Bloviating Zeppelin

Fornicalia: Broke By March

2012-02-01T00:01:00.000-08:00

And this is news?

Jerry Brown has been lying to the electorate ever since his installation as current governor in 2011. And so has the Demorat-controlled legislature. It is unbridled and profligate spending, by Demorats, that has put Fornicalia in its current untenable and dangerous position, lowered its credit rating and guaranteed this March outcome.

There can be no doubt that this was done purposely by Demorat politicians.

It amazes me that people appear to be actually shocked at this outcome. What part of "you spend more than your revenues" do people not comprehend? Particularly in light of the fact that, unlike the federal government, Fornicalia cannot print its own money.

Out of every Fornicalia politician, State Controller John Chiang -- yes, a Demorat himself -- has had more balls than every other state politician combined. Yes, the John Chiang who, when Fornicalia didn't reach a budget last year, had the temerity to withhold checks to politicians. And they sued! Because they were pissed! Because there were actual consequences to being stupid! How dare there be consequences! We're Fornicalia politicians! We are inviolate! Untouchable! How dare you touch us!

Imagine that.

Fornicalia politicians continue to live in an alternate reality, one not encountered on this planet or in this dimension. In their reality, increased taxes create more jobs, increased regulations create a more perfect peace, and embracing illegal immigrants and paying for their schooling and medical care creates a symbiosis and greater vote base. [That much, however, in re the votes, is correct.]

More and more Fornicalians -- or, as I should more precisely say, denizens -- simply want more and more Free Cheese.

From my local newspaper, The Sacramento Bee:

January 31, 2012

Controller: State to run out of cash in March without action

California will run out of cash by early March if the state does not take swift action to find $3.3 billion through payment delays and borrowing, according to a letter state Controller John Chiang sent to state lawmakers today.
The announcement is surprising since lawmakers previously believed the state had enough cash to last through the fiscal year that ends in June.

But Chiang said additional cash management solutions are needed because state tax revenues are $2.6 billion less than what Gov. Jerry Brown and state lawmakers assumed in their optimistic budget last year. Meanwhile, Chiang said, the state is spending $2.6 billion more than state leaders planned on.

The Assembly budget committee approved a bill today that would enable $865 million of borrowing from existing state accounts, Senate Bill 95. Chiang, after consultation with the Department of Finance and state Treasurer Bill Lockyer, is also seeking about $2.4 billion in delayed payments to universities, counties and Medi-Cal, as well as additional borrowing from outside investors.

Absent these actions, the state would fall below its prudent $2.5 billion cash cushion on Feb. 29, Chiang estimated. On March 8, the state would actually end up $730 million in the red. The state would be below the safe cash cushion for several weeks ending April 13, save for several days at the end of March.

Fornicalia politicians come and suck at the public trough, sue when their paychecks are withheld for not doing their jobs, and then act stunned when confronted with common sense and reality.

Again, did I mention: the state is controlled by Demorats. And business continues to flee Fornicalia -- businesses huge and small -- in droves, as documented in great detail here.

Imagine that.

Fornicalia Demorats are shocked! Shocked, I tell you!

BZ

Monday Conundrums

2012-01-30T00:01:00.000-08:00

I write this post on Sunday, in reflection of the day in general and a conflucnce of incidents that have somehow managed to place us all here, today, in this precise locus and flow of time and events.

I aim to tie it together; my aim may be off and I admit that freely up front. I am a small blog in a huge, HUGE pond and -- it still amazes me -- if I continue to have readers I can be placed into the "astounded" category.

I can only THANK my readers for sticking by me through thick and thin and all points in between. I am not the slickest blog or the prettiest blog or the most technical blog and -- again -- I admit this readily up front. I am akin to a Techno-Luddite.

That said, I can only hope that people may still continue to read me because I proffer some truths now and then.

Some truths that you can't or won't read on other media forms because people fear this. They fear the truth. They fear the consumate triumvirate of training, education and -- mostly -- experience.

Which leads me to an overall evaluation of our current state of Conservative Politics. As of today: Monday, 1-30-12.

Romney and Gingrich are fighting each other. My take on both:

ROMNEY:

Too slick for his own good. Never a hair out of place. I couldn't care less about his Mormonism -- BUT -- his Mormonism wasn't evidently sufficiently in place for him to object to abortions earlier. Or gay marriage. Or state-mandated healthcare. Or increased taxes. A publicly-hocked lugie wouldn't stick to his visage. And he has more money than Croesus. On the other hand:

Romney has a private business acumen that is rivaled by few. He took Bain Capital to new heights. He actually DID create NEW jobs as opposed to Obaka Spiritual Jobs. He turned the Olympics around. He is known, to a select few, as an Improver. You give him a private sector problem and he'll turn it around for profitability. The problem he must overcome is this: profit is now considered EVIL and, with it, himself as EVIL. Bottom line: if anyone can fix capital problems, it's Romney.

His religion keeps him personally faithful. But is everything else up for grabs? Is he what you wish to be when you wish him to be it?

But WHO is he -- exactly??

GINGRICH:

Yes, former Speaker of the House. And no one, NO ONE, disputes his innate intelligence. Wherever he goes, no one with a whit of brainpower denies that he's "the smartest man in the room."

That said, is he and will he be the most Sensible Man In The Room?

Truly, no one knows. Gingrich is Jekyll and Hyde. One face one day or moment, another face or moment another day or moment.

And like a number of men in power, he went through women like some people go through toilet paper. It's about the power. No more than that.

If it was terrible for Clinton, it should be terrible for Gingrich. But it isn't. Because things are skewed. Gingrich married his squeezes. Clinton just fucked them and moved on with impunity and predominantly wasn't called on it until the very end of his White House.

CLINTON vs GINGRICH:

The former wife of Newt Gingrich made reference to an "open marriage" and, now, Newt is taken to task for that.

Contrast and compare:

When was the last time, do you think, that Hillary and William actually enjoyed conjugal relations? Or even slept in the same zip code?

RON PAUL:

Mr Paul is a Truther and a Nutcase. He associates with white supremacists. He has great ideas about our monetary system and the Rederal Reserve. He tends to go Constitutionalist. He is for Less Government. No debt. States' rights.

He thinks drugs should be legalized. He thinks our borders should be porous. He thinks we should have no interest or reference to extranational affairs.

That crazy crap just can't stand.

And so: imagine that Republicans haven't come to a one-focal-length intensity point.

Illuminate me. Tell me where I'm wrong.

Hit me on second base.

Sunday Thoughts: A Doctor Responds to The Greatest Generation

2012-01-29T09:21:00.000-08:00

And this isn't simply a roundly e-mail, it's based in fact from the late 1990s regarding The Greatest Generation:

PRELUDE:

Stephen R. Ellison

Dr. Stephen R. Ellison is a native of San Marcos, TX and a graduate of Jack C. Hays high school in Kyle, TX. He received his B.S. in Biology from Southwest Texas State University in San Marcos, TX in 1987 before enlisting as a Private First Class medic in the U.S. Army, serving in the 1st Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment, Hunter Army Airfield, GA. He was the Enlisted Honor Graduate of his Ranger School class and participated in the parachute assault of Torrorrijos/Tocumen Airport, Panama during Operation: Just Cause.

In 1991, then Sergeant Ellison was accepted to medical school at the University Of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio on a U.S. Army scholarship. He received his Doctor of Medicine degree and promotion to Captain in 1995. His transitional internship was performed at Brooke Army Medical Center. He then served as the initial company commander and program director for the new Joint Special Operations Medical Training Center, Ft. Bragg, NC.

In 2001 he Graduated from the joint Brooke Army Medical Center – Wilford Hall Medical Center Emergency Medicine Residency in San Antonio, TX and was promoted to the rank of Major. While stationed at Ft. Hood, TX assigned to the 36th Medical Evacuation Battalion, Major Ellison was deployed in support of Operation: Iraqi Freedom during the initial phase of combat operations into Iraq. Attached to the 3rd Infantry Division, Major Ellison was one of the first medical personnel to arrive at Saddam Hussein International Airport on April 5, 2003 during the initial operations to secure Baghdad.

Dr. Ellison currently resides in Central Texas with his wife and children. He resigned from the Army in 2004 but continues to see many military retirees and dependents in the Emergency Departments he now attends.

RESPONSE FROM A DOCTOR:

RESPONSE FROM A DOCTOR

RE: Earn This:

Your note about the movie Saving Private Ryan touched me deeply. As you know I am a doctor specializing in Emergency Medicine in the Emergency Departments of the only two military Level One trauma centers. They are both in San Antonio, TX and they care for civilian emergencies as well as military personnel. San Antonio has the largest military retiree population in the world living here because of the location of these two large military medical centers.

As a military doctor in training for my specialty I work long hours and the pay is less than glamorous. One tends to become jaded by the long hours, lack of sleep, food, family contact and the endless parade of human suffering passing before you. The arrival of another ambulance does not mean more pay, only more work. Most often it is a victim from a motor vehicle crash. Often it is a person of dubious character who has been shot or stabbed. With our large military retiree population it is often a nursing home patient. Even with my enlisted service and minimal combat experience in Panama prior to medical school, I have caught myself groaning when the ambulance brought in yet another sick, elderly person from one of the local retirement centers that cater to military retirees. I had not stopped to think of what citizens of this age group represented.

I saw Saving Private Ryan. I was touched deeply. Not so much by the carnage in the first 30 minutes but by the sacrifices of so many. I was touched most by the scene of the elderly survivor at the graveside asking his wife if he’d been a good man. I realized that I had seen these same men and women coming through my Emergency Department and had not realized what magnificent sacrifices they had made. The things they did for me and everyone else that has lived on this planet since the end of that conflict are priceless.

Situation permitting I now try to ask my patients about their experiences. They would never bring up the subject without the inquiry. I have been privileged to an amazing array of experiences recounted in the brief minutes allowed in an Emergency Department encounter. These experiences have revealed the incredible individuals I have had the honor of serving in a medical capacity, many on their last admission to the hospital.

There was a frail, elderly woman who reassured my young enlisted medic trying to start an IV line in her arm. She remained calm and poised despite her illness and the multiple needle-sticks into her fragile veins. She was what we call a “hard stick.” As the medic made another attempt I noticed a number tattooed across her forearm. I touched it with one finger and looked into her eyes. She simply said “Auschwitz.” Many of later generations would have loudly and openly berated the young medic in his many attempts. How different was the response from this person who’d seen unspeakable suffering.

A long retired Colonel who as a young USN officer had parachuted from his burning plane over a pacific island held by the Japanese. Now an octogenarian, his head cut in a fall at home where he lived alone. His CT scan and suturing had been delayed until after midnight by the usual parade of high priority ambulance patients. Still spry for his age, he asked to use the phone to call a taxi to take him home then realized his ambulance had brought him without his wallet. He asked if he could use the phone to make a long distance call to his daughter who lived 70 miles away. With great pride we told him that he could not as he’d done enough for his country and the least we could do was get him a taxi home, even if we had to pay for it ourselves. My only regret was that my shift wouldn’t end for several hours and I couldn’t drive him myself.

I was there the night MSG Roy Benavidez came through the Emergency Department for the last time. He was very sick. I was not the doctor taking care of him but I walked to his bedside and took his hand. I said nothing. He was so sick he didn’t know I was there. I’d read his Congressional Medal of Honor citation and wanted to shake his hand. He died a few days later.

The gentleman who served with Merrill’s Marauders, the survivor of the Bataan Death March, the survivor Omaha Beach, the 101 year old World War I veteran, the former POW held in frozen North Korea, the former Special Forces medic now with non-operable liver cancer, the former Vietnam Corps Commander. I remember these citizens. I may still groan when yet another ambulance comes in but now I am much more aware of what an honor it is to serve these particular men and women. I am angered at the cut backs, implemented, and proposed, that will continue to decay their meager retirement benefits. I see the President and Congress who would turn their back on these individuals who’ve sacrificed so much to protect our liberty. I see later generations that seems to be totally engrossed in abusing these same liberties won with such sacrifice. It has become my personal endeavor to make the nurses and young enlisted medics aware of these amazing individuals when I encounter them in our Emergency Dept. Their response to these particular citizens has made me think that perhaps all is not lost in the next generation.

My experiences have solidified my belief that we are losing an incredible generation and this nation knows not what it is losing. Our un-caring government, and ungrateful civilian populace should all take note. We should all remember that we must “Earn this.”

Rangers Lead the Way!

©Copyright April 2000 by Captain Stephen R. Ellison, MD

Author’s Note: This letter was written as a personal correspondence to a friend, Mr. Gene Tuttle, in April 2000 while Captain Ellison served in the U.S. Army under the administration of then President Clinton. Although not intended for widespread circulation, the email was forwarded to many others and has continued to circulate around the world. It is hoped that this letter will help bring focus to the difficulties faced by those who serve or have served in the Armed Forces of the United States.

Dr Ellison’s article prompted the response, “From a Psychiatric Nurse” – ©Copyright April 2005 by Tish Mathis.

Majoribus ingenero dies.

P.S.
This is for you, Dad.

Pushing The Envelope, Part VIII:

2012-01-28T04:03:00.000-08:00

The human being has always pushed the envelope into and beyond the realms of danger. This is the eighth of various weekend postings displaying how restless Man is with the mundane and how he purposely crosses the threshold into danger willingly -- and sometimes unwillingly.

Car: 2004 Ford Mustang Cobra, 550 hp.

Bikes: Triumph Speed Triples.

Tom McClintock on SOPA and PIPA:

2012-01-27T00:01:00.000-08:00

Again, how lucky I am that Mr Tom McClintock is my representative:

As I wrote here, SOPA and PIPA are dangers to our very own First Amendment.

It was reconsidered but only upon a hue and cry raised by the Groundlings of this nation. With Mr McClintock's voice officially and publicly included alongside!

The transcript here, and below:

House Chamber, Washington, D.C. - January 23, 2012

Madam Speaker:

Long ago, Jefferson warned, "The natural progress of things is for liberty to yield, and government to gain ground." The exceptions to that rule have been few and far between recently, and ought to be celebrated when they occur.

One did this past week with the announcement that supporters of the so-called "Stop On-Line Privacy Act" and the "Protect Intellectual Property Act" have indefinitely postponed their measures after an unprecedented protest across the Internet.

SOPA and PIPA pose a crippling danger to the Internet because they use the legitimate concern over copy-right infringement as an excuse for government to intrude upon and regulate the very essence of the Internet - the unrestricted and absolutely free association that links site to site, providing infinite pathways for commerce, discourse and learning.

It is not the Internet per se that has set the stage for the next quantum leap in human knowledge and advancement - but rather the free association at the core of the Internet. And this is precisely what SOPA and PIPA directly threaten.

But as dangerous as this concept is to the Internet, it pales in comparison to the danger it poses to our fundamental freedoms as Americans.

It is true that rogue web sites operating from off-shore havens, are stealing intellectual property and then selling it.

We already have very good laws against that, as evidenced by the arrest yesterday of Mr. Kim Schmitz and his associates in New Zealand, who now stand accused of operating one of the biggest of these rogue sites.

Theft of intellectual property is fundamentally no different than the theft of any other kind of property. It should be taken no less seriously than the thefts perpetrated by the likes of Bernie Madoff, John Dellinger or Willie Sutton.

It is no different and it should be treated no differently. In every such case, it is the individual who commits the theft and the individual who is culpable and accountable to the law. And it is the individual who is accorded the right of due process, including the presumption of innocence, while he stands accused.

This is what SOPA and PIPA destroy. Upon mere accusation, these measures would allow the government to shut down web sites, ruin honest businesses, impound property, disrupt legitimate speech and dragoon innocent third parties into enforcing laws that may or may not have been broken.

When property is stolen, we hold accountable the individuals who knowingly commit the act, and place the burden of proof on the accuser. The accuser must demonstrate to the satisfaction of a jury that the defendant stole property or that he received property that he knew was stolen.

Yes, it is a ponderous system. Yes, it means you actually have to provide evidence. Yes, it means you have to convince a jury. Yes, it means we can't catch and successfully prosecute every criminal. But the experience of mankind over the centuries has proven that this is the best possible way to protect the innocent and to protect our freedom while also punishing the guilty. In part, we punish the guilty to discourage others we might not be able to punish.

And as the arrests yesterday in New Zealand prove, it works. Let Mr. Schmitz and his confederates be extradited and let them have their day in court. Let evidence be presented. Let a jury be convinced of that evidence. And if convicted of one of the greatest thefts in human history, let us mete out the full measure of punishment provided by the law to stand as a fearsome example to others.

That doesn't and won't stop all theft and it isn't perfect. But to replace it with one where mere accusation can bring punishment or inflict ruinous costs upon innocent third parties, would introduce a despotic and destructive concept that is antithetical to the ancient rights that our government was formed to protect.

The developments of the last few weeks have saved the Internet and saved these fundamental principles - at least for now. But Jefferson was right that the natural order is for government to grow at the expense of liberty. That is why we have our Constitution.

And to the protection of that Constitution, the Internet has now empowered its rightful owners, "We, the People," to defend it more effectively than ever before.

Which leads me, Madam Speaker, to conclude that because of the events of this past week, we will see many more victories for freedom in the days and years ahead.

You can be guaranteed that the assaults upon our freedoms will continue under the current regime.

Thank you for reading.

BZ

Brewer Stands Up To Obama

2012-01-26T08:57:00.000-08:00

And a nice photograph it is, also.

Finally, a Republican who can stand up to Mr Obama. Directly. From ABCNews:

Longstanding tension between Republican Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer and Democratic President Barack Obama flared into the public spotlight Wednesday just after Air Force One touched down in Phoenix.

Brewer, who was on the tarmac to greet Obama, hand-delivered a letter before engaging the president "intensely" for several minutes, including pointing her finger directly at him, according to Politico's Carrie Budoff Brown, acting as a pool reporter for other media outlets.

Accounts from both camps later said the terse talk focused on Brewer's book - "Scorpions for Breakfast: My Fight Against Special Interests, Liberal Media and Cynical Politicos to Secure America's Border."

The book, which was released in November, describes a June 2010 Oval Office meeting between Obama and Brewer aimed at diffusing conflicts surrounding Arizona's controversial state immigration law and the administration's immigration policy.

It is of great interest that I note these thoughts from Governor Brewer:

Brewer complains in "Scorpions for Breakfast" that she and her staff were treated coldly by White House aides, prevented from taking pictures in the holding room outside the Oval Office and that their cell phones and cameras were "confiscated" by Secret Service.

"Too bad we weren't illegal aliens, or we could have sued them," she writes.

During her meeting with the president, Brewer said Obama was "condescending" and professorial, "lecturing" on his efforts to promote comprehensive immigration reform.

"It wasn't long before I realized I was hearing the president's stump speech," she said. "Only I was supposed to listen without talking. Did he care to hear the view from the actual scene at the border? Did the opinions and observations of the people of Arizona mean anything to him? I didn't think so."

"He was patronizing," she said. "Then it dawned on me: He's treating me like the cop he had over for a beer after he bad-mouthed the Cambridge police, I thought. He thinks he can humor me and then get rid of me."

Imagine that. Obama patronizing, arrogant, lecturing, thin-skinned. I am shocked. Shocked, I tell you.

BZ

Israel, Iran and Syria: Two Months To Conflict?

2012-01-26T00:01:00.000-08:00

Candice Lanier in HumanEvents.com writes:

Recent events in the Middle East would indicated that Israel, Syria and Iran are all making preparations for a regional war. According to information acquired by DEBKAfile, the conflict would likely ensue some time within the next two months.

With that in mind, the Debkafile indicates that Mr Obama contacted Israeli PM Netanyahu in what was typified as an "angry phone call" following the unattributed killing of Iranian nuclear scientist Mostafa Ahmadi-Roshan last Wednesday, Jan. 11th. The Debkafile writes that DC thinks Israel is going to attack Iran unilaterally. Following that phone call from Obama, in two words, Israel was pissed off. Further:

Debkafile's exclusive sources report that the differences between the US and Israel surfaced before the tough Obama-Netanyahu conversation last Thursday (January 12th -BZ). Political, military and intelligence officials privately voiced resentment over the strong and unusual condemnation the White House and Secretary Clinton issued over the death of the Iranian nuclear scientist.
By denying "absolutely" any US involvement in the killing, the administration implicitly pointed the finger at Israel – an unusual act in relations between two friendly governments, especially when both face a common issue as sensitive as a nuclear-armed Iran.
Obama seemed to suspect that Israel staged the killing to torpedo yet another US secret effort to avoid a military confrontation with Iran through back channel contacts with Tehran, while the administration's extreme condemnation is seen as tying in with its all-out campaign to hold Israel back from a unilateral strike.

Again with that in mind, it was Israel's Netanyahu who called off the joint powers exercise, Austere Challenge 12 -- and not Washington as reported -- because, as Debkafile notes:

Netanyahu acted when he judged the Obama administration's resolve to preempt a nuclear Iran to be flagging. His action also aimed at freeing Israel's hands for a unilateral strike on Iran's nuclear sites - if necessary.

Finally, from Debkafiles:

The new round of European sanctions will not stop Iran's pursuit of a nuclear weapon, Israel's Defense Minister Ehud Barak warned in a radio interview Tuesday, Jan. 24. debkafile: The Obama administration and EU delayed oil sanctions to July 1 for back-channel contacts to ripen and produce a fresh round of nuclear talks with Tehran. Barak stressed Israel's hand was always near the trigger and advised taking "very seriously" Israel's military option which had not been taken off the table.

To me, it appears obvious that Israel is on its own. Mr Obama has made it abundantly clear that he is no friend of Israel but still manages to find time to honor various and sundry Islamic persons and events, despite their clear goals.

Any intervention by any country or entity into Iran with regard to its nuclear program will be painful, very painful, for the United States or any Western Nation dependent upon Middle Eastern oil. I've written about this countless times, most recently here.

On the other hand, when the whip comes down, please remember that it was Mr Obama, the Demorats and the Religious Left who REFUSED to allow a Canadian oil pipeline into the country so that LOCAL and not MIDDLE EASTERN oil could more readily be supplied to the country.

We are sitting, ourselves, on the Bakken Reserves -- an oil field that is thought to be equal or larger than any extant in the Middle East. We have large, untapped fields of natural gas. We have huge fields of oil off our very own coasts. And another large field in Alaska's ANWR.

All of which we are NOT allowed to tap, so that we are FORCED to rely on the political intransigence of Middle Eastern countries, the chokepoint of the Strait of Hormuz, and all the hate and discontent that naturally brings.

When the lights go out, when the gas stops, when heating oil deliveries cease, perhaps it's time for these four words: "Thank you, Mr Obama."

BZ

Pelosi: No To Newt as President

2012-01-25T00:01:00.000-08:00

What does Nancy Pelosi know that we don't know?

Pelosi On A Gingrich Presidency: "That Will Never Happen"

John King, CNN: "You make your case there passionately for President Obama. But also understand that this is a tough reelection climate for any president, Democrat or Republican in this economy. Because of your history with Speaker Gingrich, what goes through your mind when you think of the possibility, which is more real today than it was a week or a month ago, that he would be the Republican nominee and that you could come back here next January or next February with a President Gingrich?"

Rep. Nancy Pelosi: "Let me just say this. That will never happen."

King: "Why?"

Pelosi: "He's not going to be President of the United States. That's not going to happen. Let me just make my prediction and stand by it, it isn't going to happen."

King: "Why are you so sure?"

Pelosi: "There is something I know. The Republicans, if they choose to nominate him that's their prerogative. I don't even think that's going to happen."

Clearly, there is something more waiting in the wings

And, truth be known, I won't be surprised.

By the time you reach this point in national politics, you have sold your soul so many times that you have no idea who will reach for your body when you're dead.

Corruption, thy name is federal politics.

A Forgotten Washington Times Editorial From October of 2010:

2012-01-24T00:01:00.000-08:00

A clear warning against Shariah Law.

"Radical Muslims want America ruled by Shariah"

Islamists say the Koran is destined to rule America. In fact, the Muslim takeover of the White House is not just an unfolding action plan but a directive from Muhammad himself.

In an interview Sunday on ABC’s “This Week,” British radical Muslim activist Anjem Choudary made clear what he and his Islamist brothers have planned for the West. “We do believe, as Muslims, the East and the West will one day be governed by the Shariah,” he said. “Indeed, we believe that one day, the flag of Islam will fly over the White House.” He then quoted a hadith, or saying of Muhammad, as related by 10th-century Muslim scholar Al-Tabarani, that “the final hour will not come until Muslims conquer the White House.” Another version of the saying goes, “A small portion of Muslims will rise and conquer the White House.”

Many Americans believe this conquest is well underway, if not already secretly completed. President Obama was concerned enough about perceptions of his faith to address the question at one of his recent “backyard discussions” in New Mexico. Mr. Obama said he is “a Christian by choice,” which may or may not assuage the concerns of those who believe he is a Muslim by birth.

The president’s declaration of faith may not help with his vaunted outreach to the global Muslim community. A Gallup poll released last week showed that current approval of U.S. leadership in countries in the Middle East and North Africa is “similar or lower than what it was in 2008,” in some cases “erasing gains seen after the transition from the Bush administration to the Obama administration.” In no country was the approval rating above 30 percent. It’s fair to conclude that this experiment in engagement with Islam has failed.

As Mr. Choudary indicated, Islamist “engagement” with the United States is a holy obligation.

Last week, the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), the leading proponent of global Shariah law, held a conference on “Islam and Muslims in America” in cooperation with the American Islamic College in Chicago. OIC Secretary General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu called on Muslims in the United States to become involved in all aspects of American life, including local and national politics. The Obama administration gave its imprimatur to the gathering by sending its own small portion, including special envoy to the OIC, Rashad Hussain, Dalia Mogahed who works with the Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, and Farah Pandith, the State Department’s special representative to Muslim communities.

The OIC is currently campaigning to have so-called “Islamophobia” recognized by the international community as a form of racism prosecutable under international law. This would include any expression the Islamists find offensive, which in practice would amount to a global gag order on any critical discussion of Islam. Last year, the Obama administration co-sponsored with Egypt a U.N. Human Rights Council resolution against “racial and religious stereotyping,” which offered cover to the Islamists in their drive to put any criticism of their religion off limits.

The leading countries in the OIC are among the least religiously tolerant in the world. In most cases, Christians, Jews, Hindus and others may not freely practice their faith, and under Koranic law, converts from Islam face the death penalty. The OIC has stated that any freedoms in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights that conflict with Shariah do not apply to its members. If this is the type of cooperation the Obama administration is seeking to promote with Islam, then the “final hour” draws closer still. Mr. Obama said Jesus Christ died for his sins, but the United States continues to suffer for the president’s mistakes.

First, an amazing editorial predominantly ignored back in 2010 but, now in 2012, even more important.

Please read this editorial than contrast and compare it to what you experience with regard to your own religion. For you secularists, atheists and anti-theists, ask yourselves: what is it about Islam that you'd want to practice under duress or force or at the end of an AK-47 or scimitar?

Further: what other religion on the planet makes these threats?

Only one: Islam. A barbaric, misogynistic Death Cult.

Just a friendly reminder.

Iran 'definitely' closing Strait of Hormuz over EU oil embargo

2012-01-23T06:45:00.000-08:00

First, from the UK Telegraph:

European Union nations have agreed on an oil embargo against Iran as part of sanctions over its nuclear programme.

With that in mind, Iran has its response. From FT.com:

Tensions in the Gulf could reach a breaking point as a senior Iranian official said Iran would “definitely” close the Strait of Hormuz if an EU oil embargo disrupted the export of crude oil, the semi-official Fars news agency reports.

The announcement came in response to a decision by the European Union on Monday to impose an oil embargo on Iran over the country’s alleged nuclear weapons program.
“The pressure of sanctions is designed to try and make sure that Iran takes seriously our request to come to the table,” EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said.
However, with Washington’s decision to deploy a second carrier strike group in the Gulf, the EU’s attempt to pressure Iran economically could greatly increase the likelihood of all-out war in the region.
The Strait of Hormuz is the vital link between the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman.
It is also one of the most strategic chokepoints in the world when it comes to oil transit.
With world oil output estimated at some 88 million barrels per day in 2011, the US Energy Information Administration estimated that some 17 million of those barrels passed through the Strait.
If economic sanctions sufficiently pressure Iran to retaliate by closing down the Strait, nearly 20 per cent of worldwide oil trade would be impacted, resulting in a massive spike in global energy costs.
With over half a million regular forces and an additional 120,000 personnel in the country’s elite Revolutionary Guard, analysts believe the consequences of a US-led war against Iran would dwarf recent Western-backed military incursions the Middle East.

I only have two words:

It's starting.

BZ

Super Bowl 46 Will Be: Patriots vs Giants

2012-01-23T00:01:00.000-08:00

The first game, Baltimore Ravens vs the New England Patriots, was hard fought and could have been won by the Ravens. Final score? 23 to 20, Patriots.

The second game, San Francisco 49ers vs the New York Giants, was equally tough. Final score? 20 to 17, won in overtime by the Giants.

Both games were exciting, well fought, and very entertaining to watch!

Now: Patriots vs Giants. Just as in Super Bowl 42 in 2008, where the Giants won, 17 to 14.

Whom do you choose?

P.S.
Sore Loser award to SF 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh for refusing to be interviewed on Fox TV directly after the 49ers loss. Poor form coach, very poor form.

Joe Paterno Passes

2012-01-22T11:52:00.001-08:00

JoPa, dead at age 85.

And the nicest tribute to him is here.

Chihuahua, Mexico: Deadlier Than Afghanistan

2012-01-22T00:01:00.000-08:00

[I was going to ease off the politics for today, but the information now revealed won't wait. -BZ]

According to CNSNews.com, the Mexican border state of Chihuahua was deadlier, in 2011, than the conflict in Afghanistan:

(CNSNews.com) – Organized crime-related deaths in one Mexican border state during the first nine months of 2011 exceed the number of Afghan civilians killed in roughly the same period in all of war-torn Afghanistan.
According to the Mexican government, from January through September 2011 2,276 deaths were recorded in the Mexican state of Chihuahua, which borders Texas and New Mexico.
A Nov. 2011 Congressional Research Service (CRS) report states that over nearly the same period – January through October 2011 – 2,177 civilians were killed in Afghanistan, where a U.S.-led war against the Taliban is underway. It did not provide a breakdown of responsibility for that period, but said that in 2010, 75 percent of civilian deaths were attributed to the Taliban and other “anti-government elements.”
Per capita, a person was at least nine times more likely to be murdered in Chihuahua last year than in Afghanistan. (Chihuahua has 3,406,465 inhabitants, according to Mexico’s 2010 census; the CIA World Factbookreports that in July 2011 the estimated population of Afghanistan was 29,835,392.)

But, of course, we need to ensure that our borders remain porous with our loving neighbors to the south.

And one thing not pointed out: because of the poor economy in the US, border incursions don't exhibit quite the rampant numbers once shown. Still, despite that, Mexico is deadlier than it's ever been. And that violence bleeds over -- literally -- into border states and border towns and border ranches in America.

Can you even fathom being an American rancher on the border? The illegal incursions? The trash? The trespassing? The violation? And the physical threat to you and your family from not just coyotes but drug cartels as well?

Further: could you fathom not just the indignancy, the indifference, but the pointed scapegoating of you and your fellow ranchers by the federal government?

The numbers diminish slightly; the violence and danger increases.

Canada to America: You Won't Take Our Oil? China Will.

2012-01-21T00:01:00.000-08:00

Just as I wrote this past Thursday, Canada has confirmed:

If America doesn't want the Keystone XL pipeline for a continued flow south to the Texas Chemical Coast, China would most certainly up the ante and take that offer, with a pipeline west from Alberta to the BC coast for blue water shipping.

From Bloomberg.com:

Prime Minister Stephen Harper, in a telephone call yesterday, told Obama “Canada will continue to work to diversify its energy exports,” according to details provided by Harper’s office. Canadian Natural Resource Minister Joe Oliver said relying less on the U.S. would help strengthen the country’s “financial security.”
The “decision by the Obama administration underlines the importance of diversifying and expanding our markets, including the growing Asian market,” Oliver told reporters in Ottawa.
Currently, 99 percent of Canada’s crude exports go to the U.S., a figure that Harper wants to reduce in his bid to make Canada a “superpower” in global energy markets.

Mr Obama, with this completely ridiculous and uninformed decision based but upon incorrect ideology, jeopardizes this country on almost every level.

And here's a Newsflash: China also is jumping on Brazilian oil -- over the US as well. Imagine that.

BZ

Newt Gingrich: Kicked CNN John King's Ass in the SC Debate

2012-01-20T00:10:00.000-08:00

And it, oddly enough, was somewhat difficult to find and isolate on the internet after it occurred.

Imagine that.

The reference via CNN:

To take an ex-wife and make it two days before the primary a significant question in a presidential campaign is as close to despicable as anything I can imagine," Gingrich told CNN Chief National Correspondent John King, the moderator of the CNN-Southern Republican debate.

Good for Gingrich, is all I can say. In his further comments, which are not yet transcripted, he took King to the damned woodshed. As well he should.

BZ

Blowout: Rick Perry Bows Out, Santorum Wins Iowa

2012-01-20T00:01:00.000-08:00

And Rick Perry throws his endorsement to Newt Gingrich.

Further, Gingrich may be closing in on Romney.

Now, of course, all the media gun barrels are pointed at Newt Gingrich and his personal life.

The group is now narrowed to four: Romney, Santorum, Paul and Gingrich.

Obama: Killed The Keystone Pipeline, and Killing Our Nation

2012-01-19T00:01:00.000-08:00

I've had to re-write this post twice.

Luckily, by now, I've managed to calm down. If 210/190 is calm.

Mr Obama has killed the Keystone XL pipeline proposal and, in perfect political form, blamed his rejection on the Republicans instead of his warped ideologies. And they are indeed warped.

Through the years I've attempted to be somewhat civil in my writings about Mr Obama. That said I've never, you may have noticed, placed the word "president" adjacent the name of Mr Obama, because I didn't believe then nor believe now that he deserves to have those two words immediately linked.

But I digress; for those unaware, the Keystone XL pipeline is a project wherein the company TransCanada proposes to build a 1,700-mile pipeline from Canada proper down into Texas and to Gulf Coast refineries. This $7 billion dollar enterprise portends, at minimum, some 10,000+ American jobs and is endorsed by many unions, the states involved, and Congress -- in some rather unusual bipartisan support.

Mr Obama also had until February 21st to decide. It was he who decided to make the early announcement -- absent further investigation -- a full month earlier than required. A further month that could have been utilized to "review" the issue.

From NationalJournal.com:

In a decision that quickly re-ignited a fierce energy debate, the Obama administration on Wednesday rejected the controversial Keystone XL pipeline because the 60-day deadline imposed by Republicans did not allow adequate time to review an alternate route through an ecologically sensitive area in Nebraska.

And that, on its face, is a bald LIE. Not a prevarication, not a mistake, not a misstatement -- it is a naked LIE.

The Keystone XL project has been under examination and the most severe scrutiny for the past three years. As you can see by the graphic, due to this scrutiny, the proposed pipeline has already been moved in order to accommodate various "aquifer concerns."

Luckily, Republican reaction was quick:

A spokesman for House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, decried the news. “President Obama is about to destroy tens of thousands of American jobs and sell American energy security to the Chinese,” said Brendan Buck. “The president won’t stand up to his political base even to create American jobs. This is not the end of this fight.”

I should care to point out: make no mistake. This is not the move of a man who is clueless and uninformed; oh no. This is the very calculated and arrogant move of a man who operates under an anti-Capitalist, anti-American, anti-Corporate, anti-Constitutionalist aegis and who was schooled and swears allegiance to Alinsky. His associates, endorsements, friends and acquaintances bespeak volumes: Reverend Wright, Reverend Pfleger, ACORN, Blagojevich, William Ayers, Bernardine Dohrn, Saul Alinsky but to name a few. He truly believes that Cloward-Piven must be enacted in order to bring this nation into global sway.

Canada won't wait forever. It is already our Number One supplier of crude. And its government is quite disappointed that we didn't jump at this deal. And a deal it is.

Mexico is our Number Two supplier of crude. Of all places, Venezuela is Number Three. Imagine that.

Canada would rather deal with its southern neighbor but -- make no mistake -- deal it will. If not with the United States, then China is certainly waiting in the wings and will most certainly take advantage of a situation where it would "get over" on the US in three ways:

1. By taking the oil from our very own back yard, and
2. By ensuring the oil will be utilized to create a larger, more powerful and militaristic China
3. To be used against us.

The only bright point:

Presidential representatives must also submit within 15 days a report to Congress detailing why the permit was rejected.

Obama also said that Keystone won't produce jobs.

Wrong.

Finally:

House Republicans have called Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to testify as early as next week on the Obama administration’s decision to reject the Keystone XL pipeline.
Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton formally sent a request to Clinton to come and testify at a hearing as early as next Wednesday, the day after President Barack Obama gives his State of the Union address before a joint session of Congress.

This is, as I am wont to say, an "abortion on toast."

Mr Obama jeopardizes our national security and sovereignty. And wants to spend and spend.

Does this place Mr Obama into the category of a "traitor"?

BZ

P.S.
And here's a Reality Check: gas and petroleum already flows in massive quantities, through live pipelines, alongside the various rights-of-way of numerous railroads criss-crossing the entire nation. And, on those selfsame rights-of-way, optic cable has also been laid years ago.

Wikipedia: Dark On Wednesday in the US

2012-01-18T00:01:00.000-08:00

Wikipedia is going dark -- the English version -- on Wednesday, in protest of the SOPA - PIPA acts in Congress.

In a nutshell, the government will be deciding what sites, if this passes, you can visit. It will open a door that essentially won't be able to be closed again.

This, on its face, pisses me off on general principle. In this instance, I stand BIG Libertarian.

From the LATimes.com:

Wikipedia is among hundreds of websites that will be showing just how they feel about SOPA by going dark Wednesday.

The English-language version of Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia, will be shut down for 24 hours in protest of the Stop Online Piracy Act and PIPA, the Protect Intellectual Property Act, now working their way through Congress.

Jimmy Wales, site co-founder, told the BBC's Martha Kearney on Tuesday morning that "tomorrow from midnight Washington D.C. time until midnight the entire day of Wednesday, we're going to blank out" the English version of Wikipedia and post a message of protest.

He told Kearney that the legislation makes "something like Wikipedia essentially impossible ... if the provider has to police everything that everyone is doing on the site."

Websites taking part in the so-called SOPA Strike include Mozilla, Reddit, WordPress and Boing Boing.

That said, check some of the revealing comments:

-If these bills are, in fact, enacted, users who stream copyrighted content 10 times in 6 months may face up to five years in prison. Ridiculous
Read & Decide: Are you for or against SOPA/PIPA? bit.ly/w0E1ar

-They left out one word In protect intellectual property... That would be...Corporate Intellectual Property. They can't stop the Chinese from Piracy: but they want to jail US citizens for downloading... Open Source!

-When corporations outsource OUR jobs and we go around them and stream copyrighted material we're the bad guys? HAHAHA This country is the laughing stock of the world for a reason, no wonder nobody likes us!

-These companies need to realise their business model must change. Nothing will stop the internet and the "sharing" of files. This reminds me of the buggy whip manufacturers who said cars would never catch on. Time for a change in thinking...

My two cents? Don't touch the internet. It's mean and corrupt, but it's also truthful and honest and wide open.

From CNNPolitics:

Washington (CNN) – The growing Internet protest–including a planned blackout by some websites Wednesday– against an online anti-piracy bill moving through Congress is "daunting," a Senate Democratic aide said Tuesday. The aide said the protest may be powerful enough to keep senators from voting to even take up the bill that until recently commanded rare bipartisan support.

I'll choose free speech over regulations darned near any time.

BZ

The Summer Oil War: It's Coming

2012-01-17T00:01:00.000-08:00

Now may be the time for Americans to consider storing their larger SUVs, pickups and luxury vehicles in lieu of horses, bicycles or small cars -- or becoming independently wealthy.

Some experts are predicting anywhere from $5 to $10 per gallon gasoline in the United States by the summer, if Iran has its way and somehow either blocks or mines the Strait of Hormuz, or by any other means attempts or succeeds in blocking the flow of oil from the Middle East to other points on the globe -- to include, of course, the United States.

Oddly enough, at this time, the #1 export of the US is refined fuel. We are able to export this refined product because national consumption has decreased.

That said, we import the massive bulk of our crude oil.

Iran has already threatened to block the Strait of Hormuz.

US military representatives agree that Iran has the power to do this, which would impact not only US energy flow, but global energy flow as well. The US military indicates it has the ability to take steps to re-open the Strait of Hormuz choke point.

But would Obama even make that decision in the first place or, as he has expressed frequently, would he simply be "concerned" and "monitor" the situation?

Iran has made another statement with regard to the world's fuel supply:

CAIRO (AP) - Iran warned Gulf Arab oil producers against boosting production to offset any potential drop in Tehran's crude exports in the event of an embargo affecting its oil sales, the latest salvo in the dispute between the West and the Islamic Republic over its nuclear program.
The comments by Iran's OPEC governor, published Sunday, came as Saudi Arabia's oil minister was quoted the same day denying that his country's earlier pledges to boost output as needed to meet global demand was linked to a potential siphoning of Iranian crude from the market because of sanctions.
World oil markets have been jolted over concerns that Iran may choke off the vital Strait of Hormuz in retaliation for sanctions hampering its ability to sell its oil. Saudi Arabia and other key Gulf Arab producers have recently said they are ready to provide stable and secure supplies of oil.
Iran's official news agency IRNA said Sunday that the U.S. has relayed a message to Iran about security in the Strait of Hormuz. It gave no details, and there was no immediate comment from Washington.
The U.S. recently imposed sanctions targeting Iran's central bank and, by extension, refiners' ability to buy and pay for crude. The European Union is also weighing an embargo on Iranian oil, while Japan, one of Iran's top Asian customers, has pledged to buy less crude from the country.
Mohammad Ali Khatibi, Iran's OPEC governor, was quoted Sunday by the pro-reform Shargh newspaper as saying that attempts by Gulf nations to replace Iran's output with their own would make them an "accomplice in further events."
"These acts will not be considered friendly," Khatibi said, adding that if the Arab producers "apply prudence and announce that they will not participate in replacing oil, then adventurist countries will not show interest," in the embargo.

The point tips, my friends.

This may not end well.

BZ

Jon Huntsman: Pulled Out

2012-01-16T16:00:00.000-08:00

Jon Huntsman has pulled out of the GOP presidential race.

I submit: no loss.

He tried to be everything to everyone.

Instead, he became nothing to anyone.

He has now endorsed Mitt Romney.

BZ

Venezuela: Maria Conchita Alonso v. Sean Penn

2012-01-16T00:01:00.000-08:00

She's lived there. He hasn't.

From UsMagazine:

Cuban-born, Venezuelan-raised actress Maria Conchita Alonso hasn't held back with former costar Sean Penn -- publicly sparring with the outspoken star for his political views.

In 2010, the 54-year-old actress wrote an open letter bashing Penn (with whom she costarred in the 1988 film Colors) for his support of socialist Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez. (Penn, 51, praised Chavez for his help in Haiti during an episode of Real Time with Bill Maher. He also met privately with Chavez in Venezuela in 2007.)

On Sunday, the former costars had a screaming match at LAX Airport. She later revealed in a radio interview to WMAL, "I said, 'You are a communist, Sean Penn.' He said, 'You are a pig!' So I said, 'And you are a communist asshole! Is it great to live the way you do as a communist?

Alonso admitted to WMAL she wanted to apologize "for calling Sean Penn an asshole. He is an intelligent man."
"But if someone calls me a pig, I am not going to turn the other cheek," she said. "But I don't regret calling him a communist.

I should also care to point out that Maria Conchita Alonso, in her 50s, is one of the hottest cinema chicks extant. You think women can't get hotter as they get older? Think again, ignorant one. And, a hot chick with a logical brain? OMG. The best of all possible worlds!

Further: she called Bullshit on Sean Penn. That, simply, is way sexy.

God bless her.

BZ

Thank God for the American Atheists, Inc.

2012-01-15T04:37:00.000-08:00

Of note on Sunday, from the Salt Lake Tribune:

The Utah Highway Patrol Association has signed a settlement agreement that sets a time frame for removing 12-foot-high crosses intended to memorialize state troopers killed in the line of duty.

The association is still reeling from an October decision by U.S. Supreme Court justices, who declined to hear the contentious First Amendment case over the appropriateness of the memorials on public land. The decision means that 10 of the 14 white crosses that currently sit on public land, either outside UHP offices or alongside a highway, must come down or be moved to private property.
All 14 of the crosses, whether on public or private lands, must have the UHP insignia removed. The state also has agreed to pay $388,000 in attorney’s fees.

Yes, those contentious and highly-offensive memorial crosses honoring fallen Utah Highway Patrol troopers who died in service, thank God they're being removed.

Reminds me of this e-mail I recently received:

After being interviewed by the school administration, the prospective teacher said: "Let me see if I've got this right.

You want me to go into that room with all those kids, correct their disruptive behavior, observe them for signs of abuse, monitor their dress habits, censor their T-shirts and instill in them a love for learning.

You want me to check their backpacks for weapons because they can no longer have lockers, wage war on drugs and sexually transmitted diseases, and raise their sense of self-esteem and personal pride.

You want me to teach them how to register to vote, how to recognize inequality, be kind to the environment, love animals and hate capitalism.

You want me to check their heads for lice, recognize signs of anti-social behavior and make sure they pass all their final exams.

You also want me to provide them with the highest education and communicate regularly with their parents in English, Spanish, Vietnamese or Chinese, by letter, telephone, newsletter and report card.

You want me to do all this with a piece of chalk, a blackboard, a bulletin board, a few books, a big smile and a starting salary that qualifies me for food stamps.

You want me to do all this and then you tell me: I can't pray."

Correct.

BZ

49'ers 36, Saints 32

2012-01-14T18:16:00.000-08:00

In what I thought was likely the most exciting game of the year, the San Francisco 49'ers pulled out a last-moment win against the favored New Orleans Saints, 36 to 32, in the NFC playoffs.

In the last two minutes, Drew Brees threw for a TD that put the Saints over the 9'ers.

In the last nine seconds, Smith threw to Davis for the confirming win.

What a game!

BZ

Allen West: The Best Solution

2012-01-14T00:01:00.000-08:00

The media and Islamists are taking the Marine/Taliban incident to the troposphere.

I submit that Florida Representative Allen West has it nailed in an e-mail that he sent to The Weekly Standard, reproduced in full here (and WS had permission to print the e-mail itself):

I have sat back and assessed the incident with the video of our Marines urinating on Taliban corpses. I do not recall any self-righteous indignation when our Delta snipers Shugart and Gordon had their bodies dragged through Mogadishu. Neither do I recall media outrage and condemnation of our Blackwater security contractors being killed, their bodies burned, and hung from a bridge in Fallujah.
“All these over-emotional pundits and armchair quarterbacks need to chill. Does anyone remember the two Soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division who were beheaded and gutted in Iraq?

“The Marines were wrong. Give them a maximum punishment under field grade level Article 15 (non-judicial punishment), place a General Officer level letter of reprimand in their personnel file, and have them in full dress uniform stand before their Battalion, each personally apologize to God, Country, and Corps videotaped and conclude by singing the full US Marine Corps Hymn without a teleprompter.

“As for everyone else, unless you have been shot at by the Taliban, shut your mouth, war is hell.”

An excellent solution.

And that should be the end of that. No more kissing the ass of Islam. Period.

BZ

Obama: Raise Debt Ceiling AGAIN By $1.2 TRILLION DOLLARS

2012-01-13T00:01:00.000-08:00

It's broken record time all over again: the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over, expecting different results.

Mr Obama and his administration is truly insane.

He believes it's time to kick the debt ceiling up again. In his mind it should never stop. There should never be a limit, no boundaries, no perimeter, no threshold that should never be exceeded. Just keep spending and spending and spending.

Though there likely is little if any gold in Ft Knox. Despite there being no gold standard. Despite there being no silver standard. Despite there being no backing of American cash except how people feel about American cash.

That concept in and of itself should be sufficiently frightening.

From The Washington Post:

President Obama formally notified Congress on Thursday of his intent to raise the nation’s debt ceiling by $1.2 trillion, two weeks after he hadpostponed the request to give lawmakers more time to consider the action.

Congress will have had 15 days to say no before the nation’s debt ceiling automatically is raised from $15.2 trillion to $16.4 trillion.
In a letter to House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio), Obama wrote that ”further borrowing is required to meet existing commitments.”

And my gosh, didn't we do all of this just the past summer? Why yes, we certainly did.

Don't you enjoy watching your nation self-destruct before your very eyes?

BZ

Homeland Security Monitoring THE DRUDGE REPORT -- Homeland Security, Monitoring YOU?

2012-01-12T00:01:00.000-08:00

I'm sorry, but this is getting rather silly.

More Gub'mint DoubleSpeak contained below (from The Atlantic Wire):

It's unclear exactly why, but the Department of Homeland has been operating a "Social Networking/Media Capability" program to monitor the top blogs, forums and social networks online for at least the past 18 months. Based on a privacy compliance review from last November recently obtained by Reuters, the purpose of the project is to "collect information used in providing situational awareness and establishing a common operating picture.

Here's where I'll be Homeland Security Blunt for a moment.

Any government or administration fears two major points when it detects loss of control, possible insurrection or popular disagreement with a paradigm:

1. An armed populace, and

2. An informed populace, via communications; i.e., the internet

You're seeing both of these venues placed under the microscope for diminishment or removal by our current federal government. And I'm not wearing tinfoil right now. I'm merely stating the truth.

So: Homeland Security monitoring The Drudge Report? I am not placing myself into the Shocked Category. Perhaps even monitoring me? You? Who knows?

Because, apparently, the federal government needs to "collect information used in providing situational awareness and establishing a common operating picture." Wondrous DoubleSpeak, yes?

And every day, the frog in the boiling pot gets his water temperature increased just a bit.

As a parting shot, think about this: how many times per day do you think you're captured on someone's camera, at work, in the street, at the ATM, in your bank, in any number of places?

And up to now -- have you even thought about your lack of privacy?

Who's Big Brother now?

First: BATFE's Fast & Furious; Now: DEA Launders Cash For Mexican Drug Cartels

2012-01-11T00:01:00.000-08:00

And it goes from deadly stupid to completely incomprehensible.

It was bad enough that USBP Agent Brian Terry was killed as the result of BATFE's "Fast and Furious" cock-up. And that documents relating to that event were sealed in order to purposely cover the asses of Mr Obama's higher-ups. Deniability. Just not plausible in any fashion.

Now, America's DEA is allegedly laundering money for Mexican drug cartels. From RT.com:

The Mexican Drug War has so far yielded around 50,000 deaths and has become one of the biggest problems poised on North America during the last century.

It might be a tremendous tally of lost lives, but just as impressive though is the amount of money that the US has invested in the war. Since attempting to cooperate in the battle against dangerous cartels in the south, the United States has moved millions of dollars of narcotics and profits around the world in a money laundering scheme meant to infiltrate the seedy underbelly of Mexico’s drug trade.
What America did, instead, was consequentially fund a deadly campaign that has left a bodycount built with the massacre of thousands of journalists, officers, agents and civilians.
Recent reports obtained by the New York Times reveals that American drug enforcement agents posed as money launderers in an elaborate scheme that was meant to install men within the ranks of the cartels and take them down from the inside. The documents suggest that American agents worked hand-in-hand with Mexican law enforcement officials and a Colombian informant working undercover in 2007 to try to get to the inside. Doing so, they participated in massive felonies, moving millions worth of contraband and cash all over the world.
According to the documents made possible through an extradition order by the Mexican Foreign Ministry, US efforts in conjunction with Mexican and Columbia contacts included a plethora of wire transfers of tens of thousands of dollars at a time and the illegal smuggling of millions of dollars in cold, hard cash. The Times reports that there was also at least one in-depth international incident that led to American agents accompanying a massive coke shipment from Ecuador, into Dallas, Texas and then Madrid.

Wonderful. US agents were coke security escorts for major drug dealers.

Let me be blunt: this isn't what I learned at Quantico. But it makes me glad I left the federal venue, lo, those many years ago.

And wait, it'll get better: just like "Fast and Furious," NO ONE in the AG's office will know ANYTHING about this. Source New York Times article is here.

I can hear the sphincters clenching and slamming shut in DC from here.

BZ

Our Debt Now EQUALS Our GDP

2012-01-10T00:01:00.000-08:00

As everyone else frets about who can spew Attack Vomit from one GOP contender to another, I'd instead care to direct your attention to an incredible fact.

Clearly, one thing you will NOT hear trumpeted by the DEM/MSM -- and everyone "in the tank" for Barack Hussein Obama:

From USA Today:

WASHINGTON – The soaring national debt has reached a symbolic tipping point: It's now as big as the entire U.S. economy.

The amount of money the federal government owes to its creditors, combined with IOUs to government retirement and other programs, now tops $15.23 trillion.

That's roughly equal to the value of all goods and services the U.S. economy produces in one year: $15.17 trillion as of September, the latest estimate. Private projections show the economy likely grew to about $15.3 trillion by December — a level the debt is likely to surpass this month.

So whilst Mitt attacks Rick attacks Newt attacks Jon attacks Rick, the IMPORTANT things get shuttled aside.

40% of persons polled portray themselves as CONSERVATIVE. 30% of those polled portray themselves as REPUBLICAN. That's called a CLUE to you, GOP.

Which is primarily why I no longer contribute to the GOP or any formally-linked GOP site. I write my checks to specific individuals. You know who you are.

From KnickLedger.com:

The debt of the U.S. now equals the total gross domestic product (GDP) of the country, U.S. Treasury figures show.
Treasury reported an increase of $238 billion of new debt immediately after President Obama signed the debt ceiling increase into law.

New borrowing now is at $14.58 trillion, over last year’s GDP of $14.53 trillion – putting the U.S. into the same classification of other indebted nations such as Italy and Belgium. Public debt is now $14.53 trillion, rising from a previous cap of $14.29 trillion on Monday.

We're spiraling DOWN.

Why can't you GOP potentials focus like a LASER BEAM on the subject of your PURPOSE?

Barack HUSSEIN Obama.

Hello?

DEBT now = GDP?

Hello?

Anyone listening??

BZ

Michelle Obama: We're Coming For Your 2nd

2012-01-09T07:55:00.000-08:00

And thanks for the clear warning, I say.

From The Daily Caller:

At a recent fundraiser for President Obama’s re-election campaign in Providence, Rhode Island, the first lady told her audience:
“We stand at a fundamental crossroads for our country. You’re here because you know that in just 13 months, we’re going to make a choice that will impact our lives for decades to come … let’s not forget what it meant when my husband appointed those two brilliant Supreme Court justices … let’s not forget the impact that their decisions will have on our lives for decades to come.”

Those two "brilliant Supreme Court justices" refer to Elena Kagan (replaced John Paul Stevens in 2010, no loss) and Sonia Sotomayor (replaced David Souter in 2009, no loss).

The only clear and rational interpretation for that is this: we're coming for your Freedoms, we're coming for your 2nd Amendment and we've made great inroads on eliminating portions of the 4th, 5th and 14th.

The point of my Monday post is this:

Should Mr Obama win a second term, you can be guaranteed -- repeat, guaranteed -- that he will be able to make a third appointment or possibly even a fourth SCOTUS appointment and, absent a complete and overwhelming takeover of both the House and Senate (not likely), his choice(s) will be Leftist in nature with a philosophical bent not in keeping with the traditional US Constitution but individuals who believe in a "living, breathing Constitution" that is "informed" on not only national precedents, but "global" precedents and "needs" as well.

You can take that to the bank, what's left of it.

As Chris Cox summarizes in his The Daily Caller article:

When Americans flock to the polls in 13 months, we will not simply decide which direction our country should take over the next four years. Rather, we will decide whether or not our fundamental, individual right to keep and bear arms will survive over the next several decades.
Currently, the Second Amendment clings to a 5-4 pro-freedom majority on the Supreme Court. Just one vote is all that stands between the America our Founding Fathers established and a radically different America that Barack Obama and his supporters envision.
If you want to read something scary, take another look at the minority opinions in the Supreme Court’s landmark Heller and McDonald decisions that struck down Washington, D.C.’s and Chicago’s unconstitutional gun bans. In the Heller dissent, four justices concluded that the Second Amendment does not guarantee an individual right to own a firearm, nor does it protect our right to defend ourselves, our families, or our property. In McDonald, the same four justices argued that the 5-4 Heller decision should be reversed.

And if that isn't sufficiently frightening for you, ladies and gentlemen, then I give up hope for this nation.

29 to 23: Everyone's a Tebow Hater now. . .

2012-01-08T20:39:00.000-08:00

Tebow has no skill. His Broncos are crap. He still can't throw like an adult. The team should kick his proselytizing, fakey religious ass to the curb. Just you wait. It'll turn out that he had seven girlfriends with AIDS, did heroin, shot three people in the parking lot with a stolen gun (the club kept it out of the news) last Wednesday, drinks gin like a fish, had sex with his sister, slaps puppies with sap gloves and farts at firemen.

Of course. This turnaround-winning thing with the Broncos is a fluke.

Some day the Broncs will wise up and put a real quarterback in there.

Stick Men: Indiscipline

2012-01-07T02:01:00.000-08:00

Stick Men are a trio of performers whose many-branched roots have, at one time or another, crossed with King Crimson. Here, they cover a Crimso song, "Indiscipline."

This power trio consists of Pat Mastelotto on drums, Tony Levin on Chapman Stick and Michael Bernier on second Chapman Stick -- hence, "Stick Men."

The Chapman Stick is a 10 or 12-stringed polyphonic musical instrument which is completely electric and possesses no hollow box as does an acoustic guitar. The term "polyphonic" indicates that the Chapman Stick can be used to play bass, melody, textures or chords, sometimes simultaneously if desired and the player possesses advanced dexterity.

You'll notice that the Chapman Stick, invented by Emmett Chapman in the early 70s (releasing it in 1974), is meant to be tapped or fretted, rather than plucked or picked. The wide neck is very flat, the frets a little more elevated with very low string action -- meaning the strings are lower to the necessary frets and therefore conducive to fretting and tapping.

Here, Michael Bernier provides a close-up view of Chapman Stick fretwork, and illustrates the extremely-wide range of play available on the instrument, from guitar-like highs to bass guitar lows.

Below, Tony Levin explains the Chapman Stick:

Greg Howard illustrates the multiple advantages of the Chapman Stick:

The very top video, Indiscipline, was performed by Stick Men in Montreal on May 11th of 2010.

If you care, I ask you to stay with me for a few Saturdays, ladies and gentlemen. Your musical horizons will expand.

BZ

Sheriff Joe: "Prove It"

2012-01-06T04:18:00.000-08:00

Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Maricopa County, Arizona, doesn't mind, apparently, taking on anyone. This time he's taking on the federal government -- an entity with a marked larger whip in its hand than anything or anyone else. From WND Politics:

Maverick Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio is challenging the Obama administration’s Department of Justice to present evidence to back its charge that his office is discriminating against Hispanics.
“Prove it,” Arpaio said in remarks directed at Holder in an interview with WND.
“If Eric Holder has evidence that the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office has engaged in systematic violations of the civil rights of Hispanic, then show me the evidence,” Arpaio said.
Arpaio contends that the 22-page complaint the Department of Justice released Dec. 15 against his office was nothing more than anecdotal and didn’t prove there are systematic sheriff’s department policies aimed at depriving Hispanics in Maricopa County of their civil rights.
Nor was Arpaio concerned that the DOJ might take him and his sheriff’s department to federal court.
“If the Justice Department wants to take me to court, I’m ready,” Arpaio said.

The Obama Administration is taking a hard line at anyone or anything remotely resembling pushback these days and -- as BZ readers already realize -- the US DOJ under Holder has already taken incompetency and fraud to a newer, higher level.

The largest crux of the biscuit is coming via SCOTUS this March 26th - 28th, when the court has announced it will hear oral arguments on ObamaKare. This decision will either begin to rightly disassemble the Obama Administration, or buttress it in a fashion that could never be done otherwise.

Any rational thinker who believed that former President Bush was Demorat Lite has had to adjust and ratchet their expections markedly down for Mr Obama and his minions of Socialism, who daily place themselves into the proverbial definition of insanity: doing the same thing again and again, expecting different results.

Sheriff Joe Arpaio is just the tip of the iceberg in terms of pushback.

If ObakaKare fails, Mr Obama knows that the pushback just won't stop.

The Big Question: just what is waiting in the wings?

Obama: A Problem In Georgia?

2012-01-05T00:01:00.000-08:00

From InfoWars.com:

Deputy Chief Judge Michael Malihi in the Office of State Administrative Hearings denied a motion by Obama asking to dismiss the complaint that seeks to keep his name off the state ballot during the March presidential primary. The judge’s decision now sets the stage for a Jan. 26 hearing on the issue in Fulton County,” reports the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer.

Little known, little recorded.

Whilst Mitt Romney crows about his Iowa win, there are machinations within machinations.

Another two:

- Romney potentially securing McCain as VP?
- Obama potentially securing Hillary Clinton as VP?

Game changers?

BZ

Blu-Ray vs DVD

2012-01-04T00:01:00.000-08:00

[Today, I'm burned out on politics. Iowa, a "fly over state" according to the Demorats, in truth won't matter much in the overall GOP pie slice. Whoever wins Iowa doesn't point to the final GOP slot. Historically, Iowa "narrows the field." There are still 41% of Iowans "undecided." However, I'm sufficiently old enough to realize that Things Change and, these days, things change exponentially. I'm not making any bets regarding Iowa and -- at this point -- I don't much care.]

Blu-Ray vs DVD:

Check out the recent price quotes, above, from Amazon.com. You'll see that there is a clear $10 difference between the DVD and the Blu-Ray version of the same popular movie.

I submit to you: there is NOT $10 worth of difference between a Blu-Ray disk and a standard DVD.

I submit that Blu-Ray disks are a SCAM, the likes of which you should NOT partake.

I recently purchased a LG 45" flatscreen LED television for my wife and had it custom mounted into her living room.

We played standard definition DVDs in her older standard DVD player -- on the new LG -- and were immensely impressed with the definition and clarity of those DVDs.

We noticed that, even on older DVDs -- for example, the 2002 HBO series "The Wire" in the standard but older 4X3 aspect ratio -- played fabulously. The clarity was markedly increased in anything we played.

Then something happened.

My wife's elder DVD player tanked.

So I decided to purchase a new Blu-Ray player (turned out to be a $200 Sony) because I learned that those devices were techno-down -- meaning that it could not only play new Blu-Rays, but could competently play older DVDs as well.

With that in mind, I purchased the Blu-Ray version of the new Planet of the Apes.

I didn't discern any remarkable difference between that Blu-Ray and any other DVD we'd yet watched.

Further: without a doubt, there was NOT a $10 difference between the standard DVD version of the movie and the Blu-Ray version.

Even further: I submit there isn't a 50-cent difference between a Blu-Ray disk and a standard DVD disk if you have an HDTV and, moreover, an HD connection to either DishNet or DirecTV.

I would ask:

Please, all of you, weigh in:

What do YOU notice about Blu-Ray disks played on HDTVs --

-- if anything?

Obama's "Defense Bill": Two Takes On The Same Theme

2012-01-02T00:01:00.000-08:00

First, from the Associated Press on HR 1540:

HONOLULU (AP) -- President Barack Obama signed a wide-ranging defense bill into law Saturday despite having "serious reservations" about provisions that regulate the detention, interrogation and prosecution of suspected terrorists.

Make sure you read the article further.

Second, from InfoWars.com on HR 1540:

As Americans look upon the treacherous legislation passed under NDAA 2012, it it should first be remembered that the very bill President Obama threatened to veto was controversial due to the language the Obama White House itself pressured Congress to add to the bill, according to Sen. Carl Levin.
Second, signing statements are not law, and are not a Constitutional power granted to the executive branch; any reassuring (or troubling) language within has no binding status– though it may shed light on the intent/character of the chief executive. However, the statement itself does not indicate any deviation of intent from the law as written and signed.

Again, read the full article.

The final version of HR 1540 can be found here.

From Reddit.com:

SEC. 1021 - Affirmation of authority of the armed forces of the United States to detain covered persons pursuant to the authorization for use of military force.
Notable:
Covered persons includes anyone with ties to 9/11 and anyone who was, or is part of, Al-Qaeda or the Taliban.
Under subsection (a) (1) "Detention under the law of war without trial until the end of the hostilities authorizes by the Authorization for Use of Military Force."
Under subsection (e) "Authorities - Nothing in this section shall be construed to affect existing law or authorities relating to the detention of United States citizens, lawful resident aliens of the United States, or any other persons who are captured or arrested in the United States" (added by the administration, as stated in signing statement this reaffirms the Patriot Act and does not explicitly extend more power than the executive branch already has)
SEC. 1022 - "In General - Except as provided in paragraph (4) the Armed Forces of the United States shall hold a person described in paragraph (2 - Covered Persons, see above) who is captured for the course of hostilities authorized by the Authorization for Use of Military Force in military custody pending disposition under law of war.
Notable:
Disposition under law of war, as stated in SEC. 1021 under notable, can result in no trial until the end of hostilities as authorized by the Authorization for Use of Military Force.
(4) means if the President submits too congress a * written* waiver saying it's the interest of national security it will waive the "In General" portion stated above.
Under Resident Aliens (1) and (2) all American or lawful resident aliens does not extend to them.
Under (d) "Authorities - Nothing in this section shall be construed to affect the existing criminal enforcement and national security to affect the existing criminal enforcement and national security authorities of the FBI or any other domestic law enforcement agency with regard to a covered person, regardless whether such covered person is held in military custody"
In the Signing Statement Obama said he was against this, and used quite strong language, and would use the vagueness of this section to not change current policy.
SEC. 1023-1025 - These are meant to give congress more information about detainees.
Under SEC. 1024 - "In General - Not later than 90 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Defense shall submit to the appropriate committees of Congress a report setting forth the procedures for determining the status of persons detained pursuant to the Authorization for Use of military Force for purposes of section 1021"
Notable:
In the Signing Statement Obama said he'll keep things the way they are and allow the Secretary of Defense to use his/her discretion in the future.
SEC. 1026-1028 - These curtail the President's ability to deal with Guantanamo Bay, Cuba including his ability to close it, transfer inmates, and requirements for certification to move inmates. You can read them below.
SEC. 1026 - "In General - No amounts authorized to be appropriated or otherwise made available to the DoD for fiscal year 2012 may be used to construct or modify any facility in the United States, its territories, or possessions to house any individual detained at Guantanamo for the purposes of detention or imprisonment in the custody or under the control of the DoD unless authorized by Congress."
SEC. 1027 - "None of the funds authorized to be appropriated by this Act for fiscal year 2012 may be used to transfer, release, or assist in the transfer or release to or within the United States, its territories, or possessions of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed or any other detainee who— (1) is not a United States citizen or a member of the Armed Forces of the United States; and (2) is or was held on or after January 20, 2009, at United States Naval Station, Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, by the Department of Defense."
SEC. 1028 - "IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in paragraph (2) and subsection (d - waiver from DoD), the Secretary of Defense may not use any amounts authorized to be appropriated or otherwise available to the Department of Defense for fiscal year 2012 to transfer any individual detained at Guantanamo to the custody or control of the individual’s country of origin, any other foreign country, or any other foreign entity unless the Secretary submits to Congress the certification described in subsection (b - from DoD with SoS) not later than 30 days before the transfer of the individual."

I suspect the most important point is this:

In short, as an American sections 1021-1027 don't apply to you.
Until this bill passes: http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h112-3166

Take a peek.

Finally, this most interesting tidbit from UK's The Telegraph (indicating, once again, that if you wish to discover what's really occurring in this country, I strongly suggest scouring UK news):

According to the FBI, over 1.5 million background checks on customers were requested by gun dealers to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System in December. Nearly 500,000 of those were in the six days before Christmas.
It was the highest number ever in a single month, surpassing the previous record set in November.
On Dec 23 alone there were 102,222 background checks, making it the second busiest single day for buying guns in history.
The actual number of guns bought may have been even higher if individual customers took home more than one each.
Explanations for America's surge in gun buying include that it is a response to the stalled economy with people fearing crime waves. Another theory is that buyers are rushing to gun shops because they believe tighter firearms laws will be introduced in the future.

In that light, I would suggest that under a Leftist administration such as Mr Obama's, tighter firearms laws are an absolute guarantee. Further, I submit that you can count on a vicious clamp on ammunition, restrictions to include the types and amount of ammunition purchased and lengthy backgrounds checks, as with firearms, involving sales of rounds.

The trend had already started in 2008 (again, UK's The Telegraph) just before the November presidential election.

"I've sold probably four times as much in the last six months as I have in 20 years combined," said Cliff Hunter, owner of Tommy Bronson Sporting Goods in Memphis. "Hand guns and the tactical weapons, they're absolutely off the charts."
Most of his gun sales used to be for hunting, or personal protection in a city riddled with crime. But just before the November election, anxiety that Mr Obama would win and enact a radical programme of curtailing gun rights began drove business right up.
"Obama's a liberal socialist and I think he's proven quickly how extreme he is," he said. "When they get through healthcare, guns are on the table. They're not talking about it but it's going to happen."
The FBI recorded a 49 per cent rise in gun background checks during election week compared to the same week a year earlier.

This should come as no shock to any right-thinking individual.

And isn't it funny that those persons who embrace Socialism, Marxism or Communism don't think the failure lies with the philosophical idea itself -- they instead believe the idea just hasn't been handled by the right person yet.

In Retrospect: What Would You Tell Yourself At 16?

2011-12-31T00:01:00.000-08:00

For the New Year:

If you could go back to when you were 16, what would you tell yourself -- knowing what you know now?

Customarily, the new year is filled with anticipated resolutions that are nominally broken within the first month.

Given that, I'm suggesting we change things up a bit:

If you could go back to when you were 16, what would you tell yourself -- knowing what you know now?

You may either answer here or -- preferably -- take a larger amount of time to answer in full on your own site.

If you do this, please provide a link to your own site because, if nothing else, I'm all about promoting other sites.

Let me start and set the tempo, if I may:

Welcome to your Youth. You don't have a clue as to what value your youth means. That's fine. Just shake with me and, if nothing else, print this blogpost out and do what it says when it says.

First and foremost, you were stronger and sharper and more intelligent than you could ever have imagined. Go with your gut. You seldom trust it.

When Candy Cochrane asks you to dance at Howe Avenue School, your junior high, say yes. Try pushing the envelope a bit. She was hot and you knew it. Blown chance. This time, don't blow it.

That said, first and foremost, learn a musical instrument. Insist on it. Start, perhaps, with the piano. Try the guitar. One of the biggest regrets you'll have is not becoming competent on a musical instrument other than noodling around on the bass guitar.

When you kicked Nick Yahle's ass in high school wrestling, and he was on the wrestling team (you didn't go out for sports), that's called a clue. You were a new transplant from California to, now, Ohio in the 60s. You were foreign and uncomfortable and transferred because your Dad was in the Air Force. You have great physical potential as well. Start running. Start lifting weights.

When you pissed off Norm Bradfield playing flag football on Fairmont East's field, that's called a clue. You were efficient, strong and effective. You beat him, fair and square. He hated it because he was taller and was from Ohio. You were the interloper.

So when he and Matt Carpenter braced you on your own home turf near Chatham Village, on the railroad tracks when your friend Rick Back was visiting, you should have pulled your folding knife and held it to their necks. You needed to realize early -- and didn't realize until much later -- that Evil and Strength only respect Strength in return. An excellent lesson. Yet you didn't learn from it. Don't back down. You didn't trust your strength. This will become a much larger lesson to be later learned.

You had the Photo Gene even back then. Take the time to buy all the film you can and shoot everyone you can. Your Mom, your Dad, all of your friends. You'll later develop an interest in trains. Get yourself the best camera you can either afford or talk your parents into buying. Start taking photographs of Southern Pacific in Sacramento, at their locomotive shops, and over Donner Pass.

I would also say: for those numerous years you worked as a kid throwing newspapers, as a teenager working for your townehomes shoveling snow, mowing lawns, building fences, painting, replacing filters, as a higher teenager: save every damned dime you make.

Conserve. Scrimp. Save. With houses costing a pittance of what you'll later pay for one in the 80s, coupled with low interest rates, you could own your own home by the time you're 21. From there, you can buy and sell houses all the way up to your actual dream house. There will be lots of money to be made in 70s and 80s real estate.

Beware of drugs. You'll be offered cocaine, heroin and psychedelics by Jerry. You avoided him. Continue to do that. You were smarter than him and that led to his later death in his 20s.

Embrace Karl Kimball. He was the Real Deal at Wright State. Continue on that path with King Crimson and your musical expansion. Learn from him. You won't be sorry.

Accept your position in radio and let loose; have fun. Recognize that you have a gift with regard to radio and music -- either having supported music or played the artists you loved, or toured with them or flown with them -- as witness Status Quo on the Live Album in Glasgow, Scotland, or AC/DC with Bon Scott.

You had a great idea, once; it was this:

Take a photograph on your birthday, for every year. At the age of 60 you'll have a collage that no one else on the planet will have.

Take a few hints:

Buy stock in Microsoft whenever you first see that name.

Buy stock in Google whenever you first see that name.

Buy stock in Apple whenever you first see that name.

Buy stock in Yahoo whenever you first see that name.

Find the winning California Super Lotto number on March 18th of of 2007.

Listen to your inner recommendations.

And when it comes down to the vehicle stop in the 70s south of Watsonville on the border with Monterey County: empty your .357 stainless Smith revolver into the motherfucker. Then reload. Don't stop at four.

He will die and you will live. Be glad. Rejoice. The guilt will pass.

That will be a major pivotal point in your life.

You will join four LE agencies overall. Stick with the last one, but take the Sergeant's Test the first time it is offered to you. You could be at least a Captain or a Chief Deputy. You could have sold your soul or enjoyed your work.

With this intuition, you could have done both: an unbeatable combination.

Finally:

Take photos of your parents. Document your parents. Ask them about their lives and their relatives and their families. Don't become as emotionally disengaged as your mother and father. Preserve their memories and their geneological history.

Treasure your family. Know this: your father will never once tell you he loves you.

Accept it. Move on. Tell him and your mother that you treasure them and you love them -- as much as you can.

Hug your mother. You didn't realize until -- too late -- that in those times and with a family of three boys and her husband, that she was adrift and on her own. She either became hard and tough or she drowned. The only person that finally took her down was her.

Hug your grandparents. Be good to your grandpa, and respect his wishes in their house at 2526 27th Street. He sacrificed for his wife and for your mother. Hug your grandmother again and again, for she surely was one of the kindest and sharpest people you'll ever encounter in your tumultuous life. Honor her and recognize that the time you spent at your grandparents' two story house, built in the 1800s, will generally be the most carefree of your entire life.

Hug your father some more. The only time you'll ever see him cry was when your mother dies with the marks of a nasal canula on her face. It shook you to your core that he unleashed his emotions, for about two minutes, in front of you. Appreciate his stoicism and recognize that they were the best of The Greatest Generation.

Hold your father close every time you meet since your mother passed, on May 14th of 2002. She lived to see her 80th birthday at least.

Your father's passing will affect you deeply: Wednesday, February 11th of 2009 at 0330 hrs. And when you leave your father's bedside the night before, kiss and hug him goodnight. You'll terribly regret not doing so for the rest of your life.

Finally: embrace God.

Push your parents to take you out of "Sunday School" at the Methodist Church off Del Paso Heights Boulevard and El Camino. You always told them you hated Sunday School and wanted to attend church. They didn't listen. You need to insist. And you need to embrace the Lord.

I left a few things out. But only a very few.

Let's see what you have to say.

BZ

Arizona: Feeling The Wrath!

2011-12-30T00:01:00.000-08:00

Mr Manuel Renaldo, formerly of Guadalupe, Arizona.

ARIZONA LAW HAS DIRE CONSEQUENCES FOR THAT STATE

CONSOLIDATED PRESS (CPI)
(c)2011, by Roberto Hernandez

Illegal immigrants are boycotting Arizona by the thousands, showing their outrage with Arizona 's controversial new SB-1070 law by moving elsewhere.

In the small town of Guadalupe, AZ, south of Phoenix, Manuel Renaldo is one of those who is punishing Arizona by leaving.

As he loaded his car with his belongings and family of ten, Renaldo told this reporter through an interpreter "It's a matter of principle; I refuse to be supported by a state that treats me like a criminal!"

The effects of the exodus are being felt by Arizona retailers, who are reporting dwindling sales of beer, spray paint, and ammunition.

Also hit hard are the states hospitals, which have reported a dramatic decline in births and emergency room visits.

Tattoo parlors are in a state of panic.

Renaldo told a reporter through an interpreter that he and his family are moving to California, a Democratic state that will embrace and support them all with dignity.

Again, another story you won't read in the DEM/MSM yet: you read it here first.

[Thanks to my brother Jim!]

The Republicans Are Stinking Up The Place

2011-12-29T05:47:00.000-08:00

Apparently the GOP presidential candidates can't do much but attack each other. Obama's rising numbers are making him look almost presidential.

Here's a recommended strategy: go after Obama.

Mr Obama = a target-rich environment.

This GOP ticket is comprised of clods.

BZ

What No One Will Say Or Write:

2011-12-28T00:01:00.000-08:00

It would seem that the bulk of our Darker Brethren and Sistren think that a few pairs of sneakers are worth maiming and fighting for. Two-hundred "youths." Euphemisms. Check your melanin count.

Woman's Face Slashed, Man Beaten and Robbed of Air Jordan

Because, this month, the release of a stupid pair of sneakers has been the reason why there have been fights and riots and melees throughout the nation, in urban areas, by people attempting to get their own pair.

But what no one is saying or writing is the obvious: these criminal acts and riots and undisciplined behaviors are perpetrated by blacks. With a pittance of a few other races mixed in who have bought off on the black thug culture.

Frankly, I've known that for the past thirty years. I saw blacks kill other blacks in the 80s, when the Bloods and the Crips were still vying for power, over -- again -- shoes and jackets and hats and the colors blue and red.

People may wonder why the bulk of our prisons are filled with black males.

I know this is an amazing revelation but I'll dare to make it here:

It's because the bulk of our lawbreakers are -- hope you're sitting down -- black males.

I know. I'm going straight to Racist Hell.

With one exception: statistically, prove me wrong. You may have a bit of a difficult time doing that, however, because I know from personal experience that those statistics are purposely held close to the vest in every LE agency in this nation. I published a newsletter for my department in the early 90s when I was a detective in Robbery called "Break Yourself."

I had to account for my own monthly stats as a detective, and those stats were then bundled and sent upstairs to our executive staff. One of the stats I was purposely told to minimize was that of suspect race. Imagine that.

When I published that statistic in my internal department newsletter it was then suspended. Imagine that. Facts are stubborn things.

However, I submit:

When you have a culture that discredits achievement and education, you have a doomed culture.

When you have a culture that equates "keeping it real" to a life of ignorance, thuggery, sexism, violence and non-achievement, you have a doomed culture.

And so, unsurprisingly enough, goes the bulk of what constitutes the current "black culture" in urban America.

A culture replete with its own sense of entitlements simply due to melanin count, where a higher melanin count is more "real," where sports seems to be the only "way out" (a massive LIE in itself but still promulgated), where gangsta rap is more "real" when hosted by thugs who actually have "killed anotha nigga," where very few fathers take responsibility for their sperm, and where women are predominantly "be-yotches."

You want to talk about "disenfranchised"? That would be the generic urban black female.

Everyone else in major black media is a "nigga."

And so, ladies and gentlemen in the so-called "black community," you continue to still wonder why you acquire such little respect except that which is acquired at the end of a gun?

Watch the tow truck scene in the movie "Grand Canyon" and answer the question.

Let me again be blunt: urban blacks, you keep playing to your own stereotypes.

And you can't or won't get out of your own mold.

We talk about "assimilation" in America. Here's the most hated revelation that no one will say or write:

It's past time that urban blacks start to assimilate in America.

BZ

P.S.
I fully realize there won't be many comments here, due to the nature of the post. But at least if you read it and recognize the truth of my words, I will have made an inroad that, perhaps, you can forward to other people in the dead of night. Because, after all, the truth is The Truth. No matter how anyone else wishes to spin it. Or how guilty you feel. Because that guilt is Taught Industrial Memory Guilt (TIMG) and not justified guilt.

Just remember: this post BAD. This blog BAD. Must be CENSORED. Must be RACIST. Must be REMOVED.

You ever notice that the Common Press and interviewed Black Bleat is: "there should have been more security"?

In other words: you should have protected me from me.

Does anyone besides me detect just a bit of irony in that?

Futher: what do you think will happen when that State and Federal check stops arriving at the first of each month because the State and the Fed are bankrupt?

Try that on for size, America.

Precious metals.

Mitt Romney:

2011-12-27T00:01:00.000-08:00

He's too desperate.

You can hear it in his voice, in every interview.

He's too slick, he's too "what you want to hear when you may want to hear it."

--------

I would ask you this:

The NEXT president will be THE most challenged, I submit, in the history of this nation.

There will be NO greater national economic challenge in our history.

Ask yourself: how will YOUR candidate not necessarily respond to abortion or SCOTUS but:

Our CRASHING economy?

BZ

Islamism: Assisted by the US Dept of DEFENSE

2011-12-26T07:49:00.000-08:00

Islam cannot slaughter the greatest, most powerful nation of infidels on the planet by stark and open war.

It must subsume this nation with demography, the proverbial "frog in the boiling pot" . . .

. . . from within.

And our US Department of Defense is signing off on it.

From the Orlando Sentinel:

Defense department agrees to allow Muslim cadets to wear hijabs
Muslims — posted by jeff kunerth on December, 22 2011 1:45 PM

Discuss This: Comments(574) | Add to del.icio.us | Digg it

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) announced today that the Department of Defense will begin allowing Muslim and Sikh students who wear an Islamic head scarf (hijab) or a turban to participate in the Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (JROTC).

“We welcome the fact that Muslim and Sikh students nationwide will now be able to participate fully in JROTC leadership activities while maintaining their religious beliefs and practices,” said CAIR National Executive Director Nihad Awad.

How fitting, how ironic, how delicious it must be for Islam -- is it not -- that the very Secretary of Defense in the Obama Administration has personally stood up for and signed off on Islam's nose in the DOD tent. Literally and figuratively. Because, apparently, the word "uniform" has little if any meaning to the DOD any more. Nor do the names Sgt Hasan Akbar (2003) or Major Nidal Hasan (2009). As far as the Obama Administration is concerned, these events are nothing more than a bit of "workplace violence." Nothing to see here. Move along, move along.

Imams the world over are rubbing their hands, all smiles, and commenting amongst themselves at the absolute naivete and ignorance of the Western World, particularly the United States of America.

At a time when Europe is just now beginning to come to grips with Islam -- witness the burkha ban in France -- America is simply ripe for the plucking. And "pluck" Islam will.

Because, as everyone realizes, Islam is again the religion of peace and tolerance:

Nigerians fear more church attacks after 39 killed

Email this Story

Dec 26, 5:02 AM (ET)

By LEKAN OYEKANMI and JON GAMBRELL

MADALLA, Nigeria (AP) - At a Nigerian Catholic church where a terror attack killed 35 people on Christmas, women tried to clean the sanctuary ahead of Mass on Monday while one man wept uncontrollably amid the debris.

Outside St. Theresa Catholic Church, crowds gathered among the burned-out cars in the dirt parking lot, angry over the attack claimed by a radical Muslim sect and fearful that the group will target more churches.

Rev. Father Christopher Jataudarde told The Associated Press that Sunday's blast happened as church officials gave parishioners white powder as part of a tradition celebrating the birth of Christ.

Some already had left the church at the time of the bombing, causing the massive casualties. In the chaos after the bombing, Jataudarde said one mortally wounded man, cradling his shredded stomach, begged him for religious atonement.

"Father, pray for me, I will not survive," the man said, according to the priest.

At least 52 people were wounded in the attack, said Slaku Luguard, a coordinator with Nigeria's National Emergency Management Agency. Victims filled the cement floors of a nearby government hospital, some crying in pools of their own blood.

On Christmas, attacks by the radical Muslim sect left 39 dead across Africa's most populous nation. A bomb also exploded amid gunfire in the central Nigeria city of Jos and a suicide car bomber attacked the military in the nation's northeast.

The Islamic Republic of Iran must also, by its definition, be a nation of peaceful and tolerant Muslims, as it is run by the Supreme Leader and a body of clerics, yes? Because, after all, a peaceful nation such as Iran would never think of taking advantage of US troops leaving Iraq, would it, in terms of a "show of force"?

Of course not.

Plus this.

Ah, Islam, the religion of peace and tolerance!

Merry Christmas, 2011:

2011-12-25T07:41:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas, to all of my BZ readers!

BZ

America Still Niave: Ignorance At Christmas

2011-12-24T07:32:00.000-08:00

From PoliceOne.com:

By Dr. LaMaurice Gardner
Oakland County (Mich.) Sheriff’s Office
What would you do if in the middle of Catholic Mass, on one of the holiest days of the year, someone yelled out “Allahu Akbar?”
It was late Christmas Eve and my 17-year-old daughter and 11-year-old son were preparing to leave for midnight Mass at Shrine of the Little Flower Catholic Church in Royal Oak, Mich. The church is quite a distance from our home and the weather was bad. Worried about drunk drivers on the holiday eve, my wife was hesitant to let our newly licensed daughter drive so far so late. But our daughter was persistent and my wife gave in.
I had my own apprehensions. Having read books and attended terrorism lectures by Lt. Col. Dave Grossman and John Giduck — as well as hearing from numerous Israeli and UK terrorist experts at IACP conferences — I was sensitive to the vulnerability of American houses of worship to terrorist attacks, especially on high-profile religious holidays. A good 10 minutes behind my kids, I decided to leave too and catch up with them for the service.
At the church, my daughter greeted me with, “What, you don’t trust me?” I blamed my surprise attendance on my wife’s paranoia, and we all settled into my favorite pew in the back of the sanctuary. At midnight, a procession of altar boys and priests entered, followed by the executive priest, a monsignor. Mass began and the spirit of the season filled the capacity crowd.
I felt a little odd this Christmas Eve, because for the first time I was wearing a chain badge beneath my sweater. I always carry my gun off duty, a practice I learned in a Street Survival Seminar 10 years ago that has been further emphasized time and again in Dave Grossman’s lectures (“Never be a sheep when you are a trained sheepdog”).
That night, I considered the chain badge added protection against possible friendly fire in case the shit hit the fan. Having seen one of my captains as well as a K-9/SRT deputy at services before, I knew I was probably not the only LEO present, not to mention veteran and active-duty servicemen from Iraq and Afghanistan.
This midnight Mass was typical of previous years: song, ceremony, apostolic readings, a reading of the gospel. After the gospel, with everyone seated both in the audience and at the altar, there was a brief lull, then suddenly, from nowhere, came a shout: “Allahu Akbar!”
My world froze. Those two words are the common war cry of Islamic Jihadis. Immediately I went to condition orange. One hand was on my weapon, the other prepared to push my kids to the floor for their protection. I scanned the church for a target, anticipating an imminent explosion of flying shrapnel or gunfire. In my head I heard my SRT sergeant’s range command echo, “Two to the head!” No thought of body shots on a suicide bomber.
When I couldn’t identify a primary target, I looked for anyone in the crowd who followed suit and yelled the same homicidal chant. Everything was in slow motion and what was milliseconds seemed like minutes. I didn’t know if the dead silence was my auditory exclusion or shock from the parishioners. All I knew was that I was a sheepdog on automatic pilot.
Then the orator of the death chant stood and identified himself: the monsignor. He followed his striking words with, “I bet you didn’t expect to hear that!” He then went on with a homily about the greatness of God.
I didn’t hear a word that came out of his mouth for the next 10 minutes. Adrenaline rushed through my bloodstream, and my heart was racing. Not to mention I was pissed. I was ready to push my kids to the floor, jump over the pew, and run toward the perceived threat with the intention of taking it out — or die trying. I would hope that every officer/warrior at that service had also been ready to engage.
I suppose training, discipline, and FATS-machine shoot/no-shoot scenarios paid off, because no aggressive action took place. The sermon went on and the sheep went on grazing. But my daughter knew. She looked at me and recognized the combat mode. She asked, “Isn’t that what the terrorists say?” I responded, “Yes, it is.”
I calmed myself with deep breathing and convinced myself the monsignor really didn’t understand what he had done.

Eventually the service ended and the monsignor said, “Go in peace.” As I left the church, I saw him at the door. I calmly explained the threatening nature of his words and suggested he try to choose his words more wisely. He just laughed off my comments and went about his way.
I guess the saying is true, “No one understands the coliseum’s ring as clearly as the gladiator.” We do live among a community of sheep. Only those of us who have been there or who are trained to be there understand the terrorist threat we are under. I seriously doubt that anyone would have escaped with the “Allah Akbar” statement unchallenged in Israel or the UK, where sensitivity and awareness are much greater.

Although the outcome was benign, this Christmas Eve experience seems important to share for two reasons. First, to let the warriors who are protecting us overseas know that there are warriors here too, protecting your families and friends from terrorist threats on the home front. And to remind officers nationwide to be prepared. I was lucky, but I was trained and prepared in mind and body.
This time it was a false alarm. Next time it could be real. Pray for peace but prepare for war.
About the Author
LaMaurice Gardner, Psy.D., is a Veterans Affairs psychologist who also serves as a psychologist for several law enforcement agencies in Michigan, including Detroit P.D. He is a SRT hostage negotiator and reserve lieutenant for the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office in Pontiac, Mich.

Any time of the year, any time of day, any point in time, the naivete of Americans can be absolutely staggering.

BZ

P.S.
What is a Sheepdog? Go here.

I Say: Boehner OUT, and McClintock IN!

2011-12-23T00:01:00.000-08:00

It's interesting to note that Thursday's Hugh Hewitt show turned the entire second hour over to callers responding to the question: "Should John Boehner be retained as GOP Speaker?"

The massive bulk of callers said, clearly, NO.

There were perhaps three feeble exceptions.

With this current caving by Speaker Boehner, he's now placed himself and then gone out of his way to cement himself into the "I'm Irrelevant" category in the minds of those persons who are truly Conservatives. Myself included.

John Boehner's got to go. Period.

And YES, we CAN change horses in the middle of the stream.

Boehner has nice hair, a deep voice, an even tan, but that's where it ends for me.

I call on MY 4th District Fornicalia Congressman, TOM McCLINTOCK, to actually pull the Major Big Red Political Handle and marshal whatever forces and favors he possesses in order to step into Boehner's massively proven-incompetent shoes.

Too much Business As Usual. Too much "bi-partisanship." Too much "compromise." It's time to stack bodies and rack wins. In order to try to save this wonderful sovereign nation.

Boehner's got to go.

I am, essentially, calling for a GOP Putsch.

The New Breed of Freshmen Republicans were elected because of their -- OUR -- mandate that November. They listened, they are working, and Boehner was multiply incensed because they wouldn't trundle their carts in precisely the path that he ordained. As far as Boehner is concerned, the TEA Party doesn't factor. Never did. There is no principle, no line drawn.

Those days, I submit, must be over.

I'll make it clearer than clear:

Congressman Tom McClintock, I call on YOU to step up, rally the troops, rally your forces, rally your Freshmen, pull whatever political stops you must -- and step into the Speakership.

I can't be more blunt than this: there is no more logical, deserving, educated, professional, knowledgeable, incisive -- and READY -- individual than yourself to fill the position of Speaker of the House of Representatives.

If we have to go Night of the Long Knives, politically speaking, then I'm for that.

I suggest: this is your chance.

It is yours for the taking.

I submit: it isn't a matter of pulling politics for personal aggrandizement. It is a matter of pulling politics for the sake of the nation.

BZ

Oath Keepers

2011-12-22T00:01:00.000-08:00

You may never know where you'll meet your next good friend.

I met a new friend today, a man who moved from service responder to acquaintance to friend, all in the span of one day. When we began speaking to each other, we recognized that we actually shared much in common. Starting with my Gadsden flag outside.

One of those items involved Oath Keepers.

Which made me realize: I haven't made much mention of Oath Keepers here on my blog.

I'm a member of Oath Keepers. And Oath Keepers, as they describe themselves, "is a non-partisan association of currently serving military, reserves, National Guard, veterans, Peace Officers, and Fire Fighters who will fulfill the Oath we swore, with the support of like minded citizens who take an Oath to stand with us, to support and defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic, so help us God. Our Oath is to the Constitution

Our motto is "Not on our watch!"

I have made a like vow: I will defend to the death the oath I swore as a peace officer. I don't take that oath lightly, and neither should any other peace officer in my state -- California -- or any other city, county, state or FEDERAL law enforcement officer.

These are trying times for those of us who defend this nation on foreign shores: our US military personnel -- and on domestic lands: our civilian peacekeepers.

ROEs -- Rules of Engagement -- seem to change on a monthly, perhaps even daily basis. They certainly change with each new administration, new Chief, new Sheriff, new President. Our Peacekeepers, military and civilian, keep that line drawn and defended as clearly as possible. Because there are Sheep, Wolves, and Sheepdogs. We, my civilian and military brothers and sisters, are the Sheepdogs.

The state and federal courts don't do much to keep things simple either, in terms of search and seizure, arrest and contact opinions -- as well as civil torts.

Peace officers, it is little recognized, can find themselves subject to not just double jeopardy, but triple jeopardy: tried criminally in state courts, tried criminally in federal courts, and then sued in civil courts. And, further, subject to internal agency investigations. Quadruple jeopardy, anyone?

Unlike the rest of the civilian population.

That said, I joined Oath Keepers to support the TEN ORDERS that I will NOT OBEY:

1. We will NOT obey orders to disarm the American people.
2. We will NOT obey orders to conduct warrantless searches of the American people.
3. We will NOT obey orders to detain American citizens as “unlawful enemy combatants” or to subject them to military tribunal.
4. We will NOT obey orders to impose martial law or a “state of emergency” on a state.
5. We will NOT obey orders to invade and subjugate any state that asserts its sovereignty.
6. We will NOT obey any order to blockade American cities, thus turning them into giant concentration camps.
7. We will NOT obey any order to force American citizens into any form of detention camps under any pretext.
8. We will NOT obey orders to assist or support the use of any foreign troops on U.S. soil against the American people to “keep the peace” or to “maintain control."
9. We will NOT obey any orders to confiscate the property of the American people, including food and other essential supplies.
10.We will NOT obey any orders which infringe on the right of the people to free speech, to peaceably assemble, and to petition their government for a redress of grievances.

Some people may think this is actual heresy. Frankly, I feel sorry for them.

Because these points are but only based upon the foundational documents of this nation when it was young and revolutionary itself.

Some people, my new friend included, believe that my clear posting of this and other information will place me on the various scopes of federal monitoring. To that I say: been there and done that. And I am not impressed.

If believing in the core foundational documents of this nation places me into the category of a potential "terrorist" then I am comfortable with that. Because when my moral, legal and professional oaths conflict with any temporary administrations fleeting wants, there is essentially no conflict whatsoever.

Because my philosophical tendencies are based upon what is right, proper and moral in consideration of this sovereign nation's history and its creational documents.

Because the bottom line is this. And it should be the most frightening aspect of any inner or outer corruptive influence: in order to do your potential Bad Works, you absolutely require the "buy-in" of your military and civilian law enforcement bodies.

Because if they refuse to cooperate, your plans are failed.

Which is why Oath Keepers had to be created in the first place.

I am an Oath Keeper.

BZ

P.S.
Thanks to you, Jeff, for enlightening and invigorating me.

Proving Again: The US Department of State Is Insane

2011-12-21T00:01:00.000-08:00

The US State Department sometimes -- okay -- frequently runs counter to common sense, logic, proportion and reality because it is primarily populated by what I term GOWPs: Guilty Overeducated White People. A velvet painting of British PM Neville Chamberlain hangs in every office, illuminated by a hidden black light, as a reminder and inspiration.

So it is, again, with another State Department Loon. This time, she's the Number Three in charge and its senior career diplomat. From The Weekly Standard:

Wendy Sherman, undersecretary of state for political affairs at the State Department, had some rather nice things to say about the reclusive Kim Jong Il, the dictatorial leader of North Korea who died a few days ago. She had met the rogue dictator, Josh Rogin reports, when Sherman "served as State Department counselor and North Korea policy coordinator under former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, [and had] traveled to Pyongyang with Albright in 2000."
An NPR obituary quotes the high ranking State Department official as saying that "He was smart and a quick problem-solver," and that "[Kim Jong Il] is also witty and humorous. Our overall impression was very different from the way he was known to the outside world."
Wendy Sherman, now the No. 3 official in the State Department, who served as counselor to Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright and accompanied her to North Korea, said in 2008: "He was smart, engaged, knowledgeable, self-confident, sort of the master-director of all he surveyed. He was a conceptual thinker," Ms Sherman had said.

Let me also add, if I may, that he was kind to his cat named Class Envy, changed underwear daily, flossed when the filet mignon from the Kobe beef got caught in his upper back molar, and religiously put the toilet seat down for his nightly mistresses.

In consideration of Undersecretary of State Sherman's loving statements, even the left-leaning Wikipedia writes:

Human rights record
See also: Human rights in North Korea

According to a 2004 Human Rights Watch report, the North Korean government under Kim was "among the world's most repressive governments", having up to 200,000 political prisoners according to U.S. and South Korean officials,^[49] and no freedom of the press or religion, political opposition or equal education:^[50] "Virtually every aspect of political, social, and economic life is controlled by the government."

The Hermit Kingdom continues, now under the 27-year-old four-star general Kim Jong-un. Up to and until other military forces intercede.

Eight million North Koreans still struggle to overcome starvation every winter. North Korea can't even produce window glass that isn't flawed, pebbled and distorted. North Korea is, at its base, a suicidal and purposely-isolationist country that impedes commerce in Asian markets.

And why the massive disparity between North and South Koreas?

The clear answer: leadership, anyone?

Wendy Sherman, at least you don't disappoint; you loyally continue the US State Department meme of tinfoil caps and beautifully-iced shrimp at evening DC parties.

BZ

Republicans: The Reverse Is True

2011-12-20T00:01:00.000-08:00

The Republicans are Evil, Greedy, Fascist and Racist.

From Bill Whittle:

Nicely done, except for this rather large caveat which differentiates, more and more, Republicans from Conservatives. And that is this:

Increasingly, Republicans look like Demorats insofar as they both want (or truly don't do much to discourage) Big Government.

There isn't much spending that isn't favored. There isn't much expansion of government power that isn't rubber-stamped. There aren't many pay or benefit increases to the House or Senate that aren't rushed through. And there are damned few -- if any -- rules issued from DC that likewise apply to their drafters/creators.

Both sides of the aisle shop at Exemptions R' Us.

Imagine that.

We, as Republicans (and more pointedly as Conservatives) have to "come together" through "bi-partisanship" and holding "moderate" (meaning: thinking more like Demorats) thoughts -- i.e., compromise. With, naturally, the idea of compromise appearing only to take the form of Demorat wishes.

These days, you can't put more than two or three sheets of paper between a Demorat and the average beltway Republican.

They both want to be treated with deference and demand separatism and exceptionalism from the masses. The laws they decree just don't apply to them.

They gaze down upon the Groundlings from Mt DC in their imperious and all-knowing mien.

Old School Demorats and Old School Republicans need to just step down.

"Politics as usual" just doesn't and won't "cut it."

Which is why, if some Americans have the actual brainpower to wonder, Congress is so "locked up."

It's because there's a new band of GOP Freshmen who won't arbitrarily "sign off" on whatever the leadership demands. And that simply grates and irritates on Boehner and the other GOP Ancients.

Which is why, on the GOP part, Republican Speaker John Boehner is so terribly disappointed that the bulk of the Freshmen Congressmen don't march lockstep to his demands. Because, of course, that's how Things Have Gone in the past.

The Senate is gone. Senate Republicans are soft Vampires out for their own warm blood. Just don't disturb their feeding.

The House is another matter entirely. Hence the distress of Boehner. Because these New TEA Party GOP Assholes just aren't "coming around."

Their numbers are small but they could increase.

Everyone loves their OWN Congressman. But not like I admire and respect mine. Because my 4th District Congressman is Tom McClintock.

And he is the Real Deal.

He is both Republican and Conservative.

BZ

[h/t to Geeeez!]

North Korea's Midget Is Dead

2011-12-19T06:09:00.000-08:00

However, Nature abhors a vacuum.

Any takers?

BZ

Tim Tebow: Let Me Be Blunt

2011-12-18T00:01:00.000-08:00

American sporting media just can't saying anything complimentary about Denver Broncos' quarterback Tim Tebow, though he's managed to take the team to the top of the AFC West.

This past Sunday in NFL week 14, Tebow's Broncos beat the Chicago Bears in overtime, 13 to 10. With two minutes to go the Broncos came back from behind.

More negativity towards Tim Tebow. From the Wall Street Journal:

Most expert analysts still consider him poor material for a pro quarterback.

Yet, in his second year, his team is leading their division. After his later-season installation.

Let me be blunt: here is why Tim Tebow so terribly offends and why few can praise his efforts:

Again, from WSJ.com:

And when the shouting was over, Mr. Tebow did what he always does—he pointed skyward and took a knee in prayer. In post-game interviews, the young quarterback often starts by saying, "First, I'd like to thank my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ" and ends with "God bless." He stresses that football is just a game and that God doesn't care who wins or loses.

Tebow doesn't offend because he's the NFL's worst quarterback. He offends because he conspicuously dares to embrace a Christian God in essentially a secular nation. And it's no act.

Anyone who knows me knows I don't proselytize. Far from it. Church or heart? I vote heart.

That said, American sports could use both some more church and heart.

Whereas Americans used to enjoy a good Underdog story -- now, America seems to embrace the All American Sports Thug. And wish the worst of Schadenfreude upon those who don't transmit and align that particular sports meme. Because, any more, that's predominantly what you get in sports. Less than a serial murderer with talent; more than an overweight white guy in tights.

Thuggery isn't a complete exclusive to blacks, though they are the bulk of the reprobates because they now comprise the bulk of American sports players. You want parity, equality and, moreover, numerical superiority? In this venue, "you got it."

So let's review only a few very recent headlines and issues:

Barry Bonds, a 30-day home sentence: SF Giants
Sam Hurd, arrested for cocaine and marijuana by federal agents: Chicago Bears
Rolando McCain, arrested after firing a gun during a fight: Oakland Raiders
Ndamukong Suh, stomping an opponent's arm: Detroit Lions
James Harrison, helmet hit: Pittsburgh Steelers

After that -- in roughly only the last week or so -- it's time to take Tim Tebow to the proverbial woodshed for his knee hits?

So, how about the hard facts? He's a 7 - 1 starter. And he wins games in the fourth quarter or overtime.

But here's the truth: thousands and thousands of Americans can't wait for Tim Tebow to sell drugs, hire a prostitute, turn gay, wear womens' bras, fornicate with sheep, take a wide stance in an airport stall or run a red light. That'll teach him to be so pristine.

The pious prick.

Because, any more, that's what all the other overpaid sports assholes simply do.

Problem is: he's the real deal.

BZ

King Crimson - Lark's Tongues In Aspic, Pt. IV

2011-12-17T01:51:00.000-08:00

From the 2003 Eyes Wide Open tour:

One can also see, far stage right in the dark, a keyboard player that I have yet to identify, though I have attempted to do so.

This iteration of King Crimson consisted of:

Robert Fripp, guitar
Adrian Belew, guitar
Trey Gunn, Warr Guitar
Pat Mastelotto, drums

BZ

P.S.
For full experience, expand the video to full screen, don thy headphones and turn up the volume!

Drone Hacked By Iran

2011-12-16T04:23:00.000-08:00

With all of our technological prowess, it is now discovered:

Exclusive: Iran hijacked US drone, says Iranian engineer

In an exclusive interview, an engineer working to unlock the secrets of the captured RQ-170 Sentinel says they exploited a known vulnerability and tricked the US drone into landing in Iran.

A "known vulnerability."

Wonderful. Nothing like purposely handing our finest stealth technology directly over to our enemies. You can be guaranteed the Chinese were first in line to pay, then the Russians.

Yes, we are apparently that stupid. Next time let's just save the money and directly hand over the blueprints instead.

BZ

So: China Wants a Trade War?

2011-12-15T00:01:00.000-08:00

From the Financial Times.com:

China will impose retaliatory duties on US car imports in the latest sign of trade friction between the world’s two largest economies.
In a statement, China’s commerce ministry said on Wednesday that it was taking action in response to damage to its car industry from US “dumping and subsidies”. The move will affect several larger vehicles popular in China, including sport utility vehicles made by Germany’s BMW and Mercedes-Benz brands at their US plants. Shares of BMW and Daimler, which owns Mercedes, fell 5 per cent and 3 per cent respectively on Wednesday.
China overtook the US in 2009 as the world’s largest vehicle market, and sales there account for a substantial chunk of profits for BMW and Mercedes, who build the SUVs they sell globally in North America.

So as a result, what are "foreign" manufacturers doing? They're building factories in China for their vehicles. GM, the largest seller of "foreign" cars in China, builds almost all of its vehicles on Chinese soil. Employing Chinese workers in the plants. Employing Chinese to build the factories themselves.

I say: quid pro quo. China wants to break into the US market with its vehicles. I recommend a good 20% tariff on their conveyances as well. It's no secret that Chinese automobile showrooms will be opening up within another year or so on US soil.

Quid pro quo: if the Chinese want to sell cars here, they build their factories here using American contractors, materials, designers, plumbers, electricians. Then they staff those factories with American workers. Because, after all, just what is it that the Chinese haven't stolen or hacked or reverse-engineered from the US?

In the meantime, China's new aircraft carrier -- a true Blue Water (not littoral) ship -- was captured via satellite in trials on the Yellow Sea.

The former Soviet carrier known as the Varyag (keel laid as the Riga) now carries a Chinese flag after having been purchased for $20 million dollars at auction by a civilian front for the Chinese navy, then towed to China. News indicated its bulk was meant to be "only a casino."

At 1,000 feet and 68,000 tons, the carrier -- likely named Shi Lang -- will be the first major extension of Chinese sea power.

As was said in the 60s: "ass, gas or grass; nobody rides for free."

Another axiom immured in stone: you can count on the Chinese to lie.

BZ

Another reason I'm glad I don't live in a Big City:

2011-12-14T07:14:00.000-08:00

DC Resident Fined Thousands For Not Recycling Cat Litter: MyFoxDC.com

From FoxDC.com:

By MATT ACKLAND/myfoxdc

WASHINGTON - It's the law in D.C. - recycle or face a fine from the Department of Public Works. But is enforcement of the law going too far?

Dupont Circle resident Patricia White says she has been fined eight times for throwing homemade cat litter in her trash. The fines total $2,000. White says she shreds old newspaper and junk mail to use as cat litter. She believes she is helping the environment by reusing the paper and avoiding cat litter you will find in stores.

After being fined several times, White says she called the Department of Public Works inspector who issued the tickets. According to White, the inspector admitted to digging through trash looking for violations. White even appealed the violations in D.C. court. Judge Audrey Jenkins agreed with the inspector after White explained the situation. FOX 5 tried to reach Judge Jenkins, but her office has declined to comment.

Again, amongst a host of other things, government intruding -- now -- into your trash piles.

As if it weren't already sufficiently intrusive.

Keep living in Big Cities, Americans. Be crushed like herring and fined and taxed.

Me? I'll keep my pine trees and mountains, thank you.

BZ

Asthmatics: Barack HUSSEIN Obama is here to help!

2011-12-13T00:01:00.000-08:00

The Obaka Administration wishes to ban asthma inhalers because they destroy the ozone layer in a completely profligate manner!

From DougRoss:

Everybody knows that it makes no sense that you send a kid to the emergency room for a treatable illness like asthma, they end up taking up a hospital bed, it costs, when, if you, they just gave, you gave them treatment early and they got some treatment, and a breathalyzer, or inhalator, not a breathalyzer. I haven’t had much sleep in the last 48 hours.”
--Barack Obama, 9 October 2008

Wonderful news from the environmental do-gooders in Washington: the Obama administration is poised to ban over-the-counter breathalyzers, I mean inhalators, I mean inhalers in order to save the ozone layer.

Further:

Remember how Obama recently waived new ozone regulations at the EPA because they were too costly? Well, it seems that the Obama administration would rather make people with Asthma cough up money than let them make a surely inconsequential contribution to depleting the ozone layer:

Asthma patients who rely on over-the-counter inhalers will need to switch to prescription-only alternatives as part of the federal government's latest attempt to protect the Earth's atmosphere.
The Food and Drug Administration said Thursday patients who use the epinephrine inhalers to treat mild asthma will need to switch by Dec. 31 to other types that do not contain chlorofluorocarbons, an aerosol substance once found in a variety of spray products.
The action is part of an agreement signed by the U.S. and other nations to stop using substances that deplete the ozone layer, a region in the atmosphere that helps block harmful ultraviolet rays from the Sun.
But the switch to a greener inhaler will cost consumers more. Epinephrine inhalers are available via online retailers for around $20, whereas the alternatives, which contain the drug albuterol, range from $30 to $60.

Ladies and gentlemen, how wonderful is that?

Because, clearly, men, women and children need to be sacrificed on the Altar of ObakaKare in order to bring the point across.

Let the hoarding of inhalers commence!

I swoon at their intuition, insight and intelligence!

Your Demorat/Leftist assholes at work.

BZ

UC Davis Pepper Spray Video: What You DIDN'T See

2011-12-12T00:01:00.000-08:00

Severely edited videos permeated the MSM and internet for weeks regarding this incident involving OWS people at the UCD campus in Davis, Fornicalia. Please watch the entire video first:

Fornicalia Penal Code section 409 states:

Every person remaining present at the place of any riot, rout, or unlawful assembly, after the same has been lawfully warned to disperse, except public officers and persons assisting them in attempting to disperse the same, is guilty of a misdemeanor.

All Fornicalia officers also know that prior to enacting this penal code section, training indicates you provide at least two verbal warnings -- some agencies provide more.

PC section 404.6:

(a) Every person who with the intent to cause a riot does an
act or engages in conduct that urges a riot, or urges others to
commit acts of force or violence, or the burning or destroying of
property, and at a time and place and under circumstances that
produce a clear and present and immediate danger of acts of force or
violence or the burning or destroying of property, is guilty of
incitement to riot.
(b) Incitement to riot is punishable by a fine not exceeding one
thousand dollars ($1,000), or by imprisonment in a county jail not
exceeding one year, or by both that fine and imprisonment.

405a PC:

The taking by means of a riot of any person from the lawful
custody of any peace officer is a lynching.

405b PC:

Every person who participates in any lynching is punishable
by imprisonment in the state prison for two, three or four years.

Meaning that section 405a PC is a felony, as opposed to a misdemeanor.

Then there is section 410 PC, which should answer the question: "why were the police there at all?"

If a magistrate or officer, having notice of an unlawful or
riotous assembly, mentioned in this Chapter, neglects to proceed to
the place of assembly, or as near thereto as he can with safety, and
to exercise the authority with which he is invested for suppressing
the same and arresting the offenders, he is guilty of a misdemeanor.

Section 416 PC:

(a) If two or more persons assemble for the purpose of
disturbing the public peace, or committing any unlawful act, and do
not disperse on being desired or commanded so to do by a public
officer, the persons so offending are severally guilty of a
misdemeanor.
(b) Any person who, as a result of violating subdivision (a),
personally causes damage to real or personal property, which is
either publicly or privately owned, shall make restitution for the
damage he or she caused, including, but not limited to, the costs of
cleaning up, repairing, replacing, or restoring the property. Any
restitution required to be paid pursuant to this subdivision shall be
paid directly to the victim. If the court determines that the
defendant is unable to pay restitution, the court shall order the
defendant to perform community service, as the court deems
appropriate, in lieu of the direct restitution payment.

404 PC:

(a) Any use of force or violence, disturbing the public peace,
or any threat to use force or violence, if accompanied by immediate
power of execution, by two or more persons acting together, and
without authority of law, is a riot.

404.6 PC:

a) Every person who with the intent to cause a riot does an
act or engages in conduct that urges a riot, or urges others to
commit acts of force or violence, or the burning or destroying of
property, and at a time and place and under circumstances that
produce a clear and present and immediate danger of acts of force or
violence or the burning or destroying of property, is guilty of
incitement to riot.

407 PC:

Whenever two or more persons assemble together to do an
unlawful act, or do a lawful act in a violent, boisterous, or
tumultuous manner, such assembly is an unlawful assembly.

408 PC:

Every person who participates in any rout or unlawful assembly
is guilty of a misdemeanor.

Armed with those penal code sections, and having watched the video, now yourself being one of the officers present, what might you conclude?

Yet, did you see this story or these penal code sections or reasons portrayed, examined or even remotely referred-to in any of the DEM/MSM?

Of course not.

Please weigh in.

BZ

P.S.
I hope you noted that the same officer who sprayed the protesters is the same officer who, at 7:50, went down the line and explained to them -- again -- what would occur if they didn't get up and leave. Also note: this isn't just a line level officer; this is a lieutenant -- who took on the ultimate responsibility and action himself.

Megyn Kelly and Bill O'Reilly opine:

And now I opine: Megyn Kelly is correct. OC, otherwise known as Oleoresin Capsicum, is derived from a plant that occurs in nature: pepper.

Further, any law enforcement officer knows that a crowd can easily go sideways in a matter of moments, from allegedly peaceful to violent. Had that been myself in charge, I would not have forced my officers to physically pick up and move protesters. I would have had my officers either utilize the riot-sized OC spray (which the lieutenant possessed) and/or place pain/compliance holds on the protesters depending on officers' level of familiarization with same. My job, as supervisor in this situation, is not to get my officers hurt whilst still enforcing the law.

I've personally been Maced and OC'd before, numerous times. Purposely, in the academy's Gas House, and inadvertently by any multiple utilizations of Mace or OC by my fellow officers. I lived. So did all the students.

[Thanks, Chris, for the discovery!]

Murder A Cop -- Then Take The Coward's Way Out

2011-12-11T00:01:00.000-08:00

In just the past week there have been three tragic incidents where the lives of law enforcement officers were taken, with the suspects subsequently shooting themselves dead.

The incident with the most media play because of the April 16th, 2007 massacre where 32 people were killed and 26 were wounded:

1. Virginia Tech Shooting, Thursday, December 8th:

Virginia State Police said Ross Truett Ashley, a 22-year-old part-time business student at Radford University, about 10 miles from the Virginia Tech campus in Blacksburg, walked up to officer Deriek W. Crouse after noon on Thursday and shot him to death as the patrolman sat in his unmarked cruiser during a traffic stop. Ashley was not involved in the stop and did not know the driver, who is cooperating with police, they said.

Authorities said Ashley then took off for the campus greenhouses, ditching his pullover, wool cap and backpack as police quickly sent out a campus-wide alert that a gunman was on the loose. Officials said the alert system put in place after the nation's worst mass slaying in recent memory worked well, but it nevertheless rattled a community still coping with that tragedy.

A deputy sheriff on patrol noticed a man acting suspiciously in a parking lot about a half-mile from the shooting. The deputy drove up and down the rows of the sprawling Cage parking lot and lost sight of the man for a moment, then found Ashley shot to death on the pavement, a handgun nearby. No one saw him take his life and he wasn't carrying any ID.

State police spokeswoman Corinne Geller said Ashley appears to have acted alone and didn't know the slain officer: "At this time we have no connection between the two of them, that they knew one another or had encountered one another prior to the shooting," she said.

2. Atchison PD (KS) Officer Ambushed & Shot In Head, Friday, December 9th:

An Atchison Police Officer was killed during a late Friday afternoon shooting near 12th and Division streets.

Authorities confirmed that Officer David Enzbrenner, 46, died Friday evening from a gunshot wound.

It has also been confirmed that Skyler Barbee, 25, was the alleged shooter in the incident. Officials report that while Officer Enzbrenner was on duty serving a nuisance order at the home of Jerome Bratton, Mr. Barbee appeared out of nowhere and shot the officer in the head. The assailant then turned the weapon on himself and shot himself. He died at the scene.

"The officer didn't have time to react," Atchison County Sheriff John Calhoon said of Officer Enzbrenner, a husband and father of three girls.

Barbee had at least one prior arrest involving an assault on an officer.

On Aug. 2, he was picked up for vehicle burglary, battery on a law enforcement officer and obstruction of the legal process.

3. North Carolina Deputy Shot & Killed, Wednesday, December 7th:

VASS, N.C. — A North Carolina deputy sheriff was shot and killed Wednesday as he tried to arrest an Iraq war veteran with an outstanding arrest warrant for not paying child support, authorities said. The suspect then took his own life.

Moore County Sheriff Lane Carter said that Deputy Richard Rhyne had spoken to the suspect around noon and determined he had an outstanding arrest warrant.

Carter said the suspect, Martin Poynter, pulled out a gun and fatally shot Rhyne outside an abandoned home near Vass, which is 60 miles southwest of Raleigh.

Poynter then turned the same gun on himself and also died, the sheriff said.

The sheriff said the 58-year-old Rhyne went to the home after deputies received a trespassing complaint. The deputy found the 33-year-old Poynter and his brother and had time to check their names before he was killed.

Rhyne had been in law enforcement for 37 years and a Moore County deputy since 2007.

The constants in these three incidents?

Officers working solo;
Assaulted by solo suspects with handguns;
Purposely targeted and/or ambushed;
Two of the three were shot to the head;
With a subsequent suicide by the perpetrator

I submit that these times are every bit as dangerous for today's law enforcement officer as it was for officers working during the societal anarchy of the late 60s and early 70s -- a time I am familiar with: because I worked then. And now. In law enforcement.

Not because stats indicate that crime is necessarily soaring.

Instead, I submit it is because many individuals encountered by law enforcement officers have been raised on entitlements, a welfare mindset, an inflated sense of esteem and ego, narcissism, lack of respect for authority or others, an indifference to the immediate utilization of violence and lack of discipline.

God bless the officers who gave their lives -- and God bless their families.

The thin blue line.

BZ

Related:

Seriously??

2011-12-10T00:01:00.000-08:00

Into what alternate dimension have I fallen?

From The Hill:

Repeal of sodomy, bestiality ban sparks fight on Defense bill

By Jeremy Herb - 12/09/11 01:53 PM ET

As the final Defense authorization bill gets hammered out in conference committee, one surprising issue is riling both social conservatives and animal rights activists: the repeal of a ban on sodomy and bestiality.
The Senate bill, which was passed last week, removed an article from the Uniform Code of Military Justice stating “unnatural carnal copulation with another person of the same or opposite sex or with an animal is guilty of sodomy.”

There are moments when I can do nothing more than shake my head in wonder.

This is one of those times.

BZ

Holder: "Lying has to do with your state of mind."

2011-12-09T00:01:00.000-08:00

Meaning, I suppose, that if you believe you really didn't intend to lie, then it's not truly a lie. I guess it gets down to what the meaning of is, is -- ?

From The Weekly Standard:

This morning on Capitol Hill, Attorney General Eric Holder was asked whether he lied to Congress about the Fast & Furious gun-running scandal:

Rep. James Sensenbrenner asked Holder: “Tell me what's the difference between lying and misleading Congress, in this context?”
Holder's response is a bit Clintonian. “Well, if you want to have this legal conversation, it all has to do with your state of mind and whether or not you had the requisite intent to come up with something that would be considered perjury or a lie," Holder said. "The information that was provided by the February 4th letter was gleaned by the people who drafted the letter after they interacted with people who they thought were in the best position to have the information.”

Also, from The Washington Examiner:

Attorney General Eric Holder denied that anybody at the Department of Justice lied about the Fast and Furious program that allowed guns to fall into the hands of Mexican drug lords, even though he admitted that the DOJ sent inaccurate information to Congress.

Last week, the DOJ took the rare step of formally withdrawing a letter it sent to Congress in February that falsely claimed the program being executed by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives did not allow guns to "walk" into Mexico.

Lying to Congress is a federal felony, Mr Holder.

This stinks, Mr Holder. It stinks and Mr Obama's conspicuous silence in the entire affair bespeaks volumes. It's absolutely nothing about checking the melanin at the door.

BZ

P.S.
Apologies all around with regard to lack of posting. The internet at my house is down, at least until I can possibly upgrade with potential DSL. Yes, yes, whilst the rest of you are actually in the 21st century, I'm mostly back with tin cans, piano wire and chewing gum.

Update: Herman Cain Out

2011-12-05T07:47:00.000-08:00

And apparently throwing his support to Newt Gingrich.

BZ

The Best Visual Summary of Barney Frank:

2011-12-05T00:01:00.000-08:00

Barney Frank shall be remembered as the nation's leading protector of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac before their fall.

For years Barney helped block meaningful reform of the mortgage giants while pushing an "affordable housing" agenda that helped to enlarge the subprime mortgage industry.

"I do think I do not want the same kind of focus on safety and soundness that we have in OCC [Office of the Comptroller of the Currency] and OTS [Office of Thrift Supervision]," Mr. Frank said on September 25, 2003, in one of his many legendary rhetorical hits. "I want to roll the dice a little bit more in this situation towards subsidized housing."

BZ

Pushing The Envelope, Part VII:

2011-12-04T00:01:00.000-08:00

The human being has always pushed the envelope into and beyond the realms of danger. This is the seventh of various weekend postings displaying how restless Man is with the mundane and how he purposely crosses the threshold into danger willingly -- and sometimes unwillingly.

This is the Isle of Man TT (tourist trophy) race for motorcycles, in which it is not unheard-of to reach 160+ mph on bumpy country lanes. Official website is here. Please note the dangerous chassis shifts encountered when riders don't come down completely parallel to the road after having crested hills and acquired air.

The video is, again, best viewed in full screen and with headphones plugged into your confuser. Mine are either Bose or Sennheiser.

As you can clearly see, there is a nasty penalty to be paid for failing to stay on course. It's full faces and clip-ons and tear-offs and fully padded and braced leathers. It's youth and micro-second reactions and adrenaline and mandatory High Visual Horizon. It's fires and spraying champagne and back-braces and asphalt friction cutting through your leathers and past your skin to the bone. It's winner and loser. And the difference might be no more than one-degree of separation.

BZ

P.S.
Thanks, Chris!

It's Official: No Cain Train

2011-12-03T12:19:00.000-08:00

From YahooNews:

Plagued by allegations of sexual harassment and marriage infidelity, businessman Herman Cain announced Saturday that he is officially suspending his campaign for president of the United States.

"As of today, with a lot of prayer and soul searching, I am suspending my presidential campaign," Cain said at what was supposed to be new campaign headquarters in his hometown of Atlanta. "I am disappointed that it came to this point that we had to make this decision."But he added, "Before you get discouraged, today I want to describe Plan B. . . . I am not going away. I will continue to be a voice for the people." With that, he unveiled the headquarters of his new website, TheCainSolutions.com.

Standing with his wife Gloria by his side, Cain vowed that he would make an endorsement before the primaries were over and said that he "will not be silenced."

This resolution was seen brewing for some time.

Possess gun. Shoot foot. Self-inflicted.

BZ

King Crimson: Lark's Tongues In Aspic, Pt II

2011-12-03T00:01:00.000-08:00

Crimso live in Japan:

The above iteration of King Crimson came replete with

Robert Fripp: guitar
Bill Bruford: drums & percussion
Adrian Belew: guitar & vocals
Tony Levin: bass guitar

In some ways, this second version may be as good or even a tad superior to the original 1973 song (which I featured last Saturday, here). With the addition of Adrian Belew as second guitar (formerly played for Frank Zappa and David Bowie, also toured with Talking Heads), he is able to take the place, to a degree, of David Cross from the original -- with some high fretboard sonic works and whammy bar usage.

The above concert was filmed in 1982.

BZ

HERE Is How Obama Got Elected:

2011-12-02T00:01:00.000-08:00

By the stupidity of Americans:

And it's not impossible for that to occur again, ladies and gentlemen.

BZ

Court Records of Slain USBP Agent Brian Terry Ordered Sealed.

2011-12-01T00:01:00.000-08:00

“Transparency and the rule of law will be the touchstones of this presidency.”
-Barack Hussein Obama, Inauguration, 2009

From the Corruption Chronicles of Judicial Watch:

The Obama Administration has abruptly sealed court records containing alarming details of how Mexican drug smugglers murdered a U.S. Border patrol agent with a gun connected to a failed federal experiment that allowed firearms to be smuggled into Mexico.
This means information will now be kept from the public as well as the media. Could this be a cover-up on the part of the “most transparent” administration in history? After all, the rifle used to kill the federal agent (Brian Terry) last December in Arizona’s Peck Canyon was part of the now infamous Operation Fast and Furious. Conducted by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), the disastrous scheme allowed guns to be smuggled into Mexico so they could eventually be traced to drug cartels.

Instead, federal law enforcement officers lost track of more than 1,000 guns which have been used in numerous crimes. In Terry’s case, five illegal immigrants armed with at least two semi-automatic assault rifles were hunting for U.S. Border Patrol agents near a desert watering hole just north of the Arizona-Mexico border when a firefight erupted and Terry got hit.

We know this only because Washington D.C.’s conservative newspaper , the Washington Times, got ahold of the court documents before the government suddenly made them off limits. The now-sealed federal grand jury indictment tells the frightening story of how Terry was gunned down by Mexican drug smugglers patrolling the rugged desert with the intent to “intentionally and forcibly assault” Border Patrol agents.

You can see why the administration wants to keep this information from the public and the media, considering the smugglers were essentially armed by the U.S. government. Truth is, no one will know the reason for the confiscation of public court records in this case because the judge’s decision to seal it was also sealed, according to the news story. That means the public or media won’t have access to any new or old evidence, filings, rulings or arguments.

Transparency? Hardly. Instead, it reeks of corruption, obfuscation, obstructionism, incompetence and purposeful stonewalling.

Brian Terry was a U.S. Marine Corps veteran and had served with the United States Border Patrol for 3 1/2 years. He had previously served as a police officer with the Lincoln Park, Michigan, Police Department. He is survived by his parents, brother, two sisters, five nieces, and one nephew.

And now the Obama Administration wants the public to forget him entirely.

BZ

Clearly, there is NO "Liberal Bias" in government agencies!

2011-11-30T00:01:00.000-08:00

Except that, well, yes, there is.

Let's whisk ourselves, shall we, over to the city of Richmond, Virginia -- and focus like a laser-beam on the following story unearthed in the Richmond Times-Dispatch and further revealed in Andrew Breitbart's Big Government.

First, from the Richmond Times-Dispatch:

RICHMOND --
The Richmond Tea Party is lashing out at Richmond Mayor Dwight C. Jones for what it sees as the city's preferential treatment of the Occupy Richmond protesters encamped at Kanawha Plaza.

The tea party group is sending Jones an invoice for the charges incurred for the Tax Day rallies it has held at the plaza the past three years, arguing that the Occupy Wall Street offshoot group squatting there has been using the park illegally and free of charge since Oct. 15. [Allow me to again emphasize: "free of charge." -BZ]

"The tea party keeps being compared to the occupiers. Well, in the way we're treated, there's no comparison. It's like a slap in the face," said Richmond Tea Party spokeswoman Colleen Owens.

Owens said her group has shelled out about $10,000 for the three rallies held there, including a rental fee for use of the park, various permits and other expenses. She added that the rallies were scheduled with the city months in advance and that the group held fundraisers to cover the required costs, which included police presence and portable toilets.

"The city of Richmond is allowing Occupy Richmond to blatantly break the law day after day while forcing other groups to strictly comply," a news release from the tea party group said.
Why police have not already removed the protesters is not clear. A section of the city's mond Times Dispatch, the Richmond Tea Party delivered an invoice for charges incurred in our previous three Tax Day rallies at Kanawha Plaza because Mayor Jones chose to allow Occupy Richmond protesters to convene in the same park for two weeks.
The Mayor not only allowed the Occupiers to break the law, but he visited them in the city-owned park. “Jones said that as a ‘child of civil rights’ and protests, he had allowed the group to remain in the park but understands his mayoral responsibility to uphold laws of the city,” reported the Richmond Times Dispatch.

Apparently his mayoral duties included preferential treatment for a group he sympathizes with ideologically at the expense of the taxpayers.

Perhaps -- like the George Orwell novel Animal Farm -- "all animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others."

Further:

The Mayor not only allowed the Occupiers to break the law, but he visited them in the city-owned park. “Jones said that as a ‘child of civil rights’ and protests, he had allowed the group to remain in the park but understands his mayoral responsibility to uphold laws of the city,” reported the Richmond Times Dispatch.
Apparently his mayoral duties included preferential treatment for a group he sympathizes with ideologically at the expense of the taxpayers.

The blog Virginia Right reported that the city provided services such as portable toilets, trash pickup, etc. The incomplete invoices obtained from the city totaled $7,000. This was only a portion of the actual costs to taxpayers because the costs of police, helicopter and incarcerations were not included. Also not accounted for was the 24-hour police protection of the Mayor’s home after the Occupiers moved their camp next door to the Mayor’s house. The Richmond Tea Party, conversely, paid for all services for our rallies, including the police, portable toilets, park fees and permits, amounting to approximately $8,500.
Our actions apparently struck a nerve. Our invoice to the Mayor was covered by hundreds of news outlets, including the AP, Richmond Times Dispatch, Baltimore Sun, and the Washington Post. On October 31, I appeared on Fox Business, Neil Cavuto’s show, and was interviewed about our actions. Reportedly, at least two Richmond City Council members agreed with our plight. “I guess we’ll be writing a check to the Tea Party people,” said Councilman Bruce W. Tyler, as quoted in the Richmond Times Dispatch. “You can’t treat one group different from the other. It’s unfair.”

Which garnered this response from the City of Richmond, Virginia:

In the audit letter signed by Cynthia Carr, Field Auditor for the City of Richmond, it states that our Tea Party is delinquent in filing of Admissions, Lodging, and Meals Taxes with the city and as such our group has been targeted for a comprehensive audit. Well, aren’t we special? In fact, as part of the Business License we have with the City, a form is filled out by our treasurer every month (as required). We have never charged admission or had lodging or meals associated with our rallies. Every month the forms are appropriately filled with zeros. Ms. Carr goes on to say that if we don’t respond within 15 days, the City will make a statutory assessment–meaning they’ll pick an amount to charge us.
So the City and Mayor apparently feel that the Richmond Tea Party has not paid its fair share for use of Kanawha Plaza. We challenged the Mayor’s unequal treatment between groups and he responded with even more unequal treatment.

This is nothing more than an inherently-biased treatment of two groups.

One -- Conservative -- who must be responsible for themselves and further.

Another -- which isn't responsible for anything other than its perceived "free speech" rights.

Simply because the Mayor wishes it so.

BZ

Herman Cain is Beyond Toast:

2011-11-29T00:01:00.000-08:00

With every other bit of baggage.

Add this.

Done.

Stick a fork in him.

BZ

Even The Washington Times Doubts Obama

2011-11-28T00:01:00.000-08:00

From the Michael Curl op-ed piece on Sunday (11-27):

Over the last decade, we became a country that relied too much on what we bought and consumed.”
- President Obama, Nov. 19, 2011
“Too many of us now tend to worship self-indulgence and consumption. Human identity is no longer defined by what one does, but by what one owns.”
- President Carter, July 15, 1979
For the past 36 months, Americans have hoped for the best. But it hasn’t turned out that way. In fact, some argue that Mr. Obama actually made the economy worse - the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said last week that his 2009 stimulus package may have sustained as few as 700,000 jobs at its peak and that over the long run it will be a net drag on the economy.
But then, this. The president, traveling the country purportedly to look for votes in 2012, decided to lecture the American people on their shortcomings: fat, lazy, stupid. And now, he’s channeling - of all people - Jimmy Carter.
Don’t doubt the premise here. Democrats must spend - spend and spend and spend. It’s in their DNA. Mr. Obama offered a $3.8 trillion budget this year, to be paid for by - $2.1 trillion in revenue (read: your money). He knows that over the next four years, with automatic budget cuts set to take effect and the American people’s rising ire over the profligate spending in Washington, he’s going to have no money to redistribute to the masses.

Curl finally asks Obama: "why not just bail?"

I concur: Mr Obama, if you're on the fence, if you're uninterested in communicating, if you're disengaged, if you don't much care for the office or for the people around you --

Just bail.

BZ

P.S.
And as Europe begins to burn, ObaNero keeps fiddling, learning nothing from the history unfolding before his very eyes.

Full BeeKeepers' Uniform:

2011-11-27T06:00:00.000-08:00

This was the first time I'd ever seen it in my area:

A dark-skinned man, with dark short hair, no beard, contemporary clothing (as in a short-sleeved shirt, jeans, Vans) in the company of a woman who was completely obscured from head to toe, with an unimproved vision area directly in front of her face. A full burqa.

And they were attending a movie, this Sunday, at a local theatre.

Muslims, clear.

With a remarkable exception: apparently HE didn't much feel like keeping with Islam whilst, on the other hand, he felt compelled to keep his wife or girlfriend or "friend with benefits" close at hand and in totalis obscurum.

And therein lies the rub:

For those of you who love to embrace the opposite of this country's foundation, here is your future:

If you're a misogynist male, you'll love it.

If you're a female -- ahem -- not so much.

Because, under True Islam, under Islam As Practiced, the male is simply Superior and the female is simply Subservient. And subject to killing if the male is displeased.

Doesn't quite sound to me as though met with egalitarianism.

Because if you're a Leftist and female you simultaneously disapprove of this post and will be the first to be sublimated as chattel or killed under Islam.

Islam and Sharia are here, ladies and gentlemen. Just waiting for you to be weaker and stupider.

BZ

P.S.
This might be better for the summer:

King Crimson: Lark's Tongues In Aspic, Pt I

2011-11-26T00:01:00.000-08:00

No finer album in 1973.

Lark's Tongues In Aspic, by King Crimson.

Robert Fripp on guitar & Mellotron.
John Wetton on bass guitar.
David Cross on violin & viola.
Bill Bruford on drums.
Jamie Muir on percussion & allsorts.

"All This For A (Damn) Flag?"

2011-11-25T00:01:00.000-08:00

Watch the video closely. It would appear that, during the nation's 9/11 tribute, Michelle Obama leans to her left and asks Barack Hussein Obama: "All this for a (damn) flag?"

As the bagpipers played and the Honor Guard carefully folded the American flag, the First Lady asks that question of Mr Obama. In my opinion, she does so with contempt, disdain and arrogance.

Very carefully examine the look on her face.

Tim Roth as Cal Lightman of Lie To Me would have a proverbial field day. So would Dr Paul Ekman. The display she exhibits is vastly more profound than mere microexpressions. It's quite overt, in my opinion. She shakes her head and knits her eyebrows; the vertical lines between her brows crease.

In response, Mr Obama turns to the right in order to acknowledge his wife, nods his head slightly a few times and, as he turns back, the ends of his mouth curl in a small smile. He is slightly less disdainful than his wife here. Yet he is not shocked nor surprised with her comment.

The secret is safe between them.

Except that it is not.

I present for you, ladies and gentlemen, our current sitting president and the First Lady.

BZ

P.S.
This video may provide a slightly less-obstructed view:

Your thoughts?

Thanksgiving, November 24th of 2011

2011-11-24T00:01:00.000-08:00

This Norman Rockwell painting, entitled "Freedom From Want," first appeared in the Saturday Evening Post on March 6th of 1943. It was one of Mr Rockwell's Four Freedoms paintings. [The other three noted are Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Worship and Freedom from Fear.]

The original oil on canvas painting, 45.75 x 35.5 inches, is housed in the Norman Rockwell Museum of Stockbridge, Massachusetts.

This painting (and the other three) was intended to inspire patriotism during WWII.

However, according to Wikipedia, "outside of the United States, this image is perceived as a depiction of American overabundance.^[4]

Perhaps I might ask in closing: are any of you having to deal with so-called "overabundance?"

I, myself, am not.

Happy Thanksgiving to my readers.

Frankly, here, I am thankful for you.

BZ

US Government's CBO Report: Obama's Stimulus HURT The Economy -- And So Do ILLEGALS!

2011-11-23T00:01:00.000-08:00

Again, more of what you won't find plastered across the DEM/MSM for the next few weeks, because of the incredible BIAS inherent in the LMGC (Leftist Media/Government Complex):

From The Washington Times:

The Congressional Budget Office on Tuesday downgraded its estimate of the benefits of President Obama’s 2009 stimulus package, saying it may have sustained as few as 700,000 jobs at its peak last year and that over the long run it will actually be a net drag on the economy.
CBO said that while the Recovery Act boosted the economy in the short run, the extra debt that the stimulus piled up “crowds out” private investment and “will reduce output slightly in the long run — by between 0 and 0.2 percent afD"font-weight: bold;font-size:130%;" >1. 40% of all workers in L. A. County ( L. A. County has 10.2 million people) are working for cash and not paying taxes. This is because they are predominantly illegal aliens working without a green card.

2. 95% of warrants for murder in Los Angeles are for illegal aliens.

3. 75% of people on the most-wanted list in Los Angeles are illegal aliens.

4. Over 2/3 of all births in Los Angeles County are to illegal alien Mexicans on Medi-Cal, whose births were paid for by taxpayers.

5. Nearly 35% of all inmates in California detention centers are Mexican nationals here illegally.

6. Over 300,000 illegal aliens in Los Angeles County are living in garages.

7. The FBI reports half of all gang members in Los Angeles are most likely illegal aliens from south of the border.

8. Nearly 60% of all occupants of HUD properties are illegal.

9. 21 radio stations in L. A. Are Spanish speaking.

10. In L. A. County 5.1 million people speak English, 4.9 million speak Spanish. (There are 10.2 million people in L. A. County .)

(All 10 of the above statements are from the Los Angeles Times)
Less than 2% of illegal aliens are picking our crops, but 29% are on welfare.
Over 70% of the United States ' annual population growth (and over 90% of California , Florida , and New York ) results from immigration.
29% of inmates in federal prisons are illegal aliens.

So what hurts the economy?

Illegal activities.

And further, I submit:

Instead of spending BILLIONS of dollars, there needs to be logic and proportion and reality. How about one easy solution: deliver $1,000,000 to each LEGAL American citizen over the age of 21 and let THEM determine their fiscal future.

[Note: Government is never going to end poverty. It is never going to create private sector jobs.]

Many would pay off their homes. Many would pay off their bills. Some would piss their money away on drugs and other illegal activities. So be it. Those who are smart would succeed. Those who are stupid would not. But, despite that, money would be injected into The System.

And all it would cost is roughly $310,000,000 dollars.

Government spending is not the same as productivity. Productivity occurs in the private sector. Productivity: that's the key. No amount of government spending can produce productivity. Government spending destroys productivity. It destroys it.

Leftists say: we need more spending.

The focus needs to be on productivity, it needs to be on goods and services. The private sector creates wealth and productivity.

Government "stimulus" -- NO.

Involving the Departments of Failure -- NO.

Providing power down to its lowest level:

YES.

You truly want more spending, Demorats? All it would cost is $310 million.

Taken to the lowest common denominator.

Refute that, Leftists, Demorats, Liberals. I'll print ALL your comments in response.

BZ

Another reason I enjoy listening to Newt:

2011-11-22T00:01:00.000-08:00

Oh my gosh, isn't it sad when the truth particularly zings to the heart of the OWS matter?

BZ

P.S.
This is the 48th anniversary of the slaying of President John Fitzgerald Kennedy, on November 22nd of 1963. And we still don't have the full truth regarding his assassination in Dallas on that day.

Also: Happy Birthday to my good friend, Richard Keith Carson from Vashon Island, Washington!

The truth from Chris Matthews: Obama's glow is fading

2011-11-21T00:01:00.000-08:00

Finally, the truth is out: Mr Obama runs his administration like your average teenager.

As Mr Matthews says:

There's nothing to root for. What are we trying to do in this administration? Why does he want a second term? Would he tell us? What's he going to do with his second term? More of this? Is this it? Is this as good as it gets? Where do we go? Are we going to do something the second term? He has yet to tell us.

He has not said one thing about what he'd do in his second term. He never tells what he's going to do with reforming our healthcare systems, Medicare, Medicaid, how he's going to reform Social Security. Is he going to deal with long term debt? How? Is he going to reform the tax system? How? Just tell us.

Why are we in this fight with him? Just tell us, Commander, give us our orders and tell us where we're going. Give us the mission. And he hasn't done it.

And I think it's the people around him. Too many people like little kids with propellers on their heads. They're all virtual. This social networking -- I get these e-mails -- you probably get them, I'm tired of getting them. Stop giving them to me. I want to meet people.

Their idea of running a campaign is in the virtual universe of sending e-mails around to people. No it's not. It's meetings with people. It's forging alliances. It's White House meetings and dinner parties that go on until midnight. And he should be sitting late at night now, with senators and members of Congress and governors working together on how they're going to win this political fight that's coming.

I don't have a sense that he's ever had a meeting. I hear stories that you will not believe. Not a single phone call since the last election. They don't call. He never calls. That's the message. Members of Congress, I keeping asking: 'when did you hear from him last?' (silence) He doesn't like their company. That's a problem, by the way."

DEMORAT POLLSTERS: OBAMA SHOULD ABANDON A SECOND TERM

And this from the National Journal:

President Obama should abandon his run for a second term and turn over the reins of the Democratic Party to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, two one-time Democratic pollsters wrote in Monday's Wall Street Journal, which appeared online Sunday.

Patrick H. Caddell and Douglas E. Schoen argued that just as Harry Truman and Lyndon Johnson decided not to pursue additional runs though they could have, Obama should do the same.

“He should abandon his candidacy for re-election in favor of a clear alternative, one capable not only of saving the Democratic Party, but more important, of governing effectively and in a way that preserves the most important of the president's accomplishments. He should step aside for the one candidate who would become, by acclamation, the nominee of the Democratic Party: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton,”Caddell and Schoen wrote.

Because, right now, there are nothing but kids sitting at the adults' table in the White House.

BZ

Obama: The Smartest President EVER -- And Still Refusing To Increase Jobs

2011-11-19T00:01:00.000-08:00

Certainly a long post title, but accurate. Because Mr Obama is the smartest man ever:

Robert at American & Proud notes that talk show host Michael Medved featured an author on his show who wrote a book stating that Mr Obama was simply the best president. Period.

As you attempt to wrap your head around that warped concept, let me get with the specifics. The book, by author Frank J Fleming, is entitled "Obama: The Greatest President in the History of Everything." I suppose that about sums it up. And published just in time for Mr Obama's re-election campaign.

As Robert writes, part of the product description indicates:

Oh, but Barack Obama was no mere man. He was a paragon of intelligence and civilized society. A savior to the world's depressed. A lightbringer. A genius thinking thoughts the common man could never hope to comprehend. And his words -- his beautiful words read from crystal panes -- reached down to our souls and told us all would be well. With the simple act of casting a ballot for Barack Obama, we could make the world an immeasurably better place -- a world of peace, of love, of understanding, of unicorns, of rainbows, of expanded entitlements. This was his promise. And now, having had him as president for more than two years, we can say without reservation that he has delivered all his promises and more and is the best president this country -- or any country -- has ever had or could even imagine to have.

The book can be purchased through Amazon for the massive price of $1.99 on Kindle.

Though a nicely-accomplished parable, the truly sad portion is this: way too many people really think this way.

On that note, how about another video:

Because the smartest president in the history of our nation has directed the USDA to not only kill 200,000 jobs, but continue to ensure that America will not become energy independent by relying more on its own innate resources.

From The Washington Examiner:

President Obama's United States Department of Agriculture has delayed shale gas drilling in Ohio for up to six months by cancelling a mineral lease auction for Wayne National Forest (WNF). The move was taken in deference to environmentalists, on the pretext of studying the effects of hydraulic fracturing.

The Ohio Oil and Gas Energy Education Program (OOGEEP) recently estimated that drilling in the Utica shale, which is affected by the suspension of the mineral lease auctions, would produce up 204,500 jobs by 2015. [Update: the USDA estimates that the creation of only a few dozen to 200 jobs will be delayed by this study.]
"The President’s plan is to simply say ‘no’ to new energy production," House Natural Resources Committee chairman Doc Hastings, R-Wash, said to Interior Secretary Ken Salazar during a hearing pertaining to hydraulic fracturing. "It’s a plan that is sending American jobs overseas, forfeiting new revenue, and denying access to American energy that would lessen our dependence on hostile Middle Eastern oil."

Certainly, it's fine that Mr Obama sends money to Brazil in order to enable their oil drilling whilst -- at the same time -- negating further oil drilling off our coasts and on our own sovereign soil. Mr Obama said to Brazil: "We want to help you with the technology and support to develop these oil reserves safely. And when you're ready to start selling, we want to be one of your best customers."

I wrote about that here.

Yes indeed, people. Clearly, the finest president ever -- not just in the history of our nation, but of the planet itself. So calm, so composed.

And whose Socialist and anti-Capitalist philosophy still won't let him harvest our own abundance.

BZ

P.S.
On a final serious note: the report -- linked next -- indicates that the US has the greatest oil reserves on the planet. Untapped. Please read.

Addendum: should we decide to kill the Canadian/US Keystone oil pipeline, the Chinese have indicated to Canada that they are interested. Canada will sell to China if the Unites States isn't motivated or declines. And Mr Obama will do his level best to ensure we're oil-starved by killing this proposed pipeline.

Why I Still Like Newt:

2011-11-17T00:01:00.000-08:00

Because he'll always be The Smartest Man In The Room.

And that has to count for something.

Scott Pelley: Speaker Gingrich, if I could just ask you the same question, as President of the United States, would you sign that death warrant for an American citizen overseas who you believe is a terrorist suspect?

Newt Gingrich: Well, he's not a terrorist suspect. He's a person who was found guilty under review of actively seeking the death of Americans.

Scott Pelley: Not-- not found guilty by a court, sir.

Newt Gingrich: He was found guilty by a panel that looked at it and reported to the president.

Scott Pelley: Well, that's ex-judicial. That's-- it's not--

Newt Gingrich: Let me-- let me-- let me tell you a story-- let me just tell you this.

Scott Pelley: --the rule of law.

Newt Gingrich: It is the rule of law. That is explicitly false. It is the rule of law.

Scott Pelley: No.

Newt Gingrich: If you engage in war against the United States, you are an enemy combatant. You have none of the civil liberties of the United States. You cannot go to court. Let me be-- let me be very clear about this. There are two levels. There's a huge gap here that-- that frankly far too many people get confused over. Civil defense, criminal defense, is a function of being within the American law. Waging war on the United States is outside criminal law. It is an act of war and should be dealt with as an act of war. And the correct thing in an act of war is to kill people who are trying to kill you.

Male Voice: Well said. Well said.

Obama vs Newt Gingrich?

No hesitation: Newt.

BZ

Herman Cain: Not Ready For Prime Time

2011-11-16T00:01:00.000-08:00

Stick a fork in it; Mr Cain's campaign is now officially moribund.

I tried to give him every chance. But, as with most candidates, their mortal wounds are predominantly self-inflicted.

The above video is from an editorial interview with the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel on Monday the 14th.

Also covered here by The Washington Post.

And the MJ-S blog here.

As a presidential candidate, when you chalk up the rambling and disjointed answer of a media question to fatigue, the first question rationally asked should be: so how will this man react when he does receive the proverbial 2 am crisis phone call in the White House?

Watch the video, read the articles, and draw your own conclusion.

BZ