Is there any reason to hope?

I'm sure you were wondering what our friend Ron Paul has been up to lately. Turns out he's been on the lecture circuit when he's not in Congress or in his district campaigning. He recently visited Baltimore's Goucher College, then paid a follow-up call-in to the Ron Smith Show on WBAL. Judging from this report from a listener to the show, there isn't much reason for hope if Goucher students are in any way representative of their generation.

"They almost universally like what he says about the war, but they simply don't understand constitutional government. Almost without fail, they could not help but ask him what he'd replace things with.

”For example, one girl asked, ‘Since No Child Left Behind has been such a failure, what would you replace it with?’ Ron answered about how it could do nothing but fail and how it was absurd for Washington to get so involved in education. The girl still didn't get it, she restated her question – ‘but what would you do instead?’ Ron replied, ‘I think we've done too much already. I would get Washington out of your hair.’

“Another girl asked about the wage gap for women (obviously not aware that there really is no such thing), and what Ron would do about it. ‘Nothing’ was his basic answer. He said he couldn't wrap his head, as a Libertarian, around treating one person differently than another. She walked away with her head held down.

“One of the boys asked about how Ron would create jobs. Once again, Ron talked about how that is capitalism's job, not government's.

”The kids just didn't get it. They can't really grasp the idea of Washington doing nothing about a problem, as Paul is undoubtedly the first politician they've ever heard propose doing nothing, insisting rather that you can do it better than they can. You could see the confusion on their faces when he said ‘As president I would get Washington out of the abortion business, putting the decision back in the states, where it belongs.’

“The realization that all these kids know is politicians promising to fix everything, never having seen one tell the truth - that they can't fix it, filled me with shame.

”The one thing they do understand, however, is that the central bank is a problem. I found that very illustrative.”

Well, at least they understand that the Central Bank is an unmitigated disaster. But...and I can't stress this strongly enough...can you really blame the kids? After all, their stupid parents still think that government has all of the answers. I mean, look at the three steaming piles of disaster we've got left in the race for the White House. There's no way anyone who understands the principles of limited government could vote for ANY of them. Not even for dog catcher.

This story -- the story of the US of A -- is going to end badly. Very badly.

Das Überwachenden/Der Staat grow bolder

Tip of the beak to "rabo karabekian" over at Pro Libertate.

It seems our friends in the Senate have passed a bill requiring that the DNA of every newborn child in America be retrieved and warehoused for...well, we can't be sure what for, can we?

The Newborn Genetic Screening bill was passed by the Senate last December. The bill violates the U.S. Constitution and the Nuremberg Code, writes Twila Brase, president of the Citizen’s Council on Health Care (CCHC). “The DNA taken at birth from every citizen is essentially owned by the government, and every citizen becomes a potential subject of government-sponsored genetic research,” she states. “It does not require consent and there are no requirements to inform parents about the warehousing of their child’s DNA for the purpose of genetic research..."

As usual, there's one lonely voice standing in opposition to Das Überwachenden.

The federal government lacks the Constitutional authority as well as the competence to develop a newborn screening program, states Rep. Ron Paul, M.D. (R-TX).

And ya'll wondered why I was so ga-ga over the guy in supporting his presidential run!

Both civil libertarians and the medical profession are trying to get President Traitor to veto this patently unconstitutional POS, but, if I were a betting man, I'd put my money on old Chimpy signing the bill as soon as it clears the House. The violation of the people's liberties matters not one wit to old Chimpy. Not. One. Wit.

But what I find especially irksome in all of this is (1) this bill was passed by the Senate in December, and (2) I'm only finding out about this in APRIL. Where has the media been? For heaven's sakes, people! Get your noses out of Brittney's ass and pay attention to the things that really matter!

TSA Explained

William Griggs at Pro Libertate is rapidly becoming a go-to read for me. His most recent post did more to explain the Brave New World in which we live than anything I've read prior to this.

You see, I've been using this blog to rail against the outrages of TSA, ATF, and other organs of Der Staat because I see these things occurring and want to see them exposed and (hopefully) stopped. But I've done so without fully understanding the milieu. Now I get it.

When a grandmother is molested at a checkpoint, it's standard procedure -- but woe betide the grandmother who dares put up what meager and half-hearted resistance she can. Turning traumatized geriatric women into "violent felons" displays one facet of the perverse genius of the Homeland Security State.

You see, from the Leviathan's point of view, only those employed to make or enforce policy are really persons; the rest of us are people.

If this distinction is difficult to understand, then consider the wisdom shared in (of all things) the 1960 Jerry Lewis film Cinderfella. Early in the story, Lewis's character receives a visit from his Fairy Godfather (look, that's what he was called in the movie), played by the always delightful Ed Wynn. Cinderfella makes a remark to the effect that he's always tried to be nice to "people and persons." Asked to elaborate, Lewis's character explains that only a chosen few are sufficiently important to be considered individual persons; the rest of us are people.

And the light bulb glows.

As a "people", one who will never be a "person", I can safely say that we will receive no satisfaction, justice, or relief from Der Staat until it either collapses under the weight of its own hubris, or is brought down by the "people". If I were a betting man (I'm not - it's the one vice I managed to avoid in my life), I'd put all of my money on option #1. There's already more than enough hubris among the "persons" to guarantee the collapse of Leviathan. It's what will come out of the ruins and replace Leviathan that worries me.

Wiener of the Week

The WotW for this week is none other than Judge Barbara Walther, the incompetent fascist judge who this past week decided that, notwithstanding the fact that the call to CPS that triggered the whole FLDS fiasco was a fraud, the children seized by the Texas Stoßtruppen should remain in state custody.

Understand, the alleged "marriages" of girls under the age of consent to old horny bastards, if true (it used to be in this country that you were presumed innocent until proven guilty, in case you've forgotten -- our government certainly has!), are worthy of maximum jail time for the horny old coots.

But...and this is of paramount importance...EVEN HORNY OLD PERVERTS HAVE CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS.

But Ms. Walther (trust me, she wants to be called Ms.) is apparently of the opinion that Constitutional protections are null and void when it comes to "protecting the children". She has that certainty of correctness so common among liberals. She "knows" that crimes have been committed, and they were committed against, gasp, THE CHILDREN! So screw the rights of these weirdos. The children must be protected against the statutory rape that certainly awaits them back at the ranch! Never mind that, statistically speaking, the young women among the group (particularly those ages 12-15) have a greater chance of being raped, abused, even killed in foster care than they ever had at the ranch.

But that's neither here nor there; with liberals, it's always intentions that matter, results be damned.

Judge Barbara Walther, you are, most deservedly, the Wiener of the Week.

"Experts" at large!

There is considerable time, money, and effort being put in by an innocuous-sounding group called "The Jesus Project" in order to scientifically "discover" who Jesus really was (because, after all, the eye-witness accounts from 2000 years ago certainly can't be trusted to be accurate! /sarcasm). The project is being funded, organized, and managed by a little group called the Committee for the Scientific Examination of Religion (CSER). Here is the self-description of this group from their website.

The Committee for the Scientific Examination of Religion (CSER) is a research division of the Center for Inquiry. Since its 1983 founding in Washington, DC, the Committee has worked to encourage humanistic, critical and non-parochial approaches to the study of religious traditions and institutions and to develop programs that promote the public understanding of religion in an international context.

Let's disect that statement, shall we? "[E]ncourage humanistic, critical and non-parochial approaches to the study of religious traditions and institutions..." "[P]romote the public understanding of religion in an international context." Hmmm. Humanistic. Non-parochial. International context. Okay, I'm with you so far.

NOT AT ALL!!!!

Let's cut through the weasel-words and call this spade a spade: these are Important People With Advanced Degrees who are going to do everything in their power to make Jesus out to be "just another man", not "I AM", as He Himself claimed to be.

For what purpose would these people engage in such work? I mean, if they don't believe that Jesus is God, then why even waste the time researching Him? Obviously the point of this work is to undermine the faith of Christians by calling into question the historicity of Jesus. They aim to "prove" that the Jesus of Christianity is a myth.

How successful have they been? If the enthusiasm of the mainstream media is to be believed, quite. Among the group's claims: only about 18% of the "red letter" text in the New Testament was actually spoken by Jesus. How, exactly, did they determine this? Don't question them! They're Important People With Advanced Degrees.

Now a member of this group is publishing a new book. And it's not just any member - he's Paul Verhoeven, a famous Hollywood director. His book, Jesus of Nazareth: A Realistic Portrait, makes these claims:

• Jesus might have been fathered by a Roman soldier who raped Mary, and
• Judas Iscariot was not responsible for Jesus' betrayal

Even people from his own group are distancing themselves from this guy's views.

The movie director’s claims were greeted with some skepticism among those who have dedicated their careers to studying the life of Jesus.

One issue is that there is very little information about the life of Jesus outside of the Gospels. The Gospels as understood by Christians for nearly 2,000 years do not support Verhoeven’s ideas.

William Portier, a professor of religious studies at the University of Dayton, in Ohio, said the Jesus Seminar was known for making provocative claims, but “they are real scholars — you have to deal with them.”

And you thought I was being snide when I referred to these guys as Important People With Advanced Degrees! "[T]hey are real scholars -- you have to deal with them" my ass! Any asshat can sit around and speculate about events that occurred millenia before their birth. "Might have" and "could have" are not equal to "proof". Do not be swayed by the work of people like this. They're all about entrapping the vulnerable and destroying the faith of the weak. They're no better than pimps or drug dealers -- and quite possibly not as bright.

You mean...science...was.......WRONG?

Who knew? It's practically an article of faith among the health-conscious that you have to drink 8 glasses of water per day or dire consequences will ensue. Eh, not so much.

Scientists say there is no evidence drinking large amounts of water is beneficial for the average healthy person, and do not even know how this widely held belief came about.

Okay, I call BS. It "came about" because you "scientists" made such a to-do about it.

I wish I could say that it's the first time science was so wrong about an issue of health..........but it's DEFINITELY not. You'll recall that when we were young eggs were considered essential for health. Then, in the mid 80's, "science" announced that eggs were deadly. Worst...food...EVER!

Then, about 15 years later......."science" sort of said, "Uh, never mind what we said before about eggs...there isn't any health danger." But for 15 years health-conscious people lost out on the beneficial high-protein goodness of eggs, because "they're bad for you" -- "science" says so.

The thing is, common sense would tell you that generation after generation of healthy people who ate eggs daily surely must mean that something was wrong with the original hypothesis. But that's not how science works. What "science" does best, in fact, is issue "where did you ever get THAT idea?" non-disclaimers.

"One of the problems is that strong recommendations have often been made on very weak data. It may have been the best guess at the moment, but often the recommendations are repeated so many times that people forget they were rough guesses in the first place and come to think they are hard facts."

Dr. Walter Willett, 2000
Harvard School of Public Health

The best guess?!?!? The best $&*%&# GUESS?!?!?!?! You nearly ruined the egg industry, and you deprived millions of the health benefits of eggs......based on a GUESS?!?!?!?!??!

But they're dead-on when they talk about Global Warming, right?

The Cult of Evolution

Fred Reed is a curmudgeonly old so-and-so. He's one of those writers: when he's good, he's very, VERY good, and when he's bad, he's still readable. This week he was very, VERY good.

He writes this week on the "science" of evolution and, more importantly, the zealots who subscribe to that faith. As an FYI, I'm going to be beating on "science" quite a bit this week, because it's becoming something of a fraud industry.

Anyway, Fred starts off his column with a bang.

I think it a shame that discussion of evolution usually boils down to a pledge of allegiance either to Darwin or to the handling of snakes. This view admirably distracts attention from the observation that much of Darwinism doesn’t square with observation or even make sense. Religion has nothing to do with it, being an innocent bystander.

Not bad, eh? And the guy's an atheist!

Later he adds this zinger.

The entire Darwinian structure rests on the willingness to accept wild theories without examination.

You've got to read the whole thing yourself -- I can't do it justice here.

We're #1!

Even thought my Washington Capitals lost last night to those rat bastards from Philadelphia, there is one area where Washington surpasses Philly - traffic.

1. Washington, D.C.

• Annual delays per traveler: 60 hours
• Commutes longer than 45 minutes: 28.3%

Atlanta was #2, LA was #3, SF was #4 (been there and done that - it's a nightmare), and Houston rounds out the top 5.

Count me among those with a commute of more than 45 minutes (I could make it to work in 45 minutes -- if you take 4/5 of the cars off the road and tell all of the cops to take a hike). My commute to work is roughly 75-90 minutes, unless the weather is bad, then it can be up to 3 hours. The commute home is M-U-C-H worse - 90 minutes to 1 1/4 hours in good weather, up to 3 1/2 hours in bad.

I think the estimate of 60 hours of annual delays is on the low side. I think I lost that much time just since January.

But don't think for one second that the socialist-leaning State, County, or City governments of this region are going to lift a finger to build new roads! Heaven forfend! Oh wait, they don't believe in Heaven. Never mind. Their answer to gawd-awful commutes is (and will be) always, "Let them take mass transit!" But that's not an answer to L-O-N-G commutes. I can fight traffic and make it to work in 90 minutes. Or I can catch a MARC train to downtown DC, switch over to the Metro Red Line for 2 stops, switch over to the Orange line, catch a Metro bus from Merrifield, and get here in...I don't even want to think about it. My best guess, given my years of extensive experience riding Metro - 1 1/2 hours on the best of days. In other words, roughly double the hell commute time I have now.

"Let them take mass transit!" indeed!

We're #1! We're #1! We're #1!

Attorney-Client Priviledge

I happen to be a fan of the "cops and lawyers" genre of TV action fare. Mrs. Vulture and I watch The Closer, Criminal Minds, Law & Order, and Law & Order SVU faithfully. So we're sort of "up on" the terminology. The term "attorney-client privilege" comes up all the time, particularly in the "Law & Order" shows. For the most part I'm comfortable with the concept inasmuch as it is there to protect a defendant's Fifth Amendment rights. But when something like this comes up, I have to question the ludicrous lengths to which the legal profession can distort and misuse privilege.

An innocent man was behind bars. His name was Alton Logan. He did not kill a security guard in a McDonald's restaurant in January 1982.

"In fact," the document said, "another person was responsible."
___

They knew, because Andrew Wilson told them: He did it.

But that was the catch.

It seems that Andrew Wilson was their client.

So...........can someone please explain to me WHY this precludes them from going to a judge and telling him, "Your Honor, we have exculpatory evidence that we cannot reveal without violating attorney-client privilege -- but we know for a fact that Alton Logan is innocent"? I mean, SURELY there must be some kind of work-around for these kinds of situations, wouldn't you think? A man's life was RUINED because these literalists wouldn't act. He has been in prison for a crime he didn't commit for 26-EFFING-YEARS!

Did they, in fact, do the right thing in putting their client's interests ahead of those of an innocent man? Am I wrong? Because what they did seems wrong to me. Morally wrong. Ethically wrong. Common-sense wrong.

Vox on the FLDS debaucle

I wouldn't want anyone to think I'm piling on here. Okay, I'm piling on here. This is what Vox Day had to say in his WorldNetDaily.com column today:

[N]ot since the Waco massacre have I been so completely appalled by an American government action. The recent kidnapping of 416 children from their Fundamentalist LDS parents by Texas Child Protective Service agents is a unconscionable abnegation of not only the United States and Texas constitutions, but a rejection of the very meaning of what it is to be an American. For as P.J. O'Rourke rightly declares: "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please."

Amen, brother. Amen. And there's more.

Contrary to what a disturbing percentage of the voting population appears to believe, "protecting the children" is not a legitimate function of government. The concept appears nowhere in any constitution, and the very idea that the most lethal institution in human history, an institution that has killed more children than any other, can even be used to protect children is inherently oxymoronic. The state does not own the children whose families happen to reside within its boundaries and it does not possess the right to dictate what is and what is not a proper way for a family to raise its children.

Yeah buddy! And, finally, this.

And as history has shown, the next time it may not be some weird and heretical Mormons in the government's gun sights, but Jews, homeschoolers or evangelical Christians.

Do yourself a favor and read the whole article - it's well work it.

Get over Ronald Reagan!

For those of you who still persist in thinking that the Republicans are the "good guys", here's another heaping pile of manure that says otherwise.

Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels elicited several hushed gasps and raised eyebrows late last week as he lectured a conservative crowd that it was "time to let Ronald Reagan go."

Okay, you say, he's only trying to rally support among conservatives for the completely unpalatable John McCommie, so he's got to say things like that. Yeah? Well I call BS. If the GOP really gave a rat's ass about conservatives (hint: they don't), this guy would be ex-GOP by the end of the week.

Ronald Reagan wasn't perfect, but he was infinitely better than anyone else who's come along in the past 100 years. And the high esteem in which he is held by real conservatives just infuriates the Rockefellerite establishment of the GOP. They want you to fall in lock-step behind their guy. You know, the asshat with the temper and the antipathy for the first amendment.

Sorry, won't do it. We won't get fooled again.

The FLDS saga continues

I have been remiss in posting regarding this topic. There has been tons of reporting on this story, and, much like a halibut left out in the summer sun for a week, it's starting to REALLY stink.

For starters, we learn that the Texas Schutzstaffel showed up full combat gear with armored vehicles when they invaded the ranch. Armored vehicles! WTF!!!! Can you say "Branch Davidians"? Two weeks ago when I first posted regarding this abortion of justice, I mentioned that the FLDS were smart not to resist the police, lest they end up like the Davidians. Was I right, or was I right?

So.....where, exactly, did the Schutzstaffel get the idea that they needed that degree of overkill? Was the FLDS armed to teeth like the Davidians? No. Were there threats of violence issued from the FLDS toward, gee, ANYONE? No. Ah, but there were RUMORS.

Parker said rumors have circulated since the 1950s that the FLDS would respond with violence to threats on their way of life. "It's never been substantiated at all. Nobody who knows these people could possibly believe that," he said.

Rumors. From the 1950s. Uh-huh.

This was overkill on an unprecedented level. But it's okay, right? Because, after all, there was a 16-year-old victim of abuse to save, right?

Uh.....not quite.

Phoenix child-protection advocate Flora Jessop said she was duped by a Colorado woman who pretended to be the victim of abuse in a polygamist sect and whose arrest Friday raises questions about the recent seizure of more than 400 children from a church compound in Texas.

Jessop, a former member of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, said she recorded about 30 hours of phone conversations with a person claiming to be a 15-year-old named Sarah who was beaten and impregnated by her father, a fundamentalist in Colorado City.

Jessop said police eventually traced the calls to a Colorado Springs resident, Rozita Swinton, who was arrested at her home Wednesday and is being held in connection with two false police reports in Colorado. According to the Denver Post, one of those involves fake calls from a woman claiming she was going to abandon a baby and kill herself. The other involves calls in which a woman posed as an abused child in a basement.

400 children have been forcibly removed from their homes on the word of an emotionally disturbed Colorado Springs woman. A second raid was nearly executed in Arizona. Arizona law enforcement should be commended for showing considerably more restraint than the hardons in Texas.

This stinks to high heaven. I do not in any way condone the practices of the FLDS. But, as a freedom-loving libertarian, I absolutely abhor the tactics of the Texas
Schutzstaffel, whose conduct should be decried and whose leadership should be investigated.

Wiener of the Week

There could only be one possible candidate for the WotW for this week - the Vulture. Yes, ladies and germs, we have our first three time winner, and it's me. Doh!

So...why am I awarding myself the WotW THIS time? Here's the skinny.

As you will recall, I made a post last Saturday in which I savaged "Harry Anonymous" for comments he made that I determined were offensive to Christians of a Protestant persuasion. I really went off on Mr. Harry as only I can when frothing with righteous indignation. It's both a talent and a curse.

Well, Mrs. Vulture read the post later this past week, and her response was less than enthusiastic. "How old are you?", she asked. "'Grow a set?' What's wrong with you?" What's wrong with me indeed.

Upon further review, my lambasting of Mr. Harry was W-A-Y over the top. As such, I officially apologize to Harry, who, I'm sure, full of his Mormon surety of exceptionalness, had no idea he was in any way being offensive to "real" Christians (can I make a left-handed apology, or what?). Okay, what I mean to say is that there was no excuse for the meanness of my response. I could have been just as excoriating without getting personal.

So, for being a mean-spirited quasi-juvenile over-the-top mean bastard, I, the Vulture, am the Wiener of the Week.

Also caused by Global Warming?

Don't be too terribly surprised if asshats like Al Gorebells try to blame global warming for this, too.

Residents across the Midwest were awakened Friday by a 5.2 magnitude earthquake that rattled skyscrapers in Chicago's Loop and homes in Cincinnati but appeared to cause no major injuries or damage.

I'm just sayin'...

49ers 2008 -- another rough year?

The NFL schedules for the 2008 season have been released. It's gonna be a rough one for my boys. I'm predicting a 7-9 season (click here to see my complete slate of game-by-game predictions). But it's only going to be a 7-9 season if the team can overcome a brutal slate of games between weeks 5-8, when the team faces, in order, the Patriots, Eagles, Giants, and Seahawks. That's an almost-certain 0-4 stretch. Throw in the Saints game the week before the team faces the Pats, and it might even be an 0-5 stretch. P-U!

However, the Niners finish the season with a cream puff run of Jets, Dolphins, and Rams, followed by a week 17 game against a Redskins team that, frankly, doesn't scare me. If the Niners are anywhere CLOSE to .500 going into week 14, they'll make the playoffs.

There's a lot to be excited about going into this year. There's the quarterback competition. There's Mike Martz running the offense with a (hopefully) healthy Frank Gore. The defense is getting younger and faster. Who knows? The NFL is a strange league, where crap teams one year become Super Bowl contenders the next. As that walrus Chris Berman likes to say, "That's why they play the games."

Occupation: student, Pay: ???

Imagine my surprise. I was watching the Glenn Beck show on CNN Headline News the other night with the missus. Glenn casually dropped a few facts about ways the left has succeeded in implementing socialism. Then he drops this bombshell about how students are getting paid to go to school -- in MARYLAND!!! After his "bomb", I dropped some "bombs" of my own, if you catch my drift.

You don't believe me? Believe this!

In Baltimore, students at four middle schools are already earning money - albeit money they won't be able to spend for some time. The Stocks in the Future program, also offered at two schools in Baltimore County, teaches students about the stock market and allows them to earn up to $80 a year based on attendance and grades to spend on stocks. They can cash in the stock when they graduate from high school.

Are you kidding me?

Then, today I read that a similar scheme is in place in Connecticut.

Students who pass Advanced Placement tests at Wilby High School in Waterbury will be getting hard cold cash rewards.

The students who pass their final AP tests next year will earn $100 for themselves for every test they pass.

Isn't that nice? It's not bad enough that I had to pay over $8k per year to put my kids in private schools because the Middle School and High School in our district suck, but now more of my money in the form of state and federal tax dollars is going to be redistributed to little asshats for doing nothing more than what's expected from a f'in student!

It sort of puts yesterday's rant about Tax Day into perspective, doesn't it?

Happy Tax Day

It's that day that everyone looks forward to like a trip to the proctologist, Tax Day. Have YOU paid YOUR fair share?

Doesn't that make you gag? "Paid your fair share" -- my butt!

Take a look at how "fair" that "share" really is. See the chart? See the percentage of tax revenues paid? See how half the county's wage earners paid nothing or next to nothing in federal income tax? Now see the Vulture in the category known among his neighbors as "the middle class" and among politicians as "the rich". Can you understand why the Vulture might be just a tad ill disposed toward that disparity?

But Vulture! You can afford it, Mr. Big Bucks. Like hell! I support a wife and two kids, both of whom are in college! Besides, there are only two reasons for high taxes, and neither of them have anything to do with financing the activities of the government.

1. To keep graspers in the middle class from achieving wealth and becoming peers of the elite


2. To redistribute income

That's it. Nothing more, nothing less.

We, the middle class, have become the mules that pull society along. But as you can see from the chart, there are as many people on the wagon as there are mules pulling. At what point do the mules rebel, and cause society to implode? Don't hold your breath.

The problem with mules is that they're trained from the time they're young to work, and work hard. It's innate. It's as much a part of them as their very DNA. Too many of the mules buy into the notion that they live in a free and just society, and so they cheerfully go about their labors, unaware of how they're being used by the elite.

So onward we toil, until the People's World Socialist Utopia has been fulfilled. Das vedanyeh, tovarische!

Bush drinks the Kool-Aid

In case you still harbor doubts about the president and his commitment to what's best for America, here's further proof that he's completely sold us out.

President Bush is poised to change course and announce as early as this week that he wants Congress to pass a bill to combat global warming, and will lay out principles for what that should include.

Specifics of the policy are still being fiercely debated, but Bush administration officials have told Republicans in Congress that they feel pressure to act now because they fear a coming regulatory nightmare. It would be the first time Mr. Bush has called for statutory authority on the subject.

"This is an attempt to move the administration and the party closer to the center on global warming. With these steps, it is hoped that the debate over this is over, and it is time to do something," said an administration source close to the White House who is familiar with the planning and who said to expect an announcement this week.

It is hoped that the debate is over. By whom?

The more it becomes apparent to anyone paying attention that global warming is a sham, the more the elite pushes for global warming legislation. They're obviously afraid that they'll miss their window of opportunity. And with news like this, I can see why they fear.

All of this cold weather is freezing the start of the gardening season. Now, outdoor fans are eager for a warm-up.

"I'm 71-years-old and I've never seen spring come this late," Robert Ciesleck said.

All I know is that it was 36 degrees when I left the house this morning. In mid-April. I'm just sayin'.

As the president gets closer to his last day in office, he looks for new and ingenious ways to screw the American people. First he came down on the side of Federal handgun restrictions. And now he's going to push for global warming legislation (read: tax increases in the name of finding a "solution").

All of you suckers who say you're going to bite the bullet and vote McCain this fall because "he's the lesser of two evils", remember this: McCommie is WAAAAAAAAY more liberal than Chimpy. If this is the kind of stuff Chimpy wants to stick us with, can you imagine what a McCommie presidency would bring?

Wiener of the Week

While I was tempted to name my new friend Harry Anonymous as the WotW, the adventure in Texas (and coming soon: the Arizona sequel!) with the raid on the FLDS compound by police and Child Protective Services has to qualify as a clear winner.

First, there's the issue of the mystery 16-year-old girl who, though being brought up in an environment where the outside world was a great unknown and not to be trusted, knew to call a domestic abuse hot line and CPS for "help". BTW, so far as I know, mystery girl still hasn't been found. Uh-huh.

This smells like an inside job by CPS. They've been dying to "save" those girls. And now, thanks to the mystery girl, they have. Isn't that precious?

Earlier I alluded to a coming Arizona sequel. So far, the AZ police have shown more restraint than their Texas brethren, but give them time: they'll do police everywhere proud by showing up with SWAT.

So, to all involved with the Texas FLDS fiasco, you're the Wiener of the Week!

FLDS aren't the only ones who are brainwashed

Here's one for the ages. I was checking around to see what other bloggers are saying about the FLDS raid, when I came across this tool, an asshat who posts anonymously (Hey pal! Notice I don't hide who am, what I represent, and where I live? Grow a set, would ya?). Obviously a TBM (true-believer Mormon), this coward wrote an apologetic trying to distance the parent LDS church from the FLDS cult. Here's a sampling of this asshat's work.

The FLDS Church is to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) what the Protestant Church is to the Catholic Church.

Now let me share with you my response to that statement.

Are you serious? How brainwashed are YOU to even CONSIDER such a thought! Protestantism was a schism within the Christian church resulting from the mother church's deviation from biblical Gospel teachings. The FLDS is a cult whose sole purpose is to allow horny old reprobates to have sex with barely-pubescent young women. Only a brainwashed twit with no actual knowledge of what the Protestant reformation was about and the good that has come about because of it (even according to your own church leaders!) would say such a thing!

Then the chickens*** had the audacity to get whiny.

The term Mormon is a slang term that used to be completely derogatory that refers to members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

My response:

Boo frickin' hoo! "Mormon" is NOT a derogatory term. It's shorthand for people who aren't familiar with the "LDS" acronym and don't feel like droning out the whole long-arse name of the church.

Step outside the box once in a while and see what's out there. Take off the blinders once in a while. You'd be amazed.

Here's the thing - I wasn't even being mean to this asshat. Trust me, if I wanted to be mean I could have pulled out whole buckets of vitriol. I've got 'em. People who've been on the receiving end can testify to that.

What a dick!

Victory over FLDS terrorists -- Update

From the Associated Press.

Officials still have not been able to identify the teen who made the call from the children being held at two sites in Texas.

The man alleged to be the 16-year-old's husband, Dale Barlow, is a registered sex offender who pleaded no contest to having sex with a minor in Arizona.

"I do not know this girl that they keep asking about," he told Utah's Deseret Morning News on Wednesday. "And I have not been to Texas since I was a young man back in 1977."

Like I said in my last comment in the original post. Fishy.

Fair-weather drivers

I've lived in the mid-Atlantic region for over 20 years now. Before that, I lived in Sacramento for 5 years. Sacramento has two seasons: the dry season, and the monsoon season. Between late November and about the first week of March, there are only two types of weather: rainy or foggy. Hence, to drive in Sac-town, one has to be somewhat impervious to the weather.

Which is what makes my experience in yesterday's morning rush hour so particularly vexing.

It was foggy yesterday morning. Not Sacramento's famed "oh holy shite I can't see the car in front of me" foggy. Foggy as in "I can't see 50 yards". You know, what a Sacramentan would consider a pleasant winter day. But here? You'd think the friggin' world was ending!

It took me 2 1/2 hours to make a commute that usually takes between 60-90 minutes.

It's not just the fog here, either. If someone spits on the sidewalk in Rockville, I-270 turns into a parking lot. People here can't drive in the rain, can't drive in the fog, and -- God help us! -- they sure as hell can't drive in the ice and snow! Hell, traffic gets tangled here when the SUN's too bright, for crying out loud!

God save me from fair-weather drivers!

Victory over FLDS terrorists

The whole FLDS situation, with the government raid, the invasion of their temple, and the confiscation of their children, has DW waxing wroth.

I have been watching this whole deal with the FLDS and their practice of polygamy. In no way do I agree with any of their teachings. The outrage comes as this: since when does the State or Government or CPS have the right to invade what the FLDS believe to be sacred ground? I am referring to their Temple they had built and paid for on their own.

I understand there was a young girl, 15, that called. Texas law says you can be married at 16. So was she exactly 15 or was she 15½? Then through the corrupt CPS (Communist Party Service) they remove 400 kids? How did they do that? Through leading statements? Through lies?

Then the FDLS tried to ward off the state from entering their temple, but failed.

So what I am getting from all this is that we don't have religious freedom in this country unless you conform to the mainstream. Hey, why did the government not invade Rev. Wright and his congregation based on terror?

I am absolutely appalled that the government would desecrate their temple the way they did. So that means if any religious group does something that does not agree with the government, that the government can once again come in and show who is really boss.

Don't misunderstand here. I am very clear that the FLDS probably broke the law by six months and maybe more. That does not give anyone the right to invade their privacy. So all you Christians, Catholics, Jews -- if you have any place sacred, you are not safe. Like I said, I am in no way supporting the FLDS. I am trying to figure out what the Holy Hell has happened to our First, Geeeze, ALL our Amended rights.

Vulture, I am now with you 100% with your comments on the TSA. That is where it starts and now the Great (My Ass) State of Tex-ass has 400 misplaced kids ripped from their blood families based on the phone call of a 15 year old whom they can't find. Polygamy is wrong BUT doing what the CPS and Law enforcement did was very scary and has put this citizen on notice. I can't even think of a word to describe the anger I feel and outrage at this.

Well said, DW.

Look, I'm no fan of wacked-out cults. But that stated, there are some very valid and troubling points raised by DW.

• The FLDS broke the law
  
  Apparently it was common practice in this sect to "marry" off these girls as soon as they hit puberty. If true, it's an abomination and it's deplorable, and those guilty of having "married" these barely-pubescent girls should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.
  
  They also broke the law with their practice of polygamy. Now, while I find said practice mystifying (Good God! Isn't ONE wife hard enough?), I find it laughable that der Staat wants to enforce THAT aspect of "marriage" while simultaneously pushing for legal status for Gay, Lesbian, and Trans-gender marriage. After all, where does the liberalization of marriage end once it ceases to be "one man/one woman/one lifetime" (which, coincidentally, is the model of marriage given to us in Genesis)?
  


• The over-the-top reaction of der Staat to the "threat" of the FLDS
  
  Whatever the case that can be made against the FLDS, the semi-militarized invasion of the group's ranch and temple was reminiscent of Waco. Way TOO reminiscent.
  
  After all, the Branch Davidians were a wacko religious cult practicing an unconventional religion. There was underage sex between cult leader David Koresh and many of the young women of the group. And they had a stash of weapons (Mein Gott! Weapons!) So the government invaded their compound, first unsuccessfully, then with chilling, deadly precision, with a show of force unprecedented in the history of this nation.
  
  The FLDS were smart not to resist the police invasion. They would have faired no better than the Davidians had they resisted.


• The invasion and desecration of the temple
  
  Regardless of how you feel about the FLDS in particular, or "sacred" buildings in general, this one needs to be addressed. Can you imagine the uproar if storm troopers of der Staat were to invade a "sacred" Muslim building? So.......why is there nary a peep about the invasion of the FLDS temple? Either we practice a policy of honoring the sanctity of ALL buildings considered sacred by the various religions, or we honor none of them. However you might feel about the FLDS, this violation of their rights is simply the prelude to the further violation of OUR rights. The fact that their religion is weird, that its practices may be abhorrent...that's not the point. I happen to think that Islam is weird and its practices (like burkas, fatwas, and jihad) abhorrent. That does NOT give me the right to invade their "sacred" buildings. By extension it does NOT give der Staat the right to invade them, either.


• The confiscation of the children
  
  I'm very deeply troubled by the whole "Child Services as judge/jury/executioner" trend. You mean to tell me that some piss ant government employee can just show up at a person's home and TAKE their children based solely on the judgment call of said government employee? And that's considered okay? If you need any further evidence that we're a nation of sheeple, this is about as definitive as it gets.
  

You won't hear any of these concerns expressed on the blathering heads shows on TV. You won't read any opinion pieces questioning the actions of der Staat's armored goons. You won't hear talk radio decrying the First Amendment violations. Why? Because, sadly, the vast majority of us believe that it's all right to violate the rights of those who are weird or non-mainstream when they're accused of criminal activities.

Oh, one last point, DW. The gestapo-like behavior by the government didn't start with TSA. It started with ATF (the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms). TSA is just the latest step in the journey from free republic to socialist dictatorship.

Please, I'm begging you - STOP!

The loonies are at it again. Now it's the World Health Organization.

Establishing a link between climate change and mental health, the World Health Organisation has said extreme weather conditions like floods, droughts and natural calamities can lead to psychiatric illnesses.

"Psychosocial illnesses are a part of the various health issues associated with climate change," Poonam Khetrapal Singh, Deputy Regional Director, WHO, said.

Please. I'm begging you. STOP!

No matter how many ways you spin it, no matter how many ways you browbeat contrarian scientists, no matter how much you shout down those who disagree with you, one thing remains true: you're full of crap. There IS no global warming. One day the sheeple are going to wake up and figure it out...and then where will you be?

Hmmm...let me rethink this. If people wake up and realize they're being lied to by asshats like WHO, the UN, and the US Government, maybe, just maybe, they'll stir from their slumber and cast off the chains.

Nah. Never happen.

More Überwachenden

Das Überwachenden has been BUSY lately. Here are two stories you might have missed if you blinked.

This first story surprised me not at all.

Intelligence centers run by states across the country have access to personal information about millions of Americans, including unlisted cellphone numbers, insurance claims, driver's license photographs and credit reports, according to a document obtained by The Washington Post.

Uh huh. All of that stuff that was implemented after 9-11 that was supposed to protect us? HA HA HA HA!!!!! To protect us! That's SO rich!

The centers have been criticized for being secretive, but authorities said that this is largely for security reasons. Activists want to know more about their activities, the kinds of information they collect and how the information is being used.

Don't hold your breath.

This story describes how the military gets around limits on its ability to gather intelligence on US nationals.

The military is using the FBI to skirt legal restrictions on domestic surveillance to obtain private records of Americans' Internet service providers, financial institutions and telephone companies, the ACLU said Tuesday.

It's really quite enlightening. There's always a rational, an excuse. It's only DoD employees, after all. Yeah...and what if YOU were a DoD employee? How would YOU feel about that?

Liberty doesn't mean freedom when the country is free of external threats. Liberty means freedom EVEN WHEN there are pressing external threats. That's what it is so odious when those who are pledged to protect our liberties engage in these kinds of activities. They've completely lost their compass. They've become that which our founding fathers sought to protect us against.

A new hat in the ring

The presidential election just got a little more interesting. Ex-congressman Bob Barr has thrown his hat in the ring as a potential candidate for president for the Libertarian party.

I have to admit to being a little out of the loop regarding Congressman Barr. Oh, sure, I'd heard of him -- who hasn't? He's been a favorite whipping boy of the Left since the Clinton impeachment. He was singled out by that great American, Larry Flynt, who offered a reward for dirt on the congressman. Allegations were made, but, as far as I know, never proven; nevertheless, this could be an obstacle to Mr. Barr's candidacy. Oh, who am I kidding; running as a Libertarian, being ALIVE is an obstacle to electability.

What do I think about this? I wish Mr. Barr the best of luck in securing the nomination at the Libertarian convention this summer. If Mr. Barr is the Libertarian candidate, he can count on my vote; his stances on the issues, particularly on individual liberty and national defense, very closely mirror my own. He's not Ron Paul...but he's not bad. He's a billion times better than the unholy asshat trio of McCommie, 666, and {don't say his middle name or you're a racist}.

Now let's see how many "principled" conservatives will vote for him over McCommie.
Godspeed, Mr. Barr.

Wiener of the Week

This week's Wiener of the Week is a repeat winner (or is that Wiener?): the National Football League.

The asshats running the league apparently have the attitude that "if it ain't broke, break it". Deciding to eliminate the 5-yard facemask penalty and to eliminate the forceout rule (wherein a referee could decide to allow a catch in an instance where a receiver is unable to get both feet in bounds due to being forced out of bounds by a defender) was, in this humble Vulture's opinion, a huge mistake.

The five yard facemask penalty is there to eliminate a defensive advantage - the ball carrier whose facemask is grasped is in a situation where they can decide to force the play and risk injury, or can go into a more protective mode and cause the potential yardage gain to be reduced. Mark my words - there WILL be an adverse impact as a result of this rule change.

But the elimination of the forceout rule is the change that really sticks in my craw. I foresee the following scenario: spindly wide receiver leaps high to make a catch just outside the hash marks, and is caught in midair by a burly linebacker, who promptly CARRIES THE RECEIVER LIKE A BUNDLE OF TRASH AND DUMPS HIM OUT OF BOUNDS - NO CATCH! Now how is the league going to look when that actually happens (and it will)?

For making rule changes that didn't need making, the NFL is my Wiener of the Week.

Police State

I am always pleased when I discover new blogs that deal with the issues of freedom in a serious, thoughtful manner. Yesterday I discovered Pro Libertate, the blog for the webzine of the same name. The editor is William Grigg, and his writing is thoughtful, well-researched, and cuts right to the chase. Mr. Grigg is a true iconoclast: a black man, libertarian in his politics, living in Idaho. It doesn't get any more iconoclastic than that.

I read a blog post by Mr. Grigg regarding the epidemic of shootings (police shooting innocent civilians/innocent civilians shooting police) resulting from no-knock warrants executed by police. Specifically, he asks the very pertinent question: should we exercise our Constitutional right to resist unlawful arrest or not? Given this example, I don't know if I would.

It was well after midnight when armed strangers burst into the Houston apartment Pedro Oregon Navarro shared with his family. Adrenaline surging through his veins, Pedro grabbed a handgun and fled toward his room, the intruders pounding after him.

One of the assailants later claimed that Pedro pointed his gun at him. A short while later, the 22-year-old father was dead. Some 33 shots had been fired, twelve of which found their way into Pedro’s body. This wasn’t a case of “contagious gunfire”; one of the attackers took the time to reload and empty a second clip. Pedro’s gun wasn’t fired a single time.

The invaders were police, of course. They stormed into Pedro’s home without a warrant, acting on a tip from an informant that narcotics commerce was being conducted there – a charge regarded as sufficient justification for a raid by the kind of people who believe the State has jurisdiction over the individual’s bloodstream. The informant wasn’t “registered” with the police department, an omission that may be significant to the kind of people who can countenance working with compensated snitches.

More importantly, several searches of the home failed to produce so much as a particle of evidence that narcotics had ever been present therein.

So the police, who raided a home without a warrant or any semblance of probable cause, were arraigned on charges of murder, or at least manslaughter, for the needless death of an innocent 22-year-old man -- right?

Well, no.

“I don’t know of any authority at this point that gave them [the police] the right to be in that residence,” conceded John B. Holmes, Jr., the District Attorney for Harris County. “But that doesn’t make the shooting a crime.”

33 shots. Nice. And no charges against the police, the informant, or anybody. But you can bet that, had he survived, Pedro Oregon would have been charged! Don't you DARE defend yourselves against the Schutzstaffel!

Holmes told the Houston Chronicle that, in effect, Pedro had committed a capital offense by arming himself when the police broke into his home illegally.

Okay. Let me get this straight. Pedro committed the crime here. Not the brown shirts. Pedro.

Now do you understand the kind of environment that has been created as a result of the runaway growth of the State? As der Staat grows more and more powerful, its agents, in the guise of police and investigative agencies, also grow more powerful. When I was a child there was no way that cops could bust into the house of a citizen who had NOT EVEN BEEN ACCUSED OF A CRIME as was the case here. Now it's commonplace. It's the "drug war", so that makes it okay. Tomorrow it will be terrorism...and that will make it okay. When do we as a society decide that it's NOT okay? Or is it now too late for us to decide?

Wiener of the Month

Oh my goodness! In all of the crunch at work, it completely slipped my mind that I need to name my Wiener of the Month for March. Fortunately, there's really only one candidate -- HRC. The Beast.

She had momentum. She had backing. She had Obama on the ropes trying to dig out from the Rev. "he ain't" Wright scandal.

And then she fabricated a story about being under sniper fire...and it all went *poof*.

I've seen politicians shoot themselves in the foot with their big mouths before (see "Hart, Gary"). But this one takes the cake. All she had to do was keep a low profile. All she had to do was stay low and let the media pound on Obama for supporting a racist pastor for 20 years. All she had to do was keep her ugly pie hole shut - and she couldn't do it.

For absolutely ruining her chances to be the next president, HRC -- you're the Wiener of the Month.

Petty tyranny at the old ball game

As I indicated the last time I posted on this theme, there are varying degrees of fascism, ranging from comical to dangerous. This item shows the type of petty oppression that comes with giving a fallen human being "authority".

Like a number of people without a ticket to the Nationals' game Sunday, Mark Butler stood outside the left field gate and watched some of the historic event from a distance. The Minnesota man carried a digital camera to capture the memories. For a member of the Uniformed Division of United States Secret Service, Butler captured too much.

And just what did this representative of the Schutzstaffel DO about it?

Butler said the officer demanded he delete any pictures that showed the security checkpoints set up to screen fans for the visit by President George Bush.

Uh huh. And by what authority did this ArschlochenFührer make that demand?

When specifically asked about the legality of ordering someone to delete pictures Wiley answered, "We have the authority to ask them to remove the picture from the camera."

REEEEEEEEALLY? And just WHERE in the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, the Official Code of the District of Columbia, or -- gee, I don't know, from his ASS maybe? -- did the putz get the idea that he could exercise this kind of coercion against an American citizen?

Is there someone out there who wants to defend this? I'm dying to know.

Who'da thought?

I found this little blog quiz at Dr. Helen, a VERY good site recommended by Vox Day. Imagine my surprise at the score my little blog got, especially given my usual potty mouth.

I can see jaws dropping.

Your Democrat candidate - Al Gore?!?!?!

DW called this to my attention at the end of last week (Sorry I've been remiss getting to it. Work has been unbelievably busy and time has been short).

Plans for Al Gore to take the Democratic presidential nomination as the saviour of a bitterly divided party are being actively discussed by senior figures and aides to the former vice-president.

WTF? Al Gorebells? The propagandist? Just when you start to think that Team Donkey can't stoop any lower! Why in the world would the Dems even consider such a thing?

The bloody civil war between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama has left many Democrats convinced that neither can deliver a knockout blow to the other and that both have been so damaged that they risk losing November's election to the Republican nominee, John McCain.

Former Gore aides now believe he could emerge as a compromise candidate acceptable to both camps at the party's convention in Denver during the last week of August.

For what it's worth, I think the Dems would be fools to nominate this asshat. He's a tool. He's loathsome and despicable. He's a confirmed liar. He's been involved in shady campaign contributions.

Oh, wait. That makes him the PERFECT candidate for Team Donkey. God help us!