You Really Wanna Save the Economy?

Give every member of Congress, and his or her support staff, a year-long vacation.

With pay.

Starting right now.

No meetings, no hearings, no debates, no spending, no nothing.

Zip.

Nada.

Shut it down.

For 365 days.

You're welcome.

Rant du Jour: Cliff Notes Version

F*** Sears.

A Grand Awakening?

I've always been reluctant to blog about public opinion polls, in that all too often they reflect more the desires of the pollsters or sponsors of the poll, than they do the vox populi.

If I put up a post about the latest CBS/CNN/NYT/ABC poll, chances are I'm doing so to illustrate just how manipulative and misleading these polls can be.

Headline:

64% believe Obama should be president for life

Polling Internals (found on page 813 of the .pdf file buried under a dozen links):

Question #2,108: What is your party affiliation?

Democrat: 938
Republican: 212
Keg: 620

That said, I can't help but feel somewhat optimistic over these numbers.

Change: Obama’s approval rating hits new lows in Gallup and Rasmussen

If these numbers continue to trend the way they're doing now, it spells bad news for the Chicagobama Regime, and good news for the future of the United States of America - the key word being "trend", as in trendy.

In the weeks and months leading up to the 2008 election, the Obama logo was everywhere. It was more a fashion accessory than it was a political statement.

Face it. This time last year, it was "cool" to like Obama.

You didn't need to understand a lick about who he was, where he was from, why he was so popular, or what he believed in. All you needed was that logo pinned onto your messenger bag, or drawn on your t-shirt with red and blue Sharpies, and you were "in".

To speak critically of the man, this "Chosen One", was the most surefire way of getting get oneself excommunicated from the cool kids' table in the cafeteria.

Fast forward to July 2009.

These polling numbers have got to be triggering some serious trouser dumpage in the White House. The more the People learn about this fraudulent administration, and the purely socialistic ideology driving it, the more it's becoming "cool" to not like Obama.

And, that can only be a good thing. However, be warned...

Any measure of optimism you take from these recent polling results must be tempered with an equal or greater amount of vigilance.

If the tidal wave of public opinion and blind adoration that swept Obama into office has, in fact, crested and is on the verge of crashing on the rocks below, look out. It's going to get ugly.

These people are not going to go down quietly.

I shudder to think about what kind of strategy the Emanuel/Axelrod machine is cooking up to keep their power structure intact.

UPDATE: Jay G. opines...

I wonder what his numbers would look like if the media didn't treat him like he tap-danced on hot coals and shat ice cream...

Somewhere In America Tonight...

...there's a roomful of idiots having a collective trouser-soiling session over this.

(click to explodify)

UPDATE: On a slightly (OK, not really) related note, what is M.A.D.D.'s position on the inexcusable and horrifying glorification of beer drinking going on at the White House this evening?

How To Drop 40 Unwanted I.Q. Points...

...in two minutes and thirty-four seconds.



(via Breda)

Best Blog Post Comment Thread

Ever.

Change

I don't know what to say, other than, "RACIST!!!!!".

To All Who Haven't Been Paying Attention

We covered this a while back.

Feel free to stop e-mailing the link.

Yeah, They'll Get Back To You On Those

Real Clear Politics: 10 Questions for Supporters of 'ObamaCare'

On a related note. have you all called/faxed/e-mailed your so-called representatives in Congress to express your feelings on this grotesque expansion of governmental control over the lives of the once-free citizenry?

Write Your Representative

Senators of the 111th Congress

Check their websites for scheduled events in your area. Then, do what Obama told us we should be doing if we want to make our voices heard and bring about "change".

Well, They Tried To Warn Me...

...that if I voted for Sarah Palin, we'd have an incompetent vice president.

Home Sweet Home

Back home after a weekend of R&R at the family camp compound in Sebago, Maine, where the mosquitoes blackened the sky and I barely managed to eke out a tie (3-3) with the Mrs. in our nightly cribbage sessions.


This weekend also marked the successful completion of my latest camp project - building a new swim float to replace the rotted-out, nearly 30-year-old float that had served us well over the decades.

I don't have a very good before picture, but here's a look at the underside. Trust me, it was in worse shape than this picture shows. Sorry for the crappy cell phone pics, but laziness prevailed and I never bothered to grab a real camera for any of these shots.


What we quickly learned as we were picking this beast up off the ground was that it's friggin' heavy. The next thing I had to contend with was transporting the new float up there, once it was built. I didn't feel like lifting an 8-by-8 float onto the back sides of my pickup truck, so I decided it was going to be built in two 4-by-8 sections, and connected with five carriage bolts along the center.

Not wanting to end up with something substantially heavier than the original, and knowing that instead of one 2x4 running down the center, there was going to be two 2x6's instead, I changed the 2x6's running in the other directions (the pieces the reused foam sponsons bolted onto) to 2x4's.

Exciting stuff, no?

Hey, if you read this far, you're not gonna quit now.

Here are the two sections prior to being bolted together. The plan was to bolt them together with the top surfaces flush, put the decking on, and then run a circular saw down the centerline, just cutting through the thickness of the decking.


And, the plan was executed flawlessly. The only problem was now I had this heavy sonofabitch sitting in my garage and I had to get underneath it to unbolt the two sections. The wife and I managed to get one end up onto a pair of sawhorses, and I put some blocking underneath just in case my sawhorses decided, while I was underneath, that their weight capacity had been egregiously surpassed.

Anyway, the unbolting went pretty smoothly, and we were able to wrestle the two sections into the back of the truck. All I could think of at this time was "Is this thing gonna float? Above the water anyway?".

Have I mentioned how friggin' heavy this thing was?

I thought for sure it was gonna outweigh to old one by a good measure, but the only way to find out was to get it in the water and see.

Friday afternoon we drove up to the camp, and I dragged the two sections out of the truck and cracked open a cold one to figure out how best to proceed. Turns out, the best way to proceed, as far I could discern at the time, was to crack open a couple more and put off the rest of the project 'til Saturday.

So, yesterday morning, I got back to work on it. The sponsons bolted on about as easily as I expected, the hardware was still viable, so we just reused what we had. Here's the two sections, ready to be dragged down to the lake (using a coupld 5/4x6 pressure treated boards as runners), where the next step was to float them upside-down and bolt 'em back together.


This plan was also executed in a flawless manner, but then left us with the task of dragging it out of the water enough so that we could upend this behemoth and flip it over. I swear, if a dragonfly had come by and landed on this thing while we were lifting it, the extra weight would have killed us.

To make a long story short(er), we got it flipped, attached the anchor (bucket o' concrete chained to a cinder block), put the anchor on a mat on the float to keep it from getting the crap scratched out of it, grabbed a canoe paddle, and I did my best Huck Finn impersonation and navigated it into position.

Anchor down!


Bottoms up!

I'm With Jay

"Unmitigated ass"

That's Unpossible

The campus at Texas Southern University...

HOUSTON – Gunfire on the Texas Southern University campus wounded six people and scattered the crowd at a community rally, and police on Thursday were investigating whether a gang rivalry was behind the drive-by shooting.

People were gathered at the event that included a Houston rapper's performance when a car drove by and shots sprayed out from the vehicle, school spokeswoman Eva Pickens said, citing witness statements to police. The sound of gunfire made people drop to the pavement of the parking lot where the rally was being held to promote community service and voter registration.

...is a gun-free zone [pdf].

STUDENT CODE OF CONDUCT VIOLATIONS

The University deems the following acts unacceptable and violations of the Student Code of Conduct. Acting under the influence of drugs and/or alcohol, or portraying misconduct that occurs as a result of alleged mental or emotional distress or illness does not diminish or excuse a violation of the Disciplinary Code. Violators will be subjected to disciplinary sanctions that may result in a combination of sanctions and/or suspension or expulsion from the University.

Additionally, depending upon the severity of the offense(s), disciplinary sanctions may include, but are not limited to, the sanctions described in Section III (Disciplinary Sanctions). However, any violation of the following regulations may result in a student’s sanction of immediate, temporary or interim suspension or expulsion. This list may not be all inclusive of inappropriate behavior or misconduct.

[...]

4.5 Dangerous Weapons – Unauthorized possession, display, use, or storage of weapons, firearms, fireworks, explosives, ammunition, explosive devices, or dangerous chemicals and/or combustible liquids or material on the University campus, University-managed facilities, housing or residential facilities, or at University sponsored activities or events. A dangerous weapon is any object or substance designed or used to cause pain, injury, damage, or to incapacitate persons and/or damage personal or private property or belongings. Dangerous weapons may include, but are not limited to, firearms, rifles, BB guns, air pistol/pellet guns, paintball guns, knives, clubs, slingshots, etc. Replicas or simulated weapons are also prohibited on University premises or at University-sponsored activities.

Another Round of "LeFtY LoGiC", Anyone?

"Tax relief for businesses and corporations will have no benefit for the employees thereof or for the consumers of the goods and services provided thereby, because the people who run these companies are greedy, uncaring capitalists who will simply pocket the savings and leave the rest of us out to dry."

And...

"Drastically increasing the cost of energy, manufacturing, and transportation for businesses and corporations will not have any adverse effect on the employees thereof or for the consumers of the goods and services provided thereby, because the people who run these companies are compassionate, caring individuals, who will simply absorb those costs and not even think about passing those increases on down to the line to the rest of us."

Yep, that sounds about right.

Slow Bloggage Advisory

It's one of "those weeks".

UPDATE: While I'm away from the keyboard, enjoy this clip of Buzz Aldrin landing (a punch) on the moon(bat).

I Don't Care What Kind Of Odds You're Getting...

...in a "garter snake vs. gas-powered line trimmer" match-up, do not lay your money down on snake.

Gettin' My Nuge On

Couldn't pass on this deal. That's a whole lotta Ted for not-a-lotta bread.

Free-For-All

1. Free-For-All
2. Dog Eat Dog
3. Writing On The Wall
4. Turn It Up
5. Street Rats
6. Together
7. Light My Way
8. Hammerdown
9. I Love You So I Told You A Lie
10. Free For All (Live)
11. Dog Eat Dog (Live)
12. Street Rats (Alternate Version)

Scream Dream

1. Wango Tango
2. Scream Dream
3. Hard As Nails
4. I Gotta Move
5. Violent Love
6. Flesh & Blood
7. Spit It Out
8. Come And Get It
9. Terminus El Dorado
10. Don't Cry (I'll Be Back Before You Know It Baby)

Weekend Warriors

1. Need You Bad
2. One Woman
3. I Got The Feelin'
4. Tight Spots
5. Venom Soup
6. Smokescreen
7. Weekend Warriors
8. Cruisin'
9. Good Friends And A Bottle Of Wine
10. Name Your Poison

As I'm listening to these CD's, driving down 125 with the volume up and the windows down, one thing becomes perfectly clear. I never should have sold my old Ibanez Les Paul copy.

Quote of the Day: No Sh*t, Sherlock Edition

You don't say.

"There appears to be something fundamentally wrong with the way temperature and carbon are linked in climate models."

Obamapocrisy? Say It Isn't So!

Here's Barack Obama speaking about the nomination of Judge Janice Rogers Brown to the DC Circuit Court of Appeals in June of 2005.

The test of a qualified judicial nominee is also not whether that person has their own political views. Every jurist surely does. The test is whether he or she can effectively subordinate their views in order to decide each case on the facts and the merits alone. That is what keeps our judiciary independent in America. That is what our Founders intended.

Here's Barack Obama announcing his nomination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor to the U.S. Supreme Court in May of 2009.

And while there are many qualities that I admire in judges across the spectrum of judicial philosophy, and that I seek in my own nominee, there are a few that stand out that I just want to mention.

First and foremost is a rigorous intellect, a mastery of the law, an ability to hone in on the key issues and provide clear answers to complex legal questions.

Second is a recognition of the limits of the judicial role, an understanding that a judge's job is to interpret, not make law, to approach decisions without any particular ideology or agenda, but rather a commitment to impartial justice, a respect for precedent, and a determination to faithfully apply the law to the facts at hand.

These two qualities are essential, I believe, for anyone who would sit on our nation's highest court. And yet these qualities alone are insufficient. We need something more.

For as Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes once said, the life of the law has not been logic, it has been experience; experience being tested by obstacles and barriers, by hardship and misfortune; experience insisting, persisting, and ultimately overcoming those barriers. It is experience that can give a person a common touch and a sense of compassion, an understanding of how the world works and how ordinary people live.

And that is why it is a necessary ingredient in the kind of justice we need on the Supreme Court.

I know.

I'm shocked too.

Food, Friends, Firearms, and Fun...

...and gratuitous violence inflicted on defenseless, yet decidedly annoying, children's toys.

Yes, it's just about that time of year. Time for the second (well, not exactly) annual (not really) Northeast Bloggershoot. My box of giveaway goodies from the Gadsden Culpeper Shoppe just arrived, and my local Wal-Mart just got in a fresh shipment of Madsen food.

2008 Bloggershoot AAR, pics, and video here, here, here, here, here, and here.

File Under "If They Cared..."

A quick follow-up to my previous "If they cared..." post.

Boston.com:

An 84-year-old woman driving in Medfield this morning allegedly hit two young children after leaving a church Mass, police said.

[...]

It was at least the eighth serious car accident in Massachusetts involving an elderly driver in the last month.

If the Massachusetts state legislature wanted to pass a law requiring more stringent drivers license testing for elderly drivers, they would have done so decades ago. Tell me when you detect a pattern here.

Of course that would require state lawmakers to care more about the safety of the people of Massachusetts than they do about getting the senior citizen vote.

Why it's almost as if they care more about their own jobs, pensions, and benefits than they do about addressing the concerns of their constituencies.



(link via Jay G.)

As the World Revolving Door Turns

TWENTY (at least!!!) prior convictions for violent crime, and a woman was raped and stabbed to death, because there was no one in this guy's long relationship with the criminal justice (for lack of a better word) system to say "Gee, maybe this asshole should be in prison."

Massachusetts lawmakers will pass a law making it illegal for a non-criminal Massachusetts resident to purchase a 12-round magazine for a pistol (10 rounds are OK, less violence-inducing, apparently) and justify it with "IF IT SAVES JUST ONE LIFE!".

But that same group of lawmakers has sat on their collective ass for decades, doing nothing to keep repeat violent offenders in prison, and letting scumbags like this walk the streets, free to rape and murder with impunity.

If they cared, they'd have passed this law years ago.

Obligatory Closing Line: Thank God Ms. Gosule wasn't carrying a firearm that night. Someone could have got hurt.

Asking the Obvious

If, as the "experts" on the Left assure us, Sarah Palin is nothing but an "uneducated" "redneck" "bimbo" whose political career is doomed beyond repair, why is MoveOn.org soliciting donations from its members to run attack ads against her?

What do they know that the network news talking heads don't?

Coming Soon...

...to a once-free country near you.



(YouTube video via IMAO)

Seems Like Only Yesterday...

...when the shameless tactic of using catastrophe-laden rhetoric to scare the American people into supporting a political agenda was the hallmark of a body politic drunk with power and insatiably thirsting for more.

Example: "If we don't pass the Patriot Act, millions of American lives will be lost in future domestic terror attacks!"

Enter Hopenchage, stage left.

Boxer faces 'challenge of a lifetime' on climate change bill

WASHINGTON — If the Senate doesn't pass a bill to cut global warming, Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer says, there will be dire results: droughts, floods, fires, loss of species, damage to agriculture, worsening air pollution and more.

Babs, you forgot "running out of gas, flat tires, and locusts."

Climate change 'will cause civilisation to collapse'

An effort on the scale of the Apollo mission that sent men to the Moon is needed if humanity is to have a fighting chance of surviving the ravages of climate change. The stakes are high, as, without sustainable growth, "billions of people will be condemned to poverty and much of civilisation will collapse".

God help us if these people aren't stopped.

And, it's not just the Chicken Little tales of calamity and doom that are getting more and more outrageous with every passing day. These people are batshit crazy when they're speaking honestly and candidly about this stuff.

The House of Representatives has just passed – barely – a major climate change bill, the American Clean Energy and Security Act (ACES). The bill is now off to the Senate, where it will face a tough battle. ACES is imperfect, loaded down with many political favors.

"This bill is full of wasteful pork."

It is also incomplete, neglecting important aspects of our response to energy and climate issues.

"It won't do what its supporters say it will do."

Nonetheless, ACES is an important step forward. Americans should urge their Senators to support this imperfect but important legislation.

"But, by golly, we gotta get this bill passed as soon as we can!"

Anyone know where I can get a good price on a bulk purchase of pitchforks?

Obama Snubbed by Russian Pols?

At first glance, it certainly looks like it.



The counter-argument is that he was introducing the folks in the receiving line to Medvedev. Watch the gesture toward the last guy (shown) in line. It does look like he's pointing to the guy, rather than offering his hand for a handshake.

Filling the Empty Spaces...

...on the tailgate of my truck.

Just ordered a handful of "Forget Tibet, Free America" bumper stickers from Revolution Arsenal. I'll bring some to the next Bloggershoot to share if I end up going.

Boston Fire Chief: Blame Game Fail

A tragic story out of Boston:

A 5-year-old girl suffered serious burns Friday evening when her dress caught fire while she was making smores in a fire pit, Boston fire officials said.

The incident happened at a home on Bradford Street. Fire officials said as the girl was making smores in the pit, someone used an igniting fluid to accelerate the fire, which caught the girl's dress on fire.

Seems like a pretty open and shut case to me. Not a whole lot of investigative work required to determine who's at fault here. No degree in forensic science needed to the guilty party.

But, here's Boston Fire Chief Chief Quentin Lee, sharing with us his words of wisdom about what went wrong last night on Bradford Street.

"The child was too close to the fire."

Yeah, like it had nothing to do with the asshole who sprayed lighter fluid on a lit fire in the immediate vicinity of a small child. It's obviously the girl's fault for standing to close to the fire she was using to make smores. She should have been using one of those Massachusetts-compliant, 25-foot marshmallow sticks.

But, the chief's just getting warmed up.

"This is an illegal fire pit that we don't allow in the city of Boston."

Again, nothing to do with the raging asshole who sprayed lighter fluid on a lit fire right in front of a small child. The fault here clearly lies with the person who bought the "illegal fire pit".

But wait, there's more.

"And it was uncovered. Had it been covered, it probably would have protected the child."

Yeah, it would have protected the child from experiencing the pleasure of making smores. God forbid we should allow children in Boston to have fun doing what millions of kids do every year without incident.

And, again, no mention of the asshole who...

Screw it. Why do I even bother?

Perfect Storm of Leftist Cranial Implosion

Sarah Palin and Ted Nugent will be talking guns on KFAR's "The Michael Dukes Show" at 4:00 PM Alaska time. Anyone wanna do the math for me so that I'll know when to listen on-line tonight?

(link via C4P)

UPDATE: 8:10 PM - got the show on now. Sarah and Ted are both on.

UPDATE II: Quote of the Day - Full-Auto Edition

"Brass rainbows forever, baby!"

~ Ted Nugent

Compare and Contrast

United (Most) States of America: Innocent until proven guilty.

Massachusetts: Guilty until you pay up.

Jeffrey McCob went to Gardner District Court this week with a $100 ticket hanging over his head. A month earlier, he had been pulled over on Route 2 for obstructing an emergency vehicle.

After making his case to Clerk Magistrate Whitney J. Brown, the Leominster resident was found not responsible and the ticket was dismissed. By challenging the ticket, Mr. McCob lost a couple of hours in travel and court time. It was certainly preferable, however, to paying the $100 and related insurance surcharges.

“If these types of tickets only came with a fine, maybe I'd have let it go,” Mr. McCob said. “But you're paying a lot more than the fine.”

Armed with the knowledge that more than 250,000 tickets for civil motor vehicle infractions were challenged in the state last fiscal year, legislators have voted to charge drivers $25 for such hearings.

Take a day of from work to fight a $100 speeding ticket, and if the court finds you were wrongly cited and clears you of any wrongdoing, the State will now be charging you $25 for the "privilege" of being found innocent.



And, now from the "Why I Originally Named This Blog 'mAss Backwards'" file:

State Sen. Stephen M. Brewer, D-Barre, was a member of the conference committee that discussed attaching a cost to clerk hearings. Legislators estimate the change will yield $5 million this fiscal year in revenue, all of which will be returned to the court system's budget.

[...]

With trial courts collectively taking an $18 million hit this year, Mr. Brewer said, “This provides a measure of restoration.”

What say you get police departments in the Commonwealth to, oh...I don't know...stop writing a QUARTER-MILLION BULLSHIT TICKETS A YEAR!?!?!? Yeah, like that'll happen. It's nowhere near as "progressive" a concept as flat-out extortion.

Remind me again which party "stands for the working man".

“Is it fun? Is it something I'm happy about? Heck no,” Mr. Brewer said. “But there's a mountain of things we're not happy about because of the hand we were dealt.”

Excuse me? The hand you were dealt???

You're the State, Senator Brewer.

You are the ones dealing the damn cards!

And, yet, as sure as the sun will rise tomorrow morning, the voters of Massachusetts will bend over and take this. Sure, they'll bitch and moan about it for a half-hour or so. Maybe they'll even post some angry comments on their local papers' websites.

But, come election day, without fail, they'll re-elect the same authoritarian overlords, as if none of this ever happened.

Lather.

Rinse.

Repeat.

Michael Graham aptly described this state of mind on his radio show today.

"Battered Voter Syndrome"

Perfect.

Lost: One (1) Clue

If found, please contact John Mellencamp at 1-800-IMA-FKWD.

“I don’t think people fought and gave their lives so that some guy can sit in his bedroom and be mean. I don’t think that’s what freedom of speech is,” he continued. “Freedom of speech is really about assembly — for us to collectively have an idea. We want to get our point of view out so we can assemble and I can appoint you to be the spokesman. That’s freedom of speech — to be able to collectively speak for a sector of people.

What a f***ing tool.

What a stupid, f***ing tool.

Oh, wait. I don't have the right to say that, apparently.

Sorry. My bad.

Is there some kind of government agency through which I can purchase meanness credits?

A Tell of a Turning Tide?

Watch this Jon Stewart clip, and pay close attention to what happens at the 0:38 mark, or rather, what doesn't happen.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
That's Great Now Fix the Economy
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Economic Crisis

Just a few months ago, Stewart's uttering the line "But, that's OK. Our president's Barack Obama!" would have resulted in an explosion of spontaneous cheers and applause from his studio audience.

It even sounds like he paused there intentionally, anticipating such an outbreak, only to be met by dead silence.

All that's missing was the dubbed-in sound of crickets.

Taste the Hopenchange

Why it seems like only yesterday when keeping people in prison after they'd been acquitted was justification enough to drag the president and his entire cabinet out of the White House in handcuffs and leg irons, haul them off to the Hague to face international war crime charges, and get them fitted for orange jumpsuits.

WASHINGTON -- The Obama administration said Tuesday it could continue to imprison non-U.S. citizens indefinitely even if they have been acquitted of terrorism charges by a U.S. military commission.

Hopenchange: Tastes just like chicken...shit.

Like a Friggin' Hole in the Head

Yeah, this is just what we need.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. leaders should be open to the possibility of a second stimulus package to jolt the economy out of a recession still causing job losses, House of Representatives Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said on Tuesday.

"Because, goddammit, we're going to make redistribution of wealth work, even if it kills us U.S.!"

And, they say Sarah Palin's the crazy one.

She's Still Got My Vote

File Under: If You Have to Ask...

I can only shake my head at the utter stupidity of these "surveys" I keep getting from various GOP fundraising organizations that are supposed to (a) provide the voters with a way to "make their voices heard", and (b) give the Republicans in Congress some ideas as to what the people want them to do.

Well, here's my idea for them. Stop mailing these moronic surveys, look out your f***ing window and open your eyes. We're making our voices heard as loud as we can, but very few of you seem to be listening.

Actual question:

Do you endorse Republican Congressional efforts to put America's economy back on track by cutting taxes, shrinking government, cutting government regulations and opening up all opportunities for our free nation's enterprise system to create, innovate and prosper?

___ Yes __ ___ No __ ___ Not sure

You wasted perfectly good money to ask me that???

I hope you're not too mystified by my decision not to return the postage-paid envelope to your "Reaearch Department" (yes, it really says that) with a $100 check in it.

I could take my wife out for dinner and drinks for $100, strike up a conversation at the bar with a bunch of strangers, and be responsible for lining up more votes against Carol Shea Porter in the 2010 election than I would by sending $100 to you morons.

But, Monsieur...

...it's just a wafer-thin - and entirely temporary, I assure you - suspension of the Constitution.

MOSCOW -- With the clock running out on a new US-Russian arms treaty before the previous Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, or START, expires on December 5, a senior White House official said Sunday said that the difficulty of the task might mean temporarily bypassing the Senate’s constitutional role in ratifying treaties by enforcing certain aspects of a new deal on an executive levels and a “provisional basis” until the Senate ratifies the treaty.

I wonder if there are any other "certain aspects" of that annoying document he'd like to "temporarily" suspend. For our own good, of course.

Obligatory Follow-Up: Who wants to play a quick round of "What if a Republican had suggested doing this?"

(link via Hot Air)

UPDATE: JammieWearingFool adds some perspective.

The Senate is able to write legislation in the middle of the night and vote on it without anyone reading it. Apparently, however, they can't work on this given five months notice.

Yep. Pretty much.

On the Palin Resignation

I'll say this. The last time we had someone on the national political stage who could generate this much press and internet buzz, simply by giving a five minute speech, the sumbitch became president.

Anyone who thinks the American political landscape has seen the last of Sarah Palin isn't thinking very clearly. She'll be back. In what capacity, I don't know.

This is one that's gonna have to go in the "we shall see" file.

One thing I can tell you is, we're gonna see a whole lot of hypocritical double-speak coming from the mainstream media and the "progressive" intelligentsia, should she announce she's running for president after having resigned from office in Juneau midstream.

Your typical damned-if-she-do, damned-if-she-don't stuff.

Stay tuned.

I know I will.

No TV News For MeToday

The thought of watching Barack Obama pay tribute to the brave men who risked their lives 233 years ago to secure their freedom, and ours, from an oppressive, overbearing, and uncaring government is enough to make me ill.

The very concept of an independent populace, whether it be here at home, overseas in the Middle East, or in Central America, is ideological Kryptonite to people like him.

UPDATE: I should have included internet news sources as well.

WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama sought to rally support for his domestic initiatives, while Sen. John McCain called for Americans to support Iranian election protesters. The one-time presidential rivals both cited the spirit of the nation's founders in their Fourth of July radio and Internet addresses.

[...]

"That is the spirit we are called to show once more," Obama said Saturday.

If you insist.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.

How a person can salute our Founding Fathers and honor their revolutionary spirit, while at the same time pushing forward with the largest expansion of governmental power and control over the lives of The People is beyond sickening.

I can only hope the American people wake up and take a good, close look at this con artist and his current attempts to undermine everything to which our Founding Fathers dedicated their very existence.

Don't count on anyone within the beltway establishment to call him out on this, or to effect real change in Washington. The corrupt, big government-loving authoritarians that make up the bipartisan Congressional Back-Scratching Society aren't about to do anything to upset the rotten apple cart.

If we are to once again have a government of the People, by the People, and for the People. It's on us to make it happen.

Get involved.

Be ever vigilant.

Know the enemy.

Vote for liberty.

What We Celebrate Today

IN CONGRESS, JULY 4, 1776
The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America

When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. — Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their Public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.

He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected, whereby the Legislative Powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.

He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.

He has obstructed the Administration of Justice by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers.

He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.

He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.

He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power.

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:

For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:

For protecting them, by a mock Trial from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:

For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:

For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:

For depriving us in many cases, of the benefit of Trial by Jury:

For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:

For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies

For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:

For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.

He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & Perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.

He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.

He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these united Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States, that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. — And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.

— John Hancock

New Hampshire:
Josiah Bartlett, William Whipple, Matthew Thornton

Massachusetts:
John Hancock, Samuel Adams, John Adams, Robert Treat Paine, Elbridge Gerry

Rhode Island:
Stephen Hopkins, William Ellery

Connecticut:
Roger Sherman, Samuel Huntington, William Williams, Oliver Wolcott

New York:
William Floyd, Philip Livingston, Francis Lewis, Lewis Morris

New Jersey:
Richard Stockton, John Witherspoon, Francis Hopkinson, John Hart, Abraham Clark

Pennsylvania:
Robert Morris, Benjamin Rush, Benjamin Franklin, John Morton, George Clymer, James Smith, George Taylor, James Wilson, George Ross

Delaware:
Caesar Rodney, George Read, Thomas McKean

Maryland:
Samuel Chase, William Paca, Thomas Stone, Charles Carroll of Carrollton

Virginia:
George Wythe, Richard Henry Lee, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Harrison, Thomas Nelson, Jr., Francis Lightfoot Lee, Carter Braxton

North Carolina:
William Hooper, Joseph Hewes, John Penn

South Carolina:
Edward Rutledge, Thomas Heyward, Jr., Thomas Lynch, Jr., Arthur Middleton

Georgia:
Button Gwinnett, Lyman Hall, George Walton

Answer: A Masshole, a Mainer, and a Mick

Question: Who were the three representatives of New Hampshire in the Continental Congress who signed their names to the Declaration of Independence?

Josiah Bartlett
William Whipple
Matthew Thornton

More F***ing Rain On the Way

I am in serious need of some lead-based therapy right about now.

Calling This One Was Like Predicting Nightfall

Who could possibly have foreseen this?

Massachusetts state officials released study results that found consumers saved more than $270 million in premiums during the first year of the managed competition model for auto insurance, which started in April 2008.

I mean, other than those of us with functional, non-defective brains in our cranial cavities.

Flashback - November 2005:

Gov. Mitt Romney and Attorney General Tom Reilly sparred over auto insurance on Tuesday, with Reilly saying the governor's reform plan would create chaos for drivers...

[...]

"If that bill which has been proposed by the governor goes into effect, all hell will break loose in this state," Reilly said at a morning news conference.

From the Unabridged Hackachusetts Dictionary:

chaos (noun): the condition that results from private citizens being allowed to keep more of their hard-earned money, making it harder for politicians to funnel it through the system and back into their re-election coffers and the pockets of their campaign donors. (see also: all hell breaking loose)

And, because it's simply a f***ing awesome screenshot:

Appropriately Filed Under "Weird News"

A 23-year-old man, armed with a knife, breaks into the home of a 72-year-old man and comes at him with the knife. The 72-year-old decides not to play along, ducks out of the way, grabs the scumbag by the arm and proceeds to beat the stuffing out of him.

The scumbag's scumbag attorney tried to argue that the homeowner used excessive force (against a scumbag who broke into his home and attacked him with a knife).

His defense lawyer, John Simmons, argued that Corti received only minor injuries in the confrontation while "photographs of the defendant showed what looked like a car accident.

(waits for applause and celebratory cheers to subside)

But the judge didn't feel sorry for him.

"Luckily, Mr. Conti was an able-bodied 72-year-old who was able to defend himself," Recorder Angela Morris said. "The jury might well have concluded you got what you deserved when you entered that property and took a swipe at him with that weapon."

Now, you're probably wondering why such a story wouldn't be filed under "Freakin' Awesome News!". I mean, what's so "weird" about it?

Well, turns out our hero resides in Jolly Old England, a sad, yet once-great nation, where the nanny state government has discouraged self-defense among the common class to the point where it is nearly against the law to defend one's life inside one's own home.

A sliver of hope for the downtrodden subjects of the Crown?

A sign of the changing of the times?

That probably depends a lot on how much play this textbook Gun Control Success Story gets.

Britain's violent crime record is worse than any other country in the European union, it has been revealed.

Official crime figures show the UK also has a worse rate for all types of violence than the U.S. and even South Africa - widely considered one of the world's most dangerous countries.

An entire population has their right to self-defense taken from them, along with the most effective means of protecting themselves and their families, and it creates an environment wherein they are less safe.

Wow! Couldn't see that coming.

But, It's FREEEE!!!

That is, if she lives long enough.

Slowing Down With Age

I'm still working on the 41-ounce bag of Skittles that my kids gave me for Fathers Day.

On an unrelated side note: The next person who tries to make a stupid joke about the rain in my presence is getting his ass kicked.