I am implementing a semi-randomly-regular feature called Vulture Droppings. It will be a kind of "Random Thoughts" post in which I try to quickly summarize a particularly large event. Think of it being sort of like what a vulture leaves behind after devouring a horse. You don't get the whole horse, just highly processed leftovers.
Ah, convention week. It sucked. No Chicago '68. No chants of "The whole world is watching!". No cops in riot gear beating on hippie scum. The convention ended up being a big effing kumbaya fest of Team Donkey solidarity and unity. *sigh*
I'm particularly disappointed with HRC. Since when does Beelzebub play nice and act the part of the gracious loser? Man, am I sore about that! There's no stake through the heart. So why's she being such a good soldier for Team Donkey? Hopefully there's some nefarious plot afoot behind the scenes, or this could be the most boring election ever.
Okay, so since it was a boring convention and not Chicago '68, there should have been relative good behavior on the part of the police, right? Nay, nay! Unlike Chicago '68, they weren't busting heads on hippies. They were
arresting an ABC reporter for daring to film Democrat high rollers in a public place. And they were brutalizing and
arresting Christian teenage girls for writing on the sidewalk in chalk.
William Grigg is right. Police no longer view their duty as protecting and serving the people of their jurisdiction. They view their duty as protecting and serving
der Staat.
You might ask yourself - what kind of President might Obama be? Team Donkey is touting him as the heir to FDR. According to Al Gorebells, he is like
Abraham Lincoln. While those of us who understand what Lincoln was beyond the mythology taught in public schools have reason to be fearful of that assessment, the reality is worse. Obama is showing signs of being the next Woodrow Wilson, a totalitarian thug. A
small example from convention week.
"We just want it to stop. It's not fair, it's blatant attacks against Barak Obama"
I'm listening to WGN, where Stanley Kurtz apparently just finished talking about his research. The first two callers - apparently triggered by the Obama campaign - both wanted Kurtz silenced.
I'm beyond disgust. I've been bitterly opposed to 'silence the critics' on blogs and in the media everywhere. This is not remotely the kind of politics that represents change that I want to be part of.
Okay, what's the big deal? This sort of thing happens all the time, right. The difference this time is that Obama's campaign actually
orchestrated the shout down campaign. Check out the text of the alert
here. Ah, censorship - the mark of the Marxist!
Those of you who are only aware of Woodrow Wilson through the mythology taught in the public schools would be surprised to know that this Progressive was, in fact, the first Fascist. He employed every one of the methods of consolidated State control employed by Mussolini, Hitler, and Franco. He employed thugs to silence his critics. He jailed those who wouldn't "get with the program". His "war socialism" (as he called it) was a massive campaign to indoctrinate the American people to the whole concept of the individual being nothing, the state being everything. Does that sound familiar? It should. "Tutto nello Stato, niente al di fuori dello Stato, nulla contro lo Stato" ("Everything in the State, nothing outside the State, nothing against the State") was the foundation of Mussolini's Italian Fascism. Obama's already started down the path of silencing his critics, and he's not even in power yet.
Usually, once a convention is completed, the candidate whose party convened receives a huge bounce in the polls. For Obama.....not so much.
Zogby shows the race as a dead heat, not a good sign for Mr. Obama. Even
the most optimistic poll (from Obama's perspective) only shows him with an 8 point lead. By contrast, Michael Dukakis came out of his convention in '88 with a 17 point lead. McCommie must be beside himself with joy. It doesn't look good for the cause of DoublePlusGood HopeChange.
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I'll bet you couldn't tell that I'm no fan of Nancy Pelosi. To me, she's a prime example of Liberalis Limousinus - the most loathsome and despicable creature know to man. She preaches sacrifice and shared responsibility to We The People. But she and her ilk will continue to fly oversized, expensive aircraft, ride in limos, and use enough electricity in one day to power my house for a month. They're despicable.
And Little Nancy's been on quite a roll this week. Quite a roll indeed!
In a statement that can only be filed under "Irony...see irony", Congressman (Congresswoman? CongressShrew?) Nancy had some advice for Hillary Clinton supporters.
"I think that women, we have to get away from the politics of victim. This is about you go out there and you fight," she said.
Wait a second? Do my eyes deceive me? This is the Queen of the Collectivists telling a Special Rights group.......NOT....to engage in Victim Politics?!?!?!?!?! This is definitely a "man bites dog" moment.
Her second moment in the spotlight happened earlier this week at a press conference in Denver. It seems that some McCommie boosters and pro oil-independence demonstrators showed up to heckle our dear, sweet Speakerette.
The demonstrators interrupted House Speaker Nancy Pelosi with chants of “Drill here! Drill now!”
Pelosi paused and asked the group, “Right here?”
Seeming to enjoy the back and forth, she followed with another question: “Can we drill your brains?”
Can we drill your brains? What kind of a juvenile retort is THAT? "Yo Mama" would have been a more mature and meaningful response than the one she came up with.
Additional irony moment: House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (Fascist-MD) had this to say to the protestors.
“sophomoric chanting” won’t solve the energy crisis and that “all thinking Americans know” — stressing the word "thinking" and looking at the crowd — that America doesn’t have a quarter of the word’s fossil fuels yet uses a quarter of the world’s energy.
Oh sweet irony! The very people who brought us the "show up and shout down speakers we don't agree with" guerrilla tactic now want us to stop with the "sophomoric chanting" when THEY have something to say.
Notice too how the Left is always - ALWAYS - so overly impressed with how "smart" they are. "Thinking Americans". What a joke! People capable of THOUGHT know that these asshats are in bed with Big Enviro and THAT'S why they're opposed to drilling (well, that and Little Nancy's natural gas stock profits).
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I've really got to hand it to Ben Cardin. He'll stand in and take his cuts at the plate, even after I posted a less than flattering analysis of his last response to me.
A little background first. Senator Cardin's first response letter to me was the product of my having voted in one of those dopey Congress.org polls about whether we should drill for oil in "pristine" ANWR or in coastal waters. His reply, in over-simplified summarization was, "no drilling, higher CAFE standards (for 2020!), and alternative fuels". I lampooned Team Donkey's version of "alternative fuels" as "hydrogen, wind, solar, fairy dust, unicorn farts, the aura of Brittney Spears, and healing thoughts." It wasn't a very nice post. Nor should it have been! Let's be adults here, people! Yes, we can look at alternative fuels - great idea! But let's also start building some energy independence (read: tap our OWN oil) rather than depend on our "friends" in the Middle East, Venezuela, and Russia.
Fast forward to now. Another Congress.org poll. Another "Yes, damn it! Drill already!" vote from yours truly. And, amazingly, another reply from Senator Cardin! (Note: the hyperlink takes you to an HTML copy of the letter, recreated as-is, without alteration).
It looks like the Senator is crawling out from under Majority Leader Harry Reed's skirt. Ms. Reed would NEVER tolerate this kind of language!
Our nation's dependence on foreign sources of crude oil is largely to blame for the recent spike in gasoline, diesel, and heating oil prices. Gas and diesel prices in the U.S. are closely linked to prices in the world crude oil market, which has been strained recently by unexpected supply disruptions, increasing worldwide demand, and other factors over which the U.S. government has little or no control. Because the U.S. imports over 65 percent of its crude oil from foreign countries, we are deeply vulnerable to global forces beyond our control.
Many of the foreign countries and regimes which supply us with our oil are openly hostile to our government and the American way of life. Consequently, American consumers have been unintentionally financing anti-American regimes and extremist groups when they pay for gas, compromising our national security one tank at a time.
Rock on, Senator! Spoken like you get it!
Unfortunately, the letter then returns to predictable Team Donkey talking points.
At the same time, American consumption of carbon-rich oil and other fossil fuels is permanently altering our environment. Recently, the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released a report stating with 90 percent certainty that carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping greenhouse gases (GHGs) released through burning oil , coal , and other human activity have caused substantial global warming since the 1950's. Many energy and environmental experts believe carbon dioxide concentrations in our atmosphere will double by the middle of the 21st century , due to human influence. This could cause a climate-wide temperature increase of 3.5 to 8 degrees Fahrenheit, and a wide range of other disconcerting consequences, including ocean acidification, melting Arctic ice caps, species extinctions, and rising global sea levels.
Where are my boots? It's getting deep in here! Can we stop already with the faux science Big Global Warming hysteria already? The UN is your source?!?!? C'mon! Those asshats will say anything to bring us one step closer to the Glorious One-World Socialist Utopia!
Then, in yet another plot twist, the Senator returns to reality.
Selling new leases for oil exploration and drilling in areas of the United States that are proven to be rich in oil, such as the Outer Continental Shelf and in the Gulf of New Mexico , may help displace some of the oil we currently import from abroad. This is why I support new lease sales and increased oil and natural gas drilling on the public lands and the parts of the open seas that the government has opened for drilling and where it is possible without great environmental loss . With the price of oil at an all-time high, the economic incentive for oil companies to explore for new oil and gas, drill in untapped reservoirs, and extract more from the wells already built, is higher than ever.
Yes! Drill! Drill!! Drill!!!
The letter ends, predictably, with a rundown of legislative steps Senator Cardin supports that he believes will lead to a solution. There's the predictable "you can't drill your way out of this" paraphrase that is, I suppose, required by DNC mandate.
But, overall, I'd say that Senator Cardin's second reply letter to me was W-A-A-A-A-Y better than his first. At least now he's acknowledging that we need to drill. Now we just have to make sure that he holds to that.
I know he's a junior Senator in his first term. I know that there's a certain amount of "tow the party line" that goes with being a first-term Senator. I get it. But the Senator needs to be his own man. And, most importantly, he needs to do what's best for America, not what's best for Al Gorebells, Richard Branson, T. Boone Pickens, General Electric, and Nancy Pelosi.
One last thought: where is Senator-for-life Barbara Mikulski? She can't be bothered to weigh in with her "solutions"? I guess that's what happens when you've been a Senator since Reconstruction. You can't be bothered with the little people.
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It's a funny thing, you know. Government and law enforcement agencies are always asking for more and broader powers. They never show up in Congress saying, "Gee, ya know? I really think we're a little big for our britches and we're throwing our weight around a little too much. Please take away some of our broad powers that circumvent key parts of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights." Nope. It's always more. Always.
The Feebs ruined Richard Jewell's life. Ruined Stephen Hatfill's. Drove Bruce Ivins (whether guilty or not) to suicide. And, shocker, they want more power.
A Justice Department plan would loosen restrictions on the Federal Bureau of Investigation to allow agents to open a national security or criminal investigation against someone without any clear basis for suspicion, Democratic lawmakers briefed on the details said Wednesday.
The plan, which could be made public next month, has already generated intense interest and speculation. Little is known about its precise language, but civil liberties advocates say they fear it could give the government even broader license to open terrorism investigations.
Catch the key phrase: without any clear basis for suspicion. Ain't that a kicker?
Have the American people really changed that much since I was a kid? There's NO WAY such a request could be made 30 years ago, in the post-Watergate USA. Memories of Nixon and his cronies abusing their power were still strong then.
Now? The sheeple trust that Big Brother and his appointed agents, the Feebs, the heinous ATF, and der Schutzstaffel - excuse me, DHS - will play nicely and always within the rules, no matter how many sweeping extra-Constitutional powers we give them.
Land of the free, home of the brave? I think not.
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I've converted over to the new Blogger "Blog List" widget, so now you can not only see the blogs I follow, but also see when their content is updated.
I've added two additional blogs of interest since touting Sore Toes and a Bleeding Heart. These two blogs couldn't be any different from one another.
The first blog is that of noted libertarian crusader Vin Syprynowicz. Mr. Syprynowicz writes for the editorial page of the Las Vegas Review Journal as his day job. He doesn't pull his punches and will take on any subject. Read his stuff. He's good.
The second blog is that of frequent TVL visitor and commentator Whateverman. Whateverman and I don't always see eye-to-eye, but he's a very reasoned debater, and seems to be quite bright. His blog is an ecclectic day-in-the-life snapshot of his life, with various commentary thrown in here and there. Give him a read. He's all right in my book.
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Only the boneheads at Homeland Security (okay, technically ICE, but it's all DHS in the end) could come up with a plan this completely stupid.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced today the launch of a pilot program, Scheduled Departure, which will begin next week in five cities. The program allows fugitive aliens who have no criminal history and pose no threat to the community an opportunity to remain out of custody while they coordinate their removal with ICE.
Let me translate that from bureacrateze for you: "Say, Mr. Illegal Immigrant -- turn yourself in to us voluntarily, and we'll let you make all the arrangements to return home and promise not to raid you".
This "innovative plan" ran from August 5th through August 22nd. How successful was it?
Eight people turned themselves in. Eight. I can't believe there are eight people that stupid! Oh, wait. There had to be at least eight asshats at ICE who thought this was a good idea. Never mind.
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This week's WotW is Barack {don't say his middle name or you're a racist} Obama for his stunning feat of managing to be in a dead heat in the polls with the dreary and unappealing John McCommie in spite of having the national media practically fellating him on a daily basis.
He follows a pathetic performance at the little Faux-Evangelical Church of Rick Warren gathering with the announcement of Senator Hairplugs as his VP candidate. Senator Plagiarism is one of the most liberal (and, reportedly, most condescending) men to have ever disgraced the halls of Congress. He has revealed, through comments he has made in the past, that he is both a bigot and a know it all. Senator "I have a higher IQ than you do" is well known for his talent for bloviation. It was once said that while asking a "question" of a Senate investigation witness, he spoke about himself for 14 minutes before getting to the actual information he wished to obtain from said witness.
But an even bigger storm lurks on the horizon, a storm that has this Vulture ready to circle.
Someone asked me, when Hillary Clinton was sinking and Mr. {} was running away with the primaries, if old Slewfoot was done for. I said I wouldn't believe she was done until I could witness the stake through that cold, hard wad of leather she calls a heart. How prophetic those words!
It started as a low rumble...but now it is gaining steam. The supporters of the Lizard Queen have begun a campaign to dethrone the media's darling so their queen can be the candidate for Team Donkey. First came the push to have 666's name placed in nomination at the convention, which was successful. Now there's this little gem.
A prominent Philadelphia attorney and Hillary Clinton supporter filed suit this afternoon in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania against Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, the Democratic National Committee and the Federal Election Commission. The action seeks an injunction preventing the senator from continuing his candidacy and a court order enjoining the DNC from nominating him next week, all on grounds that Sen. Obama is constitutionally ineligible to run for and hold the office of President of the United States.
It seems there are Constitutional questions regarding whether Obama's mother had met the requirements for Obama to be considered a citizen by birth. I've heard different variations on this, and don't feel like doing the research right this moment (Saturday laziness, you know?), but the law is written to the effect that if {} was born in Hawaii, as is claimed by his camp, his mother, being only 18 years old and out-of-country for some time in Kenya prior to {}'s birth, didn't meet minimum requirements. And if, as is claimed by some, including the filer of the lawsuit, {} WAS born in Kenya, then he's doubly not a "born" citizen.
It's starting to look like my Chicago '68 dream may come true after all! Oh, let it be so!!!
Barack {} Obama, thanks for being my Wiener of the Week. You've made my week!
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In a recent post I casually mentioned a phenomenon that gets very little attention anywhere. In fact, the only other person I've heard mention it before is Ron Smith of WBAL in Baltimore. The phenomenon of which I speak is the passage of laws and regulations by Congress that are so vague you could drive a truck through the gaps. These vague laws are then passed to some faceless bureaucracy to implement. Hilarity ensues.
You'd be surprised at how much of our "law" has been implemented by turf-hungry careerist bureaucrats. Let me lay it out for you.
Congress passes the National Everyone Must Be Happy Act. Just as one would expect from the title of the Act, it's more vague than a mime with ADD. There aren't any details to speak of. Just "be happy, damn it!".
The Department of Feel Good is created to enforce this Act. "Happy" Czar C. Brazen Hubris tasks his department heads to define the policy and the definitions of what "compliance" is, the better to reward those who comply and punish those who don't. When their "little" document is finalized (at around 1,300 pages), the "law" resulting from the Act is now complete. Regardless of the intent of the sponsors of the original bill, the law, as implemented, may be 180 degrees different from that intent.
As a result of this little game, Congress get credit for passing "magnificent" bills like the Americans with Disabilities Act, No Child Left Behind, and, of course, the Assault Weapons ban. Note the resultant success of each of these Acts (/sarcasm).
It is the Assault Weapons ban that comes into play here. Of all the federal black hole gawd-awful agencies that could implement this steaming turd of legislative nonsense, it fell to the very worst - the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF). ATF seems to be the place where the very worst of schoolyard bullies eventually end up working. ATF would just LOVE to make criminals out of every gun owner in America. Think I'm kidding? You'll be of a different mind after reading this.
Savage's dispute with the federal agency stems from a recent project for which he sent a gun part he is developing to the federal government for review.
The part is intended to allow a certain type of gun to be used with a different size and less expensive ammunition. Savage, owner of Historic Arms LLC., said his part would convert the caliber of the guns to operate with ammunition that costs 1 or 2 cents per shell, instead of 25 cents or more.
He said such devices are fairly common. But he told WND he was stunned to get a letter from the BATFE stating that not only was his repair part a gun, it was a machine gun.
That conclusion came after the agency's testing bureau added some metal pieces, a length of chain, some duct tape and plastic wires to his gun part in order to make it fire a bullet.
Okay, follow me here. Dude invents an add-on part to allow guns to fire cheaper ammunition (great for target practice). ATF puts McIver to work on the gun and part. McIver creates a machine gun. Now dude is a criminal...just because some whiz kid could take
additional parts never intended for use with either the gun nor the add-on part and rig a machine gun.
It gets better. There's the case of a poor soul whose weapon malfunctioned and shot three bullets with one squeeze of the trigger. He's doing 30 months in Federal penitentiary as a result.
"A gun that malfunctions is not a machine gun," Larry Pratt, executive director of GOA, said. "What the [federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives] has done in the Olofson case has set a precedent that could make any of the millions of Americans that own semi-automatic firearms suddenly the owner [of] an unregistered machine gun at the moment the gun malfunctions."
When U.S. District Judge Charles Clevert imposed the sentence, a commentary in Guns Magazine said, "It didn't matter the rifle in question had not been intentionally modified for select fire, or that it did not have an M16 bolt carrier … that it did not show any signs of machining or drilling, or that that model had even been recalled a few years back.
"It didn't matter the government had repeatedly failed to replicate automatic fire until they replaced the ammunition with a softer primer type. It didn't even matter that the prosecution admitted it was not important to prove the gun would do it again if the test were conducted today," the magazine said. "What mattered was the government's position that none of the above was relevant because '[T]here's no indication it makes any difference under the statute. If you pull the trigger once and it fires more than one round, no matter what the cause it's a machine gun.' No matter what the cause."
No matter what the cause.Do you still think I'm exaggerating when I say they're trying to make criminals of us all?
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I've noticed a trend. The more hysterical and unreasonable Big Enviro gets in hyping their warming hysteria, the more their mewlings are met with indifference by people with half a brain. Both in Britain and the US, people have collectively shrugged their shoulders in indifference.
But the hysteria? Oh my goodness, is it starting to get extreme! And funny.
This first asshat wants to put Big Oil executive in prison for high crimes against humanity! I kid you not.
James Hansen, one of the world's leading climate scientists, will today call for the chief executives of large fossil fuel companies to be put on trial for high crimes against humanity and nature, accusing them of actively spreading doubt about global warming in the same way that tobacco companies blurred the links between smoking and cancer
Think that's funny? Check this out.
On a planet 4C hotter, all we can prepare for is extinction
There's no 'adaptation' to such steep warming. We must stop pandering to special interests, and try a new, post-Kyoto strategy
We need to get prepared for four degrees of global warming, Bob Watson told the Guardian last week. At first sight this looks like wise counsel from the climate science adviser to Defra. But the idea that we could adapt to a 4C rise is absurd and dangerous. Global warming on this scale would be a catastrophe that would mean, in the immortal words that Chief Seattle probably never spoke, "the end of living and the beginning of survival" for humankind. Or perhaps the beginning of our extinction.
Meanwhile, the scientific evidence is accumulating to indicate that, in fact, we're getting
colder.
Independent researchers at the University of Mexico expressed their contention that
we're headed for a mini-Ice Age, and that current warming models are a fraud (excuse the poor Google translation).
An expert from the National Autonomous University of Mexico predicted that in about ten years the Earth will enter a "little ice age" which will last from 60 to 80 years and may be caused by the decrease in solar activity.
Velasco Herrera described as erroneous predictions of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), pursuant to which the planet is experiencing a gradual increase in temperature, the so-called global warming.
The models and forecasts of the IPCC "is incorrect because only are based on mathematical models and presented results at scenarios that do not include, for example, solar activity," said the specialist also in image processing and signs and prevention of natural disasters.
I want one phrase to stand out in your minds, if nothing else does. The models are incorrect because they don't include
solar activity. Hmmm. I wonder what might affect Earth's temperature more? The pitiful activity of tiny humankind, or
the warming and cooling patterns of the sun?
Don't buy the hype. You'll just make Al Gorebells, Richard Branson, T. Boone Pickens, Nancy Pelosi, and the other availability entrepreneurs richer.
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One of the things that made Stalin's little workers' paradise such as swell place to live (/sarcasm) was never knowing who might be watching you. Anyone -- your best friend, your wife, your children -- might report you to the NKVD (the People's Comissariat for Internal Affairs) for any action that might be deemed a "crime" against государство (Russian for "der Staat"). Everyone was encouraged to spy and report on everyone else. It was your patriotic duty.
Fast forward to the 21st century. Stalin and the Soviet Union are dead and gone...but the totalitarian mindset lives on in New York City.
New Yorkers can soon take a bite out of city crime by uploading video or photo evidence directly to the New York Police Department, in a move welcomed on Thursday by civil rights groups.
"We're putting that technology in place to enable us to do that," said Police Commissioner Ray Kelly, adding that the service will be available soon.
"It's a fact of life," Kelly said. "Everybody has a camera in their telephones. When people can record an event taking place that helps us during an investigation, it's helpful."
Soon citizen sleuths can transmit evidence of criminal activity directly to the police and 911...
Of course, the Fascists are selling it as a way for citizens to "stop crime", even "including evidence of police misconduct".
Let's call a spade a spade, shall we?
This is nothing by a thinly veiled attempt to get the citizenry used to ratting out their fellow man. It's 21st century Stalinism, right here in that glorious People's Republic, the USSA.
The sheeple love it.
Donna Lieberman, executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union said, "I think...it's appropriate for the police department to invite video reports of wrong doing both by ordinary people and police officers...
Of course you do. Moron.
As more and more laws are passed that seem designed to make a criminal of everyone rather than protect the common good, this sort of "spies among us" mentality will be a most useful tool to the elite in keeping the disgruntled in line.
Parsons is arrested for thoughtcrime because of his little daughter. She listens at the keyhole, hears him saying, "down with Big Brother" in his sleep and runs to get a patrol. Parsons is actually proud of her for this; he was completely unconscious and unaware of doing anything of the kind, and thinks that it is terrible that he could have unknowingly harbored these evil thoughts. He says that when he goes up against the tribunal he plans to thank them for saving him before it was too late.
From 1984 by George Orwell
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Nancy Pelosi has been the Speaker of the House for about 1 1/2 years. In that time, she has shown herself to be typical of the genus Liberalis Limousineis that is predominantly found on the Upper West Side and in trendy parts of San Francisco, Los Angeles, Washington, and other large cities. The fact that she flies home EVERY WEEK on an Airforce One-style aircraft at taxpayer expense while preaching to the rest of us to conserve energy is just one example of her LL cred.
Fresh off her Messianic proclamation that she is "trying to save the planet", Ms. Pelosi continues to claim that attempts to vote for offshore drilling constitute "a scam against the American people".
But little Nancy has a secret. Little Nancy has a major conflict of interest. Little Nancy has a chance for a major financial score based on making alternative fuels more attractive.
As I pointed out just three days ago, the major players for "saving the planet" seem to be all about reaping a financial windfall from their eco-scare tactics. Here's "Planet Savior" Nancy's little piece of the pie.
Not surprisingly, the nation's largest provider of natural gas for transportation, Clean Energy Fuels Corporation, or CLNE, has a great deal to gain from the adoption of Pickens' fuel strategy and the passage of Proposition 10. In fact, according to the California Secretary of State website, CLNE has contributed $3,247,250 to supporting Proposition 10's passage.
CLNE, however, was formerly known as Pickens Fuel after its primary investor, T. Boone Pickens.
While Pickens touts a plan in the name of environmentalism that will also line his company's pockets, an investigation has revealed that another environmental champion and backer of Proposition 10 has also invested in CLNE: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California.
According to the investigation, Pelosi purchased $50,000-$100,000 in CLNE stock on May 25, 2007, apparently on its initial public offering.
Now the House speaker stands to make a large profit on her reported 22,000 shares of CLNE if she and other public figures can persuade the people of California to vote for Proposition 10 in the name of renewable energy and clean, alternative fuels.
Isn't that special? Little Nancy stands to make a profit on her shares of CLNE...but only if public sentiment towards the shift to alternative energy sources is heightened by high gasoline prices. And who is it that's keeping the price of gasoline high by refusing to allow a simple "yes/no"
vote on offshore drilling? Why, none other than little "I'm trying to save the planet/I stand to make buck" Nancy Pelosi.
Let's take roll, shall we?
Al Gorebells - Mr. Global Warming, chief propagandist for Big Climate (owns the company to which he pays his "carbon credits"): hypocrite/charlatan.
Richard Branson - announced a €1.9 billion "gift" to fight global warming (which turns out to be the creation of a new energy company that he owns and from which he will make billions): hypocrite/charlatan.
T. Boone Pickens - crusade to make natural gas part of the alternative fuels effort by pushing for Prop 10 (owns CLNE, so Prop 10 will make him billions): hypocrite/charlatan.
Nancy Pelosi - self-proclaimed planet savior, single-handedly holding up a vote that can make America a little more energy-independent and give consumers a little relief from high gasoline prices (stands to make huge profits on her CLNE stock from public opinion concerning high gasoline prices): hypocrite/charlatan.
By your fruits you shall know them. They're nothing but availability entrepreneurs, using their power and position to further enrich themselves regardless of how it may affect the "little people".
But here's the real pisser in all of this.
No one in big media is looking into this apparent and easily-verifiable story.
No one in either house of Congress is calling for an investigation.
No one is calling for the impeachment of the Speaker.
No one is doing anything.
It makes me sick.
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I'm a firm believer in pointing out writers and bloggers who are doing a commendable job of drawing attention to the issues of freedom and government corruption that are the predominant theme of this blog. Anyone who's ever read this blog knows that I have a major man-crush on Vox Day and Steve Czaban. I've always enjoyed the wit and wisdom of Der Hausfraurer, Nate. In the past year, I've added William Grigg (Pro Libertate) and Andrew Bolt to my list of those who "get it" and are fighters against over-grasping government.
Today I'd like to call your attention to a lady who is fighting the good fight against a singularly corrupt and evil organ of government -- Child Protective Services (CPS). I'd like to introduce you to Sore Toes and a Bleeding Heart, a blog that caught fire during the FLDS fiasco.
Contrary to the name, "Sore Toes" is NOT a bleeding heart in the traditional, Upper West Side Limousine Liberal sense of the term. Her heart bleeds for the children being yanked away from family and home on the flimsiest of excuses. She's got a very good grasp of the issues, and a real nose for digging up the dirt on the "civil servants" behind Der Staat's malevolent claim on our children.
She's a talented writer and is significantly nicer in her treatment of the foul vermin she reports on than, say, Vox Day, Nate, or I. It's not a chick blog -- she addresses hard issues and does it well. Give her a read -- you'll be glad you did.
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For the third week running, the WotW relates to the issue of oil drilling and the Congress that (a) won't vote on it because of the personal mendacity of Speaker Nancy Pelosi (more on that in my next post, coming soon), (b) is using it as an issue to grandstand for political points (Yea Team Elephant! Way to show real leadership by giving speeches in the dark. Asshats!), and (c) is using it as an issue to grandstand for political points (Yea Team Donkey! Way to show real leadership by hiding behind the skirt of your mendacious House leader and parroting her talking points! Asshats!).
Face it, we are suffering not from a surfeit of oil, but from a surfeit of honest, competent leadership.
For their hard work and leadership, appreciated by at least 14% of the populous who still think they're doing a swell job, Congress is the Wiener of the Week.
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Just when I thought I couldn't possibly get any more pessimistic about the restoration of our freedoms, I come across this little tidbit.
Nearly half of Americans (47%) believe the government should require all radio and television stations to offer equal amounts of conservative and liberal political commentary
31% believe the Internet sites should be forced to balance their commentary
Okay. I want you to focus on certain keywords.
Require.
Force.
Even with the words "force" and "require" (the same thing when we're talking about government), these empty-headed sheeple thought that speech limitation is a swell idea.
I can't believe there is
one person who favors the limitation of speech via government coercion, let alone almost
half the f'ing populous!!!Good God.
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Some weeks ago I wrote about how der Schutzstaffel...excuse me, the Department of Homeland Security...had decided that the 4th Amendment doesn't apply anymore...at least not to them. They've implemented a policy that allows them to confiscate laptops and other electronic devices at border crossings and retain physical possession of said devices "for a reasonable period of time", which, of course, is defined by them. Here's the kicker: they will do so "without any suspicion of wrongdoing" on the part of the laptop owner! And they intend to "share the contents" of the devices with "other agencies and private entities"!
Did I miss something? Didn't we fight a war against the original King George for much less than this?
Which part of this text indicates that der Schutzstaffel has this authority?
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
At the time I first wrote about this I lauded Senators Patrick Leahy and Russ Feingold for their efforts to combat this affront to both decency as well as the Constitution. Senator Feingold fights on against this policy...and DHS
continues to defend it.
"They're saying they can rifle through all the information in a traveler's laptop without having a smidgen of evidence that the traveler is breaking the law," said Greg Nojeim, senior counsel at the Center for Democracy and Technology. Notably, he said, the policies "don't establish any criteria for whose computer can be searched."
Customs Deputy Commissioner Jayson P. Ahern said the efforts "do not infringe on Americans' privacy." In a statement submitted to Feingold for a June hearing on the issue, he noted that the executive branch has long had "plenary authority to conduct routine searches and seizures at the border without probable cause or a warrant" to prevent drugs and other contraband from entering the country.
Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff wrote in an opinion piece published last month in USA Today that "the most dangerous contraband is often contained in laptop computers or other electronic devices." Searches have uncovered "violent jihadist materials" as well as images of child pornography, he wrote.
They found contraband. Whoopty-doo.
Michael Chertoff shouldn't be the head of DHS. Michael Chertoff should be in a Federal prison. The whole point of the 4th Amendment was to prevent just this sort of governmental intrusion into the lives of American citizens. But to Chertoff and other collectivists like him, the individual doesn't matter. Only der Staat matters.
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I've said all along that Al Gorebells is nothing but an availability entrepreneur looking to cash in on the man-made warming hysteria that he has been a key part in fomenting. He makes a big deal about paying for "carbon credits" for his own profligate use of the planet's resources, but the "credits" he's "buying" are paid to a firm he owns!
Now there's news that another big name in the man-made warming hysteria crowd has joined Mr. Gorebells in the campaign to be the biggest availability entrepreneur.
The Virgin boss’s much trumpeted pledge of €1.9bn to tackle global warming is nothing but smoke and mirrors.
In September 2006, Virgin boss Richard Branson pledged €1.9 billion towards tackling global warming. For the next ten years, he announced, the profits from his aviation and rail businesses would go towards combating the biggest, most complex problem that mankind has ever faced.
The promise earned Branson headlines around the world. Media outlets carried photos of him, Bill Clinton and Al Gore at a Clinton Global Initiative press conference in New York. Adults, Branson solemnly told the assembled media, had a duty to pass a ‘‘pristine’’ planet on to the next generation. Politicians and campaigners were effusive in their praise for his imagination and generosity.
However, a look at the not-very-small print revealed that this amazing gesture would not be a matter of taking the profits from Branson’s polluting industries and using them to protect vast tracts of the Amazon.
In fact, the money would go to a new division of the Virgin conglomerate, called Virgin Fuel. Branson was simply gearing himself up to make more money. But as always, the PR spin was that he’d be doing the rest of us a favour in the process.
I'm telling you, people! There's only one way to know what's really up with these global warming cultists. You've got to follow the money. They say all of the right things about "saving the planet". But they're much more interested in using this faddish cause to line their own pockets.
By their fruits you shall know them. Gorebells: phony. Branson: phony.
'Nuff said.
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Okay, it was 20 years ago last Friday, but it was a most noteworthy personal milestone for Mrs. V and me.
21 years ago an attractive young woman at work caught my eye. I tried to subtly inquire about her...but subtle was never my strong suit. I bought Tupperware from her, just to give me an excuse to meet her. I didn't even need the Tupperware. Finally, I screwed up the courage to ask her out. It's a decision I'll always be thankful I made.
Mrs. V was only 24 years old. Just a baby. I soon learned that her husband had left her and her 3 month old son just 3 months earlier. "A kid.", thought I. "Oh boy." But once I met Kyle, I immediately fell in love with him. It was a match made in Heaven.
We dated, fell in love, and anxiously awaited the day that her divorce would be final. It seemed to take f-o-r-e-v-e-r. Finally, in late July 1988, the judgment was finalized, and we could set a date. We didn't just set a date, we cherry picked THE date from that year -- August 8th. 8-8-88.
Fast-forward 20 years. We've been through a lot together. Good times and bad. I reckon that most of the bad was my fault. Yet, by God's grace, we made it through the hard times and grew in love and appreciation of each other.
Mrs. V is truly the most loving, most thoughtful, most patient and long-suffering of spouses. She is truly the second greatest blessing God has given me, second only to His gift of salvation through Christ Jesus.
DP, I love you so very much and always will. You are my friend, my confidant, my strong constant in a crazy, unpredictable world. Thank you so much for 20 wonderful years. I look forward to growing old together with you.
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Tip of the Beak to Rachel Lucas for calling my attention to this steaming mess.
Prince Georges county (PG county or "piggy" county to you out-of-staters) is a highly schizophrenic place. There is the PG county of bedroom suburbs of Washington, DC; places like College Park and Silver Spring. Bowie and Laurel. But much of the county sits hard against the worst and most crime-ridden Wards of DC. Places with names like Suitland and Capitol Heights. High-crime places.
But now, thanks to the PG County Sheriffs Department, the phenomena of increasingly militarized and out of control local police forces has come home to Maryland.
Don't believe me? Ask the mayor of Berwyn Heights. He's seen it, up close and personal.
When the shooting stopped, two dogs lay dead. A mayor sat in his boxers, hands bound behind his back. His handcuffed mother-in-law was sprawled on the kitchen floor, lying beside the body of one of the family pets that police had killed before her eyes.
After the raid, Prince George's County police officials who burst into the home of Berwyn Heights' mayor last week seized the same unopened package of marijuana that an undercover officer had delivered an hour earlier.
What police left behind was a house stained with blood and a trail of questions about their conduct. No other evidence of illegal activity was found, and no one was arrested at Mayor Cheye Calvo's home in this small bedroom community near College Park.
This week Prince George's police arrested two men for orchestrating a plot to deliver marijuana to the addresses of unsuspecting recipients -- among them, Calvo's wife, Trinity Tomsic.
Yet neither county Police Chief Melvin C. High nor Sheriff Michael A. Jackson have apologized to him, his wife or her mother, Georgia Porter, for the raid that traumatized the family and killed their black Labrador retrievers, Payton and Chase.
Apology? APOLOGY?!?!?! We're
the Law! We don't have to apologize.
Mayor Calvo is calling for a Federal investigation of the invasion. Good luck there, Mayor. Who do you think it was that provided all of those neat toys for destroying homes to the PG County Sheriffs Department in the first place?
Apparently the PG County Sheriffs Department likes to get their aggression on versus family pets.
In once such case, Prince George's sheriff's deputies executed a warrant on the home of Frank and Pamela Myers of Accokeek in November. The Myers told sheriffs that they had the wrong address as their dog began barking from the yard. The couple asked if they could retrieve their dog, but deputies refused. Minutes later, two shots were fired and the dog was killed, according to a notice of a tort claims filed by attorney Michael J. Winkelman. The Myers were never charged and nothing was seized from their house.
So, what's it going to take before the sheeple are sufficiently roused to decry this Cops-vs-Citizens war that the Federales have fueled? Is it when the Stoßtruppen move beyond killing pets to killing homeowners? Oh, I'm sorry. They're
already there in some parts of the country.
Wake up, people! The next house the Stoßtruppen crash could be yours!
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The WotW for this week is Congress. Natural-born leader Nancy (the Stork) Pelosi, has pulled Team Donkey off the field because ANY vote, whether for drilling or against drilling, will be murder for her team in the upcoming elections. And the other team? They've been grandstanding in the dark, trying desperately to get noticed by a media still more enamored with Paris Hilton and Lindsey Lohan stories than with the legitimate concerns of the American people. Oh, that and fawning all over Barack {don't say his middle name or you're a racist} Obama.
For fiddling while Rome is burning, Congress is the Wiener of the Week.
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By rights, the WotM should be ME, for being late two months in a row with the WotM. But, even though I qualify as a first-rate dumbass for failing to notice the change of month twice in a row, there are so many more worthy candidates.
My choice is John McCommie, who is running perhaps the most dreary and uninspiring political campaign ever. Even Bob Dole must be asking himself, "How did the party choose such a Nimrod?"
Honestly, if I were an aluminum hat-wearing conspiracy theorist, I would SWEAR that Team Elephant is trying to throw the election. That's how bad McCommie is as a candidate.
For being a total douche in the face of a Team Donkey candidate who isn't so hot himself, John McCommie is the Wiener of the Month (for July).
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As I mentioned on Saturday, my "mole" at Fort Detrick was less than certain that Bruce Ivins was really the anthrax murderer. They aren't the only one. It seems like everyone is in agreement on one thing, though; the FBI investigation was W-A-A-A-A-A-Y over the top.
Before killing himself last week, Army scientist Bruce Ivins told friends that government agents had stalked him and his family for months, offered his son $2.5 million to rat him out and tried to turn his hospitalized daughter against him with photographs of dead anthrax victims.
The pressure on Ivins was extreme, a high-risk strategy that has failed the FBI before. The government was determined to find the villain in the 2001 anthrax attacks; it was too many years without a solution to the case that shocked and terrified a post-9/11 nation.
The last thing the FBI needed was another embarrassment. Overreaching damaged the FBI's reputation in the high-profile investigations: the Centennial Olympic Park bombing probe that falsely accused Richard Jewell; the theft of nuclear secrets and botched prosecution of scientist Wen Ho Lee; and, in this same anthrax probe, the smearing of an innocent man - Ivins' colleague Steven Hatfill.
In the current case, Ivins complained privately that FBI agents had offered his son, Andy, $2.5 million, plus "the sports car of his choice" late last year if he would turn over evidence implicating his father in the anthrax attacks, according to a former U.S. scientist who described himself as a friend of Ivins.
Ivins also said the FBI confronted Ivins' daughter, Amanda, with photographs of victims of the anthrax attacks and told her, "This is what your father did," according to the scientist, who spoke only on condition of anonymity because their conversation was confidential.
The scientist said Ivins was angered by the FBI's alleged actions, which he said included following Ivins' family on shopping trips.
Dr. W. Russell Byrne...who retired from the lab four years ago, said FBI agents interviewed him seven to 12 times since the investigation began - and he got off easy.
"I think I'm the only person at USAMRIID who didn't get polygraphed," he said.
Byrne said he was told by people who had recently worked with Ivins that the investigation had taken an emotional toll on the researcher. "One person said he'd sit at his desk and weep," he said.
Innocent until proven guilty? Or literally hounded to death? Given that we STILL haven't been presented with any evidence that Ivins was guilty of anything except working for USAMRIID, we may never know for sure.
Naturally, the Feebies claim that the investigation was all on the up-and-up.
FBI official John Miller said that "what we have seen over the past few days has been a mix of improper disclosures of partial information mixed with inaccurate information and then drawn into unfounded conclusions. None of that serves the victims, their families or the public."
The FBI "always moves aggressively to get to the bottom of the facts, but that does not include mistreatment of anybody and I don't know of any case where that's happened," said former FBI deputy director Weldon Kennedy, who was with the bureau for 34 years. "That doesn't mean that from time to time people don't make mistakes," he added.
No mistreatment? I wonder how Richard Jewell, Wen Ho Lee, and Steven Hatfill feel about that. Not to mention the Ivins family, which has been shattered by the suicide of a husband and father.
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The increasingly-militarized state and local police forces have fallen in love with the Taser. They love it. L-O-V-E it. And they've taken to over-using and abusing the cute, "harmless", little toy just a wee bit. Just ask Mace Hutchinson.
Parents of a 16-year-old boy in intensive care with a broken back want to know why police Tasered their son 19 times rather than calling an ambulance for help.
Citizens noticed Branson, Mo., teenager Mace Hutchinson walking alongside the road and, fearing for his safety, called 9-1-1.
"We called the police. My wife was afraid he was going to get ran over or hit," said witness Doug Messersmith. "He looked a little agitated but, other than that, he didn't look to be falling down drunk or anything like that."
When police arrived, they found Hutchinson under an overpass on U.S. 65 Saturday morning, Springfield's KY3 News reported. The boy had fallen 30 feet off the overpass and was lying on the shoulder.
When the boy didn't respond to police, they Tasered him, repeatedly.
Ah, yes. There's the money quote. "When the boy didn't respond to police, they Tasered him, repeatedly."
You see, citizens apparently don't have the right to ignore police, even when they're lying on the ground with a broken back, probably in shock, and already identified as being "out of it". Lack of consciousness is
no excuse! for failing to obey the direct orders of these humble representatives of der Staat.
Tell us again, Dear Leader, how the "enemies" of America "hate us for our freedoms". Please.
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Forget the polls. They're a load of dung. The choice has already been made for us. Don't take my word for it -- see what the fawning media have to say about it themselves.
The 5:20 TBA turned out to be his adoration session with lawmakers in the Cannon Caucus Room, where even committee chairmen arrived early, as if for the State of the Union. Capitol Police cleared the halls -- just as they do for the actual president. The Secret Service hustled him in through a side door -- just as they do for the actual president.
Inside, according to a witness, he told the House members, "This is the moment . . . that the world is waiting for," adding: "I have become a symbol of the possibility of America returning to our best traditions."
As he marches toward Inauguration Day (Election Day is but a milestone on that path), Obama's biggest challenger may not be Republican John McCain but rather his own hubris.
Some say the supremely confident Obama -- nearly 100 days from the election, he pronounces that "the odds of us winning are very good" -- has become a president-in-waiting. But in truth, he doesn't need to wait: He has already amassed the trappings of the office, without those pesky decisions.
And why shouldn't Mr. {don't say his middle name or you're a racist} feel like he's already the president? Who wouldn't with
this crowd of sycophants following you everywhere you go?
Obama, who appeared tired in his first major appearance since returning Saturday from a 10-day trip abroad, met with a receptive audience at the Chicago convention. Some journalists had waited three hours for the 40-minute appearance.
The group had expected Obama and Sen. John McCain to speak on Thursday night, but because of scheduling conflicts, only Obama could attend yesterday morning's talk.
When Obama walked on stage at the McCormick Center, many journalists in the audience leapt to their feet and applauded enthusiastically after being told not to do so. During a two-minute break halfway through the event, which was broadcast live on CNN, journalists ran to the stage to snap photos of Obama. (emphasis mine)
OMG. No mention of knee pads, so I guess the media stopped just short of Monica Lewinsky, though I wouldn't have put it past any of them.
Sure, there's still plenty of time for Mr. {} to take a misstep and fall on his face. Remember Michael Dukakis. But as long as he plays it straight and doesn't make any egregious gaffes, he's a shoe-in for Supreme Ruler of the American Empire.
God help us all.
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This week the WotW goes to Team Donkey for their refusal to even allow a vote on lifting the offshore oil drilling ban.
This is truly an example of the democratic process at work (/sarcasm). We elect representatives to make tough choices that impact the lives of each and every one of us. And they dither. And they dally. And they equivocate. They CAN'T vote. Why? Because voting will put them on the record, one way or another.
Team Elephant is just DYING to vote on this issue because, for a change, they're on the right side of an issue. Team Donkey? They're so beholden to Big Enviro that, if they vote for American interests (a Yes vote), they'll lose the Big Enviro vote (more importantly, they'll lose the Big Enviro money). But if they vote No, Americans will rightly see them as being out of touch with economic reality, and Team Donkey will lose their votes. Lose/lose. That's what happens when your constituency shifts from the people you represent to the money you represent.
For showing true cowardice in the face of adversity, Team Donkey is the Wiener of the Week.
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After years of stumbles, bumbles, and fumbles, the FBI finally managed to accomplish something in their search for the anthrax murder. That accomplishment, unfortunately, was the suicide of the prime suspect.
In 2003, the Defense Department gave Bruce Ivins its highest civilian honor for his work on an anthrax vaccine.
Friday, the government had little to say about him, following his apparent suicide and media reports that the FBI was preparing to charge him with the 2001 anthrax mailings.
Ivins was a Frederick resident who worked at the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases...
I have an insider at Ft. Detrick (a mere 15 minute drive from my house -- ain't it comforting to know that all of the major toxins and biological agents known to mankind are such a short drive away?). My source knew both Ivins as well as Steven Hatfill, the original "person of interest" in the case. My source said that it was ridiculous to ever consider Hatfill a suspect; in his line of work, he would have never had access to anthrax. I mean, it's not like people can wander into any old area of the research labs and grab up a smallpox sample or a cup of ricin.
So what did my source have to say about Mr. Ivins? They told me that, given the constant harassment he was under for the past two years from law enforcement, it's not surprising that he offed himself. They didn't come right out and say that they didn't think he did it. But they didn't express the same certainty that the media has expressed.
Naturally, the
Frederick News-Post is all over the story, in case you want to get the "local" read on it.
It's certainly been more spotlight than Frederick is used to, that's for sure.
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