Saturday, December 27, 2008

It seems the National Geographic Society just can't stick with geography

and animals anymore:
National Geographic Channel ran a show last night entitled, "Guns In America." According to the program, there are millions of misguided
gun owners across the nation. Why? Because your guns are supposedly more likely to harm you than to help you in an emergency.

"As a society, we're totally out of control with weapons," said one Philadelphia cop who was interviewed during the show. "You need to limit access that people have to these type of firearms."


I've got family that used to contribute to them when they could; after this, I'll try to make sure they never do again.

Ok, this is taking either stupidity or fear of dogs to new levels

Eventually the two men left the back door and returned to the front of the house. Peeples opened the back door to take a look around; when he did, Egypt ran out. Normally, she’d stop at the backyard gate, he said, but the men had left the gate’s door open. With nothing to stop her, Egypt went running down the driveway and Peeples went after her. He heard gunshots and saw two men with guns drawn.

Wounded, Egypt ran to the backyard. The men pulled out their badges, told Peeples they were undercover narcotics agents, handcuffed him and told him he was being charged with assault with a deadly weapon. A police cruiser pulled up, and Peeples was stuffed in the back. “Charge him with everything you can charge him with,” he remembers one of the officers saying.

And I can just about guarantee these clowns will, at some point, be bitching about how people don't like them and don't trust them.
Though the assault charge against Peeples was dropped, Muñoz said police have filed misdemeanor charges against him with the San Diego City Attorney’s office, including not having a dog license, endangering the public’s safety and possession of marijuana. A search of Peeples’ garage, OK’d by his mom, turned up a scale and a tiny amount of marijuana so old that it disintegrated upon contact.
A 'scale'. No mention of what kind, intended use, nothing, just a scale. Does that mean some jackass could use my Lyman, or that little Midway electronic, to claim 'he was obviously handling drugs'? Probably; some of these sorry excuses for lawmen seem to have no limits. And something that had been there so long it 'disintegrated'? Gee, obviously fresh evidence, isn't it?
It's obviously a "Well, we screwed up but God forbid we actually admit it and make it right; find something we can charge him on."

And note this Balko found:
Milwaukee resident Virginia Villo is suing that city for the 2004 police shooting of her lab-springer spaniel mix, Bubba. As part of her lawsuit, she requested police reports of every dog killed by Milwaukee police over a nine-year period. The request turned up 434 dead puppy reports, or about one every seven-and-a-half days.

Damn.

Wednesday, December 24, 2008

I know, it's the day before Christmas, good feelings and all,

but I still want to point out some of these people.

For instance, after The Obama's investigator(Comes with the Royal Seal!) investigated and said nobody on The Obama's staff did anything wrong, we still keep reading things like this:
In addition to talking with Gov. Blagojevich about who would fill President-elect Barack Obama’s Senate seat, Obama’s newly minted chief of staff had something else on his mind: his own congressional seat.

Just after accepting the top post with Obama, Rahm Emanuel discussed with Blagojevich the possibility of keeping his congressional seat “warm” for him for a couple of years, the Sun-Times has learned.

Emanuel expressed interest in returning one day to his elected position because he was on track to become U.S. House speaker, the Sun-Times previously reported.

Hmmm, I wonder if this last could have something to do with Pelosi basically telling him and The Obama to clear any talking to people in the House through her? "No surprises" I believe it was?

Here's what a 'journalist' has to say about Joe the Plumber being trashed:
WURZELBACHER: I just, you know, in general you can say the left pretty much shot me up, wouldn't you say?

ROBERTS: Well, I mean, you know, I guess when you entered the political fray, you've got to expect that some people are going to take some shots at you, you know, when you get out there and you enter into that political arena. It's a tough place to be. It's a little bit like a gladiator sport --

Let us point out- again- that this guy was in HIS YARD when The Obama came by and asked for questions. He asked a question, The Anointed One's answer caused a problem, and the media- and crooked officials- proceeded to trash him in every way they could. They spent more time investigating a guy who asked a question than they did on Obama over the previous two years(that they'd admit to, anyway). But, according to this clown Roberts, asking Obama a question means you've 'entered the political arena'.

Oh, for- ABSOLUTION?!?

Dr Blackmore said the "fundamental problem" facing the planet today is that "there are too many people". Professor Gray agreed. Then Dr Blackmore declared: "For the planet's sake, I hope we have bird flu or some other thing that will reduce the population, because otherwise we're doomed."
What's scarier than these morons? That there's a fair chance Obama's science adviser agrees with them.

These folks say that the primary reason for failures with the M4/M16 is incorrect/insufficient maintenance. Never having owned one, and having fired an AR15 on one occasion, I can only repeat what the son said a while back when I mentioned maybe getting an AR15: "If you can find one with a closed gas system in 7.62x39, grab it; otherwise, don't bother." Considering finding one with a closed system in .223 is both damn near impossible and very expensive last time I looked, I think I'll pass.

That's enough of that. I'm going to try to get in a festive mood, and have a talk with Security Staff so that, if Santa falls into the back yard, she won't bite his red-clad ass.
He sets foot here, he's after my rawhide; I'll bite him GOOD.

Tuesday, December 23, 2008

'Rumor' and bigotry and bullcrap,

oh my.
So far we're off to a good start...

There is an ugly rumor circulating about a MySpace page and Senator Obama’s presidential candidacy. The rumor states you professed on your MySpace page to purchase an AK47 if Senator Obama was elected president. I believe in neither assuming nor accepting “rumors”. Therefore, I am approaching you because I feel we have a good working relationship.

Susan, my coworker doesn't know me very well. I'd never own a commie gun, and I haven't used MySpace in a few years. What I did say was said on facebook, and what I said was "Zero is celebrating Obama's victory by purchasing an assault rifle." It's nice to know that Susan and I have a good working relationship, because she's going to try damn hard to destroy it. Now watch as Susan goes ahead and assumes the rumor as true:


Go read. And marvel at the level of bigotry and misreading and general dumbass in the message.

Temperatures, according to

a commenter at Og's:

How Cold Is It?
An annotated thermometer

60 – Californians put on sweaters
(If they can find one in their wardrobe)
50 – Miami residents turn on the heat
40 – You can see your breath.
Californians shiver uncontrollably.
Minnesotans go swimming.
35 – Italian cars don’t start.
32 – Water freezes
30 – You plan your vacation to Australia.
Minnesotans put on T-shirts.
Politicians begin to worry about the homeless
British cars don’t start.
Your boogers freeze
25 – Boston water freezes
Californians weep pitifully.
Minnesotans eat ice cream
Canadians go swimming
20 – You can hear your breath
Politicians begin to talk about the homeless
New York City water freezes.
Miami residents plan vacation farther south.
15 – French cars don’t start.
You plan a vacation in Mexico
Cat insists on sleeping in bed with you.
10 – Too cold to ski.
You need jumper cables to get the car running.
05 – You plan your vacation in Houston.
Amercian cars don’t start.
0 - Alaskans put on T-shirts.
Too cold to skate.
-10 – German cars don’t start.
Eyes freeze shut when you blink.
-15 – You can cut your breath and use it to build an igloo
Iowans stick tongues on metal objects.
Miami residents cease to exist.
-20 – Cat insists on sleeping in your pajamas with you.
Politicians actually do something about the homeless.
Minnesotans shovel snow off roof.
Japanese cars don’t start.
-25 – Too cold to think
You need jumper cables to get the driver going.
-30 - You plan a 2 week hot bath.
The Mighty Monongahela freezes.
Swedish cars don’t start.
-40 – Californians disappear.
Minnesotans button top button.
Canadians put on sweaters.
Your car helps you plan your trip south
-50 – Congressional hot air freezes
Alaskans close the bathroom window.
-80 – Hell freezes over
Polar Bears move south.

It's now above freezing here-

not by much, but above- and that's good not only for the general 'not as cold' reason, but it started raining lightly, off & on. So instead of ice we've just got damp places. And it's supposed to stay above freezing through the night(just) so shouldn't have to deal with any ice the next couple of days.

Which means not only do I not have to worry about getting around, I don't have to worry about
Getting stuck on a hill because somebody in front decided to slow down as they started up;
Getting run into because "I didn't know I'd slide that far!"
Watching people slide on the hill out front and wondering if one of them is going to slide into the driveway and hit something.
At times, I think it should be legal to have a 20mm cannon mounted on the top of the truck, just to deal with the morons who think they can defy the laws of physics because
"I have snow tires."
"I have four-wheel-drive."
"I'm in a hurry."
"I know how to drive on this." This last from people who, if they actually did know how, would either not be on the damn road, or would be travelling at much lower speed.

Son did make it home on leave, and is currently with his wife(who also has leave) and at her family's house. Along with her four sisters, brother & wife, and assorted husbands, nieces and nephews(I quote: "It's gonna be crowded.") She got in from field maneuvers just before her leave started, so it's a nice break along with the holiday.

I was conversing with Og the other day, and mentioned that it's odd; he's 24, widely-experienced(including in some things I could wish he'd missed), married, but at times I can still see the kid who stabbed about a hundred holes in my heavy bag("I was practicing like you!" "BUT, I don't use a real knife, dammit!"), or the kid with a lapful of cat when the cat was almost bigger than he was.

Just to make things fun, I had to run out the 30's with winds gusting to 30, and the engine started running rough and the 'check engine' light came on. Went to an AutoZone and ran the codes, it showed a miss on one cylinder("Possible bad plug, wire, or vacuum leak"). But partway to the store it smoothed out and ran perfectly. So I cleared the error codes and put in a bottle of fuel system cleaner, and so far it's running fine. I'm hoping it stays that way; putting it in the shop(if not a plug or wire) is one thing in decent weather; I do NOT like riding a motorcycle when it's 30-35F and occasionally spitting rain, and I've got to get to work & back. At least I won't be using the Federally-Approved Transport shown below(courtesy of Theo):

Among other things, there's no stable at work.

And since The Obama is likely to have that scumbag Ayers

around, it's necessary to make note of what a liar and dirtbag he is:
Ayers would like to claim he participated in non-violent protests. But he omits the fact he helped organize and participated in the 1969 “Days of Rage,” which left innocents and police officers hospitalized and one man permanently crippled, a maiming his fellow Weathermen mocked with the crude lyrics of “Lay Elrod Lay.” One of the participants in the violence noted that the thugs armed themselves with “steel pipes and slingshots, chains, clubs, mace, and rolls of pennies to add weight to a punch.” The participant quoted was Bill Ayers describing the event he helped create in his own book, Fugitive Days.
And the attempts to blow up various police offices, and the plan to kill as many as possible at Fort Dix, and so on.

Nice friends the Obama family has.

Speaking of dirtbag politicians, and why some places-

like NYEffin'C- are so screwed up, we have this sterling member of the city council who's now heading for the state Senate:
State Sen.-elect Hiram Monserrate flew into a volcanic rage and attacked his girlfriend after seeing another man's business card in her purse, sources told The Post yesterday.

The law-enforcement sources also believe that the jealous Monserrate was so angry that he deliberately broke a glass into jagged pieces so he could slash Karla Giraldo, who required 20 stitches around her left eye following the alleged domestic-violence assault.

Let's, see, violent and, from the links to other articles, dirty. And you probably wouldn't be surprised to read this:
Meanwhile, it was revealed that a top aide to Senate Democratic Leader Malcolm Smith showed up at the police station to offer assistance to Monserrate, a fellow Democrat, on the morning he was busted.

Smith's office confirmed that Chief of Staff Mortimer Lawrence - a former Queens assistant DA - went to the 105th Precinct station house in Queens Village to help Monserrate, but insisted Smith did not direct him to do so
.
Oh, of COURSE not. Pardon my disbelief.

Oh, and this is nice: some connections to Scientology.

Shouldn't really be a surprise, I guess. I mean, look what Barack I Settled The Science Obama has appointed as his science advisor:
Dr. Holdren began his critique by complaining that Dr. Lomborg was “asking the wrong question” because environmentalists had known for decades that there was no danger of energy being in short supply. This struck me as as odd bit of revisionist history, given both the “energy crisis” rhetoric of the 1970s and Dr. Holdren’s own bet that resources would become more scarce. Then, in the rest of the critique, Dr. Holdren faulted Dr. Lomborg for not paying enough attention to the reasons that there could be future problems with energy supplies.
And The Obama wants to bankrupt coal. Any surprise he'd pick someone like this?

Give your legislators hell the next couple of years, that'll probably be the only thing that saves us.

This article about anger about the idea of giving a Senate seat

to another Kennedy has a couple of things I'd argue with*, but some good information. Including this:
Still, these yelps are not likely to stop the Kennedy juggernaut. The forces behind Caroline – like moneybags Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Wall Street bagman-in-chief Sen. Charles Schumer – are too powerful and well-heeled to be resisted. The word is out that dissenting on Kennedy could result in loss of the kind of largesse that can make or break political careers.
In plain language: "You cause us problems on our annointing her Senator, you don't get as much of other people's money as you want." Which, so far as I'm concerned, shows these bastards to be corrupt little tyrants. Who also can't stand the thought of someone who might not bend their way being put in that seat, because insecure little nanny-state boobs can't stand the idea of opposition.


*A series of strong Republican politicians since Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan lured many middle-income voters out of the Democratic Party by appealing to their patriotism, economic self-interest and, in some cases, prejudices.
I'd imagine they're hinting that opposition to amnesty for illegals counts as 'prejudice', but at least they keep the name-calling to a minimum.

Monday, December 22, 2008

Lest it be forgotten, Jimmy Carter

sucks.
Former United States President Jimmy Carter reported that he advised Syrian-based Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal on what price to demand from Israel for the release of IDF soldier Gilad Shalit, who was abducted more than two years ago. He said that Hamas is “relatively satisfied with the status quo.”

Carter’s visit to Lebanon and Syria earlier this month follows a trip to Damascus several months ago in the face of American policy against establishing direct contact with the outlawed terrorist organization
.

Velociman speaks on the 'Think of the DNA!' bullcrap

I, for one, am not in the least shocked by the revelation that Caroline Kennedy is "interested" in being anointed with her Uncle Bobby's Senate seat. The seat currently being snailtrailed by Hillary Clinton. Although oft-lauded as one of the very few non-retarded members of her generation of the Kennedy Klan, I find her tethered senses of noblesse oblige, hubris, and condescension simultaneously predictable and disheartening.

Got a way with words, he does.

Just to start a week off right,

Joe Biden proves once again that 'teaching constitutional law' doesn't mean he knows his ass from a hole in the ground. That's on top of trying to make that Senate seat a family possession, which for that alone he should have his ass kicked to the curb.

Awww, some people in Harlem don't seem to mind Rangel being a crook on taxes and fundraising, but having all those rent-stabilized apartments, now THAT bothers them. Apparently the fact that some whites are moving into Harlem is a real threat, too. Lesson to be learned: you basically allow someone to become Representative For Life, don't be surprised when they crap on you; why shouldn't they, when they know they'll get away with it?

Looks like the People's Republic of California Supremes have decided that if you come to someone's rescue, and they think you hurt them, you can be sued. No, I don't want some moron nearly killing me fumbling around; neither do I want someone leaving me to die because they're afraid of being taken to court.

Looks like some of the Youths Of No Identifying Characteristics have spread to Sweden, taking their joyous customs of rioting and burning things with them. I need to find out more about this particular one, especially considering this:
Clashes in the Malmo suburb Rosengard have escalated after the police in the beginning of the week cleared out and closed a basement facility in a rental building that was occupied after a dispute between the real estate owner and the Islamic cultural society in the neighborhood, local media reported.
Sinc 'occupied' generally means 'taken over by people who think it's owed them' or 'taken over by people who think it's their due to take over', that gives some hints about what's going on. So does this:
The fire department considered the area to be too risky to enter with their personnel.
Damn, where have we heard that before? Generally means either gangs or islamist nutters. Ok, Gates of Vienna has this:
The background is,
They had a mosque in this islamic centre, on a lease.
landlord decided not to renew it when it expired.
So rightfully it no longer belongs to the former owners.
Muslims claim it is now holy land and ground belonging to islam
”Police have to be brought in to close it down.
All hell breaks loose
.
That would explain it. Hell, one of Osama's big gripes was that Spain was no longer al Andalusia, when it should still belong to islam; so no surprise that the nutter types would think 'once a mosque, it always belongs to us'. Which should do wonders for anyone trying to rent space for muslim use in the future.

I've got things to do, and since it's in the mid-teens outside I think I'll get them done quickly. You'll have to amuse yourselves in my absence.

Sunday, December 21, 2008

I am officially sick to freakin' death of Kennedy worship

like the crap outlined here. The family is rich because of bootlegging. Ted Kennedy is a woman-abusing drunk hypocrite, just like the rest of the family in politics("The rich don't pay their fair share(but ignore my tax shelters), we must have alternative energy sources(but not where they spoil my view), guns are bad!(but don't talk about my armed guards) and so on). We've got this female basically demanding she be given a seat in the Senate because of her family name and money, and people you usually think of as intelligent(Koch for instance) are acting like worshipers trying to bring on another Ascension.

This isn't a damned monarchy, but an awful lot of people seem to want it go be. Friggin' Biden trying to hand a Senate seat to his son, and so forth. And I'm sick to death of it, and of every jackass who thinks it's a good idea.

Well, here's something on General Patton that'll stir some people up

The newly unearthed diaries of a colourful assassin for the wartime Office of Strategic Services (OSS), the forerunner of the CIA, reveal that American spy chiefs wanted Patton dead because he was threatening to expose allied collusion with the Russians that cost American lives.

Go take a look see what you think.

Lawdog's observation that the key is

"Can you use it when trouble happens" goes for countries, too.
It raises questions about the stamina of our nation and the resolve of our political class. It is an uncomfortable conclusion that Britain, with nuclear weapons, cruise missiles, aircraft carriers and the latest generation of fighter-bombers, is incapable of securing a medium-size conurbation. Making Basra safe was an essential part of the overall strategy; having committed ourselves to our allies we let them down.
I'll add, as he does, that the average British troop is just as tough and capable as every; but if you muzzle the sheepdogs and keep them on a short leash, they can't do much about the predators.

My opinion of the UAW summed up as


"Lower the ladder, we're done here."
Thanks to Theo for the cartoon

Somebody brought one of Calvin's snow scenes

to life.

The original: