Saturday, August 29, 2009

Remember I called Rep. Rangel the gift that keeps on giving?

He is caught in a lie.

A big lie.

Rangel is instead betting on the stacked House Ethics Committee to clear him, and figures that his senior status in the chamber will insulate him. No one in Congress is going to send Rangel packing, primarily because the House Democrats are more intent on turning the swamp of corruption into a swimming pool.

As I pointed out previously, the Daily News chimes in noting that Rangel has two sets of rules, particularly on taxes. There's the rules that everyone else has to abide by, and then there's his rules, which primarily exist so that he can avoid paying taxes on his obligations. Rangel doesn't just need to be reined in. He needs to be sent packing. A slap on the wrist simply does not cut it, and the House Ethics Committee is a joke, seeing how they took no action to deal with former member William Jefferson who was caught with a $90,000 bribe in his freezer.

More at Insty, where I found this

Seems to cover it


Thanks to Theo

A piece on the Obama Administration from Canada

Obama Administration is the most corrupt, dishonest, and inept Administration that America
The first option, is simply that the Obama Administration is the most corrupt, dishonest, and inept Administration that America has ever been burdened with.
...
Obama Administration despises individual freedom, capitalism, free-enterprise

The second option, is that the Obama Administration despises individual freedom, capitalism, free-enterprise, and is hell-bent on transforming the United States into a fascist/communist collective—a regime that will be run by a venal, ruthless, power-hungry elite.
...
Obama Administration is part of a global restructuring process, New World Order

The third option is, that the Obama Administration is part of a global restructuring process (New World Order), in which the world will be turned into a fascist/communist collective—run by a venal, ruthless, power-hungry elite.

My guess is—take your pick between options two and three
.
My first thought? Why have to choose, when all three seem to fit so well?

"According to confidential correspondence obtained by The Times,

ministers urged the Scottish government to consider returning Abdul Baset Ali al-Megrahi to Libya under a prisoner transfer deal in an apparent breach of a decade-old pledge.

A former Cabinet minister and two sources close to talks over the handover of suspects in 1999 told The Times that Robin Cook, then Foreign Secretary, promised Madeleine Albright, US Secretary of State at the time, that anyone found guilty would serve their sentence in Scotland, where the airliner exploded with the loss of 270 lives.
...
Lord Falconer of Thoroton, the Lord Chancellor, made reference to the deal — to which Libya also agreed — in a letter to Alex Salmond, Scotland’s First Minister, in June 2007. “Libya agreed prior to al-Megrahi’s trial that anyone convicted of the Lockerbie bombing would serve their sentence in Scotland,” he wrote. Britain had reminded Libya of this through diplomatic channels, he said.

The position was reversed two years later when the Libyans applied for al-Megrahi’s transfer. Ivan Lewis, the Foreign Office minister, told the Scottish government that Britain had never provided a “definitive commitment” to the US because it had not wanted to “tie the hands of future governments”.

The disclosure casts doubt on Britain’s insistence that it did not interfere in the devolved Scottish government’s decision last week to let al-Megrahi return to Libya. It also explains the Obama Administration’s anger
.
Number one: Screw you, England and Scotland. And every one of your miserable little syphilitic socialist politicians and useful idiots involved in this.

Number two: Obama's 'anger'? You mean his "We're disappointed" speech that showed all the real feeling of a bad actor on stage? It wouldn't disappoint me if he'd known something about this, given his bending over for various islamic governments and tyrants.

Friday, August 28, 2009

Meanwhile, up in Canada under the

Censorship TeamHuman Rights Commission,
Meanwhile, in Montreal, Jennifer Lynch, Q.C., Canada’s Chief Censor, gave a speech to CASHRA. Do you know what CASHRA is? You should. You pay for it. It’s the Canadian Association of Statutory Human Rights Agencies. That’s right; they have a club they all belong to. Alas, the conga lines were more muted this year. Like professor Martin, Commissar Lynch worries about the threat to free speech in Canada. But, in her case, the Chief Censor is now complaining that I’m suppressing the free speech of her massive government bureaucracy. Seriously. As the National Post put it:

“She also claimed that those who accused the CHRC and its provincial counterparts of ‘chilling’ free expression with the prosecutions of writers such as Mark Steyn and Ezra Levant were themselves guilty of ‘reverse chill.’ Harsh criticism of the commissions in the media had discouraged many of their supporters from coming forward to defend their missions, she said. Others who were brave enough to speak out had been subjected to withering personal criticism in opinion pieces and letters to the editor.”

Oh, dear, what’s the country coming to? Defenders of state censorship are too cowed to speak out in favour of not letting people speak out? You could hardly ask for a better snapshot of the degradation of “human rights” in contemporary Canada than the chief censor whining to a banqueting suite full of government apparatchiks that the ingrate citizenry are insufficiently respectful of them. The bureaucrats at the top table control hundreds of millions of public dollars. Jennifer Lynch represents state power; Ezra and I represent a bunch of impecunious bloggers. Yet the Dominion of Canada has been reduced to complaining that Blazing Cat Fur is out to get it.

“Human rights” are rights for humans, for individuals . . . and restraints upon government power. Canada has now precisely inverted the concept to mean enhanced government power and restraints on individuals. The CHRC justifies it thus:

“In the debate about freedom of expression and freedom from hate, Canada’s commitment to equality lies at the centre.”

Ah, but there is no equality. An Alberta pastor writes a short letter to the paper about homosexuals and gets a lifetime speech ban. A Montreal imam publishes an entire book calling for homosexuals to be “beheaded,” and the CHRC rejects the complaint
.

This is from a couple of months ago; it's a good reminder of the kind of PC censorship bullcrap the left would really, really like to put into effect here. They can do it in cowardly institutions of learning like Yale, but have a hard time putting it into law; but if we don't keep putting the spotlight of mockery and "There's no damn way we will tolerate this", they will.

As to the "Pass it for TED!" bullcrap,


Found here, where they also have
Ten things to throw in the casket with him

Signs you're in the sandbox

1. You run in terror from a controlled detonation your first week, then stand in the open to watch real mortars landing, a month later.

2. The most intimate contact you’ve had in months is with the shower curtain.

3. Your most successful pick-up line is “I’ve got a vehicle”.

4. All the Air Force people look like glow-in-the-dark Power Rangers and you can’t see the Army Folks.

5. Your 6:00 am wake-up call is “BOOM” Alarm Red, Alarm Red, Alarm Red”.

6. They actually give weapons to the Air Force personnel.

7. You give directions using T-Wall & Bunker murals.

8. You realize AAFES is their own country, and can print their own money.

9. The amount of sand in your boots is only surpassed by the amount in your nose.

10. Something as simple as taking a shower or going to the bathroom at 2:00 in the morning requires preparation equal to the Apollo moon landing.

11. The Texas Style Brisket is not from Texas, is not brisket, and has no style.

12. You are watching a “chick-flick” with 300 guys with machine guns.

13. Your internet connection is twice as slow as your old dial-up connection back home, and you’re paying twice as much.

14. Your lying under your bed in your IBA writing to your spouse, “No, nothing exciting happened today” and you mean it.

15. You can buy a car or truck from the on post AAFES, but paper towels are nowhere to be found.

16. You live in a gated community, but your home is still a trailer.

17. You are caught way over the speed limit and you are only going 22 MPH.

18. During Alarm Red someone jumps out of the bunker to tell you to get your hands out of your pockets.

19. Your idea of a night on the town is going to another DFAC.

20. The grass is greener on the other side of the fence, but you still wouldn’t want to be on that side of the fence.

21. Dusting the furniture has a whole new meaning.

22. “Pimp my Ride” means putting doors on your Hummer.

23. U2 is hitting the charts again.

24. The local community holds fireworks displays every night in your honor.

25. Driving over the curb seems totally natural.

26. The outcome of the war hinges on how you wear your reflective belt.

27. You see a guy in full battle rattle driving a Humvee trying not to spill his latte’.

28. It feels normal to dry your hands at the DFAC with toilet paper.

29. Your idea of a clear day is when you can see the perimeter of the base from where you’re at.

30. The dust on the dashboard of your vehicle is an inch think, but you don’t even notice it.

31. You don’t even notice T-walls anymore.

32. Cold water from the shower is only possible after 1 Oct.

33. Getting your laundry back from the contractor is a big deal.

34. A 105-degree day in the summer actually feels cool.

35. You don’t even notice an F-16 taking off anymore.

36. You don’t stop what you’re doing anymore, when you hear automatic gun fire coming from the perimeter.

37. You used to think that F-16’s, doing afterburner take-offs, were cool. Now it just pisses you off.

38. Without even looking outside, you know that the weather sucks, because you weren’t woke up all night from the roar of the F-16’s.


Stolen without a second thought from Girl on the Right

If you have a serious disagreement with your church

you have two choices: leave, or stay in and work to change it; in a supposedly freedom of religion society you don't try to get the government to force the church to change to suit you.
“I wonder if Corcoran reads The Catholic Register,” I mused. “It bangs on about how lousy the human rights tribunals are for freedom of speech and religion. Someone dragged up Catholic Insight magazine before one because it kept writing against homosexual practices. Someone dragged up some Knights of Columbus because they wouldn’t rent out their hall for a lesbian wedding. Someone dragged up the Anglican Church, claiming it wouldn’t ordain him because he was Sri Lankan. How do you prove that, I’d like to know. Meanwhile, the process is a punishment because, no matter what, there are lawyers to pay.”

“It’s scary,” said my friend.

“You bet,” I said. “And what I find scariest in Corcoran’s demands, apart from the prospect of ordinary Catholics losing thousands of dollars, is that he wants the state to force the bishop to reinstall him as an altar server, publish an apology and give a homily against gossip. Can you imagine? The state forcing a bishop to give a homily of its choosing?”

“Sadly,” said my friend, “I can.”

“So can I,” I said, “but this isn’t Stalinist Russia.”

Ooooh, it's a Jew-hating Israel-hating islamist in

Canada; whoda thunk it?
A tiny minority is speaking out and organizing in response to Israel’s crimes against humanity, such as: the siege of Gaza; aggression against Palestine, Syria and Lebanon; and pressure on the U.S. to launch a contrived, pre-meditated attack on Iran, much like the one against Iraq.
And so forth, from the jerk she refers to as Elmo.

Apparently rockets shot into Israel and suicide bombers and murderers of women and children are all excusable because the Israelis have the bad taste to actually fight back.

So it's confirmed: somehow, Ted Kennedy turns out to be an even worse

scumbag and waste of oxygen than I'd thought.
I don't know if you know this or not, but one of his favorite topics of humor was indeed Chappaquiddick itself. And he would ask people, "have you heard any new jokes about Chappaquiddick?" That is just the most amazing thing. It's not that he didn't feel remorse about the death of Mary Jo Kopechne, but that he still always saw the other side of everything and the ridiculous side of things, too.
'The ridiculous side' of leaving a woman to die of oxygen starvation. The 'ridiculous side' of leaving her to die because he had to perform the more important functions of covering his ass...
It has often been written that Mary Jo Kopechne "drowned." She didn't. The cause of death was asphyxiation -- there was an air pocket inside the overturned car, and Mary Jo lived long enough to breathe the last remaining oxygen in that air pocket. And while Mary Jo was breathing her last . . . what did Ted Kennedy do?

Well, among other things, he began trying to concoct a cover-up story: "Why couldn't Mary Jo have been driving the car? . . . Why couldn't she have let him off and driven to the ferry herself and made a wrong turn?" His own cousin, Joe Gargan, talked Ted out of attempting to get away with that
.

That these media assholes spent so many years covering up garbage like this, that 'women's rights groups' covered for him and sucked up to him and made excuses for this... this bloated thing.

To every one of you who protected him from the consequences of his actions, and I include every moron in MA who voted for him: you suck.

That's not near expressive enough, but I don't know what would be.

It's getting even more nasty out there

Let's see, Rep. Charles Rangel(Corrupt Evil Party-NY)...now admits that he failed to disclose several million dollars in income and business deals during those years -- including up to $1 million from the sale of a building on 132nd Street.

How could that happen?

Charlie won't say.

Even stranger, city records show that Rangel still owns the building.

How can that be, if Rangel sold it, as he now claims? Maybe the records are wrong, but Charlie's not talking
.
And the House isn't actually doing anything about this garbage. Just like the Senate let the equally corrupt Dodd off the hook. And the way Richardson was just let off the hook:
The decision not to pursue indictments was made by top Justice Department officials, according to a person familiar with the investigation, who asked not to be identified because federal officials had not disclosed results of the probe.

“It’s over. There’s nothing. It was killed in Washington,” the person told The Associated Press
.
I guess they're too busy 'investigating' CIA personnel to worry about more corrupt politicians.


There are boycotts, and there are boycotts the media don't talk about.


Politicians trying to pack town hall meetings with union thugs; I think people are getting pretty damn sick of it.
The most disturbing part was seeing the people with professionally preprinted signs from organizations that favored the bill. You knew they were from union and liberal organizations. They reminded me of puppets on a string. They don’t really know what it is all about, they were just told to be there!


Yep. OBVIOUSLY, if you're tired of tax hikes and politicians trying to take over every bit of your life it means you're a racist 'teabagger'. At least if you're a brain-dead progressive.


In case you needed further proof, Rep. Nancy Pelosi(Slimy Liar-CA) really is a PROVEN liar.
The IG report belies House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s claims that she wasn’t told about all this. “In the fall of 2002, the Agency briefed the leadership of the Congressional Intelligence Oversight Committees on the use of both standard techniques and EITs. . . . Representatives . . . continued to brief the leadership of the Intelligence Oversight Committees on the use of EITs and detentions in February and March 2003. The [CIA] General Counsel says that none of the participants expressed any concern about the techniques or the Program . . . .” Ditto in September 2003.


The All Barack Channel and the National Barack Channel prove they're in the tank for The One(as if there were doubt):
The refusal by ABC and NBC to run a national ad critical of President Obama's health care reform plan is raising questions from the group behind the spot -- particularly in light of ABC's health care special aired in prime time last June and hosted at the White House.

The 33-second ad by the League of American Voters, which features a neurosurgeon who warns that a government-run health care system will lead to the rationing of procedures and medicine, began airing two weeks ago on local affiliates of ABC, NBC, FOX and CBS. On a national level, however, ABC and NBC have refused to run the spot in its present form.
...
"The ABC Television Network has a long-standing policy that we do not sell time for advertising that presents a partisan position on a controversial public issue," spokeswoman Susan Sewell said in a written statement. "Just to be clear, this is a policy for the entire network, not just ABC News."
Somehow the infomercial for Obamacare they ran a few months ago just 'slipped through' their guard, I guess.


Jeez. I need to do something involving fresh air.

Gadhafi's son doesn't understand

why people are upset.
The son of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi says Scotland's release of the only man convicted of the Lockerbie bombing opens the way for trade deals between Britain and Libya.

"Lockerbie is history," Saif al-Islam al-Gadhafi said of Pan Am Flight 103, which blew up over Lockerbie, Scotland, in 1988, killing 270 people. "The next step is fruitful and productive business with Edinburgh, London. Libya is a promising rich market and so let's talk about the future
.
Well, assuming you're so friggin' stupid that you can't understand this: people are upset because a convicted terrorist murderer was turned loose in what increasingly looks like what you just called it: part of a business deal. And you clowns gave him a hero's welcome.
Gadhafi apologized for any perception that the Libyan government had not done its best to contain the jubilant scene. He said that it was not a "hero's welcome" but that Megrahi was greeted by a few hundred of his friends and family.
Gadhafi is a damned liar; even if this dirtbag had 'a few hundred of his friends and family' who wanted to greet him, Gadhafi rules the country; he could have kept them out, easily; they were there because he wanted them there.

Yeah, it's history, you misbegotten offspring of a rabid dog and a distempered camel; and we remember it.

Thursday, August 27, 2009

Rachel Lucas went to Auschwitz/Birkenau

Read it. And if you haven't seen it, rent or go to the library and borrow the Band of Brothers episode Why we fight.

One of the few things Uncle Ray ever let out about the war was that one of the bad parts was the kids. Hungry kids. They'd show up at the camps, often not saying anything, just standing there. God knows how many meals he missed because he gave it away. I don't know if his unit was involved in any of the opening/cleanup of any of the camps; if so, neither he nor his friend who told his wife a bit ever let out a word about it.

One of the real pieces of idiocy in our current life has been the people calling Bush a nazi, calling anybody who dares disagree a nazi. I'm convinced these people either have no actual idea of what that means, or have never actually allowed themselves to contemplate it; if they had, they'd not be so loose and easy with that insult.

Having subdued the mess in the living room, I shall now

post my last educational piece of the night. Specifically, on what that 'wonderful' socialized medicine scheme in France actually costs:
How much? France's costly national health insurance is mostly financed by taxes on labor. A Frenchman making a monthly salary of 3,000 euros will pay approximately 350 of them (deducted by his employer) for health insurance. Then the employer will add approximately 1,200 euros, making the total monthly cost to the employer of this individual's services not 3,000 euros but 4,200. High labor costs in France affect not only consumer prices but also unemployment rates, since employers are reluctant to pay so much for low-skill workers. Economists agree that unemployment rates and the cost of national health insurance are directly related everywhere, which partly explains why even in periods of economic growth, the average French unemployment rate hovers around 10 percent.

High as they are, taxes on wages are not enough to cover the constant deficits that national health insurance runs. France imposes an additional levy to try to close the insurance deficit--the CSG (contribution sociale généralisée)--which applies to all income, including dividends, and which Parliament increases every year. Altogether, 25 percent of French national income goes toward what's called Social Security, which includes health care and basic retirement pensions for all
.
Go read the rest, especially the next paragraph on those evil drug companies.

Ran across a bit more on the tax cheat Rangel

and his little games:
Rep. Charles Rangel, chairman of the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee, has failed to pay taxes on two plots of land he has in New Jersey, records show.

Rangel's ownership of the small, undeveloped properties came to light on Tuesday only after he drastically amended at least six years of financial-disclosure forms he had filed annually with the House clerk as required by law
.
Isn't it just so responsible for him to update this? He must be feeling heat from somewhere.

And get this:
Among the assets he failed to list was a checking account containing somewhere between $250,000 and $500,000.
Oh, I'm sure he just forgot about it somehow; I forget checking accounts all the time. And I forget whether it's got a quarter- or half-million bucks in it, too...

This is the corrupt, lying bastard in charge of writing the tax laws we have to live under; isn't that wonderful?

Lamppost, rope, politician...

Insty points to tests using celery to figure how to reduce

shock damage to the brain; apparently it's the first test medium they've found that actually allows this type of testing.

Personally, I think there's more than 400 test subjects available in DC who could actually be put to some good use here.

The idiots in the State Department have decided to really screw with Honduras

Dick points to this:
U.S. State Department staff have recommended that the ouster of Honduran President Manuel Zelaya be declared a "military coup," a U.S. official said on Thursday, a step that could cut off as much as $150 million in U.S. funding to the impoverished Central American nation.

The official, who spoke on condition he not be named, said State Department staff had made such a recommendation to U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who has yet to make a decision on the matter although one was likely soon.
I have no doubt these are some of the same slimy bastards who 'didn't want to interfere' in Iran, but they're very comfortable screwing with an actual free society south of us.
Diplomats said that the United States had held off making the formal determination to give diplomacy a chance to yield a negotiated compromise that might allow for Zelaya's return to power.

Such efforts, however, appear to have failed for now and so the United States is taking steps -- including its decision on Tuesday to cease issuing some visas at its embassy in Tegucigalpa -- to raise pressure on the de facto government.

"The recommendation of the building is for her to sign it," said the first U.S. official said of the 'military coup" determination, saying this was a response to the de facto government's refusal to accept a compromise that would allow Zelaya to return to power ahead of November elections
.
No mistake, this would hurt the hell out of Honduras; and letting that little socialist tyrant wannabe Zelaya back in would destroy it as a free society. These clowns HAVE to know that, which means they either like the idea or have decided that that's somehow preferable to Honduras remaining a free country that enforces its laws.

Time to yell at the congresscritters, people. Loud. This is friggin' insane, and you damn well know the striped-pants clowns at State wouldn't be pushing this if they didn't think it would make The Chosen One happy, which means the best chance of stopping this crap is pressure.

The FCC Diversity Chief says "Don't like it that some people

speak against us progressives? Let's use the power of government to shut them up."

Found at Weasel Zippers

Honduras acts like a grown-up free society;

but they won't kiss Obama's ass, so he screws with them.
As shadowy moneymen in the terror underworld go, not many are as unsavory as Jamal Yousef, an ex-Syrian military man turned terrorist arms supplier. Three years ago in Honduras, undercover U.S. agents caught him trying to sell 100 AR-15 assault rifles, 100 M-16 assault rifles, 10 M-60 machine guns, C-4 explosives, 2,500 hand grenades, rocket-propelled grenades and as many as 18 surface-to-air missiles to Colombia's FARC Marxist narcoterrorists.

His price? A ton of cocaine, something he knew how to "move."

Honduran cops put him away for petty charges, but he did only three years in prison that ended this week.

Instead of letting him walk, the Honduran government put him on a plane bound for New York to stand trial on narcoterror conspiracy charges, arriving there Wednesday. If convicted, Yousef faces at least 20 years in one of our slammers
.
...
The Obama administration presumes to know Honduran law better than the Honduran Supreme Court and has yanked visas of Honduran officials, condemned the tiny country in the United Nations and the Organization of American States, and refused to recognize anyone in the current government.

It could be worse — economic sanctions are also possible — but it's bad enough.

In light of how hard it is to get any nation — even a friend — to extradite a criminal to the U.S., what Honduras did for a nation that refuses to recognize its government was rather remarkable.

Mexico, by contrast, didn't start extraditing terrorists until a couple of years ago, and other countries still refuse to do so
.
But Honduras won't let a Chavez buttmonkey take over the government, so The One is mad.

Pointed to by Ace

Further proof that we have a fascist and his minions

in the White House.
Kenneth Feinberg, the Obama administration's pay czar, said on Sunday he has broad and "binding" authority over executive compensation, including the ability to "claw back" money already paid, and he is weighing how and whether to use that power.
...

"I have the discretion, conferred upon by Congress, to attempt to recover compensation that has already been paid to executives not only in these companies, but in any company that received federal assistance," Feinberg said during his remarks.

Og, you can either leave off the last word of

this, or change it to ', dumbass'. Preferably with an emphasis on 'not'.

A good reason to never set foot in New York City

or provide money to the Bloomberg Regime in any way:
Torraco urged Goldberg to call the state prosecutor or other person who would know about § 926A. Goldberg “told me federal law does not apply in the State of New York. He told me very condescendingly that he ain’t calling nobody and that I was in his jurisdiction.”

One of the commenters at Arms and the Law says Oh, and once this case is successfully settled, how about a class action against the Port Authority for those 50+ a year arrests their clowns make? Lets see, one goon and 50, how many goons are there that are ignorant and indifferent to the laws they presumably swore to uphold? Sounds like a wonderful idea; as Joe put it, until the people responsible for this crap start actually paying a price for it, they'll feel secure in violating the law and people's rights

So the 'health care reform bill' would require your tax information

be handed over to the Health Commissar:
Section 431(a) of the bill says that the IRS must divulge taxpayer identity information, including the filing status, the modified adjusted gross income, the number of dependents, and "other information as is prescribed by" regulation. That information will be provided to the new Health Choices Commissioner and state health programs and used to determine who qualifies for "affordability credits."

Section 245(b)(2)(A) says the IRS must divulge tax return details -- there's no specified limit on what's available or unavailable -- to the Health Choices Commissioner. The purpose, again, is to verify "affordability credits."

Section 1801(a) says that the Social Security Administration can obtain tax return data on anyone who may be eligible for a "low-income prescription drug subsidy" but has not applied for it.
Now, doesn't that make you feel all warm and fuzzy?

And, on Dear Leader & Co. wanting control of your kids,

If Team Obama could send their ACORN foot soldiers into taxpayer-funded schools to collect Census data, they would.

Instead, they’re turning your own children into proxy Census collectors. Specifically targeted: Bilingual children whom the government is relying on to reach non-English-speaking parents. (See my April 3, 2009 column: Obama Census - No Illegal Alien Left Behind.)

The White House is also joining with Sesame Street to help preschoolers evangelize about the Census to their parents
.
Well, isn't that just so special?
The goal is to send posters, teaching guides, maps and lesson plans to every school in the nation, Puerto Rico and U.S. island territories to encourage everyone to participate in the national count. The materials will land in more than 118,000 schools and reach 56 million students.

“It’s great to reach the children because children are such strong voices in their homes,” says Renee Jefferson-Copeland, chief of the Census schools program. “In households that are linguistically isolated, they can express the information to their parents.”

Translation: "In households of illegal aliens, they can tell their parents who can't/don't want to speak English how to screw with our government."

And we can't pass over the UN contribution to our kids:
The United Nations is recommending that children as young as five receive mandatory sexual education that would teach even pre-kindergarteners about masturbation and topics like gender violence.

The U.N.’s Economic, Social and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) released a 98-page report in June offering a universal lesson plan for kids ranging in age from 5-18, an
“informed approach to effective sex, relationships” and HIV education that they say is essential for “all young people.”

And, again, they're using our money to push this crap.

"I was invited by the National Endowment for the Arts

(NEA) to take part in a conference call that invited a group of rising artist and art community luminaries “to help lay a new foundation for growth, focusing on core areas of the recovery agenda - health care, energy and environment, safety and security, education, community renewal.”
...
On Thursday August 6th, I was invited by the National Endowment for the Arts to attend a conference call scheduled for Monday August 10th hosted by the NEA, the White House Office of Public Engagement, and United We Serve. The call would include “a group of artists, producers, promoters, organizers, influencers, marketers, taste-makers, leaders or just plain cool people to join together and work together to promote a more civically engaged America and celebrate how the arts can be used for a positive change!”
...
And if you think that my fear regarding the arts becoming a tool of the state is still unfounded, I leave you with a few statements made by the NEA to the art community participants on the conference call. “This is just the beginning. This is the first telephone call of a brand new conversation. We are just now learning how to really bring this community together to speak with the government. What that looks like legally?…bare with us as we learn the language so that we can speak to each other safely… “

Is the hair on your arms standing up yet?

Dear Leader and minions are working at getting all the 'cool, artsy, creative people' to help direct our thoughts. To control us. And they're using our money to do it.

I think it was Lazarus Long who said "A tax-supported artist is a government whore"; Obama wants to set up a whole brothel full of them.

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Comment Of The Day

from Marko:
If there really is a just and loving God, Mary Jo Kopechne just got issued a ball gag, a blowtorch, a pair of pliers, and a day pass to Hell.

Oh, this idiocy from Britain really is a give that keeps on

giving:
The Scottish government released the terrorist who killed 270 people in the Lockerbie-Pan Am 103 bombing for “compassionate reasons,” because they claimed he only had three months to live after being diagnosed with terminal prostate cancer. Scotland has begun to question where the government got that idea. Only one doctor was willing to make that prognosis, who apparently had no expertise in either prostates or oncology:

JUSTICE secretary Kenny MacAskill was last night under pressure to reveal more details of the medical evidence that led to the release of the Lockerbie bomber, after it emerged that only one doctor was willing to say Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi had less than three months to live.

Labour and Conservative politicians have demanded the Scottish Government publish details of the doctor’s expertise and qualifications, amid suggestions he or she may not have been a prostate cancer expert.

The parties have also raised questions over whether the doctor was employed by the Libyan government or Megrahi’s legal team, which could have influenced the judgment.


Gee, you think friggin' MAYBE?

The government thus far has refused to identify the doctor and says speculation on the length of Megrahi’s life is “tasteless.” But that was the basis of Scotland’s decision to release a mass murderer after serving only 11.57 days for every life he took. The Scottish government made the calculation of Megrahi’s life expectancy into public policy, and it’s completely dishonest to now claim modesty and etiquette when challenged on it.
Yes, questioning the government on whether or not they screwed the pooch bigtime OR flat-out lied as part of a political deal is 'tasteless'.

Hey, Scotland, you tired of this crap? Well, you put these bastards in office; you do something about them.

Ted Kennedy is off the scene

To his family I offer condolences; to himself, nothing. He was one of the worst kinds of men.

Only reason I'm writing about him at all is this crap:
But I will take to task the people who are seeking to use Kennedy's death to their political advantage, such as this call by Balloon-Juice:

" it’s time to come back after Labor Day with a single coherent Senator Edward M. Kennedy Health Care Reform Bill, and to twist whatever arms, ears, or other parts are necessary to get a good strong comprehensive bill passed and signed, NOW. We owe the memory of a great man no less."
This theme of naming a bill after Kennedy is sure to pick up steam, as Democrats are desperate to do anything to overcome public opposition on the merits. Witness this San Francisco Chronicle column today:
There would be no more fitting tribute to the passing of Ted Kennedy, than to pass a health-care reform bill by early fall.
Strange, when Rush Limbaugh used the phrase "Kennedy Memorial Health Bill," he was harshly criticized. But that was back in March, on the heels of the stimulus bill, when passage of a Democratic health care restructuring bill seemed like a certainty.

'...no more fitting tribute...' to a man who, had he been an average citizen under this horrendous bill, would never have lived as long as he did; to a many who sheltered as much of his wealth and estate as possible from taxes while whining that "The rich don't pay their fair share"; I can think of a few fitting tributes, but this bill isn't one of them.

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

For some reason, Honduras sticking to their guns just annoys the hell

out of Obama. And that causes him to do stupid, spiteful things.
The OAS Foreign Ministers mission is in Honduras seeking support for the San Jose Accord, which would restore the democratic and constitutional order and resolve the political crisis in Honduras. In support of this mission and as a consequence of the de facto regime’s reluctance to sign the San Jose Accord, the U.S. Department of State is conducting a full review of our visa policy in Honduras. As part of that review, we are suspending non-emergency, non-immigrant visa services in the consular section of our embassy in Honduras, effective August 26. We firmly believe a negotiated solution is the appropriate way forward and the San Jose Accord is the best solution.
This sniveling little fascist(and I use that term in the correct meaning, not simply as a slander) just can't seem to handle the fact that Honduras insists on going by their law instead of kissing his ass and handing power to the Chavez puppet. As Morrissey puts it,
The White House firmly believes in negotiation rather than law enforcement so much that they will suspend visa services with an American ally in order to enforce a policy cheered by Cuba and Venezuela. That makes as much sense as getting involved in the dispute in the first place. Zelaya broke the law and abused his power, both with his constitutional plebiscite and with his attempt to sack the military commander, which required parliamentary approval. The matter is entirely internal, and should be left to the Honduran parliament and courts.

This looks suspiciously like a petulant retaliation to Tegucigalpa for having the temerity to act on their own accord to enforce their own laws. I suspect it comes because Zelaya’s movement has lost steam and Hondurans have largely shrugged at his removal. Barack Obama should have done the same
.
It's not just looking suspiciously like; it IS petulant retaliation for not bending to his will.

Honduras, good on ya. And hang tough.

I think I will let Professor Dog speak of President Obama's

secret(he'd hoped) plea to the rabbis:
I have to wonder -- as I sit here contemplating Thomas Jefferson's Separation of Church and State -- how some folks would have reacted had other (previous) Presidents attempted to use the sermon, the pulpit, and Sunday morning church service to push their political agendas.

Especially if these other Presidents had arranged for secret, off-the-record, sub rosa phone meetings to convince religious leaders to work political goals into the preaching, lecturing, proselytizing and Religious Text Of Your Choice-banging.

I'd like to think that those Certain People who would have absolutely lost their minds in an Internet apoplectic fit had prior Presidents attempted to do this thing, would have the same reaction now that our current President has done it.

I'd like to think that, I really would -- but I won't be holding my breath.

'The Window War'

Mattexian left a comment mentioning this, which I had not read before, from the #1 three-percenter.

Damn, that would indeed get their attention, wouldn't it?

Well, golly gee, Rep. Rangel(Corrupticrat-NY) hasn't been paying

even more taxes than we knew, apparently.
House Ways and Means Chairman Charles B. Rangel , already beset by a series of ethics investigations, has disclosed more than $500,000 in previously unreported assets.

Among the new items on Rangel’s amended 2007 financial disclosure report were an account at the Congressional Federal Credit Union worth at least $250,000, an investment account with at least $250,000, land in southern New Jersey and stock in PepsiCo and fast food conglomerate Yum! Brands. None of those investments appeared on the original report, which was filled out by hand and filed in May 2008.
...
Rangel also revised his disclosed investment income from 2007. The original report showed he had received between $6,511 and $17,900, but the new report shows between $45,423 and $134,700. The report also includes eight previously undisclosed financial transactions.
...
The new 2007 report contains more than a dozen differences from the original version, including amended amounts in previously disclosed accounts and different amounts of income from those holdings.

In 2008, Rangel emptied several of his smaller investment accounts and concentrated his holdings in a smaller number of funds. His total net worth at the end of 2008 was between $834,013 and $2,010,000
.
Let's see, he can't figure his worth closer than an error factor of $1.2 million? Gee, I wonder how many other 'errors' and how much more 'carelessness' we'll find out about? And how much tax hasn't been paid by the guy in charge of writing tax law?

Aw, hell, let's whack on Scotland and England just a

bit more.
We used to have a labrador who behaved like Gordon. Whenever he broke wind, he'd look away in the misguided belief that if he couldn't see you, you couldn't see him and the source of the foul smell enveloping the living room would remain a mystery.

Be in no doubt that despite his desperation to pass the buck, Gordon Brown is up to his neck in the decision to release the Lockerbie bomber.

Six weeks ago, he wrote a 'Dear Muammar' letter to the Libyan leader asking him not to make a song and dance about the homecoming of Abdelbaset Ali Mohamed Al Megrahi and wishing him a Happy Ramadan.

Gordon was perfectly well aware that the falafel was about to hit the fan. Megrahi's release had formed an integral part of every recent trade and diplomatic negotiation with Gaddafi.

Little Alex Salmond may be basking in vainglorious mischief, but the daisy chain of duplicity and deceit leads right back to Downing Street and the treacherous triumvirate of Brown, Blair and Mandelson.

"The chief consequence of setting up the Holyrood parliament

has been that 129 Scottish villages are missing their idiots."

Scotland's Justice Secretary shows he's either a friggin' moron,

or one of the sorriest bastards I've seen in a while.
In Mr MacAskill’s statement yesterday to the Holyrood Parliament he said that the jubilation that greeted al-Megrahi in Libya, which included waving Scottish flags, was “a matter of great regret” to him. Libya had flouted assurances to the Scottish government that al-Megrahi would be given a muted reception in Tripoli, he said.

Mr MacAskill included al-Megrahi himself in his condemnation, saying that the man whom he had released on compassionate grounds because he was suffering from terminal cancer had shown “no sensitivity” by being a willing part of the triumphalist scenes
.
Because he believed he could trust the Libyan government, even when
Officials in the Libyan Government had boasted previously that al-Megrahi would be the “main guest”.

He had been received in Tripoli in “an inappropriate manner”, Mr MacAskill said. “It showed no compassion or sensitivity to the families of the 270 victims of Lockerbie. Assurances had been given by the Libyan Government that any return would be dealt with in a low-key and sensitive fashion.”

And he trusted the Libyans. And how he's whining about their 'betrayal'...

Can I go with friggin' moron AND sorry bastard?

A conviction for one of the beasts of Knox County

Jurors this morning convicted Letalvis Cobbins of first-degree murder in the torture-slaying of Knox County couple Channon Christian and Christopher Newsom.

The verdicts were announced before a packed crowd, including the Christian and Newsom families, in Knox County Criminal Court
.

If you haven't read about this, or have lost track, check out this; some background and some personal thoughts from someone in the area. Including this:
The last thing that I really struggle with is the issue of the women, at least one (she admits it) and probably others, who knew that there was another young woman, just about their age, hogtied, blindfolded and bleeding in the bedroom at their boyfriends’ rental house, and yet they went about their lives inside and outside the house during the day or more that Channon was being held captive. They did things like prepare sandwiches for the men between their individual forays in and out of the bedroom to rape that other young woman. At least one of the women has children of her own, just like Channon’s mother. At least one of them knew that Channon’s mouth was washed out with household cleaning chemicals in a bizarre and horrible attempt to erase evidence of rape. But these women, who could have ended Channon’s suffering and saved her life DID NOTHING.
I have to go back to something a comedian once said, but which is dead right in some cases: Some people just look better dead. And the women who helped this happen should pay at least some price for it. Right now they're probably bitching that it's racist white people who are mad at them, because of course THEY couldn't be at fault. And, of course, we'll have the apologists making excuses for them all and demanding the penalty not be 'too harsh'. As if there were any such thing for actions like these.

I do think Mamapundit is wrong in her insistence that race had nothing to do with the crimes; I believe it did. It's also why a lot of the media basically went out of their way to avoid talking about it if they could; if a gang of whites had done this to a black couple, we'd still be hearing about it on the national news from RWPP's and media weenies.

Rep. Charles Rangel(Corrupt Evil Party-NY) doesn't pay taxes,

but he damn sure wants you to pay penalties if you make a mistake:
...But there are other "revenue provisions" in the bill that also deserve a close look.

One would change the law to mandate that the Internal Revenue Service slap penalties on honest but errant taxpayers.

Under current law, taxpayers who lose an argument with the IRS can generally avoid penalties by showing they tried in good faith to comply with the tax law. In a broad range of circumstances, the health-care bill would change the law to impose strict liability penalties for income-tax underpayments, meaning that taxpayers will no longer have the luxury of making an honest mistake. The ability of even the IRS to waive penalties in sympathetic cases would be sharply curtailed.

The proposed changes in penalty rules have largely escaped notice because they are buried in a part of the bill that purports to deal with abusive tax shelters. They are barely mentioned in the Ways and Means Committee summary. Their inclusion in the bill underscores the need to read it closely. If anyone had doubts about the value of loading the text of the bill into a wheelbarrow and bringing it to the beach this August, the proposed changes to tax penalties should dispel them
.
Read it all, preferably with breakables out of reach. You can't blame this on the Conyers(Miserable Corrupticrat) bullshit on "We don't have time to read the bill"; the bastards deliberately wrote this into the bill.

More and more, I'm leaning toward the soapbox; you know, the one under the feet of the politician with the rope around his neck?

Monday, August 24, 2009

Just what kind of nuclear waste-level of stupid is required

to have one of these around?
Days after a Comcast worker was bitten by a venomous green mamba snake, experts are still trying to find that snake after it escaped into the neighborhood where the worker was bitten.
...
The snake may never be located and how the snake got into South Florida may be difficult to determine as well. According to the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, the licensed owners who live within a few miles of the attack have their snakes accounted for
.
So pythons and boas weren't enough, now there's at least one effing mamba loose. If it turned out to be a gravid female, you've got a problem that makes the big ones look like a slight difficulty.

I know there's been one or two cases of people catching a piranha in Florida, but they were apparently singles that somehow got loose, or some moron turned loose. Speaking of, according to this, somebody caught one in the Po river in Italy. Assuming I understand it; I don't read Italian beyond the level of 'pasta' and 'al Fredo', and when I tried using Babelfish it didn't do squat.

Years back I had to take the dog to a vet, and the one we went to had a big restraint cage in the barn. I asked if it was for horses, and he said "That and lions."
"Lions? As in manes and claws?"
"Yeah. There are some people in Nichols Hills that have them for pets, and they bring them here for shots and checkups."
One more reason for something seriously powerful in the house; your neighbors just might be this damned dumb.

Well, it's one way of defining varmint...

Deep in the jungle primeval, Nepenthes attenboroughii awaits its furry prey. But N. attenboroughii isn't a stealthy cat or poisonous lizard. It's a plant, and it eats rats.

Scientists recently discovered this new species of pitcher plant on the verdant face of Mount Victoria in the Philippines. It is the largest carnivorous plant ever discovered, and has been named after the famous naturalist and TV personality Sir David Attenborough
.
And down in the comments,
I'd be afraid that the plant would eat the puppy running around my house. Its certainly big enough. it would be usefull though if we could selectively breed it to atract only small rodents, like chiuauas, and mice. we have a large infestation of bot where I live.

In which Honduras firmly tells those interfering in their government

to piss off.
Honduras's Supreme Court has rejected a Costa Rica-brokered deal that would have restored ousted President Manuel Zelaya to power and sternly warned that he faces arrest if he returns.

In a ruling late Saturday that fell in line with similar pronouncements by the military-backed regime, the high court said that Zelaya will not be allowed to return to power, and "cannot avoid having to submit to established procedures of the penal process" should he return to Honduras
.
Don't you just love the wording in that second paragraph? The 'military-backed regime'? Apparently, if the military in a nation follows the orders of their Supreme Court to serve an arrest warrant AND defend their borders against intruders that makes it a 'military-backed regime'... Fargin' moron that wrote this obviously has a soft spot for communist tyrant wannabes; still refers to it as
... a June 28 military-backed coup and replaced with interim leader Roberto Micheletti.
Hey, AFP, your prejudice is showing...

The ruling may signal the death knell for the proposal mediated by Costa Rican President Oscar Arias that called for Zelaya to return to power, an amnesty for political crimes, and early elections.
I should damn well hope it does; if this clown shows back up he SHOULD be arrested and tried.

Honduras; holding to the ideal that NOBODY is above the law. Maybe that's why they seem to make The Obama nervous.

Another of the Band of Brothers dies

As many of you know we sadly lost Shifty Powers earlier this summer. It is with a heavy heart that I report the passing of Forrest Guth, also portrayed in The Band of Brothers.

In 2003 both Shifty Powers and Forrest Guth were guest speakers at the annual “Tank Farm” Open House. You can check out pictures from that day here.

It seems there's a movement to boycott Scotland and England

over turning the terrorist loose. Which has generated both support and, ah, let's call it 'unhappiness':
NOTE: While most emails have thus far been very supportive, whether they be from Americans, British citizens, and many others, there have been a few British and Scottish individuals who have sent threatening and extremely defamatory messages towards American relatives and friends of the Lockerbie victims.
First, anybody over there who's sending crap to the families of the murdered? Screw you, you're a sucky example of a human being.

Second,
Lest there be any doubt, this boycott is not aimed against the people of Scotland or the United Kingdom, but against the governments of Scotland and Britain. The unfortunate reality is that initiating boycotts against the tourism, banking, and oil industries of a particular country are necessary in order to force that government to listen and understand and admit their error.
Actually, it IS aimed at the people of those countries; because they're the ones who put those politicians in office.

If they're yelling "Don't blame us!", that's kind of like people in Massachusetts saying "Don't blame us for what Barney Frank did, it's hurting us too!" Well, yes it is; so why did you reelect him, you bastards? You put the clowns in office, so you have some responsibility for what they do.

I'm undecided on the boycott, but I have to say I'm leaning toward it. Near the angle of repose...

Birdshot to slug: a do-it-yourself method

from a guy in Nigeria

Frank Rich, a New York Effing Times clown, takes a swipe at Sen. Coburn

because
Coburn is nothing if not consistent. In the aftermath of the Oklahoma City bombing, he was part of a House contingent that helped delay and soften an antiterrorism bill. This cohort even tried to strip out a provision blocking domestic fund-raising by foreign terrorist organizations like Hamas. Why? The far right, in league with the National Rifle Association, was angry at the federal government for aggressively policing America's self-appointed militias.
Slight problem:
One important distinction between the Clinton and Dole bills was that the Dole bill created an explicit exception to the "material support" statute: "'Material support'...does not include humanitarian assistance to persons not directly involved in such violations." Thus, under the Dole approach, sending a Christmas food package to an I.R.A. or A.N.C. prisoner would constitute material support, but giving money to a fund that assisted the orphaned children of I.R.A. or A.N.C. members would not. The final legislation did not include the proposed Dole exception.

Thus, under the new terrorism bill, a donor to the I.R.A. orphanage would be a federal felon, subject to ten years in prison, as would be a person who spent five dollars to attend a 1980s speech of a visiting lecturer from the African National Congress. If the "material support" language had been law in the early 1980s, persons who gave money to church relief groups in El Salvador and Nicaragua, which opposed American policy in Central America, could have been labeled "terrorist." When pressed about this problem at Congressional hearings, a Clinton administration spokesperson acknowledged that minor support for the A.N.C.'s peaceful activities could have been felonized, but that the American people should simply trust the President not to abuse the immense power which President Clinton was requesting
.
So back then, we were supposed to simply trust Clinton not to abuse his power, and saying "No, we need actual hard guidelines" meant you were trying to 'soften an anti-terrorism bill." Uh huh.

Kind of hard to take Rich seriously about his concerns when he wrote this about Ashcroft:
John Ashcroft, testifying before the Senate on Thursday, declared that those who challenge his wisdom "only aid terrorists" and will "give ammunition to America's enemies." Tough words. They make you wonder what the guy who's charged with helping us whip Al Qaeda is afraid of. The only prominent traitors in sight are the usual civil-liberties watchdogs and a milquetoast senator or two barely known beyond the Beltway and their own constituencies. Polls find the public squarely on the attorney general's side, and even the few pundits who knock him are ridiculed by their journalistic colleagues as hysterics so busy fussing about civil liberties that they forget "there's a war going on."
Be nice if Rich would make up his mind; are we supposed to blindly trust the Administration, or not? Or- as seems to be the case- does it depend on who's in the White House?

One of the things Coburn said that seems to have really set Rich of was
"Well, I'm troubled any time when we stop having confidence in our government," the senator said, "but we've earned it."
Damn straight; both Houses of Congress, both parties, have earned it. Rich's problem seems to be that Coburn points it out instead of being a nice little defeatist senator and exempting the Evil Party and Obama from that statement.

This definitely counts as unprofessional behavior,

I'd say:
Bond is set at $25,000 each for two Oklahoma City Police sergeants charged in an alleged drive-by shooting at an Oklahoma City strip club.

Sgt. Diron Carter, an eight-year OCPD veteran, and Sgt. Michael McKethan, a seven-year OCPD veteran, are accused of firing one shot from a pickup into the ground as it left Night Trips near Reno and Meridian about 2:30 a.m. on June 16, said OCPD Capt. Steve McCool.

Not good at all.
Witnesses told police the incident started as an argument inside the club. McCool said Carter and McKethon allegedly went into the parking lot, got into a pickup and someone inside the truck started throwing bottles out a window, and as the pickup left the club's parking lot, the passenger held a gun outside the passenger window and fired a shot into the ground.

Let's see, even if I'm only drinking coke or tea I can't carry in a bar here in Oklahoma, but these clowns can?

Starting Monday with a bit of everything,

we have the Department of Justice playing political games. Again.
Official corruption in the state has become a huge political issue that threatens Mr. Corzine's bid for re-election to a second term in November. Polls show Mr. Christie, who convicted 130 public officials over his seven-year tenure, has been leading him by double digits for months.

Mr. Corzine's problem is how to defuse the corruption issue. Enter the Justice Department, which AP says has launched an investigation into Mr. Marra "over public comments that may have helped his ex-boss' campaign for governor," referring to Mr. Christie. The AP story is based on Justice Department officials "who spoke on condition of anonymity." The department itself refuses to comment on it one way or the other
.


I think it was Joe Huffman I first read as referring to Jews as 'canaries in the coal mine'; looks like Europe is back at the 'high hazard' level:
The largest Swedish newspaper publishes an article accusing Israel of murdering Palestinians so it can sell their body parts. The largest Dutch newspaper publishes an article accusing Satan-worshipping Jews of creating swine flu and other diseases to murder large numbers of people. The newspaper of the British elite publishes an article by a well-known philosopher calling Israel a Nazi state.

How does the Swedish newspaper’s editor respond to complaints about this sort of thing? Jan Helin responds:
It’s deeply unpleasant and sad to see such a strong propaganda machine using centuries-old anti-Semitic images in an apparent attempt to get an obviously topical issue off the table
.
Let's see, his paper publishes this bullcrap, and he defends it by this? He considers these garbage accusations 'topical issues'? And if they want to keep claiming 'freedom of speech' as a defense, they've got a problem:
And if you want a nice little illustration, here’s an appropriate one: Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt, who has now emerged as a supposed defender of free speech for standing by the blood libel in his country’s leading newspaper, was the same man who shut down the Internet servers and tried to repress anyone in Sweden daring to publish the Danish cartoons about Islam’s founder.
Yeah. He's for 'freedom of speech'. Sure.


Feel a need to be a little more pissed off at Scotland? Read this.
It seems that the ruckus over this issue is not going to die down very soon. And it's because it appears that not only were commercial considerations like oil leases and expanded trade with Libya part of the bargain, but perhaps even more prominently, a perverse sense of Scottish nationalism is playing out where thumbing their nose at America is being seen as a step up for the separatists or "nationalists" in Scotland.

In the name of "standing up" to American objections to releasing the terrorist, Scottish leaders believe they have scored political points with the people. By promoting the idea that Scottish justice is "superior" to that practiced by America, the nationalists are feeding a burning resentment of their own citizens who have been fed a steady diet of anti-American claptrap for years.


Tom Daschle: he didn't pay taxes, he wants to run your health care, and he's one of the Team Obama people. He's one of those 'very concerned' people who somehow get very rich while in/just out of the House or Senate.
Over the weekend, the New York Times detailed just how cozy Daschle has been with the White House and the health care industry over the past six months. Daschle has been raking in speech money — billed as the “architect” of Obamacare — and raking in consultant fees for health care clients who stand to benefit from “compromise” proposals Daschle has been lobbying for at the White House and on the Hill:


I'd have a real damn problem with the Secret Service wanting to take my phone because the First Lady didn't want her picture taken.


We already know Obama has no sense of shame; if he did, this piece of garbage would never have gone through:
The Obama White House is behind a cynical, coldly calculated political effort to erase the meaning of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks from the American psyche and convert Sept. 11 into a day of leftist celebration and statist idolatry.

This effort to reshape the American psyche has nothing to do with healing the nation and everything to do with easing the nation along in the ongoing radical transformation of America that President Obama promised during last year's election campaign. The president signed into law a measure in April that designated Sept. 11 as a National Day of Service, but it's not likely many lawmakers thought this meant that day was going to be turned into a celebration of ethanol, carbon emission controls, and radical community organizing.
...
On the Aug. 11 call, Yearwood and other leaders kept saying repeatedly that they wanted 9/11 to be used for something "positive," "forward-leaning," and "productive," said a source with knowledge of the teleconference.

The plan is to turn a "day of fear" that helps Republicans into a day of activism called the National Day of Service that helps the left. In other words, nihilistic liberals are planning to drain 9/11 of all meaning.

"They think it needs to be taken back from the right," said the source. "They're taking that day and they're breaking it because it gives Republicans an advantage. To them, that day is a fearful day."



Over in Iran, Ahmadogcrap has picked a wanted terrorist as his defense minister:
Ahmad Vahidi, the man President Ahmadinejad has named to be Iranian defense minister is wanted in the 1994 bombing of a Jewish cultural center in Buenos Aires that killed 85 people. Vahidi commanded a unit of Iran's Revolutionary Guard known as the Quds Force at the time of the attack.
You can hear it now: "Hey, I want a defense minister who'll murder Jews, and this man is a GREAT choice!"

I wonder if President Obama will make a 'strong statement of disapproval'?


And, on the leftists having strokes over the Whole Foods guy daring to disagree with The Obama, take a look at this letter Malkin got. As someone said "They keep saying they want to hear all sides and hear alternatives; and when someone presents another side, they have fits and want to destroy them."

Sunday, August 23, 2009

This is a threat from windmills I hadn't heard of before

The mystery was alarming to wildlife experts: large numbers of dead bats appearing at wind farms, often with no visible signs of injury.

Researchers now think they know one reason: Wind turbines cause bats’ lungs to explode. More specifically, a sudden drop in air pressure created by the blades can cause fatal internal hemorrhaging, researchers at the University of Calgary said in a study.

The toll taken on bats highlights a delicate balance facing the wind industry—how to be “green” without causing other unintended environmental consequences
.
Like killing birds and bats.

Since then, the chorus of voices calling for greater protection for bats at wind farms has grown louder. Last summer, the American Society of Mammalogists called for wind farms to avoid “bat hibernation, breeding and maternity colonies.”
Thus reducing the number of places to put them, and on top of that
The cooperative has been looking for ways to bring down the death toll, including studies of the effectiveness of ultrasonic sounds that would deter bats and curtailing the spinning of turbines until it’s too windy for bats to fly.
Which reduces the time you can actually use the damn things, thus reducing their efficiency even further.

Found over at Tim Blair

Two things I'll throw out

The first is from Francis Porretto on the 'competition' the President and a bunch of socialist politicians and activists insist the 'health care reform' will bring:
The above should make it plain that, when government decides to "compete" with the private sector in any area, it sits down to the game as dealer -- and with a marked deck. Its ability to coerce payment for its "services," whether they're wanted or not, gives it the power to drive its competitors from the field. Few persons are willing to "pay twice" for the same "service," even if the "services" involved are hardly comparable other than in name. As the coerced payments for the government's "service" rise, the private alternatives are starved out of the market. The mechanism is as simple and sure as anything in political economy.

But of course, advocates for the government's "service" never intended that result. Of course not! We just want you to have a choice! What do you think we are? Indoctrinators? Dictators?
Well, actually, yeah.

I'll add, when someone mentions school vouchers and the educationcrats start screaming about how "You want to destroy the schools!", etc., they tend to leave something out: here in OK a couple of years ago a voucher bill was in the legislature collecting all the usual BS, with the education lobby wanting very much for people not to think about something; the schools parents would take their kids out of would actually gain. As I recall, the parents would receive a voucher for 80% of their school costs with which they could move their kid to another public school or to a private, which means the bad school or public system with no responsibility to teach, feed or supply that kid would still get to keep 20% of the money. That's a GAIN, people, and yet they still screamed that people in favor of vouchers were trying to destroy the education system. Which makes the educrats liars as well as- in all too many cases- socialists using the system to indoctrinate kids.


The other relates to Obama and his trying to get rabbis and priests and preachers to tell their flocks to push for Obama's Socialist Medical Heaven Plan and making comments about people 'bearing false witness' and them being 'God's partners in life and death' I think it was. This is on the same level as the bullshit every December from politicians and RWPPs like Sharpton and homeless advocates about how Jesus 'was born homeless' and so we need to care for the 'homeless' just like we care about God. They never like to mention, or have it pointed out, that Joseph and Mary had a home; they were in Bethleham involuntarily because Rome had decided that they not only needed a new census for tax purposes but that everyone had to go back to the place where they'd been born to be counted. So, along with a lot of other people(which is why there was no room at the inn) they had to leave home, even though she was pregnant, and travel to somewhere else to be properly counted for tax purposes. Jesus was born in a manger instead of at home because of the demands of the tax man.

formerly Great Britain really has become a socialist hellhole

run by tyrants who can't stand anyone not doing what they're told; not being a good, submissive little subject. Head to the Texas Partisan for some history on Philip Luty, and then to here to read of what the Brit government(miserable statist bastards that they are) have done to him
His home had been raided by a task force of Interpol and the Portuguese equivalent of the FBI’s counter-terrorism squad. They had specifically been asked to do so by Britain’s MI-5 as part of an investigation surrounding Mr. Luty. Some cyber-sleuthing among webmasters revealed that an RKBA-friendly (Right to Keep and Bear Arms) web guru had been contacted by Phil via his brother and asked to take the website down and wipe it. Phil had once again been scooped up by the British authorities, but under the newly modified anti-terror laws, had been able to do so without notifying anyone for weeks. After being pressured by friends and family, the Metropolitan Police finally only admit that Phil was arrested (on a date still not revealed) for “incitement of crimes” via his website, but would not provide a specific charge against him or any examples of what crimes or incitements to which they were referring.

At this time, there is no address to which to send positive correspondence to Phil, as the police who hold him refuse to say anything more, including where he is held
.

Mr. Luty has cancer; anyone think he'll received any of the 'compassion' a Libyan mass-murderer got?

I used to think I'd love to see Scotland and England; now, I'm half afraid to go; say the wrong damn thing and get reported, or be seen looking at a 'wrong' website and you could wind up disappearing the way Luty did, with a long time before anyone can find out what happened to you.

Paranoid? Maybe; considering what the Brit government is like nowadays, I don't think so. And if you don't think there are a lot of politicians and law enforcement weenies here who'd like to have the same kind of powers, and be able to stomp on us the same ways, you haven't been paying attention.

I was wrong: I have to post something else on that idiotic Scottish official

and his decision to release a convicted mass murderer 'for reasons of compassion'.
The international furore over the release of the Lockerbie bomber deepened today after he was seen embracing Libyan leader Colonel Gaddafi.

In scenes that will provoke outrage among victims' families and the U.S. government, TV footage showed Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi meeting Gaddafi in Tripoli.

It came as Gordon Brown faced fresh pressure after shocking claims by Libya that the release of the bomber was linked explicity to trade deals benefiting Britain
.
Long article, I'd suggest you read it. I've just got a couple of bits to concentrate on. First, among the words from Lord Mandelson,
He also criticised the scenes of celebration in Libya and said: 'It's very insensitive. You just have to think about what is going through the minds of the families who have lost loved ones in a terrible tragedy.'
First, you fucking moron, it wasn't a 'tragedy', it was MASS MURDER; if you can't even keep that straight, what kind of effing excuse for a brain do you have? Second, what the hell is this 'insensitive' crap? You thought Gadaffi gave a crap what you thing, or the further harm done to the families of the victims?

And on the reaction, such as it is, of the Prime Minister:
As the sense of transatlantic dismay grows, Mr Brown and Mr Miliband have refused to condemn or back the mass murderer's release on Thursday - insisting it was purely a matter for the Scottish authorities.

David Cameron accused Mr Brown, who is on holiday in Scotland, of a colossal failure of leadership. The Tory leader wrote to him demanding to know whether he thought the release on compassionate grounds of Megrahi was 'right or wrong'.
...
Mr Cameron wrote: 'The fact that the decision to release was taken by the Scottish Justice Secretary does not preclude you, as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, from now expressing your opinion on a subject that is of great public concern, and which affects Britain's international reputation and our relations with our allies.

'It is curious that while others have commented, Britain's Prime Minister has not. I hope you will now take the opportunity to do so.'

Critics said the disclosure that Mr Brown had written to Colonel Gaddafi undermined his insistence the UK had not been involved in the case
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And there's some blather about the 'strong' reaction of President Obama, which amounted to "Hey, I told you not to give him a welcome like that! Weren't you listening?"

You know what really, REALLY pisses me off here? Besides the bullshit from the Scottish authorities, that is? This line from the letter the islamist shitbag wrote asking for clemency:
My continued incarceration in HMP Greenock is not conducive to my well being as my life nears its end.
Reading that is enough to damn near make me blow an artery. Everybody's supposed to be worried about what's 'conducive to his well being'? THIS is the kind of garbage being used to justify sending the bastard home? Of course, the article notes some of the past of the moron Justice Minister who decided this:
Mr. MacAskill, a former lawyer, also came under fire last month when it was revealed that George Wright, a 23-year old yob who beat a grandfather to death in an unprovoked street attack, was being let out of the open jail for home visits.

Well, Scotland, this is the result of the people you elected to office and the decisions and laws you backed. Or just sat on your ass and watched being done to you. Take back the damn country, or screw you; I'm in no damn mood for sympathy.

I also just have to note this comment from Christine in Whiteabbey:
Will the people who left anti Scottish comments here now take them back given that it is now clear that the English were involved.