Honor Flight of Southern Colorado

If you haven't heard of Honor Flight of Southern Colorado there is one simple thing that you need to know. Their mission is to take all World War Two veterans in Southern Colorado to Washington, DC to see the monuments, particularly the WWII monument, that these men and women gave so much for.

Lunch at Honor Flight So. CO

On Friday 17th of May, Honor Flight held an event in Colorado Springs where they were getting ready for their next flight, flight number three. This time they will be taking 17 veteran to Washington, DC and they have the hope and aspiration to continue funding to get every WWII vet. to DC.

At the event we got to meet many great hero's, great patriots that love and would continue to give for their country. We hear their stories, and we are incredibly grateful.

There were also some great people and organisations at the event that are helping build funds to get these vet.s on a plane to DC. They are giving so greatly, and it is heart warming to hear these people getting involved.

The great part of the day was the ending, where Honor Hands made moulds of these vet.s hands who are going on the next flight.

The lovely Honor Hands ladies went around to each of the war hero's and for eight minutes they had to hold their hand in the moulding mixture. Over this time they talked to the hero's where they shared their great stories - to which there are many.

A little and simple thing like making a mould of their hands was so heart warming to themselves and it made them feel so thankful that Honor Hands were taking this time to embed these great people. When the truth is that we are more thankful for their sacrifices compared to it being our pleasure to talk these great people.

The event was moving and great. And if you can contribute in any way to get these WWII vet.s to Washington, DC before it is too late, please donate at the Honor Flight website.

Please enjoy this selection of photos from the casting of these veterans hands:

The veterans patiently waiting their turn.

Honor Hands founders mixing the moulding mix.

Pulling their hand out of the mould.

The beautiful Honor Hand girls liking after our great veterans.

Sunny was a truly amazing woman that just has so many great stories to share.

Getting ready to full the moulds.

Mixing plaster.

The mould.

Removing the mould from the plaster.

The Hand is nearly free. 

The hand is free and out of the mould left to continue hardening before they are mounted and will later be presented to the veterans.

Latino Group Offended By People Eating Tacos

Tacos and tequila are the centre of this spectacle.

According to a Latino student group at Northwestern University, eating tacos and drinking tequila is offensive to those of Mexican heritage.

“Drinking tequila shots, eating tacos, and wearing sombreros do not commemorate Mexican culture; on the contrary, that offends, marginalizes and isolates many of our friends, classmates, and community leaders and casts our entire community in poor light,” wrote members of the group Alianza in a letter that was published in The Daily Northwestern.

Fox News Radio reports:

The letter was signed by members of the university’s Associated Student Government as well as members of the Latino group in response to Cinco de Mayo celebrations.

“Some of our peers choose to throw ‘Mexican-themed’ parties that are culturally insensitive, offensive and detrimental to the Northwestern community,” they wrote.

Instead, the group wanted students to celebrate Mexico’s “rich history” through parades, family gatherings and “folk dances.”

However, a number of students who actually grew up in Mexico, said the student government association and the Latino group are way off base.

“To whomever wrote and signed that letter, I’d like to say that I proudly embrace my tacos, tequila and sombreros,” said Ruben Antonio Marcos Bours. “To me, they are a key part of my childhood, growing up in Monterrey, Mexico.”

And it turns out that the two co-presidents of Alianza are not even Mexican.

“People think Alianza is representing Mexican culture on campus,” student Garcia Romero told the campus newspaper. “I see them as representing U.S. Hispanic culture. Very few of them have actually been to Mexico.”

Romero said his friends back home probably celebrated Cinco de Mayo by drinking tequila and eating tacos.

After generating widespread campus ridicule, the student group backtracked and said they were not trying to tell students how to celebrate the holiday.

“We don’t even know how to celebrate,” co-president Darlene Reyes told the campus newspaper.

How could a group of  non Mexican students even stand up to say that you are offending Mexican heritage by eating their style of food and alcohol? It is preposterous.

We seem to be living in this world where there is a group of liberal minded people that seem to be worried about everyone else's feelings. They feel it is there responsibility to fight so these minority groups are not being discriminated. When, in hindsight, there is no discrimination at all.

Next thing you know this group is going to change there name to Asian students Unite, or something ridiculous, and  championing that eating Chinese food is offensive of Chinese - the Chinese don't even eat a lot of the type of food we sell in our Chinese food stores.

What will they think of next?!

Chainsaws Can Be Weapons Too

There is always a lot of talk about restricting guns and cracking down on gun registration and laws. And guns are the only tool that gets attacked and regulated to death.


Well guns are not the only tool that can be used as a weapon, chainsaws can be used too.

As can be seen within this attack in Whangararei on Friday night.

The New Zealand Herald reports:

Dorothy Harris said a "major argument" had broken out a few doors away, drowning out her favourite Idol's television performance.

"Somebody was revving a chainsaw. I just thought 'what on earth is going on down there?'," she said.

The 43-year-old man was attacked just after 9.15pm on Friday, leaving blood splattered on Morningside Rd.

Whangarei police sergeant Howard Clement said the man had "significant injuries" to his face and body.

He was taken by ambulance to Whangarei Hospital, where he had surgery yesterday afternoon.

Last night, he was in a satisfactory condition.

Clement said police arrested a 31-year-old man near the scene of the attack. He appeared in the Whangarei District Court yesterday and was remanded in custody without plea until tomorrow.

If someone is dedicated to cause harm to another, they will do it with what ever instrument they can get their hands on. Just because the state makes it a little harder to get your hands on more powerful guns doesn't mean they are not going to get their hands on that weapon if they are truly dedicated on using that tool.

But there are other options in the world of tools that would get the job done. And in this case it was a chainsaw.

Walk into any workshop around the globe and you will find many tools that are far more dangerous than a gun.

This is just another example to point out that guns are not the only tool that gets used as a weapon, chainsaws do too.

NZ Tax Payer Fork Out To Pay Unpaid Health Bills

Every year tourist and illegal immigrants who are in New Zealand use our public health care system with no intentions to pay their bills.


And it has been established, that between the years 2000 and 2010, patients who were not eligible for free health care and didn't pay their dues have raked up $630 million in unpaid bills. This money could have been greatly used in many more ways. It could have provided more services, or it could have been used to help reduce our debt, or, maybe even an excuse to lower taxes - just sayin'.

Stuff reports:

The bad debt is expected to climb to $1 billion in the current decade if there is no change in the process of identification, billing and recovery of costs.

...

Health Minister Tony Ryall acknowledged the problem and said systems had been "tightened up" to reduce the burden of debt on DHBs.

This included government agencies sharing information to check who was eligible for publicly funded healthcare. "This money could have been used to provide New Zealanders with more operations and specialist appointments."

Of the three million tourist that visit New Zealand every year, 80 per cent of them are not eligible for free health care in New Zealand. And that same 80 per cent do not travel with travel insurance to cover their expenses if worse comes to worse.

This is a big flaw in the public health system, they don't have the agencies in place to ensure that those who have to pay for their  medical services do pay their bills.

If the procedure is an emergency situation, go right ahead, operate on the patient first then ask questions later. That is the right thing to do instead of sitting them to die. But whilst that person is being operated on there needs to be someone who is getting all of the information on that person. Are they eligible for free health care? If not, do they have travel insurance? If not, print out the bill and attach a file to their passport to ensure they cannot leave the country until their dues are paid.

If the hospital doesn't have the establishment to hold these people until they pay their bills, New Zealand customs sure can.

And if they can't pay their bills you send in the debt collector. It is not fair that we New Zealand tax payers have to cover the cost for these foreign nationals to have medical treatment whilst visiting our country.

I don't think it is fair that my tax dollars are used to give medical care to repeat alcoholics and drug users, so it should be clear, I don't want non eligible nationals exploiting our health care system.

Don't Be An Idiot, Don't Out Run The Cops.

Three men are now dead after they smashed their car into a parked vehicle whilst trying to out run police in Auckland.


Stuff reports:

Police are appealing for eyewitnesses who saw a car travel high-speed through Mangere before it smashed into a parked ute killing three men and leaving another fighting for his life. 

The green Honda Accord at one point just after midnight this morning was doing 160 kilometres an hour on the South Western Motorway between Manukau and Mangere. 

The men, aged 18, 19 and 20, had been in a car that police had initially attempted to stop after it was clocked "well in excess" of the 60km speed limit along Wiri Station Road. 

Counties Manukau District Commander Superintendent John Tims says the tragedy was avoidable and three, possibly four, lives to pay for the thrill of a speedy ride was far too high a price in anyone's book. 

He said the sole survivor, 18, was in critical condition fighting for his life. 

A full Independent Police Complaints Authority investigation was underway, as well as investigations for the Coroner’s Court, and Tims said they wanted to hear from people who might have seen the Honda. 

He expressed frustration that anybody had died at all, saying it could have been avoid.
“There is a simple and persistent message to all drivers, especially young drivers, is that when police ask you to stop, please stop,” he said. 

"Our officers and other emergency response staff are sadly all too familiar with the consequences of these events and I implore anyone who is signalled to stop by police, to do so.  The consequences of fleeing particularly at speed are far too severe."

When will people learn, the cops are the good guys. They are not out to hurt you, they are their to serve and protect the communities in which they are located. They are doing their jobs, and when someone breaks the law they follow through to chatting with those law breakers.

If you see the red and blue lights in your rear view mirror, pull over. If they are after you, man up and take the beating face on. After all, it was you that broke the law. And if you cooperate then there is nothing to worry about, if you scratch their back they just might scratch yours. But if you run, and if you hide, you are just asking for trouble. You're putting yourself in greater danger, you are putting the people around you in greater danger.

If you try and out run the cops and do succeed anyway, the cops have you vehicle details, they will track you down. But you may not be around to track you down. You might be dead.

Don't be an idiot, don't out run the cops.

Power Hungry Aaron Gilmore Should Go

Over the past weekend, at the National Party regional conference at the Heritage Hotel in Hanmer Springs, National list-MP Aaron Gilmore showed his true, power hungry, colours.


Gilmore was the main boisterous character in the hotel restaurant, his table were creating an unpleasant atmosphere for the other diners. As the night continued, Gilmore continued to consume great amounts of alcohol, and continued to disturb the other diners and pushed around the restaurant staff to meet his every needs.

Fellow diners, Charles and Jemma Rangi, shared their experience with the New Zealand Herald:

"We were sitting about 5m from them. Right from the beginning, pretty much [from] when he [Gilmore] walked in he was already being quite arrogant - whistling at the waiters and clicking his fingers to get them over there to give them more drinks and stuff like that," Mr Rangi said."It was quite awkward, the restaurant was nice and quiet." 

Mr Rangi said one of the women at the table was also "being quite vocal". 

"Right from the get-go they had about three or four bottles of champagne ordered, it was all just sitting there. I don't know if he'd been drinking before he came into the restaurant, he looked fine when he came in. 

"We left before it really kicked off by the sounds of things, but it was really quite awkward.""But he had that arrogant persona about him right from the start. 

Mr Rangi said he was not at all surprised to hear that Gilmore's "unpleasant" behaviour worsened. 

"The staff there were being so professional about it. I made a comment to my wife at the time that if he'd been treating me like that I would have been telling [him] where to go. 

"You wouldn't expect to see anyone behave like that - let alone an MP," Mr Rangi said.
Soon after Mr and Mrs Rangi left, Gilmore allegedly called a waiter a "dickhead" when he refused to give him more wine. 

Gilmore then gave the waiter his business card and reportedly said: "Don't you know who I am? I'm an important politician."

Christchurch lawyer Andrew Riches was dining with Gilmore on the night and told the New Zealand Herald more information about the night:

Mr Riches said Mr Gilmore tried to "use his status as a Member of Parliament to his own advantage once he had been denied further alcohol service" and "threatened to have the Prime Minister's Office intervene and end the waiter's employment".

Gilmore has apologies, and the Prime Minister has accepted that apology:

He was "not going to get into the detail of claims and counter-claims but expected that Mr Gilmore has learned a lesson from the whole thing". But if a staff member or the management at the hotel wanted to lay a complaint, "the Prime Minister's office will ensure the complaint is thoroughly investigated".

Gilmore only re-entered the New Zealand parliament earlier this year by being the next number on the National Party list. And now that he has shown his true colours, his egomaniac need for power and to influence others with his power status, is a total disgrace to the New Zealand parliament.

Whilst all politicians are all power hungry individual, and have to be self absorbed enough to enter the job, to use you status as a member in the New Zealand Parliament to push others around is embarrassing.

Gilmore should be taken out of Parliament. He should have been a good little backbench MP and kept his nose clean and out of the news. He failed at that and he should now go.

I don't want someone who is clearly that power hungry representing the New Zealand people in our government.

The New Mercedes Unimog - Bigger Is Better

When picking a vehicle whose use is on roads I will always go for a small car. They are quick, peppy and you can have as much fun in them on the road as you can have in a very expensive super car on the track, the difference is that it is only a fraction of the price.

There is also another world to cars, the off road world. Now if I were wanting a vehicle that was good on the road and off the road I'd get a Range Rover, hands down, no questions asked. The Range Rover is the best, there is really no competition.

But what if you are wanting a vehicle for just off road use? We might just have your answer, introducing the newly reformed Mercedes Unimog:

This Unimog can go nearly everywhere, and you can go everywhere is style in the comfort of your Mercedes.

Top Gear writes: 

There's no getting away from it: the future of mankind is doomed. Forsaken. Done for. We're almost certainly going to be either a) consumed by some form of zombie apocalypse, or b) forced to live in and enjoy a world where Justin Bieber records another hit record. 

Thankfully, Mercedes has engineered a vehicle tailored specifically towards the Bieberpocalypse future. It's called the Unimog. And it's now been updated. This makes us very excited. 

You see, the Unimog is a monster of a car. It will literally go anywhere, and that's something we admire. For the new generation, Merc's big truck gets a ten-model range, completely redesigned panoramic cabs, new work and power hydraulics systems, and synergetic traction drive, which apparently allows changing over from manual transmission to hydrostatic transmission while driving. 

It's also been given a new design, there are a couple of new ‘BlueEfficiency' engines to keep it in line with Euro VI emissions regulations, it's more fuel efficient than before and features new solenoid injectors with ten-hole jets. Ten-hole jets! 

There's a new multifunction steering wheel, an adjustable steering column, better heating and cooling with improved airflow - perfect for those times when outrunning a horde of teenage zombies causes your brow to leak - and a detachable joystick for operating implements, amongst other shiny new things. Perfect for playing real lifeCall of Duty.

Engines are of four and six cylinder variety, with power outputs ranging from 156bhp through to 354bhp. 

Mercedes assures us that "Unimog vehicles have a long life and are robust and reliable", and we're inclined to agree. After all, anything with the ability to ford up to 1200mm, climb 45 degrees and have an axle articulation of 30 degrees means that however many zombies/Bieber records are on the horizon, you can escape to freedom. Just don't look back.

I have to wonder how would the Unimog scale up to the great brick of the Marauder: