Landing jets on a carrier at sea is always "fun."  Landing them at night during heavy seas is enough to age you ten years.

Once you start, you can't stop watching.

Happiness is a warm machine gun

California's great central valley is a huge agricultural area, that produces a multitude of products.  In fact, ag is likely the largest industry in the state.

However, in recent years the politicians of one particular party have conspired to kill off as much of it as they can, for reasons of their own, and in this case they have done major damage through the use of environmental regulations.

A local congressman, Devin Nunes, has introduced legislation that seeks to remedy that, but already President Obama is promising to veto it.

This sign I have actually seen with my own eyes during my travels through the valley. Notice the dead orchard behind it.

No matter what we do, this needed legislation is probably bottled up until such time as the Democrats in general and Obama in particular are ejected from office, but it is yet another example of the anti American, anti business, anti working man and woman policies of this political party.

From the article, we learn that...

... if it passes, it will guarantee that water the farmers paid for finally gets to the parched Central Valley. It will put an end to the sorry stream of shriveled vineyards, blackened almond groves and unemployed farm workers standing in alms lines for bagged carrots from China.

The insanity of the current policies against some of America’s most productive farmers in one of the world’s richest farm belts is largely the work leftist politicians from the wealthy enclaves of the San Francisco Bay Area. This group has exerted its political muscle on the less politically powerful region that produces more than half the fruits and vegetables consumed in the U.S. — with $26 billion in annual sales.

“The bill restores the flow of water and establishes a framework for meaningful environmental improvements. It is a repudiation of the left’s assault on rural communities, which began with the decimation of the West’s timber industry and now is focused on Central Valley agriculture,” Nunes told IBD.

The stand-alone bill, H.R. 1837, marks the first time Central Valley water shortages and the federal role in creating them will be considered directly in Congress.

The "Health" department raids a community picnic and demands that all food be destroyed with bleach.

Because this was a gathering of people invited to our farm for dinner, I had no idea that the Health Department would become involved. I received a phone call from them two days before the event informing me that because this was a “public event” (I would like to know what is the definition of “public” and “private”) we would be required to apply for a “special use permit.” If we did not do so immediately, we would be charged a ridiculous fine. Stunned, we immediately complied.

It's hard to say what the rest of the story is here, if there is a rest of the story, but to hear these people tell it, they were out and out terrorized by the Health Department employees.

Is this not just as creepy as that old "he knows when you are sleeping..." Santa Claus song?

It's snowing nicely in Yosemite.  This is the meadow in front of the Ahwahnee Hotel in the valley, which is actually pretty low in elevation, and they are getting a dose of the white stuff.

Good.

According to this Daily Mail article, these tourists had a closer than expected encounter with a grizzly in Alaska.

  

The article didn't allow embedding the video, so follow the link above, but suffice it to say here that these people dodged a big hairy bullet.

They don't always stop when they charge like this, and it's up to the bear to decide on that. Not the smartest bunch of people on the planet. 

The smug look on the face of the chick below makes me wish the bear had torn into them, just so the survivors (if there were any) would leave the hospital with more respect for nature.  They act like this is a big zoo trip without the bars.

Idiots.

WHY DO WE HAVE LEAP YEARS?

We have a leap year because a standard year is not actually exactly 365 days long - it's 365.2422 days long, so slightly longer than we count in a standard year calendar.

That long number - 365.2422 - is the number of days it takes the planet Earth, on average, to make a full rotation around the sun.

So, an extra day is added onto our shortest month, about once every four years, in order to keep the calendar months in line with their assigned seasons. If we didn't add the day to compensate, the months would get so out of step with the seasons that eventually we'd be celebrating Christmas in the middle of summer.

Freckles, they are good.

Alice in wonder. At Fantasyland.

Bobby Jindal lays the hurt on President Clowncar and his inane energy policies.  Great video.


Gov. Bobby Jindal on Energy from Republican Governors Association on Vimeo.

Another great article from the Belmont Club.

An excerpt:

"because one more thing was lacking. In the period between the collapse of an era but before the birth of a new one comes a peculiar phase which Winston Churchill called The Hinge of Fate. It is a curious, shockingly rapid period. Before the Hinge things run predominantly in one direction and afterwards they run entirely in another. The current crisis has not yet reached the Hinge, but the sands are slowly shifting for those with a mind to notice them."


Go thee forth and read it.

Meanwhile, in Finland, Ole Salomonsen captured this shot of the aurora, with some rare red color.

Open road post.

Good old American ingenuity in action!!

Mitt, Mitt, Mitt.

How, I ask you, can a front running candidate from a major political party, with years of experience campaigning, blurt out a clanger like this:

Asked by the AP reporter if he follows NASCAR, Romney responded, “Not as closely as some of the most ardent fans. But I have some great friends who are NASCAR team owners.”

Democrats and liberals quickly ridiculed the remark on Twitter. “I don’t know people who fish but I know people who own yachts,” tweeted Brad Woodhouse, communications director of the Democratic National Committee. Ari Melber, a writer for the liberal Nation magazine who apparently was watching the Oscars, tweeted: “Do I like movies? Well I have some friends who own movie companies.”…

For Romney, it was just his world and his friends. For Democrats, it was a political opportunity. “This is just the latest example of how out of touch Mitt Romney is from the average American experience. From an economic plan that provides tax cuts to line the pockets of his friends — like those who own NASCAR teams — to wanting Wall Street to write its own rules, Mitt Romney just doesn’t get it and won’t work to restore economic security for the middle class,” said DNC press secretary Melanie Roussell.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Israeli officials say they won't warn the U.S. if they decide to launch a pre-emptive strike against Iranian nuclear facilities, according to one U.S. intelligence official familiar with the discussions. The pronouncement, delivered in a series of private, top-level conversations, sets a tense tone ahead of meetings in the coming days at the White House and Capitol Hill.


Of course they won't!  They know that somehow, someway, the administration would find a way to either short circuit the attack, or flat out warn the Iranians.


So much for fostering trust and support from our allies.

Perhaps believing that their liberal pedigree immunized them from criticism, the Ben and Jerry's ice cream company has stepped in it big time as a result of this special flavor honoring New England basketball sensation Jeremy Lin:

It has lychee nut flavored swirls and bits of fortune cookie.  This was found to be horribly insulting to Asian people, by grievance mongering thin skinned clowns everywhere.   And just like their hero president, both Ben and Jerry immediately erred by offering a groveling apology.

Holy smokes, people, just tell the critics to get a life, and go forward.  Apparently the flavor has sold out, so it is a clear sales success, meaning Ben and Jerry should have grown a pair and told the nannies to stuff it.  The folks who bought it obviously didn't see a problem.

My favorite flavor, however, will always be this:

But I send this flavor to people I really "like."

Or, this flavor to my favorite politician.

And I'd buy this if it was a real flavor.

And finally, this is the famous flavor the company really did release to the public!!

Brackfas burrito fail (pretty good price, though. Wonder what kind of "meet" might be in them!).

Freckles....well, you know.

Open road post.  Feel the breeze.

Although it is clear and sunny here, it looks like the mountains are getting at least a dusting of snow. That is Half Dome up at Yosemite peeking through the clouds.

Mondays, they're like that.

Duck, it's what's for dinner.

Jupiter, Venus and the Moon shine over Norilsk, Russia in this excellent picture by Pavel Kantsurov.

Freckles, they are good.

One last cold and quiet, since is seems winter is long gone for this year.

As gas prices continue to rise, and the bony finger of blame is pointed at the greedy capitalistic oil companies, keep this chart in mind.

In fact, print it out and tape it to the pump every time you buy gas.

That will piss everyone off, but you will provide the public a service through the education your act will give. 

Monkeywrenching the superstate is so much fun.

In this video, a Democrat congresswoman in New York gets her azz handed to her by her constituents on the issue of the Obamacare mandate.  Interestingly, she had absolutely no response except to apologize for starting the town hall meeting late.

Pathetic.

For a candidate who promised voters he would be "post partisan" and would bring both sides of the aisle in Congress together, Obama has been hugely disappointing.  In fact, he has been the most partisan and divisive president in modern memory.  Other than in the sixties, I have never seen people so angry and riled up, myself included.

The next election, we as voters had better do more than allow ourselves to be beguiled by slick campaign rhetoric, and instead insist that anyone asking for our votes have a proven record of adherence to the constitution and belief in American culture.  Nothing else at this point in time will be acceptable.

 Odds and ends from around the homestead.  Mostly weeds in flower. It is so springlike that it's hard to believe it's still February.

                                God's paintbrush swept across our sky here in central California

Millions of Muslims react in jubilation upon learning that a new translation of the Koran reveals that Allah does in fact favor and allow the consumption of bacon.

"Finally," commented Hamid al Maktoom, head of Islamic scholarship at Cairo University, "now we too can join the infidels in the enjoyment of the ecstasy that is ham and bacon, which we have been so cruelly denied for generations by this mistranslation of our holy book."

Welcome Muslims! I think your moods will improve shortly, now that your days can also begin with bacon!

As President Clowncar prepares to retreat from Afghanistan with whimpering and mewling sounds, it should be remembered that as in Vietnam, the politicians were the ones who lost the day, and in particular the Democrat politicians.

Our allies, however, see us differently than we might believe, if one only reads the MSM papers or watches the news.

Of all our allies, the French take the most hits in our collective consciousness, being seen as somewhat craven and prone to retreat.  However, once again we must look beyond the propaganda organs of our dominant media, and read something that they themselves write to really get an idea of how they see us.

Go here to read a report done by a French infantry soldier, and translated to English, on how they see us after sharing battle space with our men and women.

Read it all, but here is a good excerpt:

  "And they are impressive warriors!  We have not come across bad ones, as strange at it may seem to you when you know how critical French people can be.  Even if some of them are a bit on the heavy side, all of them provide us everyday with lessons in infantry know-how.  Beyond the wearing of a combat kit that never seems to discomfort them (helmet strap, helmet, combat goggles, rifles etc.) the long hours of watch at the outpost never seem to annoy them in the slightest.  On the one square meter wooden tower above the perimeter wall they stand the five consecutive hours in full battle rattle and night vision goggles on top, their sight focused in the directions of likely danger.  No distractions, no pauses, they are like statues nights and days.  At night, all movements are performed in the dark – only a handful of subdued red lights indicate the occasional presence of a soldier on the move.  Same with the vehicles whose lights are covered – everything happens in pitch dark even filling the fuel tanks with the Japy pump.

And combat?  If you have seen Rambo you have seen it all – always coming to the rescue when one of our teams gets in trouble, and always in the shortest delay.  That is one of their tricks: they switch from T-shirt and sandals to combat ready in three minutes.  Arriving in contact with the enemy, the way they fight is simple and disconcerting: they just charge! They disembark and assault in stride, they bomb first and ask questions later – which cuts any pussyfooting short."

Great stuff, through and through, and not what we are used to hearing. 

Whoever did this had a lot of time on their hands, and cold feet.

Saturday open road.