Non-Original Rants

Resign?? Seriously??

2012-02-02T13:17:00.001-06:00

I saw an article here by Reince Priebus, the head of the totally useless and disconnected RNC, and he was calling for Eric Holder's resignation over Fast and Furious. But really?? If he resigns, he keeps his pension and gets to go on to do more damage to the term 'justice'. He should be impeached and jailed. That's called consequences, bailing with a golden parachute doesn't fall into the 'paying for one's stupidity' category.

Vehicle underutilization

2012-02-02T10:45:00.000-06:00

Driving in to work this morning, I notice a Mazerti wanting to get into my lane. So I pull back a couple of car lengths to give him some room. And he very slowly pulls over and then promptly slows down. Feeling a bit put upon, when the road opened up again, I took the first opportunity to pass him. He's my age and is driving that beautiful car like a douche. So sad for the car. It deserves better.

So Romney will probably take Florida...

2012-01-31T19:07:00.000-06:00

And it's kind of funny that the media is salivating over a Romney win and are saying that it's such a 'vote of confidence' for him and a vote against Gringrich. The thing that no one seems to be mentioning though is that most of Florida now consists of transplanted NorthEasterners. So when they talk about Florida conservatives, they are really Massachusetts conservatives, which means that anywhere else, they'd be liberal to moderate.

So not such a big thing, I think.

Excuse me DHS, I speak Brit....

2012-01-30T11:13:00.001-06:00

One of my favorite stories to tell is when a friend from England came over to visit. I was doing some laundry and offered to throw his pants into the wash with my jeans. Only after I saw his look of horror did I realize that we were having a language disconnect and corrected myself saying "I mean your trousers, not your pants.", since pants = underwear in the land across the Pond. I can't imagine what he thought of the brazen Yank wanting his underwear in those, ahem, ...brief... seconds before I understood there was a problem.

Apparently the Department of Homeland Security isn't aware that even in Britain, there is slang and that it doesn't necessarily coincide with American English colloquialisms. Via Drudge, a story that's disturbing on a couple of levels, a pair of British tourists were denied entry into the US for two Twitter posts: one that read: 'Free this week, for quick gossip/prep before I go and destroy America" and the other "3 weeks today, we're totally in LA p****** people off on Hollywood Blvd and diggin' Marilyn Monroe up!", which is apparently a quote from the animated show The Family Guy (an American show, BTW). Not only did they arrest the couple and hold them overnight (apparently with some 'alleged' drug dealers from below the US' southern border), they sent them right back to England after going through their luggage searching for shovels and spades (presumably the Feds thought they'd bring their digging instruments with them in order to desecrate Marilyn Monroe's gravesite). Even after they tried to explain that 'destroyed' in British slang means 'get drunk and party' they were booted back home.

So there are a couple of issues here: 1) that with all of the lip-service to cultural sensitivity in regards to certain ethnic groups, the DHS can't be bothered with slang terms from other countries; and 2) that the DHS is apparently monitoring twitter feeds of people coming to the US.

But there's the problem with literal-thinking/unthinking bureaucracies. No nuance, no context, no repercussions for stupidity. Now all you have to do is not tweet quotes from American television shows, and apparently you'll have fewer issues at Customs.

And, by the way DHS--you're a bunch of wankers.

One of my favorite movies: Two Mules for Sister Sara...

2012-01-28T07:36:00.001-06:00

Himself and I have quite the full weekend (yes, firearms are involved) so you get a couple of excerpts from one of my favorite movies:

Christmas in January

2012-01-27T18:50:00.000-06:00

We had a late Christmas present today--lunch with Brigid. Oh yeah, there were gifts too. You can read here what Himself and I came up with for Brigid--a perfume that will also work as an anti-jihadist repellant and various bits of lemony goodness, plus some homemade cayenne dark chocolate fudge.

What she didn't mention is what she got for us.

For Himself, a book called "American Industrial Machinery" by Wendel--a rare book that made his eyes light up when he opened the box.

And in the little shiny container, nestled in Kleenex, a pendant for me. I'm still in awe. An exquisite and delicate pendant of blues and golds, like the sky at noon over the prairie. As beautiful as it is, the sentiment and the compliment that came with it means more--"I saw this", she said, "and thought that it was as beautiful and unique as you are." I somehow managed not to go all girly-blinky, but it was a struggle.

We shared laughs, huffed her wrist for a while, and then all too quickly, the road beckoned her onward. Looking forward to her next visit!

Unbearably cool addition to the pole dancing posts...

2012-01-27T09:26:00.000-06:00

Go to The Feral Irishman for the video here. Needs a depilatory but certainly has it goin' on.

Cayenne plus a whole lot more

2012-01-27T05:37:00.003-06:00

I am a hot food freak. I don't know why I've developed a superhuman tolerance to peppers (maybe because my biological father smoked a couple of packs a day and put Tabasco, peppers, and cayenne on everything), I don't know for sure. I also like dark chocolate--a lot--and have purchased just about every 'mexican chocolate'-type candy bar out there. But nothing suited, quite. So I found a quick fudge recipe online and have made my own modifications.

So the original recipe is 12 ounces of bittersweet chocolate chips, 1 can of sweetened, condensed milk, walnuts, and 1 tsp of vanilla. Here's my version:

6 ounces of 82% dark chocolate (small pieces or chips)
6 ounces of 73% dark chocolate (small pieces or chips)
1 can of sweetened, condensed milk
1 tsp vanilla
1.5-2.0 Tablespoons, cayenne pepper
1 tsp habanero powder
blessing of cinnamon

In a non-stick pan melt the chocolate together with the condensed milk over very low heat with the cayenne, habanero, and cinnamon. When the chocolate is melted, fold in the vanilla. Line a 9x9 pan with waxed paper and put the mixture in, even it out and let cool for a couple of hours. Use the waxed paper to help get the fudge out of the pan and put on a cutting board. Take off the waxed paper and cut into one inch squares.

This recipe will not be to everyone's taste (I only know about 4 people other than myself who will eat it), but if store-bought 'mexican chocolates' don't work for you, it's a good way to go.

WARNING: this stuff is HOT! Use caution and modify to your own taste.

So what's with the funky pronounciation??

2012-01-26T19:36:00.000-06:00

I don't understand why Demi Moore insists that her first name is deh-mee (accent on the meeeee) or how Cheech Marin (Mare - in) became Cheech Mar-een on the new show Rob. *sigh*

And yet we're supposed to trust them to write regulations...

2012-01-26T11:20:00.000-06:00

Via Inside Higher Ed News: The US Department of Education did a study on the racial component of student loan borrowers and the possible effect on the payback rates for student loans, based on race. However, they 'accidentally' left out black students. In a study about race. And the student loan payback rates, by race.

SO their original findings were that race played a 1% variance in the repayment of student loans. Their revised numbers, including all races this time (maybe) would take that variance to 20%. BUT the new numbers wouldn't have an affect on final regulations, states the DOE. And what is their excuse for not changing the final regulations based on (possibly) more accurate figures??

They point to what they see as a pattern of flawed data or other information being used by the department, the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, & Pensions and, perhaps most notably, the Government Accountability Office.

SO, their excuse is that other people use crap data all the time so it doesn't matter if we use it too.

But repayment rates are integral to institutions being able to participate in the federal student loan program. So for-profit institutions and others that enroll a large percentage of minority students (which I think would be the Obama administration's target audience) end up penalized.

And all they can do is whine that others use bad data so it shouldn't matter. But seriously, if the Department of Education can't handle something as simple as including all races in a study about race, why should the American public trust them to set rules and regulations on anything, especially educational standards?

Kudos points to Indiana Sen. Charbonneau

2012-01-24T11:27:00.000-06:00

Giving points where they are deserved, Sen. Charbonneau is helping bring back the Fourth Amendment to the State of Indiana. Senate Bill #1 has passed the Senate and is heading to the House. As the Senator said:

"Since the Neanderthal men were roamining the earth it's kind of an understood rule that you don't mess with a man's cave, and that rule has carried through our society up until May of last year. Senate Bill 1 says we're going to abide by that concept."

Comments at breakfast....

2012-01-22T09:11:00.000-06:00

Me: Most of the best chefs tend to be men. Except for Julia Child.

Himself: She was bad-ass.

Also.... why do the best stories start with "We didn't figure that..." usually followed by an anecdote about explosions? It's akin to "Hey y'all, hold my beer and watch this!" but with better endings.

Godwin's law has a rival....

2012-01-21T21:09:00.000-06:00

I'm not sure what to call it, but I think the new sign that a person is losing an argument is when they use the phrase 'coded racism'. Calling someone Hitler is, like, so 15 minutes ago.....

Yoga isn't that easy sometimes....

2012-01-21T15:01:00.000-06:00

I go to yoga at least once a week and like it--going on year two, actually. My teacher is focused on the physical (not freaky) aspects of it. There have been times when I've limped home feeling like a tube of toothpaste that's just been squeezed by the Jolly Green Giant.

Apparently a gentleman in Seattle had a not-so-good experience as a beginner in a hot yoga class (hot yoga is done in a 105 degree room with 40% humidity, generally). His commentary put me in mind of the 'Great Chili Contest' that's made the rounds since there was an internet (read it here, if you haven't in a while).

Via Advice Goddess, a very funny Yoga Mat for Sale Ad on Craigslist found at MindBodyGreen:

Yoga mat for sale. Used once. - $1 (Bellevue)

Yoga mat for sale. Used once at lunch hour class in December 2009. Usage timeline as follows:

11:45a
Register for hot yoga class. Infinite wisdom tells me to commit to 5 class package and purchase a yoga mat. I pay $89.74. Money well spent, I smugly confirm to myself.

11:55a
Open door to yoga room. A gush of hot dry air rushes through and past me. It smells of breath, sweat and hot. Take spot on floor in back of room next to cute blonde. We will date.

11:57a
I feel the need to be as near to naked as possible. This is a problem because of the hot blonde to my left and our pending courtship. She will not be pleased to learn that I need to lose 30 pounds before I propose to her.

11:58a
The shirt and sweats have to come off. I throw caution to the wind and decide to rely on my wit and conditioning to overcome any weight issues my fiancée may take issue with. This will take a lot of wit and conditioning.

11:59a
Begin small talk with my bride to be. She pretends to ignore me but I know how she can be. I allow her to concentrate and stare straight ahead and continue to pretend that I don't exist. As we finish sharing our special moment, I am suddenly aware of a sweat moustache that has formed below my nose. This must be from the all the whispering between us.

12:00p
Instructor enters the room and ascends her special podium at the front of the room. She is a slight, agitated Chinese woman. She introduces me to the class and everyone turns around to greet me just as I decide to aggressively adjust my penis and testes packed in my Under Armor. My bride is notably unfazed.

12:02p
Since I do have experience with Hot Yoga (4 sessions just 5 short years ago) I fully consider that I may be so outstanding and skilled that my instructor may call me out and ask me to guide the class. My wife will look on with a sparkle in her eye. We will make love after class.

12:10p
It is now up to 95 degrees in the room. We have been practicing deep breathing exercises for the last 8 minutes. This would not be a problem if we were all breathing actual, you know, oxygen. Instead, we are breathing each other's body odor, expelled carbon dioxide and other unmentionables. (Don't worry, I'll mention them later.)

12:26p
It is now 100 degrees and I take notice of the humidity, which is hovering at about 90%. I feel the familiar adorning stare of my bride and decide to look back at her. She appears to be nauseated. I then realize that I forgot to brush my teeth prior to attending this class. We bond.

12:33p
It is now 110 degrees and 95% humidity. I am now balancing on one leg with the other leg crossed over the other. My arms are intertwined and I am squatting. The last time I was in this position was 44 years ago in the womb, but I'm in this for the long haul. My wife looks slightly weathered dripping sweat and her eyeliner is streaming down her face. Well, "for better or worse" is what we committed to so we press on.

12:40p
The overweight Hispanic man two spots over has sweat running down his legs. At least I think its sweat. He is holding every position and has not had a sip of water since we walked in. He is making me look bad and I hate him.

12:44p
I consider that if anyone in this room farted that we would all certainly perish.

12:52p
It is now 140 degrees and 100% humidity. I am covered from head to toe in sweat. There is not a square millimeter on my body that is not slippery and sweaty. I am so slimy that I feel like a sea lion or a maybe sea eel. Not even a bear trap could hold me. The sweat is stinging my eyeballs and I can no longer see.

12:55p
This room stinks of asparagus, cloves, tuna and tacos. There is no food in the room. I realize that this is an amalgamation of the body odors of 30 people in a 140 degree room for the last 55 minutes. Seriously, enough with the asparagus, ok?

1:01p
140 degrees and 130% humidity. Look, bitch, I need my space here so don't get all pissy with me if I accidentally sprayed you with sweat as I flipped over. Seriously, is that where this relationship is going? Get over yourself. We need counseling and she needs to be medicated. Stat!

1:09p
150 degrees and cloudy. And hot. I can no longer move my limbs on my own. I have given up on attempting any of the commands this Chinese chick is yelling out at us. I will lay sedentary until the aid unit arrives. I will buy this building and then have it destroyed.
I lose consciousness.

1:15p
I have a headache and my wife is being a selfish bitch. I can't really breathe. All I can think about is holding a cup worth of hot sand in my mouth. I cannot remember what an ice cube is and cannot remember what snow looks like. I consider that my only escape might be a crab walk across 15 bodies and then out of the room. I am paralyzed, and may never walk again so the whole crab walk thing is pretty much out.

1:17p
I cannot move at all and cannot reach my water. Is breathing voluntary or involuntary? If it's voluntary, I am screwed. I stopped participating in the class 20 minutes ago. Hey, lady! I paid for this frickin class, ok?! You work for me! Stop yelling at everyone and just tell us a story or something. It's like juice and cracker time, ok?

1:20p
It is now 165 degrees and moisture is dripping from the ceiling. The towel that I am laying on is no longer providing any wicking or drying properties. It is actually placing additional sweat on me as I touch it. My towel reeks. I cannot identify the smell but no way can it be from me. Did someone spray some stank on my towel or something?

1:30p
Torture session is over. I wish hateful things upon the instructor. She graciously allows us to stay and 'cool down' in the room. It is 175 degrees. Who cools down in 175 degrees? A Komodo Dragon? My wife has left the room. Probably to throw up.

1:34p
My opportunity to escape has arrived. I roll over to my stomach and press up to my knees. It is warmer as I rise up from ground level - probably by 15 degrees. So let's conservatively say it's 190. I muster my final energy and slowly rise. One foot in front of the other. One foot in front of the other. Towards the door. Towards the door.

1:37p
The temperature in the lobby is 72 degrees. Both nipples stiffen to diamond strength and my penis begins to retract into my abdomen from the 100 degree temp swing. I can once again breathe though so I am pleased. I spot my future ex wife in the lobby. We had such a good thing going but I know that no measure of counseling will be able to unravel the day's turmoil and mental scaring.

1:47p
Arrive at Emerald City Smoothie and proceed to order a 32 oz beverage. 402 calories, 0 fat and 14 grams of protein -- effectively negating any caloric burn or benefit from the last 90 minutes. I finish it in 3 minutes and spend the next 2 hours writing this memoir.

3:47p
Create Craigslist ad while burning final 2 grams of protein from Smoothie and before the "shakes" consume my body.

4:29p
Note to self - check car for missing wet yoga towel in am.

Obama is a social idiot

2012-01-20T17:47:00.001-06:00

So he bursts into song at the Apollo during a fundraiser. I guess he's singing for his (future) suppers (hopefully he'll be singing back in Chicago come this time next year).

Next maybe he'll try to match the skills of Gregory Hines instead of Al Green. Of course NPR has to wax rhapsodic about the musical skills of past Presidents.... I'm doing Gregory Hines an extreme disservice by comparing the skills of the two of them.

The strike is over (for now), the battles are still being fought

2012-01-19T11:10:00.000-06:00

Paul Hsieh has a post at pjmedia titled "SOPA, Guns, and Frredom; You do not protect honest nonlinear content producers from pirates by breaking the Internet forthe innocent". This article compares gunlaws to SOPA because they "both punish the innocent for a guilty few." And he has a great point and writes briefly about other rights which have been eroded--buying medicine, insurance, or election laws.

In order to buy specific kinds of cold medicine, drain cleaner, lye, or any growing number of items, a law-abiding person has to show ID, sign a piece of paper and jump through any number of hoops (if they can find it in the first place).

If you make a horrible mistake and stock up because you have a large family and they are all getting sick, or if you live at the edge of a county and buy some medicine in both, you may end up with the sheriff at your door. If you want to learn to make soap and buy a bunch of lye, you may end up on a terror watch list. God forbid you have a hobby farm or large garden and need a bunch of fertilizer.

From Volokh, via Hsieh, this country's jurisprudence used to be based on a presumption of innocence. But no longer. Under the guise of safety or the war on drugs or any number of issues, the innocent many are punished for the actions of the guilty few. We are punished by having our rights and our liberties eroded. As Hsieh says in his article:

To fight these bad laws, it’s not sufficient to fight merely the individual issues. We must also fight at the level of broader principle. In other words, we should not fight merely for internet freedom or firearms freedom or medical freedom, but for freedom as such. This means promoting the concept of limited government.

And that is the bottom of the issue. None of these individual laws would have to be fought on a per-case basis if government was limited and freedoms were not.

Repeating history

2012-01-17T13:21:00.000-06:00

Via:
http://www.bookwormroom.com/">Bookworm Room a little article from 1949. Back then I don't think they could imagine the world of hurt the economy would be in now. I don't think they would have thought that Republicans would go big government either. Still oddly prescient...

Celebrations of weakness vs Celebrations of strength

2012-01-16T13:12:00.000-06:00

Apparently the folks over at the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence don't seem to understand what myself and about one hundred gun bloggers did on January 8, 2012. They wanted people to light a candle "in memory of the victims of gun violence". We chose to take it a bit further. I lit my candle next to my carry gun, in memory of ALL victims of ALL violence and as a symbol of an object that can, used properly and with proper training, keep people from becoming victims.

Those who have seen me know that I am not tall of stature, strapping of frame. However, I refuse to act the victim (which would be very easy to do considering today's culture of victimhood). But that runs contrary to the ideology of the CSGV.

Joan Peterson, quoted here, talks about 'common sense gun laws', but has no understanding that such laws only deprive sensible people of a tool for their defense. People with common sense don't randomly plug each other. Criminals and the insane do. And they don't adhere to laws because they are not sensible. She and those like her wish to turn others into victims, to celebrate the cult of the victim, rather than embrace the idea of strength.

It's been happening for years starting with the denigration of masculine strengths and depth of quality in 'preference' to metrosexual weakness and superficiality.

Part of it may be that they can't find strength within themselves to stand tall and they want to hide it by making everyone like themselves. Maybe they are frightened that the price paid for standing up will be too much, not understanding that those who act as sheepdogs in the country gladly pay that price; not understanding that NOT standing up can often run a tab that's much higher than any of their imagination. They choose to denigrate those with whom they do not agree, to deny facts, to try to bring down by any means at their disposal, any who they see as strong.

The thing that I think bothers them the most though, is that even if they chose to live in fear and weakness, they cannot force us to do the same.

Pole Dancing Redeux-repost

2012-01-16T10:25:00.002-06:00

Some folks were having problems commenting on this (thanks for the heads-up Brigid), so I just put it into a new post.

Updating this: Via Feral Irishman, Jenyne Butterfly, pole dancer. This woman deserves an Olympic spot. What she does is more spectacular and shows greater strength even than the guys doing the rings. Plus with much better music and without having to look like a little girl, like female gymnasts today.

My thought--one is 'approved' by the literati, and one isn't. What a shame. Hoards of little girls trying to stay looking like little girls vs women showing strength and grace.

From March 2011:
Pole dancing deserves to be an Olympic sport more than ribbon dancing.... All of y'all can be the judges. I vote pole dancing--these women do everything a professional gymnast does, but in 6 inch heels.

As if there was any question that my life is made of irony...

2012-01-14T20:39:00.000-06:00

Latest in my ironic existence: I spend eleventy-million hours alphabetizing our library by author and title within author. And the one book I want, I absolutely can't find anywhere so I will probably have to order another one since it's the middle book of a series.

And because this has put me in unusual frame of mind, please to enjoy something book related (at least mystery novels):

Well, at least we know where he stands....

2012-01-14T13:31:00.000-06:00

Hopefully this Indiana state rep will soon be standing elsewhere than in the statehouse. Indiana State Rep. Craig Fry basically told one of his constituents to piss off and stop trying to act like he's supposed to be listening to his constituents. Apparently Mr. Fry has been 'serving' a bit too long and has forgotten that he's actually supposed to be, you know, working for his constituency (which would presumably include listening to their opinions). In response to an email from a Mr. Voll, who was asking that his representative support right to work legislation presently in contention in the Indiana statehouse, Mr. Fry wrote:

Sorry, but you are wrong and please stop with the “free market” bull. Please don’t write to me again….I am a 40 year member of the Carpenters Union.

It should be noted that Mr. Fry is developing a history of abrogating his responsibility to his constituents, being one of 36 Democrat representatives who took it on the lam to Illinois last year to derail the democratic process. He repeated his behavior again this year too saying that a "walkout is the only way to block the bill." (referencing the right-to-work bill).

The folks of District 5 really need to get their act together and get this guy out of office. He's up for re-election this year, if you're down by Mishawauka......

The greatest trick the Liberals ever played......

2012-01-13T11:05:00.000-06:00

The greatest trick the Liberals ever played was convincing the American public that we're a democracy and not a Republic. And yes, I'm paraphrasing from "The Usual Suspects". I was speaking with someone yesterday who was not born nor raised here about the city of Chicago and how I feel that it is a drain and money sink on the rest of the state. He is of the mind that the poor "rednecks" downstate would have no access to culture or any of the other opportunities that the city affords the rest of the state should it be cut off politically and monetarily from the rest of the state. And he said, "after all, it is a democracy." (in response to my contention that Chicago politics have taken over the state government). Trying to explain the difference would probably have been an exercise in futility and it wasn't a conversation I wished to continue.

That said, a reminder never hurts:

At Free Republic:

Democracy: Operates by direct majority vote of the people. When an issue is to be decided, the entire population votes on it; the majority wins and rules. A democracy is rule by majority feeling (what the Founding Fathers described as “mobocracy”). Example: in a democracy, if a majority of the people decides that murder is no longer a crime, murder will no longer be a crime.

Republic: Where the general population elects representatives who then pass laws to govern the nation … a republic is rule by law. Our republic is a form of government where power is separated, [our Founding Fathers knew that people are basically weak, sinful and corruptible, (Jeremiah 17:9)], pitting men against each other, making it difficult to pass laws and make changes.

At Citizens for a Constitutional Republic (take time to read the whole thing):

A Republic is representative government ruled by law (the Constitution). A democracy is direct government ruled by the majority (mob rule). A Republic recognizes the inalienable rights of individuals while democracies are only concerned with group wants or needs (the public good).

The problem is that the meme of the United States as a democracy has been repeated, even (or especially) in schools and universities for the past 30 years. The electorate has been co-opted by this thought, which has lead to things such as the Occupy movement (the 99% and that makes them right, in their minds). The idea that individual rights and rule of law have been taken over by those who wish to grab and keep power. The state of Illinois is a perfect example: the state government has been absorbed into the city via the democratic process. There is no longer a check on the many forcing their needs and wants on the few. In essence, there is no longer a rule of law, but a tyranny of the masses (a mobocracy).

Rule of law needs to be re-established. Checks and balances put back into place. Laws must no longer be written for certain groups or that exempt certain groups (such as the proposed smoking ban in Indiana that exempts casinos). If a law is worth being written, then it must apply to all and be enforced for all. There are so many laws on the books now, that selective enforcement has become the norm as well as a political weapon.

Check out this video to re-acquaint yourself (most of my readers won't need to) with our political system and ideological differences.

Consistency, thy name is not Liberal

2012-01-12T09:30:00.000-06:00

So screaming from the yahoo headlines this morning is "Outrage over Indian islands 'human zoo". Anthropologists and other 'rights' organizations are having a collective apoplectic fit over a primitive tribe's women being bribed into dancing naked in exchange for food. And it is abhorrent, no mistake.

But UN 'peacekeepers' have also been doing this same thing for years (probably decades at this point), but are even more heinous and egregious in their actions with little to no reprisals at all. For example, the government of Haiti last year brought out a mobile telephone video showing Uruguayan UN personnel raping a Haitian man. In the Congo in 2005, Moroccan UN 'peacekeepers' were accused of over 150 allegations of sex crimes towards Congolese girls, boys, and women. In this case, there was the trading of food for sex, not just for naked dancing. This has been happening to children as young as six years old almost every place the UN has forces in place.

Where is the outrage, where are the screams?? Why aren't the Liberals calling for the cutting of funds to the UN in response to these crimes?? This is an organization that calls "homophobic bullying" "a moral outrage, a grave violation of human rights and a public health crisis." And yet the rape of children is what exactly in their minds?? But they get a pass from the Liberals because they are the UN and if big government is good, world government has to be better than good.

One thing that Himself and I decided this morning was that at least conservatives are consistent. If it's wrong for one group to do something, it's wrong for another group to do something.

Lighting a candle and carrying a gun to stop violence...

2012-01-08T09:48:00.001-06:00

Via Say Uncle, Weerd Beard has started a meme in response to the anti-2nd amendment folks' contention that gun control=less violence. Of course this is in complete contradiction to the facts, which show that places with less gun control actually have less violence, especially gun violence. I'm not a photographer, but here's mine.

Train Meme... via Borepatch

2012-01-07T13:50:00.001-06:00

Borepatch has a couple of posts up about trains. Got a couple songs going through my head. My dad worked on the railroad as a young man and I have a railroad key that he gave me on my keychain. The words to 'Casey Jones' aren't quite the same as what I remember, but it's Johnny Cash singing....

Wabash Cannonball:

Never forgotten....

2012-01-07T05:13:00.002-06:00

RIP Grandfather. KIA 7-Jan-1944. I never met you but have a feeling that we would have had a lot in common.

Oh for Goodness' Sake.......

2012-01-06T08:01:00.000-06:00

An Indiana republican from Evansville wants to make it illegal to sing the National anthem 'inappropriately'. While it makes my skin crawl to hear the National anthem slaughtered by some diva (and Roseanne Barr's performance was a disgusting piece of work), I don't think that making it illegal is the way to go on this. You can't legislate good taste. You definitely shouldn't use taxpayer money via the state Department of Education to develop 'standards' on something like this.

They need to stop. Just stop. Laws, rules, and regulations aren't the answer. Allow the audience to pelt the singer with nerf balls or give them kazoos to drown them out if they don't like the way it's being sung--that would do more than any frickin' new law would. I'm calling my rep just to make sure this thing dies a quick and painless death.

Post pre-New Year's Eve goodness

2012-01-04T19:30:00.000-06:00

I've been meaning to post something about this, but Himself and I were invited over to the Og Lair for a nice pre-New Year's Eve gathering. There was sushi and ham rolls with olives that looked like eyes, both created by the Oglet and the OgWife, fresh bread made by the Hands of Og, Italian beef made by Himself, good conversation, and books. There was also cribbage and later, red velvet cupcakes.

It was a lovely time and I have been remiss in blogging about it. Hopefully we can do it again next year.

Again, when seconds count, the cops are minutes away....

2012-01-04T17:14:00.000-06:00

In Oklahoma, a woman shot and killed a man who broke into her home. She was on the phone for 21 minutes to the police dispatcher and no police arrived in that time. She had barricaded the door and listened while the man and his partner went from door to door to gain entry. As soon as he managed to get into her home with a 12" hunting knife she shot him in self-defense.

This story has finally hit the national stage (I read it on MArooned several days ago) and the talking heads from NYC, home of the most arcane and stringent (and non-functioning) gun laws in the country are just amazed that she would use deadly force to protect her baby boy. There are a couple of things that are bothering me and it's not the fact that she turned one home intruder into worm food.

One, the video from the national footage shows her holding her shotgun towards the camera. Two, she said that she wouldn't have killed the man if she hadn't had her baby there. The first one bothers me since the four rules are all but tattooed upon our foreheads in this household. The second one bothers me because she holds her own life in such low regard.

The first link to the story above also says that she thinks this man was stalking her and that two of her dogs had 'turned up dead' and that he'd been to the house before the home invasion. As JayG would say, one more dead goblin. And that's a good thing.

Looking beyond the label....

2012-01-04T08:39:00.000-06:00

I was talking with a co-worker today and it culminated at this: "don't look at the label". She had said that she could never vote for a Republican because all Republicans have certain religious beliefs that they want to force on the rest of us. I pointed out that the Dems also have beliefs, as deeply held as any religious fervor, that they also wish to foist on the rest of us. I said that she needs to look beyond the label--everybody has to choose a party in the present system. When it is an exercise in futility to call either my Senator (Republican) or my Congressman (Dem), then it's the system that is broken. Decide who can do the best job in fixing it. Chances are that person is not a political insider.

Do research, look at their track record, become an informed voter, rather than one that is believing anything that the media is putting out there (the only reason that Romney has gotten as far as he has is due to the support of the MSM and the RNC).

Okay, I just don't get it.....

2012-01-02T20:07:00.000-06:00

Cee Lo Green changes the words to John Lennon's 'Imagine' when he sang it on New Year's Eve and the world goes totally insane. I'm surprised the Progressives didn't call for re-education and a verbal lynching a la Tracy Morgan at the blasphemy of stating that 'all religions are real too'.

But the National Anthem gets slaughtered by some budding diva who feels the need to yodel her way through it and/or forget the words, and it barely merits a blip on the media radar.

Priorities, you know.....

From Old NFO--Something to think of for the New Year

2012-01-01T17:42:00.000-06:00

Via Old NFO:

Polenta vs. Corn Mush

2011-12-30T06:50:00.000-06:00

As near as I can tell, polenta and corn mush are the same thing--just one is pretentious because it has an Italian name. I did a side-by-side using a tube of Trader Joes polenta and a tube of Yoders corn mush. The only difference is the polenta didn't mash quite as much when cooked in a skillet.

Unlike a museum in Atlanta which included maize in an Etruscan exhibit on polenta several years ago, I do know that the modern version of polenta was NOT used by the Etruscans since they didn't have corn (a New World food not introduced to Italy until 1650). The curators were kind of put off when corrected.

Shhhhh.... librarian at work...

2011-12-29T17:12:00.000-06:00

I took a couple of days off between Christmas and New Years and have undertaken a Labor that would have made Hercules weep with fear--alphabetizing the library. This includes the integration of both of our rather extensive reading collections. So far Himself and I don't have a whole lot of duplicates, but as much room as I'm leaving in each section when shelving doesn't seem to be enough as I work my way through since I keep finding strays. This project is taking much of my processing power so blogging will be light.

We're gonna run out of shelf space long before I hit the 'W's. I'm betting 'M' will take whatever we've got left and I'm only at 'J'. BTW, we've got floor to ceiling shelving--turned a whole room into a library area and we still won't have enough space.

Kudos and Prop Props for Evyl Michael Robot.

2011-12-27T13:44:00.003-06:00

One of Evyl Michael Robot's (TheHolsterSite.com) holsters is going to be a major prop on the series In Plain Sight. As an added bit o' cool, it's based on one owned by Old NFO. Since he is a professional, he's making it useable as well as camera-worthy, which is a lot harder than it sounds.

Michael made a custom thigh carry knife sheath for me several months ago* which is SWEEET (beautiful pale leather on one side and fushia suede on the other for when I want to be girly). He's also made a custom holster for Himself/Mr B as well as Tam, so the In Plain Sight folks are in good company.

I have been horribly remiss in not taking pictures and posting them because it is a fantastic sheath but wanted to pass on his good news!

We don't have cable anymore but I've got to figure out a way to see that episode!

*Fully paid for by yours truly so bite me FTC.

At least Argentina is blatant about it....

2011-12-27T12:03:00.000-06:00

So Argentina has 'nationalized' their newspapers. Big deal--at least everyone knows and acknowledges what they did. Our media and newspapers have been the willing tools of the government for years--hiding and just downright not reporting on issues, such as Obama's qualifications (or not) to be president, the John Edwards kerfluffle (had to be broken by the National Enquirer), Solyndra, Fast and Furious, the list goes on.... but they deny their culpability and complicity.

The MSM in the United States has failed in being a true Fourth Estate by becoming a lap dog to the political class instead of speaking truth to it. At this point there is no difference in the nationalized Argentine media and the unofficially nationalized US media.

Waste in the government

2011-12-20T12:19:00.000-06:00

Okay, it's a given, but Old NFO has a bunch of stuff pulled from Sen. Tom Coburn's Wastebook 2011. And I thought of this scene from the movie 'Dave' (embedding disabled so you'll have to follow the link). So why can't the government catch a clue or figure out that all of these things are outside of the purview of the federal government and let them go??

Re-elect NO ONE!

A football rant, kinda....

2011-12-19T06:30:00.000-06:00

Okay, I'm not what one would call a football fan. I'll watch a game if it's on, I know the rules, etc., but haven't been caught up in the game since 'Da Superbowl Shuffle' of 1984. But apparently last night the New England Patriots, led by Tom Brady, beat the Broncos, led by Tim Tebow. And apparently to some folks this is a judgement from heaven. I don't know Tim Tebow but I'd have to be hiding under a rock not to know that his displays of faith are causing some folks considering consternation for some reason.

So, to the point. A friend of mine posted something on facebook about how she was glad that the Pats won and that maybe Tebow should concentrate on gaining yardage rather than interfering in people's lives (I'm paraphrasing). To which I replied something along the line of I don't think what he's doing is all that bad. So the angry reply is that what he's doing is that bad because he's the spokesman for a group that says that my friend is going to hell (this person is gay).

I did some googling and yahooing and Tim Tebow and his mom (or rather his mom and Tim Tebow) did a spot at last years' Superbowl regarding abortion (an anti-abortion commercial) that was paid for by a group called Focus on the Family. Now the commercial they did was not regarding gay folks or Focus on the Family's stance on gays. It was about abortion since Tebow is apparently only here because his mom chose not to get one, despite a life-threatening infection that had her doctors recommending one due to the medication needed to cure her.

I could not find anything where Tebow had spouted anti-gay or even anti-gay marriage messages. I could not find anything that said that Tebow was actually a spokesman for Focus on the Family--not in any interviews and not on their website. The only links I could find were headlines that called Tebow a spokesman for the group referencing that commercial. But there was nothing else and no interaction (at least that I could find) between Tebow and Focus on the Family other than the one anti-abortion commercial almost a year ago.

Using deductive reasoning, an art apparently lost on the liberal side of humanity who chooses emotion over facts, it seems to me that Tebow isn't a spokesman for that group. The commercial he did was on one issue. There are many folks that associate with groups with whom they do not wholly share their agenda. By saying that Tebow is anti-gay, without any proof, because of one anti-abortion commercial is like saying that Michael Jordan is pro-sweatshop because he was a paid spokesman for Nike. And because I can't put any of this on facebook (don't know why I said anything in the first place), you get to see it here.

For Old NFO--getting into the Christmas spirit....

2011-12-18T21:22:00.000-06:00

This might help if you can forget the palm trees and Hawaiian Santas for a few minutes.... For some reason Linus' speech never fails to jump start my Christmas spirit.

If that didn't help, maybe this??

Going to plaid....

2011-12-18T21:12:00.000-06:00

R.I.P. Christopher Hitchens

2011-12-16T12:42:00.000-06:00

I didn't agree with a lot of what he said, but he sure said it well. Below is the youtube video where he talks about the United States and why he loved it.

More on that crappy TLC show

2011-12-15T09:58:00.001-06:00

Another company has pulled its advertising from the show: All-American Muslim. Kayak.com has pulled their advertisements because they looked at the show, versus what TLC told them it was going to be and decided 'the show sucked' and pulled their advertising. Nothing to do with bigotry or anything else, just use of their advertising dollars elsewhere.

To give kudos points for putting money in conjunction with one's mouth, Russell Simmons' company, Rush Card, has decided to buy up the advertising space left by Lowe's departure. A California State Dem, Ted Lieu, actually threatened Lowe's with 'legislative remedies' for not kowtowing to the PC line and leaving its advertising dollars in a television show that, despite its publicity, is declining in the ratings (and didn't start very well anyway).

As a poster on one the sites about this 'issue' said (my apologies because I can't remember where I read it): There is nothing in the First Amendment that says that people must financially support someone else's speech, only that it must be allowed. Politicos like Ted Lieu have lost the plot on the role of government and threats of government intervention in a free speech marketplace.

Free speech and foreign governments... State Department--yer doin' it wrong...

2011-12-13T09:41:00.000-06:00

Okay, so the whole Lowe's kerfluffle is starting to become part of a bigger picture now. Apparently the State Department is having a three day conference with various Islamic governments regarding free speech in America. Or as the State Department would have it, not-so-much free speech in America. Does it frighten anyone else when a representative of the United States government (Hannah Rosenthal) is quoted thusly:

The meeting is a great success, she said, because governments in the multinational Organisation for Islamic Cooperation have dropped their demand that criticism of Islamic ideas be treated as illegal defamation. Member countries include Pakistan, Iran, Saudia Arabia and Qatar.

In July of 2011, Hillary Clinton was quoted as saying:

So we are focused on promoting interfaith education and collaboration, enforcing antidiscrimination laws, protecting the rights of all people to worship as they choose, and to use some old-fashioned techniques of peer pressure and shaming, so that people don’t feel that they have the support to do what we abhor.

Of course she wouldn't refer to it as social engineering or suppression of free speech--especially the free speech of Americans to criticize whomever they feel is deserving of such criticism. But now we have the MSM, hip hop artists, and such trying to heap shame and pressure upon a corporation for merely pulling its advertising from a television show.

The fact that the State Department isn't telling these other governments to go pound sand is frightening in the extreme. They are letting them set terms and are happy when the citizens of this country, whose values they are supposed to be representing, are 'allowed' to remain intact. The fact that Clinton is an accessory to this abhorrence makes her no better than her master.

We are the United States of America and our Constitution is the basis for our rights. The fact that the government is trying daily, on several fronts, to undermine those rights means that they have reached the point of needing to be replaced. All of them. Shut it down. All of it.

The states can pick up the pieces as they should have been all along. Those states that made good choices will do well, the others will have to find reality and build themselves anew without help from the outside.

While talking to my sister....

2011-12-13T08:48:00.000-06:00

Me: Sorry about that. Mouse.

Her: Mouse??

Me: Yep. Squick me out.

Her: Don't you have four cats??

Me: Yep. Pretty sure they're overfed, but two of them are on the case. It ran into a room that I usually keep closed off in the winter but now I've opened the door so they can go for it.

Her: Well, the mouse should be taken care of soon then.

Me: Yeah, problem being that the circle of life thing generally happens under the kitchen table, right after they've chased it over my feet.

------------------------
Not sure why mice ook me out so badly. I can handle spiders (even big smiley ones), roach bugs, and most other household creepies. But can't handle mice. Best I can do is trap them under a glass and toss the whole enchilada into the yard. But I absolutely won't pick them up by the tail like Himself does.

Wisdom from Bruce Lee... uhhmmm I mean David Carradine

2011-12-12T20:40:00.001-06:00

Russell Simmons misses the point about being in America

2011-12-12T08:25:00.001-06:00

Russell Simmons, a 'hip-hop mogul' is apparently incensed that Lowe's has decided to pull its advertising dollars from a show called 'All-American Muslim'. "There are American principles at stake here." Mr. Simmons cries to the world.

Actually he's kind of right, there is one American principle at stake here. Freedom. In this case, the freedom to put your money (or your corporation's money) where you best see fit. It's un-American to try to force someone into adopting your viewpoint--the basis of freedom, after all, are freedom of thought and freedom of conscience. Also, Mr. Simmons doesn't realize that not monetarily supporting something does not equal discrimination towards a particular cause. He's also rather myopic in his viewpoint.

Just as Jay-Z can make money from appropriating the slogan for a cause and NOT give any of that money to that cause, Lowe's can put its money where it wants. Mr. Simmons is free to make up those advertising dollars by putting his considerable fortune made through Def Jam into play, but I doubt he will.

For myself, my next home improvement purchases will be at Lowe's.

ETA: I just read this over at Popehat and Ken does have a point. Lowe's caved to one special interest group in pulling its ads from this show. That said, while the Florida Family Association takes things to the next illogical level, Dearborn, Michigan (where the television show takes place) is the hub of Muslim activity in the United States and there are allegations that Shariah law is becoming preeminent there.

Regardless of all of that, Lowe's can still put its money where it will, and I'll still be making my next home improvement purchase there.

TSA seems to like making old ladies strip....

2011-12-12T06:19:00.000-06:00

So, the TSA took away an elderly woman's back brace because they thought it was a money belt. REALLY?? This was after they contended that all of their procedures were followed. They STILL say that they didn't strip search her. So riddle me this, how did they get the back brace off of her if they didn't take her clothes off? And why did they feel the need to take it when they thought it was a money belt?? Other older ladies at the same airport (JFK) have also contended that they were strip searched and TSA is still denying it.

Look, it only took three contentions of misdeeds to bring down Herman Cain's candidacy. Why can't it be the same for the TSA??

AttaaackWaaatch! fades to black.

2011-12-11T05:33:00.001-06:00

According to this article in the Washington Examiner, a fascist concept (my words, not theirs) called AttackWatch has had absolutely no activity over the last three weeks. Hopefully Obama is just letting it fade away. Probably because of the below video which showed it as the terrible idea it was.

We're the Bloggers of the Round Table

2011-12-10T19:25:00.001-06:00

Made it down to the blogmeet today in Indy. We were fortunate enough to meet up with Brigid and Old NFO prior to the start of the meet and do some shopping for items that aren't commonly available in the Frozen Northlands from whence Mr. B and I hail. We hit Penzey's Spices and snagged such items as Orange Extract and Sichuanese Pepper Salt. After a quick trip to Trader Joe's for some favorite items, we also went to Artisano's for items such as Butter Extra Virgin Olive Oil, 18 year old balsamic vinegar and the like. These purchases will allow Himself to expand the culinary creations that I am so lucky to have put before me.

The blogmeet was in a lovely alcove at a large round table that just fit the group. And we were a bunch that would have put Ye Olde Knightes to shame as far as pocketknives and multi-tools are concerned. The only folks who didn't have a pocketknife were those who flew in for the occasion. Some of us had multiples because two is one and one is none.

As always, the group was chock-full of knowledgeful goodness. At one point I looked at Uncle Jay, who was posed somewhat meditatively-- he just smiled and said "I'm learning." From a new non-blogging member who shall be known as Lurker 2--ETA--Lurker 2 is Don-- (Kerry is officially Lurker 1), we learned that there is a beautiful blue color at the middle of a fireball caused by a large electrical short; from Tam I learned that, like most great writers, just sitting down at the computer and writing is the first step (also that even if you have a Kindle, it does not preclude also buying books in the traditional paper format). Listening to Roberta talking shop was a definite eye-opener as well and a history lesson from Karl was enlightening as well. Old Grouch was anchoring the group as usual with a quiet smile and words of wisdom.

It was great to see Old NFO again--he's one of those people who you wonder if you'd met in a past life or something since I was instantly comfortable with him at the first blogmeet. Also some girl-time with Brigid is always a welcome thing--something that I don't get enough of. Uncle Jay was the impetus for this soiree and talking hot peppers and peppery-mishaps with him was fantastic (situations where actually clawing your eyes out seems like a viable option due to the crawfish spices or ghost pepper sauce being inadvertently introduced into them). Hopefully we can catch him on a flip-trip and spend some more time.

As always, a wonderful time that ends too soon, but at least we can keep in touch. Thanks to Roberta and Tam for putting it together again and to Uncle Jay for being the catalyst this time--couldn't have asked for a better early Christmas present.

And they take these people seriously, really.

2011-12-07T21:06:00.000-06:00

Via The Gateway Pundit: A muslim cleric apparently thinks that women need to avoid phallic fruits and vegetables, lest they get impure thoughts. Their menfolk should cut items such as bananas, zucchinis, even carrots into small, non-phallic, bite sized pieces because they wouldn't want their women aroused by the mere sight of such prodigious produce. One wonders if perhaps the cleric in question is somewhat ~~jealous of~~ intimidated by the, ahem, immensity of these foods or feels inadequate in some way.

I'm guessing that he would expand this ban to include ice cream cones, or Rocket Pops, much to the dismay of the male population.

Unions and Dems must be running scared already...

2011-12-06T11:07:00.000-06:00

I think the unions and the Dems are sensing the way the wind is blowing this next election cycle--and it's not in their favor. So they're going to the bag of dirty tricks. Fortunately it's early enough that maybe some of the damage they are trying to inflict upon the electoral process can be mitigated. Via Drudge, the NAACP is going to the UN (please, the UN?!?) to 'warn' about voter suppression specifically 'targeted at blacks and hispanics and to try to get the UN to intervene in US elections.

Their definition of "voter suppression": actually making people identify themselves in order to vote and/or cutting back on 'early voting', which was primarily put into place in order to facilitate voter fraud. In Texas, they also prohibit students from using their university ID cards to prevent them from voting in two places. The NAACP complains that students cannot use their college IDs but that people can use their handgun concealed carry permit--I guess forgetting that a background check and such often accompanies the acquisition of such a permit and in many states also has a picture of the person on it. Their logic is spurious at best and is disingenuous at worst since all of the measures about which they are complaining will help prevent voter fraud. But then they wouldn't be able to circumvent the electoral process, would they?

Of course MSNBC has picked up the meme that voter ID laws are 'racist' since they are the media lapdog of groups like the NAACP.

My idea of voter suppression goes more like this:

But then I'm of the mind that if you have to have an ID to buy a pack of cigarettes then you should have to have one to participate in the most important activity of a citizen--voting.

Welcome to the 1980s

2011-12-05T18:40:00.001-06:00

As my sister asked: "Did we do anything in the 80s besides watch movies?"

No.

And they use the term 'scholars'

2011-12-04T07:54:00.000-06:00

So a group of muslims (I refuse to call them scholars) has studied up and decided that if women are allowed to drive in Saudi, then prostitution will soon follow and within ten years there will be no virgins in the country. Firstly, why most of the articles refer to these misogynistic POS' as academics or scholars is a mystery to me--they are no more scholars than the anyone who would cherry pick data in order to meet a meme. Secondly, there is really no mystery about why there would be no virgins left in Saudi--all of the women will be driving their shiny cars straight for the border and gone.

Of course these clerics are of the same ilk who jail women for being raped and whose only chance of leaving jail is to marry the person who raped them. When will the media wake up and see that the core values of these people is inimical to Western values??

For a friend...

2011-12-02T22:09:00.000-06:00

It's feast or famine... Dating in the modern world....

All of this could be laid at the feet of Jenny McCarthy

2011-12-01T13:10:00.000-06:00

So on Long Island, twelve schools are having an epidemic of whooping cough. You know, one of those things against which kids are supposed to be vaccinated because it can kill them. Although some articles kind of dance around it, the main reason for the rise in this disease is because parents aren't vaccinating their kids because of the now-debunked, biased report that supposedly linked vaccinations to autism (apparently they'd rather listen to Jenny McCarthy than their physicians).

Now babies are dying because their older siblings aren't vaccinated and are bringing the virus home.

These are the same people that think that bringing mercury filled light bulbs into your house is actually good for the environment. No independent thought, no thought of the world around them.

Music for the Soul

2011-11-30T20:46:00.002-06:00

Via a yoga-buddy of mine:

What if they threw a strike and things were better??

2011-11-30T18:13:00.000-06:00

I think that one of the reasons that the federal government fights a shutdown tooth and nail is not because they want to protect the American public but because they're afraid that they will shut down and the American public will figure out that they are better off. What better way to know what parts of government are truly important than to bring the whole thing to a halt? If the public doesn't notice that a particular office is not operating, then that office or agency just doesn't reopen. Easy and quick way to identify necessary budget cuts.

Over in Britain (England, Wales, Scotland), they had public sector strikes that pretty much DIDN'T succeed in shutting down the country. They were expecting long delays at Heathrow Airport but things actually moved along much more quickly--probably because the slackers are the ones who went out on strike and the good employees are the ones who showed up (approximately 60% showed). Hopefully those in charge will take note and will use this as a learning day--learning who and what is most necessary so they can cut the rest off the public sector payroll.

Laziness....

2011-11-29T13:33:00.000-06:00

So in response to Mr. B's post here, I called my Senator, not that I really think it does much good. I left a message on the voicemail in Washington and talked to a very nice and noncommittal young man in his Indianapolis office.

As I was speaking, it occurred to me that our politicians have become lazy. They either write general laws that are subject to interpretation by a non-elected regulatory body or they write laws for which the non-elected executive branch regulators have to write exemptions (see Obamacare and No Child Left Behind). The Senate of the United States, as controlled by Harry Reid is blocking bills passed by the House of Representatives from being heard and is doing all business using cloture rather than actually debating the merits of any bill. And most bills passed now are so labyrinthine that they 'must be passed in order to see what's in them'. And then the legislature abrogates responsibility to the executive branch, thus skewing the balance of power that the Founding Fathers felt was so important to maintaining the Republic.

We are no longer a nation of laws that apply equally to all people, but a nation of regulations that are selectively applied according to political whim. The perfect example of this is the EPA, which, in complete ignorance of the laws of physics, has issued a regulation 'sharply increasing fuel economy' (ht Cold Fury). Because by issuing a regulation that cannot possibly be met according to today's science will assuredly lead to fines and more money for the government later. The EPA is also in service of Obama's stated agenda to increase the cost of fossil fuel-based energy to the point where his failed green agenda can gain traction (in complete contradiction to Congress, which did not pass Cap and Trade legislation). Another example is the way the 'Occupy' people are getting special treatment by being allowed to camp out in public spaces (which excludes that space from use by the rest of the public) while the Tea Partiers get audited in Richmond, Virginia in retaliation to their demand for equal treatment.

The rights of the people of the United States to be citizens, rather than serfs to the government are being eroded daily, mainly under the guise of good intentions. The above-mentioned issue from Himself? It's to catch terrorists, but is written so broadly that it could be anyone. The state of Ohio took away an overweight child from his parents under the aegis of 'improper medical care'. But it could have easily been because there were guns in the house or they weren't making him wear a bicycle helmet or a seatbelt or anything else the State would deem as child endangerment. The Supreme Court in Indiana has tried to wipe away the Fourth Amendment. The federal government in its infinite hubris has even decided what we can use to light our houses.

But these things are happening because the citizens have also been lazy. As long as the politicians didn't bother us, we would put up with the plethora of rules and regulations coming at the federal and state level. We let the media spoon-feed us the meme of the day designed to keep us docile and to hide the wrongdoings of our elected officials.

But now the internet has allowed us to see behind the curtain, to identify the wrongdoing, to recognize the web of lies, deceit, and self-aggrandizement that government has put into place. Unfortunately, it has flown for too long. The only way to fix it is to tear it down. Agencies, sub-agencies, commissions all must be brought to zero and re-built. Congress and the sycophant class that supports them must be voted out and made anew. Legal precedents must be re-examined in light of the Constitution, rather than on the judgements of those who might have had their own agenda. The present system must be swept clean and made anew. Only then can we be citizens once again, free to live as we will.

Post-Thanksgiving

2011-11-25T09:02:00.000-06:00

A wonderful time was had by all. I got to talk with Himself's cousin--an Iraq veteran, world traveler, and gun aficionado for a time. My folks came up, much food was consumed, dog shows and football watched, and just general family goodness. My new bread recipe was a hit as were the tweaks I made to my famous chocolate pie (Brigid--you could actually eat it with a fork instead of a straw).

While we were with family, some blogfriends checked in--Borepatch, Brigid, and North and added some additional brightness to the evening.

And then I get a custom Black Friday Breakfast made by Himself--hash browns layered with ham, eggs done just right, and mild cheddar cheese. Of course the only shopping I do will be online but I'm now fortified for some work around the house this afternoon....

Life is good and I'm very thankful.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2011-11-24T05:25:00.010-06:00

Wishing everyone a Happy Thanksgiving. I spent yesterday baking--my contribution to the coming feast.

I feel blessed to be where I am--to be with Himself, and to be living in the greatest country in the world. I have a partner who, in addition to being my oldest friend, challenges me to think, teaches me new skills, and trusts me to drive a tractor straight at him and stop within an inch of his chest. I don't have the words that describe my joy in him and being with him.

I am very lucky to have my Dad and my Mom, my friends, both IRL and virtual (or both)-La, one of my oldest friends and sister-by-choice (and now officially a crazy cat lady thanks to the mama cat who made a home in yard), D-PA my sister-by-blood and choice, my Kansas Cousin, A-my college roommate, Nancy, Brigid, Old NFO, the Mighty and Indomitable Og (and family and Partner), Dave at Cancer Ward to name a few--the list is now too long or I'd be re-creating my sidebar and my address book here (for which I am also grateful).....

My contribution for the day as requested (sorta) by my sister:

An outsiders' perception of the TSA and Janet Napolitano's group....

2011-11-22T11:52:00.000-06:00

In Egypt, they have renamed their secret police force--they will now be referred to as "homeland security". These are the thugs who make people disappear, bug telephones, assault citizens, and act as the strong arm of a dictatorial government.

I can't imagine why the Egyptians would get the idea that the United State's Office of Homeland Security would be a good role model with its invasive searching of citizens trying to travel freely within the country, with its agents performing acts of rape, intimidation, and theft.

If a foreign country perceives the US Department of Homeland Security as a strong arm enforcer of the government, why can't many Americans wake up and see them as what they are?

I've posted this before but thinks recent events require it again: Buffy vs. Edward

2011-11-20T18:05:00.000-06:00

Brigid apparently had the dubious pleasure of attending a showing of the new Twilight movie this weekend. She took it in stride, naturally, laughing throughout despite the fact that it was not intended to be a comedy because she is a woman of taste and class and doesn't feel that a metrosexual teenager is the be-all/end-all of movie heroes.

I find the whole Twi-Hard phenomenon to be very scary and very sexist since if the tables were turned and 40-50 year old men were drooling over barely post-adolescent females, the lot of them would be thrown in the slammer.

But here's something that makes me feel better:

Still thinking about getting one of these....

EU declares water not wet

2011-11-20T08:08:00.000-06:00

So the EU has said that bottled water providers can no longer say that water can prevent dehydration. Next up from the EU, the sky doesn't appear to be blue, the check is in the mail, and green energy such as windmills and solar panels can exist without heavy government subsidies.

Karen Lewis: Poster child for a dysfunctional educational system?

2011-11-16T12:23:00.000-06:00

Karen Lewis, the President of the Chicago Teachers Union, and who, according to her speech that is linked here, had a good ol' time smoking dope throughout her time at Dartmouth College (so much for an Ivy League education in the early 1970's), is a science teacher.

Notwithstanding that she could be the poster child for all that is wrong in the educational system today as typified by her video, how on earth do Masters degrees in Inner City Studies Education and Fine Arts qualify ANYONE to teach chemistry?? If she exemplifies the criteria by which teachers are hired, then no wonder the Chicago School System is in such bad shape.

Again with the hypocrisy (and lying)

2011-11-15T08:40:00.000-06:00

So, the Obama's are traveling Hawaii and Asia--nice time of the year to get out of the coming cold and wander the world. Not like there's a budget/economic/job crisis or anything. Between luau's, Obama is calling the people of the United States 'lazy' and MEchelle is mooing about arugula and steak being 'her favorites'. Except really, her favorite food is french fries. But when you're trying to establish control over the eating habits of a country (starting with the children, you'll note in the article), you can't go around touting the benefits of a bunch of deep fried potatoes loaded with salt.

It's interesting to note that while MEchelle is touting the benefits of healthy food and locally grown produce, the USDA as well as the FDA, under the aegis of her loutish husband is pulling crap like this..... Local health departments are following suit with raids like this.... It's all about the control. Not about the nutrition or the food.

Trust is.....

2011-11-12T17:17:00.000-06:00

Trust is your partner letting you lift him up in the bucket of the tractor so he can do some work ten feet up.

Veteran's Day Thank You!

2011-11-11T05:55:00.006-06:00

Thank you to all of the veterans out there. Thank you for your service, for putting yourself into harm's way for the rest of us. Thank you to your families for supporting you as you protected and protect our freedoms. Thank you to my sister and to folks like Old NFO and all of you out there. I wish I had words to match your deeds. Thank you seems so terribly inadequate but I hope you all take it in the spirit and the gratitude that I feel when writing them.

Similarities between the Occupiers and Universities

2011-11-10T23:16:00.001-06:00

I was reading this over at Atomic Nerds. The post discusses the insularity of Penn State administration regarding the Sandusky child molestation cover-up. In response to these crimes being brought to light outside of the university and subsequent sacrifices to try to belatedly look pro-active, the students riot--not against the university officials, but against the news vans.

Now look at the feral children of academe--the occupiers. There have been rapes, murders, brawls, lice infestations, drug deals. But the occupiers have done their best to keep these acts internal to their camps only 'fessing-up' when one of their own breaks the code and goes to the police or if an outsider happens to see the acts in progress.

As LabRat irradiates, there is a tribe mentality in academic institutions and I think this has translated to the occupiers as well. In both cases, as with the Catholic Church, there develops a feeling that the institution is somehow above the law. And this is the danger. When there is a feeling that the laws of this land are no longer applicable (and this is being exacerbated by the behavior of the mayors of the various occupied towns who are letting these people constantly break the law), then chaos and destruction are soon to follow.

It's very scary.... oooh.....

2011-11-10T21:11:00.000-06:00

And not like Monster Chiller Horror Theater either. But an invitation to a baby shower for my nephew and his girlfriend. There seems to be a trend starting with my OTHER nephew who promptly found himself another girlfriend once his son and heir was born. Not sure why I merited an invite this time since that side of the family resembles a Jerry Springer episode, and not in a good way.

Well gee whiz Senators.....

2011-11-10T08:45:00.000-06:00

When some Senators met with John Pistole to discuss the TSA, as usual, they clearly missed the point of the furor surrounding the government's heavy handed (in some cases literal) handling of air passengers in this country. Not one time was the Fourth Amendment mentioned.

Sen. Claire McCaskill wants more women TSA agents so she doesn't have to wait as long for her Unconstitutional patdown but did admit she tries to avoid them because of their intrusive nature. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison said "I did have a situation where I had to have a pat down, but they were unfailingly polite."

Could it be that they were 'unfailingly polite' SENATOR Hutchison, because you're a frikkin' Senator?? Remove that title and try it as a regular person and see what kind of treatment you get. It may be that Senator McCaskill doesn't waive around her government credentials quite as freely and so gets what everyone else does.

But if a Senator who has sworn to uphold the Constitution is also willing to be a sheep and just demand a better type of sexual assault, I weep for this country.

Because it fits my mood.

2011-11-09T17:23:00.002-06:00

The only movie wherein Keanu Reeves actually looks like he's having a good time.....

Happy Birthday to my Sister!!

2011-11-07T06:03:00.000-06:00

She should now know the answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything.....

Conversation in the kitchen..

2011-11-06T08:23:00.000-06:00

While listening to the news...

Himself: I heard the 'fights' on the Magnificent Mile in Chicago last night were actually more wilding attacks.

Me: I think we should pit the Occupy people against the wilders in Chicago. It'd be the ultimate cage match.

Himself: I'll put three to five against the Occupy men versus the wilding women.

Me: No bet. Those women would totally kick the asses of the Occupy Men. They wouldn't stand a chance.

And when you've lost the French.....

2011-11-06T06:45:00.000-06:00

So the EU is discovering what some of us knew all along and what has been amply demonstrated over the course of the Obama administration--that the Obamas are clueless clods with no sense of proportion or class.

Do I think what he said about the new Sarkozy baby was particularly bad (“And I informed Nicolas on the way in that I am confident that Giulia inherited her mother’s looks rather than her father’s, which I think is an excellent thing.”)??

No, but it is something that is generally said among friends, not among acquaintances and definitely not among heads of state unless there is a particularly close and long relationship between the parties in question. This isn't the first time that one of the Obamas has put their foot in it with the French. There was MEchelle's comment about hating her new gig as First Lady to Carla Bruni, then the fiancee of President Sarkozy.

And as a complete aside, was I the only one that laughed when I heard that Obama was traveling to the EU Financial Summit to weigh in with his ample experience?? Presumably what he can chime in on is what NOT to do because if the Europeans follow the present administration's example, there will be a worldwide financial crash within the year (and yes, I do mean in 2011).

Because there's no more money to be wasted....

2011-11-03T09:17:00.000-05:00

Colorado voters went on a 2-1 margin against Proposition 103 which would have 'temporarily' (the quotes are because generally tax increases are forever, only cuts are temporary) increased both the state income tax as well as the state sales tax to 'make up' for funds received under Stimulus II--Doubling Down on Stupidity (the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009). The state of Colorado received more than $622 million in funds for higher education and in this article from April of 2011, was already projecting a $625 million shortfall. Apparently they didn't realize that the funds were meant to be one-time and not in perpetuity.

So then the whining began and the holding out of hands for even more money which the voters of Colorado promptly slapped down. Most of the universities in the state used their money for things like building their library collections, avoiding layoffs, etc. but there was one exception, Metropolitan State College of Denver. They eliminated 100 positions and used campus input for strategic use of the funds to streamline processes and in general use the money in the spirit in which it was meant--to give a boost to long-term strategies. Colorado State University, on the other hand, seemed to have spent the money like a drunken sailor on shore leave.

As Neal McClusky at the CATO Institute posits:

No matter how you slice it, the burden of funding the Ivory Tower has grown ever heavier on the backs of taxpaying citizens. Whether one examines taxpayer dollars in total, per enrollee, per degree, or per tax-paying citizen, real spending has gone up.

And the taxpayers of Colorado are no longer willing to foot the bill for increasing higher ed costs.

I'm pretty sure I know why there's no 'Occupy Gary, IN'

2011-11-02T19:03:00.000-05:00

Due to road issues on the main east/west routes, I chose to take an alternate path right through downtown Gary. Not my preferred alternative route but an acceptable risk during the day. While I only saw one zombie (and a slow-moving one at that), I'm pretty sure that any Occupiers would get eaten alive, figuratively speaking, should they try their schtick in that particular area.

It's pretty clear why the History Channel used Gary, Indiana in its 'Life After People' series but it would be amusing to have some Occupiers and see them end up on the evening news bruised, battered, and robbed or SHOCKED that people tried to take their stuff.

Creation vs. re-categorization

2011-11-02T08:44:00.000-05:00

I was listening to Stewart Varney this morning on WLS (Wolfe and Profft were filling in for Don and Roma) and he was talking about 'green jobs' and the erroneous figures put out by the Obama administration. You see, and a few folks have talked about this, when the present administration is talking about green jobs created (new verbiage includes 'saved' and now 'supported'), they are really talking about the re-categorization of jobs already in place. Some examples: a lobbyist working for a 'green' company is considered to be a green job. If a bus driver is now driving a hybrid bus rather than a pure diesel or gas powered vehicle, it is considered to be a green job. Pretty much anything having to do with transportation has also been re-classified as 'green' thus jacking up those numbers.

Borepatch has an interesting post up that shows that for every 'green' job created using taxpayer dollars (new job, not re-classified job) then 2.2 jobs are lost in the real world. Why?? Because those jobs suck in hundreds of thousands of dollars per position. Or even millions....

For example: Solyndra received approximately $500 million. Their company had 1200 employees. Let's assume that a quarter of the $500 million went to salaries. That would be over $100,000 per position of taxpayer money. Not quite what the feds are making now, but getting pretty close.

Obama's green obsession and his continuing insanity (doing the same thing over and over but expecting different results), especially in the light of failing green industries worldwide since countries cannot any longer maintain the subsidies that would keep those industries running, is costing this country hundreds of millions and probably trillions of dollars if you count the jobs lost by regulatory fiat. When does it stop?? In 2012.

Living on a loan....

2011-11-01T21:27:00.000-05:00

Something that I'm not sure I've seen in the discussion of the Occupiers and their issues with student loans is the fact that many students use their student loans for far more than their college expenses: tuition, fees, books, room and board (if they live on campus). When they apply for student loans they are, in some cases, encouraged to include expenses above and beyond those needed for their education. It is bandied about that it is too difficult to work while they are pursuing their educational dream so they need to apply for enough money to cover their other expenses--gas, food, rent, credit cards. The university takes their cut first and anything left over goes to the student to use as they will. They are choosing to live a higher lifestyle in the easiest short-term manner.

So all of this boils down to a bunch of people living on government-guaranteed credit that they are unwilling or are unable to repay. The Occupiers are those people. At this point it's no different than if they wanted their credit card debt to be forgiven. Same issue, different lender.

Bring the smart to Halloween

2011-10-31T04:18:00.000-05:00

Chas Clifton brings teh smart when it comes to Halloween. Read his post and follow the links. As he says: "So take back the night. Celebrate Halloween."

Alice Cooper on the Muppets

2011-10-30T21:06:00.000-05:00

Had a great time this weekend with Brigid, Og, Speed Racer, some new friends, and Himself but have no pithy commentating. In lieu of real content:

High Beams and Bacon

2011-10-27T19:44:00.000-05:00

Text conversation with Og, the Mighty and Indomitable:

Me: Thanks for getting those chocolate covered almonds for me dude. I totally owe you a plate of bacon when we hit the breakfast buffet this weekend.

Og: No worries. You can be my bacon slave just like Jabba the Hutt and Leia.

Me: I'm totally not going to wear the gold bikini--it's too cold. Plus it would give the folks at the restaurant a collective apoplectic fit.

Og: And then we steal their bacon. Win-win.

Me: I dunno. It's still too cold for the gold bikini. We'll have to figure out another way to pull the big bacon heist.

Og: If it's cold, there's high beams! Win-win-win!

Me: High Beams and Bacon. Sounds like a country song.....

Mr. B (after reading the exchange): The great high beam bacon caper. Now on 8mm.

Just because Halloween is coming up...

2011-10-26T21:10:00.000-05:00

A scene from the 1980 movie The Changeling with George C Scott. No blood, no gore, just plain atmosphere, sounds, and creepiness. Never has a bouncing red ball been so eerie.

The Empress has no deep fried Snickers

2011-10-25T14:24:00.000-05:00

Via Drudge, it seems that MEchelle is totally pissed at Paula Deen, whose Southern cooking is anything but the low-fat, high vegetable fare that FLOTUS is touting. Why is she so mad? Because Paula is dishing that Empress Michelle is a hypocrite who wants MAKE everyone eat their broccoli while she chows on deep-fried Snickers, hot wings, and french fries.

The White House keeps brushing off questions about dinners thrown by the Obamas, like their Super Bowl party menu, and Michelle makes a big deal about going to the local farmer's market to get some weird kind of Thai cabbage to try to maintain the image that she's trying to create.

The Queen of the Shake Shack burger is even writing a cookbook that will ostensibly tell people how to grow their own food since her husband's administration is making it impossible to either buy affordable food or to make it flavorable using salt, butter, or whatever else is deemed to be bad for you today.

But it's tough to maintain that the Empress has no trans-fats, when all they have is excuses for every meal or photo op.

Liking Herman Cain more and more....

2011-10-24T21:22:00.001-05:00

Romney is more polished but he's basically a big-government republican. Perry has executive experience, but he's also got some baggage regarding illegal immigrants. I listened to Cain on Don and Roma this morning and there were two things that impressed me: 1) he's not afraid to say that he made a mistake; 2) he studies and learns because he is not under the (mistaken) impression that he knows it all.

One of the problems with the present administration is that Obama is sure that he knows it all and is not willing to listen to alternate viewpoints. He's also willing to go around or through the Congress in order to make his worldview happen (for example, this mortgage deal that he's wanting to implement by executive fiat through Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Cain doesn't strike me as a man who wants to be surrounded with 'yes' men. He's willing to listen, to learn, and is actually (ZOMG) self-reflective enough to go back and analyze his words. He's also, I think, a man for whom the Constitution holds meaning. He's willing to call a friend a friend and a foe a foe. He said that instead of putting ideology over reality, he'll listen to those with the experience that he doesn't have (it doesn't mean he'll do it, but he'll consider the alternatives carefully).

I'd really go for a Cain/Perry ticket right now and it would take something really big (not MSM-manufactured drama) to shake me from it.

I hope that the GOP machine is listening. If they don't, they will have rendered themselves both obsolete and out of jobs.

Grassroots movement.... sure it is.... and if you believe that, I've got a nice bridge....

2011-10-23T08:08:00.000-05:00

It's interesting but not entirely surprising that one of the foci of the 'occupy' people (possibly the main focus) has been student loan debt. But not even due to the reason that a bunch of the 'occupiers' are students or professors and such, but because moveon.org started a meme about forgiving student loan debt back in the middle of September, which is about the same time that the 'occupy' movement began.

It's not a coincidence that in a study done on the demographic makeup of the 'occupiers', that 92.1% were college-educated and that 52% already had some experience 'protesting' under their belts.

Now I know some folks who came out of their undergraduate work with an extraordinary amount of student loan debt. They blamed university personnel for 'letting them' sign on for such large figures. But they weren't complaining when they were using it to pay their rent, buy their groceries, and in general use it to live rather than work while getting their degree. It was only after the time to came to pay the piper, that the complaints started.

A friend had called me all excited about the petition to forgive student loans debts until I explained the financial realities of doing so--another trillion dollars added to the national debt and, since the loan program (should) rely on payments coming in so they can use that money to loan to new students so those would be SOL since there would be no more money to loan without AGAIN increasing the national debt.

There is no doubt that the student loan system is broken, but that's what happens when government does a wholesale takeover of a formerly free enterprise kind of situation. But these folks are just going to have to suck it up, because the feds have also stacked the deck so that student loan debt cannot be discharged in bankruptcy.

But I don't think it's a coincidence that the petition went out within a day of the 'occupy' movement starting. Anyone who still thinks that the 'occupy' movement is grassroots is seriously in denial of reality.

Rock Gods in Tights...

2011-10-22T09:23:00.000-05:00

One of my favorite bands is Blackmore's Night. It's a total win-win kind of thing--medieval music updated and Ritchie Blackmore, one of the reigning Guitar Gods, in tights. Of all of their songs, my absolute favorite (the one that runs through my brain more often than not) is the Blackmore's Night version of the Deep Purple song "Soldier of Fortune".

Candice is a bit camp, but so is the whole idea and she's got a voice that would melt butter--she's the perfect front woman for this particular gig. And it works for me, like the Transiberian Orchestra does for Christmas music.

Happy Birthday Mom!

2011-10-22T05:22:00.000-05:00

Happy birthday to you, Happy birthday to you, Happy birthday Mooommmmmy! Happy birthday to you! And now the whole internet knows that it's your birthday, but not how old you are!

Thank you for all of the things you taught me, for your unique sense of humor, your love of animals. I hope you have a great day!

When seconds count, the cops are tens of minutes away...

2011-10-21T10:58:00.000-05:00

I'm reposting this based on a link from SayUncle regarding Securing Your Home. I think it's worth revisiting. The video is now archived but it clearly illustrates the value of securing your home. This woman had and was able to defend herself when the intruder did make it into the house. She had dogs that alerted her, fences, and locked doors. She was still forced to take action, but she had plenty of warning so she could.

ANYONE who has ever gotten into a discussion with a person about why citizens need guns for self-defense, need to have those people listen to the video embedded in this article (ht Bookworm Room). Donna Jackson was on the phone to 911 while a man, whose corpse was later identified as Billy Riley, was trying to break into her house. After ten minutes, he used a piece of patio furniture to break through the sliding glass door and she was forced to shoot him with a 16 gauge shotgun.

Let me reiterate that: after TEN minutes, the police were still not at her house. She was in a home surrounded by a fence with a locked gate. The man had to go over the fence to get to the house. The woman remained calm during the whole thing and also made sure that the police knew that her dog (who had woken her up) was police friendly and made sure they knew his name. The dispatcher did her job and assured the woman that if the man got into the house, she was cleared to defend herself when it was clear that there were no other options. Mrs. Jackson told the dispatcher her every move--I have the shotgun, I'm taking it off safety, I don't want to shoot him but if he comes through the door, I will. We also hear her reaction (the audio is over 30 minutes).

I can't imagine what would have happened if she had not been armed or what the audio would have sounded like and I'm glad we don't have to find out.

Mrs. Jackson will now have to find a new hiding place for her keys and I think her son will need a new cell number since both were included in the audio, but those are small prices for her safety. I'm holding her in my thoughts that she will always know that she did what was necessary.

Another chipping away at our right to travel freely throughout this country

2011-10-20T15:01:00.000-05:00

Since more and more people are not traveling by air in order to avoid being sexually assaulted or irradiated by the TSA, the TSA has decided to take it to the road and the state of Tennessee is letting them. Much like their teams in Georgia who searched folks getting OFF the train, they are searching trucks randomly. Can cars, bus stations, or your garage be far behind??

This is not your parents' Woodstock

2011-10-20T13:14:00.000-05:00

Apparently the Occupy Wall Street folks are shocked and disillusioned that those icky homeless people would come in and take their stuff and start fights. Of course I don't think that folks took $5500 Macbooks to their sit-ins and protests back in the day--they didn't take anything of value with them because at the time, they were actually scrounging for money themselves or were having to beg their folks to support their activities.

As Mike over at Cold Fury quipped: "Welcome to the party, pal."

Guess what, we're looking at big government (and you as its tools) the same way--folks coming in and taking what is ours, without permission, and often with the threat of violence.

Gee Skippy, it must be a real eye opener to have people come in and demand things without giving anything in return. And of course, the more you're given, the more you want--all without any personal responsibility. Because of course when that knife-wielding bum threatened you, all you could do was stand in horror and let the police do the heavy lifting.

So all I have to add is:

Ruminations....

2011-10-20T13:13:00.003-05:00

Cue the violins now. If you don't want to read my mental meanderings, check out some earlier blogposts. You have been warned.

This has been kind of an odd couple of weeks. I talked to a friend's husband while waiting for her to come home and he'd just lost a friend to a heart attack and it had hit him hard. He started talking about priorities and an ATV going to rust in the shed because he doesn't have time to enjoy it. He talked for quite a while about feelings and such that were pretty personal and really we barely know each other so he must have been really hurting and confused. We're of an age and something he said kind of stuck with me "We're now at the age where people are dying of natural causes instead of accidents."

But then a friend of a friend, who was in his mid-sixties, just went murder/suicide on his wife and himself. The second part might have been avoided, but the US Marshal decided to take over and it turned into a two-county clusterfuck. My friend, who had just seen his friend a few days before, is in somewhat of a haze--he didn't see it coming, there was absolutely no inkling, no clue, nothing he can look back on and get two plus two to add into anything like what happened.

Then there's a bunch of cops over their heads in Ohio shooting animals sitting next to their cages. Granted, dangerous animals, but really, why the wholesale slaughter of creatures who did nothing and were waiting to be fed? It makes me want to cry the way that none of the other news about man's inhumanity to man does.

Another friend has had his wife in and out of the hospital for the last few weeks searching for an elusive bleeding SOMETHING, which they finally found and fixed yesterday. Hopefully that will end the issue, but it took quite a bit of time to identify the problem and correct it.

Combine the above with shorter days, rain, and clouds, and it's awfully hard to muster anything like optimism, and I'm usually a glass-half-full kind of gal. I just want to be home on the sofa with Himself, the critters, a mug of hot chocolate, and The Cannonball Run playing on video and forget the rest of this for a while.

What?!? Wait......

2011-10-20T08:07:00.001-05:00

Okay, so some moron on a plane named Ali Reza Shahsavari starts yelling "You're all going to die! Allahu Akbar!" They get him off the plane and the comment from the feds goes something along the lines of 'it's okay, we don't think it's terrorism related, he's just an asshole.' But the part of the article that gets me is that dude was apparently born in Mississippi (that's not the part that gets me), but that there is a 'language barrier' for interviewers trying to talk to the guy, who's 29 years old.

So really, if he was born in Mississippi and has presumably been in the United States for most of his days, why on God's Green Earth would there be a frickin' language barrier?? If there's truly a language barrier for a 29 year old United States citizen in that he is incapable of discussing his situation in English then he's not a citizen, he's a colonist.

Found! The true 1% (but growing)... and it's in DC (I know--you're SHOCKED)

2011-10-19T21:39:00.000-05:00

In a study out on October 18, it seems that the Washington DC area is now the wealthiest metropolitan area in the United States. Someone should tell the Useful Idiots a.k.a. the Occupy people that wealth is not concentrated on Wall Street--the average federal employee makes $126,000 a year. They have now out-earned Silicon Valley--using our money.

This is at the same time that Harry Reid says that the public sector/government jobs MUST take precedence over private sector employment. But Mr. Reid lumps teachers in with true public employees like firemen and police officers.

The unholy union of education and public sector unions with government has led to the destruction of our K-12 system and is culminating the destruction of our country with illiterate college graduates who have been sold a bill of goods and who have totally unrealistic expectations coming out of school as to their job prospects.

Mr. Holder, I think your ride is here....

2011-10-19T20:59:00.000-05:00

...but you'll probably be under it, rather than on it.

When Jake Tapper was recently interviewing Capt. Flawless about Operation Fast and Furious, who said:

“It’s very upsetting to me to think that somebody showed such bad judgment that they would allow something like that to happen,” he said. “And we will find out who and what happened in this situation and make sure it gets corrected.”

This is in contrast to his words earlier this month where he had 'confidence' in Holder to get to the bottom of the matter.

Ask not for whom the brakes screech, they screech for thee.

His parents must be very proud

2011-10-17T11:53:00.000-05:00

A twenty-one year old junior from Illinois State University (quick google check says he's an 'environmental health' major), Sean Richards, has decided to quit school and join the Occupy Chicago protest full-time.

But riddle me this... in the article linked above, the Occupy Chicago people have both a 'police liaison' and a 'safety and security team'. Since it's pretty clear that there is funding and impetus coming from Adbusters and Working Families, maybe they are also helping to create liaisons and teams.

It's interesting too that Mr. Richards quit school WAY after the time he could get any refund on his tuition/fees/room and board so probably either student loan money or grants are going to waste also unless he and his folks are paying full freight, in which case he's just sent a bunch of money down the tubes.

Text from my sister

2011-10-15T19:57:00.000-05:00

The text reads "Did we do anything in the 1980's other than watch movies?" My response: "We went to the roller rink and skated to the tune of YMCA. Other than that, not much."

Here's a movie that embodies both. I believe at the time, one critic referred to it as "Terpsichore on Roller Skates".

And the shame of it is....

2011-10-12T19:26:00.000-05:00

... that they've already reproduced. In MA a couple with a three week old baby couldn't find their way out of a corn maze and called the police to come find them (it took seven minutes for the cops to get to them). Here's an interesting quote from the female that seems to be indicative of the mindset of today:

"I don't know what made us do this, it was daytime when we came in, we thought if we came in someone would come in and find us..."

In other words, they figured that they'd have someone to bail them out if they got in over their heads. It never occurred to them that they were in a cornfield and could just walk out by knocking down some corn.

Maybe they could have just 'occupied' it and the Soros group would have brought them food and money.

The College Con

2011-10-11T20:18:00.000-05:00

Working where I do is giving me a unique look at higher education in this country. I see where the meme has morphed from 'we must provide worthy underprivileged kids with a chance to go to college' to 'all kids must go to college' with a myth that this path is the only way to be happy and increase future earnings. The federal government and organizations like the Lumina Foundation have been perpetuating this morphed meme and have been supporting it financially--allowing the cost of education to go up astronomically in the past twenty years.

Aside from the fact that there are many paths to happiness and a good living, the perpetuation of this meme has placed students into situations for which they are unsuited and as a corollary, is starting to create a dearth of skilled labor.

I still think of a conference I was attending where a representative from the Lumina Foundation was expounding on the idea that more students must go to and graduate from college. An older man stood up and asked something along the lines of 'In your conversations regarding the value of a college education, have you included ANYONE who hasn't attended college?' Of course the answer was no.

This meme is causing what Glenn Reynolds and others are calling the 'Higher Education Bubble'. You have students graduating from college with unreasonable expectations of salaries, who are still functionally illiterate because colleges and universities are being pressured into graduating them, and who are saddled with incredible amounts of student loan debt with absolutely no way to pay it. High school kids who should be learning how to become mechanics, electricians, plumbers, welders, or other skillsets are instead being frustrated by a system that cannot live up to what their career guidance counselors, advisers, and the media have been telling them.

When Mullets attack

2011-10-10T11:04:00.000-05:00

Apparently there has been a war going on within the Amish community and it has escalated. A group called the Bergholz Clan, led by a man named Sam Mullet, has been attacking other Amish in their homes and were cutting off the beards of men and the hair of the women (the growing of the beard and hair is part of Amish religious and social devotion).

Two angry Mullets, Johnny and Lester, were arrested, but there are two other men and several women who have not yet been apprehended in these crimes. According to this report, the attacks are the results of a shunning of the Bergholz Clan by others in the Amish community due to allegations of sexual abuse and other issues in 2007. The Amish community is on high alert.

Sam Mullet is trying to categorize these assaults as a religious issue, rather than one that the secular authorities should be involved in. Looks to me like it's both.

This has been bugging me for a few days... GOP still missing the point.

2011-10-09T08:35:00.000-05:00

Via Gateway Pundit: When discussing Chris Christie's (final) decision to not run for President, Georgette Mosbacher, RNC Finance Co-Chair basically dismissed the fact that it was important saying that the RNC is going to get behind Mitt Romney because they think that 'he's more electable'. Further, she says "He’s less conservative than a lot of us would like. However, our first and foremost goal is to defeat Obama."

This comment is one VERY big reason why I do not give money to the RNC. They are still holding to the ideas of the past--that a moderate is 'more electable'. They have missed the point that Big Government Republicans* are not what the country wants, what the Tea Partiers want, and what will actually win this country and election.

In taking this position, it is clear that the RNC is not listening to polls like this which state that a Generic Republican has a six point lead over Obama in an election. The key point that the RNC is not seeing is that the American public does not WANT a 'generic' Republican. We've had those. Bush was one, McCain was one, Romney IS one.

With the magic of the Internet, we don't NEED the RNC anymore. Neither do we want our candidates hand-picked in the (formerly smoked-filled until it was outlawed) back room of some mansion in Washington DC and handed to us. We want to choose, not to have the MSM, the RNC leadership, or the present governmental class handing us more of the same in order to perpetuate the corrupt system presently in place which is strangling the lifework and lifeblood of those who still believe that America is (or can be once again) the Land of the Free. We want REAL change in the system. We want a candidate who shares our conservative values. We want an actual decrease in the size of government, not just a decrease in the GROWTH of government. But with folks like Georgette Mosbacher still sitting in those back rooms and calling the shots, it will never happen.

*Hi Chas--please note I am not using RINO any more.