Saturday, August 21, 2010

Remember that famous 'First they came for the communists' piece?

Turns out the story is a lot more involved than I'd known.
So it's completely unsurprising that the Ground Zero Mosque defenders have trotted out the "First they came for the Communists" nursery rhyme. Keith Olbermann did it, while suggesting that resisting the Ground Zero Mosque puts us on a path to the Holocaust. Olbermann went on to claim that Muslims in the US were at greater risk of terrorism than non-Muslims (which would be news to the actual recent targets of terrorism, who included soldiers in Fort Hood, airline passengers and anyone walking through Times Square.) And of course Olbermann hung it all on that infamous nursery rhyme and Martin Niemoller.

There are a number of problems with that. First Niemoller is not the author of the nursery rhyme, it's loosely based on some of his statements. Secondly, Niemoller went from being a Nazi sympathizer, to being a Communist sympathizer. That incidentally is the same message implicit in the poem itself. A man who supported Hitler and then supported Communist tyrants, including Ho Chi Minh is a spectacularly bad choice as a moral guide.
...
Meanwhile in the USSR, the Communists had come for the Trade Unionists and the Jews. Niemoller had nothing to say on this subject. Neither do the people who quote the nursery rhyme, because it upsets their narrative. It forces them to deal with the fact that the Communists were perpetrators, rather than victims. What upsets the applecart even more, is the fact that the USSR had actually helped the Nazis destroy German Communists, because it viewed the rise of Hitler as strategically helpful to them.

It was also the Communists who were in the forefront of the anti-war movement in Western countries, after the Hitler-Stalin had been signed. It was they who insisted on no intervention. Niemoller himself became complicit in that same sort of activity when he enlisted in Soviet backed "peace" groups that opposed "American militarism"
.

In today's edition of Leftists and Commies and Traitors,

Oh My! we start off with the current administration:
Via Death By 1000 Paper Cuts -

Attending the conference, two Obama Czars, Border Czar Alan Bersin, Commissioner U.S. Customs and Border Protection and Drug Czar R. Gil Kerlikowske, Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy.

Question: Do you feel we are adequately securing our border?

Obama Drug Czar R. Gil Kerlikowske, Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy:

“That’s a difficult question to ask. I’ve spent a lot of time now flying, driving, being on the border then talking to a lot of people on the border. It’s incredibly difficult when you don’t have a clear definition of what secure the border means.
(Here's a hint, dumbass: it means illegal aliens are stopped from crossing, or caught and thrown back out; easy, isn't it?)
Another tidbit we learned: Bord
er Czar Alan Bersin telling the conference attendees:

Our people are the key, bi-nationally as well as each of our countries. The challenges to leave behind, the old ways of seeing the border, to stop thinking in the past. Stop thinking that the Federal government is going to come and pay for all the projects. Rather, it is devise business solutions that provide the private capacity to make these things work. Whether it is crossing the border in a safe, secure facilitated entry but to do it with private initiative rather than waiting for government handouts. What the government has to do is be responsive to a community that takes its future into its own hands. Yes, we on the regulatory side will respond appropriately but you’ve got to do this and not look to the government to do it.

So expecting the feds to do one of the Constitutionally mandated acts, protect the borders, is 'government handouts'?


Ah yes, that mild-mannered, moderate cleric who wants to build the Hamasque:
Steve Emerson has unearthed 13 hours of audio tape of Imam Rauf. Emerson and his team of investigators has spent the past four weeks going through the newly found material. Rauf is a “radical extremist cleric who cloaks himself in sheep’s clothing.”

Among the shocking revelations Emerson’s team will reveal next week — they found Rauf:

Defending wahhabism – a puritanical version of Islam that governs Saudi Arabia

Calling for the elimination of Israel by claiming a one-nation state, meaning no more Jewish State.

Defending Bin Laden’s violence
Yep. Moderate, and caring and compassionate. Except toward unbelievers and those disgusting JOOOOOS.
Ah, here's a bit more at Cold Fury


On the open traitors side, we have Code Pink: fundraisers for terrorists, enemy of the US and the kind of miserable little shits who say things like
Yet Jodie Evans and her Code Pink degenerates taunted me and made light of my son’s sacrifice telling me, “Your son deserved to die in Iraq if he was stupid enough to go over there.”
They also hang out with communist dictators and terrorism supporters(which latter group may contain some Democrats). And, for that matter please read the part in the Powerline post about Jerry Brown, running for Governor of CA:
You might call him Governor Moonbeam, but I prefer Governor Double Dip, and there's nothing harmlessly moonbeamy and charmingly hippie dippie about his doing business with Jode Evans, co-founder of the obnoxious anti-American group Code Pink and someone with a well-documented history of supporting terrorists and those countries that would do America harm. [Ed.: Code Pink raised $600,000 to fund anti-American terrorism in Iraq.]


I'm going to have to add Hypocritical Jackasses to the header to cover Prince Charles:
Now His Royal Highness has launched the Start Campaign, 20 small steps whereby the common folk can save the planet from global warming. Among the 20 are saving old paint tins and "snubbing the tub," eschewing baths for 5-minute showers (though Daddy takes baths, and a spokesman will not say whether Prince Charles does as well). We are told that "the Prince's Jaguar, Audi and Range Rover cars run on biodiesel made from used cooking oil, while his 40-year-old Aston Martin uses bioethanol made entirely from wine." Wine into fuel--almost a biblical touch, Sir! But surely raising grapes, turning them to wine, and distilling them into fuel consumes way more labor and energy than just pumping hydrocarbons from the North Sea? Well, well, if your intentions are pure .


Democrats wanting to use more of other people's money to bail out the Teamsters.


To Scottish and English Governments: Screw you, you miserable socialist bastards:
The Lockerbie bomber refused chemotherapy in a Scottish prison in an attempt to make his condition deteriorate and force his release, it was claimed yesterday. Abdelbaset Al Megrahi was believed to be terminally ill with prostate cancer when he was sent home to Libya on compassionate grounds exactly a year ago. But since his release Megrahi has responded well to a similar treatment – which is available on the NHS – and there claims that he could live another seven years.

Dr Andrew Fraser, the Scottish doctor responsible for assessing Megrahi’s health a year ago, had assured the Government that the bomber was resistant to treatment – assumed to mean that body was not responding. But in fact Megrahi chose to refuse the treatment, ITV have claimed. It is understood that Megrahi discussed the treatment with Scottish doctors but said he would only undergo it with support of his family, who were in Libya
.


And that's about all I can take right now.

Friday, August 20, 2010

Doesn't really matter what gun for croc,l

as the Brit police won't let you have it anyway.
ENGLISH Channel beaches were shut today after a "huge crocodile" was spotted in the sea.

The creature — with razor sharp teeth — was seen swimming around sailing boats in the port of Boulogne-sur-Mer, north-east France, yesterday.

A spokesman for the local town council revealed: "We decided to close all beaches nearby and ban swimming just in case."

He added: "All local zoos and amphibian centres are being investigated to see if any of their crocodiles are missing. We can take no chances."
Now if they could just direct it to Parliament...

Once again TSA, with help in this case from Philadelphia PD,

demonstrate why so many people A: Don't trust them and B: Don't fly because of it.

And take note of this:
Two Philadelphia police officers joined at least four TSA officers who had gathered around her. After conferring with the TSA screeners, one of the Philadelphia officers told her he was there because her checks were numbered sequentially, which she says they were not.
followed later by this:
Lt. Frank Vanore, a Philadelphia police spokesman, said that TSA personnel had called his officers, who found the checks to be "almost sequential." They were "just checking to make sure there was nothing fraudulent," he said. "They were wondering what the story was. The officer got it cleared up."
Uh, Lt. Dumbass, either they are or are not sequential; and if they're not, saying they were as an excuse for this bullshit was a flat lie.

Apparently there was no actual crime in or around the airport, so these cops decided to find something to do. And assist TSA in doing shit they're not supposed to do:
The new TSA directive reads: "Screening may not be conducted to detect evidence of crimes unrelated to transportation security." If evidence of a crime is discovered, then TSA agents are instructed to contact the appropriate law enforcement agency.
A: Her having some checks is not related to airport security(theater);
B: Having some checks is 'evidence' of a crime? Etc.


More on Obama banning the import of a bunch of Garands and Carbines

over at Volokh

So the director of Al-Arabiya says there shouldn't be a mosque

by Ground Zero.
"I can't imagine that Muslims [actually] want a mosque at this particular location, because it will become an arena for the promoters of hatred, and a monument to those who committed the crime. Moreover, there are no practicing Muslims in the area who need a place to worship, because it is a commercial district. Is there anyone who is [really] eager [to build] this mosque?...
There's some various roundabout, and I think he ignores or wants to overlook the muslims who DO want to build RIGHT THERE; but he does cover two big points: those who dislike islam will have this to point to, and the terrorism supporters will consider it a victory monument. Kind of makes you think the clowns in charge WANT to cause trouble, doesn't it?

I take great exception with the last bit in this article:
"What the citizens of the U.S. fail to understand is that the battle against the 9/11 terrorists is not their battle. It is a Muslim battle – one whose flames are still raging in more than 20 Muslim countries...
Guy, when muslim terrorists attack us- many times- and kill our people, it damn well IS our battle; when many muslims make it plain they want to take over our country and make sharia the governing law, it IS our battle; claiming otherwise is bullcrap.

Translation from Wales copspeak:

"We don't like you having the guns you DO have, peasant; shut up or we'll find a way to take some of those away! And don't bother us with facts about what you 'need', WE decide what you need to be allowed to own."

Thursday, August 19, 2010

Now this is just freakin' beautiful



Recommended by the daughter, who finds all kinds of neat stuff

Back when I was blacksmithing, I came up with

"Come see my forgings."

No word on if it's a face-eating monkey

but then it's a long ways from Tam.
Sgt. Kevin Boscher said the department received more than one report of a loose baboon near Patterson and Moulet on Thursday morning.

Florissant officers are in the area and the St. Louis Zoo officials are assisting.

A woman named Samantha Windsor took a picture of the baboon with her cell phone. The primate’s face is dark blue and black.

Have you ever seen the fangs on those buggers?

Oh yeah, this would be just GREAT

except for all the opportunities for corruption, for error, for having your life screwed around...

Just me, or does it seem like every time lately there's some "This will make it easier to control things" idea that Harvard is right in the middle of it?

The Fairfax County fire investigators and the Washington County SO

would seem to be among those agencies who have actual crime so under control that they have time and money to waste; so, in these times, their budgets ought to be reviewed and cut.

When you- and the prosecutors, let's not forget their budgets- do crap like this instead of a "Don't do that anymore" to the bar and a ticket for causing a disturbance for the other... you apparently don't have enough real work to do.

And lets get off the bullshit of calling anything that makes noise a 'destructive device', while we're at it.

Insty has a post on high-speed rail

and would it be economical? If you mean "Can pay its own costs", only if the effing feds don't touch it. Then, maybe.

I checked on taking a train home instead of flying from El Paso. There is indeed a train that runs. Every few days. It costs as much as a plane ticket, and takes 36 hours to make the trip. And Amtrak is subsidized by how much of our money annually?

Screw you, Biden, I don't care if you adore it. Cut Amtrak loose and tell it "Make your costs, or sink." It'll either streamline things or go under. And if it goes under, I don't doubt someone will buy at least parts of it and open a line, as there is a market for the service.

I have this tiny flashlight

that uses tiny button-cell batteries. Which are dead. So, just to see, I checked Amazon.

I now have a card of ten on the way for-counting shipping- $2.60.

Oh, those sneaky JOOOOOOS!

They can manage ANYTHING!
...Dr. ‘Abd al-Mu‘ti Bayumi, a member of the Islamic Research Academy [of Al Azhar] told Al Masry Al Youm that he rejects the building of any mosque in this area [Ground Zero], because the “devious mentality” desires to connect these events [of 9/11] with Islam, though he maintains that Islam is innocent of this accusation. Instead, it is a “Zionist conspiracy,” which many are making use of to harm the religion.
I wonder if the imam pushing the Hamasque knows he's secretly working for the JOOOOOS?

Remember Pelosi's "They should be investigated" statement?

“Well, I spent the afternoon wrapping my mind around Pelosi’s remark about looking into the finances of those who oppose the mosque saying “I want to join with others.” I’d like to know who the others are?(I'd wondered about that myself) Are any of them not institutionalized? And, then I’m trying to decide if her statement was out of malice or pure lunacy. Being the generous spirit that I am, I am going with lunacy… But the idea that those who (oppose) the mosque are some kind of conspiracy or the funding ought to be looked at is absurd. Look, I oppose the mosque and nobody’s offered me a penny. What am I chopped liver?“
She's kind of half-did and half-didn't walk it back, but still insists those nasty people against the mosque need to be investigated; she's now added that the mosque funding should be investigated too.

And personally, I think it was malice.

Maryland demonstrates- again- why I wouldn't live there

and why 'may issue' carry permit laws suck.
That night made Woollard a crime victim for the first time in his life and also one of a select few Maryland residents to receive a license to carry a concealed handgun. But to Woollard's surprise, Maryland State Police denied his request last year to renew the permit, saying they thought the danger to his life had passed.

The agency said it was "because I hadn't been attacked" again, Woollard said in an interview. "They said, 'If you have any problems, you let us know.' "

Well, isn't that comforting? Especially considering
Then they waited for more than an hour for police to find their way, on icy back roads, to the home, about 25 miles south of the Pennsylvania border.
According to the police it was just shy of two effing hours. Yeah, it was a holiday and there was bad weather; it still took nearly two hours for them to get there on a call involving a home-invasion burglary and someone being held at gunpoint. So 'if you have problems, let us know' doesn't exactly fill you with confidence, does it?

Woollard, 62, of the Hampstead area, contends that the right to bear a firearm for self-defense is so paramount that a state agency should not be able to arbitrarily deny it.

"It's up to me. Do you have to show a reason to have a driver's license?" Woollard said. Under current law, the only people likely to carry guns are criminals who do not follow the law anyway, Woollard said. "And the police, as good as they are, show up after the fact."

Exactly.

And, of course the Brady Friends To Ban Guns have weighed in:
CeaseFire Maryland, a nonprofit group that advocates for gun control, brushed off the challenge.

"Good luck to him," spokesman Casey Anderson said. "I would have a hard time imagining that the Supreme Court is going to say you have a constitutional right to hide a firearm on your person."

As I recall you people said virtual and actual bans on gun ownership were 'reasonable', so I imagine you think the police being able to say "We'll decide if you're allowed a permit" is reasonable; the rest of us don't think so.

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Among the reasons I call it NYEffin'C

Greek Orthodox leaders trying to rebuild the only church destroyed in the Sept. 11 terror attacks expressed shock this week after learning, via Fox News, that government officials had killed a deal to relocate the church.
You've got two things here: first is that while these clowns are falling all over themselves to push for the Hamasque(to borrow a phrase I heard somewhere) to be built, they do this to these people. The other is that the arrogant, cowardly little bastards couldn't even be bothered- or were scared to- tell these people; the church had to find it out from a news crew.

Hey, Nanny Bloomberg: you suck even worse than I thought, and that's really not easy.

If you need some rubber gloves for use around solvents,

more than a year ago I picked up a pair of stripping gloves at Ace Hardware; they're intended for use with chemicals for stripping furniture, and unlike regular rubber/latex/whatever gloves, they do not soften, bag-up or dissolve when used with mineral spirits and such.

If I were going to be doing a lot of rust bluing, I'd get another pair(maybe two) and have one for wearing while degreasing/carding/wiping on solution, and one for when I'm oiling the pieces. They don't fit as tight and have as much feel as the lighter stuff, but they last a LOT better.

Speaking of the Blago trial,

look what Ace came up with:
FOX Chicago News reported that speculation is centering on juror Jo Ann Chiakulas of Willowbrook, after a second-hand acquaintance said that she has been saying for weeks that she would find Blagojevich not guilty.

Chiakulas is a retired director from the Illinois Department of Public Health.
That's the start; go look at all the OTHER connections they've come up with.

Among the reasons I've come to see asset forfeiture laws

as largely a invitation to corruption:
So not only are some Indiana counties contracting forfeiture cases to private attorneys on a contingency basis—which forfeiture experts I consulted say is a violation of the U.S. Constitution's Due Process clause—more than 90 percent of the state's counties are ignoring the schools fund requirement altogether.

So what does the attorney general have to say? When I contacted the office of Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller for my February article on forfeiture, I received no response. But Ogden notes that Zoeller's office office did issue this dismissive, almost sarcastic response to an inquiry from Joel Schumm, a professor at the Indiana University School of Law-Indianapolis.

"The 92 county prosecutors are the attorney general's clients, and we provide them legal advice upon request. We do not serve as the accountant for other units of government."


And the Indiana AG seems to suck pretty bad, too.

When I heard about the BS verdict in the Blago case

this kind of thing ran through my mind. Fitzgerald appears to be a prime dirtbag. And it appears that he and some other prosecutors are using the 'Lied to a Federal Agent' charge as a coverup so they can at least get a conviction on SOMETHING...

If the facts are as presented, at the LEAST these two cops

need time on the ground without pay and some classes on "That badge does NOT make you a damned demi-god who can crap on people just because he feels like it."

The upside? At least these morons didn't shoot the dogs.

About the 'Death panel by another name' post the other day,

I'm going to ste- borrow from Insty:
ANN ALTHOUSE ON AVASTIN: “There are death panels. They don’t want to be seen as death panels, because to be seen as death panels will undermine their relentless, bureaucratic work. So see them.” And name names, which, as I’ve noted before, undercuts the diffusion of responsibility that bureaucrats prefer. In this case, some names are Wyndham Wilson, the chair of the committee, and Richard Pazdur, the FDA’s cancer chief. Also committee members Natalie Compagni Portis, and Jean Grem, both quoted here.

And, as Mickey Kaus reminds us, this is all part of the ObamaCare cost-containment plan. The man behind that is named Barack Obama.

Normally I don't do a whole post from somebody else like this; this one is short, and the sentiment I very much agree with: don't let the bastards hide themselves.

Hmmm... either Kent State has the worst security around

on their e-mail systems, or they're full of crap.
But I am demanding an investigation. And Kent State alumni should demand the same. In the meantime, I am using this column to repeat my other charges against Pino. After each charge I am including the defense that I predict will be forthcoming from Kent State University:

Charge: Pino has used his university e-mail account to boast of raping and sodomizing the mother of another university professor – this time using the term “c***” to refer to a senior citizen, not a U.S. soldier.

Kent State response: Dr Pino alleges that his e-mail was also “hacked” on that occasion.

Charge: Pino has sent repeated unwanted emails to other professors with a subject line that said the White House would soon need “more coffins.” This resulted, during the summer of 2009, in a Secret Service raid of Pino’s home.

Kent State response: Dr Pino alleges that his e-mail was “hacked” on that occasion, too.

Charge: Pino has sent emails celebrating the murders of 9/11 to professors on, of all days, September 11th.

Kent State response: Dr Pino alleges that his e-mail was also “hacked” on those occasions.

Charge: Pino published an article in the Kent State newspaper, which urged children to enlist as suicide bombers – specifically to kill innocent Israeli citizens.

Kent State response: Professor Pino alleges that his Microsoft Word account was “hacked” and that he never bothered to inform the student newspaper.

Charge: Pino admitted, to a Fox producer working for Britt Hume, that he has posted articles on the Global War blog spot – a terrorist website. This admission followed accusations that he posted specific bomb-making instructions, which urged readers to use the bombs to kill U.S. troops. He also admitted his involvement with the site to his then-department chair John Jameson. Dr. Jameson was fired (as chair) after letting Pino travel to the Middle East (mid-semester) for an extended stay while he (Pino) was under suspicion for terrorist activities.

Kent State response: Professor Pino alleges that his e-mail was “hacked” and that Britt Hume, John Jameson, and the dirty stinking Jews are out to get him
.

One of the earlier posts on Pino here

Let's remember that the Las Vegas Review-Journal

and their 'Righthaven' clowns are suing bloggers, and for BS reasons. If you can, might throw some change the way of the people fighting this.

You'll notice who Rep. Pelosi(Nat. Socialist Dem-CA) wants to investigate

when she's annoyed:
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, California Democrat, called for an investigation of those who are protesting the building of the Ground Zero Mosque on Tuesday. She told San Francisco's KCBS radio
...
"There is no question there is a concerted effort to make this a political issue by some. And I join those who have called for looking into how is this opposition to the mosque being funded," she said. "How is this being ginned up that here we are talking about Treasure Island, something we've been working on for decades, something of great interest to our community as we go forward to an election about the future of our country and two of the first three questions are about a zoning issue in New York City." (h/t Kristinn)
You'll notice she doesn't give a damn about who's funding the mosque and cultural center, oh no, but she REALLY wants to know if anybody's funding the opposition...

Hey, bitch! It's called 'People speaking their Minds', kind of an American thing you seem to have forgotten. And it doesn't necessarily require paying people to do it.

Not the same thing as you paying union weenies to go out and demonstrate for you.

I'd like to say I'm surprised by this,

but not really:
Federal prosecutors on Tuesday closed their investigation into Lower Merion School District's secret use of software to track student laptops, saying they found no evidence that anyone intentionally committed a crime.

The decision, announced by U.S. Attorney Zane Memeger, ended a six-month probe by the FBI into allegations that district employees might have spied on students through webcams on their school-issued laptops.
So on criminal matters the school's off the hook; I hope the civil suits ream them a new one. And in the future I hope some of the idiot actions by some federal agencies have this brought up:
"For the government to prosecute a criminal case, it must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the person charged acted with criminal intent," his statement said. "We have not found evidence that would establish beyond a reasonable doubt that anyone involved had criminal intent."
I want them to hold that level of concern for EVERYBODY they investigate.

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

In our next installment of "How scared are they of Sarah?"

We’re Emily’s List and if liberal women aren’t inspiring women anymore, then why should Sarah Palin be allowed to do it!

Yeah, that’s the ticket! Let’s target and try to undermine as many independent Women! as possible to prove that you can stand up for Women! by making sure one particular Woman! you don’t like doesn’t keep inspiring and encouraging, uh, Women! Or something
.
Which leads to- friggin' EWOKS?!?
A method of getting an internet ad a lot of views is to make it so strange people just view it for the WTF factor.

Is that what Emily's List is doing here?

If so, they've failed; this makes them look stupid (and... physically unattractive), but it's too cutesy and contrived for anyone to care about.

So here's their big Palin-Hate ad, featuring... Ewoks, which really isn't how liberal women ought to be selling themselves
.
Ace has a list of ten problems, which includes
7. If Sarah Palin's so dumb and silly, why is it you who are dressed up in the bear costumes?

6. Video confirms age-old stereotypes that liberal women are nothing but half-witted scruffy-looking nerf-herders

5. Ad unlikely to resonate with mothers worried about paying rent and putting food on the table during near-depression when it asserts that what's most important to your average married woman with children in dire financial straits is right of gay dudes to get hitched
.

It should be noted that Richard the Turd is spending a lot more of

other peoples' money in court while he tries to keep the peasants from legally having arms:
CHICAGO, IL – The Second Amendment Foundation (SAF) today filed a lawsuit in federal court against the City of Chicago’s new gun ordinance, asserting that “by banning gun ranges open to the public…under color of law,” the city is depriving citizens of their right to keep and bear arms in violation of the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
...
“While the city has adopted new regulations that make it legal to own handguns,” said SAF Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb, “they have crafted this new ordinance to make it virtually impossible for prospective gun owners to meet all legal requirements unless they travel outside the city for mandatory training. The new ordinance prohibits public gun ranges inside the city yet the city demands that handgun owners get at least one hour of range training time.

“This is a ‘Catch-22’ scenario,” he continued, “that seems deliberately designed to discourage Chicago residents from exercising their firearm civil rights barely two months after those rights were restored by the Supreme Court.”

That's exactly what it was designed to do, and that's why Gura is, I think, going to hang Daley & Co.'s asses on the wall again.

So there's this medical treatment that appears to have the side-effect

of reducing chances of a baby having homosexual tendencies. It treats a very real condition, but because of this side-effect a bunch of people have their panties in a wad.
A hormonal treatment to prevent ambiguous genitalia can now be offered to women who may be carrying such infants. It's not without health risks, but to its critics those are of small consequence compared with this notable side effect: The treatment might reduce the likelihood that a female with the condition will be homosexual. Further, it seems to increase the chances that she will have what are considered more feminine behavioral traits.

That such a treatment would ever be considered, even to prevent genital abnormalities, has outraged gay and lesbian groups, troubled some doctors and fueled bioethicists' debate about the nature of human sexuality.
I'm going to put this very bluntly: fuck you one and all. That you'd want to prevent a treatment for a problem because it MIGHT reduce the LIKELIHOOD ?

You don't care about the kids, you care about pushing your little cause. Fuck you twice, you assholes.

Monday, August 16, 2010

Remember that list of Democrats who're open members of the Socialist Party?

Look what one of Theo's people found, including
Isn't it nice to have the enemy actually SAY what they are, what they want, what they intend?

Isn't it freaking disgusting that our professional and multiply-edited-for-accuracy major media will probably never say a damned word about any of this?

This is promising

I degreased, washed and hit the receiver, inner receiver and lever with solution this afternoon and hung them up. Without checking the weather forecast. We've got a fair chance of rain, and not knowing if that'll turn into showers or bleepin' storms, decided not to leave them out. And hanging stuff like this in the house has had a tendency toward, ah, messy situations in the past. So I checked them- all darkened and starting to show rust- and set some water boiling, then dunked them all for five minutes, let them dry(doesn't take long when they're that hot) and oiled them. Here's the receiver after cleaning up,and after this first treatment
Yeah, it's lousy photography; it's late and I'm tired. It came out a very even color all the way 'round, same for the other two pieces. So tomorrow I can find just what to expect in weather and then degrease and swab & hang again to get them darker. I think this is going to work out quite well.

Ok, so we have death panels by another name;

in this case, the FDA:
And now there is the anti-breast-cancer drug Avastin. Like Provenge, it has already been approved by the FDA. But that creates a political problem -- how can Obama control costs and reassure the public that he's not, as maintained by his critics, denying useful and effective drugs to seniors in order to free up money for ObamaCare?

Oh -- here's a great idea! We'll just get the FDA to rescind its previous approval of the drug so that Medicare and Medicaid don't even have to consider reimbursing for it, thus sparing Obama a political headache, and merely at the cost of taking off the market, from anyone suffering from breast cancer, a drug already deemed "safe and effective" by the FDA.
Federal regulators are considering taking the highly unusual step of rescinding approval of a drug that patients with advanced breast cancer turn to as a last-ditch hope.

The debate over Avastin, prescribed to about 17,500 women with breast cancer a year, has become entangled in the politically explosive struggle over medical spending and effectiveness that flared during the battle over health-care reform: How should the government balance protecting patients and controlling costs without restricting access to cutting-edge, and often costly, treatments? …

The FDA is not supposed to consider costs in its decisions, but if the agency rescinds approval, insurers are likely to stop paying for treatment.

“It’s hard to talk about Avastin without talking about costs,” said Eric P. Winer, director of the Breast Oncology Center at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston. “For better or worse, Avastin has become in many ways the poster child of high-priced anti-cancer drugs.”
This is criminal. To avoid a difficult political debate -- and the honest confession that "bending the curve" of Medicare costs to free up money for ObamaCare is going to require a lesser standard of treatment -- the FDA is killing a safe and effective drug and thereby outlawing for anyone, including those who can be helped by this drug and no other, and who are paying for the drug with their own private insurance or own out-of-pocket money.

In other words: He is doing exactly what he vowed he would not. He is "equalizing" health access not by bringing up care for those who have little, but by reducing care by full might of federal legal power for those who have "too much."
I'm wondering when somebody about to die, or a family member of someone who dies because of bullshit like this, will find some FDA weenie and terminate them? I mentioned once before, I wondered if the bureaucrats who'll be enforcing Obamacare have considered that THEY'LL be the ones people see telling them "Your mother could use this treatment, but we won't allow it; she's too old and it's too costly" or "Your father would live longer with this operation, but he's too old for it to be cost-effective, so have him take his pain meds and make him comfortable." Which means when somebody says "Enough, they want equality? I'll give them some equal suffering!" guess who they'll probably choose?

Yay! First I've seen this year!

Hummers!And I think it was a pair. Saw the first with barely enough light for pictures and too far away for the flash to help much and ran for the camera. All those without flash were too blurry, this makes it look darker than it actually was. The first flew off, and then this one came in from another direction.

I didn't notice any last year until around the end of July. They may have been around before now and I just didn't see them; no idea. I do know that with all the wet in June, then hot & dry in July and early August even the honeysuckle hasn't been blooming like usual, so I wonder if they'd changed their pattern due to the weather?

In any case, there's a couple here. And yes, I'm a critter geek, this makes me happy.

I'll give you two reasons:

First includes everybody who refuses to have their kids vaccinated for bullshit reasons*.
Second, all kinds of illegal aliens both bringing diseases in AND not being vaccinated.
California is in the midst of its worst outbreak of whooping cough in a half-century. More than 2,700 cases have been reported so far this year — eight times last year's number at this point. Seven of the victims, all infants, have died.

And here's what really worries pediatricians like USC's Harvey Karp: Doctors thought they wiped out whooping cough when they developed vaccines decades ago
.

*Be it noted that some parents have reason: daughter got sick as hell after vaccinations. Not just sore at the injection site and a little fever, actually sick. Seriously at least once. So we stopped her getting those, and she's refused any such ever since.

Well, they forgot the swords, but it does appear

to be a Trojan Horse:


Tnanks to Sondra

This is one that deserves a Post Of Its Own: just what Pelosi & Co. think

of the idea of Equal Justice Under The Law:
In an explosive and raucous hearing on August 13, the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights voted 5-3 to officially ask Congress to expand its investigatory powers. This action came as a result of U.S. Justice Department stonewalling regarding the dismissal of a voter intimidation case against members of the New Black Panther Party.
...
Inflaming the tone of the meeting was CommissarCommissioner Michael Yaki, a San Francisco political consultant who once served as a senior advisor to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Pelosi appointed Yaki to his six-year term in 2005.

Yaki repeatedly interrupted the proceedings, and remarked that the meeting was “a joke.” Yaki also charged that in January — when two commissioners’ terms expire — they would be replaced by President Obama and the entire issue would go away. He said the search for additional teeth to investigate was “a last gasp” effort by conservatives who currently hold a majority on the civil rights body.
...

Commissioner Yaki originally boycotted a July 6 session in which the commission heard testimony from another DOJ career attorney, J. Christian Adams, who resigned following the case. Adams — a Pajamas Media contributor — described a culture within the Civil Rights division of the DOJ that encouraged hostility towards civil rights cases in which victims were white.

Yaki, after boycotting the earlier hearing, has changed his tactics, charging that the commission was not a legitimate body. Throughout the session were heated exchanges between Yaki and other commissioners.
Yeah, to progressives like Commissar Yaki and Pelosi the idea of demanding actual equal justice must be pretty scary.

Bastards.

It occurs to me that having mentioned rust bluing

I ought to describe the process. Short version, you clean and polish the metal- any finer than a 320-grit is a waste- and then very thoroughly degrease it(wearing gloves or doing something to keep any trace of oils or sweat or whatever off it). Then you swab it with a solution that should encourage rust*, hang it up and wait.

When you have a nice, even coat of light, ‘fluffy’ rust, you then card off the loose stuff** with steel wool(degreased with mineral spirits or something) or a VERY fine wire brush; you want to take the loose stuff off but not touch the effect on the surface of the steel. Make sure it’s even all over, then recoat with the solution and set it back up to rust some more. Repeat as needed.

When you’ve got a surface that’s evenly rusted, no spots or uneven places and it looks about right, there’s actually two things you can do. The first is card off the loose and then oil it heavily to kill the solution and rust, let it sit a while, clean it off and oil again; this is browning, gives a very nice medium-to-dark brown finish, very common on muzzle-loaders. I’ve done this on knives to very good effect. For bluing you do an extra step: boil it. Preferably distilled water and a good rolling boil for about fifteen minutes. Done right, it should turn the surface a dark blue. Pull it out, dry thoroughly and oil heavily. That’s the basic.

Do some digging around and you’ll find a lot of variations on the process, and the solution*** and ways to encourage the process. One of the best ways is a bluing cabinet: basically a box tall enough to hang the longest piece you’ll blue, a vent at top and bottom and a tray of water in the bottom; the idea is to keep the humidity high enough to encourage rusting while keeping the stuff out of the way and clean. I’ve heard of taking an old freezer and stripping all the shelves out for one, often putting a light bulb at the bottom to keep the temperature up(sometimes the water on a shelf with the light below). If you build one, I’d suggest painting or coating the inside with something that’ll keep the moisture from affecting the wood too badly.

I’ve mentioned using this on knives, this is the first time I’ve done it on a gun; friend gunsmith has used this process a bunch of times with very good results. We’ll see how it goes. I've got the receiver, inner receiver and lever hanging now.


*I’ve heard of solutions made by boiling water with a little salt, then letting it cool, mixes of water and a little acid and various other chemicals.
**Brownell’s, for one, sells wire brushes, both hand and rotary for a buffer, with extremely fine wire just for the purpose.
***In very dry areas you just about have to use a cabinet; in a humid area can hang it about anywhere, though not in direct rain or mist or whatever. Years back I knew of a guy who built muzzleloaders and did his browning with beer: he’d start heating the barrel with a torch while having a couple, slowing getting it up to about 250F; by the time he got it there he needed to pee and relieved himself as evenly as possible over the barrel or whatever(trigger guard, butt plate, etc.). Got a flat beautiful brown by the method, but I was informed you did not want to be in odor distance while he was doing it.

Among the reasons not to vote for Romney: he still claims

this mess was a good idea.
When the Bay State passed its health-reform law in 2006, 9 percent of non-elderly adults lacked insurance; that’s now down to 5 percent. The law didn’t reduce expensive emergency-room use as predicted. Instead, emergency-room visits have climbed by 9 percent, or about 3 million visits, from 2004 to 2008.
...
Health care now consumes 35 percent of the state budget, up from 22 percent in 2000. Patrick recently asked Washington for $473 million to help make the Massachusetts reform work — on top of the $1.2 billion in support the feds have already kicked in over three years, more than $3,000 per person in the state.
...
Yet small businesses are clearly finding it necessary to dump their employees on the public health plans. The Boston Globe recently reported on a broker who helps firms do just that; his practice is booming. He’s seen about 90 business owners terminate their plans since April

Yeah, I'm just effing dying to vote for Romney; anti-gun AND pro-socialized medicine, yeah, just what we need more of...

Sunday, August 15, 2010

If you're looking for another way to annoy any vegans or vegetarians

you know, read both of these.

Meat: it's what your front teeth are for! AND good for you!

Isn't it wonderful what the EUnuchs, the media and such people can ignore

when it's not the US or Israel being accused?
The German weekly newsmagazine Der Spiegel has published an investigative article that accuses the Turkish military of using chemical weapons against members of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). The magazine reports that forensic experts at the Hamburg University Hospital have confirmed the authenticity of 31 photographs that show the severely scorched bodies of eight PKK fighters who are believed to have been killed in the Kurdish town of Çukurca in September 2009. The hospital says it is highly probable that the victims in the photographs, six men and two women who are said to be scarcely recognizable as human beings, died “due to the use of chemical substances.”
...
Die Tageszeitung notes that Westerwelle had been informed of the chemical weapons allegations before an official trip he made to Turkey in late July. But Westerwelle seems uninterested in following up on the claims, presumably because if they are found to be true, they would severely complicate Turkey’s relationship with the European Union. Westerwelle has been pushing for Turkey to become a full EU member, but allegations of more human rights abuses in Turkey would delay accession talks even more.
...
Apart from a handful of news outlets, the mainstream media in Europe and the United States have mostly ignored these allegations. Now imagine the MSM reaction if it were Israel that was being accused of using chemical weapons
.

And I wonder what the high-minded weenies at Harvard think? Or do they want to know?

Insty pointed to this article about a 'women as sex objects'

comment Hugh Hefner made(and why is anyone paying attention to him, anyway?) and all the bitching it stirred up. I'm going to note this part:
According to Siskind, Friedan’s primary objection is what is now the norm. “Unfortunately the chicken has come home to roost as we’ve seen a surge in teen dating violence and things like sexting because the whole notion is ‘yeah, we own our sexuality now and wear it on our sleeves.’ Which might be fine for some women,” Siskind said, “but for many others its not. So our girls now think that is how they define themselves, not how smart or accomplished they are.”

Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the pro-life Susan B. Anthony List told TheDC that feminists hurt themselves by seeking empowerment through sex. “Women decided the best way to get themselves out of oppression in the modern era was to emulate men,” Dannenfelser said. “They were trying to get power, but when women decided that disconnecting sex from relationships — which is what they saw men doing — was liberation that is where the floodgates opened. And that is how our undoing as a gender has come about.”
Remember Frasier? His producer, Roz? I tend to think of her as a prime example of "I can sleep with anybody I want, so I will!" dumbassery*.
She'd sleep with anybody who gave her an itch.
She'd finish a date, and if she met somebody after might sleep with them.
She saw no problem with lying about what she was or what she did to try to hook someone. And then wondered why things fell apart.
When she got pregnant, one of her big gripes during the pregnancy was how hard it was to get dates, and how guys didn't want to have sex with her 'just because I'm pregnant'.
And in one episode, Frasier found out she was hitting on a new kid at the station- he was 19, she was 35 as I recall- and she said "Why is it bad when an older woman sleeps with an young guy, but nobody thinks twice about an older guy and a young girl?", and my first thought was "You mean the guys women like you refer to as pigs? Kind of forgetting that, aren't you?"
And in all that, with the exception of a new woman at the station patterned after Dr. Laura and quickly run off, NOBODY ever pointed out that jumping from bed to bed just might have something to do with some of her problems; just not PC, y'know.

And crap like that being watched by kids hasn't helped the current situation. Friends of mine have two kids, son about 12 and daughter about 4. They're very picky about what they let them watch, especially so after the mother took son to a school party about a year ago: the way the girls in the class were acting to the boys frankly scared hell out of her, and led to a discussion of all the ways that can get you in trouble with son.

No, I don't think most kids can be saints. I DO think they can be taught self-control and a moral background that will help them make good decisions, which jumping into the hookup culture is not one of.

Oh, on that line but when women decided that disconnecting sex from relationships — which is what they saw men doing — was liberation that is where the floodgates opened, Few years back I saw a little sign at a ladies' desk: When women act more like men, why can't they act like NICE men?
Good question.

*Yes, I think jumping from bed to bed tends to be a bad thing for guys, too.

Why so many people think 'modern art'

is absolute bullshit*:
“Working in the arena of identity politics [figures] during the 1990s, the artist created a series of so called anal targets and enema paintings, also known as the “Purple Squirt” series. Emulating the drip paintings of Jackson Pollock, the artist fills his rectum to the maximum with non-toxic [the lightweight!] water-based paint, using a rubber hot water bottle with an attached plastic tube. Then by carefully positioning himself near a large canvas placed horizontally on the floor, he is able, at the appropriate moment to eject and direct a constrained jet of paint, thereby rapidly creating one-of-a-kind artworks with an appositely chaotic and spontaneous feel. Boadwee’s works [not "works" but "motions", surely?] have been included in the Venice Biennial, Bay Area Now 3, and the John Waters-curated ‘Elimination’ at the Albert Merola Gallery, Provincetown, MA”

The fact that fools in art galleries and museums, and clowns like Frasier Crane, think garbage like this qualifies as high art says all you need to know about the arts community.

*Literally AND metaphorically, in this case

Two things to note, one good and one awful

The good is an article daughter sent to me,6 Amazingly High-Tech Ancient Weapons, consisting of the repeating crossbow, flamethrower, multi-stage rocket, land mine, the Claw of Archimedes(I know, from what I've read this one is doubtful) and the really big Hellenistic warships.

I'd never heard of the pressure-plate mine detonator described, that's downright neat.



The bad:
Four Massachusetts community hospitals are investigating how thousands of patient health records, some containing Social Security numbers and sensitive medical diagnoses, ended up in a pile at a public dump.

The unshredded records included pathology reports with patients’ names, addresses, and results of breast, bone, and skin cancer tests, as well as the results of lab work following miscarriages.

By law, medical records and documents containing personal identifying information must be disposed of in a way that protects privacy, and leaving them at a dump is probably illegal, privacy lawyers and hospital officials said.
Ya think maybe?
Violators face steep fines
.
I should bloody hope so.

Aw, hell, let's make it TWO bad, this one from our professional journalists we're supposed to trust:
A reporter for the Torrance (Calif.) Daily Breeze sent an e-mail to a political consultant saying the newspaper is “not interested” in covering Republican candidate Mattie Fein, who is challenging Democratic Rep. Jane Harman in California’s 36th District.

In the e-mail sent Wednesday (see text below), Daily Breeze reporter Nick Green told consultant John S. Thomas of Thomas Partners Strategies, “Don’t call or e-mail us – we’ll call you if we’re interested. And if you haven’t got it yet, we’re not interested.”

...
You have to wonder about the state of the country, when a mainstream media outlet feels comfortable enough to admit that it’s doing its best to brainwash its readership all the way to the polling place.
Actually, the state of the COUNTRY is largely 'Tar and feather the 'journalists' along with the crooked politicians and bureaucrats', but if he'd said 'state of the media' I'd agree.

When you see "- battles rabid Vamipire Bats' in a headline,

it do get your attention.
Peru's health ministry has sent emergency teams to a remote Amazon region to battle an outbreak of rabies spread by vampire bats.

Four children in the Awajun indigenous tribe died after being bitten by the bloodsucking mammals
.
Rabies would be a nasty way to go.

From what I've read and heard, the critters will dine on pretty much any warm-blooded thing around, including humans, but they do have to make the obligatory enviroweenie note Vampire bats usually feed on wildlife or livestock, but are sometimes known to turn to humans for food, particularly in areas where their rainforest habitat has been destroyed. Except that when an area is cleared one of the usual activities is more cattle & such around, which would seem to disqualify that as a cause. Or so I'd think. And then you get to this:
Some local people have suggested this latest outbreak of attacks may be linked to the unusually low temperatures the Peruvian Amazon in recent years.
What? Low temperatures in the Amazon jungle? But Globular Warmening is supposed to be turning the place into a steambox! Algore, where are you? Where's the warmening?

August 15, 1945

Japan surrenders.



Vid found at Theo's

I think the line from Casablanca was "...I'm just a poor corrupt official",

wasn't it?
Barney "Frank wrote a special provision into the TARP legislation designed specifically for OneUnited Bank," writes Jonathan Well at Bloomberg Opinion, shedding a little light on the culture of corruption that must be rooted out in the "term limits by other means" that are the November elections:
For all the strange details to emerge in the Maxine Waters bank-bailout scandal, this one might be the most surprising: It turns out members of Congress are prohibited from doing “special favors” for anyone, even if they receive nothing of value in return.

Who knew? Here I had been living under the impression that handing out special favors is something Washington lawmakers do all the time — be they free pens, tax breaks or earmarks. And, of course, it is.

Yet under the Code of Ethics for Government Service, it is against the rules for any federal employee to “discriminate unfairly by the dispensing of special favors or privileges to anyone, whether for remuneration or not.” That’s what it says in Count III of the ethics charges against Waters, which were unsealed this week by the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct. The House of Representatives adopted the code in 1958.

An update on the idiots suing Cramer and some others, ending with
Professor Johnson finds it particularly objectionable that the Las Vegas Review Journal and their extension RightHaven LLC are filing their lawsuits without making any attempt to resolve the disputes informally. He concludes:
Righthaven and its associated newspapers are on the cutting edge because they have stooped lower than anyone else in the news business has been willing to go. That’s nothing to be proud of.
I couldn't agree more.


Well, I could wish wish the'd moved the plant here, but Mississippi is a happier place for getting it. And it seems a lot of clowns in IL are so clueless it's amazing.
...Winchester Ammunition division of Olin Corporation is exploring plans to move their East Alton, IL center-fire ammunition plant to Oxford, Mississippi. Winchester had moved their rimfire ammunition production to Oxford in 2004.

Managers announced the plans to workers last Thursday (August 5th). At stake are about 1,000 jobs. According to statements from the River Bend Growth Association, Winchester is the area's largest employer with about 1,700 employers. The move, if Winchester goes ahead with it, would be completed over three to five years.

Two factors that may be behind the move are Olin's property tax dispute with Madison County, Illinois and the need to lower labor costs
.
As to the tax dispute,
Last year, the Board of Review, which hears property assessment appeals, put the company's property value at $36 million. Olin's appraisers, however, put the market value of its property at $17 million. Olin has appealed the Review Board's valuation, and it is pending in Illinois' appellate court, Miller said
.
That's a big damned difference. And would make a HUGE difference in taxes. As to the labor costs, from a linked post,
Need to move a piece of equipment? Call a millwright.

Does the equipment have any air cylinders? Call a pipefitter to take care of the air lines.

Get an electrician to take care of the electrical connection... even if it is a matter of pulling one plug.

Did an angle iron leg break during transport? Have the millwright take the equipment to the weld shop, were the welder will do his thing.

Did part of the equipment become detached or was some disassembly required to move the equipment? Chances are you have to figure out who is responsible to work on it based on what the pieces happen to be. Often millwrights and machinists are at odds over which work should go to which trade
.
You can imagine how much that kind of crap jacks up costs. The reaction from IL officials ranges from semi-intelligent to idiotic:
State Sen. William Haine, D-Alton, said he got a call about the potential move from one of the company's lobbyists the day before the announcement. He said he is not sure what motivated the decision.

"I'm shocked, to tell you the truth," he said. "I thought they were making money there."

The state could look at some kind of tax abatement for the company's facilities in Alton, but "there isn't any pot of money in Springfield to hand over to anyone," Haine said.

"We don't know how to proceed as a state," he said. "It's pretty hard to assemble an incentive package when we don't know what's driving their decision. And B, it's evident the state of Illinois doesn't have any money."

Haine, if you can't figure out what motivated the decision, you're far to stupid to be in that office. And I have a clue for you: they're not asking you to give them money; they were trying to keep from being screwed on taxes. Of course, someone like you might consider that 'asking for money'.
East Alton Mayor Fred Bright said it would hurt his community, but his experience with the company shows that is not a major concern for management.

"Olin cares for nothing but Olin, itself," Bright said
.
Hey, Mayor, Olin is a company. That has to make a profit to stay in business. When you try to screw them over, they have the option of moving. And it's not their damned job to 'care' for you and the city, especially when your definition of 'care' seems to include 'not griping about being screwed over on taxes and by unions'.

Ah well, a bunch of people in MS are real happy you're such fools.


Gee, thank you Scot and English governments:
But the Mail has learned he is once again receiving help from cancer specialists, which his family hope will provide a 'miracle cure' and extend his life still further - possibly by more than 18 months.

According to sources in Tripoli the new treatment is 'going well' although the Libyan is apparently suffering from 'black moods' over the negative way Britain and the West is portraying his case
.
And thank you, Obama, for your part in this.


Well, Brits, you government sold you to the EU; what kind of crap did you expect would happen?


You've probably heard something about Dear Leader's 'support for the mosque' statement that was followed by his 'not really' clarification. Jeez.


And finally, Maggie's Farm has guidelines on, ah, 'revealing'-type posts. May be NSFW some places.

If this is the attitude in Europe, no wonder they're screwed

Short version: Bill Gates wants a bunch of rich people to donate half their fortunes to charities. German rich guy doesn't like the idea because
Krämer: I find the US initiative highly problematic. You can write donations off in your taxes to a large degree in the USA. So the rich make a choice: Would I rather donate or pay taxes? The donors are taking the place of the state. That's unacceptable.
A: So it's a bad thing to encourage private charity? Screw you, Krämer. B: Over here, the fact that the state has taken over so much of, intruded into so much of charity work is one of the damned problems: WE DO NOT WANT the state taking over everything.

I guess this one sums up the whole thing to me:
Krämer: It is all just a bad transfer of power from the state to billionaires. So it's not the state that determines what is good for the people, but rather the rich want to decide. That's a development that I find really bad. What legitimacy do these people have to decide where massive sums of money will flow?
Here's an odd thought for you, Krämer: If you earn money, IT'S NOBODY ELSE'S DAMNED BUSINESS, INCLUDING THE STATE'S, WHAT YOU DO WITH IT. Whether you save it, invest it, donate it is YOUR choice.

And that you see someone who worked to become rich giving money away as a bad transfer of power from the state to billionaires is flat insane. Screw you twice.

EUnuchs, indeed; they WANT to hand over everything to the almighty State.