Secede? Because Your Guy Lost?

Really? Because your guy lost the election, you want to secede? You want all the Army bases in your state abandoned and the civilian employees terminated? You don't want Federal funds to maintain your roads and schools? You don't want Coast Guard services (for those states with coasts)? You don't want the Border Patrol at the Mexican border (for those states along the border)?

Okay.  Go right ahead.

Thank Goodness

As sites across the Internet went black on Wednesday, Congresscritters all across this land abandoned SOPA/PIPA like rats fleeing a sinking ship, and the measure was shelved.  Not defeated. Shelved. They'll try again in a few months.

Here's why SOPA is bad. To quote from Ehowa.com, wherein, Ernie mentioned a post on The Truth About Guns and a round counting device that could go onto .357 magnum. The article concludes with a Dirty Harry Joke. It links to a clip on YouTube. Ernie said that if any site linked to that page, like I did, Under SOPA:

Warner Brothers goes directly to the FEDERAL GOVERNMENT. The FEDERAL GOVERNMENT does two things. First they order that all of the domains hosting -- OR EVEN LINKING TO -- the copyrighted material be banned from US based search engines like Google. Secondly, they FORCE financial institutions like banks and Paypal, to case processing all funding for all of the domains hosting -- OR EVEN LINKING TO -- the copyrighted material. And all of this happens without the case seeing the inside of a courtroom. Finally, some nice FBI agents -- or perhaps Immigrations and Customs Enforcement? - will be knocking on the doors of: Youtube headquarters, The-Truth-About-Guns headquarters, and my house since I linked to TTAG. We'll all be treated to a nice 5 year stay in FEDERAL PRISON and FINED UP TO $15 MILLION DOLLARS EACH

Kind of shocking. I admit I've stolen pictures. I never claimed I owned or created them, but I stole them any way. Hello, LOLcats. I'm talking to you.

The worst offender, though is SOPA sponsor Lamar Smith. Here. When it was pointed out that Congresscritter Smith was violating the law he wrote, he changed his site. Here. This meant that if SOPA had been in effect and his site had remained the same, Lamar Smith would have been facing jail and fines. So would anyone who linked to him. Like the Federal government. And if anyone had shared the link on Facebook, so would Facebook.

No one is saying that piracy should be legalized. All we're saying is maybe we should redefine Fair Use and think about the consequences.

Keep Christ in Christmas and Our Money in China

I just saw a piece on ABC Evening News where they are trying to get people to buy American. Ross Perot tried the same thing in 1992 and 1996 but NAFTA was the big thing.  For those of you that don't remember, NAFTA would ease trade barriers between Canada, Mexico and the United States.  Another unanticipated consequence was "Outsourcing", where companies create customer service phone banks in India. I can't tell you how many people I've talked to that swore the "by Vishnu, my name is Sally."  And since we can't point out truth, a recent credit card campaign has the phones answered by a heavyset Russian guy, who tells everyone his name is "Peggy." It would be racist to do an Indian accent apparently.

Back to my point: this year we are sending $6 billion to China, since they make everything we consume. Wal-Mart used to tout that everything they sold was made in America.  When they started forcing suppliers to continually cut costs and reduce the costs to Wal-Mart, manufacturers moved their production facilities to China. Plants here closed, putting people out of work. And as the big corporations made larger and larger profits, Congress gave them more incentives to move jobs from here to there.

Perot once asked: "Hear that sucking sound? That's jobs leaving America."

Democrats and Republicans let corporations take jobs from Americans and send them overseas.  Meanwhile, they distracted us with things like Illegal Immigration, and War on Christians, and War on Christmas. And like well-trained animals, we decided we should blame all our woes on "people who want to destroy America." That way we wouldn't look at Congress.

Estabalis Chavez went on a hunger strike to get an invitation to the Royal Wedding on Saturday.  Some passerby lent her almost $1300 to fly to London, where she will be one of millions watching from outside the church.

Aren't hunger strikes supposed to be for important things, like independence from England or something?

In Oregon, a 16 year old student doing some community service with a third grade class, had the idea to put jelly beans in plastic eggs and let the kids hunt for them.  The teacher in charge of the class okayed the activity, as long as the 16 year old use the term "Easter Eggs."  (It was Spring Break, after all.  Easter was 6 weeks away.) So they were called "Spring Spheres."

Somewhat obviously, I have a few problems with this.

First, we are now teaching children that eggs are spheres, like the globe of the Earth in the classroom.  Eggs aren't spherical, they are ovoid.  Granted, "Spring Ovoid" hunt doesn't have the snap of Spring Spheres, but at least it's more accurate. Why teach the domesticated yard apes wrong word?  Why go to all the trouble to obfuscate what the little curtain climbers are hunting?  They're hunting eggs.  Call it a "Spring Egg Hunt."  At least the little cretins will know what they are looking for.

Second, an egg hunt is a Christian tradition.  If you're concerned about non-Christians being offended, why have the children participate in that Christian tradition but call it by another name?   How would you feel if a Public School followed the Hannukah traditions in her class, but called it something else, like "Late Fall Candle Lighting"?  How about not having an egg hunt, instead?

Third, when I was a kid, we hunted Easter Eggs on, you know, like, EASTER!  The Easter Bunny, like Santa does his deliveries all in one day.  Having an Easter Egg, I mean, "Spring Sphere" hunt before Easter devalues Easter, and by extension, diminishes Christ, doesn't it?

The sixteen year old volunteer should have just organized a session of Red Rover, and no one would have gotten all worked up.

President Obama has asked for a review of the intelligence investigation into the alleged Fort Hood Shooter, Major Nidal Malik Hasan, in order to determine if the Feds dropped the ball.

And he wants the Feds to be in charge of the health care system. Why am I not filled with confidence?

Remember that credit crunch? It might just be getting worse. According to a New York Daily News story, the government is telling Bank of America, who they bailed out earlier, that they need $34 billion in capital. I wonder if they will start calling in loans, further deepening the mortgage crisis.

I thought avian flu was what we were supposed to be worried about! Now swine flu will kill us all? What, are we flashing back to the Carter Administration?

So the media has forgotten avian flu and is now reporting we will all die from swine flu. But some have decided to take exception to the name "Swine flu." The CDC thinks we're so stupid that we will believe we get the flu from eating pork. And they may be right. Pork sales are down. Some, however, are afraid of offending Jews and Muslims. Bet you didn't see that particular combination coming!

But Obama has to be breathing easier now. No one is worried about the economy. Isn't that a coincidence?

I first read the term on FARK and it was funny, so I'm stealing it.

America's running of the bulls, aka Black Friday, has claimed the life of a Wal-Mart employee in New York. Jdimytai Damour was trampled to death as he opened the doors at his store. Coworkers tried to reach him, but were cursed by the customers. The store was closed as a result of the death, but even then, the customers demanded they be allowed to shop. Read about it here.

Way to keep Christ in Christmas, America.

So, Obamessiah's idea of change is having the same people on his staff that Clinton had?

While sitting in the waiting room at the hospital I watched a news report on Fox News that Philadelphia is getting in line to suckle at the government teat. Citing falling tax revenue, many cities are looking for new sources of income. Banks and the auto industry have pointed the way. Meanwhile, credit card companies asked the Fed for permission to forgive 40% of their bad debt. The answer was no. Not enough CEOs on the list of bad debtors, apparently. Still no bail out for the common man, even though he is footing the bill to bailout all these corporations.

I am still waiting for the first "unicorn and rainbow" story (a story that tells us how much better the world is now that Obama is the President-elect). When Clinton was elected the first time, he ran on the premise that we were in the worst economy in 40 years. Shortly after election day, the Fed released economic data from the previous quarter that showed things had improved. Clinton was quick to claim credit, saying people were optimistic about his potential presidency. I haven't seen the Obama equivalent, yet, but I'm sure it's coming.

I must say that the blogosphere yesterday was full of people laying back in their beds, smoking cigarettes in a post-orgasmic bliss. Some moron posted a comment on the Fox News website suggesting Obama should take a convertible through Dealy Plaza on November 22. Predictably, everyone is outraged. Even the folks who forwarded the Bush assassination video to everyone in their inbox, with the comment, "If only this were true."

So have an Obama day everyone!

Early voting here in Paradise has been high. Even four days after voting started I have seen very long lines. I know, anecdotal evidence is hardly indicative of a general trend, but I think there will be a pretty good turnout for this election.

As websites across the Internet have predicted an Obama victory (I think Obama will be the next president. In my memory, except for Johnson and Bush the Pater, every other president has been of the opposing party. Both of those guys followed incredibly popular presidents. Not scientific, I know, but who cares?) One, Electoral-Vote.com, is a perfect example of a trend I have noticed on the web. While they try to take a neutral stance, the ads on the page, and the wording of some news stories lead one to believe this is a Leftist site.

I've seen polls that suggest Obama has a 6-11 point lead. A story I read a couple of days ago (before I realized I would be writing more, and would want to refer to it) demonstrated that polls tended to track about 6% high even including the margin of error. This means that if Obama has a 6% lead in one poll, then the race is even. I have also seen stories that suggest the polls are even further skewed by people who say they will vote for Obama but won't because they don't want to appear to be racist.

Meanwhile, a couple of things have bothered me. First, I saw a blog entry about how police departments across the country are bracing for election night riots. (Again, I didn't bookmark the story.) Basically, they are expecting riots by blacks if Obama loses and by bigots if Obama is elected; and riots by Democrats if Palin is elected . The tone of the article suggested a no win scenario. Either way, the cities of America will burn.

At first I poo-pooed that. Then I remembered that cities burn when their sporting teams win championships.

Finally, someone I know and think highly of said, "I don't want a black president. That's the Southerner in me talking." To that person I say, "NO. That's the racist in you talking."

Fortress AmeriKKKa - Day 891

In a move headlined on Fark.com as "Doing the work Americans won't: Mexico to deport Cubans illegally headed to the United States", the Boston Globe is reporting that Mexico is deporting Cubans heading to the US. This comes as the US is trying to close their borders to keep us in--oops, I mean, keep them out. Oddly, the US generally doesn't deport Cubans. Apparently, they are the only brown skinned Spanish speakers we like.

Hot on the heels of news that AIG held an impromptu party at an expensive resort in California to celebrate the bailout, news comes out that the company spent $87,000 for a hunting trip to England after getting another $37 billion from the governemnt.

New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo ordered AIG to do away with golden parachutes for executives, golf outings and parties while taking government money to stay afloat, saying that he had the power to review and rescind such spending as long as the company is being propped up by the government.

Now that these huge debts are off the balance sheet, companies like AIG now find themselves with huge profits and no way to spend them. The poor bastards.

Meanwhile, our government edges closer to fascism - Government control of the means of production - by going into the banking business.

Filmmaker Morgan Spurlock's new documentary is getting some serious buzz. His new film is titled Where in the World is Osama Bin Laden?, and the rumor is that Spurlock knows the answer. Which brings up a question: if a documentary filmmaker can find bin Laden, why can't the US government?

The answer to that is simple: With bin Laden on the loose, we will allow our government the latitude to do anything to protect us. If he were in jail, or, in my preferred scenario, his head was on a pike in front of the White House, we would all feel safe, and the War on Terror would end. Of Course, Operation Iraqi Freedom would continue since that has nothing to do with terrorism.

But has Spurlock really found bin Laden? I doubt it. We would have heard something from al-Qaeda by now trumpeting the fact that the military can't find him, but a filmmaker can.

Of course, bin Laden could be getting a cut of the net to keep quiet. . .

Robert Craig "Evel"
Knievel 1938-2007

Evel Knievel died.

I am tying to come up with a way to express my feelings about his passing. I used to have one of those Evel Knievel motorcycles that slipped into crank. I would spin the crank and the plastic motorcycle would whine and then blast out of the cradle and slam into the wall in the living room. My Evel figure broke every wire in his plastic body.

But I never thought the real Evel Knievel would die.

Godspeed, Evel! You're making your biggest jump yet.

I really hate people who are cleverer than me. Unfortunately, there are a bunch of them.

It seems that Prohibition Party Presidential Candidate Earl F. Dodge died in the Denver airport. Naturally, my first thought was "There's still a Prohibition Party?" My second thought was to say "Cheers." And my third thought was "Isn't Prohibition Party an oxymoron like hamburger steak and military intelligence?" (Thanx and a tip of the hat to Gallagher for the last half of that joke.) Then I read the comments. I'm ashamed to say that I only thought of three of those jokes.

N Word!

Quick what's the first thing that popped into your mind?

Was it the actual word itself? Or was it "Nappy Headed Ho?"

Duane "Dog" Chapman got angry at one of his sons and left a angry, N-word (Didya think of it again?) tirade on the boy's answering machine. And in true celebrity fashion, it has turned up in the news. Heck, even TMZ, who is apparently incensed by the use of the N-word (Didya think of it again?) even let's you listen to the N-word (Didya think of it again?) rant as many times as you like.

First, I expect anyone in Dog's generation to think using the N-word (Didya think of it again?) because it was so common in the South before the 60s. I'm sure my parents have to stop themselves from using the N-word (Didya think of it again?) when they get angry.

Second, if the N-word (Didya think of it again?) is so vile that anyone who uses it must be dragged before the court of public opinion, why do we let CNN use "N-word" (Didya think of it again?) in a headline? Doesn't that just draw attention to the word?

So, when you have those two things together, an older person will just drop the N-Bomb.(Didya think of it again?)

I'm not going to lambast Dog for his angry outburst. Show me one person who hasn't said something he regrets in the heat of anger. Just one. Now if he says it everytime time he talks about his spiritual advisor, Dr. Tim Storey (who CNN quickly points out is black), I would be angry and disappointed.

Here are some photos taken at a fashion show. Nothing perverted about this, just a designer showing off his clothes using young girls as models.

Doesn't the girl on the right have a pretty smile? I would even go so far as to say she's hot. Especially in that outfit.

While I have never parked by the middle school playground during lunch time with a bag of candy I have driven by and looked, but how can I be held responsible for that? They're wearing tight, hip hugging jeans, tight t-shirts with a band of skin showing between the two. Some of these girls are stunning.

So why is everyone all worked up about young girls wearing sexy Halloween costumes? They wear sexy clothes 365 days a year.

All kidding aside, guys have been looking at young girls since we were young boys. Guys will always look. Don't take it personally, ladies. It's genetic. To some extent, all guys sexualize girls. Why else would the school girl outfit be so popular? Why else would so many teachers fall in love, or at least lust, with their students?

But there are some guys with no self control, some guys who prey on young girls. And let's face facts, the outfits above and the suggestive costumes are only adding fuel to the fire.

Hey! If you want to dress your precious flower up like Britney or Paris, do not get angry when guys check her out. And don't be too surprised when she tells you she is pregnant right before you take her to the junior prom.

Happy Halloween!