The Most Beautiful Explanation Of Death I Have Ever Heard

~DEATH~
WHAT A WONDERFUL WAY TO EXPLAIN IT.
A sick man turned to his doctor as he was preparing to
leave the examination room and said, 'Doctor, I am afraid to die.
Tell me what lies on the other side.' Very quietly, the doctor said, 'I don't know.'
'You don't know? You're, a Christian man, and don't know what's on the other side?'
The doctor was holding the handle of the door;
On the other side came a sound of scratching and whining,
and as he opened the door, a dog sprang into the room
and leaped on him with an eager show of gladness.
Turning to the patient, the doctor said, 'Did you notice my dog?
He's never been in this room before. He didn't know what was inside.
He knew nothing except that his master was here,
And when the door opened, he sprang in without fear.
I know little of what is on the other side of death,
But I do know one thing...
I know my Master is there and that is enough.'

May today there be peace within you.
May you trust God that you are exactly where you are meant to be.
I believe that friends are quiet angels who lift us to our feet when our wings
have trouble remembering how to fly.

MTW-
Taking a day or two off.
GOD BLESS US ALL!
Posted by Michael T. Wayne- A Little Crazy

The Other 1%

The Other 1%
By Jake Tapper, Richard Coolidge & Sherisse Pham | Power Players – Political Punch
Matt Flavin is part of the one percent. No, not necessarily that one percent -- Flavin served in both Iraq and Afghanistan, which makes him a minority in this country.
"One percent of the American population serves in uniform," said Flavin, who is not only a veteran, but also the former director of the White House's Office of Veterans and Wounded Warrior Policy.
In 2005 and 2006, Flavin was attached to a SEAL team in Baghdad, Ramadi and Fallujah, Iraq gathering intelligence. He later served in eastern Afghanistan, and not long afterward came to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
The recent White House dinner honoring Iraq veterans was, as the president said, an opportunity for the country to express its gratitude for the men and women that served in Iraq, to welcome them home. But as Flavin knows all too well, coming home, is not always easy.
"I think everyone comes home changed," said Flavin, adding that it took him some time to transition back to life outside of a war zone.
"You don't sleep well, you think a lot about what you've been through, you think a lot about what you've come home to," said the retired navy officer.
"A lot of people have that story about going to get a cup of coffee and, you know, the person in front of them being upset about the foam on their latte ... not being foamy enough. And just being totally disgusted about being back."
The story illustrates the disconnect between the Americans who have escaped these wars untouched, and those who have not been so fortunate. The divide can be particularly painful for those who have lost loved ones. One father of a man who received an award posthumously told us the American people would rather think about anything other than the men and women who have died in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Flavin says for those who are on active duty, it can be tough to turn around and see people across the United States simply living their regular lives.
"It's hard not to be a little bit angry when you see the tremendous sacrifice that some have paid in this war," said Flavin, while others have been completely unaffected.

MTW-
I believe that this Soldier is correct. Thank you Matt.
GOD BLESS THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AND OUR ARMED FORCES!
Posted by Michael T. Wayne-A Little Crazy

Did You Know?

DID YOU KNOW? As you walk up the steps to the building which houses the U.S. Supreme Court you can see near the top of the building a row of the world's law givers and each one is facing one in the middle who is facing forward with a full frontal view ... It is Moses and he is holding the Ten Commandments!

DID YOU KNOW? As you enter the Supreme Court courtroom, the two huge oak doors have the Ten Commandments engraved on each lower portion of each door.

DID YOU KNOW? As you sit inside the courtroom, you can see the wall, right above where the Supreme Court Judges sit, a display of the Ten Commandments!

DID YOU KNOW?

There are Bible verses etched in stone all over the Federal Buildings and Monuments in Washington , D.C. DID YOU KNOW?

James Madison, the fourth president, known as 'The Father of Our Constitution' made the Following statement: 'We have staked the whole of all our political
Institutions upon the capacity of mankind
for Self-government, upon the capacity of each and all of us to
govern ourselves, to control ourselves, to sustain ourselves according to The Ten
Commandments of God.'

DID YOU KNOW? Every session of Congress begins with a prayer by a paid preacher, whose salary has been paid by the taxpayer since 1777.

DID YOU KNOW? Fifty-two of the 55 founders of the Constitution were members of the established Orthodox churches in the colonies.DID YOU KNOW?

Thomas Jefferson worried
that the Courts would overstep their authority
and instead of Interpreting the law would begin
making law an oligarchy: the rule of few over many. How then, have we gotten to the point that
everything we have done for 220 years in this
Country is now suddenly wrong and
Unconstitutional? Let’s put it around the world and let the world see and remember what this great country was Built on The Holy Bible and belief in GOD!

GOD BLESS THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AND OUR ARMED FORCES!
Posted by Michael T. Wayne- A Little Crazy

Wealth vs. Integrity

Wealthy More Likely To Lie or Cheat: Researchers
By Elizabeth Lopatto | Bloomberg
Maybe, as the novelist F. Scott Fitzgerald suggested, the rich really are different. They're more likely to behave badly, according to seven experiments that weighed the ethics of hundreds of people.
The "upper class," as defined by the study, were more likely to break the law while driving, take candy from children, lie in negotiation, cheat to increase their odds of winning a prize and endorse unethical behavior at work, researchers reported today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Taken together, the experiments suggest at least some wealthier people "perceive greed as positive and beneficial," probably as a result of education, personal independence and the resources they have to deal with potentially negative consequences, the authors wrote.
While the tests measured only "minor infractions," that factor made the results, "even more surprising," said Paul Piff, a Ph.D. candidate in psychology at the University of California , Berkeley, and a study author.
One experiment invited 195 adults recruited using Craigslist to play a game in which a computer "rolled dice" for a chance to win a $50 gift certificate. The numbers each participant rolled were the same; anyone self-reporting a total higher than 12 was lying about their score. Those in wealthier classes were found to be more likely to fib, Piff said.
"A $50 prize is a measly sum to people who make $250,000 a year," he said. "So why are they more inclined to cheat? For a person with lower socioeconomic status, that $50 would get you more, and the risks are small."
Community Standards
Poorer participants may be less likely to cheat because they must rely more on their community to get by, and thus are more likely adhere to community standards, Piff suggested. By comparison, "upper-class individuals are more self-focused, they privilege themselves over others, and they engage in self- interested patterns of behavior," he said in a telephone interview.
To be sure, Piff and his colleagues also said the associations they found were likely to have exceptions, pointing to Warren Buffett, chairman and chief executive officer of Berkshire Hathaway Inc., who has pledged the majority of his holdings to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and other charities, and the whistle-blowing of Cynthia Cooper and Sherron Watkins, former officials of Worldcom Inc. and Enron Corp (ENRNQ)., respectively.
Less wealthy individuals also can behave badly, they wrote, noting the relationship between poverty and violent crime in previous research. They urged further study to determine the "boundaries" of bad behavior spurred by greed.
Visual Evidence
The studies Piff and his colleagues completed weren't meant to measure the ties between socioeconomic status and violent crime, but rather simple bad behavior, he said.
Some of the experiments offered visual evidence, for instance determining whether people with more expensive cars observed traffic laws in the San Francisco Bay Area, yielding to cars and pedestrians at an intersection, or whether individuals took candy identified as being set aside for kids. Others polled people on what decision they might make in a given situation.
In the traffic tests, about one-third of drivers in higher- status cars cut off other drivers at an intersection watched by the researchers, about double those in less costly cars. Additionally, almost half of the more expensive cars didn't yield when a pedestrian entered the crosswalk while all of the lowest-status cars let the pedestrian cross. These experiments involved 426 vehicles.
Salary Negotiation
Another test asked 108 adults found through Amazon Inc.'s (AMZN) work-recruiting website Mechanical Turk to assume the role of an employer negotiating a salary with someone seeking long-term employment. They were told several things about the job, including that it would shortly be eliminated. Upper-class individuals were more likely not to mention to the job-seeker the impermanence of the position, the research found.
Meredith McGinley, an assistant professor at Chatham University in Pittsburgh who wasn't involved in the study, was critical of how some of the experiments were designed.
The design of the car experiments complicates the picture because having a flashy car doesn't necessarily mean the driver is wealthy, said McGinley, who studies positive social behavior. In the experiment involving candy, the participants were told they could have it even though the children were waiting for it. They may have felt they were doing nothing wrong, she said.
The research indicates that valuing greed leads to unethical behavior, not necessarily that social class causes bad behavior, McGinley said, adding, "greediness seems like a much more substantial predictor than income."
Previous Research
The study builds on previous research that has shown wealthy people are worse at recognizing how others feel and are more likely to be disengaged during social interactions than others, the authors wrote in the paper.
That seems to be the case even in primates, said Piff, who describes his status growing up as being "relatively comfortable, middle-class." Because of his education, he's now "probably upper-middle class," he said.
"It's not that the rich are innately bad, but as you rise in the ranks -- whether as a person or a nonhuman primate -- you become more self-focused," Piff said. "You can change that by reminding upper-class people of the needs of others. That may not be their default, but have them do it is sufficient to increase their patterns of altruistic behavior."
To contact the reporter on this story: Elizabeth Lopatto in New York at elopatto@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Reg Gale at rgale5@bloomberg.net.

MTW-
Greed and selfishness. These people are our bosses; wealthy businessmen, employers, doctors, lawyers, and most disheartening of all, politicians. Why even bother having rules, or laws, if they do not apply to everyone equally? EVERYONE. We definitely need more altruists. Of course, I would still rather have Romney than Obama. If he is intelligent enough to make so many millions, he may be able to restabilize this extremely fractured Nation, and most important of all, put an end to the unfathomable greed which exists in the Government- namely the Executive and Congressional branches. Does Nancy Pelosi really need her own jumbo jet? What about the Solyndra execs getting paid even after the company's bankruptcy? Her hands are covered in the greed which created this company, as she is in support of being "green" (that jet of hers sure is green). Such hypocracy is rife in our Congress, as is greed. Hopefully, since I truly believe Governor Romney is a good man, and is one of the few wealthy individuals whom may actually care about not only the rich, but those of us who struggle week to week, even day to day. I believe he will implement that true CHANGE we were promised in 2008. The reason our President is getting anything positive done in the last few months is to get re-elected. Remember, the Republican Congress is the ONLY reason he is getting anything passed; I am sure he will take all of the credit. Of course, he is also a millionaire, but a selfish one. Has he done anything to help the Black community? It does not matter, as Mr. Samuel L. Jackson voted for him simply based on the color of his skin. Voters need to be more intelligent than that. We are ALL the same race. THE HUMAN RACE! Skin pigments, and cultural differences, do not make us a different race. I am disabled. I live, very difficultly, on less than $1000 per month. We received our first cost of living adjustment (raise) since President Bush (who did it three years in a row) in 2012. Hooray! That extra $40 dollars a month sure is saving my finances, not! Perhaps the Government should not have pilfered the monies paid in to Social Security since the day he took office. We all need to treat each other the way we would want to be treated (do unto others- it is from the Bible). What do I know? I am just one lone voice screaming in an empty theatre. I will not stop. I realize I stated in my last post that there would not be any more government topics. However, I had to get my point across on this issue. By the way, as broke as I am, I consider myself an altruist. I help those in need, even if it hurts me. That is what good people do when they care. Why do the people in power not do this? Very frustrating.

GOD BLESS THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AND OUR ARMED FORCES!
Post and comments by Michael T. Wayne- A Little Crazy

Here Is The Fallout From Apologizing To Intolerant Murderers

Koran Burning: Can U.S. and Afghan Troops Work Together?
By JOHN WENDLE / KABUL | Time.com – 2-27-2012
As the anger over the Koran-burning controversy continued to convulse Afghanistan, another violent incident disrupted how the Kabul government interacts with its Western allies. On Saturday afternoon, a member of the Afghan Interior Ministry opened fire on two U.S. advisers -- a lieut. colonel and a major -- at the ministry's command-and-control center in the capital. The Americans were shot in the back of their heads as they sat at their desks, news reports said. "A countrywide manhunt is under way for the fugitive," Interior Ministry spokesman Sediq Sediqi told TIME. Since the news broke, speculation has raged over whether the killer was an insurgent infiltrator or simply motivated by the Koran burnings at the Bagram airfield earlier this week. Sediqi denied the idea of infiltration, saying it is "clear that insurgent groups are not able to have such connections as this. The ministry is very secure, and we have not had any such incidents in the past. It cannot be suggested that he has links with some groups. But we will have to investigate."
After reading the initial reports, one Afghanistan-based security expert does not believe the killer was a Taliban plant -- as the militant group has claimed. However, Paddy Smith, a security analyst and former British soldier, says, "Given the nature of where the killer was, it is definitely interesting that he was able to holster his weapon and walk away. It is an indication of either confusion or collusion. That's some feat -- unless some other people knew about it -- to just walk into the control center and head-chop them." But Smith also says the attack underlines huge structural problems facing foreign forces in training a viable Afghan army and security force large enough and strong enough to defend the country from internal and external enemies -- one of the requirements the U.S. and NATO have set in order to withdraw by 2014 and still be able to declare a kind of victory.
The growing divide between Afghan soldiers and their mentors has already been stretched to the breaking point after six days of violent and deadly protests over the Koran burning that have left around 30 dead, including four U.S. troops previously killed by Afghan soldiers or men in Afghan-security-force uniforms. The burning of Korans by foreign troops on one side and the killing of foreign troops by Afghan soldiers on the other have pushed the level of alienation between the two sides to what could be an all-time high.
The Saturday murders were only the latest of at least 22 similar killings that have occurred since last April. Smith says there have been at least 35 in the past 12 months, though NATO spokesman Brigadier General Carsten Jacobson refused to confirm that number. The Wall Street Journal reports that at least 77 coalition troops have been killed in the past five years in "green on blue" incidents, with around 57 of those having taken place since early 2010. Smith is not sanguine about improving the situation, even as the allies pour more money and effort into training ever more locals. Says he: "You only ever rent an Afghan, you can't buy one."
"Language and culture barriers always remain," says Smith. "These Americans [killed on Saturday] probably didn't have the first clue of what was about to hit them. Even if the Afghans had been sitting around talking about the murder in Dari [a local language], these guys wouldn't have known about it. Very seldom do we actually connect with each other," Smith says. "These guys are loyal because we pay them. You only start to develop a bond over months and years, and British soldiers only have six months before they go home."
Smith says that NATO troops "get on a plane at a NATO base in the U.S. or Europe and fly to a NATO base in Afghanistan, and they never really engage with the Afghan population. Also -- and this is the chicken-and-the-egg question -- because of force-protection measures, soldiers can't get out there and win hearts and minds, and because of this, more soldiers die. And the more that soldiers die, the more force-protection measures there are -- and they interact even less. We've just driven a wedge between ourselves," Smith says, echoing feelings and observations expressed in numerous conversations TIME has had with analysts, observers, service members, officers and security contractors over more than two years in Afghanistan.
The Saturday attacks seem to verify the findings of a declassified -- then reclassified -- U.S. Army study titled A Crisis of Trust and Cultural Incompatibility, which was released in May 2011. Through hundreds of interviews with both Afghan and American service members, it found that the murders of NATO troops by Afghan troops "do not represent 'rare and isolated events' as [is] currently being proclaimed." Afghan soldiers cited night raids and home searches by foreign troops, the lack of respect for women, indiscriminate shooting, constant cursing and arrogance as top complaints against their foreign "partners." They also said failure to prosecute foreign troops for war crimes, disrespect for Afghan soldiers, poor logistical support and a failure to share information led to divisions between the two forces -- among numerous other complaints that included entering mosques, eating in front of fasting Afghan soldiers during Ramadan and other episodes of the desecration of the Koran.
At the same time, the report noted that U.S. troops have an extremely low regard for their Afghan counterparts. The service members' top complaints were that the Afghans were drug abusers, thieves, traitorous, unstable, incompetent and had poor officers and noncommissioned officers. The troops also said Afghan recruits lacked discipline, were dangerous in firefights, were cowardly, lazy and had poor hygiene.
The report concludes that "the rapidly growing fratricide-murder trend committed by Afghan national security force [ANSF] personnel against NATO members" confirms the "ineffectiveness [of] our efforts in stabilizing Afghanistan, developing a legitimate and effective government, battling the insurgency, gaining the loyalty, respect and friendship of the Afghans [and] building the ANSFs into legitimate and functional organizations." The report says that these complaints and murders challenge the usefulness of the "partnering" concept. "This is all the more a paradox given [NATO's] assumption of and planned reliance [on] the [ANSF] to be able to take over the security burden before it can disengage from this grossly prolonged conflict."
Despite that, the U.S. and NATO have always painted the partnership in positive terms. In a message issued on Saturday, the NATO commander in Afghanistan, General John Allen, thanked the Afghan military "for the sacrifices they have made this week to minimize violence throughout the country," and added that "for many years, these brave ANSF soldiers and policemen have stood together alongside us, shoulder to shoulder, shohna ba shohna, in dutifully seeking to protect the Afghan population from a merciless insurgency." That message was released before the two U.S. troops were killed. On Saturday, NATO pulled back all of its troops from their mentoring roles in Afghan government ministries, a significant move that NATO spokesman Jacobson described to TIME as "temporary" -- but one that is bound to have far-reaching ramifications over the coming year.

MTW-
This is what an apology to religious fanatics will get you. Please Mr. BO, why do you not simply just bring our people home? We can bomb and cruise missile them into the stone age without a single boot on the ground. I do not think that will be necessary if we LEAVE and STOP GIVING THEM MONEY! I would have already dropped a couple of nukes on the place if I were you. Then again, I WAS born here, for sure, and I love my fellow Americans too much to apologize over NOTHING; and next, two of our OFFICERS are executed? Thems’ fightin’ words buddy! As far as any Americans who happen to be have chosen to be Muslims, or are immigrants, what makes you feel any more discriminated against than anybody else? Everywhere each of us go, whatever difference we have from the majority at that moment, will get you treated poorly. I have been, and I am white. According to some, that is supposed to be a good thing. It was other white people picking on me. You want to be a Muslim, go ahead. You are free to do that here. In Iran they are trying to make a Christian renounce his faith in exchange for his life. Are we doing that to you here? Or, do you still feel self-conscious about 9/11 and the decade of War on Terror, in which oddly enough we are fighting MUSLIMS? And you are angry at the Republican candidates for not giving you enough attention, like Mr. Paul? WE DO NOT HAVE TO WRITE EVERYTHING IN ARABIC FOR YOU. Go and move somewhere that does do that if you are not happy here. I am not happy you are here either.

Two U.S. soldiers "killed by Afghan soldier, civilian"
By Michael Georgy | Reuters – 3-1-2012 U.N. in Afghanistan says Koran burners should be punished

KABUL (Reuters) - Two American soldiers were shot dead on Thursday by two Afghans, including a man believed to be a soldier, Western and Afghan officials said, an attack likely to raise further questions about the future of Afghanistan's struggling security forces.
The killings in south Afghanistan came after two senior U.S. officers were gunned down in the Afghan Interior Ministry on Saturday by what Afghan security officials say was a police intelligence official.
At least five NATO soldiers have been killed by Afghan security forces since the burning of copies of the Koran at a NATO base last month triggered widespread anger and protests.
The killing of the U.S. officers in the Interior Ministry stunned NATO and cast doubt on its strategy of replacing large combat units with advisers as the alliance tries to wind down the war, now in its eleventh year.
NATO immediately moved to withdraw all its advisers from Afghan ministries in Kabul. Britain, Germany and Canada then withdrew their advisers.
The Obama administration will not swerve from plans to move into an advisory role in Afghanistan, U.S. officials say. But Afghan officials worry that further attacks by Afghan forces on Western troops could damage ties with NATO.
According to the U.S. Pentagon, about 70 members of the NATO force were killed in 42 insider attacks from May 2007 through to January 2012.
Such incidents became more frequent after the United States sent tens of thousands of more soldiers to Afghanistan as part of a surge to fight in Taliban strongholds.
"There are Taliban sympathizers in uniform inside Afghan security forces who are not in fact sent or recruited by the Taliban," said an Afghan government official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
"Despite tighter vetting procedures, such unfortunate incidents do occur. This problem will not go away. We need more time, more resources and manpower."
Some of Washington's partners have shown even greater sensitivity to insider attacks. In January, French President Nicolas Sarkozy suspended training and support operations and announced that France would withdraw entirely by the end of 2013 after four French troops were killed by a rogue Afghan soldier.
The United States hopes Afghan forces will be able to confront the Taliban and handle security on their own before NATO combat troops' scheduled departure by the end of 2014.
Insider attacks on NATO troops have deepened doubts about the commitment and effectiveness of Afghan forces.
"Unfortunately, this situation is a point of concern for us," General Afzal Aman, head of the operations department at the Ministry of Defense, told Reuters.
(Additional reporting by Mirwais Harooni and Hamid Shalizi; Editing by Robeert Birsel)

MTW-
Here is why I waited to post the former, as things have not improved, but simply an escalation in violence. We will never fix the Middle East. They do not want change, only blood. It used to be the killing of OUR people was an act of War. However, we are already at war, training the people who are killing us to take over. With whom exactly I do not know. Is it the Taliban, or regular Afghan soldiers? I do not think our leaders know, either. We need our Service Men and Women brought home. Let them kill each other, and please let Israel decide if they need to defend themselves. They are quite capable. I have had enough of this, the political agenda. Remove the United Nations from our soil. It is an impotent organization, and very much outdated. NATO needs to go as well. In those 42 insider attacks, with 7o NATO persons killed between May, 2007 through January, 2012. This cannot be stopped, nor does either side in this civil war want it to. Get our Armed Forces out of Iraq and Afghanistan before there are not any live Soldiers to bring home. Between the Unions, and the tree huggers, our Keystone Pipeline, which could have helped us with not only energy, but also jobs, it is obvious that too many people’s pockets have our President in them. Perhaps another apology will do it. I will now be taking a much needed break from the constant barrage of political BS, which is impossible to keep up with. If you do not know by now that Obama is only doing good things in the last couple of months just to get re-elected, remember the first three years, and the price of fuel. I will not stop writing, I simply feel as if I am beating a dead horse. These people cannot be trusted. The people we help still hate us, yet it is they whom are the true infadels.

GOD BLESS THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AND OUR ARMED FORCES!
Post and comments by Michael T. Wayne- A Little Crazy

Who Pays for Obama's Re-election?

Who Pays for Presidents to Raise Money for Re-election Campaigns? You Do!
By Jake Tapper, Richard Coolidge & Sherisse Pham
President Obama and Democrats have raised $250 million dollars so far this election cycle. But who actually pays for the president's travel costs so he can get to these multimillion dollar mansions to raise money? In part, you and I do.
So far this year, President Obama has taken four trips, including 18 fundraisers outside the greater Washington, D.C. area. But during each trip he also conducted official business. That means that the White House -- in other words, taxpayers -- splits the cost with the Obama campaign.
But how do they split it? Take Obama's recent trip out west, when he travelled to three states over three days. He attended eight fundraisers, and held just two official events - a factory tour in Wisconsin and a Boeing plant visit in Seattle.
The cost of operating Air Force One is $179,750 per hour, according to the U.S. Air Force. White House Pool reports show that the plane flew for nearly 12 hours for that trip, which means the plane ride alone cost more than $2 million. That doesn't even include the cost of flying advance workers and specialty vehicles ahead of time to the president's destination, not to mention the cost of setting up security.
So what was the total cost of that trip to taxpayers?
"We'll never know," said Brendan Doherty, who tracks presidential travel as a political scientist at the United States Naval Academy.
"Even on a trip that ends up designated as 100 percent political," he added, "taxpayers end up bearing most of the cost."
The campaign does not reimburse the government for the cost of flying Air Force One, but for the equivalent cost of flying the president and his staff first class on a commercial airline.
Indeed, Presidents Bush, Clinton, Bush, Reagan, and on and on all used this same formula. Doherty says when it comes to presidents taking advantage of this billing technicality; each one exploits it more than his predecessor.
"If we were having this conversation 20 plus years ago, we'd be talking about George H.W. Bush's record-breaking funds. Four years after that we would be talking about Bill Clinton and how he shattered George H.W. Bush's records. Eight years later we'd be talking about George W. Bush eclipsing the fundraising pace that Bill Clinton set in his first term," said Doherty. "And now eight years later Barack Obama is breaking records that George W Bush set."
So far the Obama campaign has reimbursed the government $1.5 million.

MTW-
I really do not know what comments are appropriate after reading this. Politicians just have to out-do their predecessor. Bush did what he did in 8 years, how did Obama do it in less than 4? Is it some power trip, or a contest to see which president can do it the fastest? Why do those folks whom choose not to want Obama re-elected have to pay for his campaign for said election? This Country I love so much is not simply broken, it has been shattered. WE pay. They have not done a real day of work in their entire lives. They will argue with you about that, stating that politics is hard work; they are ignorant of the fact that they are ignorant of what a REAL day of HARD work is. School does not count. Have they ever lived week to week, or hand to mouth? You know the answer. 99.999999999% of them are liars-I mean lawyers. Sorry, typed that the way I would have pronounced it if I lived in New York, or New England. It is the same definition for both words. I say this: We need to go South, and become illegal Mexicans. No politicians allowed, a REGULAR person gets to run things for a year, but it is Mexico. Very few laws being enforced there it would appear. In that place, with our remaining money, if you do indeed have some, would be a paradise (except for the cartels, so we bring some guns, tanks, et cetera). If you thought I may have a better idea, remember, it is very cheap to live in Costa Rica, and most of us now know a little Spanish. I do, I live near Orlando. Every time we had a ride on the Disney World mono-rail, we got information in English and Spanish. That started in the 80s people! Do not think I am not against ANY Latino. My best friend is from Puerto Rico. My Spanish is as good as his.

GOD BLESS THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AND OUR ARMED FORCES!
Post and comments by Michael T. Wayne- A Little Crazy

John Glenn Frustrated on 50th Anniversary of Friendship 7

By NED POTTER | Good Morning America – Mon, Feb 20, 2012 9:51 AM EST
For John Glenn, who 50 years ago became the first U.S. astronaut to orbit Earth in his Friendship 7 Mercury spacecraft, today is a bittersweet anniversary.
Twelve astronauts have since walked on the moon. Robot space probes have visited every planet from Mercury to Neptune, and another is on its way to Pluto. And there has been at least one American living in space at any given time for the past dozen years; six men -- two Americans, three Russians and a Dutchman -- are today orbiting on the International Space Station.
But the United States, having retired its aging fleet of space shuttles last year, has no way at the moment to launch its own astronauts. NASA has plans for a new Space Launch System (SLS for short), and hopes private industry will take on the job of ferrying astronauts to the space station. But, for now, when the United States needs to launch an astronaut, it rents a seat on a Russian Soyuz spacecraft.
"It's unseemly to me that here we are, supposedly the world's greatest space-faring nation, and we don't even have a way to get back and forth to our own International Space Station," Glenn said during the celebrations marking the anniversary of Friendship 7.
The world was a very different place when Glenn made his five-hour flight. The Cold War was at its most chilling. The United States had been embarrassed by the first Soviet satellite and the first Soviet cosmonaut. President John F. Kennedy asked his aides if there was something -- anything -- America could do to beat the Russians in space. NASA tried, but the Atlantic floor off Cape Canaveral was littered with the wreckage of failed rockets.
America did not just need better boosters, it needed bigger heroes. It found seven: the original Mercury astronauts. And the one with whom it most fell in love was Glenn.
Fifty years ago, on Feb. 20, 1962, Glenn squeezed into his Friendship 7 capsule, circled the earth three times in five hours and became a national hero.
"Zero-G and I feel fine," he said from his spacecraft. "Man, that view is tremendous."
Historians' descriptions of the time describe a mood that seems almost alien now: a nation of people fearful of Soviet attack (the Cuban missile crisis would happen eight months later), glued to their black-and-white TV sets, watching a man in a silver spacesuit climb into a tiny capsule and disappear into the sky.
It was likened to single combat. The Soviets were Goliath. Glenn was David.
"We hadn't really thought that any nation could even touch us technically," Glenn said in a 1998 interview with ABC News. "And all at once, here was this bunch of Soviets over there, for heaven's sake, outdoing the United States of America in technical and scientific things."

John Glenn, the first American to orbit the Earth.
After the flight of the Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin in May 1961, Kennedy had committed the United States to landing a man on the moon by the end of the decade. Glenn later said he wondered at the time how NASA would pull it off.
The Atlas rocket that would launch his Mercury capsule was famously unreliable; it had blown up on several test flights.
Glenn named his spacecraft Friendship 7, honoring his fellow astronauts. He would make three orbits of the earth. His launch was scheduled and scrubbed no fewer than 10 times in four months.
And then it was launch day -- Feb. 20, 1962. Glenn woke early, had breakfast, put on his pressure suit and climbed into Friendship 7 before dawn. The countdown moved toward zero. In the control center, Glenn's backup pilot, Scott Carpenter, keyed a microphone and said, "Godspeed, John Glenn."
Glenn did not hear him; Carpenter was not on his radio link. Instead, he felt a jolt as the rocket left the launch pad.
"Roger, liftoff, and the clock is running. We're under way."
The Atlas did not fail. Five minutes later, he was in orbit.
The nation hung on every moment of his flight, one man, alone in the void, in a capsule so small (6 feet in diameter at the base) that he could not stretch out his arms. He reported that weightlessness was pleasant. He marveled at the "fireflies" -- later determined to be flecks of frost -- that drifted away from Friendship 7 when he rapped on the hull of the spacecraft.
Glenn was having a wonderful time. But then, trouble. As he began his second orbit, Mission Control received a signal suggesting that the heat shield, designed to prevent the capsule from burning up during reentry, had come loose. Worried controllers feared they might lose Glenn. They ordered him not to jettison the capsule's retro rockets, strapped on over the heat shield, after he fired them to descend from orbit.
The outside of the capsule heated to 3,000 degrees as the atmosphere slowed it. Glenn watched as chunks of debris flew past the window and wondered whether it was the retro pack breaking up, or the heat shield.
It held. He splashed down safely in the Atlantic Ocean. America had probably seen nothing so daring since the transatlantic flight of Charles Lindbergh.
Crowds mobbed him at a ticker-tape parade in New York. Kennedy, who saw Glenn's star power, welcomed him at the White House. He returned to work at NASA and lobbied for another flight, but the Kennedy administration had quietly let his bosses know he was too much of a national icon to risk in space again.
The Americans would gradually overtake the Soviets in space. Neil Armstrong walked on the moon in 1969. But we no longer live in the space age. Glenn has complained publicly that since the space shuttles were retired last year, America has not had a way to launch its own astronauts into orbit. And Glenn's mantle as hero has only taken him so far; a run for president in 1984 left him in debt for years.
John Glenn is 90 now, dividing his time between Washington and Ohio after a long career in the U.S. Senate. He and his wife Annie have been married for 69 years, slowed only by the inevitable maladies of age.
He did, after years of lobbying, get to fly on a space shuttle mission in 1998. He was 77 by then, arguing that some effects of weightlessness -- bone and muscle loss -- are similar to the effects of aging. While he was in orbit he said he was having such a good time that he might like another flight after that, but Annie, visibly angry, put a quick stop to that.
Glenn and Scott Carpenter, the two surviving members of the original Mercury 7 group, have been celebrated this weekend at events near Cape Canaveral, in Washington, and in Glenn's native Ohio. They have repeatedly said they hope the nation's space effort is only in a lull.
"John, thank you for your heroic effort and all of you for your heroic effort," said Carpenter in Florida. "But we stand here waiting to be outdone."

MTW-
It has taken me a few days, to simply come up with fitting remarks in response to such a courageous man, and also a childhood hero of mine. My father worked at Cape Canaveral for 30 years. He retired about a decade ago, right before his company went the way of the Do-Do. I have a large amount of space memorabilia, some of which features John Glenn. Mr. Glenn, I agree with you emphatically. How do we put BILLIONS of dollars in a space station we cannot even send a vehicle to; and what about our “partners” in the station? We do not even get along on Earth, and we are supposed to work with them in space? I do believe the VP in this administration has dropped the ball on their responsibility, and has stood silent as NASA, another intragovernmental agency, has been looted by our leaders; as for the Cape? Only massive lay-offs; Companies in existence for decades are no more. It breaks my heart too, Mr. Glenn. The Vice-President is in charge of the Space Program. Now, they have pledged more money for the Space Program, however, they also want to go commercial with the launch vehicles. If things go business as usual, it will more likely than not cost us; more than we can possibly imagine. As for the Astronauts whom have gone forth into space on the Russian vehicle, I suppose they have more courage than I, as did John Glenn when he strapped on that Atlas. Did they not explode every other launch in from the late fifties, until he went up in 1962, as does today’s Russian Soyuz? This is simply my own observation and opinion. Here is hoping yet again that this administration does not totally screw this up. Apologies for the delay getting this out, but I was pretty pissed when I read this article. I do not like to write when I am angry. This right now is me being nice. Godspeed to the future Obamanauts. (Astronauts desperate enough to take any ride to get into space) This Great Nation is supposed to be (or used to be) a world LEADER, as such, it is not right to have commercial companies building sub-par orbital vehicles, and many, many, many, many other things they are doing to drain every cent from our agencies, to pay for-well, I do not know. There is not a whole lot of news coming out about this Country, nor is there anyone seemingly held accountable for it all. Get the Hell out of our Oval Office, so that we might have another chance to regain the respect of the World.

GOD BLESS THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AND OUR ARMED FORCES!
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