Jerry Brown: Fornicalia's State of the State:

Fornicalia Governor Jerry Brown's speech.

I'll distill it down to this:

We need to tax more than cut.

And with that, ladies and gentlemen, there go the major population centers of the country.

Bulk up on precious metals. You know which ones.

BZ

ObamaKare: What Demorats REALLY Think Of It And YOU

Here is what they think:

They exempted themselves from it. Apparently ObamaKare isn't good enough for the elites.

That's right, ladies and gentlemen: good enough for the unwashed masses -- meaning you and me -- taxpayers who have no choice in what we pay and when we pay it. But not good enough for themselves or their "best-est of friends" -- read: fiscal contributors. There is even a "religious conscience exemption." But of course that wouldn't include you if you were a taxpayer or, worse yet, a taxpayer and a non-union or small business owner.

From The Washington Times:

Last year, we learned that the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) had granted 111 waivers to protect a lucky few from the onerous regulations of the new national health care overhaul. That number quickly and quietly climbed to 222, and last week we learned that the number of Obamacare privileged escapes has skyrocketed to 733.

Among the fortunate is a who’s who list of unions, businesses and even several cities and four states (Massachusetts, New Jersey, Ohio and Tennessee) but none of the friends of Barack feature as prominently as the Service Employees International Union (SEIU).

How can you get your own free pass from Obamacare? Maybe you can just donate $27 million to President Obama‘s campaign efforts. That’s what Andy Stern did as president of SEIU in 2008. He has been the most frequent guest at Mr. Obama‘s White House.

In short, the administration has decided that you will face increased health insurance premiums, but special friends in the unions will not. Look closely, and you’ll see not only the White House‘s duplicity but also what the Obama administration really thinks of its crown jewel, Obamacare. White House words say that the annual insurance benefit cap is a feature of the program, but its actions say that it’s a bug.

The question remains: If Obamacare is such a great law, why does the White Housekeep protecting its best friends from it?

Mr Obama seems to be picking and choosing his plays out of Animal Farm instead of his campaign promises:

"All animals are equal. But some animals are more equal than others."

BZ

Mad-Man

I am a mad-man. I am posting my true thoughts.

I didn't believe in God. I used to label myself, in my Leftist pre- and-college days, at best an Agnostic. Many days an out-and-out Atheist. I couldn't believe that any true greater being would allow wars and death and utter annihilations of entire civilizations. A flood. The existence of Hell.

I can remember penning a short story in the early 70s for a university writing class where the ruling religious government, oppressive of course, walled people off in clustered high-rises, squashing them together, and forcing them to attend religious functions. The protagonist found a way out of the city and discovered miles and miles and miles of endless beautiful forests and mountains and valleys that only the ruling members of the religion ever experienced. I don't suppose you'd be surprised if I told you I received an A for my grade. In retrospect the premise sounds more Left than Right and applicable, these days specifically, to the Religious Left. How odd.

Twenty years passed. Thirty years passed. And more.

I didn't give God much thought. Truly if at all. Until people started dying around me. My grandparents died. Reagan died. A friend died, shot at an ATM in a robbery. Warren Zevon died. My mother died. And finally my father died.

Bad things happened, more than I care to regale here. They clumped up. In 2009 following my father's death, my behavior became this: I would drive around in the middle of the night, for hours. I couldn't sit or lay still. One late night, last year, I was driving and started talking to God as if He weren't listening. I rambled on. I just kept talking and talking. I had made major mistakes in my Life and laid it all out. I was, for a change, more honest than I'd been in forty years. Or more. I ended up, oblivious, more than two hundred miles from my house in the darkness.

God replied to me in a sentence: "I'm glad to hear you."

It was in my brain. I hadn't expected any kind of response. I remember those five words. I was more than shocked. I was fully awake.

Since then, the Lord speaks to me at night, mostly, when I am alone and distraught and in dire straights and in need.

So clearly, I am a raving nutter.

I can, in the middle of my darkest nights, strike up a conversation with Him and He replies?

Am I insane?

Or is He really there?

He has already shown me my Grandmother, and then my Mother, in dreams.

He has answered some convoluted questions -- but many more exist.

He tells me the things I don't want to hear, but I know I must. I am either addled or blessed. I speak to Him at night at the drop of a hat. How is this even remotely possible?

No matter what way, I am starting to settle and realize my blessings. Perhaps this is the foundation of Faith. This either happens or it doesn't. I either believe it or I don't.

My soul, I think, has quieted a bit. And yet I find this, at once, both comforting and disturbing. But I either believe it or I don't.

I choose to believe.

BZ

Egypt: Chaos and Prognostications

Egypt is in chaos. Cairo is burning and citizens are rioting.

Mubarak has been in power for roughly thirty years. The government is mostly secular. And perhaps therein lies the essential problem. The US has consistently supported Mubarak because he is not an Islamist. Now, the UK Telegraph says the US is "behind" Egyptian protests -- including, of course, a "secret document." All good conspiracies require a secret document.

On Friday, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak asked his cabinet to step down. He himself, of course, is not doing so. Mr Obama likewise made a miniscule speech (with perhaps less pancake makeup) which, in a nutshell, indicated he was "concerned" and "monitoring." Mr Obama "monitors" with "concern" when he doesn't know what to do with regard to international situations. His speech on Friday proffered naught but multisyllabic political phlegmic drivel.

Yoni the Blogger indicates there is unrest in Jordan, unrest in Yemen, all over the Middle East. I'll take the liberty of reproducing his complete blogthoughts on Egypt here:

The Game Is Over

Egypt, Tunisia, Jordan,Albania, Lebanon,Yemen.

Something is happening and it has the possibility of being a game changer.

Too long America has backed evil tyrants in exchange for cheap oil, that may be coming to an end. The people rise up and the tyrant is gone, more than likely they will meet an end similar to the Romanov's .

But then what?

Do the people of Egypt, Tunisia,Jordan,Lebanon and Yemen take to the streets to demand Jeffersonian democracy or do they just want to get rid of the tyrants.

It is clear to me they just want to get rid of the tyrants . If these countries rid themselves of their tyrants look for the Saudi's and oil emirates to also go.

In Egypt the military may take over running the government, only because the Muslim Brotherhood may feel they are better off in some sort of power sharing with the army.

But make no mistake in all of these governments in the end these countries will be ruled by Islamic fundamentalist allies of Iran.

This would be a huge game changer for both the USA and Israel.

For America it will mean the end of relatively cheap oil and this would have a negative impact on the American economy. It will also mean America will have only one ally in the Middle East, Israel.

For Israel it will mean an end of the peace game and a return to whole scale war with nation states and not fighting with the Palestinians and other terrorist.

Yoni pulls no punches as you can see.

An interesting viral YouTube video is here:



One other factor: the Copts are also shaking in their boots, as they are native Egyptian Christians and would be the first to be sacrificed or sought out in a pogrom if the Muslim Brotherhood or other aligned Islamists were to seize power.

And what few people have put into political play for consideration, not just in terms of oil: the Suez Canal. That is specifically why the stock market rumbled on Friday. Oil rocketed close to $100 per barrel just on this issue.

Check the map, and you can see why the Suez Canal is so incredibly important and relevant to the unrest in Egypt (click to expand in much greater detail):


It is said that The Muslim Brotherhood is covertly behind the unrest and stands to gain in Egypt. An excellent background article about the MB here. The Muslim Brotherhood is aligned with al Qaeda and thusly are Sunni. The Muslim Brotherhood has an English website here.

The only hope may be that the bulk of the younger people of Egypt are predominantly secular and will not hold with Muslim Brotherhood power plays just as they rejected Mubarak. Interesting post here.

I submit this: it is not an immediate "given" that Islamists will wrest control of Egypt as they may wish. Yes, they will attempt to take advantage; but there is no guarantee.

BZ

White House Press Secretary: Robert Gibbs OUT

And new, younger, former Washington Bureau Chief of Time magazine Jay Carney is in.

Why might that be?

I suspect it is this: Gibbs has carried more than his fair share of water for Mr Obama. And because he still may possess a bit of his goodness extant, he concluded that he has reached so-called "threshold." One can only tell so many lies and prevarications and stall and delay and -- at the same time -- realize that the official stories told do not even remotely correspond to the actual fact patterns -- before some Truths actually start to emerge. And bother.

I submit that Gibbs, over time, couldn't align these projects with reality and, resultingly, decided (wisely, I believe) to logically withdraw. He had carried all the water possible; time to install Fresh and Ignorant Meat.

Mr Gibbs, in my opinion, saw the future writing on the wall. He could only lie and stall and deflect so much. Otherwise, he would be on board for not only the entire current administration but the potential subsequent one as well. It would be politically and fiscally rewarding. If one cannot benefit, then one recedes or withdraws. If Mr Obama was in The Winning Thrust then Mr Gibbs would have stuck through thick and thin.

Yet Gibbs chose to exit. That bespeaks volumes. Mr Gibbs may have truly possessed, in concert, an actual heart and a soul.

Gibbs, at times, reminded me of Baghdad Bob. The job was that difficult.

That is, if he believed in it. And there's The Catch.

Carney, communications director for VP Biden, had a leg up and over everyone else: the Number Two Position Recommended.

Inside Job.

"Officially:"

Full list of White House staff transitions announced today:

* Ron Bloom, Assistant to the President for Manufacturing Policy (National Economic Council)
* Jay Carney, Assistant to the President and Press Secretary
* Stephanie Cutter, Assistant to the President and Deputy Senior Advisor
* Nancy-Ann DeParle, Assistant to the President and Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy
* David Lane, Assistant to the President and Counselor to the Chief of Staff
* Alyssa Mastromonaco, Assistant to the President and Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations
* Rob Nabors, Assistant to the President and Director of Legislative Affairs
* Emmett Beliveau, Deputy Assistant to the President and Chief of Staff to the Chief of Staff
* Jon Carson, Deputy Assistant to the President and Director of the Office of Public Engagement
* Danielle Crutchfield, Deputy Assistant to the President and Director of Scheduling and Advance
* David Cusack, Deputy Assistant to the President and Director of Advance
* Mike Strautmanis, Deputy Assistant to the President and Counselor for Strategic Engagement to the Senior Advisor
* Jessica Wright, Deputy Assistant to the President and Director of Scheduling
* Brian Deese, Special Assistant to the President and Deputy Director of the National Economic Council

BZ

In Hawaii: An Admission?

This just doesn't go away. And it would be so incredibly simple to ameliorate. Some think that those who even broach the question are Nutters. But if so "nutted," then why is the question even in the air? Why no easily-final resolution? Please listen:



Plus:

- The largest deficit in the history of the entire planet;
- Obama's "cuts" won't do much at all;
- In fact, his proposal would cost more money and raise taxes;
- The housing market is getting worse, not better;
- The "stimulus" didn't stimulate.

Other than that, I suppose things are just fine. That is, if the man the electorate installed is actually eligible.

But that would be objectively unreasonable to even hint-at, would it not?

BZ

New to The Usual Suspects: "A Trainwreck In Maxwell"

Time to start, once again, announcing additions or deletions to my The Usual Suspects blogroll. I've gotten lazy over the past few years and need to firm up my blogroll resolution.

As I've mentioned before, my recommended blogroll isn't massive or unconsidered. I have to not only read you consistently but agree with your philosophy and -- further -- you must be active in your posts. I have, unfortunately, deleted blogs penned by excellent authors who posted so infrequently as to make their thoughts almost immaterial. I've also lost great blogs from those who simply stopped posting. One of my biggest losses: Big White Hat.

That said, I'd like to welcome "A Trainwreck In Maxwell" to The Usual Suspects BZ blogroll.

He typifies himself as "Unfair and Unbalanced." Hey, know what? That's enough for me.

I've noticed that he posts like a banshee; at least most recently. I certainly can't keep up with his posts.

And I suspect that the bulk of his posts clearly insert a Conservative TIC (Tongue In Cheek) to the point where his notations are dry, sarcastic, pointed, salient, worth spreading throughout the Blogosphere.

Please welcome KurtP to my The Usual Suspects blogroll.

BZ

Triumph Rocket III: British Heavy Metal

The motorcycle bug is at me once again. Perhaps because I am beginning to smell retirement. Not quite there yet, but I can start to see it through the fog.

I've customarily owned a motorcycle the bulk of my life. I started young, when my father brought home an ancient ex-CHP Harley-Davidson 74 that, for whatever reason, he purchased when perhaps having had smoked too many cigars one day. I can still clearly recall that the bike had the throttle on the right bar-end, and a "spark retarder" on the left bar-end. Yes, the bike was that old. It also had a flat-metal coil spring right-side kick start which, if one didn't retard the spark quite correctly, possessed the ability to fling you bodily up and over the motorcycle itself. Which is precisely what occurred to my father one time. I can still clearly envision that huge, square oil reservoir on the right side behind the engine, and those miniscule drum brakes. Because we had a gravel driveway in the back accessing Dad's Shop, it also fell over on him at low speed a time or two. He sold it for -- wait for it -- a British MG-B with the horizontal wires in the doors to open the doors.

I used to sit on that huge black leather seat comprised of vast butt-acreage (to a young boy, at least) and see myself motoring down the road. Dad once, in fact, took me on a local ride atop the 74's gas tank, sitting in front of him. We had no helmets, of course. The wind really rustled by. I loved it.

Pat Green later had a mini-bike powered by a red colored Briggs & Stratton engine. We both crashed it numerous times in the field behind the house. You could ride your bicycle faster than it would go -- but it was a mini-bike so no one cared. It had an engine; that was the entire point.

Later, when my family moved to Ohio and Dad was assigned to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, I acquired a little 3-speed automatic Honda 50 mini-bike. We lived in Chatham Village on Harwich Drive. Dave Platten had his own red one, then Mike Vasiliadis got a larger, blue Honda 70 -- larger than mine. That was patently unfair. So, not to be undone, I purchased Terrell Allen's Honda 90 with the tank conversion kit, as the Honda 90 had a step-through (read: sissy) frame.

Just before leaving Ohio, I acquired a Yamaha 125 two-stroke with motocross handlebars. I can clearly recall buying a pair of Torsten Hallman riding gloves to wear whilst riding it.

After that, the bikes came cascading along. A series of Yamahas, a few Hondas, then my 1980 Yamaha XS1100 with matching Windjammer fairing, a 1984 Honda Magna and up to a gorgeous 1984 BMW R100RT in a shimmering silverish-blue. Heavy sigh.

I haven't had a bike for a number of years now, and the bug is at me again. I have my sights set on, thanks to Tim Frazier, a Triumph Rocket III, which possesses the largest engine in a current production motorcycle. A bit about the assembly of the average Rocket III by Triumph in England:

Already you can see: an uncommon motorcycle and not for the neophyte.

A few specifications: with a final shaft drive, the Rocket III weighs 703 pounds, produces 150 ft-lbs of torque and 145 hp at 2,500 rpm, 0 to 60 in three seconds, and has not only a low center of gravity but a low seat for those of us -- ahem -- who happen to be "inseam-ally"-challenged. As my doctor recently opined with a straight face, I am not overweight, I am simply under-tall.

I'm still in the pondering stage at this point, and haven't even thrown my leg over a Rocket III. Truthfully, I haven't been able to find one. And ideally, I'd care to focus more on the Rocket III Cruiser which appears to be more in tune with my potential usage, following retirement -- as I plan to scatter about with some of my fellow elderly ex-Sheriff reprobates, Silverbacks and current coppers on their metal steeds as well.

The Triumph Rocket III is, well, the embodiment of British Heavy Metal. And whilst we're at it, perhaps a taste of the original phraseology?

Any of you owners of various motors have any thoughts or opinionationisms?

BZ

Ripped From Today's Screaming Headlines!

BZ

P.S.

I larfed until I stopped with this one.

An Affront To Drunken Sailors?

BZ

P.S.

And while we're at it:

Olbermann Out At MSNBC:

Keith Olbermann, formers sports announcer-cum-self-envisioned-reincarnation of Edward R Murrow, told viewers on Friday night (January 21st) that the gig was up. He was dropped by NBC somewhat precipitously but not without a history of controversy. Olbermann was, ahem, polemic to say the least, but still somehow envisioned himself in the mainstream of thought -- which he was, but only for the Elitist Left who elbow-rub in various parvenu and jejune DC soirees.

In a way, I'm going to miss Mr Olbermann -- for a fraction of a second (ooops, there it went) -- and his bombastic, high-decibeled pomposity. However, Olbermann does need to be credited for damned near single-handedly enabling whatever meager ratings MSNBC managed to dribble out per rating period. The dude had passion; that is indisputable. Rumors indicate he has another two years left on his contract, which will be paid at $7 million per year.

However, fear not; Lawrence O'Donnell will take over the 8pm slot, with Ed Schultz's show moving from 6pm to 10pm. You'll be pleased to know that O'Donnell is a tad more honest insofar as he labels himself a Socialist and is pleased to do so.

With $14 million dollars shortly in his pocket, I don't fear for the likes of Mr Olbermann. He'll find a place to land considering the current media climate.

BZ

Violence, Whiskey, Old White Guys, The American West: Everything The Left Hates In One Fine Post

Find more videos like this on Firefighter Nation

BZ

House Votes: ObamaKare Repealed

In a 245 to 189 vote, the House voted to repeal ObamaKare on Wednesday.

Forty-six percent of Americans think the health care law is likely to cut jobs, 54 percent think it will hurt the economy, and 62 percent see it as increasing the federal deficit, according to a poll conducted January 13-16 by ABC News and the Washington Post.

In the process of civilly discussing the issue, Demorat Rep Steve Cohen of Tennessee compared the Republicans' attempted repeal of ObakaKare to the Holocaust:

They say it's a government takeover of health care, a big lie just like Goebbels," Cohen said. "You say it enough, you repeat the lie, you repeat the lie, and eventually, people believe it. Like blood libel. That's the same kind of thing. The Germans said enough about the Jews and people believed it--believed it and you have the Holocaust. We heard on this floor, government takeover of health care. Politifact said the biggest lie of 2010 was a government takeover of health care because there is no government takeover," Cohen said.

Inconveniently, he is wrong; dead wrong. And apparently "incivility" only occurs on the GOP side of the aisle. It was pointed out many months ago that, if ObakaKare was so critically important, why was there, at minimum, a four year lag before major installment? Many people can certainly die in the intervening years. But that wasn't quite so critical. Things are critical when the Demorats say they are critical -- like now -- and not when they say so.

One bright light: the Republicans actually, for once, did what they promised during the elections, with their unanimous vote; not one GOP dissent. Symbolic or not, this is one step in the proper direction. And it shows to the Demorats that numbers mean something and, further, that some Demorats aren't above jumping ship (three voted for the repeal: Mike Ross of Arkansas, Mike McIntyre of North Carolina and Dan Boren of Oklahoma).

The other very inconvenient fact is that twenty-six states are legally challenging ObakaKare -- something not customarily printed or spoken in the DEM/MSM, oddly enough.

Harry Reid is going to avoid, like the plague, putting the repeal up for vote in the Senate because he doesn't want to put His Minions on Front Street as voting against the repeal -- publicly. It is said he will; in truth he'll do his best for avoidance.

This is Step One.

There are o-so-many steps to go.

Do not release pressure on your local GOP politicians! Pressure ON.

BZ

Another Reason Leftism Should Be Catalogued As A Mental Disease In The DSM IV:

[For general reference, the current DSM-IV is here.]

In the midst of the worst fiscal situations encountered in decades regarding numerous state, city and county budgets and, specifically, Fornicalia city and county budgets -- much less the entire state of Fornicalia itself -- the City of Berkeley is deciding:

Berkeley Set To Offer Sex-Change Employee Benefits:

While other cities are slashing employee benefits, Berkeley is slated to add one more: paying for sex-change operations.

The City Council is poised to vote tonight to set aside $20,000 annually for city workers' gender-reassignment surgery. The procedure is not covered by the city's two health insurance providers, Kaiser and Health Net.

"We offer all kinds of benefits to our employees. This brings our benefits in line with what's just and fair for the transgender community," said City Councilman Darryl Moore, who originally proposed the idea in 2007.

The benefit would allow employees to collect the money before the operation. To receive the payout, employees would have to have lived as the opposite sex for at least one year and undergone hormone therapy. They also would have to have worked for the city at least a year.

The city decided to provide payment to employees directly.

"I support the staff's solution here," City Councilman Gordon Wozniak said. "It's not a lot of money to set aside for something that's rarely going to happen."

The city has about 1,500 employees, and at least a few have recently inquired about sex-reassignment surgery, Moore said.

And to think that, years ago, I actually applied and tested to become a City of Berkeley police officer. I came out number two in rank one. I considered working for Berkeley because you could -- zounds! -- wear a beard as a cop. I thought that was so cool! Yes, I was that shallow. My Liberal Days.

When will it actually stop, ladies and gentlemen?

Berkeley long ago became an actual parody of itself. And then a parody upon parody. Boalt Hall. There is a reason it became known nationally, first in jest, then straight-faced (dare I utilize that judgmental word "straight" here?): Berserk-eley.

Berkeley is still berserk -- and now, clearly, beyond.

They don't get it. Leftists don't get it. Liberals don't get it.

In the face of such obvious reality, these Moonbats are still critically examining their navels. Only the truly insane do this. They do the same thing again and again and again expecting different results.

Which is why Fornicalia is about to be driven directly into the ground.

BZ

I Stand Corrected

Above is the original photograph, in reference to this post.

Here is the Snopes.com page regarding the Photoshopped image.

My apologies: to Sarah Palin and all.

I stand corrected.

BZ

Montanta's Proposal:

And I can't fault its logic:

The state of Montana, which came up with the idea that the guns made, sold and kept inside its borders simply are exempt from federal regulations and made that its law, now is considering a new weapon that could be used to cancel much of the authority of federal agents over its residents.

A new legislative proposal would declare that the state's local county sheriffs are the pre-eminent law enforcement authority in their jurisdictions, and federal agents such as those working for the Internal Revenue Service, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Drug Enforcement Administration, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and others, would be required to get permission from them before they could take any action.

States' rights, anyone?

The proposal, Senate Bill 114, is called "An act regulating arrests, searches, and seizures by federal employees; providing that federal employees must obtain the county sheriff's permission to arrest, search, and seize; providing exceptions; providing for prosecution of federal employees violating this act; rejecting federal laws purporting to give federal employees the authority of a county sheriff in this state; and providing an immediate effective date."

Again, states' rights, anyone?

Inside that mouthful of provisions is a requirement that federal agents work through and get permission from sheriffs before taking any action to arrest anyone, seize any object or search anywhere. And it includes a promise of consequences if that is not followed:

"An arrest, search, or seizure or attempted arrest, search, or seizure in violation of [section 2] is unlawful, and the persons involved must be prosecuted by the county attorney for kidnapping if an arrest or attempted arrest occurred, for trespass if a search or attempted search occurred, for theft if a seizure or attempted seizure occurred, and for any applicable homicide offense if loss of life occurred. The persons involved must also be charged with any other applicable criminal offense in Title 45," the bill explains.

Read the full article here.

Your thoughts?

BZ

Leftists, Stepping Over The Bloody Body Of Their Own, Say Free Speech MUST Be Chained:

And any Conservative couldn't see this coming?

Power and control.

Leftists control Education. They are fighting to control SCOTUS. If they can control words by, therefore, controlling media -- ?

The so-called culture and political "wars" in America only started when the Right decided to voice its stance. The Left had their voice carried for them in the Mainstream Media for years and, as the Left leaned farther left, the Right became increasingly frustrated. The true breakthrough did in fact come via AM radio when a little fuzzball was given a chair at KFBK in 1984 Sacramento. Oooh, 1984 -- chilling!

Rush Limbaugh provided the voice and the venue for those of a Conservative bent and a movement was started. There are those who would credit the political process itself for the Right finding its voice -- and certainly the Ronald Reagan years should not be discounted as it was during the temper of these times that RL worked his way to syndication in 1988.

From there the wars began. After literally decades of ruling all forms of media and, moreover, its content, liberals were most chagrined to discover AM radio shortly became the bastion of conservatives. It took literally years for the Left to even attempt inroads to AM radio via Air America -- and we all know how solvent and powerful AA is currently.

From there, the internet blossomed. Conservatives took to the net like fish to water. This in turn led to various conservative magazines with links to the internet, Fox News and, most recently, to my venue -- the blog. Conservatives are big in the Blogosphere.

As grew the voice of Conservatives, so the Left and liberals felt (because, let's face it, they were) more challenged. Not everything they said and espoused was accepted by rote. Persons actually had, egads, the temerity to speak up and attempt to refute what the MSM said and wrote. And, egads, it was proven time and again that the MSM occasionally seemed to omit some very salient things from their stories -- some people call them facts.

Liberals then, during that transition and now (witness this book and others) feature themselves the victims in this heinous and oppressive power grab by the Right.

What happened is this: common people found a voice. They found an outlet for their frustrations. People from the heartland. People from the working class who wanted to get ahead and didn't want the government to do it for them. People who wanted to be left alone to prosper. People who believe in Capitalism and believe that hard work should yield benefits. People who believe in a higher being as did our Founding Fathers, who believed in justice, in ethics and morals.

So in truth, Conservatives haven't "fought back" -- they just had the gall to voice their beliefs and concerns in a way they never had before.

And that's what's threatening to liberals.

Make no mistake: Leftist dogma is every bit a religion; Leftists believe the greatest enemy is the United States, the epitome of Capitalism. Capitalism by its nature must exploit people, so a major country like America, as a capitalistic leader, must be overthrown just as any capitalist oppressor must be overthrown. Anti-big, anti-corporate. Anti-capitalist. Anti-success.

With my 2006 thoughts in mind, Fast Forward to today in 2011 when Simon Jenkins -- a daft Brit, of course -- writes in The Guardian:

Today's culprit is freedom of speech, or at least the speech of the American right and its broadcast cheerleaders. Shock-jock radio presenters feed on biased television news to present a view of the world divided between goodies and baddies. The baddies are always on the brink of victory and must be confronted with virile aggression. Language that might not disturb a balanced mind can clearly stimulate and legitimise an unbalanced one.

The vitriol and inaccuracy of the campaign against Obama's public health reforms last year were like those against abortion and homosexuality. To many Europeans, the echo across the Atlantic came from a people isolated from the outside world and unable to handle today's social and scientific progress. The debate was infused with nastiness and xenophobia, as if the US was a land composed of tribes bred only to hate the outside world, and often themselves.

So freedom of speech is bad. And this from a country that guarantees no such rights as does the United States. To me, it sounds like opposition, dissension, is bad -- is the True Culprit. But, of course, that would be My Biased Self being judgmental. Continuing:

Free speech is a Hobbesian jungle. It requires a marketplace where the trade in information, ideas and opinion has a framework of rules, including rules that maintain fair and open competition. Most will be voluntary, but others need enforcement. The US supreme court last year freed from control all political campaign gifts from corporations, on the grounds that this would be a breach of free speech. Ronald Dworkin's rebuttal of this "devastating decision for democracy" in the New York Review of Books pointed out that freedom of speech was hopeless if vulnerable to the bullying of wealth. Obama warned that it would "open the floodgates for special interests – including foreign corporations – to spend without limit in our elections".

Does Mr Jenkins really want to go here? Apparently, he does, in closing:

But sometimes, as Obama said, there is a yearning "to try to impose some order on the chaos". If American politics is now going the way of wounding, not healing, it needs the tonic of order. It is the great paradox of democracy. Free speech cannot exist without chains.

Right. "Free speech cannot exist without chains." And those chains -- to be determined in their formation, and their application -- by whom?

I'm sure you can suss that one out yourself.

Time to obviate my free speech. Your free speech.

Advocated from a nation that lords its own press in chains. Despite being a Western Nation. It cannot even see how its laws are being utilized against itself. It is being subsumed by Islam. But it is finally beginning to fight back; just a little. Budgetarily, to begin.

Leftists fear the murmuring taxpaying rabble. And they fear you are actually beginning to not just find your voice.

-- but they fear that you are actually beginning to do what they do best: to ORGANIZE.

And, worse yet, you are beginning to organize not necessarily CENTRALLY, but you are organizing LOCALLY -- meaning that there is no ONE central head to decapitate.

You bastards.

BZ

P.S.
Great news: Gabrielle Giffords's condition has been changed from CRITICAL to Serious. Considering a direct gunshot wound to the skull, this is an absolute miracle. My prayers to her and her family and friends. Please send your own personal prayers. . .

Sikorsky X2: World's Fastest Helo?

The Sikorsky X2 reached 262 knots in the above video, breaking the 250-knot barrier. This translates to 301.504 mph and 287.695 mph respectively.

Below, at the Heli Expo show in Anaheim, California on February 23rd, 2009, a Sikorsky chief test pilot explains the various system of the X2:



Cruises at 250 knots, with "dash" speeds of 270 knots (310.710 mph). All done with composite materials and a "fly by wire" system.



At this point the X2 is a test bed for potential future production.

But the story doesn't stop at the X2. Going back, the Lockheed XH-51A claimed an achieved speed of 263 knots (302.6 mph, 486.9 km/h) on November 29th of 1967.^[4] This was accomplished with 16-foot wings and 2,500-hp turbojet engine attached to the left wing. The A was another test bed and never went into production.



Finally, the Bell 533 reached a top speed of 274.6 knots (316.0 mph, 508.6 km/h) in 1969, but it too was a one-off research test bed as well. The 533 likewise carried huge turbojet engines; this time two of them.

Technology marches on.

BZ

P.S.
Thanks, Chris!

One Thought

Why the bleeding over one DC representative and one federal judge?

Close to two hundred + cops get killed every year. Purposely and pointedly; some targeted for assassination. Yearly. For multiple years and years.

Thousands and thousands of people get killed by assailants and gangbangers every year.

WHY is it that THESE people are valued more than others?

Think about that.

Are they MORE worthy than the other victims I mention above?

If so: WHY?

BZ

Sarah Palin & Her Ilk: Killers All?

With one massive historical notation: no.

Most American political assassins and attempted assassins have been Leftists. Anarchists, Socialists, Communists and, now, a Nihilist.

I would suggest you check out the incredibly-researched and detailed link here at The Crank Files.

Beamish has researched the topic in a way that I couldn't begin to touch with the available time in my current life.

For that reason, please click on the link above and read thoroughly. Revelatory, indeed.

I hate it when facts get in the way of a good Leftist meme.

By the way, anyone mention that Giffords was a gun chick who actually wanted to close the borders? Nah. Doesn't fit the meme. That puts her too uncomfortably close to Palin. Bad. Can't have that. Palin = bad = Conservative = Must Destroy. We are Borg.

BZ

P.S.
This is it for the topic. I'm done. Exhausted. Leftists are left with sand falling through their fingers. Even the president excoriates Leftists for their inane ploys.

P.P.S.
You WISH your governor looked like Sarah Palin. Hell, my former governor was on steroids the bulk of his life.

Heated, Vitriolic Rhetoric?

Jared Lee Loughner was motivated by politics and blogs and Fox News and Sarah Palin and Rush Limbaugh and me. Clearly.

Because, after all, Leftists have never embraced high-decibel vitriolic rhetoric at all -- have they? And moreover, in voices that could shatter glass? Never! Leftists are continually cool, calm, controlled, dispassionate, avuncular, all-understanding . . .



No. Of course not.

Not at all.

From Hillary:

• I'm sick and tired of people who say that if you debate and disagree with this administration, somehow you're not patriotic. We need to stand up and say we're Americans, and we have the right to debate and disagree with any administration.

In this instance, Hillary, I am with you.

And finally, let us not allow the facts to get in the way of Leftist memes and agendas. Loughner's friend, Zach Osler, recently said:

He did not watch TV. He disliked the news. He didn’t listen to political radio. He didn’t take sides. He wasn’t on the left. He wasn’t on the right.

But hey; this guy was obviously paid-off by Rupert Murdoch, right?

Because, unfortunately, George Soros didn't get to him "first."

But hey, that's okay, because Leftists have locked into a narrative and the facts be damned.

Further, film Director Spike Lee in his film "Do The Right Thing" has it culminate in a deadly race riot.

But despite that, he is remarkably ignorant when he appeared on Wednesday's Today Show to promote his new children's book, but couldn't leave without blaming the NRA for the Gabrielle Giffords shooting and slamming the United States of America for being "the most violent country in the history of civilization."



That's right: the US is "the most violent country in the history of civilization." Because it enringed hundreds of thousands of slaves to labor in massive heat to build the pyramids. Because, like the Mayans, it sacrificed thousands and thousands of persons on an altar of blood. Because it had its own Inquisition on the nation's soil. Because it eliminated millions of people as did Hitler and Stalin and Mao Tse Dung.

Because it fought for the entire planet in WWI. And because it fought for the planet in WWII. And Korea. And Vietnam. And Afghanistan. And Iraq. And it annexed and kept NONE of those countries and not ONE ACRE for having done so.

The only acreage it annexed: more sites in Arlington and privately around the country.

BZ

P.S.
Damn. I am so sorry that Ramirez seems to create cartoons for Conservatives and, further, that I post them here. I mean, after all, Michael Ramirez seems to be a traitor to his Hispanically-oriented last-name roots and all, and, displaying his wares here, I must be a racist as well, buying into his blindered and racist leanings. Except that he is neither racist nor hindered. He merely, via his facile pen, points out the obvious. Imagine that.

US Rights Clampdown: Leftist Knee-Jerking

If you peruse the DEM/MSM and the Leftist Blogosphere, you essentially see blame for the attempted assassination -- and that's precisely what it was -- of Congresswoman Gifford placed squarely upon the shoulders of Glenn Beck, Fox News, Rush Limbaugh, Sarah Palin, me, guns, language, sunspots, tidal pull, delayed borborigmus, California Barking Spiders, flatulence, Abraham Lincoln and old men with powdered wigs.

Oddly enough, this entire country was founded upon heated language. Imagine that. An historical reference with veracity. And there is no more documented and statistically-verified heated rhetoric now than ten or twenty or fifty or a hundred or two hundred years ago. Perhaps even less. If you wish incivility perhaps you've not seen an active session of the British Parliament. Or actual fistfights and bedlam in the political chambers of a host of other nations.

But realize this: it is the First and Second Amendments that Demorats and Leftists wish to immediately abrogate.

Because, as Rahm Emanual clearly so stated, "never let a good crisis go to waste." The Demorats are patently adhering to that adage in their attempt to proselytize and mark Conservatives as accessories to a clear lunatic.

Even Ezra Klein of The Washington Post says Gifford's attempted assassination is "the work of a nut," on the Hugh Hewitt show on Monday. He suggests much caution.

There is absolutely no connection between political rhetoric and Jared Lee Loughner. At his feral young age, he wasn't a registered Republican; he wasn't a registered Demorat; he was a registered Independent. He wasn't polarized; he was a vacillating, dope-smoking, flag-burning nutburger.

This nation was, I repeat, founded on heated rhetoric and more: actual revolution.

George Bush, yes, said "bring it on!"

But, as was pointed out earlier on my very own blog by Robert, Obama has himself said on various occasions:

- Obama: “They bring a knife -- we bring a gun” -- Philadelphia, 2008
- Obama to His followers: “Argue with them! Get in their face!”
- Obama on ACORN: “I don’t want to quell anger. I think people are right to be angry! I’m angry!”
- Obama to devotees: “Hit back twice as hard”
- Obama on the private sector: “We talk to these folks -- so I know whose ass to kick.“
- Obama to voters: a Republican victory would mean “hand to hand combat.”
- Obama to supporters: “It’s time to fight for it.”
- Obama to Latino supporters: “Punish your enemies.”
- Obama to Democrats: “I’m itching for a fight.”

Obama said he himself wants to place insurance companies "in the crosshairs."

In a nutshell, all Leftist speech is only metaphorical; Conservative speech is obviously inciting.

Glenn Reynolds of HotAir.com writes in the Wall Street Journal:

Shortly after November's electoral defeat for the Democrats, pollster Mark Penn appeared on Chris Matthews's TV show and remarked that what President Obama needed to reconnect with the American people was another Oklahoma City bombing. To judge from the reaction to Saturday's tragic shootings in Arizona, many on the left (and in the press) agree, and for a while hoped that Jared Lee Loughner's killing spree might fill the bill.

Obama needs another OC bombing? Video next:



In the meantime, intemperate illiterati like bd and deaconbleu besmirch the good names of Bob Dylan and Steely Dan.

Illiterati = incompetents.

And yet, they are essentially accusing me, you, Conservatives as accessories to murder. This is completely -- and I make this statement broadly and rightly so -- unhinged.

You want to write about rhetoric? What of the rhetoric of Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik and his completely unevidenced blatherations? A registered Demorat, Dupnik concedes he, in fact, has no evidence that Loughner was influenced by anything more than half-firing brain cells.



The Left is, unfortunately, based in completely uninformed, puerile and jejune "revelations" with regard to the Leftist Mindthink. This isn't a tragedy; this is an opportunity.

Let me go you one better: this is the "Perfect Storm" in terms of allowing Congress to rationalize further distancing of themselves from the electorate so that you, me, we, have an even greater difficulty in contacting our elected representatives and, further, lesser accountability to the electorate by those we elect.

Gabrielle Giffords wasn't purposely sacrificed -- no one saw this coming -- but she may end up "taking one for the team" in terms of elected officials conveniently refusing to interact with their electorate from now until obscurum.

And yet: here's where the wheat separates itself from the chaff.

BZ

Check Your Six: Kawasaki Concours 14 Police

[Really tired with politics; time for a change. - BZ]

Remember the lads from CHiPs, ol' Ponch and Jon? Those boys never pulled their guns, if you recall, and they glorified the quintessential Kwakker authority motor, the KZ1000P. I learned how to ride cop bikes on one, and sparked many floorboards on them:

However, in the CHiPs show, Ponch and Jon actually rode the predecessor 1000C, which had no fairing and only a clear windshield:


Kawasaki stopped production of their KZ1000P in 2005. The CHP stopped purchasing the Kwakker in the early 80s and bought, for a time, the Harley-Davidson FXRP with the then-new Evolution engine. This bike was lighter and handled better than the previous cop hogs --trust me on this one. Except for the standard HD mirror/butt vibe (shaken, not stirred), cops liked the FXRP overall.


From that point, however, BMW owned the CHP authority motor market, first with the R1100RTP back in 1997 (see a great article here), the 1150 and now the R1200RTP.


BMWs, for me, were pretty tall. The 2009+ R1200RTP only got taller for my, ahem, limited inseam.

I've ridden the Honda ST 1300P and PA authority motors, and they were sweet indeed; easy wheelie material in first and second and so on. Mucho fastero than BMW-o. Kinda scary for the fat guy. Makes Hardley-Ablesons look like the dead chunks of iron they are.

To this point, the Honda STP has not overwhelmed the authority motor market; certainly, some Fornicalia agencies have them. But they are not endemic.


That said, will BMW continue to "own" the authority motor market in the US and Fornicalia? Perhaps not so much. On the horizon: Kawasaki's new Concours 14 ABS Police:



Kawasakis were the innovative favorites for years. They appear to be gunning again, big time, for their once-owned market.


Recent testing by the Michigan State Police revealed that the Kawasaki 14P bested BMW (despite the fact that Kawasaki riders were told by the reps not to rev past 8K), and completely embarrassed Hardley-Ableson's so-called "Road King" and the Electra Glide, beating them up and taking their lunch money.

News now indicates that CHP did in fact award the bid for its two-year, 336-bike contract to Kawasaki for the 14P with ABS.


You'd best familiarize yourself with what the face of a Kawasaki 14P looks like from the front because, now that CHP ordered these bad boys, many other agencies will too.

BZ

Congresswoman's Shooter: An Obvious TEA Partier Say Leftists

As one can see from the previous post, the Left believe Loughner to be the Right Hand of Palin, a pawn of the TEA Parties and a Roboticon built by GW Bush -- with the control panel placed squarely in the palm of Glenn Beck, ably-abetted by Rush Limbaugh's urging.

First:



Unlike others who won't or can't do some research of their own, and have no blog or locale of their own where their thoughts can be challenged, Loughner's own YouTube channel link is here.

His MySpace site is here as "fallenasleep." It has since been deactivated.

In his YouTube channel, it is confirmed that one of his favorite books is indeed "Mein Kampf":

Books:

I had favorite books: Animal Farm, Brave New World, The Wizard Of OZ, Aesop Fables, The Odyssey, Alice Adventures Into Wonderland, Fahrenheit 451, Peter Pan, To Kill A Mockingbird, We The Living, Phantom Toll Booth, One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest, Pulp,Through The Looking Glass, The Communist Manifesto, Siddhartha, The Old Man And The Sea, Gulliver's Travels, Mein Kampf, The Republic, and Meno.

Screenshots from his MySpace page are here.

Christian Science Monitor indicates that DHS thinks Loughner "may have been" linked to American Renaissance. The DHS memo, acquired by Fox News and displayed on GretaWire, is reproduced in full here:

MEMO:
"The investigation has been taken over by the FBI, and is being run through the Tucson Command Post. Here's what can be confirmed at this time (1800 hrs)... * Gabrielle Giffords Is in ICU.* Federal judge John Roll is deceased. He did rule on a 32 million dollar civil rights lawsuit in February, 2010. That ruling brought death threats to Roll and his family, and for a time he was given a protection detail.* 6 deaths attributed to the shooting. 19 total people hit by gunfire.* suspect’s mother works for the Pima County Board of Supervisors* the suspect has multiple arrests ... But no criminal record? Intervention by someone?* no direct connection - but strong suspicion is being directed at AmRen / American Renaissance. Suspect is possibly linked to this group. (through videos posted on his myspace and YouTube account.). The group’s ideology is anti government, anti immigration, anti ZOG (Zionist Occupational Government), anti Semitic. Gabrielle Gifford is the first Jewish female elected to such a high position in the US government. She was also opposite this group’s ideology when it came to immigration debate.* DHS have a list of names and dates of birth of all victims.* the ACTIC is still playing a major role in the investigation... Computer forensics is cleaning up the surveillance videos, and images from around the scene, and involved in the investigation - working together, was MCSO, DPS, Phoenix PD, ICE, and of course the FBI. It did just come in from the command post, that the federal judge was Not originally scheduled to attend the meeting, according to wife. She stated that he received a phone call about an hour before and was invited to attend. Wrong place - wrong time. For the planning side, there are impromptu memorials popping up all over the state, but the largest one is downtown phoenix, at the capital."

First, do your own research and determine if you think Loughner is linked to AR.

Second, note that AR is typified as being anti-Jew therefore anti-Israel. Take the time to read AR's response to the accusation here. AR makes one rather salient observation: "If this memo is typical of the research done by the Department of Homeland Security, our country is in serious danger." I concur.

Third, anyone with a modicum of understanding of the TEA Party knows that there is no greater a supporter of Israel than TEA Party members, hence supporters of Jews. The TEA Parties have even been compared to the Weather Underground.

DHS also think that members of the TEA Party may be domestic terrorists themselves, just as those who embrace and believe in the US Constitution.

The specious bullshit that Loughner is anything more than a lone crackpot and is a puppet of Palin and Beck is just that. It is common knowledge that these people, this cabal, is also responsible for the cavities in our teeth.

Again, my thoughts and prayers to the families of the dead and injured; God bless them all.

BZ