Seniors at work.

I see no reason why a senior shouldn’t have a part-time job while in high school. I can look back when I was a senior and I had one. I had too. Not because ,I just needed spending money or money for gas, but to assist my mother with bills. I came from a single family home and had a little sister. One could say that I became the man of the house and helped out. So, yes they need to work. There is no free ride in this world and kids today need to realise this

Returning to the Moon

“America the Land of Dreams”    

    

 Since the beginning of time when humans first look up into the sky there has been a dream of flight.  Ancient mythological stories of Icarus and the novels of Jule’s Vern entertained us all as children.  They were used as an imagination builder of what could be done.   Now those very childhood dreams are in danger of just returning to that,  just imagination.  Our nation has chosen a course that will remove a portion of what children will  dream about.  No longer can a child stare up on a dark night and say “one day I will walk on the moon”.  “One day I want to be an Astronaut”.  The current administration has cancelled the dreams of children.    

We are now entering a pivotal time in our lives.  Just over 100 years ago, the Wright brothers took the first powered flight at Kitty Hawk and now we are going to kill everything that they worked so hard for.  It was those first pioneers of flight that forged the ideas and dreams of a nation and that of the world.  Where would the world be today if it wasn’t for them?  I can tell you that it would be a much smaller world.  Gone would be everything we take for granted on a daily basis.  One could joke and say that Weird Al might have got it right because we would be living in a “Amish Paradise”.    

Living up to the Quest of Knowledge and Exploration    

This administration plan of killing the Constellation space program is just plain wrong.  Our nation has always be the leader of space and now we are going to rely on other nations to provide us with a way to get our Astronauts to space.  This is the same country that not 30 years ago was our enemy and threatened to destroy us with a push of a button.  The same country that has lost many of their own Astronauts due to unsafe and faulty equipment.  Yes, we have had our accidents and have lost lives also, but we take those and learn from them.  All of our hero’s that gave their lives in the pursuit of exploration and knowledge are now wasted.  This administration say that this budget cut will let the American private business’s develop new ways of transporting Astronauts safely to space and beyond.  My question to that is;” How many more will have to give their life for this?”  The people at NASA are the best in the world for what they do.  They have learned by trial and error.  Now you want to let the private sector get a chance?  The private sector has been their all of the time supplying NASA with all of the parts to take us to space.  The problem lies with who is in charge of the program.  It is clear to myself that this administration needs to rethink it ways.  They have already reverse theirselves when it comes to the command capsule.  They decided to save the Orion crew capsule due to the money that has been already spent and use it for an emergency return life boat from the international space station.   The Orion was designed to take 6 Astronauts to the moon and deep space and now you are going to use it for a life boat.  Once again, lets drag NASA through the ringer because we don’t want to listen to the directors of NASA, you know the ones with the Doctorate degree’s, lets listen to the lobbyist and campaign donations that got you elected.  Lets shut down the dreams of a nation and the world just so your political views are enacted for 4 years.  Lets make thousand of people lose their jobs here and ship the jobs oversea’s where our laws don’t cover the manufacturing of the items that will be used by our Astronauts.  And once we receive the sub-par gear, our nation will then again have to spend more money to replace it.  Pushing our return to space even further back.     

Obama's new rocket plan

 So now here we are.  A nation of millions, who has lived with dreams of space travel and has reaped rewards from NASA.  Looking down a dark path in our lives.  We need to listen to the men and women of NASA and return to the moon.  We need them to lead us from the front with total control and not from the speech writers at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.  Let this administration listen to one of our finest that did walk on the moon, Neil Armstrong when he stated “Thats one small step for man, One giant leap for mankind”.  Let’s take that giant leap as he did over 40 years ago and return to the moon.  

Evaluative Argument

     Just a one word title used to describe a movie that has changed the way all movies will be judged for the rest of time.

Avatar.

     How can this movie not win the Best picture at the Academy Awards like everyone said when they got done watching it?  Well it didn’t and that has left a large amount of dislike for the Academy for their choices once again.

     Every year we flock to the movie theaters to spend what has also become a small fortune to be entertained for a few hours.  These movies draw us to dreams and fantasies; scare us with primal fears of death and injury; to teach us of the beauty of people and places and of causes and issues that face this world and beyond; to remind us of wars we fought and the history of the world we live in.  This movie did it all and more in just under 3 hours.

    James Cameron’s vision of this distant world is nothing that anyone could have ever imagined.  He uses a story line that has been used before in many movies.  Good versus evil, and yes we always know that good most of the time wins, but in this movie, they win for all of the right reasons.  He uses technology that he developed to bring the audience closer to the movie.  A new type of 3D that puts you the viewer into the movie with the actors as they explore the  alien planet and all of its wonder.  It makes you feel like your part of the film.

    James is not new to the making of block buster movies and winning awards.  His portrayal of the classic sinking of one of the most famous ships of all time “Titanic” won him a multiple awards from the Academy, including the award for Best Picture.  In that film he used technology that he also developed to wow the audiences into  believing that they were their that fateful night in the North Atlantic as they cling for life.

     It would seem that the Academy’s choices this year is to have the idea of “share the wealth” with the other up and coming directors.  The winner of Best picture “The Hurt locker” is a good movie, but it didn’t come close to the impression of the magic that “Avatar” brought to the big screen.  The Academy’s should grade a movie on its impact as a whole to an audience and award it for that, not use its power and influence on the awards to further a new directors career.  Or maybe they watched a different version of “Avatar’ then the common public.  It was them that made it the highest grossing movie of all time.  A record that was held by “Titanic”.  A movie that won Best Picture and as was stated before, directed by James Cameron.

     So, I would say that it is obvious that the Academy had its own plans this year for the awards even before the last credits rolled on “Avatar”, they should be ashamed of theirselves and their actions.  But who am I to question the great Academy?  Just one of the common public that put “Avatar” in the record of highest grossing of all time.

References:

www.imdb.com

www.oscars.org

Broken Neck

How long can someone survive with a broken neck?  Growing up you always hear that if you break you neck, your dead.  Well I found out the hard way.

Back in June of 1993, myself and a few of my Marine brothers decided to go to the base pool on a Sunday before we had to go to work later that evening.  It was a humid day in South Carolina, not to say that everyday in the summer is humid there, but this day just had that heavy air feeling.  The day seemed to proceed as normal, just a few young guys swimming and soaking up some sun.  Then the stupidity began when one of us started diving into  the deep end of the pool which is just 6 feet deep.  Everything went down hill from there.  Each of us had to better the other.  Dives began to get more elaborate and one could say dangerous.  Well, then it was my turn to attempt to better all, and let me tell you now that is what I did.  I started back at the fence that surrounded the pool to keep everything wild out of the pool, but for some reason they put a gate to let us in, never mind that now.  I began my sprint,  followed with a large leap and nice distance of air between myself and the water of the pool.  I tuck my arms back against my sides and enter the water head first.  No splash.  I believe I just won a Gold medal in diving.

Then a sudden stop and the brightest light that anyone could ever see.  That light was followed by a pain that one could only describe as the most anyone could feel.  But then it was gone.  I surfaced and grabbed my head to see if it was still attached.  After rubbing my head with my hand, a large portion of my hair and a slimy fluid was attached to my hand.  Getting close to the time to go to work we all headed to the barracks to shower and get ready.

I begin my evening at work by going out to the flight line and begin an inspection of one of my squadrons F/A-18 Delta aircraft.  I put the ladder down and lift the canopy with the switch.  I grab the ladder and begin to climb up to inspect the top of the fighter jet, just as both of my feet leave the ground, I feel like myself and the 20 ton aircraft are falling backwards.  The fluid from my head is now flowing faster and I have become very dizzy.  Off to medical I go.

Navy medical back then seemed good to a young Marine like myself, but looking back now after living with a broken neck for over 15 years and having spinal surgery last April, man was I wrong.  The emergency room doctor back then did a x-ray of my skull to see if I cracked my brain bucket.  No cracks.  So in his professional medical opinion.  I sprained my neck and he sent me home with a Valium.  Only if he ordered a MRI or a CT of my neck he would have seen that my C5 thru C7 was injured and that I was worse off then his first assessment.

So the moral of the story of my life is.  Don’t dive in a 6 foot deep pool if your 6 feet tall and don’t believe in Navy medical.

Epitaph

Today we gather here, not to mourn, but to celebrate the life of Sean Slusser.  Sean slipped the bonds of earth after living a long life.  He devoted his life to the pursuit of things that not only interested him, but a nation as a whole.  He brought back the dreams of children, who’s backyard adventures and pretending that a small blanket draped over two chairs could be an outpost on the moon.

Sean spent his early parts of his life in Boy Scouts where he learned about adventure and the way a young man should live his life.  He learned that nature is a thing of beauty and must be preserved and protected for others.  Sean aways dreamed of aviation and of space.  These dreams were in his blood.  His grandfather built bombers during World War II, and then worked for NASA in the early days of the Mercury project.  Sean was aways good with his hands.  He could aways be heard saying “If it has a way to be taken apart and fixed, I will try”.  One such time when Sean was around 9 years old, he took apart his mothers sewing machine just to see how it worked.  When his mother walked into the room and looked on the ground, her sewing machine pieces were scattered, Sean didn’t worry and began to rebuilt it.  Not to long later he plugged it up and it work just like new, only one screw lighter.  I guess you could say that this would be the first modification or improvement to a mechanical component in his life.

Sean graduated high school and went to work building street legal monster trucks, but that wasn’t challenging enough for him.  Aviation was in his blood, so that is where he was headed.  Sean enlisted into the United States Marine Corps.  and served his country for 20 years maintaining the F/A-18 Hornet.  Their Sean honed his skills in aviation maintenance.  One would say that Sean was born to work on that aircraft.  It was like he was a walking manual and somehow could know what the aircraft wanted or maybe even talk to it.  While in the Marines, Sean graduated from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University with his degree and then after he retired he earned his Masters in Aeronautics from the same.

Sean went to work for the Federal Aviation Administration for sometime, but he still had that calling of space.  He was hired on to NASA to help develop the  “Return to Space and Moon Project”.  Their he helped design maintenance proceedures for the zero weight maintenance facillity on the moon.  Sean final retired after serving his country in many ways for over 50 years. 

One of Sean’s most fondest memories is that of watching his grandson become an astronaut and launch to the moon.  A dream he wished he could have shared with his grandfather.

Sean is survied by his wife (Michelle) of over 50 years and 4 daughters (Hannah, Cheyenne, Savannah and Ashley) and 15 grandchildren.

“God’s speed Sean Slusser and Semper Fi”.

Strike down this Bill H.R. 45

STRIKE DOWN THIS BILL H.R. 45

Strike down this Bill H.R. 45

Sean Slusser
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University

Abstract

This paper discusses a current issue that is facing this Nation.  It is an issue that shouldn’t be taken lightly.  It affects every American past, present and future.  It shakes the very cords that hold this nation together.  It is topic of gun control.  A given right to all Americans granted by the Second Amendment.

 

Strike down this Bill H.R. 45

For many years Americans have had to defend their own constitutional rights that were guaranteed to them by our founding fathers.  What is that right you ask?  It is the right to bear arms.  This is not for interpretation by some of our elected officials who’s own believes are tried to influence a nation, or by radical groups that are set out to destabilize this nation.  This once again has come forward in the introduction of a Bill, H.R. 45.  This Bill was introduced by the Representative from the State of Illinois, Congressman Bobby Rush.

            The Second amendment states “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a Free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.”  Congressman Rush’s introduction of this Bill is in direct violation of this amendment.  His own personal beliefs  is that everyone who wants to own a gun must have a license issued by the Federal government before they and own one.  He wants everyone that is issued a license to be required to submit a thumb print to the Federal government, and that would be put into a data base with all of your personal information so they can track the person.  Also, the Bill states that every weapon must be registered with the Federal government and its location is listed.   These personal views are not that of a nation.  No where does it say anything of this in the Second amendment.  This is just one person ideals trying to be forced onto a nation.  The troubling issue is that it is not just his views, but that of many of our elected officials in Congress.

  Many Congressmen and Congresswoman don’t listen to their constituents after they are elected to their position.  They next use that position to forward their own agenda for the nation and use their own believes to interpret the Constitution.  These ideas were never introduced by our founding fathers when they wrote the Second amendment and they shouldn’t be now.

            We as a large group in this United States of America, me included do not agree with this Bill, H.R. 45.  We stand for a strong, free nation just as our founding fathers intended it to be.  And by letting a Bill like this be introduced on the floor of Congress rattles everything that this nation was founded upon.  It would move this nation backwards to the way of living that they left their home countries for and then came here.  They came here to secure their freedoms and live a life that wasn’t controlled by someone who didn’t listen to their views.  This can not and will not happen during my life time.  It is time to stand up and let the voices be heard of those who still believe in what the founding fathers established over 200 years ago.  Its time to make Congress listen again to those voices, those American citizens who voted for them to go to Washington and represent their voice for the nation.  Its time to hold them accountable for their actions that has leaded this nation away from its foundation of “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness”.

            So stand up with me, and let’s let them know who is in charge of this nation.  Strike down this Bill H.R. 45. 

References

Congressman Bobby Rush (2009) BILL H.R. 45

www.opencongress.org

Mike Hammond (2009) HR 45 May be more troubling than the Average Anti-Gun Bill

www.gunowners.org

The First Congress of the United States of America (1789) the Bill of Rights

www.archives.gov

Stealing my car.

If you steal my car, all that i could say is that “I hope you have a good life insurance policy for your family.”  I come from the values of an eye for an eye or do unto others as they would do to you.  To many people today work very hard for the things that they have, and too let you just take my car will not go easy with me. 

One might say that “I didn’t like that car anyway, or that is why i pay insurance”.  Well, once again you have barked up the wrong tree.  I value everything in life.  I have worked hard for everything i have and will not let you just walk away with a free ride.  I hope you enjoy the joy ride in my car.  Hell while your there, go ahead and take my spare change in the ash tray.  If your lucky, you might be able to use some of it to call your lawyer.  But that is if you are lucky.  I have the enjoyment of prepairing for the day that we meet.  Althought, you might never see me face to face, you should be able to feel my presence. 

Tell me how it feels to be living on borrowed time.  Have you ever had that feeling that someone is watching your every move.  You just dont know where they are or what they are doing looking at you but they are there.  Well that is what you have gotten yourself into.  You might just think that I am just trying to scare you, but be afraid, very afraid.  There is nothing that you can do now.   You made your mistake. 

Why did you take my car?  Was it for the thrill of it?  Did you like the style?  Was the other cars on the block not worth the risk?  What, no answers?   Wait, what was that?  Was that a cop car on that block you just drove by?  Did I call the cops yet?  Is the onstar activated on it?  Got to love GPS.  Yes, dont need to worry there, my car has it.  Just another way for me to see you?  Ok, i think i have got your attention by now so i think i am done talking about you, so let me tell you about myself.

You have taken a car that belongs to a U.S. Marine.  Yes, it’s is a nice car and that is why you liked it.  I defend the nation that you live in and give you the right to have a lawyer for your court case.  But your not going to get the chance to get that far.  Right now you have a small crosshair on the back of your head.  I have had the training to hit body size targets from over 500 yards away.  The greatest thing about head shots is that the person doesnt even know that they are dead.  It is a great show of pink mist as the round exits your skull.  Yes i will have to have the car cleaned and the windows replaced, but dont worry that is why I have insurance.  And dont think that i will miss or that you were the first to steal my car and take it on a joy ride.  I take it that you didnt see the sticker that said widow maker on the back of my window next to the one that said “Death from a far.”  Now take a deep breath and look down at the glove box.  Do you see the small notch carved in my dash?  That is reminder of  the guy that stole my car first.  That breath you took was your last.  Good Bye!!!