And those who are prevented from legally carrying them.
Saturday, December 13, 2003
Via Random Nuclear Strikes come a rant that made me wish I had written it.
Oh man, for a locked room and a bat, a chain, or my bare friggin pawlike hands. They really get a giggle from playing at this. How hard will they laugh when they are choking on their own blood? How friggin funny would that be? I WANT THEIR STEAMING GUTS STRUNG LIKE TINSEL, THEIR MICRO-TESTICLES HUNG ON DISPLAY, AND THEIR EARS STRUNG LIKE POPCORN STRINGS.
DID I LEAVE ANYTHING OUT?
And then I read what had caused it.
Not so! The German TV news program “Panorama” uncovered some of the wonderful activities that particularly dedicated cadres of the German peace movement are currently engaged in. In the spirit of peace, a number of groups have started a fund-raising campaign entitled “10 Euros for the Iraqi Resistance”. The money will be provided to the Iraqi Patriotic Alliance (IPA) a group dedicated to carrying out attacks against US soldiers in Iraq in collaboration with Saddam loyalists. The common goal is to "liberate” the Iraqi people from the evil imperialist American occupiers. On their website these groups gush with enthusiasm about turning Iraq into another Vietnam for the USA.
Steaming guts strung like tinsel.... that's a good start, yes. But only a start.
I had a little blurb up about the Electoral College a while back. It's basic purpose was to prevent the larger population states from railroading the smaller states. There's more to it than that, but that's the short and simple version. That's also the reason we have two houses of Congress. It's all a matter of checks and balances to ensure that small states have the same representation of the larger states. California cannot vote to take away Rhode Island's lunch money, because the Senators from Rhode Island can block that vote in the Senate. It took years for the Continental Congress to come up with this system, but it's worked well for over two hundred years.
Maybe Europe needs to take a lesson from it.
The European Union's effort to seal its first-ever constitution collapsed Saturday, after leaders could not agree on the best way to divvy power once the bloc adds 10 new members next year.
The key stumbling block was a proposal to scrap a complicated points system that was accepted in 2000 and gave Spain and newcomer Poland almost as many votes as Germany, which has twice as many people as either. Talks will be taken up again sometime after March of next year.
The EU is, and always will be, about power. Power in economics, power to oppose the USA on the world stage, power is the guiding force of the EU for the main players. France, Germany, and the UK. And more importantly, it's about France and Germany holding power over the rest of Europe. This is their way of standing supreme as they haven't done in over a century, lords over the rest of the EU. France and Germany are more than willing to let the other countries play, so long as they maintain the power in the EU. You can see it in the way France acts, how Germany treats countries like Hungary or Italy. When Chirac told the Eastern Bloc that "They had missed a good opportunity to shut up", you could see France's power grab in the naked daylight.
The draft text supported by France and Germany would allow EU decisions to be made by a simple majority of EU nations if they represent 60 percent of the EU's population of 450 million. The constitution must be approved unanimously by all 25 governments.
Backers of the proposed new voting system, led by Germany and France, say the changes will make the voting system simpler and more democratic.
Those revisions, along with others in the draft constitution, were intended to streamline decision-making to prevent gridlock when the 15-member EU takes in 10 new members, mostly from the former communist east, in May.
Poland -- the biggest of the 10 newcomers -- along with Spain objected most vociferously to the proposed change. The Spanish and the Poles insist the new system would entrench the power of the four EU heavyweights -- Britain, France, Germany and Italy
Imagine if there were no Senate in Congress. The Representatives from California and New York would rule the roost. If California wanted a country wide concealed weapons ban, they could push it through, and states like Idaho or Montana could do nothing but sit by helplessly and watch. That is what France and Germany want. They want to be able to do what they want, just by a simple majority. Naturally, the other countries are balking. They're resisting the Franco-Prussian power grab.
"If it's not possible to agree, we shall wait," Polish Foreign Minister Wlodzimierz Cimoszewicz said Saturday morning. "We're talking about compromise or domination."
A French diplomat accused Poland of being "intransigent."
Translation: "Stupid Plebe! Get back to work and let us make the decisions!" I have seen enough French arrogance to last a lifetime. Seeing the difficulty that they're having with their constitution, I wonder of the EU is going to last at all. I hope, for the sake of Europe, that it doesn't. Because France and Germany will drag the continent down, if they have the power.
For a more in-depth look at France's power grabs, see these USS Clueless articles here and here.
Friday, December 12, 2003
Holy HOT DAMN!
Since the budget is short, the girlfriend and I have been making many of the gifts for the family instead of buying them all. I just finished a batch of hot pepper sauce for my brother, and holy hell, it is SMOKING! I used the jalapenos that we grew this summer, half a head of garlic, two limes, one lemon, some onions from the garden, two habaneros, and about two tablespoons of mixed peppercorns. And vodka. Goooooooooooood vodka.
Roast the jalapenos, garlic, and peppercorns in the oven. Sprinkle them with olive oil before you put them in. Let them roast for about an hour, then take them out. Toss everything except the vodka into a food processor and grind it down as fine as you can. Add the vodka bit by bit to thin it out, depending on how thin of a sauce you like.
We eventually ended up using over half the fifth of vodka, (And it's good potato vodka, none of that cheap grain alcohol shit), and we came up with a decent sauce. When I tasted it, the first thing that hit was the flavor of citrus and smoke, and then the burn came on. OOOOOOOOOOOOO YAH! My brother loves hot sauce. He puts it on all his food. If he isn't careful, this will have him running to the bathroom with a bowl of ice cubes in the morning. It's DAMN GOOD SAUCE! I put it into two nice glass bottles, corked them, and dipped the tops in wax to seal them.
I think I may have to make some more!
UPDATE: I forgot to mention, just use the juice of the lemons and limes, and some zest from the peel. If you chop the whole thing up you'll get a nasty bitter taste.
Since the budget is short, the girlfriend and I have been making many of the gifts for the family instead of buying them all. I just finished a batch of hot pepper sauce for my brother, and holy hell, it is SMOKING! I used the jalapenos that we grew this summer, half a head of garlic, two limes, one lemon, some onions from the garden, two habaneros, and about two tablespoons of mixed peppercorns. And vodka. Goooooooooooood vodka.
Roast the jalapenos, garlic, and peppercorns in the oven. Sprinkle them with olive oil before you put them in. Let them roast for about an hour, then take them out. Toss everything except the vodka into a food processor and grind it down as fine as you can. Add the vodka bit by bit to thin it out, depending on how thin of a sauce you like.
We eventually ended up using over half the fifth of vodka, (And it's good potato vodka, none of that cheap grain alcohol shit), and we came up with a decent sauce. When I tasted it, the first thing that hit was the flavor of citrus and smoke, and then the burn came on. OOOOOOOOOOOOO YAH! My brother loves hot sauce. He puts it on all his food. If he isn't careful, this will have him running to the bathroom with a bowl of ice cubes in the morning. It's DAMN GOOD SAUCE! I put it into two nice glass bottles, corked them, and dipped the tops in wax to seal them.
I think I may have to make some more!
UPDATE: I forgot to mention, just use the juice of the lemons and limes, and some zest from the peel. If you chop the whole thing up you'll get a nasty bitter taste.
The Council Has Spoken!
This weeks winning entries are The Gore Hex by The Smarter Cop, and The Socialist Manifesto Doesn't Work?! Sacre' Bleu! Non! by the Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler. You can find all the entries here.
This weeks winning entries are The Gore Hex by The Smarter Cop, and The Socialist Manifesto Doesn't Work?! Sacre' Bleu! Non! by the Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler. You can find all the entries here.
Please tell me
That you have seen the anti-terrorism protests in Baghdad. What's that? You haven't seen that on the daily news? I wonder why?
Well, OK, what about the New York Times? No? The Washington Post? The.... oh, forget it.
You DO read "Day by Day", Don't you?
And quite honestly, it bothers me to see the complete and total lack of coverage in the news. Instapundit led me to Roger Simon:
I don't want to think that Noah Oppenheim is correct in writing that many in the media quite seriously don't want us to win, but tonight of all nights it seems more likely that could be so. As I type these words at ten p. m. PDT... maybe I missed something... maybe I didn't click far enough... but I see no reports of the large pro-democracy/anti-terror march of Iraqis in Baghdad today in tomorrow's New York Times or Washington Post or in the Los Angeles Times(at least on their websites). Or on the CNN site. Or on MSNBC.... Do you think for one moment that if thousands had been marching for Saddam... for the fascists... excuse me "insurgents"... it wouldn't have been front page news? I don't.
Lets see... who was the only major news outlet to cover the marching and rallying and protesting against terror? Why, could that be Fox News? What a shock!
Here's a tip for all you lefties out there: Fox News isn't biased. They just tell the WHOLE DAMN STORY, as opposed to your one sided temples of ideological punditry.
UPDATE: Healing Iraq has photos of the anti-terrorism demonstrations.
Photo Album One
Photo Album Two
Photo Album Three
As Michael Totten puts it: He has one of the best scoops in the world right now, including photos, and he’s doing it from Iraq for free.
I wonder if the big three feel any embarassment over being shown up by a single man with a camera. Can NBC, ABC, and CBS get any more worthless?
That you have seen the anti-terrorism protests in Baghdad. What's that? You haven't seen that on the daily news? I wonder why?
Well, OK, what about the New York Times? No? The Washington Post? The.... oh, forget it.
You DO read "Day by Day", Don't you?
And quite honestly, it bothers me to see the complete and total lack of coverage in the news. Instapundit led me to Roger Simon:
I don't want to think that Noah Oppenheim is correct in writing that many in the media quite seriously don't want us to win, but tonight of all nights it seems more likely that could be so. As I type these words at ten p. m. PDT... maybe I missed something... maybe I didn't click far enough... but I see no reports of the large pro-democracy/anti-terror march of Iraqis in Baghdad today in tomorrow's New York Times or Washington Post or in the Los Angeles Times(at least on their websites). Or on the CNN site. Or on MSNBC.... Do you think for one moment that if thousands had been marching for Saddam... for the fascists... excuse me "insurgents"... it wouldn't have been front page news? I don't.
Lets see... who was the only major news outlet to cover the marching and rallying and protesting against terror? Why, could that be Fox News? What a shock!
Here's a tip for all you lefties out there: Fox News isn't biased. They just tell the WHOLE DAMN STORY, as opposed to your one sided temples of ideological punditry.
UPDATE: Healing Iraq has photos of the anti-terrorism demonstrations.
Photo Album One
Photo Album Two
Photo Album Three
As Michael Totten puts it: He has one of the best scoops in the world right now, including photos, and he’s doing it from Iraq for free.
I wonder if the big three feel any embarassment over being shown up by a single man with a camera. Can NBC, ABC, and CBS get any more worthless?
So, would the Left ever lie in order to make President Bush look bad?
Take a guess.
Debate viewers got a gloomy picture of the economy and, perhaps predictably, heard about none of the improvements that have come since Bush took office. For example, Sen. Joe Lieberman declared it would take a Democratic president to "get this economy going," but the economy has been gaining momentum over the last several months since Bush's third round of tax cuts took effect.
Weekly claims for unemployment insurance have fallen since April, and economic growth and productivity in the third quarter reached 20-year highs.
Several of the nine candidates criticized the tax cuts Bush pushed through Congress. But none mentioned that Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, who has served both Republican and Democratic presidents, has cited those cuts as a reason for the recent economic growth.
Right about now, the only thing that the Donks have to campain on is "WE'RE NOT BUSH!"
Hat tip to Random Nuclear Strikes.
Thursday, December 11, 2003
Remember how the moonbats howled about putting the UN in control of Iraq? They think that giving the UN control of a country magicly gives it peace and prosperity. And then they can't understand why those of us with any kind of intelligence laugh at them.
Four years after it was "liberated" by a NATO bombing campaign, Kosovo has deteriorated into a hotbed of organized crime, anti-Serb violence and al-Qaeda sympathizers, say security officials and Balkan experts.
Though nominally still under UN control, the southern province of Serbia is today dominated by a triumvirate of Albanian paramilitaries, mafiosi and terrorists. They control a host of smuggling operations and are implementing what many observers call their own brutal ethnic cleansing of minority groups, such as Serbs, Roma and Jews.
The UN is a collection of mostly thugs, dictators, theocracies, and other various human parasites. Out of the entire UN, less than one quarter of them are actually democracies. How in the name of god do you think these people can bring peace to anywhere?
In recent weeks, UN officials ordered the construction of a fortified concrete barrier around the UN compound on the outskirts of the provincial capital Pristina. This is to protect against terrorist strikes by Muslim extremists who have set up bases of operation in what has become a largely outlaw province.
Of course, Israel has no such right under UN auspices, right? I mean, they only deal with near-daily terrorist attacks, but to build a fence in Israel is wrong! Only the UN can build a fence to protect itself. Here is more of the "Me, but not thee" thinking that permeates the cesspool of the UN. Can we nuke that building now? Can we finally give up any pretense of the UN being more than a steaming pile of shit that's taking up much needed office space in New York? Can we finally drag those worthless bastards out of their ivory towers and kick them the hell off our soil? Please?
This is the organization that people want in control? Over my dead body. The Left needs to get over the pipe dream that the UN is some benevolant world body that just wants the best for everybody. It's the collection of every kind of filth imaginable, good for nothing but dragging civilization down the crapper. I wouldn't send my worst enemy to the UN. Not only would he not get any help, but if he were a brutal, mass-murdering, genocidal, traitorous, corrupt dictator, he'd be welcomed with open arms!
You want to see our troops stay in Iraq for years? Give the UN control. You want to see our boys shot, coming home in boxes? Give control to the UN. You want to see massive casualties? Give control to the UN. You want to see your hysteric shrieks of "VIET NAM" and "QUAGMIRE" come true? Give control to the UN. But if I had my way, I'd drag every last communist son-of-a-bitch out of that building and hang them from the lamp posts in NYC, and then I'd destroy that building brick by brick. Any non-communists in the UN would be allowed to leave the country, and not permitted re-entry. And right before that wrecking-ball fell, I'd climb up on the dias and take a steaming shit right in the middle of their precious "multilateral" table. I'd wipe my ass with Kofi's necktie, preferably while it's still attatched to his neck. And then the entire maggot-infested cesspool would come down, never to cause any more grief or pain to anyone in the world ever again.
The UN needs to be destroyed.
Thank God I don't live in France
This is the country that has been lecturing the United States about how to be good international citizens, and they haven't even grasped basic concepts like Freedom of Speech and Freedom of Religion.
A number of European countries have been struggling with the dilemmas posed by the Muslim headscarf, which throws up a variety of difficult issues relating to tolerance and equality.
Many Muslim women believe it is their right to wear the scarf
France is currently considering an outright ban on the wearing of veils in schools, while in Germany, two states have proposed legislation which would also bar the scarf from educational institutions.
This is the country that has been lecturing the United States about how to be good international citizens, and they haven't even grasped basic concepts like Freedom of Speech and Freedom of Religion.
A number of European countries have been struggling with the dilemmas posed by the Muslim headscarf, which throws up a variety of difficult issues relating to tolerance and equality.
Many Muslim women believe it is their right to wear the scarf
France is currently considering an outright ban on the wearing of veils in schools, while in Germany, two states have proposed legislation which would also bar the scarf from educational institutions.
More reason to hate the 9mm
Blackfive has a post up about personal weapon use in Iraq. It's a little graphic, so if you're easily bothered, don't read it. But one of the things that caught my eye in the post was the ineffectiveness of the military's M9 pistol (9mm).
The M9 has got to be one of the worst pistols I've ever fired, in my opinion. First of all, I don't like the 9mm round. I don't hate it with the passion of Kim du Toit, but from what I've seen, they tried to come up with a compromise between the .38 Special and the .45 ACP. They failed. In the M9, they failed horribly. It has a steel slide, but an aluminum frame, so there's no weight to counter the slide action. The 9X19mm round has a low knockdown rate when compared to other rounds. In fact, the only good thing I can say about the M9 pistol is that it's easy to disassemble and clean. Other than that, it would be the last gun I would use.
So what would I suggest? Any one of the many M1911 .45 ACP clones would work. Kimber has several good pistols in that caliber. Hell, Kimber has a .357 Mag semi-suto pistol that would be better than the 9mm. The safety officer at my place of employment carries a Glock .40. After talking with several police officers at a former job, he discovered that when perps get hit with a .40 caliber slug, they go down and don't get back up. I would limit the choices to .45, .40, and .357, just for simplicities sake. Find a gun that takes abuse, fires for days on end (something the M9 doesn't do, in my experience), and carries one hell of a punch.
Anybody have any suggestions?
Blackfive has a post up about personal weapon use in Iraq. It's a little graphic, so if you're easily bothered, don't read it. But one of the things that caught my eye in the post was the ineffectiveness of the military's M9 pistol (9mm).
The M9 has got to be one of the worst pistols I've ever fired, in my opinion. First of all, I don't like the 9mm round. I don't hate it with the passion of Kim du Toit, but from what I've seen, they tried to come up with a compromise between the .38 Special and the .45 ACP. They failed. In the M9, they failed horribly. It has a steel slide, but an aluminum frame, so there's no weight to counter the slide action. The 9X19mm round has a low knockdown rate when compared to other rounds. In fact, the only good thing I can say about the M9 pistol is that it's easy to disassemble and clean. Other than that, it would be the last gun I would use.
So what would I suggest? Any one of the many M1911 .45 ACP clones would work. Kimber has several good pistols in that caliber. Hell, Kimber has a .357 Mag semi-suto pistol that would be better than the 9mm. The safety officer at my place of employment carries a Glock .40. After talking with several police officers at a former job, he discovered that when perps get hit with a .40 caliber slug, they go down and don't get back up. I would limit the choices to .45, .40, and .357, just for simplicities sake. Find a gun that takes abuse, fires for days on end (something the M9 doesn't do, in my experience), and carries one hell of a punch.
Anybody have any suggestions?
Puggs from RNS responds to this article so much better than I can.
Right..............they may feel free to go fuck themselves now. It's OK, we'll wait, I got a newspaper here somewhere.........What goes around comes around, these pissant hypocrites have been making a fortune off Saddam's mafia state, they threw away their only chance to do the right thing. Now they are upset because they are getting their proper level of respect?
Screw them, the proper level of respect that they deserve is laying on the bottom of as many as 270 mass graves. They can dig for it themselves. Nobody else cares anymore about their pride. (emphasis mine)
Let's not forget, it was France, Germany and Russia who were making money hand over fist by doing business with Saddam, sometimes in violation of UN sanctions. They did everything they can to keep Saddam in power, for their own filthy reasons. They've pulled in enough blood money from Iraq, and now they can get fucked. If they don't like it, too bad.
Oh, and if little Johnny decides to show up again: About those debts that Bush asked EUnichistan to forgive? He should have simply told them "You loaned money to a brutal dictator who is no longer in power. If you can find him, ask HIM for the money. Because Iraq ain't giving you a damn cent."
UPDATE: By the way, this is American Tax Dollars that are being spent in Iraq. Yours and mine. What right does Old Europe have to demand MY TAX DOLLARS? None. As far as I'm concerned, I don't want a single fucking cent to go to those backstabbing suckweasels.
Wednesday, December 10, 2003
Someone has some time on his hands, methinks.
Ah well, it's cool anyways. Want to see what a miserable failure looks like?
Heh.
DAY FOUR
Is it supposed to be that color?
Well, the cold from hell seems to be leaving slowly. At least, my body is expelling more crap, rather than letting it sit in my chest and sinuses. Dear God, I hate being sick. I think it stems from the fact that I've been doing nothing but laying around the house for the past four days, and I feel like a pathetic lazy shit. I should have been working, or doing SOMETHING, but instead all I could do was lay on the couch and drink NyQuil. I hate that. And my head STILL feels like it's going to explode.
Anyways, it's time for some linky love from Random Nuclear Strikes. I know I'm being lazy, but give me a break. I'm lucky to be sitting up right now.
First up, some retribution of a sort.
The Pentagon has barred French, German and Russian companies from competing for $18.6 billion in contracts for the reconstruction of Iraq, saying the step "is necessary for the protection of the essential security interests of the United States."
It's our way of saying "You backstabbing fucks did everything you could to keep Saddam's regime in power, and now you're not going to profit off of our hard work." I think it's rather appropriate. France and Germany did everything they could to sabotage the war effort, and now they can get fucked when it comes to rebuilding Iraq.
Also from RNS come a FrontPage Magazine article that is worth reading.
From reading around the web, I find that Algore has endorsed Howard Dean as the Donk candidate. Great. Nice to see that Joe Lieberman means so much to you, Al. Y'know, your old running mate? Nah, screw him, he's too centrist, right? I have to say, I'm cackling (in between bouts of coughing) as I watch the Democratic Party slide further to the left. Yeah, that's really going to get the voters. Really. Keep on going.
You know what would scare the shit out of Bush? Yeah, I'm going to say it, because I know the Donks will never take my advice. Remember, they're convinced of their own superiority. They won't listen to a little guy like me. What would be truly scary is a centrist candidate like Lieberman, paired with Hillary Clinton as his running mate. That would be a fight. Lieberman is closer to the middle than just about any of the Dimmy Donk Nine, and Hillary would pull in the Left fringe voters. Bush would be sweating bullets if Joe and Hillary got together for 2004. But no, it looks more and more like Howard Dean is going to be the man for the Left. Particularly the FAR Left. And that won't win the election. DANEgerus has the rundown on the Dimmy Donk Nine that's too long to cut and paste, but well worth reading.
And last but not least, San Francisco has a new mayor, who's a Democrat (big shock there, eh?). However, look at the tagline for this piece:
Democrat Gavin Newsom decisively beat a Green Party candidate Tuesday to win San Francisco's mayoral election, a race that had been viewed as a referendum on the Democrats' strength in California and a battle for the liberal city's soul.
No Republican in the race? Why am I not surprised? So it was a choice between a socialist and a communist, basically. The Green party is often referred to as the "Watermelon" party. Green on the outside, and Red on the inside. The vote was either for Left or FAR Left. What a choice.
With all precincts reporting, Newsom, a wealthy restaurateur who was backed by most of the city's political establishment, received 118,651 votes, or 53 percent, to 107,030 votes, or 47 percent, for the Greens' Matt Gonzalez
Almost half of the vote went to the Watermelon Party. Yay. Even more reasons to stay away from San Francisco. But the part that made me laugh was this:
"There's a reason why we are the shining light for the rest of the state and the nation, and it's the extraordinary diversity of San Francisco," said the mayor-elect
He actually believes that people want to be like San Fran! Yeah, where a public fountain had to be shut down due to homeless people pissing, shitting, and bathing in it! Where you can't go a block without being hassled for money by some homeless guy who smells like he's been sleeping in his own piss for months. Where you have to live two hours away from your job because you can't afford to live in the city! Every last lunatic fringe policy has been enacted in San Francisco, to the end results of sky-high housing costs, the highest homeless population in America, high crime rates, and the local dismantling of the 2nd Amendment. No thank you, I think I'd rather get my testicles laminated than live in San Francisco.
That's all for today. I'm off to drink more NyQuil and cough up what's left of my lungs. Toodles!
Is it supposed to be that color?
Well, the cold from hell seems to be leaving slowly. At least, my body is expelling more crap, rather than letting it sit in my chest and sinuses. Dear God, I hate being sick. I think it stems from the fact that I've been doing nothing but laying around the house for the past four days, and I feel like a pathetic lazy shit. I should have been working, or doing SOMETHING, but instead all I could do was lay on the couch and drink NyQuil. I hate that. And my head STILL feels like it's going to explode.
Anyways, it's time for some linky love from Random Nuclear Strikes. I know I'm being lazy, but give me a break. I'm lucky to be sitting up right now.
First up, some retribution of a sort.
The Pentagon has barred French, German and Russian companies from competing for $18.6 billion in contracts for the reconstruction of Iraq, saying the step "is necessary for the protection of the essential security interests of the United States."
It's our way of saying "You backstabbing fucks did everything you could to keep Saddam's regime in power, and now you're not going to profit off of our hard work." I think it's rather appropriate. France and Germany did everything they could to sabotage the war effort, and now they can get fucked when it comes to rebuilding Iraq.
Also from RNS come a FrontPage Magazine article that is worth reading.
From reading around the web, I find that Algore has endorsed Howard Dean as the Donk candidate. Great. Nice to see that Joe Lieberman means so much to you, Al. Y'know, your old running mate? Nah, screw him, he's too centrist, right? I have to say, I'm cackling (in between bouts of coughing) as I watch the Democratic Party slide further to the left. Yeah, that's really going to get the voters. Really. Keep on going.
You know what would scare the shit out of Bush? Yeah, I'm going to say it, because I know the Donks will never take my advice. Remember, they're convinced of their own superiority. They won't listen to a little guy like me. What would be truly scary is a centrist candidate like Lieberman, paired with Hillary Clinton as his running mate. That would be a fight. Lieberman is closer to the middle than just about any of the Dimmy Donk Nine, and Hillary would pull in the Left fringe voters. Bush would be sweating bullets if Joe and Hillary got together for 2004. But no, it looks more and more like Howard Dean is going to be the man for the Left. Particularly the FAR Left. And that won't win the election. DANEgerus has the rundown on the Dimmy Donk Nine that's too long to cut and paste, but well worth reading.
And last but not least, San Francisco has a new mayor, who's a Democrat (big shock there, eh?). However, look at the tagline for this piece:
Democrat Gavin Newsom decisively beat a Green Party candidate Tuesday to win San Francisco's mayoral election, a race that had been viewed as a referendum on the Democrats' strength in California and a battle for the liberal city's soul.
No Republican in the race? Why am I not surprised? So it was a choice between a socialist and a communist, basically. The Green party is often referred to as the "Watermelon" party. Green on the outside, and Red on the inside. The vote was either for Left or FAR Left. What a choice.
With all precincts reporting, Newsom, a wealthy restaurateur who was backed by most of the city's political establishment, received 118,651 votes, or 53 percent, to 107,030 votes, or 47 percent, for the Greens' Matt Gonzalez
Almost half of the vote went to the Watermelon Party. Yay. Even more reasons to stay away from San Francisco. But the part that made me laugh was this:
"There's a reason why we are the shining light for the rest of the state and the nation, and it's the extraordinary diversity of San Francisco," said the mayor-elect
He actually believes that people want to be like San Fran! Yeah, where a public fountain had to be shut down due to homeless people pissing, shitting, and bathing in it! Where you can't go a block without being hassled for money by some homeless guy who smells like he's been sleeping in his own piss for months. Where you have to live two hours away from your job because you can't afford to live in the city! Every last lunatic fringe policy has been enacted in San Francisco, to the end results of sky-high housing costs, the highest homeless population in America, high crime rates, and the local dismantling of the 2nd Amendment. No thank you, I think I'd rather get my testicles laminated than live in San Francisco.
That's all for today. I'm off to drink more NyQuil and cough up what's left of my lungs. Toodles!
People take a lot of pride in damaging businesses don't they?
http://www.freep.com/news/mich/wolf10_20031210.htm
Group plans Lansing protest to stop wolf killing in Alaska
'Howl-ins' meant to target tourism in state
December 10, 2003
ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- An animal rights group plans "howl-ins" in Lansing and other cities the weekend after Christmas to protest a predator control program allowing wolves to be shot from airplanes in Alaska.
Using the Internet to spread the word, Friends of Animals is making plans for protests Dec. 27-28. Other locations include New York; San Francisco and Sacramento, Calif., and Colorado Springs, Colo.
On Tuesday, Priscilla Feral, president of the group, said the response from wolf advocates to launch a protest targeting Alaska's $2-billion tourism business has been enthusiastic.
"They are saying Alaska's state-sponsored wolf shooting program is a national disgrace and an ethical outrage," she said.
More protests will be held on following weekends in dozens of cities, Feral said.
Protesters will be handed postcards to send to Alaska Gov. Frank Murkowski, saying they won't choose the state as a tourist destination as long as it insists on going forward with its wolf-killing program.
Thirty-thousand postcards have been printed so far, she said.
The Darien, Conn.-based group, which has 200,000 members, was responsible for a successful tourism boycott about a decade ago that resulted in then-Gov. Walter J. Hickel imposing a moratorium on wolf control. The group held howl-ins in 51 cities around the country. Something similar is planned this time around, she said...
I propose a compromise. Instead of being killed, I think that the wolves should be tranquilized and rounded up, then released to a new habitat... backyards of Greenpeace activists all over the country.
Political Correctness wins again
This is what happens when you hurt the feelings of people who vote Democrat...
Over a year after its release, controversial bestseller Grand Theft Auto: Vice City is still stirring up controversy. Most recently, various Haitian-American groups leveled charges of racism at the game and at Take Two Interactive, parent of Vice City's publisher, Rockstar Games.
At issue was the part of the game where Tommy Vercetti, its criminal protagonist, is hired by the Cuban gang to take out their rivals, the Haitians. At the beginning of the level, a title card appears which urges Vercetti to "Kill all the Haitians!" Shortly afterwards, a group of heavily armed Haitians attack him en masse, forcing him to respond with a fusillade of bullets. Rockstar has repeatedly insisted the statement should be taken within the context of the game, which is rife with violence towards every ethnic group.
However, New York City's Haitian-American community, which has seen several of its members shot by police in recent years, appealed to Mayor Michael Bloomberg to take action against Take Two, which is headquartered in the city. Yesterday, Bloomberg threatened the company with legal action if the phrase was not removed. "If I don't get a decent response, we are going to do everything we possibly can," said Bloomberg.
Today, Bloomberg got his response. Take Two issued a statement this afternoon promising to "remove the objectionable statements from future copies of Grand Theft Auto: Vice City." It did not mention the millions of copies of Vice City already on the market that already contain the statement.
The publisher also apologized for the "hurt and anger" the statement had caused Haitian-Americans, and hoped the move would "mend" relations between the two groups. It blamed a recent media frenzy for creating the controversy, noting the game was released in October 2002.
Take Two also defended its right to create a "realistic" game for an adult audience. The statement reminded the public that the game was rated 'M' for mature, saying, "it must be recognized that video games have evolved as an adult medium, not unlike literature, movies and music."
The title of the story is wrong. When you censor a title to avoid legal action, it's not "self-censorship". This is an example of how to use the court system to coerce people into doing what you want. Defending yourself in a lawsuit costs a lot of money, regardless of whether you win or lose. What's worse? Censoring your game, or paying 6 or 7 figures for lawyers? Now you know why trial lawyers contribute so heavily to Democrats.
Is this the wave of the future? Are all forms of entertainment going to be neutered by hypersensitive ethnic groups? Should HBO pull the Sopranos for its blatantly unfavorable portrayal of Italian Americans?
This is what happens when you hurt the feelings of people who vote Democrat...
Over a year after its release, controversial bestseller Grand Theft Auto: Vice City is still stirring up controversy. Most recently, various Haitian-American groups leveled charges of racism at the game and at Take Two Interactive, parent of Vice City's publisher, Rockstar Games.
At issue was the part of the game where Tommy Vercetti, its criminal protagonist, is hired by the Cuban gang to take out their rivals, the Haitians. At the beginning of the level, a title card appears which urges Vercetti to "Kill all the Haitians!" Shortly afterwards, a group of heavily armed Haitians attack him en masse, forcing him to respond with a fusillade of bullets. Rockstar has repeatedly insisted the statement should be taken within the context of the game, which is rife with violence towards every ethnic group.
However, New York City's Haitian-American community, which has seen several of its members shot by police in recent years, appealed to Mayor Michael Bloomberg to take action against Take Two, which is headquartered in the city. Yesterday, Bloomberg threatened the company with legal action if the phrase was not removed. "If I don't get a decent response, we are going to do everything we possibly can," said Bloomberg.
Today, Bloomberg got his response. Take Two issued a statement this afternoon promising to "remove the objectionable statements from future copies of Grand Theft Auto: Vice City." It did not mention the millions of copies of Vice City already on the market that already contain the statement.
The publisher also apologized for the "hurt and anger" the statement had caused Haitian-Americans, and hoped the move would "mend" relations between the two groups. It blamed a recent media frenzy for creating the controversy, noting the game was released in October 2002.
Take Two also defended its right to create a "realistic" game for an adult audience. The statement reminded the public that the game was rated 'M' for mature, saying, "it must be recognized that video games have evolved as an adult medium, not unlike literature, movies and music."
The title of the story is wrong. When you censor a title to avoid legal action, it's not "self-censorship". This is an example of how to use the court system to coerce people into doing what you want. Defending yourself in a lawsuit costs a lot of money, regardless of whether you win or lose. What's worse? Censoring your game, or paying 6 or 7 figures for lawyers? Now you know why trial lawyers contribute so heavily to Democrats.
Is this the wave of the future? Are all forms of entertainment going to be neutered by hypersensitive ethnic groups? Should HBO pull the Sopranos for its blatantly unfavorable portrayal of Italian Americans?
Tuesday, December 09, 2003
Three fishing stories:
Fish drags angler to his death.
An angler caught more than he bargained for when his boat was dragged more than two miles off the Dorset coast by a 240-pound shark.
A keen angler has had two toes transplanted onto his hand by plastic surgeons, so that he can carry on fishing after a horrific accident.
The following is an excerpt from an email I received from some guy whom I emailed after seeing his comments in another blog:
I'm going to brave a predication here. I honestly believe that radical islam is living it's last meaningful decade or two. I'm convinced Iran is going to fall to a democratic revolution before the decade ends, perhaps much sooner. This assumes, of course, that we continue to push back on radical islamists - hard if need be.Interesting stuff, eh? I'm gonna reply to see if he'd deign to join us here.
Radical islam is an extremist political force, born where all extreme politics are born, in conditions of political and social desperation. When life becomes a living hell, risking death and dishing out death becomes a plausible option.
Winning the WOT will require a multipronged approach:
1. Recognizing that the political tyrannies of the Mid-East are NOT our allies. They are cauldrons of social, economic and technological backwardness and politcal repression.
2. Making our foriegn policy reflect that reality; that is, working overtly against the political tyrannies in the Mid-East.
3. Making the political and economic committment to recently fallen tyrannies, such as Iraq and Afghanistan, to ensure their economic and political stability at a minimum, and their prosperity ideally. These post-tyrant nations will become natural allies. More importantly, they will present an alternate model to the people of other muslim nations. Nothing like an example you can see with your own eyes to make a believer out of a person.
We also need to polish up a couple of old-fashioned virtues: belief in ourselves and in freedom, individual and political courage, wisdom, patience and generosity. I agree with you that the Bush administration seems to embody those things.
Hot damn, those Europeans sure have their Peace Act together.
And it seems there is no place in Europe that's immune to hate crimes like the arson attack on the Merkaz Hatorah high school. The Gagny fire made headlines across France, and on the same day, the suicide bombings of two Istanbul synagogues led newscasts around the world. But in the week before the blaze, hundreds of hate crimes were committed throughout Europe against Jews, Muslims, Roma, Pakistanis and Africans.TIME Europe Magazine: Seven Days Of Hatred -- Dec. 08, 2003
On Nov. 10, German police discovered a large black swastika painted on the wall of an empty factory building in Marienwerder Brandenburg. On Nov. 14, a box of six Molotov cocktails was found outside a synagogue in Ivry-sur-Seine, just south of Paris.
On Nov. 15, this message appeared on a web forum hosted in the Netherlands, according to Magenta, a watchdog group in Amsterdam: "Just throw that Muslim vermin, those f___ing Muslim rats out of the country."
And on the same day, Agrese 95, a Czech "white power" band, played before some 150 people in central Bohemia, singing lyrics like: "Enough tolerance ... Your future is ovens and gas chambers."
Citizens Help Arrest Carjacker:
An Omaha police officer tried to arrest a car-jacking suspect Sunday and the man grabbed her gun and threatened the officer. That's when four citizens stepped in to help.More here: TheOmahaChannel.com - News - Citizens Help Arrest Carjacker
"I looked over and seen this cop with her gun drawn on this guy," said Dave Norris, one of the Good Samaritans. "And he was down on his knees and he turned around and grabbed a hold of her and threw her down on the ground."
Officer Jodi Sautter spotted Patrick Brew crossing Blondo Street Sunday night. Brew (pictured, left), 19, was wanted for taking a car earlier Sunday at the Lowe's store on 75th and Dodge streets. Brew told a man he needed to use his cell phone and the Tekamah, Neb., man let Brew into his truck. Police said Brew assaulted the man, forced him from his truck and stole it.
Patrick Brew abandoned the vehicle near 76th and Pinkney streets about 25 minutes before Sautter spotted him on Blondo. Norris also spotted Brew and watched as he started punching Sautter.
"At that time, that's when I ran over and grabbed a hold of the guy and slammed him down on the ground," Norris told KETV NewsWatch 7's Kevin Tomich.
Kayla Brown watched all of this unfold and grabbed her weapon -- a can of Mace.
"I told (Sautter) 'I have some Mace,' and I was gonna hand the Mace to her and she was like, 'No, Mace him now.' I was like,'OK,'" said Brown.
Janklow's going to Jail!
Enjoy your stay at Club Fed, you drunken moron!
You might remember my little diatribe, directed at one Rep. Janklow, the South Dakota Republican who killed a motorcyclist while driving drunk.
Well, Janklow had his day in court. And he was convicted on all charges. Now he gets to rot in jail. I hope that drinking was worth it, you lush. Because nothing that happens to you can bring back the man you killed. Nothing that happens to you can repair the family that you destroyed when you ran over Randy Scott late one night. Your decision to drink and drive has wrecked a family, and caused more grief than you can possibly imagine. So it is with great pleasure that I say to you:
Rot in hell, you drunked sot.
Enjoy your stay at Club Fed, you drunken moron!
You might remember my little diatribe, directed at one Rep. Janklow, the South Dakota Republican who killed a motorcyclist while driving drunk.
Well, Janklow had his day in court. And he was convicted on all charges. Now he gets to rot in jail. I hope that drinking was worth it, you lush. Because nothing that happens to you can bring back the man you killed. Nothing that happens to you can repair the family that you destroyed when you ran over Randy Scott late one night. Your decision to drink and drive has wrecked a family, and caused more grief than you can possibly imagine. So it is with great pleasure that I say to you:
Rot in hell, you drunked sot.
Monday, December 08, 2003
Brian from Nickelodeon Diplomacy brought David Horsey's latest pile of droppings to my attention. Once again, the Donk's desperate attempts to smear Bush as some sort of corporate crony take on a hysterical tinge. I would ask if anyone really believed that Bush takes all his orders from Big Business, but I know that the Loony Left already have that as an article of faith. So lets just recap here, shall we?
Enron, a company that made huge donations to both political parties, managed to pull off one of the biggest corporate scams in history under a Democrat President. When they were finally caught, they screamed at Bush to help them. Bush dropped them like a bad habit. Not exactly the actions of someone who's dancing to Big Business's tune, is it?
MCI WorldCom, who also performed shady business deals under a Democrat President, gets caught and screams for help. Bush doesn't shed a tear, and people are now on trial and going to jail. Not exactly a puppet's response, is it?
These people just don't get it. Bush doesn't dance to anyone's tune but his own. And if the people who are screaming at the top of their lungs took a moment to look at Bush's track record, they would see that. Bush follows his head, his morals, and his heart, without much care for political gain. He's taken more political risks than almost anyone else, and they've mostly come up sevens for him. But he took those risks because it was the right thing to do, not because some corporate puppet-master was pulling his strings.
But that's OK, Donks. Keep calling Bush a puppet, keep calling him stupid, keep the poo-flinging going. You called Reagan stupid as well, and he brought down the Soviet Union. The more you underestimate Bush, the easier it will be to wipe you off the map.
And one thing that bugs me is that Horsey used to be good. I have one of his drawings hanging on my locker at work. It's sad to see just how far left he's gone in two years.
Or maybe he was always that far left, and recent events have just highlighted that fact. He does write for the Seattle
Daytime TV
Diabolical plot, or God's punishment to the sick and infirm?
No wonder I don't watch much TV. It's all CRAP! Jerry Springer? Dear god, can things get any worse? And what the hell is up with soap operas? Do they realize that if they changed all the names to the shows, nobody would notice? It's all the same bad acting and over-cooked plots! Dear god, I've been beating myself over the head with an empty bottle of NyQuil for the past two hours trying to make the bad men stop! Who the hell runs the programming? They need to be taken out back, beaten with a horsewhip, and then shot!
I need more drugs. I'm starting to feel my head again. Ow.
Diabolical plot, or God's punishment to the sick and infirm?
No wonder I don't watch much TV. It's all CRAP! Jerry Springer? Dear god, can things get any worse? And what the hell is up with soap operas? Do they realize that if they changed all the names to the shows, nobody would notice? It's all the same bad acting and over-cooked plots! Dear god, I've been beating myself over the head with an empty bottle of NyQuil for the past two hours trying to make the bad men stop! Who the hell runs the programming? They need to be taken out back, beaten with a horsewhip, and then shot!
I need more drugs. I'm starting to feel my head again. Ow.
Howard Dean is now outpolling President Bush is some demographics, especially among nude men.
(maybe not safe for work)
Look, it's me!
It has come to my attention that some people have no clue what I look like. So, in the intrest of spreading the love to my audience, I have decided to put up a picture of me, so that you can all see what I look like.
Found this over at The Smallest Minority. You can make your own South Park Character.
It has come to my attention that some people have no clue what I look like. So, in the intrest of spreading the love to my audience, I have decided to put up a picture of me, so that you can all see what I look like.
Found this over at The Smallest Minority. You can make your own South Park Character.
I hate being sick
I'm so tired and drained that all I can do is stare straight ahead and drool, but I'm in too much pain and discomfort to sleep. I need someone to just hit me over the head with a baseball bat and put me out of my misery. Knock me out for a few days until my body makes up it's mind. Gah. Sinus headaches, congestion, coughing, wheezing, all of it. This isn't the flu, it's the cold from hell.
Anyways, I digress. Kim du Toit says he's taking a break, and spending time with the kids and the missus. More power to him. However, in my opinion, he's going to see something that pisses him off so badly that he either has to blog, or explode. I say there's a 50/50 chance he'll blog again before the New Year. And if one of the Clinton's openes their pie-hole and spews out some rediculous crap or another, it goes up to 70/30.
Jim of Smoke on the Water explains just why he lives on a boat.
I’d developed at a very early age, the philosophy that a any home is a home base. A place from which to go forth, to explore life. Instead, a house comes to own it’s erstwhile “owners”. Hah. The ball and chain so often depicted on cartoons of prisoners has nothing on a suburban home’s hold on it’s occupants. Honeydo lists are so often the subjects of mirthful comics. And they’re almost always about “what the house needs”.
All the while, there’s a WORLD out there, and it doesn’t care about your mortgage, your gutters, your siding or your yard.
I agree. Some people so busy trying to live that they never truly experience life. One of the reasons that I'm dating the girlfriend today is that as I explained all the things that I want to do in life, she stopped me and said "Well, why don't you do that?" Thus, I have my motorcycle. It took a kick in the pants from her to get it, but I haven't regretted it one bit.
There are several sites that advocate the possession and use of firearms. I reference Kim du Toit often, because he's one of the more well known people. But there are two other sites that I read just as often, who are tireless defenders of the 2nd Amendment. The Smallest Minority, and Publicola. Both of them have some wonderful essays today. Well worth the time to go check them out.
I might post more today, if I can convince my body that it's not dead. Hopefully I'll see you later.
I'm so tired and drained that all I can do is stare straight ahead and drool, but I'm in too much pain and discomfort to sleep. I need someone to just hit me over the head with a baseball bat and put me out of my misery. Knock me out for a few days until my body makes up it's mind. Gah. Sinus headaches, congestion, coughing, wheezing, all of it. This isn't the flu, it's the cold from hell.
Anyways, I digress. Kim du Toit says he's taking a break, and spending time with the kids and the missus. More power to him. However, in my opinion, he's going to see something that pisses him off so badly that he either has to blog, or explode. I say there's a 50/50 chance he'll blog again before the New Year. And if one of the Clinton's openes their pie-hole and spews out some rediculous crap or another, it goes up to 70/30.
Jim of Smoke on the Water explains just why he lives on a boat.
I’d developed at a very early age, the philosophy that a any home is a home base. A place from which to go forth, to explore life. Instead, a house comes to own it’s erstwhile “owners”. Hah. The ball and chain so often depicted on cartoons of prisoners has nothing on a suburban home’s hold on it’s occupants. Honeydo lists are so often the subjects of mirthful comics. And they’re almost always about “what the house needs”.
All the while, there’s a WORLD out there, and it doesn’t care about your mortgage, your gutters, your siding or your yard.
I agree. Some people so busy trying to live that they never truly experience life. One of the reasons that I'm dating the girlfriend today is that as I explained all the things that I want to do in life, she stopped me and said "Well, why don't you do that?" Thus, I have my motorcycle. It took a kick in the pants from her to get it, but I haven't regretted it one bit.
There are several sites that advocate the possession and use of firearms. I reference Kim du Toit often, because he's one of the more well known people. But there are two other sites that I read just as often, who are tireless defenders of the 2nd Amendment. The Smallest Minority, and Publicola. Both of them have some wonderful essays today. Well worth the time to go check them out.
I might post more today, if I can convince my body that it's not dead. Hopefully I'll see you later.
Sunday, December 07, 2003
Don't ever let a Liberal who was against the war tell you he is pro-human rights or justice.
"It's as easy to find mass graves in Iraq as it once was to find oil,'' said Adnan Jabbar al-Saadi, a lawyer with Iraq's new Human Rights Ministry.Guardian Unlimited | World Latest | AP: Scientists to Excavate Iraqi Graves
Dave led me to Misha who led me to Jane and I just had to excerpt it here:
That's why V-Day, The White House Project and their many allies are partnering to hold a national women's convention somewhere in the heartland, next June of 2004. Its purpose will be to inspire and mobilize women and vagina-friendly men around the 2004 elections and to build a new movement that will coalesce our energies and forces around a politic of caring.With all due deference to Misha, you simply must admire someone who concocts something that far out.
The convention will put forward a fresh, clear, and concise platform of issues, and build the spirit, energy and power base to hold the candidates accountable for them. There will be a diversity of women from across the country who will participate in the mobilization. There will be a special focus on involving young women. There will be a variety of performers and artists acknowledging that culture plays a powerful role in political action. There will be a concurrent Internet mobilization. Women's organizations will be asked to sign on and send representatives to the convention.
There will be a caravan, a rolling tour across the country, of diverse women leaders, celebrities and activists who will work with local organizers to build momentum, sign people up, register them to vote, get them organized and leave behind a tool kit for further mobilization through the election and beyond.
This movement will be a volcano that will erupt in a flow of soft, hot, empathic, breathing, authentic, vagina-friendly, relational lava that will encircle patriarchy and smother it. We will be the flood and we'll be Noah's arc. "V" for Vagina, for vote, for victory.
AlterNet: V is for Volcano
I should have been at work today
But instead, I was at home, coughing up a lung or two. Let this be a lesson to you all - when your co-workers come in to work sick, kick their asses right back home. Sorry about the light posting, but I've spent most of the day in a drugged out haze on my bed, with the girlfriend taking care of me. Did I mention just how much my girlfriend rocks? She does. Trust me.
If you haven't figured out that today is the anniversary of the Pearl Harbor Bombing, I'll remind you of that right now. December 7th, 1941, a day that will live in infamy. Analog Kid of RNS has a good post up on it.
If you haven't read the Rottweile's fisking of Hanoi Jane, ya gotta do so now. I for one can't believe that he managed to read the whole thing without projectile vomiting. Hell, I had to stop the girlfriend from grabbing the 12 gauge and blasting the computer after she read half of it.
Sharp Knife brings up the latest Mark Styen column, and it's a good one.
Let me come at it this way. I love borders, the more the merrier – town lines, county, state, and, of course, national. Borders symbolize one of the few remaining constraints on government: You don’t like the grade school here in town? Move ten miles up the road. You don’t want to pay Vermont sales tax? Drive over the river and shop in New Hampshire. Arianna Huffington huffs against “tax loopholes for fat cats”, but I’d say the ability to rent a post office box in Bermuda or the Cayman Islands is a “loophole” in one of the original 16th century senses – an aperture to let in light and fresh air. The fact that there’s somewhere else to go to is the ultimate limitation on government. Borders give people choices – and, to put it in a bumper sticker, “I’m Pro-Choice And I Vote With My Feet”. When starry-eyed utopians speak of a “world without borders”, you can pretty much guess what kind of a place the one-world one-party state would be, with tax rates starting at 60%, about where they are in Sweden right now.
Gotta love the way he slices the bullshit right off and gets to the meat of the matter. That's all for now. It's time for me to retreat back into my hole where I can cought up yet another lung, while trying not to get the girlfriend sick. Did I mention how much my girlfriend rocks? She does. Trust me.
But instead, I was at home, coughing up a lung or two. Let this be a lesson to you all - when your co-workers come in to work sick, kick their asses right back home. Sorry about the light posting, but I've spent most of the day in a drugged out haze on my bed, with the girlfriend taking care of me. Did I mention just how much my girlfriend rocks? She does. Trust me.
If you haven't figured out that today is the anniversary of the Pearl Harbor Bombing, I'll remind you of that right now. December 7th, 1941, a day that will live in infamy. Analog Kid of RNS has a good post up on it.
If you haven't read the Rottweile's fisking of Hanoi Jane, ya gotta do so now. I for one can't believe that he managed to read the whole thing without projectile vomiting. Hell, I had to stop the girlfriend from grabbing the 12 gauge and blasting the computer after she read half of it.
Sharp Knife brings up the latest Mark Styen column, and it's a good one.
Let me come at it this way. I love borders, the more the merrier – town lines, county, state, and, of course, national. Borders symbolize one of the few remaining constraints on government: You don’t like the grade school here in town? Move ten miles up the road. You don’t want to pay Vermont sales tax? Drive over the river and shop in New Hampshire. Arianna Huffington huffs against “tax loopholes for fat cats”, but I’d say the ability to rent a post office box in Bermuda or the Cayman Islands is a “loophole” in one of the original 16th century senses – an aperture to let in light and fresh air. The fact that there’s somewhere else to go to is the ultimate limitation on government. Borders give people choices – and, to put it in a bumper sticker, “I’m Pro-Choice And I Vote With My Feet”. When starry-eyed utopians speak of a “world without borders”, you can pretty much guess what kind of a place the one-world one-party state would be, with tax rates starting at 60%, about where they are in Sweden right now.
Gotta love the way he slices the bullshit right off and gets to the meat of the matter. That's all for now. It's time for me to retreat back into my hole where I can cought up yet another lung, while trying not to get the girlfriend sick. Did I mention how much my girlfriend rocks? She does. Trust me.
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