Loopy President Orders Pizza From The Loop

President Obama’s going to get a supposedly St. Louis style deep dish pizza from Pi in the U. City Loop.  Then again, I have never heard of deep dish as a St. Louis style, and I’m a native.  The St. Louis style is thin and crunchy crust, like you would get at Imo’s.

Johnny Suttonfong Has a Conscience After All (Or Does He?)

He fell on his sword.  Though I might be getting too ahead of myself; he might not have done it because he is ashamed of himself, it’s just that he’s a Bush appointee, and Obama wants to clear the deck.  Catherine Hanaway, you’re next.

Ed Rollins Gushes Over Obama

Sorry, Ed.  The man’s an empty suit.

I have said in this space numerous times that the industry of political consulting and campaign management is only one wee slight little baby step above snake oil.  The reason is that the managers and consultants for winning candidates get the credit for the victory, even if their advice had nothing to do with their candidate’s winning the election.  They parlay that into climbing the ladder to run bigger campaigns.

Karl Roverrated was one example.  I think George W. Bush won two national elections in spite of Roverrated, not because of him.  Roverrated was the genius who “thought” up the GOP dumping the Southern (i.e. white) Strategy and putting in the Hispanic Strategy, which failed badly.

This Ed Rollins character is another one.  He has spent the last two decades living off Ronald Reagan’s 49-state landslide re-election in 1984, Rollins being the campaign manager for Reagan that year.  Except that the inconvenient truth of the matter is that a monkey could have managed Reagan to 49 states in 1984, for two big reasons:  (1) The economy improved, and (2) The other guy was the Vice-President for the stagflation and misery index President.

That said, there are examples to the contrary.  Lee Atwater singlehandedly carried George H.W. Bush to the Republican nomination in 1988 versus Bob Dole, who was the early favorite, and then the general election over Michael Dukakis, who had a huge lead in the polls over Bush coming out of the Democrat Convention.  And David Axelrod is pretty good, too.  Barack Obama is President today because Axelrod found the cracks in Clinton, Inc. and blew them wide open, at least open enough for his man to slip through, and Axelrod’s idea to narrow the Republican margin of victory in solidly red counties within swing states is part of the reason he beat McCain last November.

Lambert Airport’s Plan Nine from Outer Space

CNS:  Democrat Congressman: Illegal Aliens Have ‘Nothing to Fear’ By Participating in Census

Many already vote and hold jobs, why wouldn’t they fill out a census form?

CNS:  U.S. to Attend Group Nuclear Talks With Iran

It’ll be more like group therapy.

P-D:  Lambert official to Ron Paul ally: “Are you from this planet?”

So saith someone associated with an airport that illegally paved over the last nice suburb in North St. Louis County for a runway that isn’t used.  I would have asked, “Are you human?”

P-D:  Will support for Slay hurt — or help — Republican Kinder?

Birds of a feather flock together.  One “lover” loves another.

P-D:  Man shot while gambling in backyard

That’s the danger of gambling in the backyard of an abandoned house in the ghetto.

WPSD-6:  Naked Man Shoots Police Officer

He likes to be au naturel?  Then he should do his upcoming term in prison completely naked.

AFP:  N.Korea to revise constitution, affirms Kim

I’m guessing that limitations on executive power won’t be considered.

LiveScience:  Kids Curb Marital Satisfaction

I’ve always thought that kids were one of the benefits of marriage.

AP:  Skin cancer now top cancer among young women in UK

In a country where finding a full day with wall-to-wall sunshine is like trying to find a tooth on a hen, t hat’s remarkable.

AP:  Spears’ Vancouver concert halted for 30 minutes

They had to check to see if Vancouver laws against contributing to the delinquency of music.

Reuters:  Keith Urban tops U.S. pop chart

Speaking of contributing to the delinquency of music, Urban is supposedly a country music singer.  Pope Urban would sound more country.

Reuters:  Players fined over chicken “sex” video

They’ll make the money back by selling the video to Howard Stern.

Fun With Headlines That Just Bring Me Down

CNS:  Man Who Died Re-Elected Mayor of Missouri Town

Electing dead people is what Missourians do.

P-D:  Canadian charged in plane theft

His “eh?” and “aboot” sound mysteriously Turkish.

P-D:  AT&T wants to end white pages delivery

There goes a great tradition, my checking the St. Louis White Pages to see if Zebo Zzzent was still the last listing was a yearly ritual.

KSDK:  Jay Leno cheers up Detroit with his comedy

Detroit can’t be that bad that it’s cheered up by Jay Leno’s “comedy,” is it?

AFP:  Bogus security software growing threat: Microsoft

Here’s a hint — if you get a piece of spam e-mail that uses broken English to describe a piece of security software you can download by clicking on the link in the e-mail, avoid.

AP:  Madonna pledges money for Italian quake victims

She’ll probably do better than the measley fifty grand the U.S. Government coughed up.

AP:  Obama, superhero, to take on the world

That’s contradictory, because a true superhero would take on Obama.

CNS:  White House ‘Gathering Information’ About Pirate Attack Involving Americans

But not doing anything to stop pirate attacks against Americans?  <whisper>black, Muslim, that’s why not</whisper>

Kal Penn Going from a House Intern to a White House Intern

Now I know why they killed off Kutner on House last night.  Kal Penn, who played Dr. Kutner, is going to work for President Obama’s White House.  Which means he’ll get to tell us who is the more impossible boss, the fictional Dr. House, or the real Rahm Emmanuel.

Prediction:  On January 21, 2013, Barack Obama won’t be President, but House will be in the middle of its ninth season.

Doomed to Fail, I Fear

The U.S. District Court Judge who supervised and agreed to the dismissal of the Federal felony convictions of former U.S. Senator Ted Stevens (R-AK) is so furious about the abuse of power by the U.S. Attorneys in the case that he himself is going to launch an investigation of their conduct, which might lead to their being charged.

He told the media that he had to investigate because he can’t trust the U.S. Justice Department to investigate itself.

No shit, Sherlock.

Even if his investigation does dig up some skulls, bringing these U.S. Attorneys to justice might be a harder sale, because the very law enforcement agencies that would be expected to arrest them are still underneath the aegis of the Department of Justice.  What’s worse is that the information gathered to find candidates for Presidential appointments and Senatorial confirmations to all levels of the Federal judiciary  comes from that same Justice Department.

We learned from the Tom Sell saga that the DOJ has the U.S. Attorneys, the FBI, the Federal judges, and the Federal correctional authorities all under its wings.  You’re not going to find any relief from one through any of the others.

The creation of the Department of Homeland Security in 2003 eased the problem a little bit, by plucking out most Federal LEAs out of Justice and sending them to HLS.  But the FBI, and ATF (which was moved from Treasury to DOJ when HLS was created) still remain under DOJ.

What needs to be done is to pluck out the Federal prisons out of DOJ and create a new cabinet level Department of Corrections.  Send the FBI and ATF to HLS, and for the sake of separation of powers, the DOJ should not exercise any suasion over the selection of new Federal judges.

Still, I think Stevens deserved to lose that Senate race, because there were plenty of reasons for him to be defeated even if he was not guilty of these particular felonies.

Too Late, AP

Now they tell us that smokers aren’t a drain on public social insurance for health care spending, because they tend to die before they can be on Medicare for too long.

Where was this investigative reporting months ago?  It’s too late now, because the Feds have passed a big increase in cigarette taxes, and a number of states (including Illinois) are doing the same.

With Fans Like These, Who Needs the Yankees?

Is a Mets fan.  That figures.

He had season tickets for seats right behind home plate.

Then again, the Mets lost far more from Madoff than they made with him as a season ticket holder.

Lindsay Lohan Is the Smartest Person I Mention By Name in Today’s Headlines (Oops, Geert Wilders Is Mentioned, Too. Sorry, Lohan, You’re Not That Smart Anymore.)

P-D:  Clay praises K.C. native as choice to lead Census Bureau

Strike one, Clay praises him.  Strike two, K.C. native.

P-D Race:  The growing debate: How critical can blacks be of President Obama?

The growing debate:  How critical can whites be of President Obama without being called the r-word?

CNBC:  US Recovery Is Far Off, Banks Are ‘Basically Insolvent’: Soros

He won’t allow the American economy to recover for awhile, though it will be just in time for the 2012 Presidential Election.

NYDN:  Gov. Paterson gets message from top Democrats: Better poll numbers by November or forget 2010

What’ll the New York State Democrats do then, run a conservative?  Spare me, pick a New York Democrat, pick your poison.

Real Clear Politics:  Harvard Student Takes On Barney Frank Over Economy

By the time you read this, he will be a former Harvard student.

CNS:  Federally Funded Group Advises Teens on How to Decide if They Are Gay

One hint is that if you knew how gym class would be different in middle and high school compared to elementary school, and you were looking forward to it, you might be gay.

CNS:  American Muslims to Obama: ‘Charity Begins at Home’

American anything to most Presidents:  ‘Charity Begins at Home.’

Jihad Watch:  Taliban warn women against getting ID cards

And thanks to the Taliban and all their boogie woogie terrorism, our politicians want us to get ID cards.

Jihad Watch:  Geert Wilders speaks in LA

Better enjoy free speech in SoCal while you still have it, because there isn’t going to be any once the Mexicans take over.

NPI:  Under pressure, Ontario pulls website that lets parents compare schools

Curiously, the black schools were the bad ones.  And we can’t have people actually going off the reservation and thinking that racial equality isn’t true.

KVFS-12:  Sen. Burris plans tour of southern Illinois

After he gets done touring the southern part of Cook County, he might think he’s done.

KSDK:  Report: Lindsay Lohan, Samantha Ronson ‘taking a brief break’

A brief break from what?  Partying all the time and puking on sidewalks?  This might mean they’re actually going to go back to work.

AP:  Obama in Baghdad, tells troops Iraq must take over

One Marine to another:  “Look busy, the President’s here.”

Reuters:  Obama praises Islam, calls for Mideast peace

Not a big fan of oxymorons, either.

AP:  NY gunman’s rambling, paranoid letter blames cops

If only he were black, imagine the martyr he could have become in France.

AP:  Obama says he’s not unrealistically optimistic

Who says that he is?  All I ever hear out of his mouth is gloom and doom about global warming and torture.

Business Weak:  How to Make Your Kids Money-Savvy

Do your chores?  Get the video game.  Trash can is overflowing and kitchen floor is dirty?  Your room’s going to be spartan.

NFN:  Microsoft Claims Netbook OS Dominance as Linux Lags

Except that they have to continue supporting an eight-year old operating system that they would have like to have dumped a long time ago.

Reuters:  Schwarzenegger, stars lobby for U.S. health reform

Remember when Schwarzenegger was a star?  Remember when he was a Republican?

AP:  Wisconsin hopes to protect kids from Capitol nuts

Which Capitol?  The one in Madison, or the one in Washington?  Both have plenty of nuts to go around.

Local Boy Makes Good (If Your Locality Is Poplar Bluff)

On what was assuredly the final game of his college basketball career, Poplar Bluff, Mo. native Tyler Hansbrough helped win the National Championship for his team.  They did it in a venue that was essentially a home game for its opponent.  Of course, North Carolina is good at this — four years ago, when the Final Four was in St. Louis, NC won the National Championship game against what was essentially a home game for the University of Illinois, the Edward Jones Dome being a half a mile from Illinois soil.

Speaking of four years ago, Mr. Hansbrough, in his last high school basketball game, won a Missouri state title for the Mules of Poplar Bluff High School.  He earned my eternal admiration for winning the championship game against the St. Louis media racial pandering pity favorite Vashon.  You know, probably the worst academic high school in the state, so we gotta say something nice about them so they can have high self-esteems, right?  The V was on a pretty good roll before then, but 2005 was the last  year that Vashon was a serious state title contender, because after that season, the Floyd Irons scandals broke open, both relating to his own part in wire and mail fraud, and for the program’s rampant and illegal use of recruiting and fake student-athlete in-boundary home addresses.  Anyway, as I recall, Poplar Bluff’s victory over Vashon was something of an upset, and drove the St. Louis local sports media into a week long state of depression.  Which suited me just fine.

So, he won his only high school title on his last time, his only college title on his last game.  He’ll win an NBA title, but will retire after the season :)

A Time to Assume

AP:

911 worker didn’t warn Pittsburgh police of guns

PITTSBURGH – The mother of a man charged with killing three Pittsburgh police officers told a 911 dispatcher he had weapons, but the dispatcher didn’t relay that information to officers, the official in charge of county dispatchers says.

The dispatcher should have asked more questions about the weapons, but didn’t, and certainly should have told officers so they could take necessary precautions, Allegheny County Chief of Emergency Services Robert Full told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

But cops are supposed to assume that persons they accost are armed.  Granted, the dispatcher should have said something (affirmative action, I bet), but a good cop should always assume the worst case scenario.

Usually, if you assume, you make an ass out of u and me.  If you’re a cop, if you don’t assume, you make a widow out of your wife.

Emergencymongers

WND:

Will bill give Obama control of Internet?

A pair of bills introduced in the U.S. Senate would grant the White House sweeping new powers to access private online data, regulate the cybersecurity industry and even shut down Internet traffic during a declared “cyber emergency.”

Senate bills No. 773 and 778, introduced by Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.V., are both part of what’s being called the Cybersecurity Act of 2009, which would create a new Office of the National Cybersecurity Advisor, reportable directly to the president and charged with defending the country from cyber attack.

A working draft of the legislation obtained by an Internet privacy group also spells out plans to grant the Secretary of Commerce access to all privately owned information networks
deemed to be critical to the nation’s infrastructure “without regard to any provision of law, regulation, rule or policy restricting such access.”

(snip)

The working copy of the bill, however, does not define what constitutes a cybersecurity emergency, and apparently leaves the question to the discretion of the president.

What a “cybersecurity emergency” means here is that there is too much right wing content on the internet that is critical of President Mugabe Obama.

I think that formal legislation giving government far-reaching and drastic powers in the situation of an emergency are both superfluous and dangerous.

It is superfluous because in a real emergency, everybody knows it’s an emergency, and government takes emergency powers, and nobody blinks.  It is dangerous because if you outline in the law that government can take a specific amount of power in an undefined “emergency,” it creates the political incentive either to promote and spark emergencies, or to over-dramatize problems that are serious but do not rise to the level of an emergency.  All so they can have that power.

Here Come the Birds, Ready to Poop

Flathead Beacon:

Montana Poised to Buck Federal Gun Control

HELENA – Montana-made guns may form the basis for a court showdown over states’ rights if the governor signs a bill to release some firearms in the state from federal regulation.

The proposed law aims to exempt firearms, weapons components and ammunition made in Montana and kept in Montana from federal gun laws. Since the state has few gun laws of its own, the legislation would allow some gunowners and sellers in the state to skirt registration, licensing requirements and background checks entirely.

“We’d like to just be able to make our own guns here in Montana and have the feds stay out of it,” said Gary Marbut of the Montana Shooting Sports Association, which helped draft the bill.

The real target, though, is the U.S. Supreme Court. And Marbut and others believe they can hit that mark with a simple Montana-made youth-model single-shot bolt-action .22 rifle.

I agree with what they’re trying to do in terms of states’ rights (though I could knitpick about the exact measure of regulations they want to remain), but they’re about to run into a big roadblock, the same one that white Southerners did four decades ago when trying to resist forced integration.  All it would take is for any of the materials that go into the manufacture of these rifles to come from a state other than Montana, and the Feds will claim interstate commerce and thus regulate.  Hell, even if a bird eats a worm in Idaho, flies into Montana and lets go of a poop that lands on the roof of the rifle factory, the Feds will use that as interstate commerce.

Interest Free Investments. Wanna Make ‘Em?

I have mixed feelings about adjusting your withholding tables for your income taxes to ensure a big April refund.

On the one hand, most people haven’t the discipline to save two nickels to rub together, and over-withholding is about the only way most people could save up enough money to make major purchases.

On the other hand, if you do have the spending discipline, calling for over-withholding is essentially letting the state or Federal government hold your money as a one year non-interest bearing CD.  You could have that money on the market to make some interest.  To complicate matters, some states are on such hard financial times that they’re delaying issuing checks for income tax return rebates, better to have kept your own money through each pay period rather than give it to a government that won’t be able to give it to you in April.   California and Kansas have done this in recent weeks.

And now Missouri.

Microsoft, IBM, Sun, Google and Twitter Are Circling Around Four Chairs. The Music Is About to Stop.

P-D:  Extremists push for Islamic law in Swat valley

Extremist what?  Extremist Christians?  Extremist Buddhists?

KYW-CBS-3 Philadelphia:  Detroit Police Halt Pillow Fight

Weren’t there about a hundred gun fights that were going on in Detroit at the time of this pillow fight that they should have stopped first?

Slashdot:  Obama Calls For Nuke-Free World

I once called for a nuke-free world, too.  In fact, all of my fifth grade classmates agreed with me.

Slashdot:  Flawed Map Says L.A.’s Crime Highest Next to Police HQ

Maybe it’s not flawed.  Maybe the cops are where the crime is.

BNet:  Microsoft Would Be Nuts to Acquire Sun

Microsoft has been acquiring so much lately that this source thinks that “Sun” literally means the sun.

KSDK:  Obama arrives in Turkey

“Obama” and “Turkey” in the same sentence doesn’t usually illicit thoughts of “Turkey” as a proper noun in my mind.

KFVS:  Does Cape Girardeau need a community college?

Sure, that’s what the Cape needs before actual good paying jobs in real industry, is another educational institution.

AP:  US wants ‘clear’, ‘strong’ UN response to NKorea

Sorry, Mr. Darwin.  No such animal.

AP:  Obama declares US not at war with Islam

When have we ever been at war with Islam instead of being at war with a tactic?

AFP:  Somali pirates take French yacht, hijackings surge

I always wondered what it was going to take before the civilized world cracked down on Somali piracy.  Now I know:  Their new plunder has two liberal things going for it:  One, it’s French, and two, it’s a yacht.  That’s going to make for some pissed off libs.

Time:  Barack Obama’s New World Order

Do we get to vote on it?  Because I’m trying to make up my mind whether I should vote hell no or fuck no.

Time:  Olympics 2016: Chicago Makes Its Case

“Our President is black and from Chicago.  If you don’t give them to us, we’ll scream racism.”

AP:  US airlines took some hassle out of flying in 2008

TSA pricks put the hassle right back in.

AP:  Bad economy holds highway deaths to 1960s levels

Americans don’t much have to worry about doing risky and dangerous things like driving to jobs.

NFN:  Swedish Internet Traffic Plunges with New Piracy Law

What internet traffic there is in and out of Sweden will stop altogether if the country enacts a new blonde law.

LiveScience:  How Baseball Players Catch Fly Balls

The pitcher prays upon each of his pitches hit high and into the outfield.  Who says that football players have the line to God all hogged up?

NPR:  Film Asks If Nirvana Through Yoga Is Possible

If it’s about at least two liberal favorites that end in “a,” then it’s the worst film of the year.

AFP:  Twitter co-founder wants to build ‘independent’ company

There’s billions in ‘dem ‘dar tweets.

PC Mag:  Why Google Should Buy Twitter

Every tweet will end with a link to some YouTube video.

AP:  Reba McEntire: Tougher for women in country music

Where there are any women singing country music?  All I can find is a lot of women (her included) singing warmed over pop that happens to be recorded in Nashville.

E!:  Does Sex and the City Sequel Have “Big” Problems?

Of course it does.  Any sequel to SATC has to be so raunchy that it can only air after 11 PM at night.  How can you put “Sadomasochistic Sex and the Porn City” on earlier in the evening when kids might be watching?

Reuters:  Thief nabbed with 68 tubes of toothpaste

I’ve seen some people with teeth so bad that they need 68 tubes of toothpaste at once.

Republican Governor Standing For Republican Principles Makes Republicans and “Conservatives” Mad

South Carolina Mark Sanford’s decision not to accept part of the state’s due share of Federal porkulus pesos:

…has earned him the fury of many people at home.

The leaders of the South Carolina Legislature, fellow Republicans, are counting the days until his term ends in January 2011. The state’s most conservative newspapers have railed against him. The superintendent of education, the president of the public university system, and the director of the Law Enforcement Division — a member of the governor’s Cabinet — have all protested the governor’s stance.

Even Republican allies such as Sen. Lindsey Graham, who opposed the stimulus package, have been in a tight spot. In one news release, Graham criticized Education Secretary Arne Duncan, who said he would force the governor to take the money. But Graham added that the state should accept the funds.

And of course ole light in the loafers Lindsey would be right in the middle of stabbing his Governor in the back, his great crime in life being that he actually believes the conservative rhetoric he spouts and follows up by governing that way.  As far as the newspapers, I’m not aware of really too many conservative ones in South Carolina.  If they are pounding the keys for porkulus money, it’s probably because they think they’re going to get some of it, under the pretense of “saving the media.”

The Middlechildren

Philadelphia Inquirer:

School expels 4th grader, says he was handing out pot

A fourth grader at a Southwest Philadelphia school was expelled yesterday after taking 11 bags of marijuana to school and distributing them to students, a school district spokesman said.

The 10-year-old at Thomas G. Morton Elementary had the marijuana in his backpack when school officials searched it after a tip from another student, spokesman Fernando Gallard said.

When officials extended their search, two fourth-grade girls and a third-grade boy also had bags. They were suspended, Gallard said.

“We have no idea what the kids intended to do with it,” he said. “At those ages, kids tend to be more curious than anything else.”

The student who took the marijuana to Morton will likely be assigned to an alternative school “where he will have a more structured environment and counseling about substance abuse,” Gallard said.

Officials don’t know where he got the marijuana, Gallard said. Police are investigating.

In February, a South Philadelphia man was arrested after his son, a second grader, took packets of heroin to Delaplaine McDaniel Elementary School and distributed them to four classmates in gym class. The boys told police they thought it was candy.

My theory is that adults are using children as the mules for drug transactions, because trading it among themselves would draw too much suspicion, and elementary school students wouldn’t get hard time in juvenile hall or adult prison.  Here’s what I bet happened:  The 10-year old’s father/brother/uncle needed to get some weed to many people.  So he gave the boy the weed, he took it to school, gave it to the aforementioned two fourth-grade girls and the third grade boy, each of them related to an adult who was supposed to get the weed.  The boy was supposed to make more deliveries, but the authorities stumbled on to it, and shook down the rest of the students, discovering the three other students.

This might explain the February heroin incident as well.

Self-Fulfilling Prophecy

Paul Huebl:

Pittsburgh Cop Killer Delusional About His Own Gun Rights

Pittsburgh, PA — Friends of accused cop killer Richard Poplawski are saying that he feared the Barack Obama administration was poised to ban guns.

So he goes out and murders a bunch of cops.  That will only accrue to the political benefit of the gun grabbers.  If youe idea to protest more gun control legislation is to ambush a number of cops (and it was an ambush, as he was wearing a bullet proof vest), you shouldn’t be surprised if that idea backfires (no pun intended).

However, since he as a DD from the Marines, he wasn’t allowed to own any gun, as a DD is the functional equivalent of a felony.  That said, whatever gun he used, that is one gun that’s going to have its history looked into, to find out how a man with a DD got a hold of a high powered rifle.

Want Arrogance? The Ground On Which You Walk Is a Mirror.

President Obama was speaking this weekend in Strasbourg, France, essentially apologizing to Europe for American foreign policy arrogance.

I suppose I’m only one of about five people outside of Strasbourg and the Alsace region of France that sees the irony of that.  You see, the Alsace is historically a Germanic area, hence a city with a German name like Strasbourg.  It was part of the non-Holy non-Roman non-Empire, and several other loose confedrations of Germanic peoples that followed.  When Otto von Bismarck converted the Germanies into a modern state, Alsace was part of it.

However, in the 20th Century, it was expropriated from Germany and given to France on two occasions, due in no small part to the United States of America and its military.  The first time was after WWI, the American military swinging the balance to the Allies, and loss of territory was one of many prices the Germans paid for losing that war.  Hitler took it back during WWII, but then they lost the War, and in the process of overrunning Germany through the western front, the Allies gave the Alsace back to France almost a year before V-E Day.  Fortunately for Strasbourg, its being in Allied hands meant that it wasn’t bombed and firebomed into ruins like most German cities, the irony being that its being taken away from Germany means that it’s the only Germanic city left with really old architecture dating back to the Middle Ages.

Just by default of its Germanic population, the Alsace should be part of Germany, and should have been all along.  But American foreign policy and military arrogance, the very type that President Obama denounced in the Alsace, means that it’s not.

***

And Obama still can’t lose the arrogance for which he supposedly apologized.  He’s going to continue the Clinton/Bush 43 push to admit Turkey to the EU, which is opposed mightily by most white Europeans and their leaders.  If Turkey is admitted to the EU, it would mean that Turkish citizens can live legally in any EU country, thereby making Europe instantly more non-white.  We’re doing this because Turkey is a supposed moderate secular Islamic state, and they’re the only Muslimish country with men on the ground in Afghanistan to defeat the Taliban.  If they’re our friends, then why are we forcing Europe to take them in.  Why not make Turkey the 51st State?  (Sorry for giving them ideas.)  All of this is over that Crapistan, and Europe is trying to send our arrogant skulls a message that nobody but nobody, not the British and not the Russians has ever successfully occupied Afghanistan after easily toppling their laughable government, and that Afghanistan isn’t worth it to that extent.

Switched At Birth

One is the widget toolkit for a desktop environment.  The other is a gas station.  Can you tell which is which?

Sunday Headline Wrap-Up

CNN:  Reporters call Hillary Clinton, get phone sex line

Maybe they thought Bill still lived with Hillary.

CNS:  Obama Tells Europe, ‘We Can Meet Any Challenge As Long As We’re Together’

Sorry Ogoofball, it’s major international diplomacy, not High School Musical.

Schlafly:  Bill Ayers’s Visit to Chicago High School Canceled

He would have been the most conservative person on campus.

Jihad Watch:  China: Muslims riot after traffic incident

Watching China vs The Jihaders is going to be like watching a 30-round match between a grizzley bear and a Siberian tiger.

Apple Blog:  Apple, Don’t Cave to Anti-Gun Zealots Over iPhone Apps

Hello, stupid?  Steve Jobs is a big leftie, and you’re asking him not to cave into left wing pressure?  He IS left wing pressure.

NYT:  I.B.M. Reportedly Will Buy Rival Sun for $7 Billion

That’s a lot of dough for an obsolete variety of Unix and a passe programming language.

P-D:  Feds: Illinois man robbed Missouri bank twice

How dumb can you be?  When you go back to a bank after you’ve robbed it, they’re gonna know you’re up to no good.

P-D:  Car crashes through Quik Trip doors in Granite City

Oh no, what did the St. Louis area do with one of its 852 QTs closed for the day?

P-D:  Center: Beer ads and college hoops not a good fit

Mind your own business, “center.”  (Of course, I could say that to a lot of “centers.”)

P-D:  Creve Coeur anti-smoking plea reaches St. Louis County Council

Didn’t I just get through telling some do-gooders to mind their own business?

Massachusetts With Corn

That’s what Iowa is, especially its social, cultural and political establishment.  Iowa’s first wave of white settlers were universalist/abolitionist New England farmers, and even up through today, Iowa is a fairly reliable blue state unless the Republican wins by a landslide.

The Missouri-Iowa border is something of a Mason-Dixon line.  In contrast to Iowa, Missouri’s first major influx of whites were from Virginia and Kentucky.  Its legitimate government seceded from the Union in July 1861, but union guns overthrew the elected government and installed a Union stooge government.  Missouri was the first state in the Union to prohibit gay marriage through voter plebiscite.   Iowans tend to maintain the same kind of snooty attitude toward Missourians that one would expect a New Yorker to have toward Alabama.

So is it any wonder that its Supreme Court brings about gay “marriage” in the state?

Hits Home

I won’t add anything about the shootings in Binghamton, New York yesterday, many other news sources and blogs have said it all.  I did notice that they took place at something called the American Civic Association in Binghamton.  From what I read, they are a private organization that assists new arrivals in their transition to American life, culture, society and citizenship.  They are not a governmental institution.

St. Louis has something similar, called the International Institute.  Their blog is on my ‘roll.  What’s even more eerie is that their location is very near St. Louis City’s Vietnamese neighborhoods.

If At Twice You Don’t Succeed, Quit

Colorado Springs Gazette:

Preparations can’t prevent death after rap concert

Police in Colorado Springs were braced for trouble when Mr. Biggs Event Center on the city’s northwest side hosted a rapper whose December performance in Denver was rocked by gunfire in which five people were wounded.

But the 14 officers keeping watch as the crowd left a performance by Bay Area-rapper E-40 couldn’t prevent another shooting that killed a man in his 20s early Friday.

First time, they’re a little lax on their patrols, and there is violence.  Second time they get strict, and there is violence.  Doesn’t matter what you do, there is going to be violence.  Best just go stay clear and get out of the way, lest some innocent cop gets hurt.  As much as a paper cut would be a waste.

Racism In Philadelphia

A white 17-year old Philadelphia, Penn. murder convict spit into the face of his black defense attorney, and called him, the black judge and the black prosecutor “fucking n**gers” during his sentencing hearing this past Wednesday.

Outraged yet?

Before you call the ADL, you might want to think that my version of the story contains a few inaccuracies.

Don’t Strike a King Unless You Can Kill a King

I used to think that those questioning President Obama’s individual citizenship, based on the rumors that he was really born in Kenya and not Hawaii, were whistling in the wind.  I thought all along that Barack H. Obama II was automatically a U.S. Citizen because his mother was one.  However, as it turns out, their contentions are on good legal ground, because as Obama was born in 1961, the U.S. immigration law of the time, not the current law, is used to determine his citizenship.  And, at the time, a child born to an American citizen parent and a non-American parent was not automatically a citizen if s/he was born in a non-American territory.

Therefore, the lawsuits drawn by the citizenship questioners have legal legs.

But just because you can do something, or you may do something, doesn’t mean you should do it.  I think seriously pushing the issue of President Obama’s citizenship would be a Pyrrhic Victory, even if the Supreme Court found in their favor and threw Obama out of office.

There is an old axiom that states that you shouldn’t strike a king unless you can kill a king.  For if you only strike a king without killing him, all your plans and schemes will only lead to a pissed off king and you in a world of shit.

It is not possible for any lawsuits about Obama’s citizenship to result in “killing the king,” figuratively speaking.  First off, I think the Federal judiciary would weasel out of the issue by finding the 1961 version of the immigration law to be unconstitutional.  But even if they throw Obama out of office, it won’t mean that the results of the 2008 Presidential election would be reversed making John McCain the President.  It would just vacate the Presidency, and make Joe Biden the President.

If that happens, you’re going to have a lot of pissed off Democrats.  The only saving grace we have now, and even that is not a given, is the Blue Dog Democrats in the House and moderates in the Senate like Claire McCaskill and Kirsten Gillibrand, to keep President Obama’s liberalism in some semblance of a check.  If the right wing pushes the citizenship question to the highest issues of the Federal judiciary, no matter their decision, it’s only going to make Democrats mad, unify the Blue Dogs and the Democrats around the party (“how DARE the Republicans try to use the courts to reverse the election results???”), and then out of revenge and spite, Obama, Reid and Pelosi are going to come out shooting with all four barrels with every liberal bill, proposal and idea, not to mention the kitchen sink.  If you can think of it, they’ll do it, and do it quickly.  And there will be nothing to stop it, and by “it,” I mean incorrigible liberalism that no election could ever undo, assuming that Republicans could ever win elections anymore after Obama, Reid and Pelosi get finished flooding this country with as many non-whites as they can as quickly as they can.

It’s called being penny wise and pound foolish.

The Frito Bandito Is Back. You Knew I’d Find Two Ways to Work Him Into Today’s Headlines.

St. Louis Beacon:  City treasurer to lay off 70-plus workers, outsource jobs

I don’t know whether to laugh that half of courrpt St. Louis City Treasurer Larry Williams’s patronage hacks are going to lose their jobs, or cry that they’re being outsourced to Bangalore.

KYW-CBS-3 Philadelphia:  Jamie Foxx Fights Off Intruder Inside Philly Hotel

You mean Jamie Foxx is still relevant enough for someone to be stalking him?

CNS:  Treasury Secretary Will Decide How Much Pay Is ‘Unreasonable’ for Executives

And also how much taxes are unreasonable for the Treasury Secretary.

P-D:  Metro East counties removed from Illinois speed-camera bill

Good, that means nobody’s speeding anymore in Madison or St. Clair Counties.

P-D Tech Blog:  Spend some time on the Web at work: It’s good for you

Unless your company’s IT staff keeps logs of your URL visits and times, at which time unemployment won’t be good for you.

Slashdot:  Texas Senate Proposes a Budget With a No-Vista-Upgrades Rider

Except that Texas is one of the few states big enough to build a supercomputer large enough to run Vista.

Palm Beach Post:  Feds take over Madoff’s Palm Beach estate, find it full of bull

His mansion’s interior decorations are so 2006.

CNS:  Congressman Reprimands Father of Teen Killed by Drunk-Driving Illegal Alien for Calling Criminal Aliens ‘Banditos’

Congressman must have never munched on any Fritos.

KSDK:  Carlos Santana to Obama: Legalize pot

Uh oh, if we legalize, Santana might start smoking weed, and it’ll affect his guitar playing such that he’ll sound over the hill. (Rimshot)  At which time he’ll have to become the next Frito Bandito.

CNS:  Shelters Slowly Adapt to Help Transgender Homeless

Isn’t gender ambiguity one of those issues that you deal with once you’re living indoors?  It’s like arguing about how to drain the swamp while you’re up to your neck in gators.

AFP:  Russia’s Medvedev hails ‘comrade’ Obama

Just two fellows traveling.

WPSD-6:  Inmate Severely Beaten in Jail

You don’t say.  I’ve never heard of such a thing before.  Next thing you know, they’ll be telling us that men rape other men in prisons.

AP:  CDC: Rocket fuel chemical found in baby formula

Just what an overactive toddler needs, stuff that makes megatons of payload break Earth’s gravity.

AP:  Venezuelan leader: ‘Capitalism needs to go down’

Capitalism is doing a good enough job bringing itself down without the help of Hugo Chavez.

LiveScience:  Bees Brains Morph to Avoid Mid-Life Crisis

Belied by what I thought was the sight of a middle aged bumblebee driving a red Corvette at over 100 miles an hour down Highway 13 going east from Carbondale last week.

Time:  On Its 60th Birthday, NATO’s Future Is Looking Cloudy

Yeah really, especially since it became obsolete at 40.

AP:  Michael Vick says prison gave him time to think

This is Michael Vick we’re talking about, a two-day bid would have been time enough for him to think himself out.

AFP:  US Marine stood with gun over Iraqi: witness

Naw really?  Cause last I heard, there was some kind of war over there.

Reuters:  Blogs clash over whether Google could buy Twitter

Why blog about Google buying Twitter when you can just Twitter about it?

FT:  View of the Day: ‘Band-Aid’ policies not enough

Time to try the gauze and tape policies.

SPACE.com:  Idea Hatched to Grow First Flower on the Moon

They could take my crabgrass to the moon, that would suit me just fine.

LiveScience:  Dogs Do Look Like Owners

Someone wanted to give me a pug puppy.  Now I know why.

AFP:  Peru farmer hospitalized with eight-day erection

Some guys can’t leave it up for an aggregate of eight days in their whole lives.

AP:  Malawi court rejects Madonna adoption request

They have denied her request for their country’s last remaining 3-year old.

E!:  Miley, JoBros Team Up on “Disney’s Version of ‘We Are the World’ “

Not again, the last time we tried this there were 26 million starving Ethiopians, it worked out so well that today there are 78 million starving Ethiopians, being mindful of the fact that since then, Eritrea has split away to become a separate country.

Politico:  Norquist rags racists, rich liberals

And still waiting for the Great Pumpkin of Muslim Votes for Republicans to rise from the pumpkin patch.

Jail Beaten Severly By Inmate

MARION, Ill. (FNN) — There is a lot of finger pointing after a healthy 102-year old jail was entered by a Williamson County man on Monday and remains beaten a day later.

According to Herrin, Ill. hospital record, the Williamson County jail’s walls are crumbled, its glass is shattered and the floors are covered with stains.

There are two conflicting stories to explain the damage.  The jail’s architect claims correctional officers beat it, but the COs say that the inmate is responsible.

The Williamson County Jail was beguested by 17-year old Daniel Kerby, who was charged with domestic battery an damage to itself.  The jail’s warden admits that the jail was not cooperating with officers.  “Kerby said that, while he was being booked, the COs carried on for fifteen minutes about how they beat the crap out of this jail and how it was supposed to learn the lesson that they were the boss,” said Bill Simpson, a Marion structural engineer.

Williamson County Sheriff Kee Stoan Copp says her officers are innocent.  She said the jail was beaten by its inmates.  “Apparently, it was bragging about how it took away the lives of so many people who just happened to get caught up with the wrong crowd, and as a matter of coincidence, those inmates were the wrong crowd,” says Copp.

***

In case you’re wondering.

Seventeen Percent

That is the percent of illicit guns in Mexico that originate in the United States.  The media, anti-gun nuts and various Federal LEAs keep popping off about the 90% figure as if it’s some sort of gospel truth, but the rest of the story is that 90% of the guns that can be traced at all come from the U.S.  Eighty-three percent are either untraceable or can be traced from a country other than the U.S. — meaning that most of them are international black market warez.  Or they were legally owned by the Mexican military but somehow mysteriously (i.e. thanks to the right amount of drug money changing hands) disappeared into the Mexican black market.  Not that the Mexican military and the drug gangs aren’t almost one and the same anyway.

Common sense could have told you that — the Mexican drug gangs like to use the sorts of rifles and other ordinance (e.g. grenades) that aren’t available on the legal American market.