Portrait of Pat

Chicken Little was right!

It shouldn't come to any great shock that military reality includes the killing of women and children, even though they try with great predictability to deny it. Whether deliberate or incidently, women and children have been killed in the course of warfare for centuries. Sometimes they just "get in the way", sometimes they're killed to prevent the enemy from growing new warriors.
It also shouldn't shock anyone that the Bush administration has for years been punishing countries that receive US aid if they engage in the use of birth control and abortion.
The Popes too have been encouraging people around the world to be "fruitful and multiply".
Because of limited resources ( yes the earth has its limits) scientists and environmental groups have tried to encourage a limit to population growth. These efforts have led mostly to scorn and derision. "Chicken littles"and "Oh the sky is falling" chuckled the smart ones.
So the latest "plan" put forth by the US Army, although not shocking, marks a change in the excuses they use for warring on others .
No longer will it be for "democracy " or "freedom",
They have taken off the mask, and as we all knew they were anyway, will be fighting for resources.
A major threat in this war has been identified in this latest plan as the
"youth bulge"
"A key current threat is a radical, ideology-based,
long-term terrorist threat bent on using any means
available—to include weapons of mass destruction—to
achieve its political and ideological ends."
The youth, the children of those who oppose us, are now the identified main targets of US hostility.
As they are those who are reacting to our occupations of their homes, and the domination of their countries.
Domination is the goal...resistance is futile against our technology.
So the zealots gain more followers,
In a continuous cycle of violence, caused by our need for material, political and ideological security.
Yes, all the people went forth and multiplied just like they were supposed to,
and now their damn kids are eating all of our food, drinking our water and using up all of our oil.
How dare the little fuckers?
So now they're gonna have to die,
and sadly some think it is our destiny to kill them.
2008 Army Modernization Strategy

Woof!

Yep.
So the stock markets are continuing to go down the toilet,
Obama blames Bush and McCain blames the rules,
and ya know what?
Woof!
If economics were a real science with real experts,
this kind of crap would never happen right?
They would rig things so that everything always worked out fine.
But, they're not.
Economists are to financial reality what military music is to music.
My usual news/info sources predicted this crash last year,
and another prediction(several months ago) from my sources stated that there would be a second more devastating drop.....right about now.
So really, it looks like what should have been a "no-brainer" ,
is turning out to be a major calamity,
created by a bunch of "no-brains".
They should have seen it coming,
or maybe they did,
or maybe it's sooooo bad that there isn't shit that anyone can do about it.
Our economy is so tied up to international interests that there isn't much anyone can do without pissing someone else off.
Our experts on both sides of the political aisle have sold us down the river,
caught between a rock and a hard place.
We have the biggest debt in history,
the wars are being fought on credit,
and as soon as our overseas financers can get out from under their dealings with US,
they're gonna ditch us like a bag of dope in a car being chased by the pohleeeeese!

That's our new doggie by the way, she's been running loose and getting into trouble,
so now she's got a home and maybe we can fatten her up a little.........
and teach her some economics!

UPDATE

See, this is exactly what I'm talking about........
I pop open an article titled
10 Banks Form 70B Fund to Stave off Crash
and here's a quote from it that is bound to amuse anyone with a 2nd grade or better math comprehension....
"All the investment banks will be able to borrow up to a third of the $70 billion fund in order to reduce volatility and stay in business while Lehman is being wound down."

All 10 banks will be able to borrow up to a third?
If they were to ask, I'd be happy to close down my woodworking business
and go help them.

Name that tool?

I ended up with these things but I'm not sure what they are.
The tool in the back that looks like ice tongs are identified as,
Snap On Vacuum Grip
The other plier looking things with an overbite made by Pazzano USA
It is very old.
My wife says the other 2 pieces are tubing flaring tools, ya?

update:
The overbite plier looking thingy is a battery tool......
FF Pazzano Patent #2,071,897
Pazzano battery tool

Stark #4 9" bench lathe

Posting on this lathe just in case there's anyone else out there googling
Stark #4 9" bench lathe.
This is an oldie and one of the better quality machines I've seen.
The machined surfaces are ground, not milled and all the parts fit precisely.
The paint has chipped and chipped again and been re-painted who knows how many times, but that just adds to the charm because the paint has no effect on the quality of the parts produced on this machine.
And the basic shape of the thing is very artsy to say the least, I love it!
I picked this up on an internet auction and didn't realize until I put it in the shop that the motor is rated for 440 volt 3 phase power.
The best I can do here is 220 volt 3 phase, so for now it sits and collects dust.
The turret tailstock is in good shape as is the cross slide although it's not original, made by Wade also from Waltham. I think several of the companies in that area standardized their parts so that they could be interchanged. Kinda neat eh?
Waltham seems to have been a major source of precision machinery and must have been a cool place, if you like machining and casting and all that stuff. :-)
Tracing the history on this machine was fun.
Originally purchased and used in the toolroom of National Cash Register in Dayton Ohio,
it ended up in auction in La Verne California and how it got there is a mystery to me.
The age is unknown. Stark closed in the 1950's but I think it's older than that.
If it dates back to the 1910's or so, there's a chance it was used by one of the greatest US inventers
Charles Kettering -Wikipedia (here)
While you're there, check out what might be the worlds first cruise missle (here)