Terror in India

I haven't commented on the terror attacks in Mumbai, mainly because the news is being covered well elsewhere. And really, what can you say about a tragedy like this? I'll tell you what, it's made me more thankful that we have so far been able to avoid another attack along these lines. But it added a sad note to Thanksgiving. And the need to say an extra prayer for those who suffered at the hands of these evil people.

The News in Pictures

Don't Act So Surprised

You knew he owned a backhoe when you backed over his garbage cans.

The Mall

We (the wife) dropped off the kid and some friends at the mall at 5:00 AM.... said she had never seen the parking lot so full. Must be the economic downturn. I avoided the adventure.

I'll mouse my way to Christmas this year. Which reminds me: Amazon's Black Friday Sale.

Couldn't Help Myself

Happy Thanksgiving

Two things, a dog for Obama:

No, really, it's a dog.

And Sleeveface, some of them are really good:


And in case I don't get back, Happy Thanksgiving everyone.

Gordon Ramsey, Report to the Woodshed

Gordon Ramsey seems to have gotten himself in trouble. That's him with his wife above. First question -- how did he ever rate a girl like that? Second question -- what an idiot:

Gordon Ramsay has made a grovelling apology to wife Tana Ramsay, after admitting to meeting 'mistress' Sarah Symonds four times, it was alleged today.

The television chef was forced to admit to his wife that he does know Symonds, who insists she has been his mistress for seven years.

But he told his wife - who appears to be prepared to stand by him - that they have only met on four occasions.

The couple appeared near their Wandsworth hand-in-hand, in a show of marital solidarity despite the possibility that further lurid revelations will emerge later this week.

Truth - I can't imagine Gordon Ramsey being intimate with any woman, "What? You call that a kiss? That's rubbish, is what that is. I'd be embarrassed to serve a kiss like that to a patron. I maintain a high standard dammit, you bin that and try again. Stop sniveling and start over."

Running in Circles

Sorry for the infrequent posting. Somehow everything went kerflooie all at once: work, a sick dog, coking commitments, visits from space aliens, and leaf raking. It seems that whenever I make progress on one thing, I get behind on all the others. Making matters worse, I found this fine time waster just when I don't have any time to waste:



This is my favorite kind of online game, in that it seems so impossible that any progress at all makes you feel great.

In brief: third up-day in a row for the stock market, so I renew my call for Obama to step down at his peak.

Also: you think you'd like our government to run health care? This month, at an unnamed explosives manufacturing facility where I often work, they've started putting out those portable speed-bumps.

And lastly: Thomas Sowell makes sense. Good. I'm going to have a t-shirt made: "My Economist is a Black Man"

Obamanomics

The stock market downturn on Nov 5th struck me as an obvious no-vote for the president elect's perceived economic plans. And it's been kind of fun watching my local news radio station come up with excuses for the downturn, one after another, all the while avoiding any consideration that wealth redistribution could have anything to do with it.

So I was amused yesterday when we finally see two good market days in a row and my local station finally sees Obama's hand in it. "He announced his economic team" Sure. Couldn't have anything to do with the report that he may delay his tax hikes for the "rich".

I can't predict markets, but I'm not enthusiastic.

Turkey Repost

Civics

Did we already do this one? Some of those questions seemed familiar.

This is the one that elected officials did poorly on:

US elected officials scored abysmally on a test measuring their civic knowledge, with an average grade of just 44 percent, the group that organized the exam said Thursday.

Ordinary citizens did not fare much better, scoring just 49 percent correct on the 33 exam questions compiled by the Intercollegiate Studies Institute (ISI).

So I blew them out of the water. Is it any wonder that so many of them have bought the internet hoax of global warming? But hey, I'm not going to rub it in and endanger my chance of a bail-out.

Parking

Have you heard the one about the lawyer who was late for a court? He’s driving around and around and there is no parking anywhere. So he says aloud, “dear all powerful and merciful God please find me a place to park, I’ll do anything for you.” As he finishes praying, a space opens up and he says, “never mind I found one”...

Give Me a Hand

here

File Not Found

Message for Obama Pool

I changed this one a bit:


It's from the "Message for Obama" flickr pool. It's not all syrupy sweet adoration, some of it's critical, some of it's crazyrant.

Dear Mr Obama,
When you were elected,
I felt something change in me.
I'm still waiting
for the biopsy results.

VI Day

Zombie started it, and it's a good idea: declare victory in Iraq. Certainly the vastly improved conditions there warrant it. And the main-stream media seems unmotivated to remark upon it. So yes, let's declare the victory, and of course, say thank you to those who have sacrificed so much to bring it about.

Call me cynical, but I don't expect the media to be interested until the new wonderful leader of the free world (ah, a phrase that will no doubt be redundant soon) takes office. Give Obama a week and the headlines will start "It Took Him Just Seven Days," "Obama Ends the War That the Fascists Entangled Us In."

He will have input. He will get the chance to screw it up; but hopefully he won't. Would it be tempting fate to suggest that even Jimmy Carter could bring it home from here?

Want specifics? Read The Advisor

Penguin Escape

Finally Found It

I've looked everywhere for this.

They Won, But They Just Can't Stop

Sarah Palin inadvertently gives an interview in front of a
criminal disposing of his accomplice in a wood-chipper

***Update:

That wacky governor.

Ha! She doesn't even have eyes in the back of her head.

Bush Snub

Michelle Malkin has a CNN video refuting Rick Sanchez's childish nyaa-nyaa about Bush being snubbed at the G8.

Of course Sanchez just knows that Bush is hated. How? Well, he googled Bush + bully (somehow, Sanchez claims to have only gotten two million hits - just another error):
Yup, guess that proves it. Although:
Obviously, Bush also has a serious disco problem. What an assclown Rick Sanchez is.

It's Friday

And I've only got one thing to say:



Twice

And Then Things Started Going Wrong

About the only thing missing from this story is a three-legged dog, and it could be that there was one, only it was left out of the account so as to not add needless complication. You really need to read the whole thing, if only to learn the campaign slogan of the sheriff involved:

CARLISLE — There's little undisputed in this story, the tale of the tipped trailer.

Frances Barton's single-wide, the one she had fully paid $5,000 for and was hoping to move to a little piece of land she was buying on a $250-a-month land contract, is now literally in pieces on Jim Gaunce's front lawn.

Frances Barton cried Tuesday as she watched cleanup on what's left of her single-wide mobile home four days after it was overturned while it was being moved along U.S. 68 in Nicholas County near Carlisle.

And, everyone agrees, that leaves some 12 people — four adults and eight children ranging from 3 months to 12 years — facing Thanksgiving with no place to live.

How, exactly, the mobile home came to this odd resting place is where the story gets complicated. On Friday, Barton hired a guy to put her house on a trailer and move it up U.S. 68 in Nicholas County. When the trailer broke down and the house blocked the highway for hours on end, the sheriff got involved....

It's really a sad story, but I suspect this 35 year-old grandma, and her "mishmash of real kin and unofficially adopted kids, teens and young adults" will be ok. If only because this story has been so widely circulated. And people are generous, especially those of us who laughed inappropriately while reading of her woes.

Just a Thought

OK, I didn't vote for him, but now he's going to be president, so I really do wish Obama well. Or put that another way, I wish me well, so I'll be happy if somehow Obama can swoop in and rescue this economy from the toilet. You go, guy.

On the other hand, and in the spirit of well-wishing, I would urge Obama to retire at this point. Think of it. He's at his peak. He can retire now and be proclaimed the greatest president who ever lived.

No really. He's the amazing lawyer who never did much lawyering. He's the astounding Senator, who spent less time actually working there than John Kerry spent in Vietnam. Why not be the most wonderful president ever, without ever taking the oath? I can hear Chris Mathews lamenting the end of an era now. You know the tributes will be unceasing. It's a win-win-win situation. He wins, we win, Joe Biden wins.... Oh, Joe Biden.

Darn it, scrap that plan.

On the up side. If Obama really does serve, he'll be dealing with an Al-Qaeda that has called him a "house-negro," so maybe, just maybe, it will become ok to hate Al-Qaeda again.

They Can't Stop Talking About Sarah

First lady-elect, talking about Sarah Palin.

Attractive Girls Union Refuses To Enter Into Talks With Mike Greenman

From the Onion, with ok language 95% of the way through:


Attractive Girls Union Refuses To Enter Into Talks With Mike Greenman
Only advice I can offer Mike, concentrate on your skills, like nunchuku skills, bow hunting skills, computer hacking skills... Girls only want boyfriends who have great skills. Or so I've heard.

Super-Duper-Zippity-Fast

Wired Science reports:

A new crop of supercomputers is breaking down the petaflop speed barrier, pushing high-performance computing into a new realm that could change science more profoundly than at any time since Galileo, leading researchers say.

Which is good news, of course. It means that current climate models can now give us the wrong answer in half the time. Progress!

And the Winner Is...

I get almost exactly this reaction when I announce it's a brussel-sprout dinner night.

Almost Spooky

and for no reason whatsoever:

Hitler Wasn't All There

Not world-shaking news, but this clears up the record on a subject that was much debated in my youth. The neighborhood was roughly divided in half: the Illuminati, my camp, knew that the fuhrer avoided bicycles:

Although it was known Hitler suffered a groin injury in the Somme, evidence that he was 'monorchic' - the medical word for the condition - has evaded historians Photo: PA

The Nazi leader lost a testicle during the Battle of the Somme in 1916, the doctor claimed.

The medical condition, for which there has never been conclusive proof, was mocked in the Second World War ditty which begins: "Hitler has only got one ball, the other is in the Albert Hall."

The disclosure is made in a document noting a conversation in the 1960s between German war doctor Johan Jambor and his priest, Franciszek Pawlar, according to The Sun. The priest's document has come to light 23 years after Jambor's death.

Although it was known Hitler suffered a groin injury in the Somme, evidence that he was 'monorchic' - the medical word for the condition - has evaded historians.

Not sure how that subject would have come up, "Forgive me Father, for I have sinned, oh, and by the way...."

Matador on Wall Street

A Word From Our Sponsor

From Adultswim - but safe for work. (though they'll all think you weird)

Wait for It, Wait for It ....

Lookin Good, Kid

Arbroath writes about a new fad -- kids injecting themselves in order to tan from the inside:

Melanotan is still undergoing clinical trials but is sold illegally online and in salons and gyms.

It is a synthetic hormone which stimulates the body's production of melanin, a substance that gives the skin its colour.

Experts are worried that the long-term effects are not yet known.

Well, I don't know about the long term effects being "not yet known." It seems safe to say that its users run a very real risk of becoming involved with girls who don't mind being seen in public with guys who look like that. I shudder for them all.

Part Two

Shelby Steele from part two:

"The problem is not so much that he is going to reveal who he really is. The problem is that he may not be anybody."

Informed Voters

New York Post

How are the two above pictures connected? Well, the fellow on the right is Alexander Hamilton. (as a proud, former, owner of a ten dollar bill, I knew this one) And on the left we have the NY Post, Rupert Murdoch's paper - once silly-liberal, now much more fair and balanced. But did you know that Hamilton founded the NY Post? Well, I didn't. This is something I found out helping the kid with History homework. I can honestly say I learn something new (or something I'd forgotten) every time.

Wonder what Hamilton would think of the paper's evolution. "Why, where's the Federalist arguments? I see nothing in here about industrialization. Why aren't we at war with France? We should at least be at war with France."


Blast you, Aaron Burr.

Moo Sue

'Good Morning America' aired a story about a woman suing Victoria's Secret (Newsbusters notes: she has a history of filing lawsuits):

Victoria's Secret, the well-known lingerie retailer, is being sued by a woman who claims the company's bra had formaldehyde in it and made her "utterly sick." ABC's "Good Morning America" ran a segment Nov. 11 focusing on that 37-year-old Ohio woman, Roberta Ritter.

Formaldehyde? Sounds far fetched. But my question involves her getting "utterly sick." Just what size was that thing?

Shelby Steele

I thought he would have a difficult time winning
because he never really revealed who he was.

Shelby Steele hits the nail squarely on the head. Part one of his interview is here. Can't wait for the next installment.

Cause and Effect

Pat R noticed: Mark Cuban criticizes Obama... then, four days later... Mark Cuban is indited. Even Bill Clinton wasn't that fast. Yup, Obama is a piece of work. The smooth talking Marxist....... just a second, I'll be right back, there's a knock at the door....

Brrrrr

RB pointed me to:

On Monday, Nasa's Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS), which is run by Al Gore's chief scientific ally, Dr James Hansen, and is one of four bodies responsible for monitoring global temperatures, announced that last month was the hottest October on record.

This was startling. Across the world there were reports of unseasonal snow and plummeting temperatures last month, from the American Great Plains to China, and from the Alps to New Zealand. China's official news agency reported that Tibet had suffered its "worst snowstorm ever". In the US, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration registered 63 local snowfall records and 115 lowest-ever temperatures for the month, and ranked it as only the 70th-warmest October in 114 years.

So what explained the anomaly? GISS's computerised temperature maps seemed to show readings across a large part of Russia had been up to 10 degrees higher than normal. But when expert readers of the two leading warming-sceptic blogs, Watts Up With That and Climate Audit, began detailed analysis of the GISS data they made an astonishing discovery. The reason for the freak figures was that scores of temperature records from Russia and elsewhere were not based on October readings at all. Figures from the previous month had simply been carried over and repeated two months running.

Ah, if only we could have gone a year or two before the discrepancy was noted. The warmsters would have advanced many conflicting explanations, held conferences, printed charts, and proposed laws, and in general busied themselves -- and then we could throw it all out and send them out looking for something else to get worked up about. I propose they explain why there has been no statistically significant warming since 1995.

They Don't Need Our Help

Swedish design group ADDI has come up with an cutting-edge
polar bear lifejacket design concept to help polar bears navigate
the changes in their habitat.

For the polar bear who has everything. So why not one of those floating lawn chairs with multiple drink holders and a little niche for their smokes? What? Polar bears don't smoke, you say? Well, neither do they need life jackets.

And another thing. It's odd that nobody questions this big concern that there's not as much ice -- so the polar bears have to swim further to hunt. Why? Do you think that seals tread water out out there in the middle of the ocean? No, the seals use the ice too. Less ice should make for easier seal slaughtering.

Never mind that the ice has always been variable. Never mind that instances of drowned bears is not up. Never mind that we may be headed for a new ice age. And especially never mind that there is not enough liquor available in the Arctic circle to get someone drunk enough to try and put one of those things on a polar bear.

What? No floppy hat?

Threats

This is an AP article so you have to flip a coin to see if any of it is true:

WASHINGTON – Threats against a new president historically spike right after an election, but from Maine to Idaho law enforcement officials are seeing more against Barack Obama than ever before.

Well, if it is true, then the next question is: what are you calling a threat? Seeing as how, in some parts of the country, wearing a Sarah Palin button is called racist. Are American flag pins considered a threat? What about Support the Troops bumper-stickers? Does the Secret Service go into throw-down mode if some kid comments on the airy-one's ears?

Seriously, I'm sure there are real threats, there always are. And I hope that every one of them is quashed. This is America and we pick leaders at the ballot box, thank you very much. I even hope our side refrains form assassination fantasizing, à la HuffPo and Kos.

Speaking of which, did you see the picture of the kid they arrested:


My question is this: short of putting on lipstick, is there any way a twenty-something kid, in a tank top, hefting a huge rifle, with a swastika tattoo, is there any way he could look more feminine?

Reports Untrue

A spokesperson for Hillary Clinton denies reports that the senator has seen a plastic surgeon in hopes of improving her chances of landing a position in the Obama administration. "She may have had a mole removed; that's about all," said the spokesperson, on condition of anonymity.

and no, really, I didn't notice, I swear it

Market Indicators

This gives me reason to hope; Michael Moore is going to do his thing on the economy:

"This is going to tackle what's going on in the world and America's place in it," Paramount Vantage chief Nick Meyer said.

But as the political winds shifted in the months before the election -- and gusted after it -- Moore subtly began reorienting his movie. Instead of foreign policy, the film's focus now is more on the global financial crisis and the U.S. economy.

The untitled movie will contain an end-of-the-empire tone, say those familiar with the project, and Moore no doubt hopes that this will give it a more general feel that will untether it from a specific political moment.

If Michael Moore says we're doomed, recovery can't be far behind. Remember, this is the guy who said the average Cuban got better health care than Americans. I'm not saying that the Messiah-elect can't, and won't, screw it up, but having Michael Moore rooting for doom makes it far less likely to happen.

Now It's OK to be Only OK With McCain

See more funny videos at Funny or Die

Response to the Coming Democrat Revolution

Also works for those door to door driveway resurfacers who "were just in the neighborhood."

Old Pictures

(clickabiggen)

Just found a great site for old pictures: Shorpy Photo Archive. Lots of cool old pictures there, plus, it's educational. Enlarge the above picture, for example, and you'll notice that back in 1911, at least half the population was gay.

Swiss Chocolate Army Knife

I saw this and thought, "nice photoshop, wish I'd thought of it." But upon closer inspection, I realized the good news: it's real! Sure, $ 3.50 for a 1 oz. bar is a little pricey, but what is money when you're talking about fine Swiss chocolate with a hazelnut praline center? I might just sell a hundred shares of GM stock and buy a pair.

Riveting Read

TeeVee

Ever see the police stings where the cops set up a party and invite all the 'stung' criminals to an event so that everyone can be arrested at once? It's clever: the bad guys don't have a chance to warn their partners in crime that the cops are on to them. Well, a TV show is in the works to take it one step further: lure people who have a warrant outstanding into situations where we get to toy with them before revealing the ruse and arresting them.

One of three set-ups just shot in Arizona features the cops luring a criminal to a movie set with the promise of making him an extra and paying him a couple hundred dollars. An elaborate film set is staged and filming begins on a faux movie. The set-up continues as the director then gets mad at the lead actor, fires him and replaces him with the law-breaking extra.

The scene escalates with the fake director introducing the mark to a supposed studio mogul and continuing to create this dream-comes-true sequence. Finally, all the participants are revealed as officers of the law, and the criminal is apprehended (before signing waivers to let the footage be used in the show).

Other scenarios include a fake fashion shoot where the subject thinks he is about to become a supermodel and another in which the mark becomes an auto racer, a set-up which ends when a police car comes up behind him on a race track to pull him over.

“If it were a regular person you’d feel bad for them, but they are all wanted by the law,” Darnell says. “It’s Cops as comedy and no one’s ever tried it before.”

I'm sorry but it feels like this should be some sort of mile-marker on the highway to hell. The excuse that the people you're torturing are criminals just isn't good enough. Hey, you're manipulating this person in order to make them feel especially bad for your own enjoyment. What kind of people do that? That's gladiator stuff.

Crazy Train Going Off the Rails

P.J. O'Rourke:

The left has no idea what's going on in the financial crisis. And I honor their confusion. Jim Jerk down the road from me, with all the cars up on blocks in his front yard, falls behind in his mortgage payments, and the economy of Iceland implodes. I'm missing a few pieces of this puzzle myself.

Under constant political pressure, which went almost unresisted by conservatives, a lot of lousy mortgages that would never be repaid were handed out to Jim Jerk and his drinking buddies and all the ex-wives and single mothers with whom Jim and his pals have littered the nation.

Wall Street looked at the worthless paper and thought, "How can we make a buck off this?" The answer was to wrap it in a bow. Take a wide enough variety of lousy mortgages--some from the East, some from the West, some from the cities, some from the suburbs, some from shacks, some from McMansions--bundle them together and put pressure on the bond rating agencies to do fancy risk management math, and you get a "collateralized debt obligation" with a triple-A rating. Good as cash. Until it wasn't.

Or, put another way, Wall Street was pulling the "room full of horse s--" trick. Brokerages were saying, "We're going to sell you a room full of horse s--. And with that much horse s--, you just know there's a pony in there somewhere."

Anyway, it's no use blaming Wall Street. Blaming Wall Street for being greedy is like scolding defensive linemen for being big and aggressive. The people on Wall Street never claimed to be public servants. They took no oath of office. They're in it for the money. We pay them to be in it for the money. We don't want our retirement accounts to get a 2 percent return. (Although that sounds pretty good at the moment.)

What will destroy our country and us is not the financial crisis but the fact that liberals think the free market is some kind of sect or cult, which conservatives have asked Americans to take on faith. That's not what the free market is. The free market is just a measurement, a device to tell us what people are willing to pay for any given thing at any given moment. The free market is a bathroom scale. You may hate what you see when you step on the scale. "Jeeze, 230 pounds!" But you can't pass a law making yourself weigh 185. Liberals think you can. And voters--all the voters, right up to the tippy-top corner office of Goldman Sachs--think so too.

That was taken from PJ's "look back in remorse on the conservative opportunity that was squandered." I've been avoiding that look back, and I only bring it up in order to chastise those of you who looked at McCain's faults and decided you wouldn't vote at all. Sure, he had his liberal leanings, but look at the alternative. Look at what the stock market has done since it saw the Obama Crazy Train pulling into the station.

Hey, the guy promised you you'd have to make sacrifices. At least he's keeping that promise. Now sit back and watch as he solves this problem by raising taxes on businesses that already pay the second highest tax rates in the world.

His other great idea is to eliminate secret ballots, and make it easier for unions to intimidate workers into certifying unions. And anyone who thinks that won't happen hasn't had enough experience with union organizing. Hey, if intimidation doesn't figure into it, why get rid of secret ballot certification? Think workers would forget whether they wanted a union or not on the way to the ballot box?

OK, last depressing topic of the day, speaking of unions. We need let the US Auto Industry fail. What killed it is unions, not a lack of bailouts. Remember already bailing them out once? Well if we do it now, we'll just be doing it again down the road. Detroit can't compete, because union contracts mandate extravagant, unsustainable, benefits. That's one of the only checks we have on parasitic unions: if they get too greedy, they kill the host. If we pump more blood into GM, UAW will suck it right back out. Sorry, that's cold. But if the UAW won't accept drastic cuts in benefits, I say let them live with the situation they've created.

***Update:
From Carpe Diem: Should We Really Bail Out $73.20 Per Hour Labor?

Pretty Funny

Get the latest news satire and funny videos at 236.com.

I'm thinking of going next door and trying to surrender my car and bank accounts to my more pigmented neighbor. I think he'd get the joke if I could only remain serious long enough. "No, here man, take my wallet too."

Two Pictures

I saw these two pictures near each other on the Yahoo most popular page. Struck me as odd: The King Picks a Hound for Obamalot:

His subjects make spears against the threat of anti-spear laws:

"This'll keep those kids off my lawn."

Two things struck me. One, we're not in too bad of a recession when people are buying thousand dollar guns. Two, the dog picture humanizes Obama. If there's anything dangerous here, it's not the guy gun shopping; it's the threat of a large portion of the population holding on to the Obama-as-Messiah foolishness. The dog picture seems to be a step in the right direction. I think the black-helicopter-Republicans aren't nearly the threat that the Kristallnacht-Democrats are.

One, too real, threat was voiced by Farrakhan yesterday. I don't find the audio anywhere but he promised that the country would face retribution on a biblical scale, should anyone harm this child of light. That is a definite possibility; one that every president faces. It only takes one psycho idiot, and out of a population of 300 million, we always have a few of those on hand. As for a Muslim threatening to make the innocent pay for sins they did not commit, well, I guess that's not news.

Veterans Day

If you see one today, thank one.

Me, I work mainly on military installations so all my jobs are closed today. I always make it a point to thank those I see over the next few days, though. "Hey, veteran, thank you." says enough, and is well received.

Awesome Kid

Extreme wheelchairing - who would have thought there even was such a thing.



h/t: Mr Grumpy

Kumbaya Time

Well this is a breath of fresh air, From 52 to 48 / 48 to 52 With Love. It's people from both the R and the D, the 48 and the 52, showing their messages of love and concern for the other side. Awwww:





And not to spill wine on this party dress or anything but could I ask where all this Kumbaya was when you guys were photoshopping the President into the Kama Sutra with farm animals over the last eight years? Just askin.

OK I know these guys in particular weren't responsible. Anyway, you know I couldn't leave it alone right? Course not:





h/t: gatewaypundit

Poor Will Smith

Will Smith to Oprah, two days after the election:

"You wanna be a part of America, but we've been rejected for so long that it's hard to take ownership."

For those who don't remember:

"No. Absolutely not," Smith replied when reporter Johanna Adorjan asked if the events of 9/11 had personally changed him. "When you grow up black in America you have a completely different view of the world than white Americans. We blacks live with a constant feeling of unease."

"In the '60s, blacks were continuously the victims of terrorist attacks. It was civil terrorism, but terrorism nonetheless. We are used to being attacked. That constant state of vigilance - a sort of defensive state - that hasn't changed at all. For me, nothing has changed at all."

Poor Will. Maybe President Obama can find some way to ease his pain. After all, he too had to survive the mean streets:


I have to wonder if rich people aren't in the same position as foreigners. They never see working middle-class America so they adopt a mythology of what they imagine it's like. Will Smith, Barack Obama, and Der Spiegel readers are no more in touch with the Ga-hetto than Elvis was.

BTW - I just noticed that I had capitalized "He" in reference to Obama above. I don't know if I'm succumbing to the media hype or if it's the massive doses of cough medicine and mule tranquilizers.

Woggies

On the Job

The Campus Police Force overlooked many of the "quirks"
that kept Bobby from fitting in with the State Troopers.

h/t: Pat R

Lost Dog

Public Notice

(click for bignocity)

I Get Mail

Priest's last request

An old priest who for years had faithfully served the people of the nation's capital, lay dying in the hospital. He motioned for his nurse to come near.

"Yes, Father?" said the nurse.

"I would really like to see Barack Obama and Joe Biden before I die," he whispered.

"I'll see what I can do, Father," replied the nurse, and she respectfully forwarded the request to the DNC and waited for a response.

Surprisingly, soon the word arrived. Obama and Biden would be delighted to visit the priest.

As they made their way to the hospital, Obama commented to Biden, "I don't know why the old priest wants to see us, but the media coverage will certainly help our images."

Biden couldn't help but agree.

When they arrived at the priest's room, the priest took Biden's hand in his right hand and Obama's hand in his left. There was silence and a look of serenity on the ancient cleric's face.

Finally Biden spoke, "Father, of all the people you could have chosen, why did you choose us to be with you as you near the end?"

Taking a deep breath, the old priest painfully replied, "I have always tried to pattern my life after our Lord and Savior."

"Amen," said Obama.

"Amen," said Biden.

The old priest continued, "He died between two lying thieves and I would like to do the same."

Kim Jong Apparently Ill

Timesonline noticed that in an effort to show Kim Jong Il as fully recovered from his recent (rumored) stroke, the North Koreans had made a few photoshop errors:



First there's that disappearing horizontal line behind the dictator. Then there's the fact that his shadow is cast at a different angle than the soldiers around him; as if he's got his own personal sun. (which, I'm pretty sure, Barack Obama is the only world leader that has that)

After I saw the Times article I looking for the original photo. I didn't find the larger version I was looking for but I did find a partially corrected version. Different soldiers, different ground cover, corrected shadow, but they still missed the horizontal line. d'oh!:



Well they're getting closer anyway. If I find one they've fixed, I'll post it. Obviously some of their repair efforts are missing the mark:



***Update: Gravitational assistance:


and the old standard:

Too True

Mark Hemmingway:

I wasn't suggesting anyone immediately make peace with an Obama administration. Especially since most liberal attempts at reconciliation during the Bush years amounted to "Oh, hey — would you mind picking up the soap?"

I used to always fall for that one.

Better News

I've noticed that God often sprinkles little bits of goodness into troubled times. And just when I was feeling down about the monumental-historic president taking a lightsaber to the S&P500 along comes news that my favorite childhood toy has made it into the Toy Hall of Fame:

The lowly stick, a universal plaything powered by a child's imagination, has landed in the National Toy Hall of Fame along with Baby Doll and the skateboard.

The trio was chosen Thursday to join the Strong National Museum's all-star lineup. Previous inductees range from the bicycle and Mr. Potato Head to Crayola crayons and the cardboard box.

Curators at the Rochester museum say the stick is a special addition. They praised its all-purpose, all-natural, no-cost qualities and its ability to serve either as raw material or an appendage transformed by imaginations into something else.

I may have mentioned before that my only toy growing up was a stick. And really, it wasn't mine, it belonged to a neighbor kid. But he would sometimes let me play with it. Or more accurately, he would promise to let me play with it. I don't quite remember him ever doing so, though. Possibly it was just me imagining that one day he would promise to let me have a turn. It was a fine toy. And the lack of any other toys in my life made the prospect of it very special.

And of course, the other little delight we got with this election is the continuing hard luck of Al Franken. The recount torture could drag on for weeks and weeks, and I may have to start going to confession daily if my delight continues at this level. Really, I can't get the deranged grin off my face. Luckily I blend in with the Obama supporters; those who still bother to come in to work anyway.

I'm a Rebel

Rules? Regulations? They don't apply to me.

Ooops

Photos tagged with "oops" (some a little NSFW)

New Blog

(click to enhuginate)

I want to welcome a new blog, Ballot, Soap, Jury, Ammo, to the blogotubes. Folly's an AWL reader and Gatist, so he's coming from the right direction. Check it out. I expect there will be lots to blog about in the coming months. (one of these days I'll get a blogroll, promise)

xkcd

Don't Panic

stocks haven't been taxed back into prosperity yet

No Silver Lining

Washington state voters take a step in the wrong direction:

Voters approved Initiative 1000 on Tuesday, making Washington the second state to give terminally ill people the option of medically assisted suicide.

The ballot measure, patterned after Oregon's "Death with Dignity" law, allows a terminally ill person to be prescribed lethal medication, which would be self-administered.

With about 43 percent of the expected vote counted Tuesday in unofficial returns, I-1000 was being approved by a margin of about 58 percent to about 42 percent.

Supporters, led publicly by Democratic former Gov. Booth Gardner, said the initiative would provide a compassionate way for terminally ill people to die.

Gardner has Parkinson's disease, an incurable disorder that causes tremors and stiff or frozen limbs. Gardner, who would not be eligible under I-1000 because Parkinson's is not considered fatal, said he pushed the measure in his "last campaign" because he understood why other ill people would want the option.

Well, just wait Mr Gardner. Once human life has been devalued, to anything other than sacred, drift will set in. Parkinson's disease will eventually be covered, then depression, and before long even those who are having an especially frustrating Monday will be eligible for state assisted mortal coil shuffling.

It's a funny world, because the supporters of this measure think they are being compassionate. They think they are the kind and caring ones. That's what makes argument futile.

The Silver Lining

So OK, some people had to prove to themselves that America could elect a black president. I never had any doubt. Ask anyone who wouldn't vote for Obama if they would vote for Thomas Sowell, or Walter Williams, or possibly even Colin Powell - you'd most likely get a yes answer on one of them. But America, just because you can doesn't mean you must.

Fine though, what's done is done. I have even more faith in America: I believe that we'll be open to the idea of a second black president, even after the first one has turned our admittedly flawed capitalist system into a cluster-monkey unrehearsed Chinese model poetry slam. (or something) No, that doesn't mean I won't give Obama a chance. He is our president now, and he deserves our support until such time as he actually does something. Something unworthy of support, that is. Like a new roommate in prison, it's best to start out on good terms, but sleep with your back to the wall.

Anyway, silver lining: Al Franken's heart, such as it is, should be thoroughly broken. I planned to ignore the numbers until morning but I couldn't help myself, I kept checking throughout the night. The bonus was that Franken even pulled ahead by a thousand or so votes with 95% of the votes counted. So his dream teetered and tottered on the edge before the long fall to the pavement. I'm sure there will be a recount but as of now Coleman wins it by a little over 300 votes. (1,211,403 to 1,211,089) Oh Al, how can your warm and salty tears also taste so sweet?

It's Been a Long Night

OK, I've about given up on the Breaking News! story that this was all just a joke: ha-ha, fooled you, McCain won handily. I guess it's time to go into waiting-for-the-tax-cut mode. And I suppose it'll coincide with the wait for Iran to get the bomb. Ah well.

So now I have something in common with Obama's Kenyan relatives: we all killed a goat tonight -- them in celebration, me in anger. Though, to be accurate, I killed the ducks in anger, and the goat had to go so as to leave no witnesses.

Hey, but there is the smallest bit of good news: Al Franken is behind in his race for the Senate. (down by 2% with 66% reporting at the moment) I think I'll go to bed before they ruin that too.

On a Lighter Note

Whoops.

The Only Solace I Can Offer

Lie back and think of England.

Polls Closing in the East

Schumer is counting his chickens before they're hatched:

Asked if he is a supporter of telling radio stations what content they should have, Schumer used the fair and balanced line, claiming that critics of the Fairness Doctrine are being inconsistent.

“The very same people who don’t want the Fairness Doctrine want the FCC [Federal Communications Commission] to limit pornography on the air. I am for that… But you can’t say government hands off in one area to a commercial enterprise but you are allowed to intervene in another. That’s not consistent.”

Course, we regulate the sale of alcoholic beverages. We dictate where and to whom it can be sold, so naturally we must regulate Orangina as well. It's a drink, right? We must be consistent.

What a thing to say just before the election. I'll tell you what, redistributing the wealth, instituting the fairness doctrine, manipulating energy prices into the "skyrocket" range: If the Democrats take complete control, it will be because the entire nation has come down with attention deficit disorder.

Hey, you guys out west: ignore the exit polls and VOTE

Voter Intimidation?

Remember back in the 2000 election, when Democrats complained that police directing traffic around polling places was voter intimidation? Heh, child's play.


I was tickled by the post that followed this video over at LGF:

France Hearts Obama

World hopes for a ‘less arrogant America’.

Not admitting that we have an arrogance problem, but if we do, World, you're going to have to settle for a differently-arrogant America at best.

Now go VOTE!

Vote

Every election I fight the urge to grab up a bunch of those
"I Voted" stickers and plaster the cemetery with them.

Go out and vote! There were no lines, and even where there are lines, it goes zippity fast. Vote. Go Vote.

VOTE

So remember: In about 15 hours or so the rumors and leaks are going to start – It’s an Obama landslide! Exit polls show him winning North Carolina by 15 points! In Vermont, McCain will be the first major party candidate not to break into double digits…

It’s all rubbish. Exit polls skew Dem. In 2004, they overstated Kerry’s support by 5.5 points. Which doesn’t sound a lot. But, given that there were only ten states where the margin of victory was less than 5%, that was enough to make Kerry briefly appear the winner. The point of all the afternoon leakage is to depress turnout in the Florida panhandle and points west. Don’t fall for it.

John Writes

My Friend,

From the time I entered the Naval Academy at age seventeen I have been privileged and honored to serve my country.

Throughout my years of service, I've been faced with challenges where I could have taken the easy way out and given up. But I'm an American and I never give up. Instead, I choose to show courage and stand up and fight for the country I love. Today, I am asking you to stand with me and to fight for our country's future.

Our country faces enormous challenges and our next president must be ready to lead on day one. My lifetime of experience has prepared me to lead our great nation. I'm prepared to bring solutions to our economic challenges, bring our troops home in victory and improve our nation's healthcare system.

Time and time again, my country has saved my life and I owe her more than she has ever owed me. I have chosen to show my gratitude through a life of service to our country and tomorrow, you will have a choice before you.

I humbly ask you to make the choice that will allow me to serve my country a little while longer by casting your vote to elect me as your next President of the United States.

Finally, I ask that you never forget that much has been sacrificed to protect our right to vote. We must never forget those Americans who, with their courage, with their sacrifice, and with their lives, have protected our freedom. It is my great hope that you will exercise your right to vote as an American tomorrow.

I thank you for your kind support, your dedication to our cause, and most importantly I thank you for your vote.

With sincere appreciation,


John McCain

I'll only add that, should you hear that it's a landslide for Obama, that means the race is close enough for your vote to really count. Go vote! Remember that they called Florida a done deal for Gore before all polls had closed in the state. Don't let them pull that one again.

Light Blogging

Sorry today has been light. I went into work early in hopes
of getting off in time to volunteer some for the Mac N Sarah
campaign, but as with all best laid plans of moose and men....

Assisted Suicide? Here?

Who even knew it was possible to get something like this on the ballot? In Washington state, they'll be voting on Initiative 1000:

Today, the Coalition Against Assisted Suicide announced it has started a $750,000 broadcast advertising campaign, featuring actor Martin Sheen. Sheen agreed to help publicize the dangers of Initiative 1000, the assisted suicide measure on the November ballot in Washington State.

"Martin Sheen is an outstanding actor and a person of impeccable integrity. His tireless efforts to help low income people across the country and his concern for vulnerable populations have earned him the reputation of a man who is compassionate and walks his talk," said Coalition Chair, Chris Carlson. "We are happy to add his distinguished voice to the growing chorus of people opposed to assisted suicide being legalized in Washington."

I'm glad Sheen is on board, though it's a little perplexing. He's against abortion, too, but in a 2003 interview he said, "I cannot make a choice for a women, particularly a black or brown or poor pregnant woman. I would not make a judgment in the case. As a father and a grandfather, I have had experience with children who don't always come when they are planned, and I have experienced the great joy of God's presence in my children, so I'm inclined to be against abortion of any life."

I suppose he is making a judgment now so we should be happy with what we can get.

According to Geller, [R.N., B.S.N. , spokesperson against the initiative] the ads point out some of the little known, major flaws of the proposed law:

• Spouses and family members do not need to be told before — or after — a loved one is given lethal drugs.
• Persons suffering from depression can be given a lethal overdose without any psychological counseling or treatment — nothing in the Initiative requires an assessment of potential depression by a qualified professional.
• Health care insurers and HMO's could exploit I-1000 to save costs, since a bottle of lethal drugs costs far less than other end-of-life care.
• Heirs to a patient’s estate are allowed to participate in the assisted suicide and to witness the request for lethal drugs. This would contravene existing practice governing wills and estates, a scenario that worries law enforcement because of the real potential for abuse.

OK, well here's the thing: either life is sacred or it's not. Personally I'm in awe of it. And we can differ on what situations warrant the taking of life, but at the very least, can't we agree that life should not be taken for convenience?

Oh but what about those who suffer? Surely it's a mercy to end their pain. But once you make that acceptable, what about those suffering half as much? What about those suffering from treatable pain? Creep sets in:

The classic example is the Netherlands, where doctors have been allowed to euthanize patients since 1973. Dutch death regulations require that euthanasia be strictly limited to the sickest patients, for whom nothing but extermination will alleviate overwhelming suffering — a concept in Dutch law known as force majeur. But once mercy killing was redefined as being good in a few cases rather than being bad in all circumstances, it didn’t take long for the protective guidelines to be viewed widely as impediments to be overcome instead of important protections to be obeyed.

Thus, supposedly ironclad protections against abuse — such as the doctrine of force mejeur and the stipulation that patient give multiple requests for euthanasia — quickly ceased meaningfully to constrain mercy killing. As a consequence, Dutch doctors now legally kill terminally ill people who ask for it, chronically ill people who ask for it, disabled people who ask for it, and depressed people who ask for it.

Euthanasia has also entered the pediatric wards, where eugenic infanticide has become common even though babies cannot ask to be killed. According to a 1997 study published in the British medical journal The Lancet, approximately 8 percent of all Dutch infant deaths result from lethal injections. The babies deemed killable are often disabled and thus are thought not to have a "livable life." The practice has become so common that 45 percent of neonatologists and 31 percent of pediatricians who responded to Lancet surveys had killed babies.

It gets worse: Repeated studies sponsored by the Dutch government have found that doctors kill approximately 1,000 patients each year who have not asked for euthanasia. This is not only a violation of every guideline, but an act that Dutch law considers murder. Nonvoluntary euthanasia has become so common that it even has a name: "Termination without request or consent."

Termination without request or consent. Imagine. That's what Ted Bundy did. That's what Charlie Manson did. That's what Dutch doctors do.

In fact, I first became concerned with this problem years ago when I heard an anti-euthanasia Dutch doctor on NPR. (NPR - zut alors!) He had been an early proponent of euthanasia and had been fine with the Dutch laws until he came in one Monday morning and found that one of his patients had been killed over the weekend because another doctor needed the bed. He explained that though the patient was terminal, they had discussed options and the patient had decided to rely on ameliorative treatment for his last six-months, or year, or however long he had. He would have been discharged from the hospital in a day or two. But this second doctor had used the law to cut the man's life short without his consent, for convienence.

I have to wonder if the man was even told he was going to die. Did they do it in his sleep? Or did they tell him he was getting a vitamin shot? I guess it doesn't matter, the more you know about it, the more horrible it is.

The culture of death is evil. You give it a foothold at your peril. Even agnostics and secular humanists should be able to look at the evidence and get this one right.


H/T to Mister Grumpy for bringing this to my attention

On the Campaign Trail

Spread It

h/t: NRO

I'll Have the Vegetarian Platter

Religious?

A Yahoo news story says:

the conservative religious community no longer has the field to itself

Apparently the religious left is mobilized. Yeah, sure.

But I have trouble thinking of them as religious if they're ready to vote for the man who has promised to sign the Freedom of Choice Act:

Among the types of laws that the FOCA would invalidate are:

-- The Hyde Amendment, which prohibits most federal funding of abortion, and the laws of many states that restrict state funding of abortion.

-- Laws in effect in some jurisdictions that bar abortions in government-operated hospitals.

-- Laws requiring parental notification or consent, or judicial authorization, before an abortion can be performed on a minor daughter.

-- Laws requiring that girls and women seeking abortion receive certain information on matters such as fetal development and alternatives to abortion, and then wait a specified period before the abortion is actually performed, usually 24 or 48 hours.

-- "Conscience" laws, allowing doctors, nurses, or other state-licensed professionals, and hospitals or other health-care providers, to decline to provide or pay for abortions.

Here's a heads up for any Catholics who haven't been to mass in the last month: your church has an opinion on this. You want to vote for a man who condones partial-birth abortions, I'll save you a lawn chair by the lake of fire.

Behavior Modification

How do you get people to change their lives? Well to make them use less energy, you hurt them when they do. Raise the price; make them choose between lights and food. Which, I should point out, isn't new. The government uses the tax code to encourage home ownership, energy efficient products, and charitable giving. But this is different; it doesn't encourage through reward, it discourages through punishment. This is how President Obama would do it:



Of course, the government would have to help out those who just couldn't pay the new energy prices. So the poor would be ok. And the rich, the truly huge energy guzzlers like Al Gore, and the Obama family, would be ok because, well, because they're rich. And the guy who would be in charge of regulating how much it hurts the guys in the middle, (you) well, that would be a guy who has never really had to experience want in his whole life:




So if you didn't really mind this last run-up in gas prices, if you want them back, and you want them permanent, then by all means, elect this guy.

RB and Dallas both sent me something on this next bit of Obametry:



Dallas observes:

"That will also generate billions of dollars that we can invest in solar, wind, biodiesel and other alternative energy approaches."

Wow! In an Obama administration, bankruptcy will generate money!! I have a charcoal-powered grill in my backyard--will it generate enough bankruptcy that I can retire?

Short answer: no. In fact, you think this last stock crash put a hurtin' on the retirement account, just wait until an Obama administration starts punishing corporations, and big businesses. No, no retirement for you.

But it's not over yet! Don't let skewed polls sway you. Your vote counts. Cast it!

Photoshop

KA has done some interesting photoshops of the One. I like the red Chinese analogy better than the alternatives: the biblical, or the Germanic ones from the middle of the last century. Really, 1930's Germany better describes the phenomenon of devotion to a charismatic demagogue - but the way that one ended makes it a dangerous comparison.

The Chinese comparison isn't too far off the mark though, mainly because of Obama's goals. He's going to aim the economy for the Swedish, but hit closer to Beijing. (not that we'd be happy being Swedes either)

Ah, won't matter. Mac and the Sarah are going to save us from this particular nightmare.

Aint Gonna Work No More No More,

"When the people find they can vote themselves money,
that will herald the end of the republic."
Benjamin Franklin
(1706-1790) US Founding Father

Three Stooges