That whole "equal rights" thing? Its just a feint.

But we all knew that, didn't we? Last year, my home state, The Peeples' Republik of Washingtonistan passed a law allowing same-sex couples to register their 'relationship' with the state, and they could have all the rights that the more militant among them keep bitching that they are denied. So now they have all the rights, except to call it marriage, because their relationship doesn't meet that definition. (and yes, I was thrilled to see all the family law/dissolution forms amended to include 'domestic partnership'...brave new world, indeed)

So it wasn't so much of a surprised to see that the state legislature is now quietly working behind the scenes to destroy any distinction detween the two. The purpose? Other than to call something marriage when it is not, forcing society's approval of a lifestyle that many do not agree with? My money is on a challenge to federal full-faith and credit.

The language, from SB 5688:

For the purposes of this chapter, the terms spouse, marriage,
marital, husband, wife, widow, widower, next of kin, and family shall
be interpreted as applying equally to state registered domestic partnerships or individuals in state registered domestic partnerships
as well as to marital relationships and married persons, and references
to dissolution of marriage shall apply equally to state registered
domestic partnerships that have been terminated, dissolved, or
invalidated, to the extent that such interpretation does not conflict
with federal law. Where necessary to implement this act, gender-
specific terms such as husband and wife used in any statute, rule, or
other law shall be construed to be gender neutral, and applicable to
individuals in state registered domestic partnerships.

I've Figured Out Their Strategy...

First, the Democrats want to force silly spending bills down our throats, you know, triple the Earned Income Tax Credit, so that people who don't pay taxes now get an even BIGGER refund on the taxes that they don't pay, and payoffs for various political organizations that aided Teh One in his quest for the Oval Office, and call it a "Stimulus Plan" that stimulates nothing but bureaucrats looking for new and exciting ways to spend our money on things that we would never spend it on ourselves, and then pass an immigration bill that is nothing but an amnesty bill that makes citizenship less than worthless, because we will get to fund it too. To sum it up, the Dhims want us to be so burdened with taxes and strip citizenship of all benefits so that we will just be BEGGING for the death of the Republic. Again, a new vid. Same warnings apply. Put away the breakables, take the blood pressure meds.

Arrogance, Thy Name Is Democrat...

The naked emperor news put together this tantalizing exchange between Ex-Labor Secretary Robert Reich, and Congressman Charles Wrangle, yes the I have serious tax trouble Charles Wrangle, discussing the latest 'infrastructure stimulus package', and the vital importance of making sure that the contracts do not go to "white construction workers", that the states have no input into what the projects are, and that the middle class is working too hard just trying to feed and clothe their families to take notice of what they are doing to raise any objections to their blatant racism. If you ever gave a damn about how the knuckleheads inside the beltway come to decisions, then you should watch this. Put away all breakables first, and take any appropriate blood pressure meds.



These people need to run out of town on a rail. The Sooner, the Better.

Obama's Undetected Racism

Sure, you read the title, and you thought, "How could that be? Of course we knew he is a racist. All those years listening to Reverend Wright and company, playing the card in the campaign when he was the only one to even begin to invoke racism, and of course, that travesty of a Benediction at his Inauguration. We knew it, you knew it, so you must have slipped a cog in the brainbox, BiW."

Not so fast. Yeah, those issues were evident before, but I'm talking about his racism against black, brown, and yellow people.

"What???" you wonder. 'Tis true, I say. My proof? Today President Obama lifted the ban on overseas abortion funding. The ban, known as the Mexico City Policy requires any non-governmental organization to agree before receiving U.S. funds that they will "neither perform nor actively promote abortion as a method of family planning in other nations." It is also known as the "global gag rule," because it prohibits taxpayer funding for groups that even talk about abortion if there is an unplanned pregnancy.

Now putting aside perfectly legitimate questions that will unfortunately never be asked, like "What in the name of Chuhuthulu are we doing funding abortions overseas when working Americans will have to dig deeper into their pockets than ever before to support the most socialist Agenda foisted upon this nation since the New Deal?", stop and think a minute. Where are in the world are our tax dollars most likely to be used to pay to murder unborn children? Even money says places with high poverty and dense populations. That means places like Mexico, Central America, Africa, and Asia. All areas that the last I looked, were populated by brown, black, and yellow people. Hardly seems like an enlightened policy from someone constantly preaching hope and change, but then how many Democrats will ever give up the opportunity to ensure a good ol' American taxpayer funded abortion, even if it is being done to someone who isn't a citizen. Brought to you by the group in government constantly ascribing its abridgment of rights and stupid laws as being "FOR THE CHILDRENNNNNNNNNN!!!" They constantly whine about things like the Iraq War, which helped to bring the Iraqi children the first chance at real freedom that they have ever had, but see no contradiction in exporting death by funding abortions. I don't know if it is a blessing or a curse to be that obtuse, but I do know that I am very tired of these people representing me.

Move along. Nothing to see here.

Love In A Time of Blindness

I did my best not to pay attention to the doings in the nation's capital yesterday. What little I did not escape only reinforced my belief that I did the right thing. A press, intent on giving the new President a disgusting tongue bath in full view of everyone, complete and utter disrespect of the outgoing President by THE ONE'S faithful acolytes, presumably with the tacit consent of the new President, since it took place in front of him, and he did not raise his divine voice to his ardent admirers in admonishment for their shameful behavior. A tepid inaugural address, met with the screaming adulation of the teeming masses eager to dine on the inanition patronizingly served by the new occupant of the Oval Office, and a racist prayer from a preacher who likely has memorized every major speech Dr. King ever uttered, but who obviously failed to sufficiently grok the meaning of the words.

And today, the work continued. Senate confirmation hearings for a Nominee for Treasury Secretary who deliberately did not pay taxes he owed for years until after he knew he was a nominee. One of several nominees who demonstrate an astonishing brazenness or complete inability to understand and relate to the people they would govern. And the President decided that people so dangerous that their own governments do not want them back have rights under our laws and should be tried in our courts and held on our nation's soil, so that he can keep a dangerously silly promise to close Gitmo.

No position seems to ridiculous for the incoming administration, whether it is a nominee for 'Regulatory Czar' who has gone on record as saying that animals should have the right to sue humans and that hunting should be outlawed, or the financial whiz kid who claimed that it was a mistake that he didn't pay his payroll taxes while he worked for the IMF, despite the fact that they gave him statements of what he owed and he applied for and got the money to pay such taxes. An appointee to the President's vacated seat in the Senate selected by a governor caught red-handed trying to sell the seat. A Presidential Agenda that includes mandatory altruism in the form of compulsive voluntary service, and a civilian defense agency to rival the military. The belief that government, the same people who brought you the IRS and the DMV, should be in the business of providing 'free' health care to everyone, and my personal favorite, a desire to pump billions of taxpayer dollars into the economy to 'stimulate' it, despite the fact that NO ONE will tell us, the folks paying the damn bill, where the billions already spent have actually gone. Instead, we are treated with brusque indignation for having the temerity to ask the question. And everywhere, the ever present theme that only the brilliant minds that THE ONE has tapped to help him lead us can see us through.

I cannot speak for everyone. If I could, then frankly, we would not be facing the absurdity, the corruption, the inefficiency, the arrogance, and the glittering deception that are the hallmarks of the current government of this nation. I can, however, speak for myself. And for myself I say:

The final legitimacy of government is wholly reliant upon the consent of the governed. When you are openly corrupt, when there is a clear double standard, one for those in power and one for the rest of us, when you hold forth as intelligent, and waste beautiful words to say nothing, when you show contempt for those you would presume to lead, when you forget who pays the freight, when you believe government should enter every aspect of our lives, to such a degree that in time we will have to serve it and not the other way around, you set a dangerous standard. Few things are as unhealthy to the continuation of such a government as a complete disrespecting of the body politic and the trust that is a vital component of the social contract underlying the Republic. Such abuse is reprehensible, and the willful indenturing of the individual to the state can only have one ultimate end.
If this President is really as intelligent as he and his supporters would have us believe, then I can only conclude that these provocations are willful; he intends to transform the conflict of beliefs, ideals, and philosophies in to a sad and divisive clash that will separate Americans from each other like they have been no other time since the 1860s. At the same time, I am patient. I will wait. The conflict, if it comes, will be terrible, and the damage it will cause will be like nothing the average person can begin to fathom. Because no God-fearing American relishes the thought of such a butcher's bill, we will wait. We will wait for the final provocation, all the while praying that it will never come.

Oh No He Dinit!

The Obamessiah grows bold as his coronation approaches, as both Misha and Nice Deb have noted. The closer he gets to power, the more the mask is drawn back, and the real agenda comes forth. I questioned whether he is trying to provoke conflict before. I now have little doubt, and still the population slumbers, completely oblivious to what the Dear Leader says. In his own words:



And just in case it slipped past you:

“It was these ideals that led us to declare independence, and craft our constitution, producing documents that were imperfect but had within them, like our nation itself, the capacity to be made more perfect.

We are here today not simply to pay tribute to our first patriots but to take up the work that they began.

And yet while our problems may be new, what is required to overcome them is not. What is required is the same perseverance and idealism that our founders displayed. What is required is a new declaration of independence not just in our nation, but in our own lives..independence from ideology…"

Simply unfettered arrogance and a willingness to set the nation aflame.

With Mental Deficients Like These In Government, Who Needs Foreign Enemies?

As I was driving home today, the commentator on the radio was talking about the nominee for Obama's 'Regulatory Czar', Professor Cass Sunstein. Now the phrase "Regulatory Czar" was enough to chill my blood when spoken in the context of Obama and his leftie crowd, since their idea of regulation seems to be "take private property away from those who earned it give it to those who did not." I think that perception was added by the inclusion of the word "czar". But the best part was listening to the commentator describe the professor's bona fides. For that he read an article describing the professor's recent comments. That is when it dawned on me. These people really are trying to start a war by destroying this country. Honestly. When a law school professor, most recently at Harvard Law, which only reduces my perception of the school further publicly states:

“[A]nimals should be permitted to bring suit, with human beings as their representatives, to prevent violations of current law … Any animals that are entitled to bring suit would be represented by (human) counsel, who would owe guardian like obligations and make decisions, subject to those obligations, on their clients’ behalf.”

What? I'm Sorry. I don't think I heard you correctly. Did you say "Animals should be entitled to sue with human counsel? You want to give Morris the freaking cat the RIGHT to sue someone??? This is what happens when you spend too damn long in academia and not enough time in the real world. A law school professor just proposed allowing animals to engage in lawsuits. The court system rarely works the way it is supposed to right now, with overloaded dockets and judges who go out of their way to keep from hearing cases. I'm betting the esteemed professor who is so willing to give these rights to our food, pets, and threats is thoroughly against allowing similar rights to unborn humans. That's just a hunch. If you are offended by that statement, go ahead and prove me wrong. But the flip side is the part about representation by human counsel, who would owe guardian like obligations and make decisions on their client's behalf. How convenient. Human counsel gets to determine that Elsie really isn't contented and gets to sue Farmer Brown on her behalf...for a fee, I'm sure. And the best part? No one can ever challenge the attorney's interpretation of his 'client's' intent. I can see a whole new legal specialty cropping up around this. I'm sure all the big name law schools will pioneer these courses. Of course, if there is wisdom in allowing animals to sue, why stop there? Why not allow other living beings to sue? After all, I am quite sure your cactus doesn't like where you have it placed right now. What about those bacteria that you are damaging with the antibiotics you are taking? Come to think of it, you really are heartless for even existing. You are competing with those animals for the air you breathe. Consuming food takes nutrients they could otherwise benefit from. There are all sorts of plant species that could be living in the space your home currently occupies.

Of course, this 'regulator-to-be' wasn't content with his first deployment of weapons-grade stupidity. No, he had to go after another American tradition and human birthright:

“We ought to ban hunting, I suggest, if there isn’t a purpose other than sport and fun. That should be against the law. It’s time now.”

Sunstein also argued in favor of “eliminating current practices such as greyhound racing, cosmetic testing, and meat eating, most controversially.”

Remember, the smug intellectuals who don't like us having the right to keep and bear arms grudgingly allow that hunting is perhaps the only use that we illiterate peasants could legitimately have for a firearm, and therefore anything that they deem inappropriate for hunting is something we should not be allowed to own. Take away hunting as a justification, most likely with a...regulation, and "Voila!" "You don't have any right to own a gun, peasant! Hand it over, and oh, by the way, we are going to act as if your purpose in life is to serve us and not the other way around. Get used to it, or maybe we'll send you to a reeducation camp."

And banning meat-eating. I'm sure that fits in with the justification for the government telling us all what we can eat, and how much, after Universal Healthcare is forced on us all, at the cost of all we make. For our own good, I'm sure.

I just don't understand what happens to people to make them think that such things have any business being uttered seriously in public. I think on somethings that I have read in my life, The Bible, This Present Darkness, and I wonder...demonic possession? But then I could just as easily place my money on insanity. The insanity of the person who believes such things, and the insanity of the person who actively considers putting him in a place where he just might be able to transform it into law.

I really don't believe we can afford four years of such lunacy.

The Return of Jack Bauer

I have a confession to make. '24' is among my guilty pleasures.

I don't mean 'guilty' as I want to distance myself from taking pleasure at terrorists and would-be terrorists meeting a violent and bloody end. Hell no! That's the best part. I don't mean 'guilty' because the show frequently features government officials as villains, although they usually splash the ones of the wrong persuasion with that paint. No, its a 'guilty' pleasure because as satisfying as it is to see an American showing backbone, I realize that the writers and producers still pull the punches and try to have all the threats and troubles somehow be rooted in America and Americans. Well, that and the fact that they jumped the shark a few seasons ago. In spite of these things, I still watch it and enjoy it tremendously. Why? Because Jack has given me some of the most satisfying moments I have ever witnessed on television, whether it was finally getting some quality "alone time" with his wife's assassin, or the summary execution of a Presidential assassin, Jack has given me more "YESSSS!!!" moments than any television viewer had any right to expect. And last night was no exception, offering up the cool and measured appraisal of a professional to a smarmy, self-serving politician whose idea of sacrifice is probably giving up pricey meals out with well-heeled lobbyists. But its much, much better in his own words. From the man himself, the first of hopefully many morsels of Bauery goodness this season:

SENATOR: Will the witness please state his name.

BAUER: Jack Bauer.

SENATOR: Mr. Bauer, I don't see your counsel present. Or is he or she not aware we're about to start?

BAUER: I've chosen not to retain counsel.

SENATOR: Mr. Bauer, I have to advise you that many of the questions we're about to pose to you are of a legal nature and might result in answers that could incriminate you.

BAUER: I understand that, Senator.

SENATOR: We can postpone your testimony until this afternoon if you'd like to bring in representation, something that I would strongly advise.

BAUER: What is the first question, sir?

SENATOR: All right then.

SENATOR: And isn't it true that you detained Mr. Haddad without due process and that you used extreme interrogation methods on him until he answered your request he is?

BAUER: Yes, sir.

SENATOR: Would you say that you broke procedure with this interrogation?

BAUER: Probably.

SENATOR: Probably? Well, that's a very cavalier answer. You don't seem to care about the implications here. Well, Mr. Bauer?

BAUER: I'm sorry, Senator. I didn't hear a question.

SENATOR: All right then. Did you torture Mr. Haddad?

BAUER: According to the definitions set forth by the Geneva Convention, yes, I did. Senator, why don't I save you some time. It's obvious that your agenda is to discredit and generate a series of --

SENATOR: My only agenda is to get to the truth.

BAUER: I don't think it is, sir.

SENATOR: Excuse me.

BAUER: Abraham Haddad had targeted a bus train of 45 people, 10 of which were children. The truth, Senator, is I stopped that attack from happening.

SENATOR: By torturing Mr. Haddad.

BAUER: By doing what I deemed necessary to protect innocent lives.

SENATOR: So basically what you're saying, Mr. Bauer, is that the ends justify the means and that you are above the law.

BAUER: When I am activated, when I am brought into a situation, there is a reason and that reason is to complete the objectives of my mission at all costs.

SENATOR: Even if it means breaking the law?

BAUER: For a combat soldier the difference between success and failure is your ability to adapt to your enemy. The people that I deal with, they don't care about your rules. All they care about is a result. My job is to stop them from accomplishing their objectives. I simply adapt it. In answer to your question, am I above the law? No, sir. I am more than willing to be judged by the people you claim to represent. I will let them decide what price I should pay. Now please do not sit there with that smug look on your face and expect me to regret the decisions that I have made because, sir, the truth is I don't.

Simple, elegant, and to the point. The writers nailed this moment better than they probably realized, as the mask of arrogance worn by the Senator clearly prevented him from indicating that he even understood how directly he had been judged and found not worthy.

Today's Required Reading

Go read this. Go! Shoo!

Things I'm Not Looking Forward to in 2009

So I was thinking this morning about the things that I am not looking forward to in 2009, and its a pretty grim list.

1. Changes in our employer provided health care. Don't get me wrong, it still beats a poke in the eye with a sharp stick, but it is quite a step down from what we have had the last three years.

2. Additional changes to the rules regarding ex parte proceedings in the local courts. Everyone is cash-strapped these days, and the courts are no exception. However, as of Jan. 1, 2009, we can no longer present ex parte matters directly ourselves. Now, if we have orders for ex parte signature, we present them to the Clerk's Office, with an additional fee, and they present the orders for signature. If we are willing to pay an additional fee to expedite the orders, which means we can cool our heels in the Clerk's Office for 20 minutes or so and leave with our signed documents. Why is this bad? First, the clients already pay more for the non-participation of our court system in seeking settlements to their disputes. Second, once more, we are removing attorneys from the process. I usually enjoy taking documents to ex parte, because I learn new things, from the judges, commissioners, and other attorneys gathered there. Third, many times judges and commissioners have additional questions, which they used to be able to ask about face-to-face. Not any more, so in addition to making sure that the documents are legally sufficient, we also now have to anticipate questions and have the answers incorporated into the documents. More delays, complications, costs and fees. It becomes easier with each passing day to understand the growing disillusionment that non-lawyers have with the system.

3. Increased gas prices. I'm fairly certain they're coming. The Dems seem to think that they should dictate the price of gas instead of the market, and that raising the tax on gas will help force us all in to alternative fuels, and other technologies that still do not exist, or are still so expensive that most of us peasants, who will already be straining under the extraordinary taxation necessary to support the coming nanny state, will not be able to afford them. That isn't even taking into account the coming THUMP that will be administered to Iran by us or Israelis very shortly. That will probably cause prices to double overnight.

4. Democratic Leadership in the House, Senate, and White House. Touchy-feely leadership, concerned with "world opinion", "climate change", and "corporate excesses", and all the legislation necessary to address these "pressing concerns", which will sufficiently intrude upon all personal choices, large and small until we reach the point where we really don't have any choices. I moved away from home for a reason. How do I resist my government when it has made up its mind to be mother and father for me? Funny how we'll all be expected to work for our government. "Birthright? What birthright? Get back to work, slave. There are a whole bunch of 10 year olds who want abortions and they aren't going to pay for themselves, you know."

5. The Fairness Doctrine. Liberal Fascism at its finest. Squelch any remaining avenue of media that they do not control...for the good of the people, and all in the name of fairness, of course. Musn't have the little peasants exposed to any information other than the official party line, because we know that they simply are not capable of properly discerning the truth in any given matter, which of course is what ever we tell them the truth is. Kinda funny when you read some of the original cases on the subject before it was done away with. More avenues of media available to the public than any time in human history, and when given the choice, the old guard, which sold its soul to liberal agenda, is being abandoned in record numbers, and yet the answer isn't perceived to be a return to the appearance of impartial reporting with the obvious bias confined to the editorial pages. Instead, the idea is to restrict the speech and freedom of association of the newly successful mediums by imposing the requirement that they tie themselves to voices discredited and rejected by many consumers of information.

6. More bailouts. Somewhere, in the deepest, hottest circles of Hell, between each penetration suffered at the hands of the demons assigned to his torment, V.I. Lenin is laughing. The idea that government HAS to interfere in the market to save businesses victimized by their own stunning lack of foresight, inability to adapt, and piss-pour management is as about as communist as they come. Especially in light of the slavery that makes such an intervention possible. The only way the government can raise the capitol necessary is to raise taxes. A lot of them. Then the government takes our tax money, and invests it in these failing businesses. So, for the money I didn't want to spend, I am a silent investor in a company I didn't want to own, and now the government has an incentive in seeing these businesses succeed, probably at the expense of others. By even going down this road, government has now started to decide who wins and who loses. And how can it efficiently prosecute anti-trust laws when it has a stake in some of the players in the market place? Yeah, that's what I thought. Let me know when it will be time for the adults to take over and restore the Republic.

New Year's Thoughts

I normally eschew planning and making resolutions because I find that Life usually has plans for me that have nothing to do with the plans I make for myself. Having said that, I decided to make a few this year...just because.

1. Laugh More. This last political season left me ragged out. The idea that the country could be so eager elect a blank canvas on which each BDS-suffering mentally deficient malcontent projected their most fevered fantasy was tough enough, but then when they returned to power the party that worked so hard to screw us all on the Freddie and Fannie deal, and crash the economy, costing taxpayer's TRILLIONS in bailouts of companies caught short by their own greed and poor business planning, I found myself depressed by so many Americans so willing to give up not only their birthright, but mine too. Now, sadly, geniuses like this one will be loudly proclaiming their breathtaking ignorance as loudly as they possibly can, and stamping their feet when reality lands on the shoulders of their hollow messiah and he has to actually, you know, lead.

2. Work Out Regularly. Not only does it do an exceptional job handling stress, I could stand to lose some weight and get my doctor off my back. Not to mention, experience has taught me that the masses would be more likely to be swayed by a slightly greying blond, green-grey eyed adonis than a slightly greying blond, green-grey eyed middle-aged guy who needs to lose weight. Just all part of doing my part to advance the VRWC doncha know.

3. Do More With Heir No. One's Scout Group. I have some really great memories of my time in scouts. I think he can too, but the organization here needs more help and more planning if the boys are going get everything out of it that they possibly can.

4. Work on Getting More Clients. The Boss doesn't want me to do it, but the fact is, I'm tired of us not making money when I know we can do better. That is going to mean dragging the firm into the 21st century with an actual website and professional email addresses.

5. Work on the Novel More Regularly. The thing isn't going to just write itself, after all.

More of the Snowmageddon of 2008...

And Heir No. 1 and His Lego Star Destroyer.

The Snow Won't Stop!

10 pm and the snow is still coming. We are over a foot now. We walked out of Safeway right before their power went out. Tomorrow is gonna suck.

The Great December Storm 2008

Well, we got 4.5 new inches of snow over the 3 inches already on the ground, and then some freezing rain to make it all slick and crunchy for the drive to church for Heair No. One's Christmas Play. Its all very pretty, but the freezing rain is making it all as slick as snailsnot right now, and I am not looking forward to the 25 mile trek to work tomorrow.


The Kids Did Well With The Christmas Play...Once They All Made In. Other Churches On The Street Had Suspiciously Empty Lots This Morning.


And Of Course, They Had the Opportunity to Stuff Their Faces After.

Al Gore Can Kiss My A$$

One of the reasons I moved here from Michigan was to get away from winter weather. Snow fall in Western Washington is not unheard of, but it does happen. This was the view out my back deck 20 minutes ago.

I understand. In Michigan, this is nothing. In Western Washington? This is a disaster, lots of steep inclines and declines, and no salt + lots of idiots who don't have a clue how to drive in it = something sane people do not want to drive in.

Wisdom of Solomon It Ain't

Lefties are so cute when they declare themselves knowledgeable about things they do not understand. For example, this article in Newsweek, which purports to show that the Bible does not contain any prohibition of gay marriage, the implication being of course that all of we evil Christofacist thugs are all so stupid that we cannot even interpret our scripture correctly, and once again, it is up to the more refined lefties among us to spend 10 minutes reading the Bible, finding passages that appear to justify their agenda, and hold forth for us rubes to drink deep of their intellectual prowess and wisdom. Kind of like when the Algore tells us "The debate is over" in reference to his lucrative business selling modern-day indulgences for sins against Mother Gaia Global Warming. It wouldn't be quite so frustrating if these idiots didn't have the bully pulpit all to themselves as a way to ensnare the sheeple in their particular brand of bias that I like to think of as "Through a cracked lens, darkly." It reminds me of something one of my unofficial scoutmasters used to say: "The Devil can quote you scripture all day long." How true he was. I can almost hear this particular author reciting this prayer before penning this lovely piece of propaganda:

"Oh dear Lord, whom I do not believe in, please let me find the words that I can interpret the way that I want, so that I can tell those evil Christofacist thugs that their precious book doesn't say what they say it says, and so I can be absolved of any sin or shame for my chapped lips and anal fissures, and my cheating on my partner with that guy from the bar the other night, and go on with the belief that God is love only, and that there is nothing expected of me to hold up my end of the bargain of salvation, which I do not believe in anyway. Amen."

Newsweek has finally dropped to the level of birdcage lining for me.

Have Another Helping of Idiotic With That Turkey?

In the latest of our dispatches from tree-hugger land, we have this inspired piece of work from the Redmond Reporter, demonstrating further why the dead tree media is on the decline.

Be thankful, but true to our past

Nov 26 2008, 12:00 AM · NEW


On the fourth Thursday of every November, Americans pig out to the fullest extent while ignoring the sins of the past.

I guess I missed the part where I might somehow need to feel responsibility for things that occurred before I was born. I guess more time in the soon-to-be erected "re-education" camps will teach me where I went so tragically wrong.

Teachers have long since squashed the myth that Christopher Columbus sailed to America to prove the world was round, but some still perpetuate the myth that he was the peaceful discoverer of the American continent.

You found a school where Columbus was still part of the curriculum? That in itself is a miracle in these days of revisionist hate America first pap that you spoon feed to our children at every opportunity.

Columbus, in fact, was the precursor to a mass genocide.

gen-o-cide  [jen-uh-sahyd]

–noun the deliberate and systematic extermination of a national, racial, political, or cultural group.

Origin:
1940–45; < Gk géno(s) race + -cide
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc.

Considering that a 'precursor" is something that comes before, does that mean all of the revised histories will again have to be re-written? You know, the ones that call Columbus a murderer? Really, it is starting to get like we need a scorecard to keep track of these things any more. And Genocide? When was there ever a concerted effort on behalf of all Europeans here in the New World to systematically exterminate all living peoples? I'm fairly well versed in history, and I really don't remember coming across anything resembling a stated policy or governmental mandate to eradicate all indigenous peoples from North America. Can you say "flawed premise"? I knew you could.

More than 100 years later, the Pilgrims arrived peacefully to participate in the first Thanksgiving dinner. But, instead they opened the door to more death and destruction of the Native Americans.

Except that if it wasn't the Pilgrims, it would have been someone else. Mankind tends to stretch out in many different directions, but it really was a very skillful attempt to paint those evil Christofascist Pilgrims as murdering monsters, set on building their homes on the bones of unfortunate Indian children. Well, except for the part where I pointed out that the facts don't support the impression created. Sorry about that.

Eventually, they became the minority, captives in their own land. You can bet, they were never thankful for the famine, war, death, and plagues brought on by the Europeans.

Yeah, because they never had famine, war, death, or plagues before the Europeans came. Everybody knows that those were strictly inventions of the evil Europeans used to subjugate lands that they were not born to. All those tribes that warred with and killed each other, some times enslaving, but more frequently seeking extinction? How do you explain them? Famine? The phrase "hunger moon" did not arrive with the Europeans. Plagues? Disease does not exist in a vacuum. Simple reading in the field of epidemiology should be sufficient to convince you of this. And, since you are so blindingly ignorant of history, you might want to read up on the origins of swine flu...the native people's gift to Europeans, and the effects that it had.

Thanksgiving was a holiday created by President Abraham Lincoln to give Americans something to be thankful for during the Civil War. People can be thankful for a lot of things, but genocide should not be one of them.

Actually, the origins appear to reach back to St. Augustine in Florida, and then the Virgina and Massachusetts Colony. The Internet is a wonderful research tool. I suggest you use it to educate yourself on the true meaning of a holiday before you project your unreasonable self-loathing on the celebration of an entire nation. Yes, I know. You are not willing to let facts interfere with a serious bit of navel-gazing self-righteousness.

How can something so devastating as genocide become so overshadowed by a national holiday? Even if it happened centuries ago, a subject like genocide is something that should not be ignored no matter when it happened.

I'm not sure that such a thing can occur. I certainly have not witnessed where the Germans have a day where they load their tables with sausages and sauerkraut to celebrate the Holocaust. But then, that would be because the Holocaust was an actual, you know, genocide.

So this Thanksgiving you can be thankful for the money in your pocket or the freedom you have, but just remember the indigenous “Americans” who yearned for that freedom first.

Ok, now I'm confused. First you use the word "genocide" like a bludgeon, arguing passionately for the requirement that I feel guilt for a "genocide" that never happened, and I certainly had nothing to do with, and now you imply that our nation denied these people their 'freedoms'. They do not teach coherency in journalism course anymore, do they?

This Thanksgiving, we should be careful of what we’re grateful for.

Why this Thanksgiving? Why not last Thanksgiving? Why not next Thanksgiving? I refuse to let the triumph of form over substance that occurred in our recent Presidential election make me ashamed of being an American, or of the history of our nation, and being dictated to by sanctimonious dimwits such as yourself tends to reinforce the feeling. Somewhere, Zig Zigler is laughing hysterically at your flawed sales technique.

America, taken brutally from the natives already happily settled, built on the backs of slaves, and made powerful through numerous wars, has a bloody history.

Taken brutally from natives happily settled? You need to brush up on your native american histories. Tribes wiping entire tribes out. Enslaving others? Brutally attacking settlers who's only crime was moving into land that did not appear to be occupied. And bloody? Read some of the accounts of the French and Indian War. The tomahawk is not known for making a 'clean' wound. Built on the backs of slaves? If there was even a scintilla of truth to this assertion, then how is it that the north, with its noted absence of slaves, managed to win the Civil War? Anybody? Anybody? Bueller? Compare the numbers of Americans killed in the Civil War compared to any other conflict our nation has been in, and then try to make your case for bloody.

Nearly everything Americans have to be thankful for has hurt someone else along the way.

You're right. We hurt the Axis Powers...the ones who declared war on us, when we defeated them in WWII. We hurt the North Korean communists when they attempted to brutally repress their countrymen in South Korea. Ditto for the North Vietnamese. We hurt the man in the moon with the moon landings. We hurt the eastern bloc countries when we won the Cold War and they won their freedom. We hurt Sadam Hussein when we pushed him out of Kuwait and back into his own country. We hurt him again when we removed him from power so he could no longer arbitrarily and capriciously kill Iraquis who displeased him. We hurt the whole world with velcro, microwave ovens, incandescent light, the automobile, the zipper, refrigeration, the airplane, manned spaceflight, steel, and the various advances to existing technologies and processes that the Americans are responsible for bringing to the world. We hurt other people when we put our unique take on liberty and freedom and put it into writing. We hurt other people when we breathed life into those words with the sacrifices of our brave citizens as they fell time and again on foreign shores bringing those freedoms to lands that had previously only know tyranny.

The thought behind Thanksgiving is a pure and good one – set a day apart when we gather with family and friends and remember all the many things we have to be thankful for.

And to remember other times...some good, some bad, but always to be thankful for the providence that God has blessed this nation with, and the family and friends that we are fortunate enough to spend time with, regardless of all other circumstances, past, present, and future.

And we Americans have a lot to be thankful for.

Amen. Something we can both agree on. How did that happen?

The problem isn’t what we remember; rather, the problem is what we forget.

No, the problem is that you assume that because I don't engage in a lot of silly handwringing about things that I had nothing to do with, I need the benefit of your preachy admonition.

Americans simply don’t think about the people they have to step on to get where they are. This Thanksgiving, don’t make that mistake.

Insulting and stupid. If we are indelibly stained by any misdeeds that may have been committed by our fathers and grandfathers, then I submit to you that the rest of the world has as much or more to answer for than this great nation, yet I don't see you on your soapbox wagging your finger at any other country. Why is that?

Freedom is wonderful. By all means, be grateful for it. Enjoy that turkey dinner and be thankful for our freedom, friends and family.

Thank you. I intend to.

Just don’t forget about all the people who don’t get to be grateful for American freedom.

I'm confused. Did we change the subject of your outrage screed again? Because if they live here, they get the same freedoms you and I do. If they don't, then maybe they can aspire to it where they are, and that would be a good thing.

I'm thankful that your wretched 'opinion piece' was mercifully short. I would have been more thankful if you could have checked your "Hate America First" attitude before writing it and instead penned a thoughtful, factually based piece that would have treated thanks and pride as the centerpiece, rather than a half-hearted afterthought, tossed out to deflect any deserved criticism of your page of bile.

Adrift on a Sea of Stupid

Have you ever been in the grip of the belief that it just didn't matter? Rightly or wrongly, this is how I have felt in the last few weeks. And every day, I get a little bit more to make me think that way. The video of the Obama voters who couldn't identify the speaker of astonishingly stupid Obamaisms. Glenn Beck's random calls to people, asking them pointed questions about government, politics,and the economy. We are adrift on a sea of stupid. More and more, I am convinced that we have brought about C.M. Kornbluth's Marching Morons, and the shrinking numbers of intelligent people will soon be tasked (unofficially, of course) with the burden of making the world work so the rest of the world doesn't just start dying off wholesale from their stupidity and making the rest of us choke on the odor of their own decay.

Right now it is very cold comfort to know exactly where the blame for this all lies. The left, in its insatiable quest for power in exchange for the individual's self-sufficiency appears poised to get exactly what they have plotted and schemed and worked for over the course of decades. Of course, being fixated on the goal for so long, it is clear that they have given very little thought to what it actually means. I'd pity them for their tunnel vision and the coming brainduster to be administered by our old friend, The Law Of Unintended Consequences™, but since they have destroyed a once great nation by cutting all ties with its moral roots and catering to the fickle and shortsighted nature of human emotion, I believe I'll just stoke a low fire of contempt for them instead. They will soon be able to declare that the reward of individuality that has been the great genius of this country have given way to the primacy of the lowest common denominator. Rather than aspiring to greatness, we can be enslaved to the service of the least of us. And when the left's intelligentsia comes to the inevitable conclusion that there is nothing to be gained from blaming the ultimate result of their policies on conservatism, they will finally be fully aware of what responsibilities come with the leadership of a nanny state that is hostile to innovation, freedom, and excellence.

I think about this a lot these days as I watch the Hopey-Changey One fill his cabinet with Clinton retreads. No change, no hope. Only the inevitable march toward mediocrity and national malaise that it will bring. But I guess after surveying the collective awareness of the country, maybe we did get the government we deserve. Maybe others will be considering more in the coming days.

The Right To See Things Your Way...Even If You Force It Down My Throat.

Watching the fallout from the Prop 8 vote in California has been disturbing. For anyone who has been living under a rock, the voters of California got to vote on whether to keep or get rid of their court-mandate right for gays to marry. And by a very surprising margin, the voters elected to get rid of it. The result? The rainbow and pink swastika brigades have taken it upon themselves to riot, vandalize, assault, and intimidate those who do not share their "tolerant" and "enlightened" views. This has included venom-laced invective directed against the Mormon church, which was a major contributor to the "No" campaign, leaving burning Books of Mormon at the entry ways to Mormon temples, marching and assaulting those who express different viewpoints, and "outing" and harassing various donors to the "No" campaign. I suspect that this behavior is influencing people, but not in the way that the "activists" would like. The sad thing is that in addition to sabotaging their interests, they will eventually endanger themselves by deciding to assault someone who won't be as forgiving as most of the Christians they have made a point of bullying up to this point. Unfortunately, this outbreak of asshattery is not confined to the gay and lesbian community. It is part of a larger trend of "thugocracy" which is casting its shadow across the country in the names of "Change" and "Enlightenment".

We saw this during the Presidential campaign. Joe the Plumber asks a question, and in two days, every detail of his life is laid bare, when we still knew so little about the candidate that he dared to question. When critics of Obama were scheduled to be interviewed, supporters rallied and swamped radio/TV stations with calls, threatening the stations and repeating any lie or smear to discredit the speaker. Like it or not, this was leading by example, and is an unsettling herald of the age of Obama. Now there are rumblings about a return of the Fairness Doctrine. I was and remain skeptical. I have read the court cases. There is even less justification, in the age of cable TV and satellite radio for such an overbearing imposition of federal authority. Especially when the other side has begun to grow bold enough to abandon spin in favor of fiction. However, since the left is now so emboldened, and feeling the power gained from the skillful employment of fiction, I can concede that they may well try it. After all, the acolytes of Algore and the fable of global warming have been thuggishly enforcing their rigid dogma on the scientific community and lately by extension, national governments for sometime now, regardless of the size or weight of inconvenient facts to the contrary of their new religion. But they have of course, felt justified. They are, afterall, saving us from ourselves, right. And pay no attention to the enormous profits to be reaped from the practice of selling carbon credit indulgences offsets.

The point I'm coming to is this: There is a growing movement among the left that says that the rest of us are not smart enough to decide for ourselves what is right. We aren't 'tolerant' enough. We aren't 'diverse' enough. We don't do enough for the planet, and therefore it is up to them, those who see themselves as both smarter and morally superior to us, to save us from ourselves, and they see nothing wrong with forcing us to see it their way. The lump on the back of my head is ok if Steve and Bob can get 'married'. It is ok to question authority, as long as it doesn't come with a (D) after its name. The job I used to have and the standard of living I once knew and wanted to pass to my children is an acceptable sacrifice, as long as it slows the rate of global warming that isn't really occurring...and its OK for Algore himself to have a carbon footprint the size of Godzilla on steroids because he buys those indulgences offsets himself as he is trying to save the planet from the evviiillll humans. All the behaviors the left has accused the right of committing for the last four years are those the left currently engages in now. I have been talking for a while about the Great Pushback™. It seems to me that there is a growing restlessness on the right and it won't take too much more to trigger the pushback. And on that terrible day, I don't think I'd want to be standing on the left, because I don't believe the left will be standing for long.

The ONE Will Be Deprived of Divine Communication.

An amusing story from the NYTimes...Apparently they haven't shut the doors yet...

WASHINGTON — Sorry, Mr. President. Please surrender your BlackBerry.

BLACKberry???? THAT'S JUST RACIST!!!!!!11!!

Those are seven words President-elect Barack Obama is dreading but expecting to hear, friends and advisers say, when he takes office in 65 days.

Peasants! He is THE ONE!!! He dreads nothing!!!

For years, like legions of other professionals, Mr. Obama has been all but addicted to his BlackBerry. The device has rarely been far from his side — on most days, it was fastened to his belt — to provide a singular conduit to the outside world as the bubble around him grew tighter and tighter throughout his campaign.

It must have annoyed his campaign gurus to no end...a source of info that wasn't filtered through them. Maybe it was one of his Ayers-educated friends who talked to him about the 57 states?

“How about that?” Mr. Obama replied to a friend’s congratulatory e-mail message on the night of his victory.

"There really are that many foolish people voting in this country. We didn't even need the votes we had ACORN stealing for us."

But before he arrives at the White House, he will probably be forced to sign off. In addition to concerns about e-mail security, he faces the Presidential Records Act, which puts his correspondence in the official record and ultimately up for public review, and the threat of subpoenas. A decision has not been made on whether he could become the first e-mailing president, but aides said that seemed doubtful.

Oh snap! Now we are going to have a newly recovering addict in the oval office...a guy just jonesin' for his daily fix of IM'ing on yahoo, or the BBF at The Hostages. And he'll have access to the nuclear codes. Just sayin', s'all.

For all the perquisites and power afforded the president, the chief executive of the United States is essentially deprived by law and by culture of some of the very tools that other chief executives depend on to survive and to thrive. Mr. Obama, however, seems intent on pulling the office at least partly into the 21st century on that score; aides said he hopes to have a laptop computer on his desk in the Oval Office, making him the first American president to do so.

And I'm sure that there are several laptop makers vying for the privilege of saying that it is their hardware which is preferred by the ONE.

Mr. Obama has not sent a farewell dispatch from the personal e-mail account he uses — he has not changed his address in years — but friends say the frequency of correspondence has diminished. In recent days, though, he has been seen typing his thoughts on transition matters and other items on his BlackBerry, bypassing, at least temporarily, the bureaucracy that is quickly encircling him.

"Now that we made him the President, he never writes, he never calls..." But at least he is typing his thoughts on it still. How wonderful for all involved!

A year ago, when many Democratic contributors and other observers were worried about his prospects against Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, they reached out to him directly. Mr. Obama had changed his cellphone number, so e-mail remained the most reliable way of communicating directly with him.

Thus demonstrating something that the rest of us on the web learned a long time ago. It pays to have the "public" email address, and the "private" email address.

“His BlackBerry was constantly crackling with e-mails,” said David Axelrod, the campaign’s chief strategist. “People were generous with their advice — much of it conflicting.”

"Crackling"? Now I just have a lowly Motorola, and IM/Text will only a few choice persons, but if my electronic communication device "Crackled", I would change the chime, or GET A NEW ONE. No wonder he and Michelle are always shouting at us. They have no nerves left after hearing the damn thing crackle all the time.

Mr. Obama is the second president to grapple with the idea of this self-imposed isolation. Three days before his first inauguration, George W. Bush sent a message to 42 friends and relatives that explained his predicament.

Maybe he can use the cleaning staff to smuggle messages back and forth between himself and Bombing Billy Ayers.

“Since I do not want my private conversations looked at by those out to embarrass, the only course of action is not to correspond in cyberspace,” Mr. Bush wrote from his old address, G94B@aol.com. “This saddens me. I have enjoyed conversing with each of you.”

Thus ruling out the Clinton Precedent of having people meet with accidents when they become inconvenient.

But in the interceding eight years, as BlackBerrys have become ubiquitous — and often less intrusive than a telephone, the volume of e-mail has multiplied and the role of technology has matured. Mr. Obama used e-mail to stay in constant touch with friends from the lonely confines of the road, often sending messages like “Sox!” when the Chicago White Sox won a game. He also relied on e-mail to keep abreast of the rapid whirl of events on a given campaign day.

But now that he has ascended to office, he can feel free to communicate through his mental telepathy, when he isn't using to root out those who resist his onerous brand of "Hope" and "Change".

Mr. Obama’s memorandums and briefing books were seldom printed out and delivered to his house or hotel room, aides said. They were simply sent to his BlackBerry for his review. If a document was too long, he would read and respond from his laptop computer, often putting his editing changes in red type.

In otherwords, he acted like a "newstyle" attorney. Less to shred, but God help you if you get hacked.

His messages to advisers and friends, they say, are generally crisp, properly spelled and free of symbols or emoticons. The time stamps provided a window into how much he was sleeping on a given night, with messages often being sent to staff members at 1 a.m. or as late as 3 a.m. if he was working on an important speech.

I tend to think that if he can email all the time without an emoticon, then he probably isn't a very complex person...not that I find that very surprising. The singular drawback of email is that there is no facial expression or body language to be read. That rules out humor, sarcasm, and irony, which any "executive" worth the title will have in their quiver of arrows.

He received a scaled-down list of news clippings, with his advisers wanting to keep him from reading blogs and news updates all day long, yet aides said he still seemed to hear about nearly everything in real time. A network of friends — some from college, others from Chicago and various chapters in his life — promised to keep him plugged in.

I understand. When I do not get to read my normal daily blogroll, I get a little testy myself.

Not having such a ready line to that network, staff members who spent countless hours with him say, is likely to be a challenge.

Kind of like a heroin addict needing a fix kind of challenge. Good luck to them.

“Given how important it is for him to get unfiltered information from as many sources as possible, I can imagine he will miss that freedom,” said Linda Douglass, a senior adviser who traveled with the campaign.

Again, I'm not surprised. I'm not so foolish as to believe that there is any source of information that doesn't come with a bias; I just want to be able to select the bias. He's losing that choice.

Mr. Obama has, for at least brief moments, been forced offline. As he sat down with a small circle of advisers to prepare for debates with Senator John McCain, one rule was quickly established: No BlackBerrys. Mr. Axelrod ordered everyone to put their devices in the center of a table during work sessions. Mr. Obama, who was known to sneak a peek at his, was no exception.

A big difference between a meeting and years.

In the closing stages of the campaign, as exhaustion set in and the workload increased, aides said Mr. Obama spent more time reading than responding to messages. As his team prepares a final judgment on whether he can keep using e-mail, perhaps even in a read-only fashion, several authorities in presidential communication said they believed it was highly unlikely that he would be able to do so.

Duh!!! His time is no longer his own.

Diana Owen, who leads the American Studies program at Georgetown University, said presidents were not advised to use e-mail because of security risks and fear that messages could be intercepted.

Besides, its always better to have his surrogates communicating with Hamas. That way he can continue to toss the bodies under the bus when convenient.

“They could come up with some bulletproof way of protecting his e-mail and digital correspondence, but anything can be hacked,” said Ms. Owen, who has studied how presidents communicate in the Internet era. “The nature of the president’s job is that others can use e-mail for him.”

And as long as someone else is talking to Hamas, it isn't his problem.

She added: “It’s a time burner. It might be easier for him to say, ‘I can’t be on e-mail.’ ”

Should Mr. Obama want to break ground and become the first president to fire off e-mail messages from the West Wing and wherever he travels, he could turn to Al Gore as a model. In the later years of his vice presidency, Democrats said, Mr. Gore used a government e-mail address and a campaign address in his race against Mr. Bush.

Yeah, copy from Algore...that's inspired!!!

The president, though, faces far greater public scrutiny. And even if he does not wear a BlackBerry on his belt or carry a cellphone in his pocket, he almost certainly will not lack from a variety of new communication.

Even better! Hook him on something new, so you can take that away from him, too in a few years. Cruel Bastages!

On Saturday, as Mr. Obama broadcast the weekly Democratic radio address, it came with a twist. For the first time, it was also videotaped and will be archived on YouTube.

Not exactly the Sermon on the Mount, but wow! They will get the word out.