An armed society is a polite society
May 13th 2008rightwingprofPATrackback URI
From the local rag:
Authorities say a Lycoming County woman was injured and her dog was killed when a bear attacked them about 50 feet from their home.
I’d rather have the bears than the criminals, though.
May 13th 2008rightwingprofGeekinessTrackback URI
World Wide Telescope (warning: do not click the link if you plan to get anything done in the near future).
May 13th 2008rightwingprofIdjits & WackjobsTrackback URI
Assclowns to the left of me,
asshats to the right,
here I am,
stuck in the middle with you!
Is it a convention? Something in the water supply? Why have they all popped up like bobbing head dashboard dolls in the last couple of days?
A couple of days ago, Sebastian put up an exasperated article about this guy, who’s your garden variety “let’s burn the Constitution and write our own!” social justice asshat:
Perhaps, then, the recent signs of violent times occasion an opportunity for broadening our collective sense of what ”rights” should be in terms of our social consciousness. Our political and judicial discourse would benefit from moving beyond a purely libertarian view of rights, which emphasizes freedom from governmental coercion or constraint, to incorporate also a dignitarian view of rights, which promotes freedom for the good of each other and for society as a whole.
not unlike the dolts at Mills College who thought this would be a good idea (which, indeed, it would be if the point were to demonstrate how much scorn leftists have for the Constitution):
As current and future leaders, many of you will have a hand in writing primary documents for community organizations, companies, and countries. The Women’s Leadership Institute offers you the opportunity to gain experience by participating in the Mills College 21st Century Constitution Initiative.
In keeping with the history-making experience of two Mills alumnae—Beate Sirota Gordon (1943) and Eleanor Hadley (1938)—the Women’s Leadership Institute invites Mills students, faculty, staff, and alumnae to participate in crafting a 21st Century Constitution. In 1946, Hadley and Gordon were asked by General Douglas MacArthur to write the Japanese Constitution in seven days. Hadley wrote the economic section, while Gordon wrote the family, equity, and gender policies for the Japanese Constitution.
Although this is my favorite part:
Guidelines for the 21st Century Constitution Initiative
Your submission can be written:
- As articles in the form of the current U.S. Constitution
- A narrative poem
- An essay
Or performed as:
- Interpretive dance (provided on DVD)
- Song (provided on CD)
- Play (provided on DVD)
And that brings us to the Assclowns of the Decade, at least for the state of Pennsylvania, Democracy Rising Pennsylvania. They get the Assclowns of the Decade award because there is a limit to how stupid an idea can be, and there is nothing stupider than theirs.
They want to have a Constitutional Convention. Gee, now there’s a brilliant idea! Sure, let’s shred our constitution and let Project MOVE write it, that’s a great idea! And while we’re at it, why not just have Angela Davis move in and take up permanent residence as Number One Comrade in Harrisburg, how’s that for a plan? Just think of the bill of rights we’d get if these assclowns got their convention. Let’s just drop Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and become the Peoples’ Soviet Republik of Pennsylvaniastan. Why have a convention, when we could just do it in one fell swoop?
What morons. And what gets me is the number of otherwise sane human beings who treat this organization like they’re not idiots.
Then we have Richard Neville, who makes Jeremy Rifkin and Ralph Nader look sane. To be fair, we have to include his fan club, because you see, this idiot is a “professional futurist.” Turn that over in your head for a moment. That means that even stupider idiots than this guy pay him to spew his idiocy — and such knee-slapping blather it is, too:
What is the journey into future likely to look like? Here are some possible signals:…
- Today’s hi-flyers in Ferraris will get mud on their armani’s, as they plant acres of fruit trees and turn weeds into diesel…
- The most important mission of the military is to help repair the ecosystem.
- Fast food will slow down. Vegetarianism will globalise…
- In 2027, Madame Tussauds will feature high profile war criminals and climate change deniers. Tony Blair will make the first category; John Howard and George Bush will feature in both.
- Water theft will be punished by a lifelong sentence of community service. Rain dancing will come into vogue…
- Courts will practice Earth Jurisprudence, a philosophy of law and human governance that is based on the belief that human societies should regulate themselves as members of a wider Earth community. also known as Wild Law, it extends our understanding of governance and democracy to embrace the whole Earth Community, including trees, species, rivers and eco systems.
I can’t wait for the rain dancing, myself. And Earth Jurisprudence has such a nice ring to it, doesn’t it?
It’s really hard to say who’s the bigger assclown, this Neville, or the idiots who pay to hear his nonsense.
Of course, no list of assclownery would be complete without a kindly jackbooted fascist oozing concern for the chil-dern, which here would be one Ophelia Benson. She starts by equating Heaven’s Gate with the Amish, then proposes that because Amish children are more likely to leave the faith if they go to public schools, should be forced to do so. You know. To “liberate” the chil-dern.
She’s easily the most obnoxious and dangerous asshat on the list.
Then we have Carol Iannone, idiot extraordinaire at Phi Beta Cons — a good place to keep up on the latest academic moonbattery, as long as you ignore her drivel. While wringing her hands about multiculturalism she says — really, I’m not making this up — she really says:
President Bush holds Cinco de Mayo dinners at the White House
Yes, Carol. He’s from Texas. They do that in Texas. What’s next, gasping because somebody has a taco for lunch?
Idiot.
Next on our asshattery list is a double bill: Romesh Ratnesar at Time, and Anne Applebaum at Slate, who think we should invade Burma. Ratnesar is an asshat for writing the original article, of course, but Applebaum is an even bigger asshat for presumbaly reading it and saying, “That’s a great idea!” and then unintentionally pulling down her pants and showing us her rear:
They are “cruel, power hungry and dangerously irrational,” in the words of one British journalist. They are “violent and irrational” according to a journalist in neighboring Thailand. Our own State Department leadership has condemned their “xenophobic, ever more irrational policies.”
On the evidence of the last few days alone, those are all perfectly accurate descriptions. But in one very narrow sense, the cruel, power-hungry, violent, and xenophobic generals who run Burma are not irrational at all: Given their own most urgent goal—to maintain power at all costs—their reluctance to accept international aid in the wake of a devastating cyclone makes perfect sense. It’s straightforward, as the Washington Post’s Fred Hiatt put it Monday: “The junta cares about its own survival, not the survival of its people.” Thus, the death toll is thought to have reached 100,000, a further 1.5 million Burmese are now at risk of epidemics and starvation, parts of the country are still underwater, hundreds of thousands of people are camped in the open without food or clean water—and, yes, if foreigners come and distribute aid, the legitimacy of the regime might be threatened.
Let’s see, here. The communist junta slaughters far more people than the natural disaster, and that’s okay with these idiots, but let the natural disaster strike and the junta refuse aid, and it’s suddenly not okay? What planet do these people live on? Who stole their moral compass?
Of course, idiocy and school administrators go together like cake and ice cream, and indeed, we have this bozo, Kate Steffans, Dean of the College of Education at Stl Cloud State University. We have a student with a service dog, and Somali scumbag students threatned to kill his dog so he left the program. Kate “I’m a great big PC mouthbreather” Steffans responds to this with this jewel of a line:
I think this is part of the growth process when we become more diverse.
And there we have it! It’s part of the “growth process.” Why do I suspect this would not be her reaction of these scumbags had threatened to kill her dog?
Idiot.
Last, well, I humbly suggest when an otherwise sane and reasonable human being comes up with something like this, it’s time to take a nice, long sabbatical far away from the nearest university or Starbucks and take your lips away from Obama’s nether regions:
I realize Obama can’t inspire hope in everyone, especially in people who are themselves afraid of being killed for thinking anything new, but isn’t there some hope that an Obama presidency would help advance ideas about freedom of religion?
Reading that sent me running for my antacids. But some of the comments were laughable, like this one, which is memorable not only for its stupidity, but its moaning, concerned hand-wringing:
thank you for finding this disturbing article. Part of the problem is and will be that most of the world probably doesn’t understand the multicultural nature of this country and his background may seem odd across the world. On a related but side issue - I know Obama is not a Muslim but did you know that there is only 1 Muslim member of congress and there are over 2 million Muslims in this country.
That of course had me in a dither of worry — only one Moslem in Congress? Goodness, how awful! Fortunately, another said:
Actually there are 2 Muslims in Congress. Carson won
And that made me feel so much better. I’d been moaning and sobbing and wringing my hands, worried sick about what awful bigots we must be and what the French must think of us after somebody pointed out that Congress didn’t accurately reflect the number of Moslems — why, the French must think we’re a laughingstock! Just consumed with guilt and our standing in the world, I was, sitting her sobbing in my seat. I had even called my therapist and was thinking about waving giant puppet heads or having a nude bicycle protest. Now, I feel better. I think I’ll go to Starbucks for a soy latte now.
Seriously, too much campus, too much Starbucks, and way too much or this “sensitivity” horse manure. Take a nice long vacation in America. Reconnect with your common sense gene.
May 12th 2008rightwingprofOdds 'n EndsTrackback URI
Yesterday, you’ll recall, the connection was going up and down. It went down today, down down. So I called Comcast, and ended up scheduling a truck to come by after the tech support guy didn’t see any outages.
I saw two Comcast trucks across the street working on the box. Finally, one of them came over here. He discovered the outage when everybody in the neighborhood one street down saw his truck and told him their connections were dead. It seems to be back up now.
May 12th 2008rightwingprofMath & ConservatismTrackback URI
Over at Wm Briggs. And aren’t all police good Bayesians?
May 12th 2008rightwingprofGuns, 2ATrackback URI
I grossly underestimated what a shameful excuse for a justice system Philadelphia has. Sebastian has dug up the criminal records on the three cop killers:
Michael Cain was the trigger man in the Liczbinski murder. You can see his fifteen page criminal record here. Let’s look at all the violations of the Pennsylvania Uniform Firearms Act that Cain has been arrested for. Keep in mind we’re only looking at gun charges, since that is what this blog concentrates on. Over Cain’s criminal career he had thirteen arrests for unlawfully carrying a firearm, that were listed “Nolle Prossed,” meaning the prosecutor chose not to bring charges. In a further eleven arrests for violations of Pennsylvania’s firearms laws, the charges were either withdrawn or dismissed. In only three cases was he prosecuted and either plead guilty or was found guilty.
[ . . . ]
You can find Levon Warner’s criminal record here. His is only six pages . . . Previously, the Philadelphia DA’s office thrice declined to prosecute Warner for gun law violations. The Philadelphia judicial system chose not to try him for six other violations of Pennsylvania’s gun laws.
[ . . . ]
And last, but certainly not least, Eric Floyd . . . in 1994, he was arrested for robbery, and the prosecutors declined to prosecute him for carrying firearms illegally in two counts. Also in 1994, the courts declined to try him for two counts of carrying firearms illegally.
And those are just the gun charges (Sebastian has links to their records). Gun grabbers sneer at “enforce the laws on the books,” but note that had the criminal justice system done just that, Sergeant Liczbinski would be alive today, and those three scumbags would be in prison where they belong. Why is it that idiots who are always screaming for gun control don’t think it’s important to enforce gun laws? Could it be that crime doesn’t worry them at all?
And why do they even bother pretending to have courts in Philadelphia? Couldn’t they save millions of dollars by closing the courts altogether?
May 12th 2008rightwingprofOdds 'n EndsTrackback URI
Tim Blair has moved. Update your bookmarks!
May 11th 2008rightwingprofTV/MoviesTrackback URI
Good flick, a few spots that drag, but well worth seeing. Some of the best scenes are when he’s perfecting the design in the lab. And yes, what you’ve heard is true: Robert Downey Jr is the best thing about the movie.
May 11th 2008rightwingprofOdds 'n EndsTrackback URI
Up and down, and when it’s up, it’s very slow — in here on the desktop, as well as on the wi-fi.
Oh well. Ironman at noon. Then fried chicken.
May 11th 2008rightwingprofIdjits & WackjobsTrackback URI
An adaptation of Andrew Stuttaford’s wording: Organic food makes The Earth Goddess cry!
May 11th 2008rightwingprofOdds 'n EndsTrackback URI
Just planted two Romas. They had peppers, but nothing very interesting. I did plant a couple of poblanos. We’lll see how they do on the back porch.
May 11th 2008rightwingprofOdds 'n EndsTrackback URI
The network, that is. Off in search of tomatoes (to plant). Maybe whatever’s wrong with the network will have fixed itself by then.
May 10th 2008rightwingprofFoodTrackback URI
Meier (the one on South Atherton, not the filthy nasty one on North Atherton) has a major sale on ribeyes (called delmonicos here) and rib roasts, $5.99 a pound. Stew beef is usually $4.99 a pound here. So there’s a rib roast in the oven, and new potatoes (here called baby potatoes).
I quartered the potatoes, then sprinkled them with freshly ground black pepper and kosher salt. I drizzled extra-virgin olive oil all over them, tucked a sprig of rosemary from the back yard under them, and covered them with beef stock. They went on the bottom shelf.
I generously sprinkled the same salt and pepper mixture over the roast and pressed it in with my hand, put it in a heavy skillet just large enough to hold it, and put it on the shelf above the potatoes. In thirty minutes, I’ll stir the potatoes. In thirty more minutes, I’ll do that and also stick a thermometer in the moo cow and see where we are. Roast to 130, and let sit for 30 minutes before carving.
No port-mushroom sauce nonsense. Just beef, with salt and pepper. I may deglaze the pan with some beef stock for jus, but that’s it.
Shit, I just remembered it’s Saturday. Too late to hit Scott’s for sandwiches this week. Food’s already in the oven.
May 10th 2008rightwingprofEducationTrackback URI
Dr Mercury of Maggie’s Farm fame has made all of the episodes of James Burke’s The Day the Universe Changed for download. They’re wmv files. I downloaded them and used Nero to transcode them onto DVD; we’re watching the first episode on TV now. You could just as easily watch the wmv files on your computer, of course. Dr Mercury has instructions posted.
James Burke is, of course, the creator and narrator of Connections, one of the most fascinating educational series to be televised. Burke’s Knowledge Web is a valuable resource of technological development and how technology molds us.
Burke is a science historian who takes a unique and fascinating approach to his topic. His approach to history is the world wide web to the encyclopedia. He sees history not so much as a chronological step-by-step development, but as interconnected seemingly unrelated developments that spur yet other seemingly unrelated developments. For example, how was Napoleon important to the development of the modern computer?
Napoleon’s troops in Egypt buy shawls and start a fashion craze.
In Europe the shawls get made on automated, perforated-paper control looms.
This gives an American engineer Herman Hollerith the idea to automate calculation using punch cards.
Which get used to control ENIAC, the first electronic computer.
Get em while you can. They won’t be online forever. Most of the episodes of Connections, by the way, are on youtube. Just search on connections and burke.
May 10th 2008rightwingprofPATrackback URI
Finals Week is over and they’re leaving!
May 9th 2008rightwingprofPATrackback URI
From Sebastian, this retired police officer:
Yet Mayor Nutter repeats the usual sophistry about guns. Hizzoner said, “That officer was assassinated on the streets of Philadelphia. There was nothing that could have protected him - that weapon penetrates vehicles.”
His statement illustrates why our elected representatives are unable to reduce violent crime.
The mayor’s lack of knowledge of weaponry notwithstanding, there is one patently obvious policy that definitely would have protected the officer.
If Levon Warner had served his full sentence, he would’ve been in prison until 2012. He could not have committed any crime in 2008.
Goal!
If Howard Cain had served his full sentence, he would’ve been in prison to 2052. He would not have murdered anyone in 2008.
Touchdown!
If Eric Floyd had served his full sentence, he’d have been in jail, not robbing banks, in 2008.
Home run!
But all three served less than the max and committed more violent crime. This time a cop ended up dead. Why isn’t the mayor addressing this more easily remedied and more salient issue?
KO!
May 9th 2008rightwingprofMcCain & '08Trackback URI
I could have written every word of this Rasmussen video report on McCain’s VP choice.
May 9th 2008rightwingprofTeh Funny & Idjits & WackjobsTrackback URI
May 9th 2008rightwingprofPATrackback URI
But it’s too bad I wasn’t in Philly yesterday. Wyatt:
For those of you in the Philadelphia area, Geno’s Steaks proprietor Joey Vento is donating all proceeds from today’s sales to the Stephen Liczbinski Family Memorial Fund.
May 9th 2008rightwingprofOdds 'n EndsTrackback URI
“Useless degree” just took on a whole new dimension of meaning:
A student at the University of Mississippi will leap into the final frontier of the legal system Saturday when he receives the first-ever space law certificate in the United States
May 9th 2008rightwingprofTeh Funny & '08Trackback URI
referring to the “Obama offense” nonsense:
Poor Hillary must be wishing someone would attack her so she could get a news story that didn’t involve the words, ‘quit the race’.
And I’m still laughing.
May 9th 2008rightwingprofObamination & McCain & '08Trackback URI
I agree with Andy McCarthy that Salter’s response to Obama’s “offense” is excellent — mostly. Salter says:
It is important to focus on what Senator Obama is attempting to do here: He is trying desperately to delegitimize the discussion of issues that raise legitimate questions about his judgment and preparedness to be President of the United States.
Yes, but that’s not the most important thing he’s trying to do — wait, strike trying, he’s done it. Again. Let’s look at the events.
Ahmed Yousef, political adviser for Hamas, said that Hamas supports Obama.
McCain pointed out that Hamas supports Obama — which is exactly what Yousef said.
Obama responds:
“This is offensive, and I think it’s disappointing,” Obama told Blitzer, when asked his thoughts about McCain’s comments that the terrorist organization Hamas wants Obama to be president. “Because John McCain always says ‘I am not going to run that kind of politics,’ and to engage in that kind of smear is unfortunate, particularly because my policy toward Hamas has been no different than his.
Stop right there, because he just did it. Do you see what he’s done? He’s changed the topic, from “Hamas supports Obama” to “My policy toward Hamas,” which is completely irrelevant to the issue. And Blitzer, of course, lets him get away with it, because he’s got his face planted so far up Obama’s rectum he probably didn’t even notice.
If this were only one example, it wouldn’t be worth much attention. But it’s not. This is what Obama does: Rather than answer a question, he skillfully changes the topic, and answers that. In the two Democrat debates I watched, he did exactly the same thing on every single question he was asked. He didn’t answer even one question. He essentially substituted another question, and answered that.
And they let him get away with it. Hillary let him get away with it. Edwards let him get away with it. The moderators let him get away with it. All of them let him get away with it.
This is important because Obama will be debating McCain, both in the press and on stage. The Democrats (as well as the moderators) let him get away with it every time he did it. McCain cannot. McCain needs to hold Obama’s feet to the fire, and not let him change the subject. I suspect that if he does, Obama’s answers won’t be nearly so polished and impressive. There must be a reason he always does that, after all.
May 9th 2008rightwingprofObamination & McCain & '08Trackback URI
Flopping Aces notices that the Obamination is whining again:
Barack Obama chastised John McCain Thursday for engaging in “smear” politics, and defended himself from critics who question whether he is capable of being commander-in-chief, during a wide-ranging interview with CNN’s Wolf Blitzer — his first sit-down since the Indiana and North Carolina primaries.
It’s called speaking truth to asshatery, Obama. Let’s review, shall we?
During an interview on WABC radio Sunday, top Hamas political adviser Ahmed Yousef said the terrorist group supports Obama’s foreign policy vision.
“We don’t mind–actually we like Mr. Obama. We hope he will (win) the election and I do believe he is like John Kennedy, great man with great principle, and he has a vision to change America to make it in a position to lead the world community but not with domination and arrogance,” Yousef said in response to a question about the group’s willingness to meet with either of the Democratic presidential candidates.
So there it is. McCain said Hamas liked you — he didn’t say a damned thing about whether you liked them. Your response is what’s known as a strawman. A whiny strawman. McCain is right, and you’re a whiny little bitch — a whiny little bitch who hasn’t said a syllable denouncing Hamas’s love for you and support for your candidacy. And you missed a chance to claim you were being “swiftboated.” Remember, Obama, play the victim as much as you can.
May 9th 2008rightwingprofPATrackback URI
From today’s local rag:
A Philadelphia man who had a felony theft charge against him dropped for lack of evidence Wednesday walked out of Centre County Court and, 90 minutes later, swiped a designer handbag from the Nittany Mall, police said.
Shane Q. Salley, 21, was arrested after police said he grabbed a $275 Dooney & Bourke purse about 12:30 p.m., ran from mall security at Macy’s, then led State College police on a 10-minute foot chase on foot on East College Avenue and Commercial Boulevard.
A second man who was seen on videotape with Salley, cutting security tags off items in Macy’s and stuffing the items in their shirts, was sent a summons for retail theft and receiving stolen property.
Salley now faces five misdemeanors: retail theft, receiving stolen property, escape, flight to avoid apprehension, trial or punishment and disorderly conduct. District Judge Leslie Dutchcot sent him to Centre County Correctional Facility in lieu of $50,000 straight bail Wednesday afternoon.
Hours earlier, Salley had been in county court for a scheduled 11 a.m. preliminary hearing on a charge of receiving stolen property, relating to the alleged theft of a rental car.
But Assistant District Attorney Lance Marshall said he didn’t have enough evidence to prosecute Salley. So, Salley pleaded guilty to speeding and left.
And promptly went to the mall to steal more merchandise. At least now, he’s behind bars where he belongs.
May 9th 2008rightwingprofMcCain & '08Trackback URI
Blue Star Chronicles notes that John McCain has released his military records to the public. John Kerry promised to release his, but still has not done so.
May 8th 2008rightwingprofIdjits & WackjobsTrackback URI
I don’t read the Philly media — I figure it would raise my blood pressure too much — but Sebastian links to an article that is, perhaps, the most idiotic thing I have read — and just so you don’t miss the wailing and hand wringing, this moronic drivel is entitled — and I do quote — “How many must die before gun lobby gets message?” Christ, it sounds like a Peter, Paul, and Mary song already, doesn’t it? Anyway, it starts fine:
The city reels from the murder of Sgt. Stephen Liczbin-ski, and in the midst of it, there are more blows to our sensibilities:
But immediately she doesn’t put her finger on the problem, she is the problem:
There’s the sickening eruption of what looked like gratuitous violence when police arrested three men driving away from the scene of another shooting - beating them and kicking them unmercifully, over and over, in a tableau of unchecked rage.
Woe! Woe is us! A cop killer, why that’s awful, but not nearly as awful as the police subduing a scumbag criminal! Oh no! Oh dear! Whatever shall we do? These poor, oppressed, disadvantaged criminals!
Then she starts on guns, because she’s entirely too st00pid to know that criminals are the problem, not guns:
There’s the continuing mindlessness of the gun lobby’s argument that weapons such as the SKS that killed Liczbinski should be available to one and all, as if only Second Amendment rights should be impervious to modification - unlike all the other rights we have.
And it goes downhill from there.
So idiot, re-read your first two paragraphs, and tell me: Are you really so incredibly st00pid that you don’t see the contradiction between the two?
Look, idiot, here in central Pennsylvania, we have lots and lots of guns, and very little crime, absolutely none compared to you. Why is that? Don’t try to answer: That’s what is known as a rhetorical question.
Here’s why. We. Don’t. Tolerate. Crimimals.
You worship criminals. You bow and scrape at the mere mention of Mumia’s name. You elect liberals who accommodate criminals at every opportunity, letting them go free on minimal bail or OR, putting them in halfway houses, slapping them on the wrists, and sending them to group therapy. And what do they do? Why, they commit more crime as soon as they get the opportunity, and they will continue to do so as long as you elect morons who put them back out on the street.
Here, you see, we lock criminals up in prison, for a long time. We just convicted a guy of a string of robberies with a toy gun. Nobody was hurt. It didn’t make a damned bit of difference. We gave him more years in prison than you’ve probably given every criminal sentenced in the last week in Philadelphia. We don’t moan about all those poor, oppressed minorities in prison, because we don’t care if they’re white, black, orange, or polka-dotted. They’re criminals. Do the crime, do the time. Here, they’re not set free so they can further terrorize us.
Here’s another reason, idiot. Philly is full of those “sophisticated, cosmopolitan” liberals like you, and their unarmed homes. This part of the state is not, and homes are more likely to be armed than not. Criminals who break into houses here may get shot, and they know it. And guess what? Not the prosecutor, not the sheriff, not the police, nobody would wring their hands and moan if a criminal did get shot, and no charges would be brought.
Now, when you stop moaning about those awful police and those poor, disenfranchised criminals, and stop electing liberals who moan about those awful police and those poor, disenfranchised criminals, then you can complain about criminals. But as long as you accommodate criminals and whine about the police, shut up and suck it up, because you deserve all the murders and rapes and robberies you get. Every. Bit.
And that’s about as nicely as I can put it.
You want my solution to urban crime? Surround high-crime neighborhoods with barbed wire fences, and let them kill each other until they decide to act like civilized human beings. No police. That’s what they want, after all, since they love the criminals and hate the police, so give them what they want.
That would solve the problem.
And as for all of you Radley Balko fanclub idiots who whine about SWAT teams, if you don’t want to live in a war zone. move. And if you decide not to move, shut up and suck it up. If they ever implement my plan for dealing with high crime neighborhoods, we’ll lock you up inside the barbed wire. Think of it as a gift. You won’t have police to whine about any more. Then if you don’t get killed, maybe you’ll develop the smarts to figure out what the real problem is.
Grumpy, me? Naw!
May 8th 2008rightwingprofIdjits & Wackjobs & GWOTTrackback URI
Here’s proof. And when you’ve read it, read it again, substituting “Barack Obama” for “Jack Layton.”
May 8th 2008rightwingprofIdjits & '08 & WackjobsTrackback URI
Just go read. Schadenfreude on steroids.
May 8th 2008rightwingprofIN & '08Trackback URI
May 8th 2008rightwingprofMcCain & '08Trackback URI
Cindy McCain gets it, even if some slobbering unhinged bloggers don’t. On negative campaigning:
We’d rather not win than to have to do that. That’s not worth winning for. This is about being a leader and a person that can be a good example for our children, and a good role model. There’s many, many, many more things to this job than just being the president. You are an example. You have to — you have to be better than that. You have to be.
Hat tip to Don Surber, who reads MSNBC so you don’t have to.
May 8th 2008rightwingprofGWOTTrackback URI
May 8th 2008rightwingprofMcCain & '08Trackback URI
From Blue Crab Blvd, this unsurprising look at the exit polls in Indiana and North Carolina:
Forget the horse race numbers for a moment: if the surveys are accurate, the polarization within the Democratic Party has reached critical levels. Nearly six in ten Obama supporters in Indiana say they would be dissatisfied if Clinton were the nominee — that’s (I believe) the high percentage of Obama supporters who have ever said that.
In both IN and NC, two thirds of Clinton supporters say they’d be dissatisfied if Obama were the nominee — I believe that’s the highest number recorded for that question, too.
The percentage of Clinton voters who say they’d choose McCain over Obama in a general election is approaching 40% in Indiana. Put it another way: in North Carolina, less than HALF of folks who voted today for Hillary Clinton are ready to say today that they’d definitely vote for Obama in a general election.
I hate to say I told you so, so instead, I’ll say pass the popcorn!
May 8th 2008rightwingprofIdjitsTrackback URI
but you’d think after God knows how many primaries that a professional journalist would at least have paid attention:
Both Bill and Hillary have noted plaintively that if Democrats had the same winner-take-all rules as Republicans, she’d be the nominee.
We don’t have winner-take-all rules. State parties decide how to allot delegates. Some states are winner-take-all; others are not. The issue is that the Democrats — the national party, mind — again showed their utter disregard for the principles of Federalism upon which this nation was based by telling states that they could not have winner-take-all primaries (or caucuses).
Pay attention, idiot.
May 8th 2008rightwingprofIdjits & Wackjobs & GWOTTrackback URI
”The first thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers” (Henry VI, Part II, act IV, Scene II). From Ace: “Shearman & Sterling Heroically Springs Gitmo Prisoner, Who Promptly Murders Innocents; Meanwhile, They Reap the Benefits of Their Very Lucrative Middle-East Law Practice.”
Grumpy, me? Naw!
May 8th 2008rightwingprofIdjits & Guns, 2A & WackjobsTrackback URI
about this video of Philly police:
For cop killers? Not enough force.
Of course, the Philly liberals are having fits and demanding an investigation. Tomorrow, they’ll be wringing their hands about crime and demanding more gun control. Me, I figure they deserve all the crime they accomodate down there. It’s just too bad more of them don’t get killed.
Grumpy, me? Naw!
May 7th 2008rightwingprofOdds 'n EndsTrackback URI
The DC sniper:
Convicted sniper John Allen Muhammad asks prosecutors in a letter for help to put an end to his legal appeals from death row. Muhammad says in the letter released Tuesday that he is waiving all rights to appeal his 2003 conviction and death sentence for the sniper killings in 2002 that terrorized the Washington, D.C., region.
Fry him.
May 7th 2008rightwingprofMcCain & '08Trackback URI
One of those “keyboard alert!” comments, from HotAir:
Paul supporters; they won’t want to support him when they find out the Republican convention is the same weekend as the International Star Trek convention
Good article, too. I was going to post something very similiar, but I’m way behind . . .
May 7th 2008rightwingprofOdds 'n EndsTrackback URI
The server was down all morning, it’s been very sloooooooow on the administration end, and I’m just catching up with the news. Life’s like that, I suppose.
May 7th 2008rightwingprofOdds 'n EndsTrackback URI
There’s quite a menu on this side of the Mississippi. First, the Met season:
Adriana Lecouvreur
La Bohème
Cavalleria Rusticana/Pagliacci
La Cenerentola
La Damnation de Faust
Doctor Atomic
Don Giovanni
L’Elisir d’Amore
Eugene Onegin
La Gioconda
Lucia di Lammermoor
Madama Butterfly
The Magic Flute
La Rondine
Orfeo ed Euridice
The Queen of Spades
Rigoletto
Rusalka
Salome
La Sonnambula
Thaïs
La Traviata
Tristan und Isolde
Il Trovatore
A Ring Cycle
I despise bel canto, and I’ve been dragged to Cenerentola (Cinderella). Once is once too many, and you won’t see me waiting in line to see Lucia. Mattila is singing Salome, and Fleming is in Rusalka. Don Giovanni, Orfeo, Salome, and the Magic Flute would be worth seeing. I could easily be convinced to see Butterfly or Queen of Spades, and Seiffert is singing Tristan, but we saw an exemplary Tristan in March.
The Pittsburgh Opera is doing Samson et Dailia and La Bohème (well a few others too, but those are the only ones that interest me). Nothing on the page about the casts, though. I’ve been interested in the Pittsburgh company ever since John Derbyshire sent me his glowing review of Don Giovanni.
The Chicago Lyric is doing Lulu (I’d love to see that), Porgy and Bess, and The Pearl Fishers. And if you’re anywhere near, the Indiana University Opera is doing La Traviata, Merry Wives of Windsor, Love for Three Oranges, Le Cendrillon (also Cinderella, but Massanet’s, not Rossini’s), Guilio Cesare (ah! Handel!), and The Most Happy Fella. If we’re in Bloomington, I’d like to see Guilio Cesare, but we’ve seen Love for Three Oranges there a couple of times, ditto Traviata (a couple couple couple couple times). Nothing about next summer’s operas, of course, and since I’m seeing this from a google cache (IU’s music school server isn’t responding) and I don’t see it on google, I don’t know what this summer’s two operas are (well, sometimes two operas, other times, an opera and a musical, often West Side Story). And IU doesn’t even publish cast information during the season (you have to go to the music school and look at the cast list hidden in one of the corridors).
The DC Opera is doing Traviata, The Pear Fishers (two opera companies in one season?), Lucrezia Borgia (with Renée Fleming?), Carmen, Peter Grimes, Siegfried, Turandot (with Guleghina in the title role), and Petite Messe Solennelle. Oh, and Siegfried, with an unimpressive cast. I said I despise bel canto, and I do, but there are a few gems in the genre. Lucrezia Borgia is one. That, I’d gladly see (although I suspect Fleming can’t hold a candle to Montserrat Caballé in that role).
The Philadelphia Opera is doing Fidelio, Turandot, Rape of Lucretia, Italian Girl in Algiers, and (odd) a double bill of L’enfant et les sortilèges and Gianni Schicchi (although we did see an equally odd double bill at IU, Gianni Schicchi and Bluebeard’s Castle). Fidelio, Pearl Fishers, and Turandot (at DC) would all be worth seeing.
I probably shouldn’t have included the Lyric. Chicago isn’t close as it was when we lived in Indiana, but I was curious. Of course, the IU Opera isn’t reallly close either, but we do travel back to see people now and again. Let’s see, Guilio Cesare is Feb 27 and 28, and Mar 6 and 7. Well . . . that doesn’t really coincide with another reason to be in Bloomington, but maybe we could swing it. Did I mention that tickets are amazingly cheap there?
That, and Orfeo would be at the top of my list. Glück is one of my favorite composers — such beautiful, civilized music (love Cherubini too).
Here’s Andreas Scholl, counter-tenor, singing “Che farò senza Euridice”:
Montserrat Caballé singing “Se pietá di me non senti” from Handel’s Guilio Cesare (yes, the makeup and costume is awful, but God, what a voice! and what control!)
May 7th 2008rightwingprofOdds 'n EndsTrackback URI
The server wasn’t responding, and they had to reboot it — twice. Everything seems to be up and running, though.
Note that I was right about Indiana. Clinton won, but by not as much as she did here.
May 6th 2008rightwingprofIdjits & WackjobsTrackback URI
Since these Swiss “scientists” have decided that “plant dignity” is a crucial issue, it’s time for a replay of this video from the Arrogant Worms, which at the time, was parody. Now, it’s “science,” and no doubt, we’ll soon be told that it’s “settled.” Then, we’ll have idiots in dreadlocks and birkenstocks firebombing farmers’ markets. Plant liberation, here we come!
Salads are only for murderers,
cole slaw’s a fascist regime,
don’t think that they don’t have feelings,
just cause a radish can’t scream.I’ve heard the screams of the vegetables,
watching their skins being peeled,
grated and steamed with no mercy,
how do you think that feels?
Time to become a meatatarian, if you haven’t already! Join the resistance! Speak truth to power! Eat meat, and let our plants go!
May 6th 2008rightwingprofMcCain & '08Trackback URI
This is funny (Onion video).
May 6th 2008rightwingprofIdjits & WackjobsTrackback URI
Is the hot air emitted by celebrities when they spout ecological platitudes a greenhouse gas?
May 5th 2008rightwingprof'08 & WackjobsTrackback URI
Alan Keyes: Too nuts even for the batshit-crazy Constitution Party.
You know, every time I hear a liberal go on and on about how badly we need a great speaker, I always turn and say “Alan Keyes.” It always shuts them up.
May 5th 2008rightwingprofFoodTrackback URI
Uh, I guess it is. Oh well. We’re having spaghetti and me
