Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to everyone from the Land of Livermushes.  God bless us every one.

'Out There' Is Over There

As I mentioned a few days ago, my outdoor adventuring efforts now reside in a new home.  For the title of that, I wanted to give some homage to this site.  Introducing Livermush Untamed & Out There.

I apologize that today's post there delivers such depressing news, but it is what it is.  We appreciate your prayers.

That effort will include very little, if any, of the political rantings that it seems I've found myself gravitationally drawn to here.  And hopefully, both endeavors should benefit from the separation.  Please swing by over there and let me know what you think.

-Jeff

Doesn't Belong

12/06-

I was just reading some of Lori Heine's blog post on David Horowitz' NewsReal Blog (h/t Bubba), and I've been following the public debate over DADT between the military brass, the Pentagon, and Congress.  Plus, I've read the sources that I've come to trust most regarding anything to do with the US Armed Forces: the very astute preachings over at BLACKFIVE, where I subscribe more toward Grim's sentiments, than Uncle Jimbo's.  That's unusual, because I'm almost always in agreement with the Uncle.

On the other hand, I do seem to always agree with Miss Coulter, who helps to remind us that there are reasonable limits to the concept of "tolerance."  Miss Ann submits:

We've heard 1 billion times about the Army translator who just wanted to serve his country, but was cashiered because of whom he loved.

I'll see your Army translator and raise you one Bradley Manning. According to Bradley's online chats, he was in "an awkward place" both "emotionally and psychologically." So in a snit, he betrayed his country by orchestrating the greatest leak of classified intelligence in U.S. history.

Isn't that in the Army Code of Conduct? You must follow orders at all times. Exceptions will be made for servicemen in an awkward place. Now, who wants a hug? Waitress! Three more apple-tinis!"

Lori Heine would have you subscribe to the notion that gays in the military are only dangerous in that "well, they have guns."  Combat soldiers have guns, dipshit...not your Army translators.  If they'd have all been armed at Ft. Hood, I'll bet Maj. Hassan (terrorist, muslim) would have either A) not killed as many real soldiers or B) never hatched such a scheme in the first place.

And the point Ann Coulter makes is that a soldier's duty exists regardless of his/her frame of mind.  A person's fitness to serve takes into account (or certainly should) the general state of that person's mind, and anyone whose sexuality is that screwed up so as to prefer that which is unnatural, ought to at least raise some skepticism on the fitness report, much like any Army Major who spends his free time hanging with sharia-loving disciples of that reknowned pedophile Mohammed.

Let me remind you, homosexuality is a perversion, and no less of one than beastiality, necrophilia, or pedophilia.  If you and I are repulsed at that behavior, it's safe to assume that most soldiers (and sailors and airmen) are similarly disgusted.  If you aren't repulsed, fine.  But don't go around making up labels like "homophobia" to make me feel guilty for my intolerance.  And don't ascribe terms like that to a soldier's level of tolerance or lack thereof.

12/09-

I'd delayed publishing this to let it stew a bit...

This morning, I read another essay by Ann Coulter on the subject.  Just as I had been thinking (that's the way it goes--I'm busy thinking it, and she says it), there's no reason we shouldn't just dedicate a special branch of the military just for those pillow-biters who "want to serve their country."  I put the quotation marks around the previous phrase because I don't believe for a minute that they're serving anything other than their own whimsy.

I was unaware that today's military employs "sensitivity training facillitators" or why such should ever, ever be necessary.  It's the Marine Corps, you dipshits, fuck a bunch of sensitivity.

Again, Miss Coulter:

Why can't the Army and Marines have their own rules? Why does everything have to be the same? Whatever happened to "diversity"?

Maybe we could have an all-gay service! They'd be allowed to wear camouflage neckerchiefs (a la Paul Lynde) and camo capri pants. To avoid any sexual harassment claims, they'd have to have their own barrack, which we could outfit with a dance club, a cosmo bar and a counseling center called "The Awkward Place." Their band would mostly play show tunes, and soldiers captured by the enemy would be taught to reveal only their name, rank and seasonal color analysis ("I am Private First Class Jeffrey Smith and I'm a 'winter.'")

They wouldn't be allowed in combat, however, for the same reason women aren't –- it takes them too long to get ready.

If you were a soldier, you'd strive to be the best soldier in the best outfit, and there would be no place for weakness in your squad.  A little bit of cowardice or distraction puts everyone at risk, and you'd be right (as it should be within your rights) to employ some considered discrimination.  A soldier's life is too big a price to pay for social engineering.

Splitting

In an effort to be more organized, blog-wise, I am planning on taking the "Outdoors" portion and branching it into a stand-alone effort.  I have several reasons for thinking this a good idea, but chief among them is that currently, posting every thought here on the ST&L leaves any reader with an "It's Wednesday at the Mickey Mouse Club, Anything Can Happen Day" everyday kinda expectations.  That can have its benefits, but can get tiresome, too.

And hopefully, branching off would help direct more clarity of focus, plus drive me to maintain higher standards of productivity, continuity, and quality.

I just recently had been trying to use the "page create" function to add a second page to this one, towards that purpose.  But, there wasn't a way to whittle out sidebar elements (that's what happened to the Atlas poll) on one page without losing it on the other.

I'll be playing around with templates to see what I like, and something new should be forthcoming within a week or two...

Any suggestions would be welcome.

Sporting World Update

This just in:

James Harrison, linebacker for the Pittsburgh Steelers, has been fined by the NFL another $25,000.  It turns out that the Steelers' opposing QB for this coming weekend, Baltimore's Joe Flacco, called the League office to complain that Harrison "might be thinking about looking at him funny."

Sources close to the aforementioned League office also quoted many other quarterbacks as having said, "Waaa, mommy, he touched me too!"

Pansies.

Seriously, I was watching the Carolina Panthers game last Sunday.  One of the Panthers D-linemen was flagged for a "blow to the head" against the Ravens' QB and within about 30 minutes (real-time) I saw Tyler Brayton give Jon Beason a celebratory whack upside the head which was infinitely more "violent."

As Jack Lambert famously said, "If they didn't come to play football, put a dress on 'em."

From ReasonTV...

...On the set of Atlas Shrugged.

[T]elling the epic tale of a society where the "men of the mind" go on strike and refuse to contribute to a collectivist world.

IMDB says that the scheduled release is January 1, but I wonder if that's not just their way of saying "next year."  The most definitive time frame I've heard otherwise is "springtime."  Whichever the case, I can hardly wait.

Here's an idea for ya: Let's have a big gathering of Right-minded North Carolina bloggers.  We could have a pig-picking and then attend the premier en masse.

Cavewoman Casting 11/22: The BigAss Reptiles

It seems so unfair, I know, to limit the preliminary casting choices for Cavewoman 2011 (catchy working title) to just those charming anchor-babes and correspondent-babes at the Fox family of networks.  So to be fair, but not necessarily balanced, how about we include a few non-Fox personalities for consideration?

For the TRICERATOPS, I'm thinking Joy Behar, Rosie ODonnell, or maybe Janeane Garofalo. 

Playing the PTERODACTYL, how about Katie Couric or Whoopie?

Helen Thomas, not really a teevee personality (and well, not much of anything, and could use some work), could do a cameo appearance as herself in a death-match against the TYRANNOSAURUS played by Rachel Maddow.

Other ideas?

Your Favorite Movie

I stole this from Boortz, then tweaked it.

See if this simple math exercise can predict your favorite movie...of...all...time.  Among the 18 films listed after the fold, your favorite movie will appear beside a number.  That exact number will be predicted by the following math problem.

I guarantee that it'll work.

Movie Quiz:

Pick a number from 1-9.

Multiply by 3.

Add 3.

Multiply by 3 again.

Now add the two digits together to find your favorite movie in the list of 18 movies on the next page.

Boob's Out

Lots of time, as voters, we're faced with choices between the lesser of two evils.  Occasionally though, we get to decide between a really good person with character and genuine leadership skills, versus a particularly despicable one that embodies the worst traits of the ruling elite.  And for North Carolina citizens, winning such an election was almost undermined by one campaign's dirty magic tricks.

The popular vote tally was in favor of Renee Ellmers, and by a wide enough margin that a recount would not be automatic.  But that final score was before someone miraculously discovered 450+ ballots, all marked (even more miraculously) in favor of her opponent, Bob Etheridge.

Bullshit, Bob.  You owe me $25.

Yesterday afternoon, Etheridge called Ms. Ellmers to finally admit that he'd lost; that further challenging the will of the people was unwarranted.  Ladies & gentlemen of the Old North State, meet your new Congresswoman from the 2nd district, Renee Ellmers.

Ms. Ellmers, please don't forget that compromise is for politicians, and that losing a fight is much better than giving in.  We don't need you to go make friends, or bring home pork (we make plenty of the real stuff, anyway, you know).  We need you to go fix your predecessors' shit.

Congratulations, Ma'am.

A special thanks to SarahPAC's Momma Grizzly fund, gettin' it done!

One last note:  Let's all not forget the fact that this election was much closer than it ever had to be, mainly because the RNCC never spent a dime to help her campaign.

We Used To Like Ya

I was driving hither and yon this morning, and was about 3/4 listening a local radio station known for outside-the-rut programming.  Sometimes the stuff they spin at WSGE is better than other times (it's sometimes been pretty great), and this morning was on the leave-side of the take-it-or-leave-it scale.  At the top of the hour, in the mornings, they cut to a news package, and I'm pretty sure (at 9AM) it was "AP Radio News."

The headline story was over (brace yourself) Bristol Palin's Dancing with the Stars competition.  As with most so-called news programs, legitimate or not, I'm generally about 3/4 tuned out, and certainly couldn't care less about anything to do with DWTS, but in the last sentence or two the newsreader credited Miss Palin's success, in part, to the tea-baggers.

I've actually written checks in support of Public Radio stations in the past.  But, when I got home, I fired off this short email to the folks at WSGE:

To whom it may concern,

On a network news feed this morning from your station, the newsreader used a vulgar term of derision ("tea-bagger") as a backhanded slur against a group of common Americans whose collective sins amount to having the audacity to peacefully assemble in opposition to what they perceive as governmental malfeasance.  Although I don't actually belong to the Tea Party, I do have great admiration and affinity for their efforts, and I take umbrage at having the national media so-casually deride them.

Whereas I believe the news service is AP Radio News, and not your own production, I listened to the "DJ" return to the programming long enough to offer an apology for airing the offensive term.  None was provided.

I've enjoyed your station in the past.  I've even been a financial contributor to Public Radio in the past.  But, no more.  Plus, I will lobby my elected representatives harder than ever to work toward de-funding National Public Radio and the Corporation For Public Broadcasting.

Regards,

Ex-listener

The WSGE website is here.

I'm not the only non-liberal who sometimes listens to stations that provide the AP feed, I'm sure. Did anyone else catch this?

Hangin In

"Still hangin' in there," as Colonel Bigfoot Thompson says, "like a hair on a biscuit."

Five rounds of SBRT gamma-knifin' radiation, and only slightly worse for the wear & tear.

I probably made it much worse on myself than it had to be.  One of the technicians who locked me into this contraption each day...

...clucked disapprovingly at my Tar Heel hat lying on the counter nearby on day 2, and expressed her love for the Blue Babies from Durham.  I then made the mistake of offending her (the one responsible for monitoring the dosage) by asking, "Do you think this current crop of Blue Devil footballers is a case of Don't Ask Don't Tell as applied to college athletics?"

GZZZZZDT - that's the sound the machine makes as it's zapping you.

I got her back on the last day, though.  I told her supervisor that if she touches my junk again, I'd have her arrested.

Seriously, thanks for the prayers and well-wishes.

I Got Your Fear Mongering Right Here

I keep hearing about Obama's extended overseas travel and brief stopover back in America and subsequent additional overseas travel.  It's easy to surmise that his reason for vacating the country would be to avoid shouldering any responsibility or accountability for the destruction his policies have wrought, but it could be he's avoiding something far more sinister.

Could be, he's keeping his distance from Brutus and Cassius.

Think about it.  There was a time when every America-loving patriot, maybe not wished for but certainly wouldn't have cried over, Barack Hussein Obama's untimely demise.  Such is most definitely no longer the case.  No single person can claim more responsibility for waking up the general populace than the O!Bummer.  Talk about being the great unifier!

May I digress?  Sure.

Back when I was in the Titty Bar business, everyone in the club knew the importance of proper lighting.  Keep it dark, or even better, keep the lights changing from flashy to dim, dim to flashy, strobing, pulsating, but ever-changing and never steady.  The purpose is obvious; never let the guys with the money see those entertainers (apologies to the many fine-looking ladies I've known, you're exempt from this discussion)...especially those known as "day-girls", and get a really good look at the object of their desire.  With very limited exception, the money dries up damn fast, when certain features are presented in the steady light of day.

Such is the case with this administration.  He isn't even pretty, anymore, to his own would-be devotees.  And for those of us on the Right, and truly anyone with their eyes open, he is easily identifiable as that which is evil, corrupt, political, unAmerican, anti-business, statist, unaccountable...I could go on and on...but the point is that we've never had a better poster-child for "wrong" than him.  There has never been a better catalyst for waking up average America than to have such blatant personification of skullduggery.  Simply put, Obama as a target of ire (less than an actual target) for Republicans is a good thing, and we''re likely to enjoy the fruits of keeping him alive.  At least as a target for impeachment proceedings, I might add.

On the other hand, and this is getting to my greater point (a long-winded process, I'm sorry to say) that his scarcity on the scene might ought to be attributable to very real concerns for his safety...safety from his so-called friends.

If you agree with me that he's doing much good to galvanize the Right, and those folks on the Left (who are not total idiots, by the way) can see the same thing happening, what better time to shake things up?  If you're him, and you know how devious and despicable his comrades can be, would you be turning your back on any of them?  How easily would you sleep if you suspected that your own Brutus's needed to pin some scandalous dirt on their political rivals to maintain power?

Putting it another way, if Nancy knows she's currently #3 (until unseated as speaker by the swearing-in ceremonies) how passionately might she cling to that title if she considered a senate-floor stabbing could be afoot?

If the Dems could assassinate Obama and pin it on the Republicans (enter complicit left-wing media?), how would fortune smile on their power?  Would Soros authorize the sacrifice of his puppet if it meant the end-game would be at hand?  As Bricktop says in the movie Snatch, "You're really not much good to me alive now, are you Turkish?"

Fantastic, I know.  But, if I can imagine it, why then not they?  Does the Teleprompter-In-Chief imagine that possibility, too?

Does Princess Nancy?

Another question: Where's Joe Biden been?  Does he have a food-taster?  Is he deep in a concrete bunker somewhere?

Shouldn't he be?

Dear Obama: Continued good health to you, dickhead.  Watch your back.  Don't go changin'...

Suck Less

Yesterday was Veterans Day, and I was driving down the road from the Land of Livermush to fetch yet another dose of poison at the "Bleed 'em with leeches" Baptist hospital, and I noticed that traffic was lighter than usual.  Odd, I thought, until reminded why by an elementary school sitting dark and unused.

I suppose I already knew that schools were closed for Veterans Day, but I have to admit that the proof just chapped my hide.

If I get elected king (and it ain't that bad an idea), but if I get elected king only Veterans and their immediate family members get to take Veterans Day off work.  If you're some sucking-the-community-tit gubmint employee like a public school teacher, and you "have to" take the day off because the school is closed, at least have the compunction to take the money you received for sitting on your duff all day and donate it (without fanfare, thankeeverymuch) to something far worthier.  Like VALOUR-IT (h/t to my friend Kate, whose Team Marine is kicking ass, btw).

Or take those funds and send them to the Warrior Legacy Foundation.

Not that you get to feel particularly good about yourself...you'll just suck a little less.

Happy Veterans Day

To all those US Servicemen and women who have who have placed themselves in harm's way, and those who continue to do so, and the families of the finest and most honorable folks in all society,

Thank you.

Cavewoman Poll v2

On a recent cross-country train trip, I was seated next to the E*Trade baby.  He says to me, "Dude, can you puree livermush?"

And I'm like, "What?"

And he says, "You are the livermush guy, right?"

Me: Yeah, but you're on teevee.  You're the E*Trade baby.  Everybody knows you.  You're famous...I just have a well-written and very clever blog.

ETB (enthusiastically): Yeah, well, I'm famous, but I wouldn't be much of an E*Trade baby if I lived in a cave, with nothing more than a dirty diaper.  I have to stay on top of trends, you know?

Me: That makes sense.  Thanks for noticing.

ETB: Speaking of living in a cave, it's time to bring back the cavewoman poll.

Me: You noticed that, too?

ETB: Dude, where do you think all your site traffic comes from, adults?  And here's an idea for you: intead of regular actresses this time, how about using other recognizable TV personalities?

At this time, the E*Trade baby had to go back to the dining car for a meeting with his publicist.  But, I promised to get his management folks a sample of pureed livermush and work up a new CW poll per his recommendations.

Tallying the responses from the last cavewoman poll was daunting.  And we had our share of voter fraud, as you might have expected.  Talk about some hanging chads.  All I'm going to say is...new rule: one vote per crib.

The overwhelmingly popular choice from poll #1 was Scarlett Johansson.  Or maybe that was just my choice regardless of the popular vote, I don't quite remember.

Here's the premise: I've got a wheelbarrow full of cash, and I want to do a remake of One Million Years BC.  Who shall I cast in the leading role (Raquel Welch's Loana)?



Last go 'round, the choices included several big-name Hollywood actresses that any filmgoer would recognize.  This time, however, to mix it up a bit, let's limit the casting call to females employed (on air) by the Fox News/ Fox Business channels.

Those of you who never stray far from your local news numbnuts may not be particularly familiar with this collection of talent.  And if you haven't yet considered how Juliet Huddy or Courtney Friel might fill out a loincloth, now's your chance to free your imagination.

My short-list casting call might include, but not be limited to:
Courtney Friel
Shannon Bream
Sandra Smith*
Juliet Huddy
Megyn Kelly (although she's a lawyer and not a real person, I know there are folks who like her)
Gretchen Carlson
Tracy Byrnes
Alisyn Camerota
Shibani Joshi*
Nicole Petallides*

*Fox Business Network...If you don't get it.  Demand it!

Feel free to write in anyone I've missed in the comments, and I'll launch the poll in the next week or so.  All comments should be respectful to both the newsbabes persons and especially the first most-perfect cavewoman, Ms. Welch.

Thanks for the advice, E*Trade Baby!

No Bailout

If you're one of my elected representatives, when California comes seeking assistance from the federal gubmint, just say no.  The voters there have chosen to embrace liberalism instead of responsibility, and should be required to shoulder all of the burdens pertaining to their awful choices.

As Dennis Prager points out in today's TownHall.com,

We watch as one of the greatest places in the world -- with its extraordinary natural beauty, almost uniquely beautiful weather and agricultural abundance -- wastes all of this as a result of having become a left-wing experiment. What is particularly saddening is to see a state whose success was achieved because it was a Mecca for the adventurous in spirit do everything possible to crush that spirit and drive away those who have it.

There is a silver lining here: clarity. Americans living elsewhere need not elect liberal Democrats to know what will happen if they do. They only need to look at California if they want to see what happens to a state governed by the left (and, for that matter, they can look at Texas to see what happens to a state's finances when governed by the right).

The left and its teachers unions have ruined public education in California. The left and its public service unions have saddled the state with $500 billion in unfunded pension liability. California's left-governed cities have set themselves up as "sanctuary cities" for those who have come into America illegally. And the left passes more and more rules governing the behavior of California citizens. Two examples: San Francisco just banned McDonald Happy Meals because they come with a toy and therefore entice children to eat fattening food; and the Democratic legislature has made it illegal for a California employer -- even in a retail operation -- to ask a male employee who comes to work wearing a dress to wear men's clothing while at work.

And the left and its voters have cursed (and continue to do so) the rest of the country with the likes of Pelosi, Boxer, and other career shop-a-holics and big-government fiends.

No bailouts, no pork, no "stimuli", no earmarks, no lifeline.  Sink or swim, assholes.

I ask this rhetorical question of my fellow citizens...If you were asked to support a special tax to prop up the Golden State's "left-wing experiment", how violent would your reaction be?

Catch Magazine #14

You love great photography and videography, right?  No matter where you are, unless of course you're already wading a crick and waving a stick, you'd rather be fishing, right?

The best onliine fly-fishing magazine available is Catch Magazine.  And it's free.  Can't beat that.

Go there now.

Puttin' My Money Where My Mouth Is

It ain't over.

This coming week, I have to go get some SBRT (Stereotactic Body Radio-Therapy), also known as Gamma-Knife, on three pesky little tumors in my chest.  And I've told you folks that the worser cancer is that which infects and infests our civilization.  Wanna know how serious I am about that?

I just sent (an otherwise sorely needed here at the International House of Livermush) $25 to Renee Elmers' fund to monitor the validity of a recount (which should NOT be happening) called for by that vile chunk of rancid carrion Bob Etheridge.

Remember Boob Etheridge?



Renee Elmers's district does not include me, but her representative voice certainly does.  I've heard her speak, and she is good people.

If you've said to yourself that those folks up in Minnesota should have done more to ensure voting integrity in the case of Al Franken stealing his Senatorial election, and looking back wonder whether a measly 25 bucks might have made a difference, know this: Your money today or this week can be directly applied to fighting voter fraud by a good candidate against an awful one.  You're stuck with funnyman Franken; you gonna let that happen again?

Alerted by Bubba (Thanks, Bud).

Renee Elmers:

Donate now.

Thanks, Skipper

Rest in peace, George 'Sparky' Anderson.  We're better for having known you.

Drivin' the Car

I like the "President's" car metaphor, but not the picture he paints with it.  He's driving it, all right.  But, he's drunk.  Or, he's smoking crack again.  But he's driving very recklessly, and his car is not road-worthy, and he is endangering the lives of everyone else on the road.  I think of his metaphorical car, and I picture that wobbly rig the Little Rascals built.

"We ain't gots no brakes, Alfalfa, we's free-wheelin'!"

Pull over, asshole.  Don't make us ram your punk ass into a bridge abutment.

Yield the right-of-way to vehicles capable of maintaining a safe speed in the fast lane, and operators who aren't obsessed with putting on makeup, driving with their knees, talking on the cell phone, and musing about their next appearance on Comedy Central or The View.  Your learner's permit has been revoked.

Or, as Michelle Malkin puts it today, Take Your Olive Branch And Shove It.

Now you say that if Republicans want to discuss changes to the healthcare fiasco, you're ready to listen?

Rrriiiiiight.

Like you and your cronies were listening when you rammed that scheme, "deem-and-pass-it-so-we-can-find-out-what's-in-it, down our throats?

Driving the economy does not require, as you pretend, Democrats Corruptocrats and Republicans working together.  It requires you getting your ass out of the way.  Time for the adults to retake the wheel.

But if it be a sin to covet honour, I am the most offending soul alive. -Shakespeare

Read Skookum's open letter.

Stand and salute with your bowfinger, those who would name you as their enemy.

Rockin' the Tar Heel State...and updating...

Brief notes around much dancing of the happy dance at Livermush Central...

Lots of good news last night and this morning.  This from Katelynd Mahoney and The National Review, quoting Newt Gingrich:

Bigger, this is bigger than 1994. It’s a more decisive repudiation, the total number of seats will be bigger, I think the governorships are bigger, I think the state-legislature things, like [the Democrats’] losing North Carolina for the first time since 1898, is bigger.

H/T to the John Locke Foundation for the link.

Lots of evidence abounds, however, of much work yet to be done.

~
From the G'boro News & Record, a Republican majority in the NC General Assembly for the first time in over a hundred years.  That's both legislative houses, by gosh.

And I'll bet it's like fingernails on the chalkboard for the limpwristed McClatcheyites at the Charlotte Obscurer to report this.  Of course, the slant they kneejerk to is that mysterious big money played a more influential role for voters than did our raging bile over statism.  Witness:

State Republicans had an above-average fund-raising year, boosted by massive expenditures by Raleigh businessman Art Pope to support groups aligned with the GOP. Freed from limits on corporate contributions by a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling, those outside groups flooded districts with campaign mail attacking Democrats and bought large blocks of time on radio and television.

And this is why Tea Party work is only beginning.  The institutional, liberal spin machine isn't taking the day off, so neither will we.

Not just a wave.

A cleansing.

Video Monday

Less than one day remains of the most lopsided disadvantage American citizens have ever had versus their own government.  Tomorrow won't eradicate their corruption, but will only beat it back an inch or two.

Today, some videos to keep you focused...

From Bubba.  I wonder how many times I've been in this exact same discussion.



From Sister Toldjah and reasonTV:



The possibility of voter fraud does worry me, but the ineptitude and/or ignorance of actual voters presents a much deeper threat.

Remember?




I wonder if Ziegler is interviewing voters again this go-round, as it'd be interesting to see if they're any better-informed.
~

UnAmerican

From the who-to-avoid-this-election-year files...

One of your choices here in the Old North State for Court of Appeals judge responded to the Free Enterprise Foundation's following question:

Of the judges currently serving on the United States Supreme Court, whose judicial philosophy most closely reflects your own?

His answer was:

Sotomayor.

The same Sotomayor whose Supreme Court judicial body of work to this point is still best described as "scant".  The same Sotomayor who ruled against fire-fighters who passed a standardized aptitude test for advancement but were denied advancement based on their skin-color.  The same Sotomayor who contends her heritage and gender counts more to qualify her than does her comprehension of the US Constitution.

This candidate also says he thinks NC taxes on businesses are "about right", and among his business experiences writes "Yogurt Shop."

Run screaming.

But he's not any worse in my book than Tim Spear, down in the 2nd District (around Dare County).  BigGovernment.com reports on the ad from Spear that features a photo of soldiers, and with the caption: "In combat, you always want another soldier covering your back."

The soldiers in the ad's photo are German.

The ad also states that "In North Carolina, one legislator is covering our soldiers' backs."

TimSpearGermanSoldiers-2 2 -

The ad could have said, "...covering our American soldiers' backs", but does not.  In fact, nowhere in the ad will you find the word "America" or "American."

When I say "our soldiers," I'm referring to American soldiers.  I'm convinced Spear's "our" means a far different group of guys.

Spear is running for re-relection to the state House, and his opponent is Bob Steinberg.  Take out the trash.

Nekkid

Okay, dammit, I'll do another Cavewoman poll.  I know how you like that kind of diversion.

It'll take some putting together, so consider some items to help with strengthening your resolve whilest I work on it.  Plus, diversion is right now the last thing you need.  Eyes on the prize, kiddies...less than a week to go.

From Shenendoah/John Galt FLA, via Western Rifle Shooters, a reminder that your vote is important, maybe vital, but not necessarily the last important function that will be required of you this year regarding your country's future.  Only the most naiive chess-player looks at a devastatingly bad move (like potentially losing control of the House and Senate) and doesn't consider the possibility of a fork by their opponent.

You may sleep at a later date my friends but now, more than ever, it is time to approach this nation’s guardianship with your eyes wide open.

Even if the candidate you like wins, it won't be enough if you and I allow him to be seduced by the power and perks of his shiny new office.

Paraphrasing something Bubba said recently, we aren't sending you (congressperson, senator) up there to make friends or find common ground.  If you don't immediately start fixing fuckups, and righting wrongs, you'll be held accountable in a most ungentle fashion.

And speaking of accountability, now is not the time to take anything for granted.  Suppose you went to your polling place and voted straight ticket, but the machine reversed your selection, recording votes for the opposite party.  Yep, I could be talking about a faraway land like Chicago or New York or Los Angeles.  But I'm not.  The New Bern (NC) Sun Journal reports on this happening in Craven County...just down the road a piece.  Isolated incident?  I seriously doubt it.

Suggestion: make sure you have your camera-phone with you when you go to the polls, and record any malfeasance or irregularities.

Stop Supporting your Destroyers

And don't eat their Red Herrings...

I once heard someone trot out Bernie Madoff as an example of a modern-day John Galt, supposedly because Madoff functioned only to satisfy himself.  The only similarity is with self-preservation being the ultimate motivation, which is not evil in and of itself.  The important distinction is that Madoff profited from cheating others out of what they'd earned, and the comparison is an affront (or should be) to anyone who understands the difference between earning and stealing.

The difference is paralleled by the not-too-subtle difference between Capitalism and Cronyism.  Madoff's schemes bear more similarity with Obamacare, union bailouts, and influence peddling than anything the novel's John Galt (or today's John Galts) ever did.  Capitalism is the exchange of value for value, and is only perverted by the inclusion of outside influence or presumed obligation.

And those on the left, those who would enslave you to their service under concepts like "common good", submit their own poster-children like Madoff as red herrings to divert your attention from their own schemes.  Don't get fooled.



To paraphrase, I love my life as it is God's gift to me, not as if God lent it to me to hold in trust for your benefit.

Worth Noting

I imagine that not everybody has a photographic recall of all those candidates' positions on all the various issues in preparation for the trip to the ballot box.  Lord knows, I don't.  Heck, I could donate 15 IQ points to the O!Bummer and still qualify for Mensa, but can't remember whether (and why) I liked Judge So-And-So.

Here's an idea you can use.

Go to your Board of Elections website for your county, and print off a sample ballot.  Then, go to this website, compare the apples and oranges, and keep score on your sample ballot.  Much easier than counting yard-signs or bumper-stickers on your way to work, and infinitely more responsible, no?

This process helped me sort through the choices for candidates for Court of Appeals, the following earning my endorsement and vote:

Ann Marie Calabria

Steven Walker

Dean Poirier

And a Supreme Court Associate Justice, Bob Hunter.

Some folks I'd vote for if I lived in their district:

Renee Elmers (her opponent is Boob Etheridge, the guy who choked a student reporter for daring to ask him a question).

Harold Johnson.  Fukkin-A, I'd vote for the Big Guy.

Bill Randall.  He spoke at the RTC rally, and Bubba likes him...nuff said.

Greg Dority, maybe...running against Mel Watt.  Watt apparently advocates violence against peaceful Tea Party attendees, since he hasn't denounced that violence perpetrated outside his offices (and presumably to his benefit).  Or, by gosh, maybe Lon Cecil simply for his survey response to the question: Do you believe the US Congress should enact "Cap and Trade" legislation that would enable government agencies to cap the amount of emissions a company may produce or require that company to purchase credits if it exceeds the government-set emissions limitation?

Spuh-lendid.

Still more endorsements to come...

~

What I'm Afraid Of

Thanks to my friend Bubba, and from the Labor Union Report, here's what scares the hell ot of me. 

We've already seen the willingness of the liberal left to fraudulently affect elections.  According to the article linked, the power to subvert the electoral outcome lies with corrupt Secretaries of State (my bold is their italics).

"Here is a prediction: Across the country, there will be races that some candidates will lose even though poll numbers, right now, indicate otherwise.

As you read this, at present, you should know that there are only seemingly disconnected anecdotal dots that are starting to connect. However, if the dots do fully connect, we may not know until well after the November 2nd election if, in fact, America’s democratic election process will have become the victim of the biggest fraud in our nation’s history. What’s worse, with early voting beginning this week in many states, it may already be too late to do anything about it."

The article presents several facts (including ties to George Soros and SEIU) that are disconnected only by assumed coincidence.

The integrity of the voting process may well be the next-to-last hope for America.  Absent any confidence regarding the final tally, what recourse shall remain for those who cherish Liberty?  Even looking objectively at the possibilities, I don't think it'll be pretty.

I had a brief exchange the other day with a store manager who was benefitting from my devotion to capitalism (he was ringing up my purchase at his register).  He said, "no matter who you're for, one thing we can still say in this country is that we'll have our election without having to worry about tanks in the street afterward."

In a world where the integrity of the ballot is indisputable and untarnished, I'd tend to agree with my friend the merchant.  I wish I could rest that easily.

Read the linked article and tell me what you think.

Not Playin' For The Tie

My favorite quote from this year is still Ann Coulter's:

There are a lot of bad Republicans.  There are no good Democrats.

And this perfectly illustrates the value of the Tea Party.  For Republicans, and particularly those conservative and Constitutionalist republicans, the Tea Party movement has proven to become a very effective vetting process for weeding out those RINOs, Republican In Name Only, and supplanting career politicians (otherwise valuable only for the big "R" after their name) with genuine leadership candidates.  For Dems, I don't think there's a single candidate who's found a way to embrace the concepts of original intent, limited government, and American exceptionalism.  So, the universal approach for the donkeys has been to demonize the Tea Party.  You can't blame them, though.  They know their policies are the impetus for the Tea Party brand of community organizing.

Newt may be a valid example of a bad Republican to many, because he can't be counted on to choose that which is right over that which is politically expedient.  Nancy is perfectly representative of the all Democrats: government is the answer and private citizens organizing to take umbrage must be ostricized and belittled.

Don't get swept up in any wave to legitimize any potential Newt candidacy just because of this video (h/t Gateway Pundit), but he's right about the very basic difference in the two parties.



Early voting is now open in many places.  If you're like many folks I know, and just can't vote for a Republican simply because an ancestor might "roll over in his grave," please do the rest of us the courtesy of recusing yourself from the process.  I know how it is; I was once the same.

Thing is, though, there will be, in this election, very real consequences to your actions.  Your efforts in 2008 have placed our country in the most perilous situation we've ever seen.  A vote for a Democrat is a vote against America.  Plain and simple.

You can vote for a Republican or against a Democrat.  Better yet, vote for the REPUBLICAN Republican, as vetted by Tea Party endorsement or vote against a Democrat.  Or vote against an incumbent.

Personally, I'll take the paycheck and the right to earn it and keep it.  Time to take out the trash, folks.

Institutional Control

There'll always be folks who pretent to be something they aren't.  Case in point: a recent commenter to an online article claimed to be a UNC fan who isn't disappointed the football team members cheated, but that they had gotten caught.  I'm a Tar Heel fan.  I hope all the cheaters get caught and receive stiff punishment, whether they be star players with questionable scruples, manipulable and manipulative fellow students,  coaches with selective attention spans, and most importantly the scum-bag agents.

There's lots of commotion in the lamestream media these days about so-called "institutional control" among the athletic departments of major colleges.  Carolina-hating Caulton Tudor wants Butch Davis fired and Bomani Jones (who?) writes for ESPN.com that "Davis' defense rings hollow."  The thrust of their points?  That the head coach should have known about (or knew, and covered up) improprieties committed by several of his players and one coach.  Much of that rhetoric reminds me of the Nifong vs. Duke LaCrosse witch-hunt, so I say consider the source before subscribing any value to their perspectives.

Former assistant/co-head coach John Blake certainly appears to have been doing as many things wrong off the field as right on it, and someone that knows him as well as Butch Davis did or does admittedly could have given much more scrutiny to Blake's allegiances and behavior.  But the student-athletes?

I remember when I was a just a high-school athlete, and hearing reports from former teammates who had gone on to the college level, of boosters palming C-notes to them in the post-game locker rooms.  Perhaps the coaches charged with monitoring their behavior were intentionally looking the other way.  Until a diligent coach got wise (or suspicious) and banned locker-room visitation, how easy was this practice?  For what it's worth, I played a little college ball to and witnessed zero ethical or institutional misdeeds.

Knowing the current schemes by agents to recruit "runners", fellow students who earn a few bucks befriending and distributing gifts to athletes on behalf of those agents, how much "control" can anyone have regarding the kids.  The best you could hope for in such situations is a player having the self-control and wherewithal to refuse something he hasn't earned.  You can try teaching that, but it's a tough climb trying to mandate it.

Not Too Early...

I was thinking about making a list for preferred Presidential candidates, and will certainly be getting to that.  But in the meantime, I stumbled across this video, this morning.  I was already thinking about Chris Christie headlining my list.



Don't you feel so much better when you and someone you admire as much as Ann Coulter are in syncronized agreement?

I Can See November From The Livermush Estate

UPDATED...at bottom

My horse-club's Information Czar recently sent out a mass mailer to all the members reminding them to vote for a fellow member, Beth Jones, in the upcoming mid-term elections.

Okay, re-reading the note, I stand corrected that he only suggested "considering" voting for her, because she's "PRO Horse-Trail."

Well by gosh, if it comes down who is "pro horse trail" between two candidates who cherish Liberty above all else, who believe in and actively support the Tea Party movement, who are prepared to distance North Carolina from the federal government's unrelenting, intrusive power grab by way of Obamacare and offshore and nearshore oil drilling moratoriums and lawsuits against other states for doing a job that federal government won't, and who believes in gutting NC government in favor of privatization, then she should get that consideration.  But all things ain't equal, it seems.

Jones is a former Caldwell County Democratic party Chairwoman, and endorsed by ACTBlue, "The online clearinghouse for Democratic action" who also endorses raving idiot Alan Grayson.  Her campaign website lists the issues as: Economy/Jobs, Education, and Healthcare, the Dem party line that government involvement into those sectors is ever somehow beneficial.

Her Republican opponent, Warren Daniel, graduate of West Point and UNC Law School, says this on his website:

In 1787, our Founding Fathers gave us a Constitution that forever changed the relationship between man and government. They believed that each of us is born into freedom and that the proper role of government is to protect and secure the rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, which are endowed by our Creator, not derived from the government. Protected by these Constitutional guarantees, America became the land of opportunity for millions of legal immigrants who came fleeing oppression and seeking the American dream.

With the recent passage of Obamacare, it is more evident than ever that “We The People” need to act now if we are going to make a difference. As we enter this 2010 election year, I pledge to you that, as your state senator, I will strive to return North Carolina to the principles of limited government and unlimited opportunity. I hope that you will join me so that together we can bring conservative government back to North Carolina, and preserve the American Dream for our children and grandchildren.

To supporters of Jones, I say "whoa!"  This Daniel guy sure sounds like more of a leader to me.  In my thinking, the time for electing local numbnuts who can be counted on to fight for a locality's share of pork, or for his/her own nest-feathering career, is gone.  Everything I read regarding Jones implies she's just another Hope It Changes corruptocrat with promises of unicorns and rainbows.

NC 44 isn't my district, but to my friends in that area, there are more-important things than "pro horse trail" and Warren Daniel has an obvious leg up when it comes to the concepts of leadership and Liberty.  And be sure to check out his answers (and others!) to the questionnaire from the North Carolina Free Enterprise Foundation.

On a related note, check out this video (thanks to Hot Air via Legal Insurrection) that may serve to remind you what we're all up against this November.


Finally...just got off the phone with Daniel's office...he's in favor of horse trails.

UPDATE: Direct to my email inbox, Warren Daniel responds:

Thanks for your comments and support. We are horse owners too and enjoy riding... I have intended to join the association, and I know at least one of your members.

There you have it.

Endorsements

In today's Townhall.com, Ann Coulter eulogizes her late friend Joe Sobran as "the world's greatest writer."  She listed some of the phrases and quips that influences her writing, and endeared Sobran to herself and so many others, including:

"Watching a death-match fight on Animal Planet once, Joe said he found himself instinctively rooting for the mammal over the reptile."

Honoring Coulter, Sobran, and the universal instinct to root for your own kind (or at least those warm-blooded over those not), allow me to direct your atttention to the sidebar wherein I list my own endorsements regarding the upcoming mid-term elections.

Please click the pictures for links to the candidates' websites.

More coming, as I find time to create the links...

Caulton Tudor Should Resign Or Be Fired

Though I'd rather not drive any traffic to his ass-wipe reportage, or to his big Obama-loving rag of a McClatchey fish-wrap, the Charlotte Obscurer, if you want an example of biased, control-the-court-of-public-opinion drivel, look no further than today's column by Caulton Tudor.  (Sorry, I was gonna link to it, but you'll have to look it up yourself...See the sports section and bring your own barf bag.)

Tudor suggests that Butch Davis should resign or be fired as "the single most necessary step in the rehabilitation process for the school and the football program."

Of course, to make that assertion, you'd have to already believe in Davis' culpability in the matter, and to believe somehow that completely skipping the rest of the NCAA investigation to jump straight into (self-) punishment phase has any merit whatsoever.  Or you have to have personal reasons for wanting that to happen.

Tudor delivers his proposal as if it's somehow valient for Davis to fall on his sword, for the sake of the University's image, but you really have to read with mental earplugs to not hear the Anti-Carolina venom dripping on his keyboard.

Truly, does his body of work really suggest to anyone any measure of objectivity?

He seems to believe that if the players remain without eligibility and a coach has been dismissed, then all the coaches are hiding additional guilt, and by extension the University and all its students are also guilty, and every fan probably, too.

I never read his articles, because I know what I'll get if the subject comes near UNC: thinly veiled animosity.  I only clicked that link today because of the egregious headline and the consideration of ridiculing it in this space.

And to a point, I generally say, who cares?  Let the Pusspack and Blue-Pillow-Biting-Devils have their own propogandist, so long he can either keep to a reasonable level of bile-spewage or acknowledge his bias.  For someone like him to presume the authority over someone else's career, though, is insulting to anyone with a modicum of objectivity.  Where the hell does this guy get off?  What right does he have to call for Butch Davis' job, anymore than he has calling for yours or mine?

What divine edict placed you ahead of the investigative process and distribution of punishment, sir?  Mighty presumptuous of you Tudor, and mighty disgraceful.  I think you should quit immediately.

Of course, I submit that most readers already fired you and your paper long ago.

Dark

I have the DVR'd Ryder Cup coverage going in the background this morning, and just heard Mike Tirico say, "It gets dark earlier here, due to the lack of sunlight."

Insight.  That's why ESPN has Tirico anchoring the coverage.  And it has very little to do with his fawning man-love for Tiger Woods.

Cancer. Some Things You Can Do.

Most everyone I know well, including some folks I'd just as soon disown, are aware of the fact that I've recently begun treatments for metastasis of the cancer I had diagnosed and treated 3 years ago.  I have avoided airing those personal details in this public space, because I don't want to sound like I'm pining for anyone's sympathy.  Fact of the matter is though, the way I look at it: I'm luckier than any of you folks...I get to kick cancer's ass a second time.  The chest-thumping factor is, as Kramer would say, "off the charts, Jerry, off the charts!"

Be that as it may, there'll probably be at least a third and fourth time, many years from now.  And I have a point to make, so listen up.

In the first go-'round, I lost my job, my Corvette, a salivary gland, a sizable portion of beard, and most everything else I owned.  This time they've already spill't enough blood to float a small farm animal, and will soon claim a few sections of both lungs.  But, and I'm being 100% sincere, it's a minor setback.

My high school football coach just called me yesterday, and asked what he and our church could do for me.  I received the question as if to mean, what could they do to benefit me?  And answered that, besides their continued prayers, there was nothing I needed.  But there is one thing I wish I'd have requested, which will benefit far more than just me, and I may call him back.

I wish I'd have told him that the cancer that is inside me is not remotely as threatening to my life and what I value than the cancer that has grown unchecked around me, and which continues devouring healthy tissue.  Around, and amongst, all of us.  I am writing of the pervasive, intrusive, constricting, and malignant cancer that is statism, and all its forms.  All the greatest civilizations known to have existed, rolled into one, can't hold a candle to what the Founding Fathers established.  And while our economy chokes from the tumor squeezing its windpipe and our national security teeters precariously from the tumor rotting its brain, our elected representatives had no qualms in turning to funny boy Stephen Colbert for a little levity on the subject of illegal immigration.  Talk about fiddling while the shining city burns.

The Presidential administration sees fit to invest in offshore drilling to benefit Brazil, but simultaneously continue their moratorium on drilling in the Gulf.  That's 40,000 American jobs outsourced to Brazil, not by an employer trying to escape onerous regulation and taxation, but by the guy who gets wee-wee'd up at the notion of American exceptionalism.  The justice department (in an effort to assert and solidify federal authority) manages to fight against one state's attempts to stop illegal immigration, but can't justify an effort to investigate and prosecute blatant voter intimidation.  That is, the federal government will fight hard to protect its own power, but won't lift a finger to help fight for yours.

Banks that accepted "stimulus" funds but decided to repay them have been refused that option, presumably because the administration prefers having the control to having the cash.  This latest law to loan money to businesses contains such conditions that make it nothing but a trojan horse into those businesses to inject more governmental control.

Every new law and regulation and unvetted czar and Supreme Court nominee, that we've gotten from this President and this Democrat-controlled Congress and this Democrat-controlled Senate is consistent, not with an effort to engender Liberty for Americans, but an effort to destroy or pervert Liberty in the name of a more-collossal and controlling government.

Dear Coach,

Yes, there are a few things you can do, just for me:  Vote Republican.  Endorse and support the Tea Party movement.  Criticize governmental malfeasance and ineptitude.  Demand honesty and accountability from the national media.  Vote Republican.  Fight to abolish the income tax in favor of a flat sales tax.  Rage against Socialism, in all its forms.  Combat disinformation by the liberal media, and popular culture.  Vote Republican.

All of us will eventually die.  Some folks never really live, and that's the sad part.  I told one person that you wouldn't wish my condition on anyone, but if you had to, you'd wish it on the meanest, toughest, son-of-a-bitch you'd ever met.

Round # 2 for me with ACC, and I'm bringin' the hammers.

Help me win the fight against the more-sinister cancer: statism.  And we'll all win.

Thanks for the help.  Hey cancer, fill yer hands, you sonofabitch.

Why Do You Make The Big Bucks?

Back when I was building things for a living, I had these two laborers on the jobsite who were constantly trying to either get out of doing their assigned tasks or take credit for someone else's production.  Their names: James Carter and Willie Clinton.

Seriously, if they'd have been state road-working employees, they'd have been outfitted with upside-down shirt pockets, so the shovels they'd be leaning on would have a place to catch and keep them from toppling over when/if they fell asleep standing up.

One day, I saw them talking with each other and was wondering what they were up to, when Willie walked over to me.  He said, "We was wondering why it is that you make the big bucks."

I asked him if he didn't consider it possible that I earned more because I was willing to take on more responsibility and answer for my errors or wrong decisions instead of blaming someone else or some seismic anomaly, that I came to work prepared to do those things required to help my employer be successful, and that I considered his success was a good thing worth working for, and that I actually work harder and more efficiently than anyone else on that jobsite, and that I show up for work even when I don't feel like it, or because I do things myself that others in my charge cannot or will not do?

"No," he said, "I don't think that's why.  I think there's something else."

"You're right," I said, "come here and I'll show you why I make the big bucks."

I walked over to a block wall that had been poured solid with concrete, and held my open hand in front of it.

"Now ball your fist, and hit my hand as hard as you can."

In a rare moment of compliance (or maybe it was just that he was willing to seize upon any opportunity to take a whack at me), Willie did just that.  And I pulled my hand back, as he bloodied his knuckles on the unforgiving wall.

"That," I said to Willie, "is why I make the big bucks."

I watched Willie walk back to where Jimmy had been waiting expectantly.

Jimmy: "What'd he say, what'd he say?"

Willie then held his palm up in front of his own face and said, "hit my hand."

I chose those names in this tale because we've recently had a couple of former US Presidents by similar names inject themselves into the national discussion as if they're some kind of authority on, get this, the Tea Party and its emerging force as a voice for, and of, America.

Back in April, Slick Willie claimed that the Tea Party was "dangerous,"  but this past week was heard listing things "they" may be good for, peering professorially (and condescendingly) over his bifocals.  And Jimmy the peanut head recently suggested that Tea Party rallies were a lot like his own Presidency.

Wow.  Things are so bad now for the Corruptocrats that the two most-recent, most egregious examples of Presidential ineptitude not named Obama are swimming hard as hell to get in front of the wave, in an effort to deflect the reality that honest, law-abiding citizens who never envisioned themselves at a political rally, are indeed rallying to protest all the big-government intrusion and dependency that these two fostered and perpetuated their entire political lives.  Next thing you know, Owl Gore will be claiming to have invented the Tea Party.

It isn't a single person that gives the Tea Party ralliers their drive and focus, it's the result of caging good people in an ever-deepening invasion of statism.  The more those statists try to put their own brand on the Tea Party movement or belittle and ridicule its participants, or infiltrate those ranks with nutcases bent on smear tactics, the more they succeed in only defining themselves for everyone paying attention as the real enemies of America.  Like that bumper sticker said, "If they don't want civil disturbance, why do they keep disturbing us?"  The answer is that they just don't get it.

Power, for the statist, is the only thing that matters.  More laws and more regulations equals more authority and control.  Kinda like if I'd have let Willie and Jimmy have a "boss-for-a-day" experiment on the job, these folks have taken the past 23 months and proven just how inept and corrupt and un-American and rabidly evil they can be, given such unbridled authority.

The thing they did not count on was that good people maybe wouldn't sit silently while their country was sabotaged by its government.  We've seen the harm you can, and will, bring to our economy and national security, and individual liberty.  It would seem that enough good Americans weren't numb or asleep or addicted to your benevolence, despite the hardiest efforts of your assumed intelligensia and media, and none of your twists and perversions and slander come as a surprise to us now.

Anything other than finding useful occupation outside and away from public scrutiny, now that we've all seen you for what you truly are, only serves to reinforce our understanding of your destructive motivation, and the inherent danger therein.

...And for all those folks out there who were duped by empty Democratic rhetoric, Dennis Prager has a spot-on essay for overcoming emotional hurdles when it comes to "Danger on the right" at TownHall.com.  Please consider checking it out.

KLAVAN

I'm working on something that might have to go into the drafts folder for the time being. In realizing that possibility, it occurred to me to check what else I might have in there.

There was this...



Klavan's always a healthy diversion.

More livermush originality to follow soon, promise.

Cold Day, Hot Pie

Many, many years ago, in one of my earliest jobs in the construction industry, I worked for a grading and utilities contractor.  Our company's business was usually within about a 50-mile radius from the office, so our crews generally travelled to jobsites each day, as opposed to staying in hotels during the week.  One such early morning ride included our hero of this tale, named Bill.

On a frigid January morning, Bill's foreman pulled the company crew-cab into a convenience store about half way to their jobsite, a new sewer line project, approximately 1.5 hours drive from the office.  Bill, like most of his coworkers on the drive, had been snoozing on the way to the job, but rousted himself up to fetch some coffee and nabs (nabs = nondescript name for any type of snack food).  In addition to his coffee, Bill left the store with a pack of smokes and a factory-packaged fried apple pie.  Bill drank his coffee and smoked a cigarette while they were stopped, but put his pie away unopened for later in the morning, when he'd be taking a break.

When the crew arrived at the jobsite, and while the equipment operators lubed, cranked, and warmed up their various machines, Bill filled the resevoir of what's called a salamander heater with off-road diesel fuel.  The temperature was expected to only get into the 20's for a high that day, and the fellows would be wanting to keep warm, especially their hands.  A salamander heater has a metal saucer-shaped tank about the size of a small wash-tub as a base, with a 6" metal smokestack protruding skyward from its center.  The surfaces can throw off 150-degree heat, and really make a difference for men working with their hands to ward off the numbing effects of the cold.  Although a very chilly day, the weather was otherwise clear, and the crew began shouldering the task of laying pipe and setting manholes.

Then, about 9:30 that morning, Bill's breakfast started petering out, and he remembered that fried apple pie.  Man, he thought, that thing would be just the ticket about now.  And, it'd be even better if it was warmed up.  Of course, there wasn't a microwave oven on a pipeline jobsite out in the woods, but he did have a heat source: the salamander heater.  So, Bill went to the truck, grabbed his pie, took it out of its wax-paper wrapper, and laid it on the base of that heater, up close to the stove-pipe.  And waited.

15 minutes or so later, Bill figured that the time was right to check on the consumability of the pie.

Now, not being the sharpest tool in the shed, and having a limited understanding of the laws of thermodynamics, Bill didn't consider the possibility that his pie could theoretically be every bit as hot as the heater on which it had sat.

Bill, with his gloved hands, picked up his pie.  He turned the pie from hand to hand but couldn't guage the pie's temperature through the thick leather gloves.  At that point he decided to do one of those things that later affords no deniability...he slapped the very hot pie to the right side of his face, leaving a D-shaped scorch mark.

"Ssssssssssss"

That moment of stupidity was one that old Bill was never able to, during his tenure with that particular company, live down.  And he eventually moved to greener pastures.

Recollecting this story reminds me of the temporary stupidity of folks who've chosen to endorse Democrats in recent years.  Can there be any deniability at this point that the Democrat Party is almost universally corrupt, particularly the Presidential administration?  Is there not a shrinking distinction between Democrat and Socialist?  The Obama/Biden White House has set new extremes for ineptitude and cronyism.  Chris Dodd and slobbering Barney Frank are finally going to get the "credit" they deserve for wrecking the economy.  The Clintons are proving to everyone that they never give a damn about anything besides more power, recognition, and authority for themselves.  Reid and Pelosi have shown exactly how lustful for more big-government schemes they can get when their authority goes unchecked.  Rangel and Waters could end up in jail for their crookedness.  Chicken-Little Gore's wealth redistribution scheme (and latent hypocrisy).  John Edwards' cheat-a-thon, and John Effin Kerry's boat-cloaking maneuver.  NC Congresscritter Boob Etheridge assaulting a student.  Funny man Franken's stolen election.  Bribery and scandal with Blago and Sestak.  Everything Alan Grayson has uttered.  The Atlanta-area Congressional dipshit that thinks Guam could tip over for having too many US soldiers stationed there.  Thuggery and shenanigans and corruption and outright ignorance.  The list goes on and on.

Seriously, if there's any good anywhere in the Donkey party, I ain't seeing it.

It may not be enough to scrape that Obama/Biden sticker off of your Prius in the months and years ahead...You may have to move to a place where nobody knows you, or knows what that big, D-shaped scorch mark on your face is all about.

Call Me Capricious, Then

I just never really find myself in disagreement with The Hammer.  Except, well, this time.

Charles Krauthammer said yesterday that Sarah Palin's endorsement of Christine O'Donnell versus Mike Castle in Delaware, is "destructive and capricious", because in his assessment she has no chance of beating the Democrat in November but Castle would be a "shoo-in."

While I do see the value of having the raw numbers of "R's" in the Senate and all the inherent reconstructive power of a conservative majority, the time for half-measures is long gone.  Chris Christie didn't seem particularly electable, and neither did Scott Brown.  I don't want any shoo-ins, unless they've proven dependable in flawlessly adhering to the Constitution, and Castle can't remotely make that claim.

Out with establishment RINO's.  I'd rather lose with the good guys than win with the losers.

And a vote for Castle is a vote to just lose a little, instead of maybe winning a lot.

UPDATE:  Michelle Malkin reminds us that "9 terms (of phony republicanism) are enough."

UPDATE 2: Check out Mark Levin and Jim DeMint ("I've been here when we had the numbers, and we didn't have the principles") at the National Review.  Reference the Mark Levin podcast pane.

NC Sheriff's Association Wants Your Prescription Info

From Drudge and the News & Obscurer, the NC Sheriff's Association wants access to your medical records.  Their argument is that there's practically no way to enjoy their donuts and perform crime-fighting responsibilities in a traditional manner, so why not just make it easier for them?  What's the big deal about a little invasion of privacy, anyway?

Okay, let's assume there is widespread prescription drug abuse.  Is warrantless access to a citizen's health information even remotely a good idea?  Ever?  I know, or have known, lots of cops, but there isn't any one of them I want knowing that much detail about me.  And I don't even take prescription drugs.

Lynn Bonner, in the N&O quoted Lee County Sheriff Tracy Carter as saying, "We can better go after those who are abusing the system."

And we're expected to believe there'd never be any abuse by the authorities against one of my neighbors?

So, in order to stop drug abuse, good North Carolina citizens must condone and accept police intrusion on their liberties?

I'm all for enforcement of the law, but not at the expense of personal privacy, so I say no thanks.  If you can't do the job of law enforcement without reading a person's private medical information, then either you just can't do the job, or that job doesn't need doing.

The Other 9/11 Mega Mosque

From Alec Rawls' Error Theory.  Remember, this is the big project that I refused to help out with, the Shanksville Flight 93 Mosque, which is no less a mosque than the one proposed near Ground Zero.

If plans to burn copies of the Koran (or cartoon characterizations of Mohammed) hurt your feelings, consider how divisive and destructive the schemes to erect these muslim structures are to the rest of us.  Ain't saying I condone book burnings, but I do agree with whatever it takes to pick a fight with the cowards who would otherwise be cutting up stewardesses and pilots with box cutters and then flying planes into iconic American structures.

Alan Keyes against the Flight 93 memorial




Conservative hero Alan Keyes is asking whether there is a pattern of submission surrounding the nation's 9/11 sites. Apparently he has seen our video expose of Islamic and terrorist memorializing features in the crescent memorial to Flight 93 (now called a broken circle). Like any straight-thinker, he doesn't like what he sees. The Flight 93 crash site is no place for a giant Islamic-shaped crescent, no matter what it is called.

On this point, Keyes cites Colorado Representative Tom Tancredo's 2005 objection to the newly unveiled Crescent of Embrace design:

Back in 2005, then-Rep. Tom Tancredo was reported to have sent a letter to the National Park Service "asking the Interior Department to reconsider the crescent-shaped design of the memorial to those aboard a plane hijacked on Sept. 11, 2001, because some may think it honors the terrorists." Tancredo quite sensibly argues that "regardless of whether 'the invocation of a Muslim Symbol' was intentional, 'it seems that such a symbol is unsuitable for paying appropriate tribute to the heroes of Flight 93 or the ensuing American struggle against radical Islam.'"

Keyes notes our claim that the design is still replete with terrorist memorializing features and he seems to find it credible. Why shouldn't he? The damning features are all right there in architect Paul Murdoch's design drawings. Thank you Doctor Keyes!


"It’s not just embarrassing. It is a dangerous willful blindness, spurning the woken vigilance of Flight 93."

That's the last line of the full-page advertisement that Tom Burnett Senior and Alec Rawls will be running in the Somerset Daily American this Friday and Saturday (when the two first ladies will be in town for the 9/11 anniversary):


Click for legible image. Full ad-copy PDF here (large file warning).

We are hoping that visitors will hold onto our ad, maybe even tape it to their car windows, and most especially, show it to any press people they come across. Hey, if the Park Service can use 9/11 to plant the world's largest mosque on the Flight 93 crash site, we can use 9/11 to object.

Please continue the article after the fold...

Miller on Cameron

Restore The Constitution, Guilford Courthouse

Some thoughts on my first rally, the RTC event at Guilford Courthouse Battleground Park, Greensboro, NC...

Easily the most entertaining speaker was Bubba, from What Bubba Knows.  If you expect sensitivity and tolerance, Bubba does not mind shaking your sorry ass up.  I like that.

We arrived a little late, and I'd complain about the sparse signage for road names and numbers, or the repeated instances of signs hidden by foliage overgrowth, but I'd be afraid more so-called stimulus funds would get earmarked for pruning services.

Judging from how far away we had to park, I was thinking the attendance would be over 1,000.  I believe it was more like 500-700.  Still a good turnout, considering the weather, but who belonged to all those cars?  My guess is that many of those vehicles were parked there by the passive resistance crowd: Park in the way...walk off to other parts of the park...discourage attendance?  If so, it certainly didn't work, because there were lots of attendees parked further back from us, who walked (and limped) farther to and fro.

My radar was on alert for trouble, but there was none.  At least, there was no obvious blatant trouble.  There were some curious characters, but even the few that I mentally pegged as such were applauding the same speakers and at the same times as was I.

Whether you had the full re-enactment uniform (which was way cool), or the tie-dye t-shirt, or shirt & tie, or the Veteran's hat (thanks, by the way) or the boonie hat, I was glad to see you and glad you're on the right side.

I wasn't so glad to hear some of you, and that was my only major gripe regarding the event.  If you were there to schmooze or carry on your own agenda, you should have the common decency and regard to set yourself up at a little table on the periphery, or even the entrance, and blather on to your heart's content.  If you were sitting or standing near me or someone else who gave a shit what the speaker had to say, as a manner of learning what the speaker was all about or to perhaps glean some wisdom, have the good sense to shut the fuck right up.  There were some things said that I'd heartily endorse, and some things that knitted my eyebrows, and some things that I missed because I was distracted by your soliloquy.

Especially if you were one of those speakers.  There were at least five of you who felt no qualms about being out in the crowd before or after your speech, showing little regard for the one at the podium and droning on and on about the golden friggin corral, or how hot it is, or the epic saga of how you came to acquire this particular firearm.  Point one is there's a time and place.  Point two is never miss an opportunity to shut up and listen.

And a note to the organizers of the next one: The distrubution of pamphlets and such needs to be limited to the entrance/exit areas to minimize the associated distraction therein.  And, if there was a published cast of characters (list of speakers, with maybe a bare-bones bio for each), I missed it.  If there wasn't such, make a note of having one for the next rally.  I'll be there.

Note to the law enforcement personnel:  If you're hiding behind a wall, you appear as if you expect to be a target.  On the other hand, those listening to and applauding the speeches are apt to be sorted into the "friendlies" column.  Listening has a multitude of benefits.  Hiding has comparitively few.

All in all, I enjoyed the rally, and was glad I went.  Plus, I wished I'd have planned enough time around the event, before and after, to suitably appreciate the historical markers.  Coming soon hopefully, a photo-essay field trip to King's Mountain.

We were there.

III