Saturday, January 31, 2009
STIMULATE ME OBAMA
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Random Points of Perspective
Number of Americans that DIDN’T vote for Barack Obama: 237 million
Electoral votes for Ronald Reagan (1984): 525
(source: Wikipedia.org)
$820 billion ( in 2007 dollars)
$551 billion (in inflation -adjusted 2007 dollars)
(source: Reason Magazine)
On Taxes
Top 10% of wage earners paid 67.33% of all federal income taxes collected.
Bottom 50% of wage earners paid 3.91% of all federal income taxes collected.
Top 10% of wage earners paid 70.79% of all federal income taxes collected.
Bottom 50% of wage earners paid 2.99% of all federal income taxes collected.
(source: Heritage Foundation)
On Guns
armed robbery + 51%, unarmed robbery +37%, assault +24%, kidnapping +43%, murder - 3%, manslaughter +16%
English handgun crime in 2 years following its 1997 gun ban: +40%
Increase in the number of guns in U.S. during the 1990s: +40 million
Murder rate during same period: -40%
Accidental gun deaths during same period: -40%
(source: Gun Owners of America)
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
BORED OF THE DANCE
I suppose I enjoyed Mamma Mia! so much because I was expecting nothing out of it anyway. I was anticipating Lord of the Dance, however. We’ve got some Irish blood in the family tree somewhere, between a whole bunch of Germans on one side and a couple of Englishmen in the woodpile on the other side. I’m told it takes ten generations to dilute Irish blood sufficiently that one no longer feels the call of the Ould Sod.
So I went to the Lord of the Dance with much anticipation, in large part because I really love the song by that same name. I sometimes listen to the music of the Irish Rovers, and developed great affection for the song itself. I left the dance very disappointed, all because of that song.
Yes, it was a musical extravaganza. Yes, the Irish dance with the clogging was amazing. Yes, the performers were incredible athletes and even the smallest woman among them could kick my ass in a heartbeat. Yes, the sights and sounds and light show were awesome. Yes, the fiddlers were some of the most talented musicians I’ve ever seen. Yes, all the dances were absolutely brilliantly choreographed.
The performance had all these Celtic runes and mythical stuff and hooded figures and a "Dark Lord" and the struggle between good & evil. They even played the song Lord of the Dance during one dance, and the little glittery sprite or nymph or whatever she was supposed to be played a few bars on her flute occasionally. But in the grand scheme of things, it had nothing whatsoever to do with the real Lord of the Dance.
The song Lord of the Dance celebrates the birth, life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the real Messiah, (whom folks used to worship instead of Chicago politicians) the ultimate in the struggle between Good and Evil. In this odious day and age in which we live, however, it has become a hate crime to even mention Jesus Christ in public, even on his birthday (which is Christmas; some people don’t know that anymore). Unless of course you’re a Muslim or atheist berating the Church he founded, then you can mention Him and his followers. It’s painfully obvious that you can’t celebrate Him in song or dance in public in America.
So, my friends, here is the real Lord of the Dance, as performed by the Irish Rovers.
I danced on the morning when the world began
I danced on the moon, and the stars, and the sun
I came out of Heaven and I danced on the earth
In Bethlehem I had my birth
(Refrain)
Dance, dance, wherever you may be
I am the Lord of the Dance said He
And I lead you all wherever you may be
And I lead you all the in the dance said He
I danced for the scribes and the Pharisees
They would not dance and they would not follow me
I danced for the fishermen James and John
They came with me and the dance went on
(Refrain)
I danced on the Sabbath and I cured the lame
The holy people thought it was a shame
They cut me and they stripped me and they hung me high
And left me there on a cross to die
(Refrain)
I danced on the Friday when the sky turned black
It’s hard to dance with the devil on your back
They buried my body; thought I'd gone
But I am the dance, and the dance goes on
(Refrain)
Well they cut me down, but I leapt up high
I am the light that will never never die
I live in you and you live in me
I am Lord of the Dance said He
(Refrain)
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
I BE EDUCATIN'
So I better get back to snarking about and ridiculing Barry's cabinet picks. The whole flippin' town of Kooksville is being relocated to Sodom on Potomac to help the Big O "rule" (his word, not mine) these here United States.
Now we have the brilliant cronie Arne Duncan, the genius who runs the fine education establishments that are the Chicago Publik Skools, appointed as Education Secretary. Quite a bit of Constitutional doubt exists on whether we should even have a Department of Education, but we'll go down that rabbit trail some other time.
By spending a trifling $10,550 per student per year under the sagacious leadership of Duncen, er, I mean Duncan, Chicago Publik Skools managed to teach a whopping 17% of their 8th grade students to read at an 8th grade level, down only one percentage point from 2005. Also in 2007, 13% of the same kids could meet grade-appropriate math scores, and 23% could write legibly.
But even as he made these heroic reforms and improvements, he still had time to support and approve plans to establish special homosexual high schools for Chicago's youts.
Just as Billy Jeff Clinton vowed to do for America what he did for Arkansas, Barry and his minions vow to do for us what they did for Chicago.
Now if we could just figure out a way to put the Big 3 automakers out of business forever with asinine green emission standards, making cars no one wants to sell to unemployed people who can't buy them. Whoops, never mind, I see they got that covered too.
Is it just me, or did anyone else hear a giant sucking sound?
Monday, January 26, 2009
MAMMA MIA!
Most guys are like my friend Matt when it comes to musicals. “Does it having singing in it?” “Yes.” “Then I wouldn’t like it.”
I began my acquaintance with musicals because of my daughter Sabrina, who had an incredible singing voice herself. We saw The Sound of Music approximately 742 times, so we all knew all the songs by heart. By about the 5th viewing, most guys would be rooting for the Nazis to wipe everyone out. I actually got to enjoy it, and The Wizard of Oz, too. In retaliation, I managed to turn Sabrina into a John Wayne fan.
I understand this phobia about musicals being fruity. A lot of the guys singing and dancing in these musicals are obviously gay as a French horn. Witness those “football players” in The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas.
But also witness that the afore-mentioned movie, which is admittedly pretty lame, also had Burt Reynolds in it, and Burt is always manly, even without the black Trans-Am. And you could always use the excuse that you were just going to see a younger Dolly Pardon in lingerie. My personal favorite, and much more testosterone-loaded is Paint Your Wagon. I mean come on, we’re talking a WESTERN with CLINT EASTWOOD and LEE MARVIN that involves drinking and fighting and chasing women between the songs. Can’t get much more macho than that. I can heartily recommend Paint Your Wagon to the estrogen-impaired.
So anyway, back to seeing a chick flick with my wife. It was Mamma Mia! Yes, I thought I would require lots of caffeine and possibly a barf bag to endure it, but actually it was downright enjoyable. Granted, I could have done without the romance between the little 20-year-olds, but that’s probably because I’m becoming enough of a curmudgeon that I am annoyed by ALL little 20-year olds these days. And yes, the plot was both silly and superficial, but still a lot of fun and a refreshing change from the lame, predictable, self-flagellating, left-wing crap Hollyweird usually oozes out these days.
I gave up completely on rock/pop when Springsteen did Streets of Philadelphia, and haven’t strayed far from the country and oldies radio stations in a long, long time. I suppose the reason Mamma Mia! was so darned enjoyable was that some of us actually remember those old ABBA songs. So what if some of the early lyrics are a bit shallow; they did sell 370 million records around the world and the music stays with you. Like The Brady Bunch or Gillian’s Island theme songs, ABBA songs are permanently embedded into the DNA of my generation. You go a few decades without them, and it’s actually quite fun to hear those old songs again, tapping your toes to the fast-paced instrumentals and singing along the six words from the refrain that you actually remember.
Plus it was nice that Sweden could become known for something other than Vikings, Rapala fishing lures, ice fishing augers, the 6.5x55mm rifle cartridge, and the Carl Gustav 84mm recoilless rifle. Well, at least that's what I think of in conjunction with Sweden, but I'm weird. And I digress. Back to Mamma Mia!
Visually, the waaaayyyy beyond cheesy “70’s look” of some of the costumes is absolutely hilarious now that the scars of once taking them seriously have had almost 30 years to heal; the bell bottoms and glitter and those boots. BWAHAHAHA! The landscape of a Greek island in the Mediterranean where the movie was filmed got me longing to visit such a place myself. Preferably Crete, because I’ll bet they have a helluva WWII airborne museum. I also particularly enjoyed Christine Baranski in her role as the Cougar.
So, all in all, if you’re old enough to remember the music, you can safely go see Mamma Mia! with your wife or girlfriend, pretend you’re grudgingly doing it for her, and secretly enjoy it.
We now return you to our regularly scheduled political bitching.
Friday, January 23, 2009
First off, into the realm of borderline insane and downright creepy, goofball Hollyweird celebs are pledging allegiance personally to Barry Soetoro himself. We are in Kooksville Central with these moonbats. About seventy years ago, another slick-talking demagogue made people swear an allegiance to him personally. Look how that turned out. Anyway, a bunch of these celebrity nitwits made some video to quite literally worship the Messiah.
“Musician” Anthony Kiedis (never heard of him; I’m guessing he won’t be cutting a country or gospel album anytime soon) started the ball rolling with, “I pledge to be of service to Barack Obama.”
In jumps Demi Moore, who, if she’s made a movie in the past five years I was not aware of it and/or don't care, staring into the camera and fanatically promising, “I pledge to be a servant to our president,”
They also pledge to make the entire world sweetness and light and happiness and butterflies and, I kid you not, “Abolish Slavery”!!!! (As long as it doesn’t require them to use any of their money.) Lay off the Kool-Aid, kids.
Then we have the “change” of Obama advisor/Clintonite re-tread Robert “Thousand Year” Reich basically espousing racism in hiring in regards to the “stimulus” package. Kinda reminds me of Federal government hiring practices already. Who gives a rat’s behind if they’re even remotely qualified; they’re diverse.
From Robert Reichstag’s own blog: “But if there aren’t enough skilled professionals to do the jobs involving new technologies, the stimulus will just increase the wages of the professionals who already have the right skills rather than generate new jobs in these fields. And if construction jobs go mainly to white males who already dominate the construction trades, many people who need jobs the most—women, minorities, and the poor and long-term unemployed—will be shut out.” Never mind the fact white male construction workers have already pretty well been put out of business by illegals.
He later noted, “I have nothing against white male construction workers, I’m just saying there are other people who have needs as well.” I’m surprised he didn’t add, “Some of my best friends are white male construction workers.”
Charlie Rangel had to jump on the bandwagon, too. Those pesky state governors, if they want to belly up to the trough for their share of the stimulus bucks, will have to toe the line and do exactly what Reich and Rangel and their ilk demand they do. Just as the Founding Fathers intended in the 10th Amendment. I, for one, having worked for Fed.gov, just can’t wait to use bridges, levees, and transit systems designed and built by the least common denominator.
My favorite, though, is the Big O’s own agenda. He just became the very first president ever to snub The Salute to Heroes Inaugural Ball. This was begun by Dwight D. Eisenhower to honor the nation’s heroes, the recipients of the Congressional Medal of Honor. The Messiah made it to all of the other 10 official inaugural balls, the ones swarming with celebrities, but couldn’t find time to bother with those pesky CMH winners, the American Legion, Paralyzed Veterans of America, Order of the Purple Heart, etc.
And the beat goes on. Welcome to Kooksville.
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Ben's Top 10 Headlines For Inauguration Day 2009
- Historic Day: Final President Sworn In!
- 2nd Amendment Flees Country
- Panting Media Finally Spunks On Self
- Second Carter Term Begins
- John McCain Bends Over; Beckons New President
- "In God We Trust" On Currency To Be Replaced With Rev. Wright's "God D*mn America!"
- Jesse Jackson Cries Again; Makes A "Boom-Boom" In Diaper
- Alabama Forces Fire On Fort Sumter
- Michelle Obama Feels Proud Of Country; Feeling Passes
- President Bush Cracks A Cold One
Did I forget any? Add your suggestions below. (Nothing racist please.)
THE WORSHIP CONTINUES
Monday, January 19, 2009
OBAMA PICKS QUICKLY DESCEND INTO THE LUDICROUS
Oh, it just keeps getting better and better. The Big O got a pass from the Lamestream Media on his life-long associates like Weather Underground terrorist Bill Ayers, crazy racist preacher Jeremiah Wright, and others of their ilk. Now he will be getting a pass on his cabinet and staff picks. And what picks they are.
I can live with Hillary “Miss Congeniality” Clinton as Secretary of State. Heck, I found her to be a more appealing candidate than John McCain, and with more balls. I really wish she was president right now.
Bill Richardson actually seemed like he would have been a decent guy for Commerce Secretary, except he had to bail out due to that pesky problem with the federal grand jury investigation into pay-to-play violations.
Likewise Leon Panetta is probably a nice guy and a good business manager, but even Diane Feinstein thinks he’s unqualified to run the CIA, according to the L.A. Times. “Panetta would be among the few directors in agency history with no experience at one of the nation's spy services.”
Quickly heading towards Freakshow status, we have deliberate long-time tax cheat Timothy Geithner to head up Treasury. This goes so far beyond irony as to be laughable.
Attorney General Eric “Pardon” Holder? A Janet “Torch” Reno's head toady. ‘Nuff said.
Descending quickly into Kooksville, now we have Energy and Climate Change Czar Carol Browner, a member of SOCIALIST INTERNATIONAL, who was charged under the Federal anti-Lobbying Act in 1995, and who believes global warming is “the greatest challenge ever faced.” Carol, quit watching that Owl Gore movie and go read Michael Crichton’s State of Fear then get back to us will you?
Now we have the Mayor of Kooksville, PETA Fruitcake “Regulatory Czar” Cass Sunstein, who supports "outlawing sport hunting, giving animals the legal right to file lawsuits, and using government regulations to phase out meat consumption.” This moonbat’s agenda is so extreme some claim it could, “…spell the end of animal agriculture, retail sales of meat and dairy foods, hunting and fishing, biomedical research, pet ownership, zoos and aquariums, traveling circuses, and countless other things Americans take for granted.”
Where does he find these nutjobs? Well, a "sweeping mandate" of 51% of American voters said they wanted "change". Be careful what you wish for.
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Oppose Attorney General Nominee
Barack Obama is wasting no time poking a sharp stick in the eyes of gun owners.
The incoming President's choice for U.S. Attorney General, Eric Holder, is an anti-gun extremist who has assailed gun owners since his days in the Bill Clinton administration.
Holder, who served as Deputy Attorney General from 1997-2001, supports a 3-day waiting period for handgun purchases,one-gun-a-month rationing, licensing and registration of all gunowners, mandatory so-called smart gun technology, a lifetime gun ban for certain juvenile offenses and regulating gun shows out o fexistence.
As Janet Reno's top deputy, Eric Holder was the go to guy on gun control issues. In a 1999 statement, Holder told members of Congress not to cave in to "the special interest that value the cold hard steel of guns more than the lives of children, neighbors and police officers," and urged them to pass legislation that would have destroyed the gun show industry.
Gun Owners of America members flooded the Congress with postcards and e-mails and stopped Holder's gun control plan.
In 2000, Holder was instrumental in the Clinton Administration's effort to strong arm firearms manufacturers into voluntarily accepting regulations that had stalled in the Congress.
In a brazen legislation-by-extortion plot, the federal government filed suit against gun makers but offered to drop the suit if the companies would bow to the administration's demands.
Again, GOA and its members took the lead in opposing Holder and the Clinton Administration and slowed down implementation of the agreement until it completely went away when Clinton left office.
One company went along with the deal but after intense pressure from gun owners, no others joined the unholy alliance.
After the 9/11 terrorist attacks, in an op-ed in the Washington Post, Holder pushed for more gun control and greater restrictions on gunshows, even though the terrorists were armed with box cutters that could be purchased at any hardware store.
Just last year, Holder joined Janet Reno and 11 other former Justice Department officials in an amicus brief before the Supreme Court arguing in favor of the gun ban in Washington D.C.
The Holder/Reno brief also took the position that the SecondAmendment protects a collective government right, not an individual right.
GOA and its members have defeated Eric Holder and his agenda in the past, and we need to do it again. The Holder nomination is subject to Senate confirmation in a vote which is set to occur at any time.
Gun Owners of America has asked all members of the U.S. Senate to reject this anti-Second Amendment activist.
Now we're urging gun owners across the country to contact their own Senators and insist that they vote "NO" on Eric Holder.
ACTION: Please use the Gun Owners Legislative Action Center at http://www.gunowners.org/activism.htm to send your Senators the pre-written e-mail message below.
----- Prewritten Letter -----
Dear Senator:
Barack Obama's selection of Eric Holder for U.S. Attorney General is unacceptable to gun owners. Eric Holder supports a three day waiting period for gun purchases, licensing and registration of all gun owners, driving gun shows into extinction, and much more. I urge you to vote "NO" on the Holder nomination.
Saturday, January 17, 2009
NEW U.S. CITIZENS SWEAR IN
Quite a study in contrasts. What I found most interesting in people watching were two young men who were both active duty Air Force. The one from Brazil looked sharp…, military bearing, Class A dress uniform, knife creases in the pants, and shoes like glass. At least a dozen other Airmen were there in the audience to support their buddy. I never got to shake his hand as everyone else wanted to do so as well.
The other Airman was from Haiti; he wore his DCU’s or whatever they call them these days. Slouchy, slovenly, sneery, gangsta-actin’ kid with an obvious bad attitude who pretended to be beyond bored with the whole thing. Only one other kid came with him and was white version of same.
A young man from India gave a short speech on behalf of the new citizens, a tradition at that particular court. Once more, this fellow was very nicely dressed in a suit and tie, erect bearing, and not only spoke English well but delivered a very eloquent speech on what citizenship meant to him and did it like a professional.
What also amused me was the middle-aged lady immigrant from Peru named O'Leary.
Instructions to the new citizens were to dress appropriately. Only two people wore jeans…both the Mexicans. The younger guy dressed up with a collared shirt and nice shoes, was clean shaven, and spoke English just fine. The older guy was unshaven, had on a not-so-clean old hooded sweatshirt and dirty boots, and I think he was the one who the bailiff had to tell to take his hat off in the courtroom. He must have spoken enough English to have passed the citizenship exam, but if he did he sure hid it well.
Everybody was given a booklet copy of the Constitution and a Citizen’s Guidebook thingie. It was very interesting to watch the family and friends in the audience, thumbing minutely through these documents with great interest. I wonder how many were seeing it for the first time?
The person I went with said natural-born Americans should have to take a test and an oath at 18 or 21. I agreed. The oath included the “protect and defend the Constitution” phrase just like the military/government oath.
As far as I was concerned, all the security Marshals at the Federal courthouse should have had to read the Constitution as well, and re-take their oath. What really got me was the “No Cameras or Recording Devices Allowed in the Courthouse.” Almost seems like they have something to hide. What, they only want their version of what transpired coming out of Federal court?
Just my observations. Worth what ya paid for ‘em.
Saturday, January 10, 2009
BE TRUE TO THE FUEHRER, LONG LIVE THE GREAT STALIN, AND PROTECT & DEFEND THE MESSIAH
I know, I know, the kooks over at DU or wherever insist that the media is biased to the right, because, well, um, they are big corporations and that means capitalism and capitalism is evil. You betcha. Corporations owned by such right-wing ultra-conservative evangelical extremists like George Soros and Ted Turner would obviously be biased towards the right. (Chortle, snicker).
We can, though, simply expose the host of mesmerized Obama Zombie “journalists” of the Ministry of Truth for what they are by using their own words.
Our pal Chris “Softball” Matthews, who during the campaign admitted that just hearing Barry speak sends a thrill up his leg, is starting the line-up for us. Matthews, on the PMSNBC Morning Joe program, educated host Joe Scarborough on what the duties of a journalist really are, straight from the horse's…um, mouth.
“Yeah, well, you know what? I want to do everything I can to make this thing work, this new presidency work, and I think that…”
“Yeah, it is my job. My job is to help this country…”
And his job is also, “To make this (presidency) work successfully, because this country needs a successful presidency more than anything now.”
Moving right along, we have Tavis Smiley of the giant right-wing media conglomerate PBS (that was sarcasm for you Chicago voters), also explaining the media’s mission to Scarborough. This is the same guy I saw on NBC before the polls closed on Election Day already making excuses for Obama as president, just in case the Big O didn’t immediately begin to heal lepers and turn water into wine.
“I want him to be a great president. I believe that he can be a great president. But only if we help make him a great president. It is not left to his own devices, it's not going to happen. We have to help make him a great president.” He repeated that last sentence later on just in case anyone missed it.
What the fudge, over? If Barry is the Second Coming, as you keep insisting, why does he need you to cover his butt and make him look good?
It just goes on and on. Dan Blather said we needed to move Inauguration Day up to Dec 1st because we’re facing the greatest crisis since Pearl Harbor and the Civil War, obviously inferring that only The One can step in and save us now. I won’t even bother to note any specifics from Katie Couric; she practically has an orgasm every time she speaks his name.
ABC’s Good Morning Amerika has been even more guilty than most, which is quite an accomplishment. They celebrated Obama’s 30-day Anniversary as President-Elect, with George Snuffleupagus swooning over what a good job Barry’s done so far and how his cabinet consists of “unparalleled Brain Power”. A teary-eyed Diane Sawyer, voice choking with emotion, read aloud one of Barry’s essays, as images of Abe Lincoln flashed in the background and music akin to “Battle Hymn of the Republic” played. Bill Weir practically wet himself over Obama’s victory celebration calling it a “transcendent night of communal joy”. Jim Sciutto reported that the Big O has “captured the world’s heart”. They even broke the important political story about a guy who built a statue/shrine of Obama out of crayons.
We could go on like this for days. Instead, we’ll wrap up with the “Follow the Money” game. Let’s see how our unbiased journalists voted with their own pocketbooks.
Friday, January 09, 2009
THOUS SHALT NOT SPEAK ILL OF THE MESSIAH BOOK II
Thursday, January 08, 2009
BACK IN THE USSA
All the traveling made me start to wonder if the ram-diversity-down-your-throat thought police might not actually have a point. If you don't get out and meet people, you tend to forget just how true many negative stereotypes are and why you don't like certain people or groups of people.
The people who work in concession stands at the Salt Lake airport, for instance. The ones who are obviously middle eastern and dressed as practitioners of the Religion of Peace. With five minutes of talking very loud and slow and pointing a lot at the pictures above the counter you may be able to actually order a sub sandwich. If so, you can expect some half-thawed, essentially raw roast beef between soft stale bread and a fist full of slimy lettuce all wadded up in lieu of a toasted sub. Trying to return the inedible mass results in Hadji & Co. forgeting the six words of English they did know.
Although it hasn't received a great deal of Lamestream media coverage, there have been numerous cases of illegals working our major airports such as Dulles, O'Hare, etc. and having access to "secure" areas. A guy named Hussein, using an old underwear tag and a Monopoly Chance card for ID, can get a pass-key and a little plastic badge to access behind "the doors" and behind the scenes. Meanwhile, little old ladies have to take off their shoes, people traveling in the uniform of a Federal agency get strip searched, and unseen security thugs behind those closed doors rifle through your cheese suitcase making sure the Gruyere is not Semtex. I feel so safe and secure with this crack security system.
I knew I was truly home in the USSA, though, when we hit Atlanta. Approximately 2/3 of the magazines in the kiosks featured Barack Hussein Obama on the covers. The newspaper stands had actually been converted into little shrines, complete with candles, altars, and prayer rugs. The League of Stupid & Gullible Voters had turned out to genuflect before the images of the messiah, but they had to elbow for space between members of the press, who wanted to worship the deity of their own making.
Back in the Land of Round Doorknobs I quickly noticed that the Amerikanski Drive-by Pravda Press isn't even faking objectivity anymore. I kind of like Ann Coulter even though she's too skinny; at least she's a conservative and not just a RINO. For this reason, in our new enlightened age of self-inflicted censorship, she is not allowed on NBC TV anymore. It seems her appearance on NBC's Today Show was cancelled and she was banned from the network "for life".
A Today exec explained the need for such actions. "We are just not interested in anyone so highly critical of President-elect Obama right now. It's such a downer. It's just not the time, and it's not what our audience wants, either."
THOU SHALT NOT SPEAK ILL OF THE MESSIAH! In fact, if you're a major Drive-by media cult like the LA Times, you deliberately suppress anything that might look bad for Barry. I'm not the world's greatest Bush fan, but I noticed the press had no trouble bashing the living hell out of him for every problem the country had, to include sunspots and male pattern baldness, whether he had anything to do with it or not. Hell, an hour after the WTC fell Dan Blather was essentially calling Bush a coward on national TV. With a Republican, it is never "...just not the time..."
Well, noboy said you had to be very smart...or even remotely credible...to be a journalist in Amerika.