TSA protects us from peanut butter

Recently, Mrs. Vulture flew down to the Carolinas to visit her sister and family there. On her return flight she was seated next to an older gentleman (yes, older than ME!) with whom she had a conversation during the course of the flight.

Somehow the subject of TSA came up. He told Mrs. V that he is a diabetic and, as such, always carries with him a small amount of peanut butter to help regulate his blood sugar. On his previous flight the TSA Schutzstaffel confiscated his peanut butter because, even though there was just a small amount left in the container, the container itself would hold more than 3 oz if full. The gentleman explained to the Nazi what the peanut butter was for. But, being a good little government automaton, he refused to return it. The peanut butter wasn't a danger to anyone, and could actually save this gentleman's life, but "rules are rules".

Except that the gentleman was told later by a more HUMAN member of the Schutzstaffel that exceptions can be made for items, like the peanut butter, that are needed for health reasons.

An older gentleman could have gone into a diabetic coma mid-flight with no one able to understand what was happening to him (or how to help him) all because some fascist wanted to be a big shot and refuse a legally permissible exception to an older man who was clearly not a threat to anyone.

Bastards.

I can't even BEGIN to tell you how much I hate the TSA! But I'll keep trying, as more and more of these kinds of stories crop up...and they WILL crop up, because the TSA goon squad just can't help themselves. They HAVE to be tools. It's in their DNA.

Wiener of the Week

This week's WotW is a repeat "wiener". RINO presidential candidate John McCain gets the nod based on his "performance" in an interview with Las Vegas Sun columnist Jon Ralston.

McCommie was asked why he had bypassed the governor and instead chosen the lieutenant governor to serve as the chairman of his Nevada campaign. After a couple of attempts to deflect the question, McCommie tried to get cute.

Maybe it's the governor's approval rating and you are running from him like you are from the president? Asked Ralston in a question McCain clearly found loaded.

Said McCain, chuckling, "And I stopped beating my wife just a couple of weeks ago."

Some have found the subject of McCain's joke -- wife-beating -- inappropriate.

Inappropriate? Ya think? You see, for every one of us who gets that it's a flip reference to the age-old political gotcha question "When did you stop beating your wife, senator?", there are hundreds of Gomers who are going to take that literally. Good job, Senator Maverick!

The second exchange, however, may be less gaffe and more "here's what I'm REALLY going to do once elected". The funny part is, the question was about Nevada sports gambling!

Despite your efforts, and I thought you were running on effectiveness, so how can it be dead?

I haven't won on every issue. I didn’t win on immigration reform, but I'll go back at it. And I'm glad I did it. (emphasis mine)

Are you kidding me? He still wants to push for amnesty after the way he got his ass kicked the last time?

You "conservatives" who think that you have to swallow your principles and vote for McCommie just because he's wearing your colors (and isn't nearly the collectivist that Obama is) need to rethink your position. If you think 20 million illegal immigrants is a problem, try 50, or 100. Because once the specter of shamnesty becomes reality, the borders will become a sea of humanity pushing to get across to catch the brass ring.

Senator McCommie, for your continuing gaffes and your love affair with shamnesty, you are the Wiener of the Week.

On the side of the angels

Not in a million, billion years would I have ever imagined that I'd be politically aligned on an issue -- ANY issue -- with Russ Feingold and Pat Leahy. These guys are two of the biggest socialists in the Senate. Senator Feingold and RINO John McCommie put together the execrable Campaign Finance anti-free speech bill. Senator Leahy never met an entitlement he thought went too far.

But this time, Feingold and Leahy are on the side of the angels.

Two U.S. senators called on U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to back off its assertion that it can search laptops and other electronic devices owned by U.S. citizens returning to the country without the need for reasonable suspicion of a crime or probable cause.

Senators Russell Feingold, a Wisconsin Democrat, and Patrick Leahy, a Vermont Democrat, both urged CBP to reconsider its policy that apparently has lead to frequent searches of laptops, digital cameras and handheld devices at borders.

"If you asked [U.S. residents] whether the government has a right to open their laptops, read their documents and e-mails, look at their photographs, and examine the Web sites they have visited, all without any suspicion of wrongdoing, I think those same Americans would say that the government has absolutely no right to do that," said Feingold, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Property Rights. "And if you asked him whether that actually happens, they would say, 'not in the United States of America.'"

By the way, the policy cited by the Senators was implemented at the behest of a REPUBLICAN administration. Seems to me that the Liberals are doing a better job of protecting our freedoms than the so-called Conservatives, who only seem to be in the business of conserving power for themselves.

Senators Feingold and Leahy, well done lads! I'm glad SOMEBODY in Washington still cares about our rights and freedoms.

Hallelujah! The 2nd Amendment upheld!!!

Who would have imagined it? In a day and age when our freedoms are encroached on a daily basis, a 5-4 Supreme Court decision not only struck down the odious DC weapons ban, but also affirmed that the Second Amendment applies to individual citizens!!!

Individual Americans have a right to own guns, the Supreme Court ruled on Thursday for the first time in the country's history, striking down a strict gun control law in the U.S. capital.

The landmark 5-4 ruling marked the first time in nearly 70 years the high court has addressed the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. It rejected the argument the right to keep and bear arms was tied to service in a state militia.

A better wording of that last line would be: "It rejected the specious and unfounded argument...".

Just when I feel like there's no hope, that Der Staat and Das Überwachenden cannot be stopped, a ray of the sunshine of Freedom suddenly appears. By affirming that the Second Amendment applies to individual citizens, the Court has opened the door for the repeal of the majority of the over 20,000 gun control laws currently on the books nationwide.

Of course, I'm just cynical enough to believe this to be a temporary setback for the fascist elites. They'll find another way to make us vulnerable and anxious so that we clamber for their protective, Statist, hand of "protection".

Nevertheless, it's a great day for those of us on the side of Freedom.

Government health care: a reality check

One thing that no one ever seems to mention in their arguments about universal health care provided by the government is what the trade-offs will be. Honestly, as much as politicos would like you to believe that government can provide you with everything, cradle-to-grave, the truth is that even government is subject to the realities of cost at some point. If government provided every imaginable medical service on-demand for every American regardless of cost, the system would collapse within a year.

Having established that "all-everything, all-the-time, cost-is-no-object" is out of the question, a legitimate follow-up question is, "Where do you draw the line?" It's easy under the current "system"; your health insurance has established limits for various services. Once you've hit your limit, or come across a treatment not supported by your insurance, you reach into your own pocket to pay.

In the real world of socialized medicine, this it how it plays out.

State officials have offered a lung cancer patient the option of having the Oregon Health Plan, set up in 1994 to ration health care, pay for an assisted suicide but not for the chemotherapy prescribed by her physician.

UFB! Un-freakin-believable!

But, you go right ahead and push for government health care, you sheeple, you lemmings. By the time you need YOUR cancer treatment, the suicide option might not be voluntary.

Iceland murders endangered species!!!

I have no idea why this wasn't the top story on all of the network newscasts. I mean, SURELY a crime this heinous, this earth-shattering, this....banal....would be just the sort of thing that Katie Commie would lead her newscast with.

Icelandic police said Wednesday they had shot and killed a polar bear discovered earlier this week on the island, which is hundreds of kilometres (miles) from the threatened species' natural habitat.

"It was shot last night (Tuesday)," a police spokesman in the northern town of Saudarkrokkur told AFP.

Polar bears are rare sightings on Iceland, since they have to swim hundreds of kilometres through icy waters to reach the island from their natural Arctic habitats, but the bear discovered Monday was the second spotted and killed on the island in the past two weeks.

Those SAVAGES!!! Killing unarmed little endangered creatures! Oh the horror!

* The Vulture chuckles, caught up in the image of some PETA-worshiping douche bag sitting in a darkened room, dressed in black, mourning the passing of these fragile, endangered beings *

Scorecard: Iceland - 2, Man-made Global Warming - nil.

Democrats believe in unicorns

I've got to hand it to the Left. When they take an entrenched position, they absolutely will not abandon it. They'll resort to all manner of illogic, fabrications, diversions, and name-calling. But they will not budge, regardless of facts or the will of the American people.

Recently, I received an email from Congress.org asking if I support drilling in ANWR. Given that "f'in A!!!" wasn't a response option, I answered "Yes". I was then presented with a form that allowed me to write a note to my Congressman and Senators. I thought, "Hey, why not? They'll ignore it, but it'll make me feel better."

I don't recall precisely what I wrote, nor did I save a copy of it, mainly because in the past, when I have sent these emails to my "representatives" I haven't heard squawdoosh from them. I do recall writing words to the effect that we've got to stop letting the environmental wackos dictate our country's energy policy.

To my utter surprise, I received an email reply from Senator Ben Cardin, or, at least, from one of his interns. The complete text of the email can be seen here. I did not modify anything; I only wrapped it in HTML for purposes of formatting. So all typos and misspellings are left as-is, as are the Senator's words. I mention this only so that I can't be accused of tampering with the letter to make lefties look ridiculous. Trust me, they don't need any help from ME to look ridiculous.

Here are some highlights of the letter.

• The Senator believes that depleting the Strategic Reserve and voting for higher gas mileage standards (standards which won't be in effect until 2020) are efforts "to address rising gasoline prices".


• The Senator is against drilling in ANWR. These are his exact words: "Drilling in ANWR would be a short-term distraction from the new long-term solutions we need to power and fuel our nation."


• According to the Senator, ANWR "harbors a primeval wilderness ecosystem that is home to some of the most diverse wildlife habitats in the United States." Quoth the Senator: "Oil exploration and drilling are incompatible with the purposes for which this incomparable wilderness ecosystem has been set aside."


• Finally, the Senator goes through the laundry list of "renewable" energy sources we SHOULD be investing in instead of just drilling for dumb-old oil. You know, hydrogen, wind, solar, fairy dust, unicorn farts, the aura of Brittney Spears, and healing thoughts. Okay, I made the last four up. Just checking to see if you're paying attention.

Okay, let me start by commending Senator Cardin for having the decency to respond and to do so not with words I want to hear, but with how he really votes and will vote going forward. I know Senator Cardin is just a Freshman in the Senate, but he was a long-time Congressman prior to being elected Senator, so he's no novice making novice mistakes. He's showing an honesty and candor that I find refreshing and commendable, even though he's dead wrong on all counts.

• Voting for depletion of the Strategic Reserve isn't a solution to anything (except to assure that it'll have to be replenished in the future at higher prices).


• Drilling in ANWR is a "short-term distraction"? Are you f'ing kidding me?!?!? The economic ignorance of our elected officials (on both sides of the aisle) is staggering! When demand for a commodity is high, the ONLY way to reduce its cost is to increase supply. That's not rocket science, that's Econ 101.


• Waxing poetic about the "incomparable wilderness ecosystem" that is ANWR is a tired tactic. ANWR is a sh*thole. It's a frozen wasteland that makes Hell look like paradise.


• I'm sick to death of the fairy tale pursuit of so-called renewable resources. Solar power research has been ongoing since the 70's. How's that working out? There's NOTHING to show for any of it. Wind power? It's a band-aid, and it kills birds who fly into the windmill blades. Hydrogen? Nothing but talk -- there aren't even any prototypes on the horizon. No, only unicorn farts qualifies as a more ridiculous solution to a shortage of gasoline than the aforementioned fairy tales.

Now, I don't fault Senator Cardin completely for the nonsensical "solutions" he's proposing. He's following his marching orders from the Senate leadership, primarily that colossal mental midget, Harry Reid. What I DON'T get is this. Why in the name of all that is holy don't the American people demand that Congress stop dallying with "solutions" and start opening up drilling? And by drilling, I mean pretty much drilling anywhere, because that's what it's going to take to reclaim America's energy independence.

In the meantime, the Lefties will continue their Quixotic search for their magical "renewable resources", and we'll be kept at the mercy of our oil-supplying "friends".

Wiener of the Week

This week's WotW will reveal that the Vulture is, if nothing else, consistent and fair (to a point). About two weeks ago I jumped ugly on atheists who were rude, condescending, and cruel to Rachel Lucas when her boyfriend's dad was lying in a hospital in a coma, all because she titled a post about her praying for him "There are no atheists in a foxhole". Earlier this week, I jumped ugly on strident homosexuals who are always in your face with their agenda when commenting on the two Anglican priests who got "married".

Now it's time for me to jump ugly on MY team. Meet the quintessential strident Christian.

A public school teacher preached his Christian beliefs despite complaints by other teachers and administrators and used a device to burn the image of a cross on students' arms, according to a report by independent investigators.

Mount Vernon Middle School teacher John Freshwater also taught creationism in his science class and was insubordinate in failing to remove a Bible and other religious materials from his classroom, the report said.

Are you f'ing kidding me?!?!?!? Mr. Freshwater, you are a total tool. NO ONE should EVER be coerced into anything, let alone Christianity! If I were the king of the world (thank your lucky stars that I'm NOT), I'd have you turned over to Islamic extremists to have you tortured until you agreed to convert to Islam. Because, sir, that's essentially what you have done in your public school classroom.

Stridency is stridency, whether it's feminists in your face, homosexuals in your face, atheists in your face, or flaming extremist Christians in your face. You, sir, are an extreme example of how NOT to be a Christian. And you, John Freshwater, are the Wiener of the Week. May God have mercy on your soul.

 

I'm SOOOOO embarrassed!

Maryland isn't the worst place in the world to live. Rolling hills, pleasant scenery, (mostly) nice people. Sometimes the weather is just about as nice as you could ever wish for. Sometimes.

I know that my description of Maryland seems like damning with faint praise. Maryland must be a pretty okay place, or I wouldn't have lived here for over 20 years, right?

But Maryland has a way of embarrassing its citizens that no other state can even dream of approaching. There was former Governor William Donald (Willie Don) Schaefer screaming into the microphone to the point of causing ear-splitting feedback at the 1988 Democratic Convention. There was that retard Kathleen Kennedy Townsend who came within an eyelash of being elected Governor in 2002 based on her maiden name alone; had she run as Kathleen Smith, she wouldn't have been nominated for dog catcher.

And now there's this.

A popular seaside resort in the northeastern US state of Maryland is urging tourists to book vacations now before the ocean disappears altogether.

Borrowing from the style of Orson Welles' 1938 radio announcement that Martians were landing on Earth, the ad features the mayor of Ocean City calling on vacationers to book "before our planet spirals to a vaporous death."

"Fellow citizens, this is Rick Meehan, mayor of Ocean City, Maryland, USA, Planet Earth," he says in the ad which appears on regional television and radio as well as on YouTube, its footage sometimes jumpy as if filmed by a Super 8 camera.

"A recent study in the Royal Astronomical Society Journal predicts that our oceans will evaporate in one billion years," he says.

"This is not due to global warming but the natural effect of our Earth being dragged towards the sun, causing our beloved saltwaters to just boil away.

"As such we are advising citizens to book their Ocean City getaway now, before the ocean evaporates. This may be the last chance you have to enjoy all that Ocean City, Maryland has to offer."

As the mayor ends his appeal, scenes of the beaches, fishing, tourist shops and children banging on crabs are flashed across the screen.

Now I know what a teenager feels like when Mom busts out the naked baby pictures to show to his girlfriend.

I'm going to go hide my face for a while until the shame blows over.

What CAN'T Global Warming do?

Just when I thought that the Chicken Littles of the Official State Religion of Man-made Global Warming had reached the limits of absurdity, along comes this little nugget.

The tomato scare that has sickened 170 people and is the worst food scare since the E. coli/spinach outbreak is being blamed by some environmental activists on climate change and the need for more food grown with the help of genetically modified organisms (GMOs).

You can't make this stuff up. These people are self-parodying.

Do yourself a favor and read the comments that follow the article. I ROFL'd. Among the best were these:

• Environmentalists blaming something on global warming? I can’t believe it!


• What isn’t caused by global warming?


• My hemorrhoids are caused by global warming!


• It’s just GOT to be Bush’s fault!


• Global warming makes you poop on your hands?


• Does Al Gore own an environmentally friendly guaranteed non-toxic tomato farm too?

I could go on and on...because they did. Kudos to all of them!

The Official State Religion is starting to lose traction with more and more Americans. Thank God!

A crusader emerges

It takes a man of character and courage to swim against the current of their times. When that current is fueled by a combination of political elites, mass media propaganda, and industry insiders hoping to make a killing from the resulting markets created by that current, the swim can be most daunting indeed.

Such a man is John Coleman, the founder of The Weather Channel. He has made it his life's goal to fight Global Warming hype. Talk about swimming against the current!

Here's a sampling of what Mr. Coleman had to say in a speech given recently before the San Diego Chamber of Commerce.

Hello Al Gore; Hello UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Your science is flawed; your hypothesis is wrong; your data is manipulated. And, may I add, your scare tactics are deplorable. The Earth does not have a fever. Carbon dioxide does not cause significant global warming.

---

Carbon dioxide is not an environmental problem; they just want you now to think it is.

Numerous independent research projects have been done about the greenhouse impact from increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide. These studies have proven to my total satisfaction that CO2 is not creating a major greenhouse effect and is not causing an increase in temperatures. By the way, before his death, Roger Revelle [the father of global warming research] coauthored a paper cautioning that CO2 and its greenhouse effect did not warrant extreme countermeasures.

So now it has come down to an intense campaign, orchestrated by environmentalists claiming that the burning of fossil fuels dooms the planet to run-away global warming. Ladies and Gentlemen, that is a myth.

---

I suspect you haven’t heard it because the mass media did not report it, but I am not alone on the no man-made warming side of this issue. On May 20th, a list of the names of over thirty-one thousand scientists who refute global warming was released. Thirty-one thousand of which 9,000 are Ph.ds. Think about that. Thirty-one thousand. That dwarfs the supposed 2,500 scientists on the UN panel.

You don't hear this kind of talk on any of the mainstream news channels (yes, Fox News, I'm including you here as well). Why not? Because their corporate masters stand to benefit financially from the hysteria surrounding global warming, particularly NBC, owned by General Electric.

Follow the money. Follow the money and you'll see that those behind the global warming scare, including Mr. Gorebells, have huge financial stakes in green technology or in the sale of carbon credits, a PT Barnum-worthy scam if ever there was one.

Gun Control Stops Violent Crime -- NOT!

You probably know someone who thinks that all we need to eliminate violence in society is stricter gun control. Take away EVERYBODY'S guns, and, voila! Violent crime will be completely and totally eliminated, and we'll all sit around the campfire singing Kum Ba Ya forever.

Uh, yeah. Why don't we ask the Japanese how well it's working out for them?

A man plowed into shoppers with a truck Sunday and then stabbed 17 people within minutes, killing at least seven of them in a grisly attack that shocked a country known for its low crime rate.

The lunchtime violence in the Akihabara district, a popular electronics and video game area, sent thousands of people fleeing.

The assault, which occurred on the seventh anniversary of a mass stabbing at a Japanese elementary school, was the latest in a series of knife attacks that have stoked fears of rising violent crime in Japan.

---

But stabbings, once rare in the country, have become more frequent in recent years.

In March, one person was stabbed to death and at least seven others were hurt by a man who went on a slashing spree with two knives outside a shopping mall in eastern Japan. In January, a 16-year-old boy attacked five people in a shopping area, injuring two of them.

A spate of knife attacks also have occurred in schools, the worst on June 8, 2001 when a man with a history of mental illness burst into elementary school near Osaka killing eight children. He was executed in 2004.

Gun control? Did I say gun control? I meant knife control!

C'mon people! You can ban the tools of violence all the live-long day. But you'll never be able to ban the evil that lurks in the hearts of those who would kill their fellow man. Ban guns? Fine, they'll use knives. Ban knives? Fine, they'll use pesticides, or improvised explosives, or...

Don't you see? When you outlaw guns, you succeed only in taking away a means of defense from the law abiding. You'll never stop violent crime through disarmament. A .45 slug through the head? Now THAT will stop a violent crime!

As The Anglican Church Turns

When I think of liberal Christian theology, the Anglican (Episcopalian) Church is the first to pop into my mind. Whether it be gay priests, or gay marriage, they're at the forefront of being trendy rather than boldly magnifying our Lord.

Now two Anglican priests have married. Huzzah, huzzah.

Two male priests exchanged vows and rings in a ceremony that was conducted using one of the church's most traditional wedding rites – a decision seen as blasphemous by conservatives.

The ceremony broke Church of England guidelines and was carried out last month in defiance of the Bishop of London, in whose diocese it took place. News of the "wedding" emerged days before a crucial summit of the Anglican Church's conservative bishops and archbishops, who are threatening to split the worldwide Church over the issue of homosexual clergy.

Why is it that those who oppose turning their church into "singles night at the gay bar" are labeled "conservatives", which, in Liberal-speak means "those holding back progress"? How about maybe they simply wish to live within Biblical guidelines?

Now, mind you, I'm of the opinion, as a practicing libertarian, that when it comes to marriage, people can do whatever they like, and the government can call marriage anything it likes. It doesn't make it "marriage" in the eyes of God...but it's a nice social contract. After all, the only definition of marriage that really matters is the one from Genesis: one man, one woman, one lifetime.

Neither am I particularly offended by homosexuality nor homosexuals (the non-strident ones, anyway). I see homosexuality as a sin no more offensive to God than adultery, fornication, serial lying, stealing, hate, or pornography. As Jesus said, break one part of the Law and you've broken it all. And I have my own sins to deal with; I haven't the time nor the energy to sit around and judge others for theirs.

Vox Day sums up the libertarian view of government involvement in marriage quite nicely.

Being a libertarian, I see no reason why the government should be involved in any way with the private social contracts written between individuals. Marriage is no more subject to legal definition than friendship; what passes for government-defined "marriage" is no more marriage than a fish is a frog. A marriage license is simply a binding legal contract between three parties that happens to share a name with the ancient institution. The state governments didn't even control the licensing until 1853, so either no one was legally married in America before then or there is a complete distinction between marriage and the tripartite legal institution that was redefined [May 15th] in California.

But Vulture, this isn't an issue dealing with government involvement in marriage, so why even bring that up? I bring it up to show you where I'm coming from, so that when I speak out against these showboating Anglican priests, you'll have a context within which to understand my views, and also so that I can't simply be labeled and ignored by asshat liberals.

This is typical of the agenda of strident gay militancy. They're not content with gay people being left alone. They're not content with gay people being tolerated, or even treated as "normal" (whatever THAT is). No, they've got to be in your face 24/7, rubbing your nose in their stridency.

This "marriage" is both a publicity stunt and a way to poke the "conservative" Anglicans in the eye. These "progressives" WANT to trigger a crisis within the Church in order to assure that THEIR AGENDA is the CHURCH'S agenda. They don't care if the "conservative" Anglicans break away and form a new church; they'd be peachy-keen all kinda happy with that. All that matters to them is that they get what they want.

So to Mr.-and-Mr. Orombi-Williams I say this: Nice stunt. But does it magnify Jesus? I mean, isn't THAT what you are supposed to be doing as ministers? Hmmm?

Wiener of the week

This week the WotW goes to NBA Commissioner David "the fix is in" Stern for his handling of the latest referee scandal to hit the NBA.

C'mon, Stern! The WWE finally owned up to being scripted. Why can't you just admit that you've pushed your referees to make results more "interesting" in the hope of getting better TV ratings? It's been apparent for years.

Having seen the 4th quarter of the 2002 Western Conference Finals Game 6 Kings-Lakers fiasco at the center of the current allegations, I can tell you that I thought the fix was in as I was watching it. So, if a casual to non-interested NBA fan like me can spot it, why keep denying it?

If the NBA is to ever be taken seriously, it needs to fire David Stern and ALL of the current referees and build a new crop of "untouchables" to referee games going forward. Anything less than that, and the NBA will continue to operate as the WWE with a ball.

David Stern, for putting TV ratings ahead of the integrity of the game, you're the Wiener of the Week.

Happy Fathers Day

I just love Fathers Day. L-O-V-E. My kids put away their sarcasm for the day. Mrs. Vulture ladles out the kindness and thoughtfulness all the live-long day. And, of course, there's gifts.

But the best gift of all is to be a father in the first place. What a blessing! My boys have made my life much richer and more meaningful. I love them dearly, and have enjoyed watching them progress from little velvet-skinned babies to full-size, hairy men. They've given me much to be proud of. They've loved me far more and far better than I deserved. They're in my heart forever.

A Fathers Day shout out to yodaddy, dw, and mark (to whom happy birthday wishes are also in order, ya old man). God's blessings be with you on this day.

Special prayers are in order for Luke Russert, who lost his dad, Tim, late last week. I can't imagine the pain of having Fathers Day fall just days after you've lost your dad to a sudden heart attach.

Liberty in Eclipse -- a review

I discovered William Grigg's excellent website, Pro Libertate, quite by accident. What a fortunate accident it was! I was instantly aware that this was a writer of no small talent nor intellect. His insights into the nascent police state the Dear Leader (GWB) is assembling are dead on accurate and simultaneously chilling.

Because I enjoy Mr. Grigg's blog so much, I decided to purchase and read his book, Liberty in Eclipse. Oh. My. God.

For the first time in my life I understand, REALLY understand, what has happened to us as a nation. To use a Matrix analogy, I took the red pill when I read this book. Hang on, Dorothy! This book is the literary equivalent of a two-by-four to the mind.

The first thing that struck me was how unaware I was of the construction of Police State infrastructure that had been happening right under my nose for more than a decade. I was wholly unaware of the number of Congressional bills signed into law with innocuous sounding names like the Military Commissions Act. These bills served to bestow more and more power to the president to trample on the human liberties of both citizen and non-citizen alike.

Had you heard anything about the MCA before I mentioned it here? I ask because I hadn't, and I consider myself to be extremely well-versed in the political and social issues of our day. While the mainstream media is consistently beaten up for leaning to the left, I think a more apt description may not be "left-leaning" but rather "pro-Big Brother". How else can you explain why only Jack Cafferty of CNN (who usually comes across as a socialist stooge) said jack about the MCA during the course of its run through congress as it became the law of the land?

And what is the significance of the MCA? It basically makes the president a law unto himself. Anyone, citizen or non-citizen, once designated an "enemy combatant", loses ALL Constitutional protections as well as protections that pre-date the Constitution, such as Habeas Corpus. Once you're designated as an Enemy of the State (to use Soviet nomenclature) , you can kiss your ass good-bye; it's off to the Gulag for you!

One thing that really jumps out and grabs you about this book is how patently EVIL GWB is. Two things that really stand out are:

• He has been the driving force for torture of "enemy combatants" against the wishes of the military whose job it is to administer the torture.


• He has used the practice of "signing statements" (utilized in the past by presidents to clarify to those charged with implementing a signed congressional bill what they are implementing or how to do it) a staggering 435 time during his presidency; prior to GWB, that practice had been utilized only 322 times in 212 years. And he's not using those signing statements to clarify; rather, he's using them to NEGATE and effectively override the will of Congress and substitute it with his own will.

God help us!

Among the other topics dealt with in the book are no-knock warrants, the militarization of Police departments, and the manifest ways that the government tries to "collectivize" us.

Mr. Grigg finishes his book with a chapter which proclaims his optimistic opinion that all is not lost, that what we had CAN be recovered. I wish I could say I was that optimistic. But I'm not. We're too far down the rabbit hole to make it back without some sort of miraculous change in the mindset of the American people. Given my utter lack of faith in them, chances are slim.

I would strongly encourage you to read this book. Get your eyes opened to what we've become. It's some kinda education.

Ann Coulter, Kool-Aid Drinker

Those who know me know that this little Vulture has always had a "thing" for Ann Coulter. Hot, smart, and conservative....ROWR!

But she lost me with this execrable pile of maudlin near-pornography.

In a conversation recently, I mentioned as an aside what a great president George Bush has been and my friend was surprised. I was surprised that he was surprised.

You were what?!?!? Surprised?!?!?!?!?

In the next few days I'll be reviewing a book by William Grigg of Pro Libertate fame. Before reading that book, I considered GWB to be a traitor, a sell-out, a deceiver. After reading the book, I consider him one of the five worst presidents ever -- passing the notorious Richard Nixon and approaching the level of the ruinous Lyndon B. Johnson. In fact, after reading that book, I consider him one of the 100 most evil people to have ever disgraced this planet.

And this is the guy whom Ann Coulter has chosen to fawn over?!?!?

The sheer repetition of lies about Bush is wearing people down. There is not a liberal in this country worthy of kissing Bush's rear end, but the weakest members of the herd run from Bush. Compared to the lickspittles denying and attacking him, Bush is a moral giant -- if that's not damning with faint praise. John McCain should be so lucky as to be running for Bush's third term. Then he might have a chance.

That's it! She's lost her ever-effin' mind.

Weakest members of the herd?!?!??! How about anyone with a thirst for liberty and a hatred of duplicity and double-dealing?

What happened to you? You have Ronald Reagan on a pedestal -- at least there's justification there; he saved us from an utterly ruinous Jimmy Carter second administration. But Bush?!?!?! I just don't get it. He ruined the Republican party, but not without utterly betraying it first with his drunken sailor-like spending and his police state Schutzstaffel, excuse me, Homeland Security. You've lost it, Ann. You've just simply lost it.

I'm sorry. You're no longer "my girl".

Please hold -- all Vultures are currently busy

For both of you who religiously read this blog, and for the few stragglers who pass by from time-to-time, please forgive the sparsity of posts for the past few days. I've been in class w/o access to the outside world.

Be assured that I'll be back in the blogging saddle again shortly.

That is all. As you were.

NBA - the fix is in

For years now I've looked the NBA much like I look at the WWE. It's entertaining. It's run by shady characters. The participants are large, ugly, tattooed men. And it's fixed.

I'm sorry, the WWE is scripted -- the NBA is fixed, at least according to ex-referee Tim Donaghy, who ought to know, since, well, he was, himself, a fixer.

The Tim Donaghy scandal just got more serious.

The disgraced former NBA referee told authorities in a four-page letter released Tuesday that two officials conspired to fix the outcome of a 2002 playoff series and influenced several other post- and regular-season games.

The NBA is being run into the ground by David Stern, who is more concerned with getting good TV match-ups in the playoffs than in running an above-board enterprise. He should be fired and indicted.

The NBA -- it's FIX-tastic!

Atheist hate

Why is it that so many of those who identify themselves as atheists are major a-holes? Vox Day refers to them as Socially Autistic, but I'm not quite so nice (BTW, Vox also blogged on this same "event" today, in case you want to check out what he had to say.

There's a young woman from Texas named Rachel Lucas who blogs about various themes and issues. She's quite popular (hold the jealousy, Vulture!). Over the weekend, her boyfriend's dad was involved in a bad motorcycle accident. He's pretty mangled. The doctors put him into a coma for his own protection (he was thrashing pretty badly) and to help with the cerebral swelling. This is the context within which this little episode occurred.

Rachel made the mistake of titling a post, "There are no atheists in a fox hole". Everyone over a certain age (trust me, I'm over a certain age) knows that this truism dates back to WW II. Well, almost everyone knows -- certainly the asshat atheists didn't, either that or they were just spoiling for a fight. She received page after page of hate- and profanity-filled shinola from the "intellectuals" who comprise the atheist community. Here's Rachel in her own defense.

The update I posted about Rupert’s dad was titled “There are no atheists in a foxhole.” Which anyone who reads here regularly would understand is my way of poking fun at myself, seeing as how publicly, on this blog, I’ve repeatedly identified myself as feeling like either an atheist or an agnostic, depending on my mood. I’ve regularly criticized Christians and their beliefs and have asked them to defend themselves, which they did, some nicely and some not. I’ve been very open about the fact that I simply don’t know the truth even though I’d like to, and that I find debates about religion interesting because they give you such a window into how other people think and view the world. There’s a whole category here called “Religion” but the point is, I have no religion. I reject organized Christianity and every other religion that’s ever been.

So I used that quote to describe the way I was feeling at that moment, while writing about a loved one who is in a coma. I was feeling down and sad and worried, and I used that quote because whenever I’m in a scary situation, I think about whether there’s a God, and I almost always find myself believing that there is because it helps me and comforts me to do so. The belief diminishes my suffering, simple as that. It may be wishful thinking but so what? It helps me and hurts no one.

Well. That post title really, really, really pissed off some atheists.

---

So I hope the atheists have gotten what they wanted from me. That’s what I’m here for, to use “offensive” quotes during emotional times and to be instructed with great gusto and attention about what a bigoted jackass I am so that I’ll never use such quotes again and all the world will learn what happens to you when you make that mistake. It’s really quite marvelous and I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’m ready to join their organization RIGHT NOW, if they’ll have me.

They just seem like such kind and considerate people, out there teaching the world about tolerance and overcoming bigotry, spreading their word wherever they think it’s necessary for the furtherance of enlightenment and elimination of negative stereotypes about atheists, even if it means hijacking a thread on a personal blog about someone in a coma. Because TRUTH is all that matters, people. Learn it and live it.

Actually, the quoted material above doesn't do the post justice; she handled herself very well. You should read it for yourself.

I know there are REALLY clueless Christians who would have confronted Rachel with a whole sermonette full of fire and brimstone to "convert" her in her hour of pain and anxiety. They're jerks -- it's not the time nor the place.

But I'm pretty sure -- REALLY sure -- that no Christian would treat her like these two paragons of intellectualism.

If you are going to pray “just in case”, I suggest you pray to as many different gods as possible. If not, you may be praying to the wrong one. And don’t forget to gather a few additional lucky charms while you’re at it. I suggest a rabbit’s foot, 4 leaf clover, and a horseshoe for starters. Then you might want to do a Google search for lucky charms. There may be a number of them recognized by other cultures which are effective that we don’t know about.

Then you might want to tackle eliminating all the bad luck charms. You never know, that might make a difference as well.

If you are comforted by these measures which give the appearance of ‘doing something’, then why limit them to simply praying to one potential god when there are so many other acts of magical thinking which are comforting in situations where there is little else one can control.
- Skeptigirl

Your opening post is a lie. There ARE atheists in foxholes… even if you don’t “believe” there are. Pat Tilman was just such an atheist. Educate yourself and quit deleting posts who try to lessen the bigotry you spread. http://www.atheistfoxholes.org/

Lying for Jesus is still lying. I hope your friend gets better. I hope he never is the bigot you are.

Just because your faith makes you feel all humble and honest… doesn’t make it true, you know.
- A Third Atheist (articulett)

Doesn't it make you warm all over to see the concern they have for...right. No concern. No thought for her injured family member ("get better so you can represent non-bigotry" hardly counts). No thought for her feelings as she goes through a tough time. Only hatred, contempt, and vitriol. Kinda makes you hope with all your might that there IS a hell, just so those a-holes can go there.

Don't think it can't happen here -- part deux

Lest you think I was being alarmist last week when I wrote about the arrest of 2 preachers in Norway, here's something a little closer to home.

A priest is being investigated as a potential criminal under a federal "hate crimes" law for quoting from the Bible, and he's being targeted using a Canadian provision under which no defendant ever has been acquitted, according to a new report.

Pete Vere, a canon lawyer and Catholic journalist, has reported on the prosecution of Father Alphonse de Valk, a pro-life activist known across Canada, by the Canadian Human Rights Commission – "a quasi-judicial investigative body with the power of the Canadian government behind it" – at CatholicExchange.com.

"What was Father de Valk's alleged 'hate act'?" Vere wrote.

"Father defended the [Catholic] Church's teaching on marriage during Canada's same-sex 'marriage' debate, quoting extensively from the Bible, the Catechism of the Catholic Church, and Pope John Paul II's encyclicals. Each of these documents contains official Catholic teaching. And like millions of other people throughout the world and the ages – many of whom are non-Catholics and non-Christians — Father believes that marriage is an exclusive union between a man and a woman," he wrote.

So...all of this "tolerance" and political correctness is, what? Only for preferred groups? I mean, if an Imam had said the same things, would the reaction have been the same? Would the Ministry of Love...excuse me, the Human Rights Commission...be so quick to leap on that religious leader to make an example of him?

We're headed in the exact same direction that Europe and Canada traveled before us. Free speech is under attack on all fronts, not the least of which is religious free speech (provided it isn't Muslim religious free speech). Only a major stink from the populous will prevent this inevitability, and I'm not confident that the sheeple of this country are up for the task. Are you?

Wiener of the Week

This week's WotW isn't a person. It's the weather. Oh sure, complain about it all you want, you can't change it. Believe me, if I could, I would.

We've had a time of it here in the Mid-Atlantic region this past week. First, there was the hurricane-like conditions on Wednesday. Now we're in the midst of The Heat Wave From Hell. Yesterday's temperature of 95 (with a heat index of around 110) was 20 degrees warmer than the historical average for June 7th. Today will be hotter, around 97. It's already 87 as I write this at 10 AM. There is no relief in sight from the heat wave until about Wednesday. In the mean time, the Vulture is staying in the nest.

It might appear a bit unseemly to call the weather a wiener, but, for ruining my plans to work around the yard this weekend, and for making me sweat like I'm being interrogated in a Turkish prison, the weather is the Wiener of the Week.

A cure is in sight...but only for sheep and cattle

Why are they wasting time on livestock? If you ask Mrs. Vulture, there's a much more urgent application of this technology living right under her nose (pun intended).

New Zealand scientists claim to have developed a "flatulence inoculation" aimed at cutting down on the massive amount of methane produced by its sheep and cows.

Just think of the money I would save on "multi-symptom Rolaids" if this inoculation were available today! It boggles the mind!

I'm allowed to post something childish every once in a while, am I not? It is my blog, after all.

AAAAAAAAAAAARG!!!!!!!!!!

Let the countdown begin!

In one month, this Vulture will be 50. I'm still trying to wrap my wings around that one. It doesn't seem possible! In my head, I'm still young. In my head, I'm still able to do everything I did when I was younger.

When I turned 40, I was a little bit freaked out. I vowed I wouldn't get freaked out at 50. But I'm starting to feel a little freaked out. I'm trying to understand how this thing happened. I'm trying to understand how it is that I -- of all people! -- got old.

Time waits for no one, and it won't wait for me.

Apocalyptic weather

Ye cats! What a day yesterday was! And the aftermath hasn't exactly been a picnic, either.

The storms, with high winds and blinding rain, pounded the region well into the night and might have spawned small tornadoes in Falls Church; in Fairfax County; near Stafford, Va.; near Bel Alton, in Charles County; and near the Anne Arundel-Calvert county line. National Weather Service experts planned to survey damage and investigate tornado reports today.

That doesn't even BEGIN to describe the torrential, hurricane-like rainfall we got yesterday. It was a SHOW!

And today? It's sunny and beautiful...but you really don't want to be anywhere near this area for the next few days. It took just about 3 hours for me to get to work this morning. Traffic was MESSED UP. My evening commute should be equally jolly.

No matter mankind's advances in every technological aspect, we are and probably always will be at the mercy of the weather. Sucks, doesn't it?

My Summer is ruined!!!

I was so excited! It was there for the asking. Riots. Mayhem. "Us vs. them". Bickering. Squabbling. All the schadenfreude a Vulture could ever ask for. *sigh*

And now it's gone.

Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois sealed the Democratic presidential nomination Tuesday, a historic step toward his once-improbable goal of becoming the nation's first black president. A defeated Hillary Rodham Clinton maneuvered for the vice presidential spot on his fall ticket.

It's over. No Chicago '68 in Denver. No Team Donkey meltdown on prime time TV. Just another boring cookie-cutter convention.

I'm going to go curl up in the fetal position for a while.

Don't think it can't happen here!

You hear about these things happening in China. In Saudi Arabia. In Pakistan. In Indonesia. In parts of Africa. But in Norway?!?!?

Two preachers, including an American who specializes in delivering the message of the Gospel in public places, have been arrested and face a July trial for carrying a sign telling people about Jesus at a freedom celebration in Norway.

We're talking about Norway, a country that has a long history of Christianity -- in fact, more than 1,000 years of history as a Christian nation. Norway's constitution is SUPPOSED to permit the free exercise of religion.

In Norway's case, the concept of being a "Christian nation" has to be defined legally, culturally and historically. Article 2 of the Constitution of the Kingdom of Norway declares that:

All inhabitants of the Realm shall have the right to free exercise of their religion.

And yet, when you read this article, you are saddened to see that Norway has become part of the post-Christian socialist morass that is modern EUtopia.

As recently as the early 1970's Norway was culturally Christian. Now Christianity is oppressed. Don't think it can't happen here. It's already on its way. They call it multiculturalism. I call it "divide and conquer".

I wish he was OUR president

It's funny. The leader of a country that's been around for, what? 5 minutes?, gets it. The leadership of our 230-year-old corrupted republic...not so much. What's "it"? The whole point of the global warming hoax, that's what.

Czech President Vaclav Klaus said Tuesday he is ready to debate Al Gore about global warming, as he presented the English version of his latest book that argues environmentalism poses a threat to basic human freedoms. "I many times tried to talk to have a public exchange of views with him, and he's not too much willing to make such a conversation," Klaus said. "So I'm ready to do it."

Klaus was speaking a the National Press Building in Washington to present his new book, Blue Planet in Green Shackles - What Is Endangered: Climate or Freedom?, before meeting with Vice President Dick Cheney Wednesday.

"My answer is it is our freedom and, I might add, and our prosperity," he said.

President Klaus, you are the man. Our freedoms and our prosperity ARE at risk -- and global warming is the lever being used to separate us from them.

Hey, Al Gorebells! What's the matter? You afraid of a guy with no science background from half of a Soviet bloc country? C'mon Al! Come out and play!

Wiener of the Month

The Vulture just LOVES a good political soap opera. So the mess that Team Donkey has created with its handling of the Florida and Michigan fiasco is mouth-watering goodness to me.

The party's less than Solomonesque handling of what to do with handling the situation created by these states and their ill-fated decision to move forward the date of their primaries against the wishes of the party aparatchiks has created a firestorm wherein nobody is satisfied by the result, no one less so than those who support 666.

"There's been a lot of talk about party unity—let's all come together, and put our arms around each other," said Ickes, who is also a member of the Rules Committee that approved the deal. "I submit to you ladies and gentlemen, hijacking four delegates ... is not a good way to start down the path of party unity."

The resolution increased the number of delegates needed to clinch the nomination to 2,118, leaving Obama 66 delegates short but still within striking distance after the three final primaries are held in the next three days.

The deal was reached after committee members met privately for more than three hours, trying to hammer out a deal, and announced in a raucous hearing that reflected deep divisions within the party.

"How can you call yourselves Democrats if you don't count the vote?" one man in the audience shouted before being escorted out by security. "This is not the Democratic Party!"

Ah, but that's not quite true. This is EXACTLY what we've come to expect from Team Donkey. They're all about "counting the votes" when it serves their purpose, and all about "never mind" when it doesn't (remember the Florida military absentee ballots from 2000?). Denver 2008 is SO going to be Chicago '68! The Vulture is CISED!!!!

Congratulations, Team Donkey. You're the Wiener of the Month.

Wiener of the Week

This week's WotW is the herd media. And what is their offense? They are guilty of an egregious double standard when it comes to politician gaffes.

Remember Dan Quayle's "potatoes" incident? Who can forget? It was wall-to-wall media excoriation. Now, no one is going to argue that Dan Quayle is smarter than a bag of hammers (I put my money on the bag). But the herd media has been unforgivably silent regarding the gaffes of another mental midget -- presidential candidate Barack {don't say his middle name or you're a racist} Obama. Thankfully, individual columnists (like Lynn Sweet of the Chicago Sun-Times) have been more vigilant in reporting the extent of Mr. {}'s stupidity. But -- and this is an important but -- where is the "potatoe"-like coverage of these gaffes? Mr. Quayle made one memorable gaffe. And Mr. Obama? Here is a sampling of some of his doozies (edited for space - see the linked article for the whole text).

• Claimed that tornadoes in Kansas killed a whopping 10,000 people: "In case you missed it, this week, there was a tragedy in Kansas. Ten thousand people died — an entire town destroyed." The actual death toll: 12.


• Redrew the map of the United States: "I've now been in 57 states? I think one left to go."


• Botched basic geography: "Sen. Clinton, I think, is much better known, coming from a nearby state of Arkansas. So it's not surprising that she would have an advantage in some of those states in the middle." On what map is Arkansas closer to Kentucky than Illinois?


• Claimed his parents united as a direct result of the civil rights movement: "There was something stirring across the country because of what happened in Selma, Ala., because some folks are willing to march across a bridge. So they got together and Barack Obama Jr. was born." Obama was born in 1961. The Selma march took place in 1965.


• Showed lack of knowledge of the war in Afghanistan by homing in on a lack of translators: "We only have a certain number of them, and if they are all in Iraq, then it's harder for us to use them in Afghanistan." The real reason it's "harder for us to use them" in Afghanistan: Iraqis speak Arabic or Kurdish. The Afghanis speak Pashtu, Farsi or other non-Arabic languages.
  

And WHY exactly does the herd media ignore or gloss over these gaffes? Because they're in the tank for {}, that's why. At least Chris Matthews (who practically gets a chub at the mention of {}'s name) is up front about it. The rest of them...well, judge for yourself by what is and isn't reported.

Congratulations, herd media - you're the Wiener of the Week.

Carbon credits for Jupiter and Mars?

Hmmm. How is this possible? Are there evil humans living on Jupiter of whom we are unaware? Have Martians secretly started driving SUVs? I mean, how else would you explain the warming occurring there?

Does Al Gore know about this?

While the former vice president is leading the charge for drastically changing the way humans do business in a bid to avert catastrophic, man-made global warming, scientists reported today there is noticeable climate change taking place on Jupiter, too.

The news follows reports as far back as three years ago that ice caps on Mars are also retreating much as some of the ice in the Earth's Arctic circle.

There's one striking difference between Earth and the other two planets, however. Neither Jupiter or Mars has any people – and no artificial activity creating so-called "greenhouse gases" like carbon dioxide.

Hmmm. So...if there isn't any human activity generating carbon dioxide on Mars and Jupiter, what do you suppose might be causing their warming? Maybe, and I'm just guessing, because I'm not as smart as all of the "scientists" whose "consensus" is driving Big Global Warming Inc., but perhaps the Sun might have something to do with it. After all, it IS the warmest thing in the entire solar system, and its temperature fluctuations just MIGHT affect the planets that depend upon it for light and heat.

Occam's Razor > Al Gorebell's "scientists".