill their oath of office IMNSHO.

When we elect men who do NOT fight wars to a WWII style win, who do not run that enemy  down and ruin their view of WHAT or WHO they are fighting for, then they are not fulfilling their oath of office.  It is their failing that we are then living under even more dangerous situations with that enemy and others made bold BY that President's failure.

However, when we RE-elect them, it is OUR fault that those enemies, both new and old, kill our sons and daughters.

I am NOT a proponent of nuking our current enemies, the World's Islamofascists.  Mainly because they do NOT have a 'city' that is their 'capital'.  Nor do they have a needed shipping port, or other strategic spot to hit that will hurt their 'nation'.  Their only nation is Hate.

So, our ONLY hope is to put every man possible IN the field in Iraq and Afghanistan to kill as many people who we can, on a field of battle, who stand up and fight.  The 'surge' worked before, it will work again.  And, if the people at the center of our fields of battle, Iran, want to get involved, they DO have a capital and strategic places we can bomb to solve many of our problems in that part of the world.

Iran IS the cause, and the main backer, of the majority of the World's Islamofascist trouble.

Re-electing Mr. Obama has certainly ensured us of more NEW enemies and emboldened old ones.  And that he and his advisers think that getting into ANY kind of 'agreements' with the Iranian government is a good idea, shows just how slow witted they are and how little they understand what the word 'enemy' means.

But telling the American Citizens that 'X' war is over on 'Y' day 'because I say so', is perhaps the dumbest thing ever said by the country's smartest President.
 .
.
Schteveo

Lord help me, I agree with Charlie Rangel!!!

There are over 20 million former Jarheads, Zoomies, Squids and Grunts, in the U.S – better known as veterans. And because we have a volunteer military, this revered population is expected to dwindle by 50 percent over the next 25 years. So we wondered, what if military service was mandatory?

“It'd be a better and stronger and more patriotic America,” said Congressman Charles Rangel (D-NY) who introduced the Universal National Service Act in 2003 and has been lobbying for it ever since. “If indeed a president decided that he is going to place our young people in harm’s way, the congress now has to go home and tell you why we need your kid.”

What we’re talking about is conscription, forcing every man and woman to serve their country. As in the 70’s, Americans may get desperate in how they dodge their responsibilities, but unlike the 100,000 that ran off to foreign countries, current dodgers may stay put, and hide behind their career.

"If we had mandatory service again, there would be ways of say working at a hospital or something. Working at a nursing home or those kinds of things,” said David Henderson, Associate Professor at the Naval Postgraduate School’s Graduate School of Business and Public Policy. “So I would see that as the way people use to get out of being into the military rather than moving to Canada or Sweden or wherever.”

What IS the world coming to, when I agree with Charlie Rangel?!!!

But on the serious side, I've been a proponent of National Service ever since I met a guy who was raised in Israel.  He was actually in the British Navy by choice.  But he had already done his Israeli Service, and because his mother was a Brit, he joined Her Majesty's Big Grey Canoe Club to see the world and to get more free training.

I'd never heard of any kind of 'national service' other than a military draft, so I listened to him for the 6 days we were together.  I've thought that it's exactly what this country needs to get us back where we once were.  If nothing else, I personally believe that it would kill some of the ME, ME, ME shit that our country NOW has so much of.

And as a veteran I am absolutely against mandatory military service.  But there are plenty of schools, hospitals, nursing homes, V.A Hospitals, National Parks etc, etc, etc that need working hands to keep them going.  I'll even go so far as to say, if you don't want to do ANY of those jobs, I've got your easy out.

You also give up your ability to get any federally backed student loans, FHA loans, farm loans, SBA loans or any such help, and you would not be able to vote.  If you don't want to help the country run, in other words, you sure as hell better not expect it to help you run!    

I have no hope that this will ever happen, but I can hope.

.

.

Schteveo