Busy Day in Concord

I'll have more witty and insightful commentary up later (if I feel like it/ever get around to it), but in the meantime, here's the Cliff Notes version:

Gay marriage - YES
Medical marijuana - YES
Transgendered rights - NO
Four-year term for governor - NO
Seat belts - PUNT
Death penalty repeal - PUNT

Elsewhere in the Granite State recently, two special elections for open seats in the state legislature were won quite handily by the Republican candidates, both of whom were running on a platform of lower taxes and fiscal responsibility.

All in all, it's been a pretty good week on the local front.

It will be interesting to see how well the Democrats fare at the polls the next time around, now that they actually have a record of wanton tax hikes and reckless spending to try to defend, as opposed to riding a wave of empty, meaningless Hopenchange bullshit.

Brain Cramp, Fatigue, and a Stiff Neck

I'll have some more brilliant, insightful posts up soon, once the coffee and ibuprofen kick in.

Lucky Bastard

He could have had (gasp!) panties stuck on his head.

ABC News Exclusive: Torture Tape Implicates UAE Royal Sheikh

Blog Comment of the Year

From "The Ugly American", commenting here:

4/27 was an inside job!

UPDATE: OK, it looks like this post will be going into the shop for a few updates as these gems keep rolling in. Via Instapundit:

Scare the crap out of a known terrorist.....it's torture

Scare the crap out of thousands of New Yorkers.......it's a photo op.

Supply and Demand, Illustrated

Firehand at Irons in the Fire files this report from on a local gun show:

$30 bucks for a brick of .22. More at one table. And one guy had a 100-box of Winchester white box .380; he wanted $90.

And from the comments:

Went to a gunshow today in Clarkston MI. Same box of 100 Winchester .380 was $100 and going fast.

Suddenly, the $21 I paid for a box of no-name .45ACP a while back seems "reasonable".

UPDATE: As of 10:10 this morning, the Epping Wal-Mart had five three boxes of WWB .380 Auto.

If Nominations Are Still Being Accepted...

...I'd like to nominate my pressure washer for the "Piece of Power Equipment Most In Need of an Oil Change" Award.

It poured out like black coffee.

Rhetorical Question of the Day

If strict enforcement of our existing immigration laws and the securing of our southern border could (a) decrease the volume of illegal gun trafficking into Mexico, (b) stem the flow of illegal narcotics coming into this country overland from Mexico, (c) prevent terrorists from smuggling chemical, biological and radiological weapons into the country from Mexico, and (d) slow the spread of infectious diseases and dangerous viruses, keeping American citizens from falling ill, why are our "leaders" in Washington so damn gung-ho about doing just the opposite?

Mathachusetts

Idiots.

Increasing the sales tax from 5 percent to 6 percent would raise about $750 million a year, according to some estimates. Raising it another percentage point, to 7 percent could bring in a total of $1.5 billion in new revenue per year, according to the estimates.

Well, shit, why not bump it up to 50% and rake in an extra $33 billion and change?

Only an idiot (or a politician pandering to a voting block comprised largely of idiots) would try to calculate tax rate vs. revenue numbers using a y=mx+b linear equation out of a ninth grade algebra book.

Seriously though, let me take a whack at it.

Raising the sales tax from 5 percent to 7 percent would only increase the number of miles Massachusetts residents would be willing to drive to get to tax-free New Hampshire for all their retail shopping needs, while decreasing to zero the number of Rhode Island residents making similar trips north into Massachusetts.

Massachusetts: Puttin' the "progress" back in "progressive" since, um...um...well...I'll have to get back to you on that.

Alternate Post Title: The Great New Hampshire Stimulus Package Rolls On

Milestones

The Tooth Fairy will be making her first visit to our house tonight.

Pots and Kettles

Recently, two very different groups of Americans went about their day pursuing very different goals.

One group, comprised of hundreds of thousands of American citizens, took to the streets to stand up for freedom and protest the expansion of a tax-happy federal government and the out of control pork-barrel spending in Washington DC that's enriching the well-heeled lobbyists and special interest groups, while driving up taxes and the cost of living for working Americans.

The other group, made up of just a few hundred American citizens, was working diligently to eliminate funding for a successful and popular charter school program in Washington DC, a course of action that will benefit politically-connected special interest groups and see 1,700 low-income children from African-American households forced back into the failing public schools in the District.

Now, guess which group has been vilified over the last few weeks by politicians and pundits alike as being "deranged", "extremist", and "racist".

Feel-Good, Do-Nothing Silliness

Did anyone catch the Red Sox game last night and see the special Earth Day jerseys the team was wearing? They were hard to miss, being illuminated the way they were under the 816,000-watts worth of light bulbs that were on at the time.

Who knew saving the planet was as easy as sewing a recycling logo patch on your shirt?

If the Red Sox organization had really wanted to make any kind of "planet-saving" gesture, they would have rescheduled the game in the afternoon to keep the lights off and closed the game to the thousands of people who chose to drive themselves to the ballpark.

Also in the news, our president celebrated Earth Day by flying a 747 to Iowa to give a speech.

Feel Free to Talk Quietly Amongst Yourselves

It's been one of those weeks.

Quick Question

Am I supposed to know who Perez Hilton is?

It Takes a Special Kind of Ignorant Asshat...

...to blow the state budget up by more than 30% over two years - knowing full well we DON'T HAVE THE MONEY to pay for it - and then turn around and say that those opposed to such fiscal lunacy have "lost their minds".

The thousands of taxpayers who gathered in several locations around the Granite State on Tax Day “didn’t even know what they were protesting,” according to the state’s top Democratic Party official.

“They looked like they lost their minds,” said Ray Buckley, Chairman of the New Hampshire Democratic Party of the protesters.

Buckley’s comments came during a debate against Republican State Chairman and former New Hampshire Governor John Sununu last night. The debate was hosted by the Manchester Chamber of Commerce.

Buckley seemed unwilling to acknowledge tax increases that recently passed the state house during the debate. Instead he threw personal barbs at Sununu and protesting taxpayers.

Be sure to click over and leave your comments for this champion of the "progressive" cause at the link above. My two cents:

Since talking control of the legislature in Concord, the New Hampshire democrats have proposed or passed the following new taxes or tax hikes:

Candy tax
Sales tax
Income tax
Beverage container tax
Cigarette tax
Cigar tax
Estate tax
Meals tax
Capital gains tax

And, those are just the ones I could recall off the top of my head this morning. Add to that their efforts to restrict the people's right to bear arms, and to use the power of the legislature to manipulate and restrict people's personal behavioral choices (wait a minute, I thought Democrats were "pro-choice"...guess not) through seat belt laws, smoking bans, trans fat bans, etc.

Tell me again, WHO'S LOST THEIR MINDS???

Your party has become a body of self-parody, Mr Buckley. To claim that your ideological opponents don't know what they're talking about is a grave insult to the people of New Hampshire that will reverberate throughout the state come election time.

Enjoy your position of power and prominence while you still can.

Have a nice day.

(link via Instapundit)

I Had No Idea...

...that Jackie Chan was such a blithering pile of asscheese.

"I'm not sure if it's good to have freedom or not," Chan said Saturday. "I'm gradually beginning to feel that we Chinese need to be controlled. If we're not being controlled, we'll just do what we want."

Wow.

Does he know there's a wide open field for the 2009 mayoral race in Boston. I'd say he's a shoe-in, if he decides to run. He'd fit right in.

Or, maybe Nanny Bloomberg needs a new pool boy.

(link via Jose @ NES Forum)

Give Us This Day Our Daily Race Baiting Asshole

Meet "progressive" college professor, Jeffrey Kimball.

Jeffrey Kimball, a professor emeritus of history at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, says the protesters seemed to represent the most extreme adherents of American conservatism, hardly representative of the average American.

"We may have just seen the whole movement" at these protests, says Mr. Kimball. "I don't see it as a groundswell, but a manifestation by those people who form the core of … the extreme right reacting both to the condition of our time and President Obama – he’s black and he’s liberal."

File Under: Dissent Is Racist

(link via Michelle Malkin)

Mmmmm...Revolution [/homer]

Contradicting the Garofalo Narrative

Don't expect the folks at (insert useless nitwit "news" network of you choice here) to get this story on the air anytime soon.

Deflagratio Non Commingo

I'll leave it up to my readers to translate my not-so-scholarly Latin into English.

You can expect to see more of that phrase, followed by the word "List" in the future. The fact that its initials spell "DNC" is purely coincidental, I assure you.

Funny and quite fitting, but coincidental, nonetheless.

I Thought That Sounded Familiar

I thought it would be a good time to take a little trip down memory lane today, just a couple days after Nancy Pelosi's disingenuous attack on the Tea party protesters, in which she described our efforts as "not really a grass-roots movement" and one that had been "funded by the high end".

I wanted to remind my New Hampshire readers that this certainly isn't the first time we've had an elected official belittle the grassroots activism of those of us with whom she disagrees.

Remember Eleanor Kjellman? How could you not?

When her side does it, it's democracy.

When our side dies it, it's just a bunch of crazy "gun people" babbling about this outdated concept of Constitutionally-protected rights and individual liberty. That she belittles and demeans so readily our grassroots efforts speaks volumes as to where her head is at.

Dogs, balls, etc.

More Manchester Tea Party Coverage

Chris at Radioactive Liberty has some great pictures of the most dashingly handsome Tea Party crowd ever to assemble on American soil...in my not-so humble or unbiased opinion.

Asshats and Astroturfing

The Obamastream media and its representatives in government have been doing an outstanding job, as of late, discrediting the Tea Party movement with claims of astroturfing, insisting that these events were all orchestrated and funded by well-heeled right-wing organizations and special interest groups.

Cases in point: Nancy Pelosi and some delusional, hateful hack I'd never heard of.

Of course, anyone with seven or more halfway-developed neurons in his head knows full well they're blowing hot smoke and ash out their backdoors.

Liz Mair has a good debunking here.

Even the Boston Globe conceded the point in their coverage of the protests (one short article). But they were quite clever in how they went about doing it, as they give the casual reader the impression that Pelosi and friends are right, and that we're all just obedient pawns in the Republican party's chess game.

Let's play Spot the Wordplay:

The tea parties were promoted by FreedomWorks, a conservative nonprofit advocacy group based in Washington and led by Dick Armey of Texas, a former Republican House Majority Leader who is now a lobbyist.

"...promoted by..."

Not "organized by", "orchestrated by", "financed by", "underwritten by", or "the brainchild of".

Also, 50 bonus points for working in the reference to big, bad, lobbyist meanies.

So, why do they devote so much of their time and energy into smearing and belittling the efforts of the citizenry in this manner?

Jennifer Rubin offers a clue:

And the crowd, if anything, was libertarian in bent rather than conservative. These people are advocating less government, restraints on federal power, and a return to “constitutional government.” Social conservatives who seek expansion of state power on issues from abortion to support for faith-based programs may find themselves at odds with a newly invigorated movement to shrink government and...

Wait for it.

...enhance individual liberty.

Leftist kryptonite.

UPDATE: This one's a double-shot of stupid.

It starts with Keith Olbermann still cracking teabagging jokes for his 347 viewers to enjoy as he dutifully continues plugging away at the astroturf talking point, decrying all these "corporate sponsored" protests.

That brilliant bit of comedy gold stainless steel tin drywall is followed up by Janeane Garofalo demonstrating for us what the intellectual capacity of damp lichen sounds like.

Let me know if you can make it past the 03:07 mark. I gotta go scrounge up some ear bleach before bed.

Obligatory Tea Party Nugent Clip

I'd Like To take This Moment If I May...

...to add Susan Roesgen to my list of people I wouldn't piss on if they were on fire.



Alternate Post Title: At least we now know what the "C" in CNN stands for.

A Couple Quick Pics From Manchester

UPDATE: Reader Jon sends along this nice one taken from the parking garage across the street from Victory Park.

Quick Riddle For You

Q: How can you tell when the Hopenchange administration is lying out of its pompous butthole?

A: It moves its lips and issues a statement.

Follow-up riddle:

Q: How can you tell when a network "news" program has its lips permanently affixed to the backside of the aforementioned, lip-flapping administration?

A: It airs the above-linked report completely straight-faced, and without batting an eyelash or questioning the veracity of the statements contained therein.

(link via Hot Air)

T-Minus 31 Hours and Counting

I'd say this came out pretty good for a homemade sign. I decided, obviously, to go a little bigger than 11"x17".

IT'S OFFICIAL!

It has become the official position of the Obama administration that dissent is racist hate speech.

The Liberty Papers: Homeland Security document targets most conservatives and libertarians in the country

The federal Homeland Security Department document entitled “Rightwing Extremism: Current Economic and Political Environment Fueling Resurgence in Radicalization and Recruitment” contains the following definition:

Rightwing extremism in the United States can be broadly divided into those groups, movements, and adherents that are primarily hate-oriented (based on hatred of particular religious, racial or ethnic groups), and those that are mainly antigovernment, rejecting federal authority in favor of state or local authority, or rejecting government authority entirely. It may include groups and individuals that are dedicated to a single issue, such as opposition to abortion or immigration.

Also targeted in the report are veterans, folks anticipating additional restrictions to their Second Amendment rights, and those concerned about the loss of U.S. sovereignty.

This report implies that one harboring these sorts of views is a racist as well as a potential terrorism suspect.

Like we didn't see this coming.

Taste the Hopenchange (heavy on the "change").

NH Tea Party Signs

Feel free to download these and print them up on 11x17 card stock.

(high-resolution version here)

Others:

Bankrupt America
Hope & Change

Monday Morning

Well, it's a better Monday than most.

The world's pirate population decreased by a margin of three over the weekend, and Captain Phillips is safe and well.

And, testicular fortitude has yet to go out of style in New Hampshire.

PELHAM, N.H. -- Steve Gagne stopped a burglar, telling him to return electronics and jewelry the man stole from his house on Friday.

The burglar agreed to Gagne's demands and plugged the equipment back in. Police in Pelham are trying to track down the burglar, WMUR News 9 reporter Aaron Kellogg reported.

The burglar walked into Gagne's back yard in broad daylight when no one else was home.

"Adrenaline. It was adrenaline," said Gagne, a father of five. "I told him to put the stuff down, and he had the crowbar that he had broken into my house with, I made sure that was put to the side. Then, I picked up the crowbar, and then, I made him bring everything back into my house."

Who doesn't love happy ending?

Happy Chocolate Bunny Day

Here's wishing you all a happy Easter.

And, for those of you with young folk, here's wishing they don't crash too early (or too late for that matter). Good luck.

Where Can I Get a Sainthood Nomination Form?

I'd like to put my wife's name in for consideration.

As of today, she's been putting up with my shit for ten years.

Tea Party P.S.H.

Put on your hip waders, the PSH is flowing real heavy on this one.

Can you imagine the potential for chaos if some of these ‘protesters’ decide to exercise the Second Amendment and bring their weapons to these rallies?

Is there anything like a Beaufort scale for douchebaggery?

And, what's the upper limit on that?

As I wrote in my comment for Mr. Shev:

You wrote: "Can you imagine the potential for chaos if some of these ‘protesters’ decide to exercise the Second Amendment and bring their weapons to these rallies?"

We don't need to IMAGINE what would happen. Nobody does, All we have to do is watch video of past, present and future Tea Party protests.

Here's a news flash for you. A good number of people attending those protests already held have attended while armed.

Your "blood in the streets" scenario is purely fantasy-based, and will not, sadly for your side, come true. You people are like broken records, woefully ignorant of such concepts as reality, freedom, and liberty.

Sad.

This guy would shit himself to death if he were to make the drive up to Manchester next weekend. Americans enjoying freedom are like Kryptonite to assholes like this guy.

Speaking of Pirates...

...here's a mAss Backwards flashback from four years ago (4/8/05).

Money Quote:

The bow of the pirate's boat came right up against Gandalf's stern and two men stood up on the bow to board Gandalf. That was a serious and probably fateful error on their part. I shot both of them.

"We Are the People"

50 Bonus points for anyone who attends a Tea Party protest dressed as Travis Bickle.

But They Seemed Like Such Honorable Pirates

If anyone can find me a link to a video of this scene from the first Pirates of the Caribbean movie, I'd appreciate it.

Will Turner: You cheated.
Jack Sparrow: Pirate.

It will tie in quite nicely here.

U.S. crew retakes hijacked ship, captain held hostage

The crew had a plan to make an exchange for their captain.

"We had a pirate we took and kept him for 12 hours," Quinn told CNN.

"We tied him up and he was our prisoner," he said.

The crew gave back their prisoner but the pirates reneged on the plan and are continuing to hold Phillips captive.

UPDATE: Ask and I shall receive.

(fast-forward to #3 on this top-10 list)

Thanks, 'notDilbert'.

Miracle Meat

The Telegraph (UK): Bacon sandwich really does cure a hangover

Game On

Beckett fans two and the Rays go down in order in the top of the first.

Life is good.

How Can This Be???

While our benevolent Democrat-controlled legislature is doing all it can to foist a mandatory seat belt law onto what was once (and still, theoretically, is) a free people, in order to make us more in line with our "progressive" neighbor to the south, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has been busy gathering data on seat belt usage rates throughout the country.

The 2008 numbers are interesting, and should (emphasis on should) drive a stake through the heart of the Granny State* Movement, and put that anti-liberty revenue enhancement mechanism of a bill to rest, once and for all.

2008 Seat Belt Use Rates (% change from 2007)

Massachusetts: 66.8% (-1.9%)
New Hampshire: 69.2% (+5.4%)

New Hampshire saw the second highest increase in seat belt use nationwide without the need for any meddlesome and intrusive laws designed to (a) tell grown-ups how to behave, and (b) extort money from them for not engaging in government-approved behavior.

WBZTV.com: Mass. Seat Belt Use Worst In Nation

Gee, if only they had a law requiring...

Oh...never mind.

* Granite State Nanny Staters

UPDATE: If you really want to see the motivation behind the mandatory seat belt law, get your state rep or senator to introduce an amendment that would establish a fine of $10, payable to the charity of the offender's choice.

"Oops, forgot to put my seat belt on. That's another ten bucks for my kid's school's Eddie Eagle program."

See how well that one goes over.

Then ask them, "Do you not care about the well-being of the children?".

Brady's Brazilian Bride's Bodyguards' Big Bullets

Hey, everyone knows it's not really a party until your security detail takes a couple potshots at the paparazzi.

Two paparazzi say they “narrowly escaped death” when Brazilian supermodel Gisele Bundchen’s security guards fired at them outside her beachside wedding to Patriots QB/QT Tom Brady in Costa Rica Saturday. No one was reported hurt in the incident, but Costa Rica police are investigating.

[...]

"No one was hurt, but one of their cars was messed up," the INF [picture agency] spokesman said. The photo agency posted pictures of a photographer standing by an SUV with a shattered back windshield. A second picture shows the photographer holding a 38 mm bullet.

Man, they pack some serious heat in Costa Rica!

Rhetorical Question of the Day

Will this real Obama gaffe get more or less press coverage than this fictitious Dan Quayle gaffe generated?

Alternative Post Title: Sprechen Sie Douche?

(shamelessly stolen from the comments at Ace of Spades)

I Am SHOCKED!!!

I'm shocked! SHOCKED, I tell you that such a devoted disciple of Marx and Alinsky as Barack Obama (note: he's not who half of you thought he was) would so willingly and readily surrender our economic sovereignty to a foreign body.



SHOCKED!

As I've said on multiple occasions, this shit is going to get A LOT WORSE before it gets even a little better.

Stock up.

Bunker down.

On Reality and Perspective

I'd like to say things aren't going to get worse than they are, but given the determination of our President and Congress to drive the economy into the ground and surrender our national sovereignty to foreign wealth, with little hope for recovery in any of our lifetimes, I can't.

Things are going to get much worse, before they get better. And, it's not helping anyone the way the people committing these heinous and cowardly acts are given front-page photo spreads and 24-hour TV news coverage, complete with fancy graphics, special effects, and dramatic soundtracks that rival those of the Lord of the Rings movies.

Thus, we wake up today to news of another senseless and tragic mass-murder in America.

Murder of 5 children shocks Wash. trailer park

GRAHAM, Wash. – A quiet mobile home park nestled among towering evergreens reeled Sunday in the aftermath of an unthinkable crime: five children slain in their own home, apparently by their father, who took his own life with a gunshot miles away.

Let's be clear.

The gun didn't kill these kids.

The gun didn't make him kill these kids.

The ex-scumbag in question didn't kill these kids, because he had a gun.

The sad truth is these kids were dead the minute that guy woke up on Saturday and checked himself out of Hotel Society with mass-murder on his mind. It would have made no difference had he not been able to acquire a firearm.

Whether by bludgeoning, burning, stabbing, or poisoning, he was going to kill these kids, and himself.

Period.

The fact that such behavior is against the law was not going to deter him.

Another sad truth is that this incident, and other recent incidents like it, will be used by our "leaders" as justification for infringing the right to bear arms of the tens of millions of gun owners in this country who have never and will never use their guns in an unlawful fashion.

Do not confuse 24-hour media saturation of these incidents with the actual number of unlawful actions involving the use of firearms and its relation to the number of lawfully owned, and responsibly used, firearms in this country.

While the senseless death of a child is the most tragic and horrific event I, as a parent, can think of, the reprehensible actions of the person bringing that event to a nightmarish reality should never be used to cast aspersions on the morality of our nation as a whole.

To paraphrase what I wrote in December 2006:

Yet, President Obama and our elected representatives (for lack of a better word) in Congress have a whole bunch of new gun control laws looming on the horizon, which, as usual, are inspired by the illegal actions of a miniscule percentage (n) of the population, and will be obeyed by only the remaining (100-n)% of us.

Millions of Americans own cars for commuting purposes. Some Americans get drunk behind the wheel and kill people.

Millions of Americans own or use swimming pools for recreational purposes. Some Americans fail to apply common sense in their daily lives and drown.

Millions of Americans own kitchen knives for culinary purposes. Some Americans take these knives and slaughter their fellow man.

Millions of Americans eat at fast food restaurants every day. Some Americans do so to excess and endanger their own health in the process.

Millions of Americans engage in lawful, consensual sexual behavior that some people find objectionable. Some Americans do so in a reckless fashion and in doing so, pass on a virus that brings about a fatal illness for which there is no cure.

A free society is a society, wherein the rights of the many are not taken away based on the unlawful or reckless behavior of an amoral minority.

Note: I said "free" society, not "civil" society, for I know of no such place.

Geek With a .45:

In a truly civil society peopled primarily by enlightened, sober individuals, the carriage of arms might be deemed gratuitous, but it is nonetheless harmless.

In a society that measures up to anything less than that, the option to carry arms is a necessity.

I invite my readers (and anyone else who stumbles across this post) to leave their additional thoughts and comments below.

As If You Needed Further Proof...

...that it has never been about "fixing" the economy, where the Obama Cartel is concerned, but rather controlling it.

Obama Wants to Control the Banks

Fix the economy? Why would Obama want to go off and do such a foolish thing as that, and let Americans live their private lives without the benevolent government telling them what to do? Or, earn their wages, without the government telling them how much they get to earn, or keep, once Obama gets what's rightfully his?

Where does he think we live? America?

(link via MassBites @ NES Forum)

Time For Everyone's Favorite Game

What if Bush had done this?

The Cybersecurity Act of 2009 (PDF) gives the president the ability to "declare a cybersecurity emergency" and shut down or limit Internet traffic in any "critical" information network "in the interest of national security." The bill does not define a critical information network or a cybersecurity emergency. That definition would be left to the president.

File Under: Never let a good crisis go to waste.

The bill does not only add to the power of the president. It also grants the Secretary of Commerce "access to all relevant data concerning [critical] networks without regard to any provision of law, regulation, rule, or policy restricting such access." This means he or she can monitor or access any data on private or public networks without regard to privacy laws.

Forget about "going John Galt". Those folks have their literary references mixed up.

Now, where'd I put my flamethrower?

Quote of the Day

Wife doesn't think it is necessary.

What does she know?

Her Brother Held Her Down

Here's a little something to think about the next time you're stuck in traffic behind one of those idealistic 20-somethings with a sterilized brain full of Hopenchange and a "COEXIST" bumper sticker on the ass end of his Forester.

You'll Have To Excuse Me...

...while I pull the needle from my Bullshit-O-Meter out of the wood door trim on the other side of the room with a pair of pliers.

At a town hall meeting Friday in Strasbourg, France, Obama was asked by a Hungarian student whether he ever regretted running for president.

Obama lamented the loss of "privacy and anonymity" that comes with the job.

Quote of the Day

Tragic news, on so many levels.

BINGHAMTON, N.Y. – A gunman barricaded the back door of a community center with his car and then opened fire on a room full of immigrants taking a citizenship class Friday, killing 13 people before apparently committing suicide, officials said.

[...]

Police said they arrived within two minutes.

And, if you think a lot of bad shit can go down in 120 seconds...

Police heard no gunfire after they arrived but waited for about an hour before entering the building to make sure it was safe for officers.

UPDATE: Gun Geek Rants has the obligatory Compare and Contrast post.

Routine Audit or Mass. DOR Phishing Scam?

We got an "interesting" letter in the mail today from the Massachusetts Department of Revenue - Audit Division. It's titled "Notice of Intent to Assess".

Note: My wife still works part-time in Massachusetts, so we did have some reportable income earned in Massachusetts, which we dutifully reported on both our Federal and Massachusetts tax returns for 2008.

Bear in mind, we are literally living paycheck-to-paycheck now, and using up what money we have in our savings account, just to make ends meet. When Massachusetts wants its lemonade, no lemon's too small to squeeze, I guess.

Here's the body of the letter (with some parts abbreviated):

Dear Taxpayer,

You are receiving this notice because your 2008 Massachusetts Income tax Return has been selected for verification. In order to resolve this issue, it is necessary that you provide the following information and/or documentation.

Side note: Citizenship "documentation" not required in Massachusetts for those looking to sign up for their "free" healthcare benefits.

1. A completed copy of your 2008 Federal Income Tax Return including all schedules, attachments, and all forms to substantiate any withholding amounts shown on your return.

It's not enough, apparently, that they got our Massachusetts tax return which we filed with all the legally-required schedules, attachments, and forms.

What more information could they need (or be entitled to, for that matter) that's on our federal tax return?

2. Copy of US Schedule EIC - Earned Income Credit (Qualifying Child Information). Please include a copy of your social security card and a copy of the social security card for each dependent listed on the return. If an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN) was used for anyone listed on the return, including dependents, please submit a copy of the letter issued by the IRS to verify the number(s).

Side note: Non-forged social security cards are not required for...ah, screw it.

They then ask for a whole slew of information to verify, income and expenses, a client list, as well as a description and nature of the business activity in question.

The rest of the letter is pretty much just "If you wish to discuss this notice..." nonsense, and information on how to appeal this request or to request a settlement.

But, this paragraph in particular caught my attention.

If you do not respond by 30 days from the date on this notice the earned income credit shown on your return, $425, will be disallowed pursuant to G.L. c. 62C Section 26(b).

In my cynical and jaded eyes, this has got "phishing expedition" written all over it. Send out a "Notice of Intent to Assess" to anyone who filed a Massachusetts tax return, and snatch back the earned income credit from whatever percentage of those folks tosses the letter in the trash, thinking their tax return's done, so it can't be that important.

If they send 500,000 of these letters out, and five percent go unanswered, that's 10-million plus for the state's coffers - after expenses. All they'd have to do to process them all is hire a handful of temps at $8.00/hour to check of the names as the responses come back.

My questions to anyone reading this are:

1. If you filed a 2008 Massachusetts Tax Return, claiming an earned income credit, have you also received a similar notice in the mail recently?

2. Am I way off base here?

Could this simply be a routine request for additional information no provided on our original return? Note also, we had our tax return professionally prepared at considerable expense (specifically for the purpose of avoiding this kind of hassle).

Have I mentioned how much I loathe Massachusetts lately?

I mean, I'm not asking to be treated differently from anyone else. I only wanted to be treated like an illegal alien.

Or a member of Congress Obama's cabinet.

Whichever's easier.

Contest Winners

After much deliberation (close to a half-hour's worth anyway), I have decided on the three winners of the First Annual (Maybe) Obamanomics/Hopenchange Limerick Contest. It went down to the wire with several entries vying for that coveted third place slot.

I have taken the liberty of editing some punctuation and capitalization where needed. Note, entries were graded higher for having proper (or close to) meter, as well as for their content.

So, without further ado...

FIRST PLACE: Jim

The Obamabots' rose-colored prism
Dictates forms of perverse optimism.
Hopenchange, 'bamanomics,
Really, who needs the comics
With this laughable crap, socialism?

SECOND PLACE: Zappa

Our nation had hoped for some change
Then elected a man who was strange
He deemed himself Lord
As ammo sales soared
Now it costs more to go to the range

THIRD PLACE: PISSED

Drinking the Kool-aid straight from a bucket,
The moonbats and media said f*** it.
They elected the messiah,
Whose been proven a liar.
Now the stimulus he tells to suck it!

Congratulations to our winners.

Now, if you guys (Jim and Zappa) would take a minute to peruse the Gadsden and Culpeper American Heritage Shoppe website, select your prizes, and notify me of your choices via e-mail, that would be great. And, I'll need all three of you to get your mailing address to me, as well.

I want to get this order in ASAP.

Thanks.

Sure, NOW He Tells Us

In case you were wondering what it looks like when you flush 14 billion dollars down the toilet.

Obama has decided bankruptcy best for GM: report

Think of all the school supplies or food for the needy that we could have bought for $14 BILLION!

Thanks, assholes.

Hillary Lied, Mexican Cops Died

Or something like that.

Because, some things bear repeating...

So let’s recap.

Attorney General Holder, Secretary of State Clinton, ATF officials and a host of others claim that an “assault weapon ban” against American civilians will keep Mexican drug cartels with gazillions of dollars in their jeans from buying military weapons on the international black market.

Hey, makes sense to me.

Obamanomics/Hopenchange Limerick Contest

UPDATE II: OK, one more bump to the top of the page.

Contest ends at 8:00 tonight. Here's my two cents...

The Obama/Pelosi Solution?
A new socialist revolution.
The realization
of centralization.
To hell with the damn Constitution!

UPDATE: Just a reminder that you have about 24 hours to get your entries in. Also, I'd like to thank the folks at the Gadsden and Culpeper American Heritage Shoppe for providing the prizes for this little shindig here.

I was going to buy the stuff using the accumulated merchandise credit I have with them, but they told me they'd donate the prizes in exchange for my plugging their fine store. Did I mention that was the Gadsden and Culpeper American Heritage Shoppe?

One last note, they told me they'd have the order shipped in time for the Tax Day Tea Party, in case you find yourself lacking a good Gadsden flag. Or, the very cool AR-15 version of the Gonzales (Come and Take It) flag. I've got several shirts from, and the quality is excellent.

(**** original post below ****)

Why not?

Submit your entry/entries in the comments section to this post, or cast your (non-counting) vote for those already submitted. Contest open until 8:00 PM on Wednesday, at which time, I will be selecting first, second, and third-place winners.

First prize: A t-shirt of the winner's choosing ($18.95 retail value) from the Gadsden and Culpeper American Heritage Shoppe.

Second prize: One (1) Historical Replica Flag ($7.95 value) of the winner's choosing.

Third prize: One (1) Don't Tread On Me rattlesnake car magnet.

Decision of the judges (me) is final.

(This post will be periodically bumped to the top of the page. Scroll down for new content.)

You Know We're In a World of Shit When...

...it becomes damn near impossible to tell the difference between actual governmental overreach and an April Fools Day joke about governmental overreach.

Obama Orders Chevrolet and Dodge Out Of NASCAR

UPDATE: Continuing the theme...

You know we're in a world of shit when it becomes damn near impossible to tell the difference between actual Obama gaffes and an April Fools Day joke about Obama gaffes.

Be Back In a Bit

I'm on my way to Manchester this morning to trade in my guns and ammunition for some aromatherapy oils, a pack of tofu, and a yoga mat.