Just sayin’.

United To Charge Heavier Passengers Twice To Fly

Airline Says Overweight Travelers Will Need To Buy Extra Seats Or Be Denied Entry To Planes

Speaking of nostalgia (as I more or less did in my previous post, albeit somewhat facetiously), who remember’s the 1960’s?  Of course, as the old saw goes, if you remember the 60’s, you missed the 60’s.  I remember.  Although the early 70’s are a little blurry.

Anyway, here’s a pretty cool commercial from back in the day.  We need to get a little more upbeat here at LTG, doncha think?

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Hat Tip: James Lileks

Or should I say taxes bite.  Yes, I met my obligations as a citizen today and filed my taxes.  In addition to the sizable chunk I contribute each payday, Uncle Sam asked me for another four grand.  Although it looks like I will be getting an ownership interest in GM (Government Motors) as part of the deal.

Looking at the bright side, I expect that in coming years I will look back nostalgicly at 2008 and remember the good ol’ days when taxes were comparatively low. 

Hope and change.  I just hope I won’t be nickled and dimed to death.  I’m bound to be disappointed. 

At least according to Igor Panarin, a Russian academic quoted in in this ariticle from the Wall Street Journal.

For a decade, Russian academic Igor Panarin has been predicting the U.S. will fall apart in 2010. For most of that time, he admits, few took his argument — that an economic and moral collapse will trigger a civil war and the eventual breakup of the U.S. — very seriously. Now he’s found an eager audience: Russian state media.

Prof. Panarin, 50 years old, is not a fringe figure. A former KGB analyst, he is dean of the Russian Foreign Ministry’s academy for future diplomats. He is invited to Kremlin receptions, lectures students, publishes books, and appears in the media as an expert on U.S.-Russia relations.

But it’s his bleak forecast for the U.S. that is music to the ears of the Kremlin, which in recent years has blamed Washington for everything from instability in the Middle East to the global financial crisis. Mr. Panarin’s views also fit neatly with the Kremlin’s narrative that Russia is returning to its rightful place on the world stage after the weakness of the 1990s, when many feared that the country would go economically and politically bankrupt and break into separate territories.

A polite and cheerful man with a buzz cut, Mr. Panarin insists he does not dislike Americans. But he warns that the outlook for them is dire.

And we all know that Russia has been the model state for promoting peace and stability throughout the world. Just ask a Georgian.

Mr. Panarin posits, in brief, that mass immigration, economic decline, and moral degradation will trigger a civil war next fall and the collapse of the dollar. Around the end of June 2010, or early July, he says, the U.S. will break into six pieces — with Alaska reverting to Russian control.

Heh. I guess Sarah Palin will be able to see Russia from her front porch after all.

He based the forecast on classified data supplied to him by FAPSI analysts, he says. He predicts that economic, financial and demographic trends will provoke a political and social crisis in the U.S. When the going gets tough, he says, wealthier states will withhold funds from the federal government and effectively secede from the union. Social unrest up to and including a civil war will follow. The U.S. will then split along ethnic lines, and foreign powers will move in.

California will form the nucleus of what he calls “The Californian Republic,” and will be part of China or under Chinese influence. Texas will be the heart of “The Texas Republic,” a cluster of states that will go to Mexico or fall under Mexican influence. Washington, D.C., and New York will be part of an “Atlantic America” that may join the European Union. Canada will grab a group of Northern states Prof. Panarin calls “The Central North American Republic.” Hawaii, he suggests, will be a protectorate of Japan or China, and Alaska will be subsumed into Russia.

Well, the current People’s Republic of California is already more communistic/socialist than China, so that part seems like a good fit. Texas a part of Mexico? But what claim does Mexico have on Texas for crissakes. And oh yeah, remember the Alamo?

Canada will “grab” a group of northern states? With what, the RCMP? I have much respect for my Canadian cousins, but last I looked they don’t have the military capacity to grab their ass with both hands. I suspect a combined force of deer hunters from Michigan and Wisconsin could pretty much conquer all of the Great White North over a long weekend. Well, except for Alberta. Those guys are still scary tough.

From what I’ve heard, Hawaii is already pretty much a vassal of Japan and New England has my blessings if it wants to join the EU. Them damn Yankees are way to European in their thinking anyway. Who needs ’em?

“It would be reasonable for Russia to lay claim to Alaska; it was part of the Russian Empire for a long time.” A framed satellite image of the Bering Strait that separates Alaska from Russia like a thread hangs from his office wall. “It’s not there for no reason,” he says with a sly grin.

It’s all about the oil. No blood for oil!

The professor says he’s convinced that people are taking his theory more seriously. People like him have forecast similar cataclysms before, he says, and been right. He cites French political scientist Emmanuel Todd. Mr. Todd is famous for having rightly forecast the demise of the Soviet Union — 15 years beforehand. “When he forecast the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1976, people laughed at him,” says Prof. Panarin.

I know I’m taking this seriously. Who in the hell is going to pay my federal pension after the breakup? THIS WILL NOT STAND!!!!

Professor Panarin provides this helpful post-apocalypse map so we can all study up on our U.S. geography. Oh wait, we never studied the old geography. Ignorant Americans!

Since I’m scheduled to be in Korea until January 2011 I guess I’ll miss all the excitement. Good luck, y’all.

In the summer of 2006 I was in the Big Apple for a conference. One day while randomly wandering the streets of Manhattan I stumbled upon Korea town. Didn’t even know it was there. One minute I’m in NYC and the next thing I know I’m back in Seoul. It was really pretty cool.

And now, thanks to the Marmot, I’ve found a video report depicting the sights and sounds of this vibrant Korean community. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

The way it used to be. More than a decade before my time but still made me wax nostalgic somehow. In living color no less.

Oh beautiful for spacious skies… go have a look!

…but won’t immediately recognize. This is truly an amazing display of talent. See for yourself:

Hat Tip: Althouse

Finally bought some new batteries and uploaded the photos from my vacation. Wanna see? Well ok then, here they are:

Sunrise from my hotel window at the Marriott International Resort in Orlando. One of the benefits you get from jet lag is waking up with the crows…

And here he is eating the pistacios I left on my balcony…

After finishing the conference in Florida, I jetted back to San Francisco, the city on the bay…

On the way to my brother’s house, I took a stroll across the Golden Gate Bridge…

My brother Keith, his wife Kathy, and me…geez, I can tell from the “v” sign that I have been in Korea too long…

A wonderful drive through the mountains was just what I needed. Here’s a high Sierra lake I happened upon…

On the other side of the Sierra Nevada’s sits Mono Lake. Given its name, it may be best not to drink the water…

The road winds ever downward into the desert…

Then straightens out for the journey to Death Valley…

In the valley of death…

And on the other side is the oasis that is Las Vegas. My abode was the Monte Carlo, convienently located in the heart of the strip, next to New York, New York and across the street from the MGM Grand. I was quite comfortable there…

The aforementioned New York, New York hotel and casino. I left behind some money there to help pay for upkeep and such…

To be honest, I prefer old downtown Fremont Street to the strip. It’s more like the way Vegas used to be. And lots of single deck Blackjack….

The entrance to the Monte Carlo. More affordable than the glitzy new places, which suits me just fine. I got my room for less than half of what the MGM was charging. The money I saved was was instead invested in a failed attempt to get rich gambling. Alas…

Traversing the stip was made easier via the Las Vegas monorail. Good thing too, it was 110F which made walking not too fun…

The Paris hotel and casino. As close as I’m likely to get to France. Which suits me just fine…

A view of the strip at night…

The famous dancing fountains at the Bellagio…

I took a day trip to the Hoover Dam. Yeah, I am such a tourist.

On one side of the dam is Lake Mead….

On the other the mighty Colorado River…

Pretty damn impressive, eh?

I also took a plane ride to the West end of the Grand Canyon. Done the North and South rims previously, but I can’t get enough of this amazing hole in the ground…

The plane was small and full. I was in the last row, right next to the emergency exit. Luckily, I didn’t need to use it…

The west end is on the Hualapai Indian Reservation…

No photo ever does justice to the immensity of the canyon…

I did the new skywalk over the canyon. It was pretty freakin’ amazing. That first step onto the glass with nothing but a chasm below was a weird feeling, but definitely awesome. A whole new way to look at the canyon for sure. I took the $25. admission fee in stride, figuring it was just the red man’s way of getting some revenge on the white man for past injustices. Although I already repaid my debt in the Indian casinos I suppose…

The Colorado river from the air with Lake Mead in the distance…

Ok, I have a few shots of LA’s Korea town and the trip up the California coast but I’m have about enough of this for now. I imagine you have too, right?

Back from my travels. Started in Orlando for a conference. Great hotel, but everything was expensive. Blew a week’s per diem on the first day I reckon.

Then it was vacation time. Flew back to San Francisco, rented a car and did a whirlwind tour. Visted my brother in the bay area, then drove through the Sierra Nevada mountains and Death Valley on my way to Las Vegas.

Vegas was Vegas. The blackjack tables weren’t totally unkind, but given that I never know when to stop I left some money to help pay the light bills. I actually spent some time at the tables in New York, New York but had left the day before the shootings. So, I missed out on all the excitement, but I guess that was a good thing.

Drove back through the city of my birth, Los Angeles, and had a great Korean dinner in Korea town. Never had been there and it was pretty interesting to find myself in a Seoul-like environment smack dab in the City of Angels.

Then it was up the beautiful California coastline to San Fran, on the airplane and home safe and sound last night. Feels like I was gone forever and it was nice to sleep in my own bed again last night.

Sorry that I was not able to see more friends and family this trip, but I was taking some time for me. Hopefully I will carry forward a better frame of mind and outlook on this so called life of mine.

I do appreciate all the good thoughts and wishes y’all sent my way.

So, its back to darts…

Yep, still killing these early morning hours deep in the bowels of the ‘Net while the rest of the house sleeps. Check out these Ten Worst (as in dangerous) Toys of All Time.

Not to be missed is the Johnny Reb toy cannon at #8, complete with Confederate Battle Flag. You definitely want to see the commercial for this 1961 offering. Yeah, I remember the ad although at $11.98 it was out of my reach.

Well, you can fill in maps of places you have been….

create your own personalized map of the USA
or check out ourCalifornia travel guide

Five years ago on a beautiful September morning, NYC firefighter Samuel Oitice answered the call to rescue victims in the World Trade Center. They found his remains in the rubble six months later.

He was one of the 2996 who perished on that fateful day. He is the one I was selected to honor today.

It is hard to imagine the sense of duty and bravery it required to enter that towering inferno in order to save as many lives as possible. Samuel Oitice did not fail in his duty and died a hero. His courage and selflessness are both an inspiration and a reminder that throughout our nation’s history, so called ordinary people have responded in extraordinary ways when called upon to do so. They have a name for people like Samuel Oitice. American.

I never met the man. But I watched him die on television. I knew in that moment that everything had changed. For me. For the world. Five years on I find comfort and hope in the memory of Samuel Oitice.

Here is his story:

Samuel Oitice and his wife, Jean, met on the Peekskill, N.Y., ambulance corps. “He was the driver and I was the crew chief, and I said, `That’s how we’re going to keep it,’ ” she said. “I’d tell everyone that story, but it’s not funny anymore.”

Samuel Oitice, 45, was a New York City firefighter who lived in Peekskill. The couple had a son, John, 19, and a daughter, Jessica, 16.

In the past year, Mrs. Oitice has had to take on her husband’s love of roller coasters. “The higher they were, the bigger the drop, the more he loved them,” she said.

She used to stay on the ground, but has since ridden Disney World’s Tower of Terror with her daughter, who told her, “Daddy would be proud.”

And he knew the risks of his job.

“He said to the kids at one point, when they finally realized what he did: `I married your mom for a reason. I know if something happens to me she’ll get you through this,’ ” she said. “It has just given me strength to know that he had so much faith in me to keep the family together.”

After his funeral, his best friend came into the firehouse, laughing, she said. Seems the fire truck carrying his body had stalled in the graveyard and couldn’t be started. “I said, `He’s playing with us.’ He hated all the pomp and circumstance. He didn’t want it.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2002/12/08/na…-08OITICE.html

Peekskill firefighter’s dream was to help others

By MARILYN ANDERSON RHAMES
THE JOURNAL NEWS
(Original publication: March 19, 2002)

PEEKSKILL — Cold, wet rain helped to mask the tears that flowed during yesterday’s burial service for Samuel Oitice, a New York City firefighter who died in the World Trade Center terrorist attack.

But some said the service itself was a blessing, since Oitice’s body remained missing until six months after the tragedy. Rescue workers pulled Oitice’s remains from Ground Zero last week.

“We are grateful Sam has been found,” Mayor John Testa said. “It is great to be able to say good-bye to Sam properly.”

The family, which has publicly grieved at various memorials and tributes, kept the funeral at Joseph F. Nardone Funeral Home brief. A representative of Gov. George Pataki expressed his condolences, and the Rev. Vernon Wickrematunge admonished mourners to fight anger and guilt by keeping Oitice alive in their memories.

“By remembering, we are able to reap the harvest he had sown while he was with us,” Wickrematunge said.

Oitice, 45, grew up in Peekskill, graduating from Assumption Elementary School and Peekskill High School. He worked as a Peekskill police officer in the early 1980s, but quit to become a firefighter at Manhattan’s 4 Truck at 48th Street and Eighth Avenue. Even so, he fortified his ties to Peekskill by serving as a volunteer firefighter for the past 25 years.

“Sammy is really hard to describe. He always had a light in him, always had to do what needed to be done,” Peekskill Fire Chief Jim Seymour said. “He was a happy-go-lucky guy — just a great person.”

A husband to Jean and father to John, 19, and Jessica, 15, Oitice was also remembered as a family man who loved children. He founded and coached a roller hockey team for Peekskill teen-agers, volunteered at school spaghetti dinners and taught fire safety in the schools.

“He was a good man. He did a lot for all the kids,” said a teary-eyed Patrick Strang, 17.

Since the Sept. 11 attack, Oitice’s son, John, has become a volunteer firefighter in Peekskill. This month, John wore his father’s fire jacket as he marched in the city’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade. The city named the younger Oitice an honorary aide in the parade.

“Peekskill was always proud of Sam. Now the nation is proud of him,” said Deb Carlin Polhill, a parade committee member and childhood friend of Oitice’s.

Some 40 uniformed firefighters from New York City chartered a bus to attend Oitice’s funeral. Dozens more volunteer firefighters from Peekskill and surrounding areas also paid their respects.

After fire officials mounted Oitice’s flag-draped coffin atop Engine 134 from Peekskill’s Fire Patrol, a 50-car procession settled at Assumption Cemetery in Cortlandt. Oitice’s parents, Julian and Eleanor, were among the roughly 150 mourners. A lone bagpiper played “Amazing Grace,” then people lined up to hug the family and to lay long-stemmed roses on the coffin.

Art Ubben, a retired police detective in Peekskill, tearfully recalled a conversation he had with Oitice two years ago.

“He said, ‘My whole life I wanted to be a firefighter. I’m so happy.’ Then this happens,” Ubben said. “He believed in what he was doing. He was helping people. That was his life’s dream and that’s what he achieved.”

http://www.thejournalnews.com/newsro…19funeral.html

A boyhood friend I first met at the Centenial hose firehouse in Peekskill, NY where my father worked. Sammy would come down to see the pumper and help around the house and we would shoot pool and sneak beers.

We later went to Peekskill High School where he was a true friend and sports team mate. Sammy was always someone you could depend on.

Later we worked together as Police Officers on the City of Peekskill Police Department. He was a great cop, but you always knew he would leave and go to his true calling the NYFD. When they called he ran with a smile on his face.

Before that day he spoke about how happy he was working downtown and how much he loved his work.

After that day while filling thousands of buckets of the rubble I held out hope that we could find you trapped and safe. Quickly it was apparent that you and all the others were gone.

Rest in Peace my friend. We all miss you.

–Chris Calabrese

Thank you for your sacrafice Samuel. God bless America.

Read tributes to the other 2995 people who died in the 9/11 attack here.

I thought this short video was quite amazing. And so I share it with you now. Enjoy.

I’m in one of those vicious cycles. Still having a hard time falling asleep in what my body thinks is the middle of the afternoon. Then about 1500 local time (that’s 4 a.m. in Korea) I really start fading fast. Get back to my room and take a nap, then I’m up half the night and the process repeats. I figure I’ll be adjusted about the time I get back to Korea, then I can reverse the process.

On a more positive note, the training is good so far. And of course, I’ll be back in Virginia on Thursday night. It’s been a year since I’ve seen the green, green grass of home. Although it was never really that green. Lawn maintenance is not my strong suit, but Carol recently re-seeded so maybe it will be green…

Also I found so great North Carolina style barbeque last night. Yum!

And that’s my report.

Get ready to unplug the laptop and pack it up for my trip to the USA. But I’ll be back.

We did it! Beat Scrooge Pub tonight in a real dogfight dart match. It came down to the last leg of the Cricket doubles, but we pulled it out. I did my part so I feel good about pulling my weight. Anyway, victory is sweet. Go Dolce Vita!

A rap video from flyover country….check it out! Too funny.

Way down on the list of things I miss is Sunday mornings with the The Washington Post. Which is not to say I don’t miss it a lot, it is just that there are lots of things I miss more. Notwithstanding its biased news coverage and left leaning editorial slant, you often find some damn fine feature writing within its pages. Among the writers on staff I most enjoy is Gene Weingarten. Always writing with wit and style, he is quite often both funny and poignant. It was my pleasure to come across this most excellent profile of a fascinating man known as The Great Zucchini.

Do yourself a favor and have a read. You’ll be glad you did.