The Real Reason Dinosaurs Died

Bush to Leave Budget filled with Landmines

2005-02-14T10:02:00.000-05:00

President Bush today sent to Congress a request for 81 Billion dollars worth of spending for this fiscal year for military efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan. That same amount of money could feed a million staving people in the World for 8000 days or just over 22 years! He also wants to send another 600 million to Asian nations hit hard because of the Tsunami on December 26th. Have we not done enough for these people? What about the people that were hit after the first World Trade Center attack. They were given NOTHING!

I believe in a strong Defense of the the United States but we have done what we need to do in Iraq, supposedly, and it is now time to make an "Exit Strategy" (one that we do not have at this time) and get the hell out. We do not hear a thing about what goes on in Afghanistan, but we spend billions of hard earned taxpayers money there with nary a plan. We have pressing issues at home and many peoples lives are falling apart because of this presidents social agenda, bring the troops home and let them put their lives back together as they too have had their live ripped apart from under them.

Why is it...Cell phones in Restaurants

2004-11-19T13:39:00.000-05:00

Why is it...That everybody feels it is necessary that I am included in their cell phone conversations while in a restaurant? I am getting fed up with trying to have a decent meal out, and having some phone moron (phoron) with his bleeping or chirping phone, with their cutesy-pie ringers, disturb me. Then as they continue to yell into their phone, as if it was a tin-can on a string, their dinner guest sits with a dumbed out look on their face for minutes on end. I on the other hand have to be included in their all too important calls about their; hair appointment of yesterday, their mother-in-law, what they are eating, etc. This absolutely infuriates me. When a phoron is confronted they almost always have no idea what you are talking about, as if that isn't suprising enough, but they sometimes even become irate, saying it is their right! My next act is to purchase a cell phone Jammer. http://www.globalgadgetuk.com/Personal.htm What this gadget does is block the incoming tower signal, showing only that their phone has no signal at the moment, so I may eat and talk in piece. Am I infringing on these peoples personal freedoms? Maybe. Are they infringing on mine? Most definitely! Restaurants should have enacted a policy where cell phones should not be allowed in their dining rooms long ago. If they do not want to do this, at the very least they should start reminding their guests to put phones on vibrate. Then if a call is received, the caller should leave the dining area and take the call outside, in the bar area or somewhere where everyone doesn't have to hear them speak ten decibles louder than normal. Do not sit there and act as if you are the most important person in the room and everyone needs to hear your business. This goes back to common courtesy and how we treat others and how you would like to be treated. Open your minds and think once in a while people, it doesn't hurt as much as you imagine.

The Fun Polizia are at it Again!

2004-11-15T11:14:00.000-05:00

It looks like the fun Nazis are at it again. According to an article from Reuters, little Deirdre Faegre has been suspended from her school in Los Angeles because she was, gasp, doing cartwheels. My god, what is next somersaults or ever worse the dreaded handstands? The fun Gestapo has gotten out of hand over the last few years removing the fun activities from the children's playgrounds and gym classes. School officials and "Safety Polizei" do not want them to have "winners and losers," they feel that this may scar the little tykes for life if they are not all labeled winners all of the time. Heaven forbid a child scrape their knee, bruise themselves, or otherwise come to grief. Where did all the fun stuff on the playground go, sure there were minor casualties, but you either got better at it or tried something else. Children of all ages used to have recess and time to run around and burn up excess energy from being pent up for seven and a half hours a day just listening and lining up in hallways (there would have been a whole lot less call for ritalin et al, and a whole lots less obese children). Lawyers and Government schools have taken all the fun out of being a child. Principal Denise Patton's "first concern is the safety of all children." I think it's high time that we go back and find Ms. Patton's grade school Principal and string her up. Let's find out why she was so callus in allowing the children of her school to gallivant around the playground and play on Chinese merry-go-rounds, teeter-totters, jungle gyms and all of the other recess monstrosities that Ms. Patton had so deftly dodged as a child. Ms. Patton and her entire graduating class of 11-year olds deserve medals, the ones that lived unscathed from the maniacal playground menaces, for what they had to endure. If they only knew, If they only knew.

Video Games

2004-11-10T07:38:00.000-05:00

Like a three dimensional chess board, moving aircraft left and right, up and down, take-off and landing clearances. Countless day shifts, night shifts, mid shifts and overtime. The lost sleep, returning back to the Tower/TRACON seemingly just after I had left it to do a "quick turn around." Three miles and a Thousand feet, sometimes more, more times than can be counted, less. Supervisors always looking the other way. The adrenaline rush of launching the Delta fleet in the quickest amount of time from the busiest airport in the World, or landing them in the shortest amount time with the least amount of spacing. That is all gone now. Thanks to an employee who did not take the care in his job, as I did in mine. Days now consist of filing Department of Labor paperwork, fighting with doctors about my condition and most importantly arguing with the FAA, the Giant who I gave 17 years of my life and love to, about why they only think that I can be useful as a Secretary. Where is the civility and the common sense? My brain is filled with routes, rules, frequencies, laws, etc. but slowly it seeps out of my cranium like the memories of a lifetime long lost. It was all once a video game, and I was the Pinball Wizard, moving aircraft like they were my toys being rearranged at a whim. Now it is gone like the hazy memories of my childhood youth.

Why is it...

2004-11-09T14:41:00.000-05:00

Why is it...that gay doesn't mean happy anymore? Anytime that you turn on the television, read a newspaper or scan a magazine we are smothered with gay stories and how unfair it is to be gay. I do not go and force my sexual orientation on you, do not force yours on me. Why is it...that a turn signal seems to be a sign of weakness. Here is Atlanta, if you turn on your signal to show that you are going to shift lanes it is nothing more than an indicator for the person in that lane to speed up so you cannot fit in any more. Why is it...that NOBODY can take responsibility for anything that they do when something bad happens. It is always someone else's fault. The generation of today, Generation A for Apathetic, feels that no matter how culpable they are in a situation that it is not there fault. Sometimes I feel we live in a land of Iraqis because whenever something is said to this generation about why this or that wasn't done, their response is "YABUTIWASGUNNA" (say it fast). Why is it...that parents nowadays feel that the sole burden of teaching, and to a great extent raising, their children falls on the school system? A parents role is to nurture their child, be there for them, help them with homework and make sure it is done correctly so they may receive a good education a make something of themselves. It is a scarier World than ever and the parents role is to provide guidance, direction, tools and knowledge to make the right decisions once the child is out on their own. As I have always told my children; in life you will come to many crossroads with difficult decisions and if you make the wrong decisions you will have to live with your choices, sometimes for a very long time. It is the parents responsibility to instill honesty, values, work ethic and the other assortment of needed traits to make them productive adults in society, not your local school systems.

Leadership by Colin Powell

2004-11-09T14:08:00.000-05:00

The day employee's stop bringing you their problems is the day you have stopped leading them!
They have either lost confidence that you can help them or concluded that you do not care!
Either case is a failure of Leadership!

Where in the Hell has My Show Gone?

2004-11-07T11:16:00.000-05:00

I am getting sick and tired of trying to watch television and having the networks slam ads on the bottom half of my screen to push another show of theirs for me to watch. This is the result of those of us who have decided to purchase DVR's and TiVo's, tape something, skip their advertisers commercials or ads for an upcoming episode for some drivel, and have a somewhat enjoyable viewing experience without bothersome commercials. The networks have realized that they are losing millions of dollars of advertising and revenue while we don't slog through their ads for their other shows that we used to have to watch. These on screen show ads have gotten absurdly large, sometimes taking up more than half of the screen. I now take note of them to remind myself what show or product not to purchase, EVER. Next up of course, and it is happening already to some extent, is cleverly placed products on shows. Keep your eyes "tuned" and you will see what "eye" mean.

See you next time.

2004-11-05T19:48:00.000-05:00

Binx aka The Binx. The Lordess of the house. Ruler of all laps in the castle and believes that we are here to only serve her. Favorite foods include whipped cream and tuna dip with hot sauce, (also sometimes small bunnies and baby birds).

2004-11-05T19:28:00.000-05:00

Genny aka Genevieve. Can you believe that someone actually wanted to have this wonderful dog put down at 7 months old. They should put the owner down. Champion squirrel chaser & catcher.

Why is it....

2004-11-05T14:35:00.000-05:00

Why is it...So hard for people to look you in the eye when they are talking to you? Are they all guilty of something. Why is it...So hard to say thank you when you do a kind gesture like hold a door open for them either man or women. Have we as Americans lost all of our common courtesy in the never ending push to exist in a hurry up society that simple courteous phrases have become roadkill? Why is it...that a hack like Paris Hilton can keep getting an extension on her 15 minutes of fame and fortune (born into it), but our inner city school teachers dodge knives and bullets and get zero recognition, and a salary that is the equivalent to Paris' weekly botox bill? Why is it...when a pilot tries to argue with me that he should make 300k per year because he has 200 lives at stake at any one time, I tell him that at any one time I have 15 to 20 aircraft on my scope with 200 people in them, soooo I should make 6 million a year:) he doesn't get it. This is the same person that tells me that an offer to fly twice a month at 285k a year was a slap in the face. I told him that for 285k a year I would lick the fuc!&ng plane clean when I was done with every flight. Didn't go over very well. Some people don't live in the real world with mortgages, bills, etc. Unless of course they're second home mortgages, aircraft loans, etc. Why is it...That just when you start to understand what your parents went through with you and you start to really appreciate them as friends and not just lifeboats and banks, they are gone. It was too short a time before I really got to know my father as a man and a friend and I miss him. If you haven't done so today, call your parents and tell them you love them and thank them for all of their sacrifices.

More tomorrow. CJ

He who says it last, Says it best

2004-11-05T08:24:00.000-05:00

"We have become a Nazi monster in the eyes of the whole world, a nation of bullies and bastards who would rather kill than live peacefully. We are not just Whores for power and oil, but killer whores with hate and fear in our hearts. We are human scum, and that is how history will judge us. No redeeming social value. Just whores. Get out of our way, or we'll kill you.
Who does vote for these dishonest shitheads? Who among us can be happy and proud of having all this innocent blood on our hands? Who are these swine? These flag-sucking half-wits who get fleeced and fooled by stupid little rich kids like George Bush?
They are the same ones who wanted to have Muhammad Ali locked up for refusing to kill gooks. They speak for all that is cruel and stupid and vicious in the American character. They are the racists and hate mongers among us; they are the Ku Klux Klan. I piss down the throats of these Nazis.
And I am too old to worry about whether they like it or not. Fuck them."

Hunter S. Thompson

2004-11-04T19:51:00.000-05:00

Cleared visual approach RWY26R, maintain visual separation with traffic on the parallel runway.
Posted by CJ

2004-11-04T19:30:00.000-05:00

Photo of Atlanta Tower. My home away from home. The busiest airport in the world, where we work some hellacious traffic.

Basking in the Glow of the Red Sox, but what about Hockey?

2004-11-04T13:58:00.000-05:00

As a lifetime Seacoast New Hampshirite, and a self described sports junkie before my workplace accident tripped me up, it was absolutely amazing to watch my beloved 2004 Red Sox win the World Series. They did so in such a dominant fashion to boot. On the other hand the NHL and their owners sit in their mansions with no negotiations scheduled in the near future, not even willing to look at the Players latest proposal, and waste away the season one game and day at a time. Both sides say they are in this for the long haul which mean there will be no hockey in the near future, with the NHL All-Star game canceled today in my current city of residence, and the season on the edge of extinction. Who is right? The owners have openly said that they made a dopey deal last time and now it is time for them to make up for that. But can you ever go backwards? Or do just hope to remain status quo at best? The players have become "scabs" in other leagues around the world, taking jobs away from other players who would have had a shot on their respective teams until these "hotshots" came in just to stay in shape. Who's right?

Arafat is Dead, no wait, he's Alive, no wait...

2004-11-04T13:35:00.000-05:00

Why is it that the news media has to rush to judgment on every single story without providing the facts. Are they news reporters or are they the news makers? This is not the olden days where being first, topping the other media company whether it be print or electronic, meant something. With the e-volvement of the internet, cellphones, etc. everyone has the news almost instantaneously anyway, usually from a more validated source than the reporters. Reuters came out about an hour ago saying Arafat was brain-dead. Now they are saying Palestinian Leader Arafat is Alive according to a hospital spokesman. In their rush to judgment it only makes them look inept and second rate.

Why is it

2004-11-04T09:24:00.000-05:00

Why is it that... the more inept a person is, the farther up the corporate ladder they climb? In my profession, Air Traffic Control, if you cannot control traffic, they will make you a Supervisor of those of us who can! And at the busiest airport in the world this should make you scratch your head. But don't worry it happens in all FAA facilities;)
Why is it... that people will personally commit to certain individuals who on paper (or the organization chart) possess little authority, but instead possess pizzazz, drive, expertise and genuine caring for teammates, outcome or products. On the other side, non-leaders in management may be anointed with all of the perks and frills associated with high positions, but they have little influence on others, apart from their ability to extract minimal compliance to minimal standards.
Why is it...If the Flinstones have to use their feet all of the time while peddling their car, why don't they just run everywhere? (Evan C. my son)

In a well run organization titles are meaningless, results count! If people really followed organization charts , companies would collapse.

"Producers, not Looters"

My Motto ~ Mantra

2004-11-03T15:00:00.000-05:00

I swear by my life and my love of it that I will never live for the sake of another man, nor ask another man to live for the sake of mine. John Galt

Mr. President

2004-11-03T13:49:00.000-05:00

Why is it that the American people lean towards the lowest common denominator, President Bush, when it comes to choosing a leader. This is a man who cannot speak a coherant sentence. "I was thinking tha uther day." G.W. Bush November1. Is it that the American people want someone that they can relate to? Do we not what someone who can boost ourselves up and make us better? This is not to say John Kerry would have done this, but there must be someone who can, so we can act and sound like we are not all checking out of the local Wal-Mart.