Polonium-210 has a half-life of 138 days, and it decays to stable lead-206 by emitting an alpha particle. One-thousandth of a gram (1 mg) of polonium-210 emits as many alpha particles as 5 g of radium-226. The energy released by its decay is so large (140 watts/g) that a capsule containing about half a gram reaches a temperature above 500ºC.
Human Health Fact Sheet, August 2005 Argonne National Laboratory, EVS
Today is November 30th.
That means we are on the 334th day of 2006!
There is only 31 days left until 2007.
There are only 25 (counting today) shopping days left until Christmas.
Today is Ben Stiller, Bo Jackson, Billy Idol, Ridley Scott, G. Gordon Liddy, Dick Clark, Winston Churchill, Samuel Clemens, and Jonathan Swift’s birthday.
Scotland is celebrating St. Andrews day, Barbados is celebrating Independence Day, and the Philippines is celebrating Andres Bonifacio day.
Today is National Methamphetamine Awareness day in the US.
Officially hurricane season is ended today – with ZERO hits to the US this year!
Seeing how no one guessed last week’s country…this week we will have two!!
Last week’s Country (Hint: Think about the day this was originally posted!)
This weeks Country is real easy one. Difficulty: 1 out of 10.
Just so that we can be clear, Loophole is defined as “an ambiguity or omission in the text through which the intent of a statute, contract, or obligation may be evaded.”(www.m-w.com)
That being said State Senator Jon Erpenbach is calling for a HUGE tax increase that will affect every Wisconsinite.
Here is his logic: the state sales tax law has provisions in it that exempt certain types of goods and services from being taxed. Many of the exemptions were made due to some interest group petitioning legislators that they should be exempted. These exemptions were written into law. Mr. Erpenbach wants to change the law and thereby increase taxes.
He is stating that he is just “closing a loophole” but that is why I gave you the definition of loophole at the beginning. There is no loophole to close. The exemptions are written out and are stated very clearly.
Mr. Erpenbach wants the people of Wisconsin to believe that this is not a tax increase when in fact it is.
I nearly forgot this today!
HAPPY THANKSGIVING ALL!!!!!
Last weeks country was...Sri Lanka!
Good luck this week...I give this one a 3 out of 10.
“promote freethought and defend the constitutional principle of the separation of state and church.”
Um…the Constitution states “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting free exercise there of.” Where is this separation principle they talk of? Oh yeah…Thomas Jefferson talked about it and the Supreme Court has said it but the Constitution does not!
If you are curious about this group and want to know what does the organization does you only have to look at there purpose page to see that they are honest about what they do.
“What does the Foundation do?
Files lawsuits!”
Here are my thoughts on the Racine Nativity debate:
Who is paying for the nativity to be put up? A private citizen and people who support him – NO GOVERNMENT FUNDS.
Was any religion excluded from putting up a display on public property? NO! In fact no one else even asked!
Should Racine have extended an offer to other religious and non-religious organizations to see if they wished to place a display? NO! That could be construed as exclusionary if the city missed an organization.
Personally, I am not very religious and I am offended that an organization such as FFRF is butting their nose into this situation! The Constitution prohibits the government from making laws establishing a religion or prohibiting the free exercise there of but FFRF would like to see laws that do just that…prohibit the free exercise of ones religion.
Mr. Wortock should be commended for his commitment to his religious belief and not made to defend them because a few people are offended. Mr. Wortock went before the city of Racine and asked if he could exercise his freedom of religion on public grounds…the fact that he had to ask permission to do that by its self is a shame…but the city saw fit to allow him to do it.
FFRF should either…ask to put up their own display or allow this man to exercise his freedom.
Every response I got from these outlets kept pointing to sources inside of the Selective Service System that were seeking for increases to their budget…like every governmental agency. The media truly believed that the Republicans wanted the draft.
Well now the facts are out and I think that the next couple of weeks will be interesting. How will the media report this news? Will they turn this on the Bush Administration? Who am I kidding? Of course they will!!
Here are the current facts as reported by the AP and printed in the Washington Post:
Rep. Rangel Will Seek to Reinstate Draft
Did anyone else see Comic Relief Saturday night?
I enjoyed most of the show until the Bush bashing really started.
Billy Crystal did a great skit in which he portrayed an old musician displaced by Katrina but during the skit he asked “how America could forget a city?” Continuing the skit he asks “why it took the President 5 days to come to New Orleans but since it took Cheney 2 days to tell us that he shot his friend, what is 3 more days?” In the skit he asked the Mr. Bush to “stop your war for a day and send the money to New Orleans. Just one day…maybe 2 and spend that money here to rebuild New Orleans.”
A number of times during the show it was pointed out that the Republicans lost and that the Democrats will be much better for America.
Well I just want to point out once again that the people of New Orleans and the State of Louisiana were governed by Democrats and they were unable to keep their people safe. Democrats failed to act in light of one of the worst disasters that area has ever seen. The Democrats failed to ask for help from the Federal Government. Democrats put into place an evacuation plan that put thousands of people in a stadium that was ill prepared for the disaster. A Democrat failed to use the busses that were under his control to evacuate the people of the city of New Orleans.
All of this was done by Democrats and the hate for the Republicans grows. They vilify the Bush Administration for not acting…but ignore that their beloved Democratic officials failed them more than the Federal Government. Not only that, they reelect these same incompetent Democrats to continue to govern them.
System
Screen shot
Compared to today….
Last weeks country was: Bangladesh!
This week’s country is pretty easy since its shape is so distinct.
I’d rate this country a 5 out of 10.
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So it begins…the long road to socialism is beginning once again this time with Nancy Pelosi at the helm.
The Christian Science Monitor has the following Op-Ed by Nancy herself:
In her article she states the Democrats “agenda for change” which includes the following:
- Make America safer by implementing the recommendations of the 9/11 commission. (A worthy cause…are democrats willing to make the sacrifices necessary to implement these recommendations? They fought the Patriot Act tooth and nail and that was a corner stone of much of the 9/11 commission.)
- Make our economy fairer by raising the minimum wage and ending taxpayer subsidies for sending jobs overseas. (Artificially inflating minimum wage has a ripple effect though the economy that directly affects the price of goods and services and thereby prices only puts people in the same situation not a better one. It harms small businesses that do not have the ability to raise wages and therefore causes a net loss of jobs.)
- Make college more affordable by cutting the interest rates on student loans. (When was the last time you heard a parent or student talking about the interest rate of student loans as a consideration of attending college? College should be available to everyone but everyone should not attend college.)
- Improve healthcare by allowing Medicare to negotiate for lower prescription drug prices and promoting stem-cell research. (hmm…expanding Medicare into drugs and what of the Prescription Drug Program? Sounds to me like more overlap and more government waste. Stem-cell research I think is a worth while endeavor…but not for the federal government. Lets allow the drug companies to do this research.)
- Achieve energy independence within 10 years by investing America's energy dollars in the Midwest instead of the Middle East. (Interesting…considering Nancy does not want us to further drill for oil of the coast of California, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, or Florida!!! Nor does she want us to drill for natural gas, in what has been called one of the largest natural gas deposits in the world, in ANWR (Alaskan Natural Wildlife Reserve). So is she suggesting we move to a Ethanol based society? Is she willing to give up here SUV and her jet…I doubt it!)
- Guarantee a dignified retirement by improving Medicare, protecting Social Security, and making it easier to save for retirement. (Since when is retirement something that is GUARANTEED by the Federal Government!!!! This one pisses me off!! Social Security and Medicare was meant to be a safety net ONLY and the Democratic Party has warped it into some demented entitlement program that has put the US Budget into a tailspin…there is only one way to correct it and that is to privatize the whole thing…not just part of it like GW Bush wanted but the WHOLE thing. Make the system as we now know it disappear within the next 40 years!)
What do you know…She’s right!! The Democrats did not disappoint!
What she laid out, with exception of point one, is exactly what we expect from the Left…more government and less control by the people!
My election day hang over will be with me for the next 2 years…hopefully by then we will find a few Conservative Republicans, unlike what we’ve had for the past 6 years!
Framers Branch is a little town in Texas (population around 28,000) that has decided to up the ante in the illegal alien issue in this country.
The six member common council voted unanimously to enact the following sweeping ordinances:
- English is the cities official language
- Fines for business owners that employ illegal aliens
- Fines for landlords the rent to illegal aliens
- Immigration screening of suspects in the custody of law enforcement
The AP is reporting the story under the following headline:
Texas city OKs anti-immigration measures
Pardon me?!? I do not see anything in what they passed that could possibly be construed as ANTI-immigration!
This town, which will now become the subject of many lawsuits (from illegal aliens mind you!), is doing the right thing! If people wish to come to this country then do it legally. Our country’s back bone was made by hard working immigrants but illegal acts are by definition ILLEGAL and wrong.
Theodore Roosevelt said:
"In the first place we should insist that if the immigrant who comes here in good faith becomes an American and assimilates himself to us, he shall be treated on an exact equality with everyone else, for it is an outrage to discriminate against any such man because of creed, or birthplace, or origin. But this is predicated upon the man's becoming in very fact an American, and nothing but an American...There can be no divided allegiance here. Any man who says he is an American, but something else also, isn't an American at all. We have room for but one flag, the American flag, and this excludes the red flag, which symbolizes all wars against liberty and civilization, just as much as it excludes any foreign flag of a nation to which we are hostile...We have room for but one language here, and that is the English language...and we have room for but one sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to the American people."
Remember the name Farmers Branch…It will be important one day.
Those of us on the Right are disheartened to lose on Tuesday but what if you were this guy (article here) and your spouse had to ask if you voted for yourself because you lost the race and receive ZERO votes!
What would you do in his situation?
We all heard it…Russ Feingold has announced that he will not seek the Democratic nomination for the Presidency in 2008.
A question needs to be asked though…is this really a good thing?
For all of Russ’s faults (being a left-wing wacko for starters) he is an honest man. He typifies what the American public says that they are looking for in a President. Russ states what he believes and acts in the same fashion. I have not found an instance where he has “voted for it before (he) voted against it.”
The landscape has not really changed in the Democratic camp now that Feingold is out. But I would have loved to see how the “mainstream” Left would have coped with Russ’s “telling it like it is” style.
Well last weeks country was guessed correctly!
The Czech Republic was created in 1989 when Czechoslovakia separated to form 2 independent countries.
This week’s country is an 7 out of 10.
For all those that have children…I’m sorry.
For those in the service…I’m sorry.
For those that pay taxes…I’m sorry.
For those that thought today would be brighter…I’m sorry.
For all those that voted for Democrats…I’m sorry.
You see today is a sad day in America. We have just put people into power that have said that they will:
- Take more money away from families with children by eliminating the child tax credit that the Bush tax cuts doubled.
- Use the war in Iraq as a political tool and embolden the terrorists by giving them what they want…a withdrawal of our troops.
- Raise everyone’s taxes by “rolling back the Bush tax cuts.”
We all wanted the same thing today…a brighter future, but what we are getting is a lack of vision. The only thing that Democrats promised was a change in leadership; they got it, so what now?
They do not have a plan for Iraq that would be a winning solution.
They do not have a plan for continuing a robust economy.
They do not have a plan for allowing people to keep more of what they earn.
They do not have a plan for growing America.
But they have the reigns of power and I wait with bated breath to see how they will ‘fix things.’
Nancy Pelosi most likely would become the next Speaker of the House if Democrats walk away with this year’s election.
Now I know that I have already stated that the Republicans will retain control but there are a number of nay-sayers out there that think we are going to lose.
Well to those that are worried about losing I want to stress the importance of voting and making sure that your conservative friends and family vote or else Nancy Pelosi could end up as speaker.
Check out this Op-Ed in the Washington Times today and maybe you’ll see why that would be so very bad!!!
A look at Pelosi's voting record
Well I guess the last one had the desired effect…one person got it right…and the regulars didn’t even try!
Last weeks country was: Nicaragua!
This week’s country is a little easier, I’d rate it a 6 out of 10.
