Coast Guard and fishing the Gulfstream...

Key West

An interesting thing happened when I was working on a Sportfishing charter boat in the Florida Keys a few years back. We were fishing east of Summerland Key and were about 10 miles offshore when we saw a Coast Guard helicopter fly over and headed East. After a short period we saw a Coast Guard cutter headed out from the direction of Key West Coast Guard station and running hard.

A short time later Captain Jim Sharpe of the charter boat SeaBoots, http://www.seaboots.com/, that I worked on received a radio communication from a private boat who we knew fished regularly in the area. This private boat advised us that he had become entangled in a Large crab trap buoy line and was unable to get free. The cable had become entangled around a propeller and was in effect anchoring the boat in about 2,000 feet of water. The problem was with the gulf stream moving along at 4 to 4-½ knotts this was pulling the boat down and almost sinking. Upon arrival of the Coast Guard cutter several people were removed from the private boat thus leaving the captain and mate on the small boat…

It is common for fishing boats to run offshore to known crab pot locations for there are usually 3 to 4 large buoys tied together to the trap line to mark its position and used in retrieving the large crab pot. This pot is about the size of the ones you see on the Discovery Channel special about commercial crab fishing in the Northeast. They are rather large, heavy, and about 2,000 feet down and left for 5 to 7 days to catch crab. The buoys of these traps on the surface tends to attract many fish and fishing boats like to troll baits near these buoys.

This private boat unfortunately got too close to the trap line and got entangled. In the photo it looks as if the private boat is backing up but is actually being pulled down by the current which is running left to right in these photos.

The Coast Guard inflatable hard bottom boat was to small to help with towing the private boat against the current and the Cutter was way to big. The SeaBoots boat that I was on tied off to the front of the private boat and pulled it’s bow around and into the current. This allowed tension to be taken off the trap line and the private boat being cut free…

"By the Numbers"...

By the numbers

I remember seeing this back after the first Presidential election when George W. Bush was elected, by the people, over then Vice-President Al Gore. I believe this was done again for the Bush \ Kerry 2004 election and I will see if I can find the data to post it…

The data gives a whole new meaning to the Red \ Blue County map above…

Election data per candidate:

• Population of counties won:
  Gore: 127 million
  Bush: 143 million

• Sq. miles of land won:
  Gore: 580,000
  Bush: 2,427,000

• States won:
  Gore: 19
  Bush: 29

• Murder rate per 100,000 residents:
  Gore: 13.2
  Bush: 2.1
  

Professor Joseph Olson of Hamlin University School of Law, St. Paul Minnesota.

“In aggregate, the map of the territory Bush won was (mostly) the land owned by
the tax-paying citizens of this great country. Gore’s territory encompassed
those citizens living in government owned tenements and living off government
welfare…”

"The Full Quote"...

The rest of the quote
by Rhonda Winfield
February 6, 2006

This is in response to a column that ran in your Feb. 3 edition written by Hunter Mabry of Waynesboro.

I was quoted in Mr. Mabry's article but, unfortunately, only partially so.

I am the mother of Lancer Cpl. Jason C. Redifer, of Stuarts Draft, who was killed by an IED explosion just south of Baghdad on Jan. 31, 2005. Jason was a nineteen-year-old Marine who was proudly and bravely serving in the "triangle of death" to insure that all Americans will continue to be blessed with the many freedoms we so easily take for granted.

It is just one such freedom that Mr. Mabry exercises while failing to understand just how that freedom is sustained.

I attended the Jan. 16 town hall meeting that Mr. Mabry wrote of, and I addressed those in attendance. While I did remark that no one wants their sons and daughters dying in combat, that was only the beginning of the statement.

Mr. Mabry , speaking on behalf of the Augusta Coalition for Peace and Justice, has apparently decided that he speaks for me and that the Coalition represents the thoughts and feelings of my family.

Mr. Mabry, my son would be shattered to think that you and your group have used his death to attempt to further a cause that doesn't even understand the ideals for which he gave his life.
I have stood by and witnessed your anti-war displays that include photographs of my son. I agree that facts and statistics are exactly that and we all will certainly have our own opinions with regard to them. However, your group takes advantage of those facts by insinuating through the photographs you display that you represent these felled service men and women. You try to give the impression that you speak on behalf of their now silent voices.

Mr. Mabry, you do NOT speak for my family and certainly not for my son.

Jason, at only 19 years of age, knew what a precious gift our liberty is and valued it enough to lay his young life down for it. He volunteered for his duty knowing that there is always a human cost of war. He was also wise enough to understand that there would be a far greater human cost to avoiding this war.

Let me remind you that innocent Americans were attacked on American soil. Citizens, whose only crimes were going about their daily lives, were murdered that September morning and the evil forces that orchestrated and supported those horrific events, as well as the others that yet await us, could not be allowed to prevail. Jason believed that these terrorists must be engaged on their soil before we would all be forced to defend ourselves on our own.

While I defend a democratic process that allows our citizens to freely speak their minds and openly question our leaders when we are concerned with their representation of us, as well as to hold those same individuals accountable for the decisions they make on our behalf, I would ask that everyone please remember who ultimately pays for those luxuries for us.

Yes, no one wants American lives lost for any reason and we all want our troops home. The fact is, our service men and women have a job to complete to continue the liberties and ideals that this country was founded on and that we exercise daily. "No one wants their sons or daughters dying over there."

So, while we may not agree on many issues, I ask that we all pray for their mission to end as quickly as possible. I believe that we should all pray for their accelerated advance to victory, NOT their rapid withdraw to defeat.

Make no mistake, Mr. Mabry, just because you see yourself as "anti-war," that does not place me as "pro-war" by default. I am not pro-war. I am Pro-America.

Might I suggest you try it?

America is the land of the free because of the brave and freedom isn't free. Let THAT be the rest of the quote.

Rhonda Winfield is a Stuarts Draft resident

Taxation -/+ Consumption

http://www.andrewclem.com/Politics.shtml

Andrew Clem presented some interesting ideas about President Bush’s “investment in research in alternative energy sources” in his letter to the NewsLeader editor. His idea is to raise the cost of oil products by taxation resulting in development of renewable energy resources and conservation which is somewhat low priority with our present “Low” cost of petroleum products. Also the extra tax money collected would be used to develop better forms of energy including renewable sources of energy…

http://newsleader.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060209/OPINION03/602090318/1014/OPINION

Know as much as I am against more or additional taxes, Andrew makes a great point that this problem will best be solved by the free market system. In the majority of examples it is the free market, not the government, that creates solutions to many of our problems. My fear is where that additional tax money will really show up and in what form. Many times Profit\loss statements are the most efficient guides to getting the job done.

It is apparent that we are using more energy now then we ever used before. This is possible for the simple reason that energy produced by petroleum products are relatively cheap to us in the United States. That is not necessarily a bad thing, but little change will happen until the cost rises to a point where the “Market” dictates a change.

Look at the recent $3 a gallon effects of Hurricane Katrina. People started to think twice before taking that extra trip or how they could save and consolidate these trips. Around here the average gallon price is about $2.20 and people have forgotten already the pain of $3+ a gallon. Interestingly people are talking more about the obscene, (term used by mainstream media and politicians looking for airtime) profits made by the oil companies. I agree the profits are high as compared in the past but history shows oil companies average about 10% in profits when all is said and done. McDonalds averages 24.4% profits… Go figure… The thing is that the oil companies spend much of their “profit” money on exploration and development of more sources of petroleum to remain competitive. If we tax petroleum products to raise the cost and promote conservation and development of other forms of energy, how can we be sure this money will be used wisely?

After watching the recent hearings to confirm Justice Alito, I do not feel very comfortable with those politicians with more of our tax money…

Hillary and those eyes...

It seems many people tuned in to watch the Super Bowl especially to see the new commercials. I watched the President’s State of the Union speech last week and have to admit that I looked forward to see how the Democrats would react to the President’s speech.

In the past we have seen Democrat members of Congress push their way to center aisle so to get that photo-op of shaking hands with the President. The same President that they had been bashing at every opportunity all during the year prior to the speech. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas) is always sure to be there in her bright red dress to get that photo op and then attack the President at the next possible opportunity. “Nothing personal, just politics. Smile for the camera please”.

It is also interesting to see what issues the Democrats refuse to applaud on while the Republican side of the aisle is roaring with applause. This has happened with most any of the administrations but the democrats now seem to bring it to a whole new level. The President described the importance of continuing a strong stance on terrorism and taking the fight to those who have attacked us and continue to plot to attack freedom no matter where it is. This brought a strong response from the Republicans but the democrats were almost silent. The next sentence the President spoke of the brave troops fighting the war on terrorism and the democrats could not get out of their chairs fast enough to be seen applauding.

It was also interesting to watchat times to see several democrats look towards each other to see who was going to clap or not and if enough fellow members got up they all got up. Not to applaud a statement but to appear unified.

Then there was Hillary with the eye’s rolling…

Peggy Noonan (Wall Street Journal) had a great quote in this weeks article. "It seemed a metaphor for the Democratic Party: We don't know where to stand or what to stand for, and in fact we're not good at standing for anything anyway, but at least we know we can't stand Republicans..."

"Let's get this done..."

Several weeks ago I did a posting (Ben Cline Townhall Meeting) about Delegate Clines efforts last year to get 10 more Virginia State Troopers hired, trained, and equipped to patrol and enforce laws along Route 81. In today's issue of the NewsVirginian there was an article describing Delegate Cline's efforts once again to get these very much needed troopers added to and patrolling Route 81. All of the delegates are in Richmond now submitting, reviewing, and voting on these bills and it is several intensive weeks of negotiations. We are very fortunate in the Shenandoah Valley to be represented by fine Republicans like Delegate Steve Landes, Delegate Chris Saxman, and Delegate Cline...
Please contact them and let them know you appreciate their efforts...

http://newsvirginian.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=WNV/MGArticle/WNV_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1137833869172&path=

This article, written by Bob Stuart, describes how Route 81 is a main corridor through Virginia for drug trafficking and other illegal actions. The Cline initiative has earned Virginia Trucking Association’s endorsement.

http://www.bencline.com/

http://www.delegatesaxman.com/
http://www.stevelandes.com

"What to stand for..."

"Democrats stand for uh....."

While searching for something to read I found a link over at "Too Conservative" to a recent article written by Peggy Noonan in the Wall Street Journal. http://opinionjournal.com/columnists/pnoonan/

I have admired her writing for years and her books are just as good if not better for she is able to go more in depth with books...

She did some incredible stuff back after September 11th and her book on Ronald Reagan "When Character was king" is worth reading several times...

In her most recent article in the WSJ she made an interesting observation of the Democrats in Congress during the President's State of the union speech.

"It seemed a metaphor for the Democratic Party: We don't know where to stand or what to stand for, and in fact we're not good at standing for anything anyway, but at least we know we can't stand Republicans..."

"Life's Lottery"

Back several posts ago I did a story on attending a Townhall meeting held by Republican Delegate Ben Cline of Virginia. During this meeting Delegate Cline spoke of his efforts to add an additional 10 State Troopers to patrol along Route 81. Money for these Troopers, estimated at $1 million, was to come from the large advertising fund that the Virginia state lottery maintains. In fact over $250,000 was spent to use the image of Donald Trump on one of the "Scratcher" tickets. Unfortunately the assembly of Virginia would not allow this money to be spent on the needed Troopers.

This post brought several comments and observations from friends about the Lottery's that are operated by each state and the benefits provided by the lotteries. Unfortunately there are also many incidents that harm those who play these games...

Many agree that money from these lotteries go on to benefit educational institutes in the states. "In Fiscal Year 2005, the Virginia Lottery hadrecord sales of over $1.3 billion. Of this total, the Lottery contributed $423.5 Million, or 31%, topublic education grades K-12. 58% went back to players in the form of prizes, 6% went to the retailers who sell Virginia Lottery tickets, and 5% went to operational expenses".

Other uses of lottery winnings were used in other manners: "Set-Off Debt Collection ActThe Lottery also participates in the Set-Off Debt Collection Act, in which prize payments are withheld to pay certain obligations that the prize winner owes. Examples of these obligations are state and federal taxes, child support and tuition from state universities or colleges. The Virginia Lottery collected $905,654 in FY 2005, for a total of more than $12.3 million since 1988."

Last week I stopped at the local 7-eleven to get coffee on the way to work. In line in front of me was a young woman 20-22 who was cashing in a winning lottery ticket for $25. No other purchases, just lottery tickets. She did not even get the $25 in her hands she just bought a ticket for $10 and three at $5 each. She did not talk, thank the cashier, or look up. As I left the store she was in her car rapidly scratching the new tickets looking for a winner... Everybody has a right to spend their money as they seem fit, but this reminds me of the phrase "Voluntary Taxation". As noted above, in Virginia only 58% of the money played goes back to the people playing...

Now I am not saying the lottery is a bad thing for it does provide a lot of funds for education. But it is unfortunate that the majority of the people playing these lotteries should be investing this money in more productive ways...

Remember Democratic Representative Dick Gephardt's reference to high income earners as "People who have won life's lottery"? Many people feel that life is unfair and their chance to make it big is by winning the lottery instead of hard work... Neal Boortz came up with some great examples in his book:

"I can't afford medical insurance. The government ought to do something".

"I need more job skills to move up in this company. The Govt should teach me those skills".

"My boss won't give me time off to go to the dentist. There ought to be a law".

"Day Care is getting expensive. The govt ought to help me pay for this".

Sometimes it's not a matter of "Winning" the lottery. It's a matter of hard work and dedication to improving yourself and not expecting someone else to do it...

In some cases: "The rich keep getting richer because they keep doing that which made them rich. Ditto for the poor. See how simple all this is?"

Weapons of Mass Destruction...

Buried Mig Fighter






Numerous times when discussing the war in Iraq the discussion often comes around to “There were no Weapons of Mass Destruction”, “Bush lied about WMD’s to go into Iraq”, “WMD is not why we went into Iraq”, etc.

I believed, and still do, that Saddam & Iraq possessed WMD for he has used them in the past even against his own people. President Clinton and many democrat members of congress made statements regarding this known fact in the past. Several other countries using their own forms of intelligence stated the same belief that Iraq had WMD’s.

My concern is not that WMD’s existed, for liberals and Bush-haters will trot that issue out forever, but where did the known weapons of mass destruction go?
If Saddam and Iraq destroyed all of the weapons that the United Nations inventoried at the end of the Gulf war, where are the records and proof?
Why were many of the Iraqi troops found with gas masks and other forms of gas exposure protection?

I believe that unfortunately many of these WMD’s have been moved into Syria and other countries dealing with and protecting Saddam. There were several reports of long convoy’s moving items into Syria while we spent almost a full month going to the United Nations for the final resolution #1441.

Below are several items from stories written about the above photos of Mig jets found buried in the Iraq desert. Sources provided and full articles can be found by performing a search on “Buried Mig Jets”…

Australian troops, who on April 16 captured the Al Asad Airfield, 112 miles northwest of Baghdad, found scores of fighter aircraft, mostly Soviet-era MiGs but also three advanced MiG-25 Foxbats, the fastest combat aircraft today. Helicopters, radar systems and millions of pounds of explosives also were found. (Military.com)

AS SAYLIYA CAMP, Qatar - Australian special forces have found 51 Mig fighter planes hidden at an airfield in western Iraq, a senior Australian officer said today. (Chron.com)

At least one Cold War-era MiG-25 interceptor was found when searchers saw the tops of its twin tail fins poking up from the sands, said one Pentagon official familiar with the hunt. He said search teams have found several MiG-25s and Su-25 ground attack jets buried at al-Taqqadum air field west of Baghdad (FoxNews.com)

"Something as big as an airplane that's within … a stone's throw of where you're functioning, and you don't know it's there because you don't run around digging into everything on a discovery process," Rumsfeld explained. "So until you find somebody who tells you where to look, or until nature clears some sand away and exposes something over time, we're simply not going to know. (Defense Link)

United States Marines...

(This was sent to me by a dear friend and mother of a U.S. Marine)

Two things to know before you read below: Marines are taught
1) Keep your priorities in order and
2) Know when to act without hesitation.

A Marine was attending a college course between missions in Iraq and Afghanistan. The professor, an avowed atheist, shocked the class one day when he walked in, looked toward the ceiling, and said loudly, "God, if you are real, then I want you to knock me off this platform. I'll give you exactly 15 minutes. "The lecture room fell silent and the professor began his lecture.

Ten minutes went by and the professor proclaimed, "Here I am God - still waiting. "It got down to the last minute when the Marine stood up, walked toward the professor and threw his best punch knocking him off the platform and out cold. The Marine went back to his seat and sat down.

The other students were shocked and stunned and sat there looking on in silence. The professor came to, noticeably shaken, looked at the Marine and asked, "What the hell is the matter with you? Why did you do that?

"The Marine calmly replied, "God is busy today protecting America's soldiers who are protecting your right to behave like an idiot and say stupid stuff. So He sent me."