Right Wing Nation

The jug-eared jackass, that is, who is often touted for his techno-brilliance:

A funny thing happened over on the Barack Obama campaign website in the last few days.

The parts that stressed his opposition to the 2007 troop surge and his statement that more troops would make no difference in a civil war have somehow disappeared. John McCain and Obama have been going at it heavily in recent days over the benefits of the surge.

The Arizona senator, who advocated the surge for years before the Bush administration employed it, says the resulting reduction in violence is proof it worked with progress on 15 of 18 political benchmarks and Obama’s plan to withdraw troops by now would have resulted in surrender.

When President Bush ordered the surge in January 2007, Obama said: “I am not persuaded that 20,000 additional troops in Iraq is going to solve the sectarian violence there. In fact, I think it will do the reverse,” a position he maintained throughout 2007. This year he acknowledged progress, but maintained his position that political progress was lacking.

Tuesday, while Obama gave a speech on foreign policy, the New York Daily News was the first to notice the removal of parts of Obama’s campaign site listing the Iraq troop surge as part of “The Problem.” An Obama spokeswoman said it was just part of an “update” to “reflect changes in current events,” as our colleague Frank James notes in the Swamp.

Gary Varvel:

Changeyness!

Update: Now with New, Improved Changeyness!

What is it about living in cities that turns people into drooling idiots? Courtesy of Sebastian, here is the latest thing Philadelphia police are doing instead of, you know, arresting criminals.

When you’re in law enforcement, there are days when you really feel like you’re making a difference.

And then there are days like today.

An officer brings up a job today from the high school. Apparently, kids still get locked up during Summer School - maybe he had to repeat “Thuggery 101.” Anyway, I asked the officer what he had, and he said he arrested a student for carrying a weapon on school property.

I said, “Okay, what did the kid have?”

The officer replied, “Two pairs of scissors.”

At this rate, I’m going to have to create a category just for Philadelphia idiots. That would exclude Wyatt, of course.

First, a note to the idiot: A simple search on my blog will reveal that I don’t take polls very seriously. That’s just so you don’t make an ass of yourself again. Oh. To search the blog, scroll down to the search box, and type in poll, or click here (nobody can accuse me of not being helpful, particularly to the mentally challenged).

So as a point of interest only, here are the results of this AOL straw poll:

Total voters: 38,316

Obama: 10,495 (27%)
McCain: 27,821 (73%)

This was in front of the Obama headquarters, and I knew if I didn’t take a picture, nobody would believe me (clicky for biggie):

So they’re selling water — but not just any water, it’s Magic Obama Hope water!

Other arts fest photos will follow. This deserved its own space.

Not only did this idiot take the pet poll seriously — he actually hunted me down to leave a comment, showing off his stupidity.

Amazing.

(I got this on an email list. If you want to look up the story, all the information is below.)

Neil Boortz is always talking about the Atlanta Journal-Constitution being a liberal paper. I don’t read it, but here’s an example of the kind of left-wing idiocy that has real consequences:

‘Men At Work’ signs to disappear in Atlanta
Decision follows complaints by magazine editor

By ERIC STIRGUS
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 07/09/08

In the battle of the sexes, women’s magazine editor Cynthia Good said this was a skirmish she had to fight.

Across Atlanta they stood, orange signs with black letters that read “Men At Work” or “Men Working Ahead.”

Sometimes, the signs stood next to women working alongside the men.

Good demanded Atlanta officials remove the signs and last week, Atlanta Public Works Commissioner Joe Basista agreed.

Score one for gender equality, Good said Wednesday.

“They get it,” Good said about the city in a telephone interview.

What could possibly be wrong with this? Why, those awful signs hurt peoples’ feelings! What’s wrong with it (other than it’s just stupid) is what they don’t tell you here:

Public Works officials are replacing 50 “Men Working” with signs that say “Workers Ahead.” It will cost $22 to cover over some of the old signs and $144 to buy new signs, said Public Works spokeswoman Valerie Bell-Smith said.

See what they did? They reported the per sign cost, which makes it sound like there’s next to no cost involved! So do they tell us either approximately how many signs there are, or what the approximate total cost of this feel-good idiocy is?

No.

So what else do they tell us? Not much, other than that these idiots are on a crusade to force everybody across the US to pay up to change the signs so their feelings won’t be hurt:

“We’re calling on the rest of the nation to follow suit and make a statement that we will not accept these subtle forms of discrimination,” said Good, 48.

Good pressed the issue after Atlanta police came to her office last month on a complaint that she spray painted “wo” onto a “Men At Work” sign.

Did she do it? Good replied by complaining about the signs.

Good fired off letters complaining about the signs to Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin and Gov. Sonny Perdue.

State transportation officials said they will ask contractors to remove signs specifying just men are working at a construction site.

Atlanta union leader Gina Pagnotta said some women employees of Atlanta Public Works complained about these signs years ago.

“It is a little bit bias to say ‘Men Working,’ ” said Pagnotta, president of the Professional Association of City Employees. “Women are working, too.”

FOAD.

is all the hell liberals are raising about the House Democrats trying to shut down the free speech of Congressmen.

Deafening, isn’t it?

One of the stupidest shows on television (there’s lots of competition) is Cool Fuel, which features such feats of genius as making a moped that runs on mashed potatoes.

Have you seen these ads on TV where these people are amazed! to discover that some insurance company has an 800 number, and if they call it, they can get insurance?

Seriously. Are there people that stupid in the world? Who do they make these ads for, anyway?

Hmmmmm:

The last major remnant of Saddam Hussein’s nuclear program _ a huge stockpile of concentrated natural uranium _ reached a Canadian port Saturday to complete a secret U.S. operation that included a two-week airlift from Baghdad and a ship voyage crossing two oceans.

The removal of 550 metric tons of “yellowcake” _ the seed material for higher-grade nuclear enrichment _ was a significant step toward closing the books on Saddam’s nuclear legacy. It also brought relief to U.S. and Iraqi authorities who had worried the cache would reach insurgents or smugglers crossing to Iran to aid its nuclear ambitions.

No WMDs? No nuclear program? No yellowcake? Really?

Like I said before, the “youth vote” is at best elusive, if not illusory, and again, we’re being inundated with breathlessly excited stories about how the “youth vote” is going to sweet the jug-eared jackass into office.

Thanks to Darren, here’s that “youth vote” in action:

A University of Minnesota student claimed it was all a joke when he put his vote in this fall’s presidential election up for sale on the Web auction site eBay. But prosecutors didn’t see the humor in the stunt.

Max P. Sanders, 19, was charged with a felony Thursday in Hennepin County District Court after allegedly asking for a minimum of $10 in exchange for voting for the bidder’s preferred candidate. “Good luck!” Sanders wrote under the eBay handle zepdrummer612. “You’re (sic) country depends on You!”

Sanders was charged with one count of bribery, treating and soliciting under an 1893 state law that makes it a crime to offer to buy or sell a vote.

Bowled over by the idealism, aren’t you?

As this slobbering Aussie moonbat starts to realize that she is an idiot:

I change my light globes over to those newfangled eco-friendly ones only to discover that if I accidentally smash one on the floor I’m likely to be poisoned by its toxic contents. So I seriously contemplate the meaning of changing light bulbs and wonder if we haven’t already become the sorry punchline of a very bad joke

Ya think?

Check out the latest doom and gloom dire warning about Mother Earth:

Flat TVs a ‘Climate Time Bomb’
Sleek and skinny, new televisions may have a greater effect on climate change than massive coal plants, scientists warn

And we just got one!

Break it to Wesley Clark, John Kerry, and Obama gently: Their role model has passed away:

Larry Harmon wasn’t the original Bozo the Clown, but he was the real one. Harmon, who portrayed the wing-haired clown for more than half a century, died Thursday of congestive heart failure, said his publicist, Jerry Digney. He was 83.

Maybe Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, and the Greatest Congress EVER! will change July 4 from Independence Day to Father Of Liberals Everywhere Memorial Day.

You all know I’m addicted to forensic shows — and here, I’m talking about the reality shows. It seems a bit odd that so many of those shows come from Canada, and even on the US shows, so many of the stories are from Canada, considering that Canada is such a peaceful, crime-free place, at least according to Canadian and leftist mythology.

Just a thought.

Don Surber points to this example of the government spending money for the chil-dern:

AUSTIN — Only two athletes tested positive for steroid use among some 10,000 Texas high school students tested this spring, raising doubts about whether state lawmakers will renew the $3 million-a-year project at current levels.

The testing company’s preliminary results are based on an estimated 10,407 students who were tested since February, when state officials launched the random steroid-testing program mandated by state lawmakers. National Center for Drug Free Sport is expected to release a formal report later this summer.

Let’s extract the crucial data, shall we?

1. The State of Texas spent three million dollars on a steroid-testing program.
2. The State of Texas tested 10,407 students in this program.
3. Two students out of those 10,407 total students tested positive.

Don calls it steroid hysteria. I call it do-gooder idiocy. And the biggest idiot?

I pushed this important legislation through the Legislature because I knew it would deter our young people from wrecking their bodies and putting their lives at risk by using illegal steroids. And these test results clearly show the deterrent is working because young people know they can’t use illegal steroids without getting caught.

Breathtaking.

Last month, I covered the idiocy that is Starbucks. If you recall, the biggest idiot of all, Howard Schultz, CEO, had it all figured out:

After more than a decade of sensational buzz, Starbucks is struggling nationwide as it faces slowing sales growth and increased competition.

The man who built the chain, Howard D. Schultz, has retaken the reins in an effort to revive it. He is scheduled to roll out a plan on Wednesday that will almost certainly involve shutting down more stores in the United States while accelerating expansion overseas.

Mr. Schultz has said he wants to refocus on the “customer experience,” recapturing some of the magic of the chain’s early years, when employees — who had heard the term barista before Starbucks came along? — made the drinks by hand and customers were excited by top-notch coffee.

So how do you think that worked? Not so good:

SEATTLE — For a decade it appeared there was no such thing as too many Starbucks for U.S. coffee drinkers, whose willingness to buy its $4 lattes and dark drip brews rationalized a second green-and-white mermaid awning just down the street - and sometimes even a third.

But in a sign that those days are over, Starbucks Corp. announced Tuesday it will close 600 company-operated stores in the next year as the faltering U.S. economy hastened the pain caused by the company’s own rapid expansion.

Of course, it’s the economy at fault, and not their all image and no substance business model.

Idiots.

Hat tip to the Anchoress.

I had a troll a couple of months ago who left incoherent, ungrammatical, nonsense comments, which fortunately went into the moderation queue. Well, he’s suddenly back, and just to show you what an idiot he is, I decided to quote him here (but not approve the comment).

None of the cool kids want tthe repuiblicansz to sit with them anymore, sorry

Your public school system at work.

Ann Althouse has an update about Google shutting down Democrats’ anti-Obama blogs. According to her cited article:

On Monday, Google would not explicitly rebut the idea that it had been tricked but said that the cause of the temporary blockage appeared to be elsewhere. “It appears that our anti-spam filters caused some Blogger accounts to be blocked from creating new posts,” Google spokesman Adam Kovacevich said in a statement. “While we are still investigating, we believe this may have been caused by mass spam e-mails mentioning the ‘Just Say No Deal’ network of blogs, which in turn caused our system to classify the blog addresses mentioned in the e-mails as spam. We have restored posting rights to the affected blogs, and it is very important to us that Blogger remain a tool for political debate and free expression.”

That may or may not be BS (I suspect it is, but that’s not really where I’m going). But Ann adds:

But Kovacevich — unless he’s lying — revealed something about the technique. Google monitors email. (Sidenote: You might want to worry about how Google monitors email.)

Gmail has a spam filter, and in order for it to work, it has to scan incoming messages. I suppose you could call that “monitoring email,” but It seems a bit paranoid to me, especially given the huge volume of messages that Gmail handles. Sure, Google is sleazy, but there’s a difference between that and unworkable.

Then, Matt Johnston stumbles here:

Reports that Obama’s female staffers earn, on average, less than his male staffers is complete RUBBISH and should be viewed as nothing more than conservative rabble rousing, and that is hard for me to say as a conservative.

Essentially, what these reporters are doing is comparing female salaries to male salaries, without taking into account the job that is being done.

Uh, Matt, that’s the point. Obama is spouting the “women make 75 cents to every dollar men make!” myth in order to push his latest idiotic idea of “wage fairness.” That pseudo-statistic is exactly what you describe: take the total income females make, without respect to job, and compare it to the total income males make. See how that works? The bloggers are merely applying his own math-challenged methods to what he pays. Fair is fair.

A medical physiologist asks:

French-fries are junk-food, but roast potatoes are not; bread is a basic food-stuff, but biscuits are junk; wine comprises “empty calories”, but fruit juices are health foods; the sugar in cake is detrimental to health, but the sugar in honey and grapes is not. White bread is not “nutritious”, but cauliflower is, though it consists of 90% water, 5% starch, a minute amount of protein, and only traces of vitamins and minerals (other than potassium). What then is “junk” food?

And concludes:

“Junk-food”, we must therefore conclude, is any consumable prepared outside the home which children find delicious.

But not necessarily children. For example, serve 3 lbs of spinach in a bowl as spinach, and it’s wholesome. Use those same 3 lbs of spinach to make cream of spinach soup, or even creamed spinach (one of life’s greatest pleasures, provided one doesn’t overdo the nutmeg), and it’s no longer wholesome.

Or mashed potatoes. Make dull, uninteresting potatoes with nothing more than a bit of milk and salt, and they’re wholesome. Add butter (the more the better, of course) or gruyère, and they’re suddenly an indulgence, or “empty calories.”

I think the physiologist is correct about the palate, and just hasn’t noticed that it’s not necessarily children’s palates. If it tastes really delicious, it’s not wholesome. It’s culinary puritanism.

to that assclown, Clark:

Senator McCain “hasn’t held executive responsibility.”
FACT: McCain commanded, and revitalized, the largest squadron in the U.S. Navy.

Senator McCain’s military leadership doesn’t count, because it wasn’t a “wartime Squadron.”
FACT: McCain volunteered to serve in Vietnam and upon his return, endured months of physical rehabilitation in order to continue his military career and command a squadron.

Senator McCain “hasn’t been there [war] and ordered the bombs to fall”
FACT: McCain flew twenty-three combat missions in Vietnam in order to drop bombs on the enemy. He was also “there” for 5 ½ years as a Prisoner of War.

“I don’t think riding in a fighter plane and getting shot down is a qualification to be President.”
FACT: If serving your country, volunteering for combat, resisting the enemy, and receiving seventeen decorations for service does count for anything, then why are you on television, speaking as an “expert” on national security matters? Your personal attacks came not from a General with respect for the uniform, but from a political operative dispatched to attack the military background of a political adversary.

On behalf of Vets for Freedom—and thousands of veterans and troops still serving—we urge you to apologize to Sen. McCain for your comments. We also urge you to apologize to generations of veterans who served our country in uniform. Service matters—anytime, anywhere. We await and appreciate your response.

They’ll be waiting a long time, I predict. More at the link.

This has to be a bad dream, like I’m in a Twilight Zone episode.

I’m going to wake up in a few minutes. This can’t be happening.

(An intentionally ironic title, given that I got the link from Glenn Reynolds.) On Volokh:

The Supreme Court’s decision in District of Columbia v. Heller, upholding the Second Amendment right of individuals to own firearms, should finally lay to rest the widespread myth that the defining difference between liberal and conservative justices is that the former support “individual rights” and “civil liberties,” while the latter routinely defer to government assertions of authority. The Heller dissent presents the remarkable spectacle of four liberal Supreme Court justices tying themselves into an intellectual knot to narrow the protections the Bill of Rights provides. Or perhaps it’s not as remarkable as we’ve been led to think.

And on that note, I think I’ll retire to the TV until tomorrow.

That’s what they’re highlighting on the Club for Growth’s new blog, Dumb Laws.

There are some interesting results in the Pew Religion report. Hey, let’s play Jeopardy.

Ready? Here we go.

Of this group, 21% believed in God (6% believed in a personal God, 12% in God as an impersonal force, and 3% don’t know).

What are Presbyterians?

What are atheists. Atheists.

I don’t think that word means what these 21% of atheists think it means. Or something. Anyway, thought I’d share.

not to elect or appoint liberals to any position in the judiciary system:

If you are caught leaving a public gun range in Massachusetts with a spent .22 casing stuck in the sole of your shoe, and you do not have a $100 gun license, under current state law, you can be found guilty of unlawful possession of ammunition and sentenced to two years in prison.

It’s a “common sense” public safety measure, you understand. Gotta keep the streets safe FOR THE CHILDRENTM.

Meanwhile, Massachusetts State Rep. James Fagan believes that sentencing someone to 20 years in prison for raping an 11-year-old is “draconian”.

and I’m not making this up, from the BBC: Prison had ‘criminal subculture’ Hat tip to Squander Two.

Remember that pure, unsullied by the outside world tribe they supposedly found in the Amazon last month? And what did I say?

Tasaday.

Guess what? I was right.

‘Lost’ Amazon tribe a publicity stunt
By staff writers
June 23, 2008 08:26pm

THE man behind photos of warriors from an “undiscovered” Amazon tribe that were beamed around the world has admitted it was a publicity stunt aimed at raising awareness of logging.

Indigenous tribes expert, José Carlos Meirelles, said the tribe had been known of since 1910, and had been photographed to prove that they still existed in an area endangered by logging, The Guardian reported.

Mr Meirelles, who was working for Funai, the Brazilian Indian Protection Agency dedicated to finding remote tribes and protecting them, said he spent three years gatheiring “evidence” about the tribe, and then planned the publicity to protect them from losing their habitat.

One more time, folks, with feeling.

The Intellectual Dishonesty of Anthropologists

More Intellectual Dishonesty

When the stormtroopers wear clown shoes instead of jackboots, it’s easy to forget that they’re still stormtroopers.

Charles, referring to a Kos Kid who published an angry diatribe about Obama’s flip on FISA entitled, “Apparently, Even Barack Obama Thinks You’re Stupid,” says:

When even Barack Obama thinks it, there just might be something to it.

Snark!

I just saw this really stupid TV ad for Garlic Pro. It’s a little chopper — you put your garlic in it and push the handle up and down, just like that chopper Ron Popeil offered years ago, but smaller. But wait! You have to peel it first, so you also get a cheap little rubber tube. See, you roll it in the rubber tube and the peel comes off! And you get both for only $14.95 (offer doubled if you order on the phone)!

For the kitchen technique impaired who are thinking, “Wow, that’s not much, and it’s really cool!” let me save you that $14.95, because you have one implement in your kitchen that peels and chops garlic.

Really?

Yes, really. It’s called a knife. Follow the instructions:

To peel garlic

1. Place garlic cloves on cutting board.
2. Smash garlic cloves with the flat of the knife blade.
3. Throw peel in trash.
4. Voilà! Peeled garlic!

To chop garlic (I could say just chop the garlic, but that wouldn’t be helpful, and I am always helpful)

1. Hold the tip of the knife blade (at the top, not the edge) between your left thumb and forefinger (reverse if left-handed)
2. Hold the knife in your right hand, and with your left, hold the tip of the blade against the cutting board (reverse if left-handed)
3. Rock the blade up and down, moving the knife in a circular motion (either clockwise or counter-clockwise) while holding the tip stationary (hint: it helps if the garlic is under the blade)
4. Voilà! Chopped garlic!

You just saved $14.95 (plus shipping and handling, of course), and the embarrassment of having spent that money on a cheap piece of plastic and a cheap rubber tube.

You’re welcome, I’m sure.

This is the stupidest thing I’ve seen in print for a while, and that’s saying a great deal:

Not only was the driver of a Ford Bronco that fatally struck a 12-year-old girl unlicensed, but San Jose police say she is also an illegal immigrant, renewing the debate over whether undocumented people should be allowed to apply for driver’s licenses.

So what does killing a child with a vehicle have to do with giving illegal immigrants drivers licenses? To any rational human being, not a damn thing. And indeed, read through the whole thing, and nowhere is offered any connection between the two. So the implication must be that if she’d had a license, she wouldn’t have killed the child. Nonsense, yes, but no more nonsensical than the idea that gun control would prevent gun crime (hint: criminals, by definition, don’t obey the law, and that includes gun control laws).

But these aren’t rational human beings: They’re California liberals. And just as they’ll happily dance in the blood of the latest shooting spree to scream for gun control, they dance in this child’s blood to give illegals licenses. How sensitive of them! They’re so much more civilized than we rubes in flyover country! They’re ahead of the curve!

Journalism School is apparently the new Education School, to judge by the idiot who wrote this story. That paragraph would be marked up in red with question marks in the margin by any writing instructor — except in California. Only there would it represent a coherent flow from one idea to another.

Idiots.

Thanks to Hube, who heaps plenty of well-deserved scorn on those oh so sensitive California liberals, for the link.

Alpha Patriot:

Billionaire and presidential race spoiler Ross Perot is back.

Oh, for f*cks sake. He’s right. And what’s ol’ Idiot Perot’s site called? Perot Charts. Poor Ross never figured out how to do anything but charts, with meaningless, distilled, numbers.

Go away, Ross. Nobody cares.

Those New Politics!

More importantly, Obama now says all that loose (but electorally useful!) talk about quitting NAFTA was just some “overheated rhetoric” of the sort that politicians sometimes use when they want to, well, lie to voters.

It’s so refreshing we finally have a “new kind of politician” willing to lie to the public to dishonestly get their votes.

Whatever you think of Mitch McConnell, thank him for stopping a 54 billion dollar tax increase.

From the AP: “Democrats in both the House and Senate are proposing to raise some $54 billion by preventing hedge fund managers and others from deferring certain overseas profits and by delaying a tax break that multinationals are slated to receive in the coming years.”

Here’s an idea: Reduce capital gains taxes and personal income taxes so that it is not worth the bother for people like Bill Clinton and his wife, Al Gore and his wife, and John Edwards and his wife to move their money overseas.

Of course, that would cost Chelsea Clinton her job as a hedge-fund flunky.

But this is where he nails it to the wall:

Reported AP: “The legislation contains some $17 billion in tax credits to help industries develop renewable energy sources including wind, solar, biomass, geothermal and plug-in electric vehicles, as well as to promote energy conservation in commercial buildings.”

If this stuff were viable, businesses would be doing it without welfare from the government.

Hey Don, is the AP going to try to sue you?

Kaveman2008 sez:

When I need to buy 9mm or .40 cal, I usually buy the boxes labled 9mm and .40 cal.

Apparently I’ve been doing it wrong.

Warning: May cause a heart attack funny

Sometimes, people say things that, well, are more directly communicative than they realize, either because they’re too stupid, or in this case, too stoned (actually, in this case, it’s probably both). Like this vdeo: “Put down the bong and vote for Obama.”

That really says it all, doesn’t it?

Even Salon hates Planet Green:

Concern for the environment is, among other things, an upper-middle-class privilege and a status marker. Planet Green turns the entire Earth into a lifestyle accessory, often to uniquely awful effect.

The most inane program in Planet Green’s initial lineup is, by a nose, Alter Eco, which, depressingly, finds Adrien Grenier behaving very much as he does in the role of Vincent Chase on Entourage. Verily, the show is promoted as a virtual hangout with Grenier’s “entourage of green activists, experts, and friends,” and it feels designed to provide you with lines to pick up chicks at the farmers market.

In one episode, Grenier chills with a dude—obviously a douche bag, just a biodegradable one—who is constructing an eco-friendly pleasure dome in the hills of Los Angeles, a Playboy Mansion with organic bunny feed. We’re told that the water from the showers will be treated and reused to water the garden, and also that the shower in the master bath will be spacious enough to accommodate 19 honeys. Elsewhere, some of the crew goes to an organic wine tasting, where they swill in a most obnoxious fashion. There are “great little tips” for exercising greenly, such as doing pull-ups on the limb of a tree. People seeking material gain are exhorted to “make that cheddar.” It’s impossible to say whether the show’s smug superiority is more grating than its anorexic thinness of content, but seeing them in combination may fill you with a kind of retributive rage. I for one want to go out and kill a dolphin.

I can’t believe this guy actually watched it. Just the ads are enough to make me throw things at the television.

So far, so good:

The Co-Chairs of University of Iowa Students for Hillary have just sent out a Facebook message imploring the group’s members to vote for John McCain

but then they jump the rails:

or, if that’s too hard to stomach, presumptive Green Party nominee Cynthia McKinney.

McCain or McKinney? I’m having trouble wrapping my brain around this one. Or is the point “anybody but Obama”?

The letter attacks the media, Obama campaign workers in Iowa, and Obama, and claims Obama didn’t actually win the nomination but was “appointed by the Rules and Bylaws Committee of the DNC.”

“John McCain is an honorable man,” the letter states. “He is good personal friends with Hillary Clinton. He is qualified to be president. We do not agree with him on everything, and this is why we urge you to strongly support Democrats up for re-election to congress.”

“Barring a DREAM TICKET scenario or a scenario in which HILLARY WINS THE NOMINATION, which we see as unlikely at this time, we endorse John McCain for President,” it continues. “We will not campaign for John McCain, but we will vote for him, and urge others to do the same.”

Okay. I guess.

Uncle again:

Under an executive order expected to be announced today, [District of Columbia] police Chief Cathy L. Lanier will have the authority to designate “Neighborhood Safety Zones.” At least six officers will man cordons around those zones and demand identification from people coming in and out of them. Anyone who doesn’t live there, work there or have “legitimate reason” to be there will be sent away or face arrest, documents obtained by The Examiner show.

Wait. I’m confused. I thought they had all that great, effective gun control in DC . . . Oh, that’s right:

At that point, a reporter interjected: “the Mayor (DC Mayor Adrian M. Fenty) says the handgun ban and his initiatives have significantly lowered violent crime in the District. How do you answer that, Mr. Heller?”

The initial answer certainly wasn’t expected – Dick Heller laughed. Ruefully.

Pointing at the Mayor who was making his way across the plaza, surrounded by at least six DC police officers, Heller said, “the Mayor doesn’t know what he’s talking about.”

“He doesn’t walk on the street like an average citizen. Look at him; he travels with an army of police officers as bodyguards – to keep him safe. But he says that I don’t have the right to be a force of one to protect myself. Does he look like he thinks the streets are safe?”

There was no follow-up question.

And maybe my favorite Uncle quotation of all time:

I uphold the fine American tradition of not really giving a fuck what other countries think of the US.

Sebastian chimes in on the new, progressive, DC police state here.

This just in:

Jane Drury voted last year in an election in Stonington, Conn. The only problem is, she died eight years ago.

Her daughter Jane Gumpel thought someone must have goofed.

“I was surprised because this is not possible,” she said.

But it did happen. The town clerk’s record clearly shows Drury’s vote, marked by a horizontal line poll workers put next to her name. And it turns out, Drury isn’t the only voter to apparently cast a ballot from the grave.

The issue of dead voters showing up on ballot records continues to be a problem for election administrators across the country.

Journalism professor Marcel Dufresne, at the University of Connecticut, led a class investigation into dead voters and said his group of 11 students discovered 8,558 deceased people who were still registered on Connecticut’s voter rolls. They discovered more than 300 of them appeared somehow to have cast ballots after they died.

“We have one person who appeared to have voted 17 times since he died,” Dufresne said.

Not surprising. But this is, well, judge for yourself:

Dufresne said there is no evidence of any election fraud, but the number of dead voters “shows the system is vulnerable and it shows that people who are clever and have a little cooperation in the town level, you could use this and get people to vote for people who died.

Stop. Let’s see. There’s “no evidence of election fraud.” Dead people voting isn’t election fraud? What is election fraud, then, in your most nuanced, contextual definition? And while you’re at it, how is “people who are clever and get people to vote for people who died” not election fraud?

I guess if even an election fraud machine like ACORN — whose members have been convicted of voter fraud (see here, or better, peruse here) — doesn’t count as “election fraud,” nothing does. Why don’t we all just stay home from the polls and let “activists” vote for us? No doubt liberals would insist that was likewise not voter fraud.

as only the French can accomplish (hat tip: Tim Blair). Here’s the weird part:

Country and western has become so big in France

Huh?

And here’s the incredibly stupid — and oh, so very Français part:

Country and western has become so big in France that the country’s bureaucrats have decided to bring the craze under state control.

The French administration has moved to create an official country dancing diploma as part of a drive to regulate the fad. Authorised instructors who have been on publicly funded training courses will be put in charge of line dancing lessons and balls.

Line dancing developed, and exists, here just fine without state control, but hey, we’re not French. And thank God for that. More weird:

Jean Chauveau, the chairman of the country section of the French Dance Federation, said … the French shunned the square dancing that is popular among country and western fans in the United States because it involved physical contact. “They don’t want to take anyone by the hand or anything like that,” he said.

Wait. What happened to “the language of love” and all that? The French not wanting to touch? Aren’t they the nation of harcèlement sexuel? And yet more stupid:

French civil servants say line dancing should be submitted to the same rules as sports such as football and rugby … Amateur instructors will have to take 200 hours of training under the new rules. Professionals will get 600 hours

Ooo, la la! Zey weel be ze certeefahd instructeurs! Zee experts!

I’m assuming Texas Roadhouse won’t be opening many new restaurants in France now, or if they do, they’ll have to cover line-dancing training costs for all those employees.

And from one of Blair’s commenters:

Grab votre mistress do zee do.
Surrender to your enemy, here we go.
Swing your partner round and round,
Wave the white flag all around
Munch the cheese now drink that wine
Soon you’ll have a French ol’ time
Hate the Jews and smell real bad
Now you’re doin’ Le Square Dance Fad.

Obama: Like Dan Quayle Only Dumber

isn’t it, how Obama-supporting Democrats are suddenly discovering what conservatives have known about the Clintons since the 90s (too many examples to count), and how Hillary-supporting Democrats are suddenly discovering what conservatives have known about media bias since, well, forever.

The Great Bozo. I suspect Obama will give me many opportunities to use that one over the next few months.

#101 Being Offended:

But white people, blessed with both time and energy, are not these kind of people. In fact there are few things white people love more than being offended.

Naturally, white people do not get offended by statements directed at white people. In fact, they don’t even have a problem making offensive statements about other white people (ask a white person about “flyover states”). As a rule, white people strongly prefer to get offended on behalf of other people.

It is also valuable to know that white people spend a significant portion of their time preparing for the moment when they will be offended. They read magazines, books, and watch documentaries all in hopes that one day they will encounter a person who will say something offensive. When this happens, they can leap into action with quotes, statistics, and historical examples. Once they have finished lecturing another white person about how it’s wrong to use the term “black” instead of “African-American,” they can sit back and relax in the knowledge that they have made a difference.

The guys at this site got a book deal. Just as funny as the articles, maybe more so, are the clueless commenters that don’t get it.

On bumper stickers:

Though there is no conclusive evidence about the effectiveness of these stickers, white people show no signs of abandoning the campaign. In fact, there is a popular tale in white mythology that tells of an unenlightened man driving on the freeway who saw a bumper sticker on the back of a Subaru station wagon that said “Go Veg.” The sticker was so moving that he threw the hamburger he was eating right out the window and became a vegetarian on the spot. Two days later, he affixed the same bumper sticker to their car and the process began anew until enough people had changed their views to form what we now know as the city of Portland, Oregon.

First, the context. Georgfelis said:

In the event Air Force One’s pilot is incapacitated, McCain has at least a chance of landing without plowing into something important.

Heh. But that’s not the right line. This is:

The Democrat candidates believe we should fight Al-Qaeda everywhere in the world, unless we are already there, in which case we should leave.

To which dru22 commented:

I have been saying for years what Georgfelis said but with different words. I have called it “hypothetical heroism”. Namely, the passionate willingness of so many to fight the good fight for democracy…. whereEVER the battle is NOT. Because, you see, in that fierce battle of NOTthere-zia, there is no collateral damage, no children or puppies are harmed, nothing bad takes place (only “good” war-fighting… stuff), no mistakes are made, and thus nothing that requires heavy-lifting, even if it is just the lifting of explaining to others why bad things are sometimes necessary…. none of that. Just a ferocious fight for justice that is in fact a fantasy.

Hypothetical heroism. The very moment the battle in that very place becomes real… forget it. They’ll turn on a dime on the basis of “moral high ground”.

A lefty foil of mine once said he would have justified attacking North Korea in the aftermath of 9/11, since they HAD wmd, and obviously Iraq did not, lies lies lies, yadda yadda. This from the “no link, no link, no link between Al Qeada and Iraq”, etc crowd. Yeppers, sure. I’ll buy that.

Wherever the battle against injustice and tyranny is not, they are gung-ho-yeah. Where it is, forget it.

Gosh that must feel good.

or maybe not: City cleans up ‘Kids’ anti-fascist poop, in California:

The campers that fearlessly took on global fascism from a small settlement north of Trail 4 in the Arcata Community Forest have moved on.

Now, the City has begun to clean up the mounds of anti-fascist litter, feces and trampled vegetation plus the hillside erosion they left behind.

On Wednesday, April 23 Arcata Police Department officers and members of the City of Arcata Environmental Services department traveled to the illegal camp with bad news – that the campers would have to leave.

Regular forest users had complained about the illegal camping as well as the environmental damage caused by the campers. Trails leading into the area had been barricaded with downed timber and piles of garbage.

And not a little, either:

City crews subsequently dismantled the encampment. About 10 truckloads of garbage, tarps, discarded food, wet clothing, milk crates and shopping carts were cleaned out from the urine-scented campsite.

“There was feces next to food, next to clothes,” Chapman said. “It was horrible.”

Pics of these nutjobs here, if you can stomach it.

Off to Boalsburg.

More nonsense from the MSM, via the Mad Pigeon:

Americans are about to fire up their barbecues for the start of the summer cookout season, and one thing has become painfully apparent: It’s going to cost a lot more than it did last year to roast a burger, or just about any other barbecue favorite, on the grill.

Oh no! But wait:

The price of an average barbecue — with burgers, hot dogs, beer, soda, condiments, salad, paper plates and lighter fluid — could run families about 6 percent more than last year.

Psssst. Six percent is not “a lot.”

“I’m finding myself questioning every purchase, wondering if it’s gonna get eaten or if we really need it,” said Tony Caballero, an advertising and marketing consultant, as he filled his cart with paper plates at a Food Emporium in New York City. “When you do your everyday shopping, you try to cut corners. But it’s a shame to have to scale down when you’re trying to throw a party.”

I’ve been to the Food Emporium. If this idiot had any sense, and were really concerned about prices, he wouldn’t be shopping there. But if he had any sense, he wouldn’t be living in NYC.

The surge in prices is forcing people to try to cut corners and find bargains where they can, such as buying store brands, which tend to cost less than name brands.

Oh no! Not store brands! That’s horrific!

A recent study by the Food Marketing Institute found that about a third more shoppers are limiting themselves to frozen or boxed foods instead of fresh items this year, while nearly half said they bought fewer foods overall.

Gee, at every store I’ve ever frequented, boxed and frozen items are more expensive than their fresh counterparts. Ever being the optimist, I see one good thing in this story:

Scott Faber, a lobbyist for the Grocery Manufacturers Association, which has been pushing Congress to increase ethanol research funding, said prices for meat will continue to rise in the next couple of years. Newly enacted federal ethanol mandates will drive the cost of corn higher, he said.

“We are just in the beginning of a period of significantly higher prices, and American families will continue to feel that impact as the cost for basic staples like milk, meat and eggs will grow dramatically,” Faber said. “This holiday weekend surely reflects that.”

Maybe when prices get high enough, there will be enough pressure to repeal these idiotic ethanol mandates.

“Your car can’t run on Congress’ hot air.” Mark Steyn, of course. Who else could come up with a headline that good? Thanks to EvolutionRight for the link.

I was watching the Big Oil execs testifying before Congress. That was my first mistake. If memory serves, there was lesbian mud wrestling over on Channel 137, and on the whole that’s less rigged. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz knew the routine: “I can’t say that there is evidence that you are manipulating the price, but I believe that you probably are. So prove to me that you are not.”

Had I been in the hapless oil man’s expensive shoes, I’d have answered, “Hey, you first. I can’t say that there is evidence that you’re sleeping with barnyard animals, but I believe that you probably are. So prove to me that you are not. Whatever happened to the presumption of innocence and prima facie evidence, lady? Do I have to file a U.N. complaint in Geneva that the House of Representatives is in breach of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights?”

But that’s why I don’t get asked to testify before Congress. So instead the Big Oil guy oozed as oleaginous as his product before the grand panjandrums of the House Subcommittee on Televised Posturing, and then they went off and passed 324-82 the so-called NOPEC bill. The NOPEC bill is, in effect, a suit against OPEC, which, if I recall correctly, stands for the Oil Price-Exploiting Club. “No War For Oil!,” as the bumper stickers say. But a massive suit for oil – now that’s the American way.

But here’s what gets me:

“It shall be illegal and a violation of this Act,” declared the House of Representatives, “to limit the production or distribution of oil, natural gas, or any other petroleum product … or to otherwise take any action in restraint of trade for oil, natural gas or any petroleum product when such action, combination, or collective action has a direct, substantial, and reasonably foreseeable effect on the market, supply, price or distribution of oil, natural gas or other petroleum product in the United States.”

In the United States? Wow, isn’t that unilateral American arrogance, or something like that, and don’t all of the latte liberals like Nancy Pelosi whine about that sort of thing? What about in Luxembourg? Or do they have cars there?

republished, “10 signs that you’re a moral idiot.“

This is what I would call an unhappy Democrat (there are 566 comments, so you probably won’t want to read them all, but cruise through some of them to see how unhinged some of these people are).

You can now buy beer at Wegman’s. (It’s Wegman’s. How much do you want to bet they don’t carry Budweiser?)

You might wonder why I care, given that I don’t drink, ever. Well, I don’t, but that doesn’t mean nobody who might be in the house does. But you really need to understand how idiotic Pennsylvania’s state-controlled alcohol sales system is to really understand why I think this is (too little of) a good thing.

You’re saying, “We have state-controlled alcohol sales.” Yeah, lots of states do, but not nearly as idiotic as Pennsylvania’s. So here’s a run-down of the state laws on alcohol sales.

• If you want two six-packs or less of beer, you can only buy it at a beer store or a bar.
• If you want a case or more, you can only buy it at a beer distributor.
• If you want wine or liquor, you can only buy it at a wine and spirits store.

If you’re throwing a party, then, you have to go to the supermarket to buy the food, the beer store or distributor (depending on how much you want to buy) to get the beer, and the wine and spirits store to buy the wine and/or liquor. Seriously. But that’s not all, oh no, it’s must stupider than that. From Everything2:

• Selection is awful. Distribution choices are not made at the local level, and if the store doesn’t have what you’re looking for, you have to pay a hefty delivery charge to get that special Merlot for your family reunion dinner.
• Distribution of stores per area is limited by the population of the county, in theory. In practice, pork-barrel politics has introduced enough exceptions to render the actual distribution somewhat arbitrary. At one time, there were less stores in Pennsylvania than there were in the city of Dallas.
• Service sucks. By law. Employees are forbidden to recommend any specific brand of alcohol.
• High prices. There are a ton of taxes that you have to pay on your alcohol. An expose was done on this in the 1980s. It turned out that some of the taxes were highly suspect; for instance a ‘flood relief’ tax was going to pay for flooding damage that had been done in the 1930s.
• Poor management. It’s hard to imagine losing money when you’re the only person in town that can sell alcohol, but somehow Pennsylvania manages to do it.

Contrast this bizarre system with Indiana, where all you need to sell alcohol is a liquor license. Throwing a party in Indiana? Pick up all the food, supplies, beer, wine, and liquor at Sam’s Club. Or if Sam’s doesn’t have all of the food items you need, go to one of the countless supermarket/pharmacy combo stores, where you can pick up the food, beer, and wine in the supermarket part, and the liquor in the pharmacy part. One trip.

Here’s another advantage: Competition. Here, beer, wine, liquor, all are the same price no matter where you buy them, because the prices are all set and sold by the state. In Indiana, private businesses compete, and if the Maker’s Mark at the liquor store across the street is too expensive for your blood, you can always buy it at another store that sells it cheaper. The one downside of buying liquor in pharmacies is that it’s often more expensive than it is at Sam’s or liquor stores.

The only odd liquor law in Indiana is no sales on Sundays. That’s no carry-out sales. Bars are open, and you can get beer or wine with dinner at a restaurant.

Pennsylvania needs to ditch all of these commie liquor laws. There is no excuse for them.

Speaking of good things, that &^@#! clinic is going to open August 4. What the story doesn’t tell you is that the clinic has been going up for over a year. I know, you see, because