The Fable of the Scorpion and the Frog

Posted on Sunday, September 29, 2013 by Post Scripts

Thanks to Harold for this timely tale submitted in comments:

One day, a scorpion looked around at the mountain where he lived and decided that he wanted a change. So he set out on a journey through the forests and hills. He climbed over rocks and under vines and kept going until he reached a river.

The river was wide and swift, and the scorpion stopped to reconsider the situation. He couldn’t see any way across. So he ran upriver and then checked downriver, all the while thinking that he might have to turn back.

Suddenly, he saw a frog sitting in the rushes by the bank of the stream on the other side of the river. He decided to ask the frog for help getting across the stream.

“Hellooo Mr. Frog!” called the scorpion across the water, “Would you be so kind as to give me a ride on your back across the river?”

“Well now, Mr. Scorpion! How do I know that if I try to help you, you wont try to kill me?” asked the frog hesitantly.

“Because,” the scorpion replied, “If I try to kill you, then I would die too, for you see I cannot swim!”

Now this seemed to make sense to the frog. But he asked. “What about when I get close to the bank? You could still try to kill me and get back to the shore!”

“This is true,” agreed the scorpion, “But then I wouldn’t be able to get to the other side of the river!”

“Alright then…how do I know you wont just wait till we get to the other side and THEN kill me?” said the frog.

“Ahh…,” crooned the scorpion, “Because you see, once you’ve taken me to the other side of this river, I will be so grateful for your help, that it would hardly be fair to reward you with death, now would it?!”

So the frog agreed to take the scorpion across the river. He swam over to the bank and settled himself near the mud to pick up his passenger. The scorpion crawled onto the frog’s back, his sharp claws prickling into the frog’s soft hide, and the frog slid into the river. The muddy water swirled around them, but the frog stayed near the surface so the scorpion would not drown. He kicked strongly through the first half of the stream, his flippers paddling wildly against the current.

Halfway across the river, the frog suddenly felt a sharp sting in his back and, out of the corner of his eye, saw the scorpion remove his stinger from the frog’s back. A deadening numbness began to creep into his limbs.

“You fool!” croaked the frog, “Now we shall both die! Why on earth did you do that?”

The scorpion shrugged, and did a little jig on the drowning frog’s back.

“I could not help myself. Self destruction – “Its my Nature”

2 Comments

Active-Shooter-Response Training for Civilians, Good Idea?

Posted on Sunday, September 29, 2013 by Post Scripts

Posted by Tina

At a time when California’s Gerry Brown is attempting to eliminate gun use for almost any purpose, including self defense through extremely restrictive gun legislation, Joe Green of South Jersey Times encourages folks in New Jersey to train citizens in what the police call, active-shooter-response. This is training that teaches how to be more aware of surroundings and possible threats and know what to do to protect yourself and others without thinking:

There’s no telling how many lives can be saved if you know just what to do, right away, when a deranged gunman starts to take aim.

That’s the point South Jersey law enforcement officials are making in the aftermath of last weekend’s mass shooting in a Nairobi, Kenya, mall. The attack for which terrorist group Al-Shabaab has claimed responsibility is just the latest in a long list of mass shootings worldwide over more than a decade.
While law enforcement agencies, school officials and other authorities drill their personnel on active-shooter scenarios, a guide for everyone else who might be caught up in a shooting spree isn’t as well-publicized.

But it does exist. South Jersey police and other authorities recommend for civilians the same guidelines that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) pushes.

Trained, vetted, and licensed armed citizens who are also trained in Active-Shooter-Response would be even better.

2 Comments

Obamacare: Hardship and Heartache in the Heartland

Posted on Sunday, September 29, 2013 by Post Scripts

Posted by Tina

Todd Sterns of Fox News asked friends in his Facebook community to respond with examples of how they had “faced hardships” as a result of ObamaCare. Read about some of replies he received here:

The response was overwhelming. I received nearly 1,000 replies – from small business owners, nurses, doctors, electricians, stay-at-home moms, and military personnel. Every single person said they had been adversely affected by President Obama’s signature legislation.

Readers with implementation and financial concerns might be interested in the possible miseries enumerated in a posting on the financial webpage, Bankrates, “6 Surprises From Health Insurance Reform”. They have noted, for instance that hospital mergers and acquisitions are up since Obamcare passed. Last time that happened was during the HMO crisis (Remember that?) when costs were also driven up as a result of a lack of competition and choice.

Victoria Taft, a former Portland radio talk show host posted a heartbreaking story about a doctor who lost his practice and took his own life over events and stresses that occurred after the passage of Obamacare. The story begged to be reprinted…most of it follows:

Dr. Philip Henderson, III of Longview, Washington, was a fourth generation doctor in this medium sized logging town in Cowlitz County in Southwest Washington. He was responsible for bringing 6,000 babies into this world. He started programs to help poor women receive prenatal care, helped out at a free clinic he helped start, gave thousands of hours -totaling five years-of his own, unpaid time to cover OB-GYN emergencies at the local hospital AND he volunteered for ten years at both local high schools to give teens “the talk.” He lobbied Senators and Congressional reps in Washington, D.C. in an attempt to slow the debilitating effects of ObamaCare on women’s health care in Washington State.

In the past several months, ObamaCare “winner” and “survivor,” Kaiser, ended its contract with Dr. Henderson’s four partner OB-GYN clinic, Lower Columbia Women’s Clinic, and decided to take over the thousands of patients this local practice had built up over decades. This move was designed to consolidate care necessitated by the constraints of ObamaCare. And this meant that many patients would now have to travel 40 minutes south to Vancouver, Washington to receive care. My brother-in-law’s practice would lose their patients. More important, their patients would not be able to keep their doctor-a promise made by the President about ObamaCare.

Stay with me.

During these difficult negotiations, two of the partners decided to leave to seek greener pastures. They knew it would collapse the clinic, but, undaunted, Dr. Henderson and his remaining partner turned to the local hospitals they served to get a temporary financial life line until they could hire replacements and get the clinic whole again. The hospitals said no. ObamaCare was putting the hospital in a squeeze and they couldn’t afford to help the Doctors who had given thousands of hours of free care to the hospital’s-and City’s-patients.

Under ObamaCare, you see, only the large survive. Or the people who can exempt themselves, like Congress. Or friends of people writing the bill who give their friends waivers, such as unions and big corporations.

When local hospitals turned down the financial life line, Dr. Henderson began searching for jobs for his co workers. He made phone calls on their behalf and helped their job hunting efforts. But the clinic his great-grandfather had started generations before would die.

Finally, when Dr. Henderson began looking for a position for himself, he was turned down. Under his proposal to Kaiser, for instance, Henderson could still see his-and Kaiser’s patients without them having to travel to get care. When he got the call turning him down, he emerged from his office shaking his head and said in a tone of voice his nurse had never heard before, “They don’t want me. No one wants a 63 year old doctor.”

The man who 20 years earlier had fought back and willed himself to walk after a devastating car accident and who worked hard to get back to his practice only to pour himself into his patients and his community, was a beaten man. It’s easy to see that now. It wasn’t in June.

This fine doctor was not among the winners picked in Obama’s ambitious corporatist promoted vision.

Thoroughly defeated and distraught he took his own life.

There is no excuse in America for legislation or regulation that picks winners and losers, that pits citizens against citizens in a dog-eat-dog environment. There is no excuse for regulation that denies our freedoms to live and to work or that crushes industriousness and investments that create jobs and promote innovative ideas.

This legislation is terrible. It was conceived by ignorant, tyrannical extremists in control of the Democrat Party that have placed their dream of single payer healthcare above citizens rights and have conspired with corporations to do it…picking winners and losers without the slightest concern for the general welfare of the people! (A tenet of their sworn duty)

Readers with personal stories of hardship are encouraged to share their experiences post Obamacare via email to the House of Representatives: obamacare@mail.house.gov.

4 Comments

Feds Raid Lumber Liquidators Headquarters – Numerous Sealed Warrants

Posted on Sunday, September 29, 2013 by Post Scripts

Posted by Tina

And so the harassment begins for Lumber Liquidators. Money will cross hands some time down the road and the matter will fade into the big gas bag over the beltway just as it did when the Obama feds raided and harassed Gibson Guitars..

Lumber Liquidators is a very successful company. (Has advertised on Rush Limbaugh but also held a fundraiser for Obama in his own home). A couple of days ago the government raided their headquarters under sealed warrants:

Special agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations, the Fish and Wildlife Service and the Department of Justice executed search warrants at Lumber Liquidators’ headquarters in Toano, Virginia, and a company office in Richmond, Virginia, said ICE spokesman Brandon Montgomery.

“The warrants are sealed and no further details are available at this time of the investigation,” Montgomery said.

When asked what the agents seized during the raids, Montgomery said, “To my knowledge, ICE did not remove any product from the locations.”

A couple of years ago Gibson Guitars (Republican supporter) was harassed by a similar raid over concerns about illegal wood importation. Gibson maintains that it complied with all regulations and the nations he was buying from claimed he had met their compliance requirements and his paperwork was in order. Gibson eventually paid a $300,000.00 fine to the government.

Was this fine for actual wrong doing or was it an agreement or settlement Gibson accepted to end mounting legal expenses and government harassment? We’ll never know for sure.

The Blaze has some particulars on that story including this statement quoting Gibson’s CEO:

Gibson CEO Henry Juszkiewicz said in an interview with the (Wall Street) Journal last year that a broker may have made a mistake in “labeling the goods” but that the “sale was legal and approved by Indian authorities.”

In other words, as far as Gibson knew at the point of sale it had done nothing wrong. The fine represents big government with it’s jack boot planted firmly on the neck of Gibson guitars.

In the case of Lumber Liquidators the Obama administration is once again making a big bad ass show of being tough on the environment, tossing a bone to green activists and lobbyists. With his popularity hitting all time lows, even among supporters, he’s desperate to re-establish his creds with his base. As the election period approaches I look for him to do more of this abusive, nasty, Saul Alinsky crap.

That’s my opinion and I stand by it.

4 Comments

Global Warming Activism – What Will Historians Write?

Posted on Sunday, September 29, 2013 by Post Scripts

Posted by Tina

Sanctimonious opinions of leftists glo-warming advocates derive from articles like “Climate science: Why the world won’t listen,” by psychologist Adam Corner, New Science Magazine which begins:

WHEN scholars of the future write the history of climate change, they may look to early 2008 as a pivotal moment. Al Gore’s film An Inconvenient Truth was bringing the science to the masses. The economist Nicholas Stern had made the financial case for tackling the problem sooner rather than later. And the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) had just issued its most unequivocal report yet on the link between human activity and climatic change. (emphasis mine)

Mr. Corner’s premise: “When it comes to climate change, facts don’t speak for themselves. Communicators need to find better ways to connect.”

Smooth.

This is how the leftist glo-warmer thinks. When confronted with growing strength in the opposition they shift the focus of their attack. They begin by declaring they have the facts…all of them. This establishes, at least in their minds, that they are right…ending all further discussion. They proceed to a new level of manipulation…in this case, appealing to dissenters (maliciously labeled “deniers”) based in things they care about.

Let’s see…the conspirators who began by issuing falsehoods, scaring the daylights out of people, indoctrinating children, confiscating big piles of cash through taxation and carbon trading schemes, destroying industry and the middle class through punishing regulation, and creating an atmosphere of “crisis dependency thinking” in the masses now want to take a friendly (condescending) approach by appealing to the concerns of their detractors?

Mmmm….

Upon what possible standard of ethics do they believe they have a right to stand that anyone should even begin to want to engage them on the topic of man caused global warming?

Here is the lesson. The indoctrinated Marxist never gives up. His need for the power and control to establish a brave new (safe) world with him calling the shots overwhelms all else. The corresponding opportunity to cash in is the reward he offers himself for his undying devotion to the “worth” cause.

The solution for freedom loving seekers of truth, dedicated and supportive of honesty in science and journalism is to thoroughly discredit and defeat the radicals by the continuous exposure of charlatans dedicated to the hoax perpetrated by glo-warming leader Al Gore and his cadre of activist scientists, opportunists, and politicians.

Point of fact: A British court found that Al Gore’s film was bringing indoctrination to the masses, in particular to school children, and ordered a “corrected guidance note” be sent to all British secondary schools “making clear the mainstream scientific position” on “nine errors” in the film. There were actually many more errors offered to the court for consideration but the court stated it did not have the time to address all of them and settled on nine.

The initial cookie baked into the MMGW scheme began to crumble! Al Gore’s film is shown to be nothing more than a leftist propaganda vehicle!

Despite this revelation Al Gores Inconvenient Truth remains a pillar of the Glo-warming cause. Those now screaming “science denier” are themselves science manipulators, fabricators, opportunists and hangers-on.

According to the above linked report by Christopher Monckton from the Science and Public Policy Institute, Al Gore Spokeswoman Kalee Kreider attempted to explain away the judge’s ruling, making several inaccurate statements in the process. In typical leftist fashion she also found it necessary to demean the parent that had the gall to question Gores movie and what school children, including his own children, were being taught:

Al Gore’s spokesman and “environment advisor,” Ms. Kalee Kreider, begins by saying that the film presented “thousands and thousands of facts.” It did not: just 2,000 “facts” in 93 minutes would have been one fact every three seconds. The film contained only a few dozen points, most of which will be seen to have been substantially inaccurate. The judge concentrated only on nine points which even the UK Government, to which Gore is a climate-change advisor, had to admit did not represent mainstream scientific opinion.

Ms. Kreider then states, incorrectly, that the judge himself had never used the term “errors.” In fact, the judge used the term “errors,” in inverted commas, throughout his judgment.

Next, Ms. Kreider makes some unjustifiable ad hominem attacks on Mr. Stewart Dimmock, the lorry driver, school governor and father of two school-age children who was the plaintiff in the case. This memorandum, however, will eschew any ad hominem response, and will concentrate exclusively on the 35 scientific inaccuracies and exaggerations in Gore’s movie. (see report)

Ms. Kreider then says, “The process of creating a 90-minute documentary from the original peer-reviewed science for an audience of moviegoers in the U.S. and around the world is complex.” However, the single web-page entitled “The Science” on the movie’s official website contains only two references to articles in the peer-reviewed scientific journals. There is also a reference to a document of the IPCC, but its documents are not independently peer-reviewed in the usual understanding of the term.

At this point it might be interesting to note that Paramount, the distributor of “An Inconvenient Truth”, warns in its synopsis:

“If the vast majority of the world’s scientists are right, we have just ten years to avert a major catastrophe that could send our entire planet into a tail-spin of epic destruction involving extreme weather, floods, droughts, epidemics and killer heat waves beyond anything we have ever experienced.”

Six years later and we have seen extreme weather but it has not been weather “beyond anything we have ever experienced” as the scare mongering Paramount executives and Al Gores movie suggest.

Clearly projected outcomes, supposedly based on settled science, are based on big fat fibs. The science, as stated by Al Gore and others, is not settled opinion but instead extremist blather with a bit of science thrown in for appearance sake. Many of the conclusions that have been drawn, and drawn as if they represent a final exact truth, represent a series of predictions based on a few assumptions and imagined scenarios. These aren’t scientists in the traditional sense; they are, as someone said, more like fortune tellers…and their predictions have been wrong again and again.

Major flaws have been exposed but glo-warming activists would rather die than admit to their importance.

Here’s the bottom line for freedom loving citizens: The need for drastic, harmful legislation has been exaggerated and must be resisted!

Al Gore, through his movie…the writers of the IPCC through their (disputed) report…and leftist politicians and activists through their constant harmful legislation and bloviating have engaged in this world-wide hoax for purposes of political power, redistribution, and manipulation. As Christopher Monckton of Benchley wrote in the above linked report:

“All of the errors point in one direction – towards undue alarmism. Not one of the errors falls in the direction of underestimating the degree of concern in the scientific community. The likelihood that all 35 of the errors…could have fallen in one direction purely by inadvertence is less than 1 in 34 billion.

Readers interested in Monckton’s opinions might also enjoy Lord Monckton’s summary of Climategate and its issues by Anthony Watts:

The whistleblower deep in the basement of one of the ugly, modern tower-blocks of the dismal, windswept University of East Anglia could scarcely have timed it better.

In less than three weeks, the world’s governing class – its classe politique – would meet in Copenhagen, Denmark, to discuss a treaty to inflict an unelected and tyrannical global government on us, with vast and unprecedented powers to control all once-free world markets and to tax and regulate the world’s wealthier nations for its own enrichment: in short, to bring freedom, democracy, and prosperity to an instant end worldwide, at the stroke of a pen, on the pretext of addressing what is now known to be the non-problem of manmade “global warming”.

And they pretend such innocence, such worthiness of purpose…such heartfelt concern for their fellow man.

Those of us who are tired of being manipulated and lied to by these power and money grubbing radicals must remain strong in our demands. Let us make clear our intention to uplift only those scientists, journalists, politicians and activists that operate with the intention of seeking sound scientific determination and who are committed to reporting findings with clarity, honor and integrity. Let us be mindful of those who value freedom as we do and welcome open scrutiny, disagreement, struggle, caution, risk taking, and discovery. These are the methods and values that will lead to true understanding and solutions that work for everyone.

It is my contention that “when scholars of the future write the history of climate change”…they will undoubtedly sort through piles of…pardon the expression…alarmist bulls*#t and conclude that although humans of the time were sensitive to their environment, and dedicated to conservation and preservation of the beautiful world in which they lived, they were also ultimately wise enough to expose charlatan scientists and reject unfair and unfounded taxation, regulation, and schemes for world dominance hatched by unscrupulous politicians, scientists, and journalists. They will find that the majority of the people were responsibly skeptical, curious, and willing to question outlandish declarations made by the posers and hucksters of their time. They will find that the people were ultimately confident and determined to counter the emotionally duped, the indoctrinated, and most specifically, the charlatans and activists who rallied to disallow opposing opinion. They will report that during this period the people stood resolute against a depraved scheme to deprive the world of freedom, industry, and a thriving middle class. Historians will find that in the end…the truth will out.

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Fake News Report Sweeps Nation’s Websites and Blogs

Posted on Saturday, September 28, 2013 by Post Scripts

Posted by Jack

A fake news website, much like the Colbert Report,  published a realistic appearing news article that President Obama had declared Muslim Appreciation Month.   Check it out.   I don’t know who owns the website, but I have to wonder if this isn’t the work of some leftwing lunatic?   It sure was evil.   This kind of false reporting that should carry a jail sentence. 

Nobody who believed this story should feel bad, there was no way to tell until it was researched.  

 

 

 

 

15 Comments

About the Islamo-facist Geo-political/religious Movement

Posted on Saturday, September 28, 2013 by Post Scripts

 A reminder of the facts:  Not all Muslims are terrorists, not even close, but 99% of all terrorists are Muslims and that’s what is important.   Nuff said. 

Want a detailed list of the constributions radicalized Muslims have made in the USA?  Click here.   And when you’re done over there try this link.     How about a real current list just for grins?  Click here.

 

 

 

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An All American (NASCAR) Story

Posted on Saturday, September 28, 2013 by Post Scripts

Posted by Jack

Prolog:  Ernie Irvan  life is another a rags to riches story that included one of the greatest comebacks in NASCAR history.   Anyone who has ever taken to the track knows skill often takes a backseat to fate.  A slight mishap at 175 mph could be a career ender… or a life ender as in the case of Dale Ernheart.    Er nie almost met his end in a freak accident and ironically at one point in his career Irvan was neck and neck in the points with the leader, Dale Ernheart, a feat few ever accomplished.   This is the condensed life story of one of NASCAR’s greatest ever racing legends and a California native son.    When you go over Irvan’s list of accomplishments and what he endured to get there will make you proud to be an American.   It’s why I call this an ”All American Story,” because Ernie’s dogged determination, courage in the face of great adversity and his will to take his god given talents as far as they would go, exemplifies the kind character that can be found in all of us who embrace the values that made America great.      Enjoy the reading.  -Jack

sears-point-ticketBorn: January 13, 1959
Salinas, California
Wife: Kim Baker Irvan
Married: November 21, 1992
Children: Jordan (August 12, 1993)
Jared (February 9, 1998)
Parents: Vic & Jo Irvan

CAREER HIGHLIGHTS· Made NASCAR Winston Cup debut at Richmond International Raceway on September 13, 1987
· First pole position came in 65th attempt at 1990 Valleydale Meats 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway
· First win came in 79th start at the 1990 Busch 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway
· Won the 1991 Daytona 500 driving for Morgan-McClure Motorsports
· Finished a career best fifth in Winston Cup driver points in 1991
· Suffered horrific crash at Michigan Speedway in 1994 while driving for Robert Yates Racing, made a miraculous recovery and returned to racing at the end of the 1995 season with two top-10        performances.
· Led the most miles in the 1994 season despite competing in only 20 events
· Returned to victory lane in 1996 with wins at New Hampshire and RichmondHONORS· 1993 Super Ford Magazine Driver of the Year  ErnieIrvan1997Pocono
 · 1994 True Value Hard Charger
· 1994 Mike Rich Memorial Award
· 1994 Maxwell House Spirit Award
· 1995 “Winston Cup Scene” Top Story of the Year
· 1995 Maxwell House Spirit Award
· 1995 Arete Award for Courage in Sports (Professional Division)
· 1996 Mildred “Babe” Didrikson Zaharius Courage Award
· 1996 AP Parts Meet the Challenge Award
· 1998 Selected as one of NASCAR Top 50 Drivers
· 2001 Selected as a Torchbearer for 2002 Olympics
· 2002 Inductee into the Stock Car Hall of Fame
· 2002 Voted by MSNBC Top Ten Greatest Sports Comebacks of all time RACING HISTORY

1968 – 1974 Ernie began his racing career in California at the age of nine driving go-carts, winning the California Championship at the age of 15. In ’74, Ernie finished second in the country in his class at the national go-cart championship races.

1975 Ernie moved up to stockcars at the age of 16 at Stockton 99 Speedway and was victorious in his first race on asphalt, a semi-main event.

1976 – 1981 Ernie raced every weekend at Madera and Stockton, CA. He missed his high school graduation ceremony to race at Riverside, CA.

1982 – 1983 Ernie left California with $700 in his pocket and everything he owned loaded into his pickup truck and a homemade trailer, and he headed east to North Carolina. Worried about running out of money, Ernie stopped in Las Vegas and managed to leave with an additional $200.

With his sights on Winston Cup, Ernie supported himself in Charlotte by welding grandstand seats at Charlotte Motor Speedway (now Lowes Motor Speedway), unloaded Ken Schrader’s moving van, built racecars, and took endless odd jobs. At the same time, he never missed a chance to talk, prod, wheedle, pester – whatever it took to get himself into a Winston Cup car. Meanwhile, he won nine races driving in the Late Model Series at Concord (NC) Speedway.

1984 – 1986 Ernie continued working odd jobs and building racecars while racing at Concord Speedway which was then a dirt track. Running a Firebird, Ernie won 2 races his first year and 11 races the next year.

1987 Ernie made his Winston Cup debut on September 13th at Richmond (VA) Fairgrounds Raceway driving a Chevrolet Monte Carlo, # 56. The car, built and prepared by Ernie and Marc Reno, was sponsored by Dale Earnhardt Chevrolet. Ernie qualified20th but, sidelined after only 35 laps due to an overheated engine, he finished 29th and won $860.

In October, Ernie drove the # 56, again sponsored by Dale Earnhardt, in his first Winston Cup start at Charlotte, starting 36th, leading Lap 128, and finishing 8th. He drove the same car, this time displaying Ulrich’s # 6 in Riverside, CA in November. Ernie made two additional starts for Ulrich’s U. S. Racing team, first at Martinsville, VA (September) where he started 24th and finished 15th and then at North Wilkesboro, NC (October) where he started 25th and finished 22nd. Ernie ended his first five-race foray into Winston Cup racing with one Top 10 finish and $23,050 in winnings.

1988 Driving Ulrich’s # 2 Kroger Chevrolets and Pontiacs, Ernie competed in 25 of the 29 Winston Cup Series events. Ernie lost Rookie-of-the-Year honors to Ken Bouchard by three points (242-239) in the closest battle in Winston Cup history. Ernie’s best finish of the year was 11th at Martinsville, VA in September. He finished 26th in the final points standings with winnings for the year totaling $96,370.

1989 Ernie started 29 races in his first full year in the Winston Cup Series behind the wheel of Ulrich’s U. S. Racing Pontiac. Ernie started 25th at Bristol in April and after only 38 laps, he caught leader Mark Martin. Ernie went on to lead 56 laps before being sidelined in an accident on lap 167. Ernie’s sixth place finish at Martinsville in September gave him his best of four Top-10 finishes for the year. Ernie finished 22nd in final standings for the year with winnings totaling $155,239.

1990 Ernie began the season driving the # 90 Bull’s Eye Barbecue Sauce Ford for Junie Donlavey, but after three races, he moved over to fill the vacancy in Morgan McClure’s # 4 Kodak Oldsmobile. After starting 30th in his first race for the new team (Atlanta in March), Ernie charged to the front and grabbed a 3rd place finish – the first Top-5 of his career. Ernie then grabbed his first Winston Cup pole position at Bristol in the spring. He won his first Winston Cup race in the Busch 500 at Bristol on August 25th. Ernie wrapped up the season with three poles, one victory, six Top-5’s and 13 Top-10’s, winning $535,280 and finishing 9th in the final standings.

1991 Four short years earlier, Ernie watched the Daytona 500 on a borrowed black and white TV while washing cars, one of several jobs he worked to support both is family and his struggling career. In February 1991, Ernie out-raced a star-studded field and drove the Morgan-McClure Chevrolet to victory in the Daytona 500, the sport’s most prestigious and then most lucrative race. Ernie’s next victory came later in the season at Watkins Glen (NY). Ernie’s first three Winston Cup victories – on a short track, a super speedway, and on a road course – helped to underscore his versatility as a driver. Ernie ended the year with two victories, three second-place and four fourth-place finishes among his eleven Top-5 and nineteen Top-10 finishes in 29 starts. He finished the year 5th in Winston Cup driver standings and won $1,079,017.

1992 Ernie’s year included many highs but also some lows. Highs included Ernie’s marriage to Kim Baker on November 21st. The season netted him three more victories – Sonoma, CA in June; Daytona in July; and Talladega, AL in July – along with three more pole positions, nine Top-5’s and eleven Top-10’s, $996,885 in winnings, and points finish for the season of 11th. Unfortunately, the lows included a broken collarbone suffered in an accident during a Busch series race in March at Atlanta and twelve finishes of 24th or worse including seven DNF’s.

1993 Ernie continued his tenure with Morgan-McClure adding poles at Dover, DE (June) and Daytona (July) and a victory at Talladega in May. In total, while driving for Morgan-McClure, Ernie obtained nine poles, seven wins and 51 Top-10 finishes in 105 starts.

Following the death of Davey Allison in a helicopter accident, Ernie joined Robert Yates Racing (RYR) to drive the Texaco/Havoline Ford beginning at Darlington (September) where he started 10th and finished 5th. Ernie’s first victory with RYR came in his 4th start with the team when he won at Martinsville later that same month. Ernie dedicated his victory that day to Allison and then followed that victory two weeks later with one at Charlotte in which he led all but six laps. Ernie scored five front-row positions (including two poles) and two victories in his nine races that season with RYR. Ernie was ranked ninth in driver standings at the time of his departure from Morgan-McClure, but he rose to sixth in the final standings.

1994 Ernie was a dominant contender for the NASCAR Winston Cup Series Championship throughout the first 20 races of the season. Entering the GM Goodwrench Dealer 400 at Michigan in August, Ernie matched Dale Earnhardt win for win with three each, led in Top-5 finished and winnings and trailed Earnhardt by only 27 points after having led the standings for most of the season.

All of this came to an end in an instant during an early morning Saturday practice session at Michigan, and Ernie’s fight for the title turned into a fight for his life. According to drivers on the track, a right front tire deflated, sending Ernie’s car into the Turn Two wall at over 170 miles per hour.

Emergency workers at the track worked frantically to extricate him from the car, and he was immediately airlifted to Saint Joseph’s Hospital in Ann Arbor, MI. Diagnosed with critical brain and lung injuries and given only a 10% chance of surviving the night, Ernie clung to life for the first two days and then rallied to begin a very long road to recovery. By early September, Irvan was listed in “fair” condition and was removed from ventilator support. A few weeks later he was deemed well enough to be transferred to the Charlotte Institute of Rehabilitation in Charlotte, and only a few short weeks following the transfer, Ernie appeared and addressed the fans at the Charlotte Motor Speedway at the start of the UAW-GM race.

Less than two months later, at the gala NASCAR Awards Banquet in New York, Irvan walked on stage at the Waldorf-Astoria’s Grand Ballroom to receive the True Value Hard Charger Award. In spite of having missed 11 races at the end of the season due to his injuries, Ernie had still raced among the top five for more miles than any driver. In addition, Ernie tied Geoff Bodine for the most poles won during the season.

1995 Throughout the first eight months of 1995, Ernie remained focused on returning to Winston Cup racing. He put himself through rigorous workouts to regain his physical strength; underwent extensive medical exams and additional procedures; patiently attempted to answer unanswerable questions; and survived microscopic scrutiny to prove that he was fit to drive a Winston Cup car. Finally, on September 16th, NASCAR cleared Ernie for competition.

After a rained-out qualifying eliminated him from the NASCAR Craftsman Truck field at Martinsville the week before, Ernie qualified his truck on the outside pole for the following weekend’s event at North Wilkesboro on September 30th. Six laps after the green flag was dropped, Ernie was back in front, passing pole sitter Mike Skinner for the lead on Lap 6. Ernie led another 23 laps before mechanical problems sideline him. The very next day, October 1, he made his dramatic return to Winston Cup racing in the #88 Texaco-Havoline Ford of RYR. After starting in seventh position, he advanced to third by Lap 47 and took the lead on Lap 125. He held the lead for 31 laps and finished on the lead lap in sixth position.

Ernie capped his comeback with an outstanding performance at Phoenix. After being relegated to a last place start due to a wreck in practice, Ernie started his back-up car last in the 44-car field. He quickly moved through the field to seventh by Lap 75, then took the lead by taking on only two fresh tires during the first round of pit stops. Despite the fact that seven-time Winston Cup Champion Dale Earnhardt had four new tires, neither he nor anyone else could catch Ernie for the next 110 laps. Before he retired with engine failure on Lap 197 of the 312-lap race, Ernie led more laps than any driver.

Ernie finished the 1995 season with a solid super speedway performance. Starting 26th in the season ending race at Atlanta, Ernie had the # 88 Texaco-Havoline Ford in fourth by the middle of the race and advanced to second before a late race pit stop relegated him to a seventh place finish. In only 3 starts, Ernie had 2 Top-10 finished and earned $54,875.

1996 As promised, Ernie returned to the #28 Texaco-Havoline Ford with the same crew on duty as he had the day of the Michigan accident. His comeback season got off to a great start when he earned a front row berth for the season opening Daytona 500 beside teammate Dale Jarrett. During Speed Week, Ernie captured a dramatic victory in the 125-mile qualifying race for the Daytona 500. As the season progressed, Ernie won the pole position for the spring race at Talladega, then scored victories at New Hampshire and Richmond.

On his way to a Top-10 finish in the Winston Cup points standings, he collected 12 Top-5 and 16 Top-10 finishes, led 15 of the 31 events, and earned a career-best $1,670,113.

1997 In his final season driving the RYR Texaco-Havoline Ford, Ernie notched his 15th career win. The dramatic victory came in June at Michigan Speedway, the track that nearly claimed his life three years earlier. Ernie ran up 5 Top-5 finishes, 13 Top-10’s and 2 Pole positions and earned $1,614,281. Irvan finished 14th in the Winston Cup Points standings.

1998 Ernie joined MB2 Motorsports to drive the # 36 Skittles Pontiac. During the year he scored 11 Top-10 finishes with three pole positions despite missing the final three races while recovering from injuries suffered at Talladega (October). Ernie finished the season 19th in the Winston Cup points standings, earning $1,476,141. The highlight of 1998 was the birth of his son, Jared, on February 9th.

1999 Ernie continued driving the # 36 for MB2, but with a different sponsor. M&M Mars (parent corporation of Skittles) decided to emblazon the popular “M&M’s” characters on the car. As a result, the “M&M’s” Pontiac easily became the most recognizable and popular car on the Winston Cup circuit.

On August 20th, exactly 5 years after his near fatal accident there, Ernie crashed at Michigan while driving his own # 84 Irvan-Simo Federated Auto parts Pontiac in a practice session for the Busch Series race. Ernie was again airlifted from the track and was diagnosed with a mild head injury and a bruised lung as a result of the accident.

Less than two weeks later, on September 3, 1999, surrounded by his wife and two children, Ernie announced his retirement from driving at a tearful press conference in Darlington, SC.

Ernie finished his Winston Cup career as a driver with 15 victories, 22 poles, 68 Top-5’s, 124 Top-10’s and over 11 million dollars in career earnings.
8 Comments

They Don’t Listen to Us Anyway

Posted on Friday, September 27, 2013 by Post Scripts
Face it, Kerry is a puppet, and that’s one reason Hillary is gone, she would not have ruined her chance at running for Ex office, and the socialist Lib’s knew this was coming
 
24 Comments

State of Jefferson – Q&A

Posted on Thursday, September 26, 2013 by Post Scripts

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b9VOjXhvm80&feature=youtu.be

3 Comments