If [insert candidate name] is elected...

I've become immune to it, but apparently it still works. "What?", you ask. Scare mongering, of course! I've never in my life seen anything like this. Oh wait, yes I have...just 4 short years ago! Remember how, if John "Frankenstein" Kerry were elected president, the radical Islamists would celebrate in the streets and we'd all be individually attacked by terrorists? Only King George the Dim could save us!

This go-around has had more than its share of fear mongering. Some of it is downright comical. I'll start with the anti-McCommie scare tactics (age before beauty, you know).

If McCain is elected...

• It'll prove that this is a racist nation!
• He'll invade Iran & Syria!
• He'll tax your health care!
• Corporations will:
• Use his election as an excuse to cut commissions and overtime!
• Stop providing health care!
• Downsize to take advantage of tax breaks!
• Deaths from terrorist attacks will skyrocket under McCain!
• Women will be forced into lesser lives!
• The US will become a 3rd-world nation!
• He'll start a new Cold War with Russia!
• It'll be economic suicide because he thinks the economy is sound!
• African Americans will riot!
• There'll be a full-fledged race and class war!
• We'll become a deflated and depressed country!
• Crime will soar!
• Homelessness will increase!
• The country will succumb to hopelessness!
• He'll die in office and Sarah Palin will prove just how unprepared she really is!
  
• He'll cut social welfare but increase corporate welfare!
• He'll return the southwest US to Mexico!
• He'll ruin the Supreme Court for generations with ultra right-wing appointees!
• He'll revoke Roe v. Wade!!!
• He'll re-institute slavery!

That last one is my personal favorite. Thanks, Whoopee, for trying to lend credence to the stupidest scare tactic yet!

Now for the other side. I actually left out a bunch of stuff I heard on the radio because I just couldn't recall the exact verbiage. There's some lulus in here.

If Obama is elected...

• He'll destroy the Constitution!
• The stock market will crash!
• There'll be an international crisis! His own VP nominee says so!
• God will smite America!
• I'll have to quit my job because it'll be more beneficial to mooch off the government than to work!
• The KKK will have a resurgence and will attack minority schools!
• Taxes will go up and:
• The rich won't have any incentive to make more money!
• The rich will hide their money in offshore accounts, causing a depression!
• There'll be layoffs and an unemployment nightmare!
• People won't donate to charities any more!
• Israel will attack Iran!
• The cost of goods and services will rise!
• We'll have an energy crisis of Biblical proportions!
• The productive will pull a "John Galt" and everything will go to shit!
• There will be a civil war!
• There'll be a Muslim takeover and we'll all end up as Dhimmi!
• He'll abolish the Boy Scouts!
• You'll lose your 401(k)!
• Affirmative action will be emphasized and there'll be quotas and fines for non-compliance!
• Terrorists will attack us at will!
• He'll ruin the Supreme Court for generations with ultra left-wing appointees!
• He'll shut down talk radio and Fox News using the Fairness Doctrine!
• He'll confiscate everyone's guns!
• He'll surrender in Iraq!
  
• He'll give us "Hillary Health" and we'll be forced to use government-provided health care.
  
• His cabinet and advisers will be:
• People like Bill Ayers and Rev. Wright!
• Black people exclusively!
• A dead-ringer for the old Soviet Politburo!
• He's a Marxist! A Communist! He'll:
• Redistribute the wealth!
• Confiscate our property!
• Be like Stalin and kill millions of his own people!

The "Stalin" one really made me chuckle. Now THAT'S some quality fear mongering!

Face it, people. We're screwed if McCommie gets elected. We're screwed if Obama the Savior of all mankind gets elected. The government is bankrupt, both fiscally and morally. All we can do now is wait for the inevitable implosion and hope that somewhere there are Washingtons, Jeffersons, Adamses, George Masons, and others who can rebuild this nation to it's original model.

Enjoy the election. I'm sure it'll be high drama.

Vulture Droppings - the "most importantest election ever" stretch run

Vulture droppings is a semi-regular feature of this blog. It's a kind of "Random Thoughts" post in which I try to quickly summarize a particularly large event or series of events. 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.

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My intent had been to treat each of the items in this post as an individual post, but my goodness! My life has been C-R-A-Z-Y lately, with too many irons in the fire and too little sleep. Additionally, the election is less than a week away, and every last one of these items will be stale effective Tuesday evening. This is the most importantest post ever!

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First, let's talk the about the generation that could end up deciding this election. No, I'm not talking about those bastards in the baby boom generation. They can bite me. Their day is past. No, my friends - this is the dawning of the Age of the Generation Jones!

"WTF?", says you. "What is 'Generation Jones'? Who is 'Generation Jones'?"

Generation Jones (or GenJones for short) is that group of people born between the Baby Boom and Generation X. I couldn't begin to pinpoint when one generation ends and another begins, but trust me, if you weren't in high school by 1970 and graduated from high school by 1982, chances are you're a GenJoneser.

According to Clarence Page of the Chicago Tribune and Peter Fenn of The Hill, Generation Jones may have been the deciding factor in the 2004 election (please don't hold that against us!) and will, in all likelihood, be the deciding factor this year.

This is big. For decades we've been lumped in with the Baby Boom a-holes. Now we FINALLY have our own identify and have emerged from the gargantuan shadow of that generation to be a force in our own right! You'd better recognize the power of GenJones! Bwah hah hah!

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Okay...so where exactly is GenJones leaning this particular election? According to Clarence Page, towards...undecided, particularly the women.

"I think Generation Jones is the most Republican-leaning generation in the electorate," said Pontell, a Southern Californian, in a telephone interview. "We were witnesses, not participants—wide-eyed, not tie-dyed—in the 1960s."

What does this mean for 2008? A lot, especially if the poll numbers tighten, making the still-undecided independent swing voters even more important.

A mid-October Associated Press poll, for example, found middle-age white women to be more undecided yet also more "persuadable" than any other age bracket. Only about 55 percent had made up their minds about who they were going to vote for and they were almost evenly split between McCain and Obama.

Okay, so we're Team Elephant-leaning (count me out on THAT one - my team is neither Donkey nor Elephant!). Our women can't make up their minds. But (and what an amazing but this is) WE are going to be deciding this election.

We'll probably eff it up.....

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Tip of the beak to xfloggingkylex for pointing out this amazing site - CitizenJane Politics. This is an actual, bona fide BALANCED presentation of election news and information on the candidates, presented ably and with occasional humor. Yes, the site is targeted at women, but don't let that stop you from checking it out. I wish Big Media (the BM for short) would show even half of the even-handedness shown by this site. Hell, I wish the BM would put away the effing Obama pom-poms and start reporting actual news instead of cheer leading for their candidate! MFers!

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Coming up in future posts that have be to completed pre-election:

• Journalists speak out against the overt Obama cheer leading by the BM


• Fear-mongering as a campaign tactic. Good Lord, the right wing blathering heads on talk radio are losing their minds right now!


• "Is Obama the antichrist?" and other crap found in my inbox

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AOL sucks!

I'm in the process of helping a friend with their business website. One of the things they wanted as part of the site was a flash (or flash-like) pictures-in-motion kind of effect on the home page. No problem, thinks I, as I have an AOL Pictures account and it has an embed widget called WooHoo that will show slideshows in a pictures-in-motion kind of way.

EXCEPT...those MFers at AOL have pulled the plug on AOL Pictures effective 12/31!!!

Oh, and did I mention that all of the little inset pictures I use in my posts are stored on AOL Pictures? This really sucks! I now have to edit over 320 posts if I want them to display w/o broken picture symbols after 12/31. And I STILL have to come up with a pictures-in-motion flash embed for my friend's site that doesn't involve paying over $900 for Adobe Flash.

So what's next, AOL? Is my email going away, too? (You know I'll be moving to gmail immediately now!)

You suck! Your mothers suck! All of your ancestors suck! I hope you contract an incurable, itchy, painful venereal disease, you bastards.

Week 8 - worst performance yet

OMGs was that ever awful! The final score, Seahawks 34 - 49ers 13, doesn't even BEGIN to quantify the ass-whupping the Niners took on Sunday. The defense couldn't cover or tackle. And JT was a turnover machine as usual.

And yet...there is hope.

Mike Singletary showed that he won't take any crap off of the "me first" athletes on the team. He sent Vernon Davis to the showers after the asshat took a completely unnecessary personal foul after a catch. I was CISED! It's about time the Niners had a coach who will stand up to the likes of Vernon Davis. If only Singletary had been the coach when Brandon Lloyd was here! Or Terrell Owens!

There were some silver linings in this black cloud. Frank Gore played up to his usual strong level. Shawn Hill played extremely well in relief of JT the turnover machine (and was named the starter as of yesterday). On defense, Manny Lawson is starting to show the form that made him a first round pick two years ago.

Now the Niners are on a much-needed bye (meaning, so is this item). At the season's halfway mark the team is 2-6, dead last in a dreadful division. This is NOT what I expected for this year. Not at all.

Wiener of the Week

What a week! Just when I thought Joe Biden had a mortal lock on the WotW, along comes a finalist for Wiener of the Year!

This week, in a break from tradition, I'm going to name the two runners-up who, in a normal week, would have been easy WotW wieners. This week was one of those exceptional weeks where the wieners were just too plentiful to believe.

2nd runner up - Vernon Davis, San Francisco 49ers. Takes a costly penalty and gets ejected BY HIS OWN HEAD COACH. Nice job, asshat!

1st runner up - Joe Biden, for his (obvious but damaging) pronouncement that Obama is going to get challenged by those outside the US because of his lack of experience. Talk about giving aid and comfort to the enemy!

The wiener - professional victim Ashley Todd, who faked a knife attack and blamed it on a black supporter of Obama.

You'll recall that last Friday, instead of a normal post, I instead did a "coming attractions" post. That was because I had originally planned to post concerning this "attack" but held back because something didn't smell right (besides my gym bag). I kept coming back to the superficial nature of the wounds and the fact that she refused medical treatment. Now, what woman in her right mind is going to refuse treatment after a real knife attack?

I kept flashing back to the Black professor who spray painted 'KKK' on his door and blamed racists, and the Jewish professor (why does it always seem to be someone associated with a university?) who painted swastikas on her car and blamed anti-semites. It just didn't smell right. I decided to give it a day to shake out before I touched it.

Now you might be saying, "Uh-huh, S-U-U-U-U-U-R-E you did!", but you have to remember that this Vulture has a most acute bullshit detector. Besides, why would I lie? I mean, just because the professors and that BFH Ashley Todd did...

For pulling a ridiculous stunt that further inflames racial tensions in this country and ultimately hurt the candidate you support, Ashley Todd, you're the Wiener of the Week.

5k hooray!

5k. 5000 meters. 3.125 miles.

I went into Saturday's Race for the Cure with but two goals -- 1. Finished the race alive, and 2. Break 30 minutes.

The first goal was a given. I've been running 5k on the treadmill at the gym twice a week for well over a year. The second goal was a bit tougher -- not because I'm a slow bastard, but because I hurt my hip really badly in late August and had only been able to run for about 2 weeks before the race. I was only able to run 5k three times prior to the race, and had only broken 30 minutes one time (29:29), on the last practice run. As a point of reference, I had been running in the 26-27 minutes range, with a personal best of 25:25.

The forecast called for rain and lots of it. It was gloomy and VERY overcast when I arrived at Baker Park at 8 AM on Saturday. Notwithstanding the forecast, we were able to get the entire race in before the deluge set in.

I checked in and was assigned number 13. If I were a triskaidekaphobic, I'd have freaked, but I put no stock in superstition. After a whole lot of milling around, the race kicked off at about 9AM.

I felt strong at the start -- too strong, it turns out, as my pace was too fast to maintain for the entire run. That's where experience helps a bunch. I was able to adjust my pace early enough so as not to kill myself.

But my lungs were on fire! I have to be honest. I hadn't run outdoors since I was in my 20's. It's a different animal. Upslopes and downslopes became tests of how much I remembered from running the campus at college.

Because of rain overnight, the event sponsors weren't able to provide mile markers around the course, so I never had any idea how far along I was. THAT I didn't like - I need visual feedback in order to convince my body that all is well and it can continue despite its discomfort. Thankfully, just when my body was starting to convince me that maybe a little break wouldn't be a bad idea, I saw Baker Park coming into view. I was surprised at how much kick I was able to generate at the end. As I crossed the finish line, I saw my time on the big board - 29:16. Not only had I beaten 30 minutes, but I had bested my latest training time! Woo hoo!

I finished 34th out of approximately 70 runners (it's hard to have an exact count, since there were joggers, jog-walkers, and walkers in the mix in addition to the race competitors). Better still, I finished 5th out of about 12 50-and-overs. Not too shabby for a guy who, two years ago, was a 180-pound tub of goo with man boobs who got winded going up the stairs!

Will I race again? I think so. I'm looking forward to seeing what I can do with optimal training and actual mile markers.

What's a busy Vulture to do?

There are days when I have literally nothing to write about. Days when absolutely nothing is happening in the wide world of asshattery. Today I'm encountering a different sort of problem -- I've got more topics in the bin than I've got time to write.

Rather than attempt to tackle one at the expense of others, or tackle all at once in a "Vulture Droppings" post, I'm going to simply post a "Coming Attractions" list. If there's any one topic of interest to you and yours, let me know in the comments and I'll kick it up in priority.

Coming Attractions

1. The Great Society legacy of "peace" - the growing trend towards violence on the part of the Left towards those who don't agree with them. Tip of the beak to Mark for calling my attention to this lovely story.
2. The advent of "Generation Jones". No longer must MY generation be lumped in the those 60's maggots. Tip of the beak to WatchingSociety for that tidbit and for links to these sources.
3. Fear mongering as a campaign tactic. This topic stems from the steady stream of panic being shoveled on blather radio, but both Left and Right are guilty of this. Examples will be provided.
4. The advent of the Carbon Police in England. Just what we need: more Überwachenden.
5. An email is circulating that makes the case for Obama being the Antichrist. I slice, dice, and ridicule said email. Hilarity ensues.
6. An actual, honest-to-God unbiased site for information on the presidential and congressional elections. Targeted for women, CitizenJanePolitics.com is an excellent source for information regardless of your sex. Tip of the beak to xfloggingkylex for passing this information to me.
7. More wacky environmental news. Always fun. Always enlightening. News on the subject of man-made global warming is especially fun this week in light of the near-record low temperatures we're seeing right now.
8. And finally, I'm running in the Susan Komen Race for the Cure 5k tomorrow. It's my first competitive race...and I expected to finish towards the end of the pack. But it's a good cause (to raise funds for breast cancer research), and I'm really looking forward to it.
   

Whew! I'm gonna be a busy bird!

Gimme satellite options!

yodaddy waxes roth concerning a tailfeather-ruffler of his own.

Freedom of choice? What a great concept; but where and how do we get it? Certainly not on satellite TV. I have tried on several occasions to persuade Direct TV to let me chose the channels I receive through my satellite.

According to the person answering their phones I did make a CHOICE. Ah no I did not. They give me a choice of sorts. For a certain price you get a PACKAGE of channels, some of which can be very obnoxious, vulgar or just down right irritating. For instance: When I made my CHOICE, All I wanted were some movie channels; ESPN; Local news and entertainment channels and sports channels such as Fox Arizona, Versus and Fox Intermountain. What I got was some of what I wanted and a whole pile of stinking..er crap.

For instance: I am not Catholic. I am not Mormon and I am not gay. But whether I like it or not, I get a Catholic channel, a Mormon (BYU) channel and a channel that consists of pro-lesbian, pro-gay garbage, daily; all day and night long. So apparently I am sustaining and supporting their causes whether I like it or not. I don’t like it. I want those channels out of my house and out of my life. Unfortunately I can’t get rid of them without dumping channels I wish to keep. Ah isn’t freedom of choice wonderful?

Satellite TV boasts of offering many, many channels bnt they neglect to tell you that the bulk of them are ppv. That’s fine. I don’t care. All I want are the dozen or so channels that I want to watch without the rest of that l@*%$#@.

The problem seems to be that there is no serious regulatory agency keep these people in check. So who do you turn to????

Dude, I was with you chapter and verse until you went all "regulatory" on me.

Chances are you're right...but this feathered libertarian scavenger just HATES all regulation of all kinds. Call me simplistic and naive, but I really believe in the power of the marketplace. In fact, were existing regulations on television transmission to suddenly disappear, there would emerge, after a brief but gawd-awful period of utter chaos, a potpourri of viewing possibilities that are utterly impossible in today's over-regulated marketplace.

Did you know that many of the channels that DirecTV and many cable stations force you to accept -- the very self-same channels you wish to dump from your available options -- are carried either because of regulatory mandate or in an attempt at CYA, lest they be sued by one of the interest groups so intent on ramming their particular 'ism' down society's collective (and I do mean collective) throats?

Let us hearken back to telephone deregulation. Remember what an MCF that was going to be? Now look at where we are. In many markets, you can pay a flat $40-50 per month (or $25 if you are willing to put up with the inherent "issues" of VoIP) for local AND long distance service. I'd dare say that in the 70's, before deregulation, you were paying a WHOLE lot more (proportionally, in 1970's dollars) for your phone service, especially if you had out-of-state relatives. Additionally, the menu of available gadgets, options, and services has exploded. You think good old stodgy AT&T would have invested one dime in all of that creativity were their monopoly to have survived? I think not!

Nonetheless, that was a great post, yodaddy. Thanks for the input.

Vulture Droppings - stuff that ruffles my feather

Vulture droppings is a semi-regular feature of this blog. It's a kind of "Random Thoughts" post in which I try to quickly summarize a particularly large event or series of events. 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.

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I hope I don't come off sounding like Andy Rooney here. But let's face it, there is "stuff" out there that ruffles my damn tail feathers, and I'm gonna vent!

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Let's start with the Baby Boom. Technically, I'm a Boomer. Some definitions of "Boomer" span from 1946 to somewhere in the 50's, with 1958 being the most common. Others go as late as 1964! People, let's get real! To say that I, born in 1958, have ANYTHING in common with the real Boomers is ludicrous! Here's the bottom line: to say that someone born in 1958 (like me) = someone born in 1946 (like King George the Dim) is almost as stupid as saying that someone born in 1946 (like Bill Clinton) = someone born in 1934 (like my dad). But they've been doing it for around 40 years now! Let's cut the crap: if you weren't at least a freshman in High School by 1970, you're NOT a boomer (for the record, I graduated from the 6th grade in 1970, hence, you can count me out!).

"Okay, you're not a Boomer. BFD." BFD, you say? How about it IS a big deal to me? Why? Because I consider the Baby Boom 60's maggot generation to be the cancer that sucked the life and vitality out of this nation and turned it into the whining collection of professional victims it has become.

"Oh, come ON, Vulture! You can't condemn everyone born in a 8-10 year span as being a cancer to our nation!" And I don't. I'm as cognizant as anyone to the fact that less than 1/3 of Boomers fit that "cancer" description, as the rest are normal, hard-working Americans just like their parents, their neighbors, or you. But that 1/3...that steaming pile of communist-sympathizing, grievance-mongering, America-blaming (and -hating!), losers? I don't even want to be linked with them by something as broad and meaningless as birth year.

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Another feather ruffler is the arrogant way that state-worshiping elitists accuse anyone who disagrees with them of being stupid, ignorant, or (my favorite) lacking in intellectual curiosity. King George was tarred with this label (okay, sometimes they're right). But so was Reagan, a man of extraordinary ideas (and ideals), and now it's Sarah Palin getting the rap. Unfortunately, with Sarah Palin it's not just the left tarring with that broad brush, it's also shriveled bitter shrews like Peggy Noonan of the "conservative" commentariat.

I'm throwing down the gauntlet, Lefties! Show me your "brains", and I'll show you those of the libertarian and conservative side. On the libertarian/conservative side: Ron Paul, Vox Day, Dr. Thomas Sowell, Dr. Walter Williams, and the now-deceased William F. Buckley. On their side: what? Where exactly are their "brains"? Nancy Pelosi? Puh-lease! That lightweight couldn't think her way out of a wet paper bag. The Clinton's? Yeah, right! He's nothing but a grifter and she's a power-mad parasite. Obama? Everyone alleges that he's "brilliant", but I've yet to see it from Mr. 57 states.

The fact is that the "intelligence" of the Left is a myth, perpetuated by and for the Left. The Left can't get beyond hackneyed bumper-sticker mantras (No blood for oil!), can't be reasoned with (You can't drill your way out of this problem!), and doesn't give a flying rat's ass if they completely torpedo this country, just as long as they get their long-awaited One-World Socialist Utopia Dystopia.

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Another thing I deeply resent is the disingenuous use of language by politicians of all stripes. My first recollection of it (which I'm sure wasn't anywhere close to the first time it was employed -- I just happened to have sobered up by the early 90's) was the Clinton's describing taxes as "contributions". Yeah. Sure. "Contributions" at bayonet point! Let's see what happens if I decide I don't want to "contribute" this year!

Clinton used to the military for "nation building". Team Elephant went nuts and decried the policy. But, once elected, King George the Dim used the 9/11 attacks as a pretense for...wait for it...nation building! Only he didn't call it that. He calls it sewing democracy in the Middle East. Assclown!

Now Obama is promising "tax cuts" for 95% of Americans, neglecting to point out that, of that 95%, a full 40% or more don't pay a single dime of federal tax! What those people will receive is NOT a tax cut; it is redistributed wealth, money taken from the top 25% of wage earners and passed on to them. It's socialism -- call it what it is!

Orwell was a prophet. Once you've made language meaningless, you've conquered the stupid and the unthinking.

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One last item...I'm sick and tired of politicians and their "let them eat cake" mentality when it comes to building new roads! "Let them take mass transit or move closer to where they work", they cry. The problem with that?

• Who lives or works right next to a Metro station? I don't. I have to drive (depending on traffic) nearly 45 minutes JUST TO CATCH THE EFFING THING!!! And with the Blue Line transfer, plus at least one, maybe two bus transfers, I've turned a gawd-awful 1.5 to 2 hour commute into a 3 hour commute!

• If I could afford to live in Bethesda or Potomac or Fairfax, I sure as hell wouldn't be working for a living! There's a reason I live in Frederick (besides the fact I actually like living there): it's the only place we could afford to purchase a single family home at the time!

• What about carpooling? *Buzzer* Doesn't work for consultants like me. I might be working in Bethesda this week, in Tysons Corner next week, and in Hanover, MD the week after that. YOU try to set up a car pool around that schedule!

• What the eff do we pay taxes for if not with the expectation that the government could take time out from destroying the monetary system and creating more dependents to suck at the government teat to at least toss the mules paying the taxes a bone in the form of a less stressful commute? Is that REALLY so much to ask?

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Enough of my bitching. What are the things that cheese you off? I'm dying to hear.

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Nolan gets the ax

The York's dropped the hammer. Mike Nolan has been canned.

Am I surprised? Not really. All of the Bay Area-based blogs were calling for his head before training camp even started. I'm guessing that his mega-questionable judgment on replay challenges and his poor clock management decisions were just too much for ownership to handle.

I feel bad for him; it's a hard thing for a man to lose his job.

The new coach, at least on an interim basis, is Mike Singletary. I'm cised! I L-O-V-E Mike Singletary! I hope he gets the permanent coaching position. He's exactly the kind of coach the Niners need, a man's man who won't accept anything but 100% effort. Now maybe the defense will be worth a damn. One can dream, right?

One thing is certain - there will be a different atmosphere, a different vibe. Mike Singletary, as a player, was the most intense and best-prepared player I've ever seen. He's in the Pro Football Hall of Fame for a reason; he was among the best ever at his position. I don't think he'll approach coaching any differently than he approached playing; he'll have his game face on, and he'll be prepared.

An open letter to Peggy Noonan

Dear Ms. Noonan,

As someone who has read your WSJ column intermittently for quite some time, I feel compelled to call you out on your treatment of Sarah Palin. Your unseemly displays of scorn, derision, and contempt are most unbecoming, and border on journalistic jihad.

As I recall, in a different time, you were among the hoard of conservatives who circled the wagons in a near-unanimous defense of Dan Quayle, perhaps the single least qualified candidate for the job ever. This man, perhaps the single dumbest individual to ever hold public office (no small feat that!), got the kind of defense from his allies that Sarah Palin can only dream of.

And let's not forget George W. Bush, a man you staunchly defended right up until the last year. You accuse Sarah Palin of being without ideas? This is a man whose next original idea will be his first!

Back to the topic of Sarah Palin being without ideas. Hello? Reality calling. The VP candidate is SUPPOSED to appear to be without ideas! The whole point of the VP candidate, at least in terms of the campaign, is to be the parrot repeating the "big ideas" of the presidential candidate. Last I looked, that was John McCain. I would venture that both you and I would look stupid trying to pass off the steaming pile of "ideas" being offered by John McCain as having any sort of basis in Constitutional government, let alone any sort of relationship with logic or reason. I'm sure that if Sarah Palin were at the TOP of the ticket we'd get a whole different look at her core beliefs and the ideals that form her vision of government.

John McCain's campaign (or, as I like to call it "Bob Dole: the sequel") was in a death spiral until Sarah Palin was added to the ticket. She's the only positive he has going.

And yet, you and other defectors from the so-called conservative commentariat have gone out of your way to heap scorn and derision on this lovely woman. You've questioned her intelligence (and I thought that only the Left resorted to that tired smear tactic). You've accused her of dodging the media, but how much of that is dictated by the campaign? You don't question McCain's misuse of her proven ability to draw crowds to hear the message, you just question HER.

And as far as I can see, that's the whole of it. It's her. You dislike her. Most of the female baby boom wing of the conservative commentariat dislikes her. Coincidence? I think not.

Sarah Palin (and I) hail from the tail end of the baby boom. We aren't mystified by the Beatles or JFK. The first time we had the opportunity to vote, our man was Reagan. We don't belong to your little 60's generation.

I expected the paleo-feminist womyn to reject Sarah Palin. Those calcified old crones, who probably still believe that heterosexual sexual relations is always rape, will only vote for a candidate who (a) supports the holy sacrament of abortion, and (b) got to where she is through "help" from the government or the feminist movement.

But seeing your reaction to Sarah Palin, I'm thinking that the 60's generation women, liberal AND conservative, hate the thought of being surpassed by someone who is not one of them! The night Sarah Palin was nominated, you were seriously bent. Why, it should have been Kay Bailey Hutchinson or Elizabeth Dole or some such! Notice anything about those names? They are women in their mid 60's and up. They're boomers. They're YOUR people. It would seem that your attitude is no one should EVER get picked until YOUR people are picked.

Perception isn't always the truth, but my perception is that you're a disingenuous, bitter woman who just can't STAND the idea of giving way to a younger generation of female leaders. You're disingenuous for representing John McCain as any sort of conservative. And you're a bitter woman for trying to slap down the one person on either of the bipartite tickets whom any American outside of your social circle sees as having any redeeming qualities, simply because the honor didn't go to one of "your kind".

Shame on you!

Wiener of the Week

I received an email this weekend that had me shaking my head. You can read the entire text of the email here, if you're so inclined. The gist of it can be derived from this excerpt.

Prayer can move mountains, why not Obama?

Being dismayed recently when a family member of mine said to me with great resignation that Obama will take the presidency. These words came from someone who in the past has been a great prayer warrior.

What is happening was my question??? Why are we Christians settling and not issuing a battle cry and falling to our knees and taking our country back?

Yeah, prayer will make McCommie our next president. *shudders*

Sorry, but I fell for this steaming pile back in 2000. I prayed mightily throughout the election process, particularly during the Florida debacle, and look what it got us: King George the Dim.

I'm sorry, but I've got better things to pray for than whether we get a socialist or a communist as our next president. I just pray that neither of them can cause as much ruin to this country as King George did (or, to go old school on you, as Jimmy Carter did).

So, you ask...why is THIS WotW material? Here's why.

George Bush is being buffeted because he has fought a holy war against the evils that attack us and we should not be surprised because a prophet is not honored in his own country. But we should not rest on our laurels and allow ourselves to be taken further off the path of Christianity and to have God removed from our presence in our schools, courts, government and businesses. Invite God into the fray. Ask that His power rest upon us and give us the victory. Ask him to raise up a mighty army to defend us and to protect our country as he did in days of old. Let us be victorious beginning NOW. The battle is His but we must call on Him without ceasing and unite our voices and hearts in prayer and fasting.

Are you kidding me? A holy war?!?!?!? The asshat in chief goes to war against the WRONG country (Saudi Arabia being the RIGHT country, that is, if you're serious about stopping the spread of radical Islam, Wahhabist SA being the chief exporter of said ideology). He uses the military to babysit a country that resents our presence for 4 years, getting 3,000+ young men killed and countless others maimed in the process. And you want us to pray for....what? More of the same?

Someone needs to take the original author of this email to the woodshed. This was NOT a just war. It was not even necessary! Saddam Hussein had as much to do with the cause of radical Islam as I have to do with the success of the 49ers.

For equating the cause of Team Elephant with the will of God, the email author is my Wiener of the Week.

Week 7...ouch!

It's not like I didn't see this one coming. Ouch! The only surprise is that the Giants weren't able to capitalize any better than they did on all of the mistakes, fumbles, bumbles, and stumbles. The final: 29-17, Giants.

JT needs to be taken to the woodshed about his mishandling of the football. 2 picks and 4 fumbles (1 lost)? That's not acceptable at any level. Is it Shawn Hill time? Maybe. I was REALLY impressed with SH last year and thought he'd be given a better chance to crack the starting lineup this year than he was. If JT doesn't start protecting the rock, I'm definitely going to be in the chorus of folks calling for Mr. Hill.

Frank Gore got shut down yesterday. Completely. As in 11 carries, 11 yards. Ouch!

The defense played well at times, but our lack of pass rush showed -- 0 sacks of lead-footed Eli Manning.

The bright spot, for the second week in a row, was special teams, getting a blocked field goal return for a touchdown. Very nice.

Mike Nolan continues to leave me scratching my crest with his clock management "skills". He may be in over his head as a head coach.

Upcoming: the lowly Seabags. Finally, a game we have a chance to win!

Week 6...the big one that got away

A tad late? You'd be too, if you had the week I had!

This one is the big fish that got away. Start of the 4th quarter, 26-17 lead. What could go wrong? How about everything? Final score: Philadelphia 40-26 over my lads.

This one is on the coaches, IMO. Mike Nolan (a) missed a chance to have a catch negated in the first half on a play where the receiver obviously dropped the ball when he hit the ground...of course this lead to a Philly touchdown, (b) threw the stupidest ever red flag to have a field goal reviewed (which COULD NOT BE OVERTURNED!!!!!!) and wasted our last challenge, (c) didn't have said challenge available in the 4th quarter when we needed it on a questionable non-fumble call.

Nolan is rapidly losing me. He needs to step up and start coaching like he has a clue. He particularly needs to get the defense to make some stops on 3rd down!!!

Mike Martz rediscovered Frank Gore, who had a monster game (19 carries, 101 yards, 1 TD). But again, in the 4th quarter, hanging on to a lead, Martz went all pass-wacky -- Gore saw the ball twice in the 4th quarter.

JT continues to do his best John Kitna imitation. 3 TOs (2 INT and a fumble). The last INT was a pick 6 that made the final score look worse than how the game actually played out. Don't get me wrong, I like JT. But he's WAY too cavalier with the rock. I can forgive some of the INTs, but the fumbles are getting out of hand.

Better luck today, right? We'll need it against the Giants in the swamps of New Jersey.

Legislative asshattery

Tip of the beak to xfloggingkylex for this gem.

Five years ago, the Virginia legislature made it a serious crime to drive past a police officer stopped on the side of the road without changing lanes. As a result, unsuspecting motorists -- including those who are not speeding -- can nonetheless be caught in a speed trap and face a first degree misdemeanor ticket that carries a fine of up to $2500. Despite the significant financial penalty involved, nearly three-quarters of all motorists have never heard of "move over" laws, according to a Virginia State Police news release issued in July.

This isn't about police safety. This is an unabashed revenue grab. Think I'm wrong? Then explain to me why there would EVER be a speed trap conveniently located within viewing distance of a trooper attending to an accident scene.

Not only does this asinine law NOT protect officers, but it's guaranteed to FUBAR traffic, particularly at rush hour. Having commuted to Northern Virginia entirely too much, I can assure you that the last thing the Capital Beltway needs is for traffic to scrunch into one less lane just because John Effing Law decides to pull someone over -- something, IMO, that shouldn't be done during rush hour anyway just because of the rubberneck effect.

This is a prime example of bad law. It's a prime example of revenue grasping, no different than the small town that forces drivers to pass through at 25 MPH and pulls you over the second you hit 27 MPH. Oh, and Virginia...you're not alone.

Likewise, some police agencies reject move over laws as dangerous. In 2005, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) vetoed similar legislation, citing the objection of the California Highway Patrol.

"This bill is unnecessary and could result in the unintended consequences of additional roadway hazards," Schwarzenegger said in his veto message. "Specifically, the California Highway Patrol is concerned that this bill's mandate could create chaotic and dangerous situations at crime and collision scenes on the state's freeways."

A year later, an essentially identical Move Over bill was signed into law in California.

Let's summarize, shall we? (1) The CHP didn't want it, (2) the governor vetoed it, (3) it got rammed though a year later anyway.

MF'ers.

Wiener of the Week

This is W-A-A-A-Y late (like anybody cares!)

The WotW comes home to Maryland, hon. The lucky winners asshats are none other than the department of corrections.

The Scarlet Letter for Maryland sex offenders this Halloween will be a bright orange pumpkin.

That is the symbol on a sign they are required to post on their doors with a warning, in capital letters, to trick-or-treaters: "No candy at this residence."

The paper signs began arriving last week in the mailboxes of the roughly 1,200 violent and child-sex offenders across the state with a letter explaining how they are to comport themselves on Oct. 31.

But Vulture! That's a brilliant idea. Really? See what the first person to comment on the article had to say.

I'm saving, enlarging, and printing out the pumpkin graphic that accompanies this story. Running around and putting them on every door in the neighborhood would be a wonderful Halloween prank!

So what do you think is going to happen to the first dude who answers the door for trick-or-treaters only to discover that he's been "pranked" in this manner? If you said he's going to get the s*** kicked out of him by a credulous parent, give yourself a gold star. As usual, the liberal meatheads in Annapolis thought this through for about 2 seconds before their feelings told them that it was a great idea. Because, when you're liberal, your intentions are all that matter, not the results.

Maryland DoC, you're the Wiener of the Week!

Das Überwachenden update

You know, in all of the hubbub and confusion surrounding the elections and the economic meltdown, there hasn't been a lot of news about our friends, Das Überwachenden (German for "the watchers"...but because it's German, it sounds so much darker and foreboding, so I use it as my term of choice for any and all government snooping). Well, I believe it's time for an update.

Fox News, an ardent fan of every form of Überwachendenism, enthusiastically brings us this little tidbit.

Baggage searches are SOOOOOO early-21st century. Homeland Security is now testing the next generation of security screening — a body scanner that can read your mind.

Most preventive screening looks for explosives or metals that pose a threat. But a new system called MALINTENT turns the old school approach on its head. This Orwellian-sounding machine detects the person — not the device — set to wreak havoc and terror.

MALINTENT, the brainchild of the cutting-edge Human Factors division in Homeland Security's directorate for Science and Technology, searches your body for non-verbal cues that predict whether you mean harm to your fellow passengers.

It has a series of sensors and imagers that read your body temperature, heart rate and respiration for unconscious tells invisible to the naked eye — signals terrorists and criminals may display in advance of an attack.

But this is no polygraph test. Subjects do not get hooked up or strapped down for a careful reading; those sensors do all the work without any actual physical contact. It's like an X-ray for bad intentions.

Ooh! How exciting! Big Brother gets a little closer every day.

Is it just me, or did the preceding excerpt strike you as just a WEE bit too happy-slappy, especially given the subject matter? I mean, I know Fox News is the flag-waving standard bearer for King George the Dim, but c'mon!

Speaking of the Dear Leader, it seems his naughty little regime has been up to no good.

Despite pledges by President George W. Bush and American intelligence officials to the contrary, hundreds of US citizens overseas have been eavesdropped on as they called friends and family back home, according to two former military intercept operators who worked at the giant National Security Agency (NSA) center in Fort Gordon, Georgia.

The chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Jay Rockefeller (D-WV), called the allegations "extremely disturbing" and said the committee has begun its own examination.

"We have requested all relevant information from the Bush Administration," Rockefeller said Thursday. "The Committee will take whatever action is necessary."

"These were just really everyday, average, ordinary Americans who happened to be in the Middle East, in our area of intercept and happened to be making these phone calls on satellite phones," said Adrienne Kinne, a 31-year old US Army Reserves Arab linguist assigned to a special military program at the NSA's Back Hall at Fort Gordon from November 2001 to 2003.

Kinne described the contents of the calls as "personal, private things with Americans who are not in any way, shape or form associated with anything to do with terrorism."

But King George! You promised!

Keep that in mind as King George shovels up bushels of "government involvement [in the financial industry] will be limited and temporary".

A preview of what an Obama presidency will look like?

I think I've made it pretty clear -- I hate the race card. Hate it. So you know my brain was near exploding this past week as three new allegations of racism were leveled against critics of Barack Obama.

First there was an "I see racist people" black Congressman leveling the charge. There seems to be at least one of these asshats from every state that has at least one city with a population of 500,000 or more. This is what the doofus walking stereotype had to say.

"They are trying to throw out these codes," said Representative Gregory Meeks, a Democrat from New York.

"He’s 'not one of us?'" Mr. Meeks said, referring to a comment Sarah Palin made at a campaign rally on Oct. 6 in Florida. "That’s racial. That’s fear. They know they can’t win on the issues, so the last resort they have is race and fear."

Okay, next to the race card, the "speaking in code" canard makes me the most insane. Since when is the insinuation (true or not) that someone who hangs out with people who hate America "isn't one of us" racist? The implication had nothing to do with race and everything to do with Obama's predilection for hanging out with Marxists and other America haters. That, and nothing more.

But for people who see racists behind every bush (and I don't mean GW), ANY comment that isn't flattering is racist.

Okay, you say. It's expected that walking stereotypes like Mr. Meeks will make wild accusations of racism. Who else is making you crazy with accusations of racism? Well, there's one of the sainted members of the media.

"What makes John McCain plausible is Barack Obama," news anchor Ray Suarez told a local crowd Wednesday.

The "pseudo controversies" about Obama's background are symbols for a "racial calculus" hard at work in U.S. politics.

Opinions about Obama's inexperience, his childhood in Indonesia, and the persistent but untrue rumors of him being Muslim are stand-ins for something his detractors cannot admit, Suarez said.

Particularly, "religion has become a proxy for race," he said.

I see. The fact that Obama isn't slaughtering McCommie in the polls means that racist people are dredging up "controversies" out of thin air, with no basis in reality, and that racist people are rejecting Obama because of this.

Yes, internet traffic is full of ridiculous accusations about Obama that are downright ludicrous on their face. But questions about Obama's inexperience are valid questions, not racist grasping. Questions about his associations with Marxists are valid questions, not racist smears. Mr. Suarez is one of those individuals who can't believe that there are reasons other than race or a need to oppress for anyone to reject the DoublePlusGoodHopeChange. What a tool!

But these two are rank amateurs. The true master of all that is evil (I mean, besides King George the Dim) had to get in the 2 cents he had left after the economic bailout.

Democrat Sen. Majority Leader Harry Reid echoed Time’s Tumulty on the McCain camp’s Obama/Raines broadsides: "The only connection that people could bring up about Raines and Barack Obama is that they both are African-American, other than that there is nothing."

The Washington Post reported that Obama’s office phoned up Raines for housing advice and has stood by its reporting. Is the newspaper part of the McCain/Palin hooded racists’ coven, too?

The Post is racist. The critics are racist. The microphone into which Mr. Reid spoke is racist.

The money that Fannie Mae gave to Obama, second only to the money they gave to greasy Connecticut parasite Chris Dodd, IS a legitimate issue, and IS a legitimate reason to link Obama to Mr. Raines, who only happened to be the CEO of Fannie Mae.

So, you gotta ask yourself...is this what an Obama presidency is going to look like? Is every little trivial effing criticism of His Holiness going to be shouted down as racism? Are there going to be hate crime trials for those who speak ill of the Lord's Anointed? Are we to suffer the same fate as Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, who spent years in the Gulag for writing derogatory comments in letters to a friend about the conduct of the war by Joseph Stalin? Oh yeah, he also called him "the whiskered one" in those letters, which is CLEARLY a racist comment, since Stalin was Georgian, not Russian like Aleksandr.

God help us.

Update

Now Fidel Castro has gotten in on the act. Fidel Effing Castro! Oy!

Fidel Castro says a "profound racism" in the United States will stop millions from voting for Barack Obama in next month's presidential election.

The ailing, 82-year-old former Cuban president says it is "a miracle that the Democratic candidate hasn't suffered the same luck as (assassinated leaders) Martin Luther King, Malcolm X and others who harbored dreams of equality and justice."

Castro's written comments were published by state media Saturday. In them, he insists a "profound racism" exists in the U.S. and that millions of whites "cannot reconcile themselves to the idea that a black person ... could occupy the White House, which is called just that: white."

* the Vulture's head explodes *

Watching my 401(k) circle the bowl

I made a huge mistake. I checked on my 401(k). OH. MY. GOD!

I'm down almost 1/3 since the beginning of the year. Hell, I'm down $10K just today. I always knew in my heart that "save for the future" was a bullshit philosophy. * smile *

So as I watch my retirement swirl round and round as it prepares to go right down the old bowl, I'm sitting here in the sort of calm that only a recovering alcoholic truly understands. That serenity prayer thing? Until you live it, you're never going to have peace in this life. This whole financial cluster-F is one of those "things I can't control". My only option is to let it go and trust in Jehova Jira - God the provider.

The prime minister of Italy, Silvio Berlusconi, dropped another bombshell today.

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said political leaders are discussing the idea of closing the world's financial markets while they "rewrite the rules of international finance."

"The idea of suspending the markets for the time it takes to rewrite the rules is being discussed," Berlusconi said today after a Cabinet meeting in Naples, Italy. A solution to the financial crisis "can't just be for one country, or even just for Europe, but global."

Ah, bliss! We're one step closer to the glorious One-World Socialist Dystopia!

We've been cursed to live in Interesting Times, my friends. Might as well hang on and enjoy the ride.

Vulture Droppings - the second debate, voting, etc

Vulture droppings is a semi-regular feature of this blog. It's a kind of "Random Thoughts" post in which I try to quickly summarize a particularly large event or series of events. 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.

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I didn't watch the second debate. Are you kidding? I only made it though about a 1/2 hour of the VP debate, and I actually like one of the two people involved in that debate. Why in the name of all that is holy would I watch a Marxist debate a Social Democrat? Particularly when the SD is so freaking unpalatable.

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The debate turned out to be yet another look at the real John McCommie. He has no core beliefs. He simply supports whatever issues serve to increase his popularity. The idea that the government should buy up bad homeowner mortgages is the absolute apex of asshat non-thought. Ron Smith of WBAL in Baltimore has a saying, "That which you subsidize you get more of". By effectively subsidizing bad mortgages, McCommie would guarantee even more mortgage irresponsibility.

But if it gets him elected...why should he care?

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Obama was fine, from what I read. He was also predictable. Like the good Marxist he is, Obama promised that the government would provide the sun, the moon, and the stars to every American now and forever more. The clincher: [on health care] "Well, I think it should be a right for every American". A right. Nice. And predictable.

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It saddens me that the American public can't see through the sparkle of the promises to the reality of the costs. A major part of the world-wide meltdown is the debt that was run up by our government "servants" who were using goodies in an effort to buy every available vote.

These guys are engaged in an effort to "out-goodie" the other. They don't give a rat's ass about the consequences of those reckless plans that, once implemented and turned over to the bureaucrats, will result in nightmarish costs that will further exacerbate the financial crisis. If it will get them elected, they'll promise it.

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The reasons I won't vote for the "lesser evil" major party candidate any more hearken back to around 2002, when I started reading Vox Day's excellent WorldNetDaily column and then started following his blog, Vox Popoli. I entered 2004 ready to hold my nose and vote to re-elect King George the Dim. By election day I was convinced that to do so would be immoral. His latest column does an excellent job of summarizing his voting philosophy. I can't do it justice with random quotes, but I do want to leave you with his last paragraph. A more succinct explanation of my position on voting cannot be found.

It would be a massive mistake for conservatives, libertarians and capitalists to continue supporting Republicans when there is clearly nothing conservative, libertarian or capitalist about the Republican Party. The Republican Party does not value freedom, it does not value capitalism, it does not abide by its republican principles and it does not honor the Constitution. Regardless of whether you vote Libertarian, Constitution Party or do not vote at all, you can be sure that your vote will not be wasted. – because, as events have proven time and time again over the last eight years, the only wasted vote is the vote that is cast for a Republican politician.

Preach it, Brother Vox!

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Steve Czaban is joining the ranks of the disgruntled. In a blog entry that I couldn't BEGIN to do justice with mere excerpts, he lays out his case against McCommie.

"The Maverick" is so afraid of ruffling his pious sense of always "reaching across the aisle", he won't blast those who deserve it and make this case.

In the process he's doing incredible damage to the Team Elephant football program going forward. Remember, the "Oval Office Bowl" only comes around once every four years, and I do hate losing it.

But the coach of the winning team is given a no-cut 4 year contract for that win, and the fight for ideas is far from over. That coach has to keep recruiting, keep winning the small games, keep booster money coming into the program, and on and on.

Four years of McCain, flush with even MORE hubris as President, might just kill the Republican party as we know it. He would almost surely be the worst head coach our team ever had in my lifetime.

Even those who worry about up to 3 new Obama picked Supreme court justices should have been staggered by McCain's suggestion that he would sack Republican SEC Chairman Chris Cox and appoint Democrat Andrew Cuomo if he were President.

McCain: "Let's go find 3 more David Souters!"

Tell me again why anyone would want a McCommie presidency?

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I'll leave you with this last item. This guy is the front runner as of right now for the Wiener of the Year award.

A Marianna middle-school teacher has been suspended for 10 days without pay after he wrote a racially charged interpretation of a commonly used phrase in the presidential campaign of Sen. Barack Obama.

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It said, "C.H.A.N.G.E. — Come Help A (N-word) Get Elected."

OMG! Can a person really be THAT stupid? I'm telling you, he's going to be hard to beat.

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Week 5 -- Martz has a flashback

When Mike Martz was named Offensive Coordinator of the 49ers this past off season, I was initially quite irate. I judged him on his performance with the Lions, where he was an undisciplined, pass-wacky nut, seemingly bent on getting John Kitna killed. But after having my attention called to his tenure with the Rams, where he had All-World running back Marshall Faulk, I could see an offense that utilized the star back in such a way that he would have 25 touches per game (combined rushes and receptions), thus maximizing the output of an already amazing offensive asset. I figured that, with Frank Gore in the Marshall Faulk role, Martz would go Rams-style with the offense, not Lions-style.

That was true for the first four weeks of the season. Sunday, however, we got Lions-style. And JT O'Sullivan did his best John Kitna imitation on top of it. And the Niners lost, 30-21.

JT was alternately gawd-awful and brilliant...unfortunately, he was mostly gawd-awful (14-29, 130, 3 TD, 3 Int). And Frank Gore? He had 7 touches in the first quarter...and only 9 the rest of the game. Hello? Martz? Meet Frank Gore. He's the offense you f'ing moron!

The defensive secondary looks like they're playing scared. But the front 7 showed flashes of brilliance, combining for 5 sacks. Linebackers Patrick Willis and Takeo Spikes had 18 and 14 tackles, respectively. Of course, given NE had an almost 2-to-1 time of possession advantage, the Niners had many more opportunities to make those outrageous numbers. And the old "can't get off the field on 3rd down" bugaboo persists: the defense allowed first downs on nearly half (8 for 17) of NE's 3rd down plays. Meanwhile, the dormant offense was only 1 for 9 on 3rd down.

The highlight of the day was the retirement of Steve Young's number. I don't mind saying that Steve is my all-time favorite 49ers player. This was an honor he definitely had coming.

Up next, Philadelphia, a team that has owned the Niners for years. This week it could get UGLY. *sigh*

NOW my head is going to explode

Tip of the beak to yodaddy, who called this debacle to my attention.

Less than a week after the federal government committed $85 billion to bail out AIG, executives of the giant AIG insurance company headed for a week-long retreat at a luxury resort and spa, the St. Regis Resort in Monarch Beach, California, Congressional investigators revealed today.

"Rooms at this resort can cost over $1,000 a night," Congressman Henry Waxman (D-CA) said this morning as his committee continued its investigation of Wall Street and its CEOs.

AIG documents obtained by Waxman's investigators show the company paid more than $440,000 for the retreat, including nearly $200,000 for rooms, $150,000 for meals and $23,000 in spa charges.

"They're getting their pedicures and their manicures and the American people are paying for that," said Cong. Elijah Cummings (D-MD).

Steady, Vulture. Steady. This blog is still PG-rated.

The BALLS of those mf'ers! (So much for the PG-rating - *sigh*).

Have they no shame? No shame at all? They take $85 billion of our money...let me repeat that, our effing money...and they're off getting manicures and massages at a pricey resort. What? Were they celebrating that they were able to get over on the American people with such ease? Were they celebrating the fact that their friends in Congress, fully bought and paid for via years of "campaign contributions" (read: legal bribes) did what they were paid to do and rewarded their greed and financial irresponsibility by chumping the good old American tax payer (who, you'll recall, pays on a "progressive" scale based on income, not net worth...meaning that I get taxed the same as (or more than!) a trust-fund Kennedy while having a net worth significantly south of their lazy ass)?

If your Congressman voted for the fatcat bailout (mine, Congressman Roscoe Bartlett, did NOT), you need to vote his/her ass out of office. With malice.

One more thing, for those of you still intending for vote for McCommie or Obama...BOTH voted for the pork-laden steaming pile. Both.

But I'm the one "wasting my vote" by NOT voting for either of them....

Just when I thought I understood...

Every so often, something happens that has me shaking my head and wondering if I really understand what's going on. An example is my new favorite Senator, Russ Feingold, who is working tirelessly to protect travelers from having their laptops, PDAs, and other electronic equipment confiscated by der Schutzstaffel...excuse me, the Department of Homeland Security. Given that Senator Feingold is generally one of the more left-leaning members of Congress, chances of my seeing eye-to-eye with him on any issue would have to rank as slim-to-none. And yet, here is the good Senator, fighting to preserve the protections of the 4th Amendment against the wishes of the regime of King George the Dim.

But this one really floored me. I always thought of Alec Baldwin as a blowhard suffering from Bush Derangement Syndrome. But last week, appearing on the repellent Bill Maher's show, he dropped this bombshell that, once again, has me questioning if I understand anything.

The, the thing we have to remember, a friend of mine who is very close to the financial community in New York pointed out that Democrats have a lot of the responsibility for this as well. I mean, it was Clinton who killed the Glass-Steagall, and it happened under a Democratic president. Barney Frank and his committee, they, they kept propping up Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac saying everything's fine, everything's fine, everything's good. And it was his job to know everything wasn't fine. And Barney Frank let you down and let us down as well. And so, but I want to say there's blame to go both ways. But I will say, I want to, I maybe keep beating this to death, but I still think anyone in this Congress who voted to add $140 billion to that bill, they should be ashamed of themselves. That is a disgrace. It's a disgrace. This Congress is a disgrace, Democrat and Republican.

Uh, wow! I'm floored.

I guess this is proof yet again that no one is 100% right -- not even Ron Paul -- and no one is 100% wrong. Not even Alec Baldwin.

Wiener of the Week

Some weeks it's tough to choose the WotW. This week it was an MFing slam dunk. The only question is whether the wiener is the AP for publishing the article or writer Douglass K. Daniel for publishing this steaming pile of propaganda.

By claiming that Democrat Barack Obama is "palling around with terrorists" and doesn't see the U.S. like other Americans, vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin targeted key goals for a faltering campaign.

And though she may have scored a political hit each time, her attack was unsubstantiated and carried a racially tinged subtext that John McCain himself may come to regret.

Huh? Where do you get racism from associating Obama with white ultra-left wing domestic terrorist William Ayers? The propagandist explains.

Palin's words avoid repulsing voters with overt racism. But is there another subtext for creating the false image of a black presidential nominee "palling around" with terrorists while assuring a predominantly white audience that he doesn't see their America?

In a post-Sept. 11 America, terrorists are envisioned as dark-skinned radical Muslims, not the homegrown anarchists of Ayers' day 40 years ago. With Obama a relative unknown when he began his campaign, the Internet hummed with false e-mails about ties to radical Islam of a foreign-born candidate.

Whether intended or not by the McCain campaign, portraying Obama as "not like us" is another potential appeal to racism. It suggests that the Hawaiian-born Christian is, at heart, un-American.

Can you imagine the size of the shovel it took to move that load of excrement?

I find playing the race card abhorrent, the last refuge of a person without ideas. When the race card is played by an alleged journalist, supposedly writing a straight news story, it's beyond intolerable. It's borderline criminal.

Report the news, asshat! Leave the propaganda to the campaigns.

So who gets the award, the AP, or the asshat? What the hell! I'll give it to them both. For playing the race card in what is supposed to be a straight news story, the AP and alleged writer Douglass K. Daniel are the Wiener of the Week.

Vulture Droppings - the VP Debate, the bailout

Vulture droppings is a semi-regular feature of this blog. It's a kind of "Random Thoughts" post in which I try to quickly summarize a particularly large event or series of events. 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.

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I watched about half of the VP debate live before I had to leave the room, lest my head explode. We don't have debates in this country anymore. We have staged kabuki dances where a moderator serves up questions requiring hard answers to which the trained political artisans respond with the poliverbiage equivalent of "yo mama!", directed at their opponent. There were glimpses of answers, policy statements, really. But it was mostly "Your guy supports wife beating and legalized prostitution"-style ad hominem attacks.

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Senator Hairplugs is the quintessential slick politician, foot-in-mouth-disease notwithstanding. His answers were glib, tailored for a centrist audience, and delivered without a glitch. He definitely told the Big Lie of the night with this knee-slapper:

Do I support granting same-sex benefits? Absolutely positively. Look, in an Obama-Biden administration, there will be absolutely no distinction from a constitutional standpoint or a legal standpoint between a same-sex and a heterosexual couple.

The fact of the matter is that under the Constitution we should be granted -- same-sex couples should be able to have visitation rights in the hospitals, joint ownership of property, life insurance policies, et cetera. That's only fair.

It's what the Constitution calls for.

It's what the Constitution calls for. Can you show me exactly where in said Constitution it says that? Or did you get that from Neil Kinnock, too? This is what passes for a Constitutional scholar in today's America. Sad, isn't it?

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Governor Palin was better than I expected...and I expected her to be good. That said, she also disappointed. She alternated between folksy brilliance and "Oh my God where's the duct tape so when my head explodes I'll still have a brain" recitations from the One World Elitists Handbook.

She blamed Wall Street greed for the financial crisis while failing to mention that it was the policies of the Clinton administration, which effectively held a gun to the head of lenders to force them to make more loans to people with no hope of ever replaying them (in the name of eliminating "red-lining"), that created the environment in which said crisis would occur.

I sincerely hope she was just following the McCommie campaign talking points when she called for more government involvement in the financial sector and more government action on Global Warming. She spoke as if she's a true believer in Big GW, facts be damned.

She did get off the best slam of the night, at least in the opinion of this formerly-West Coast-dwelling bird.

It's a nonsensical position that we are in when we have domestic supplies of energy all over this great land. And East Coast politicians who don't allow energy-producing states like Alaska to produce these, to tap into them, and instead we're relying on foreign countries to produce for us.

Preach it, girl!

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So who won the debate. Don't ask me...I didn't have the stomach to sit through it. However, the fact that the BM (Big Media) spin machine wasn't dancing all over Sarah Palin like a downed piñata indicates to me that she won. Good on her! She remains the only factor keeping McCommie in the race, the efforts of the BM notwithstanding.

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More on the Sarah Palin front. Pre-debate, one of the BM news organs, in previewing the debate, said that the debate would happen on the first day since Palin was named as the VP nominee that her approval rating among women was less than 50%. No mention, of course, of the role that the BM played in said sagging approval rating. Disingenuous bastards.

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Now, on to the "there's a financial crisis, let's protect our friends!" bailout bill.

Tax breaks for wooden arrow manufacturers. Tax breaks for Hollywood(?!?!?!?!). Tax breaks for rum producers in Puerto Rico. Money for the very scumbag greedy bastards who created the effing crisis in the first place. Because, in the logic of Washington, all of this makes perfect sense.

Oh, and let's not forget additional powers for Das Überwachenden (courtesy of CNet):

The bailout bill also gives the Internal Revenue Service new authority to conduct undercover operations. It would immunize the IRS from a passel of federal laws, including permitting IRS agents to run businesses for an extended sting operation, to open their own personal bank accounts with U.S. tax dollars, and so on. (Think IRS agents posing as accountants or tax preparers and saying, "I'm not sure if that deduction is entirely legal, but it'll save you $1,000. Want to take it?")

So, where's the help for the little guy, the small businessman who can't get a line of credit because of the FUBAR banking system? HAHAHAHAHA!!!! You didn't REALLY expect anything like THAT to be in there, did you? As I've said before, these elitists don't give a rodent's hindquarters about you and I. As the ship sinks, they'll vote more and more money to themselves and their friends.

I originally thought that we were headed towards 1929 (Black Tuesday). Now I think we're headed towards 1989 (the collapse of the Soviet Union), or worse: 1789 (Bastille Day).

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Last note on the "my friends and me" bailout. King George the Dim signed the bill before the ink was even dry on the document. Would you expect any less from that traitorous bastard?

Wiener of the Month

Yeah, I'm late...again. So sue me! It's not like anything on this blog is done according to a regimented schedule. Anyway, I'd really rather talk about last night's VP Debate (I'll get to it later today or tomorrow at the latest).

Hmmm. September. So many wieners to choose from.

Do I pick the BM (Big Media) for their over-the-top treatment of Sarah Palin? (Contrast, if you will, the "*poof* it's gone!" treatment of John Edwards, erstwhile presidential candidate, actually caught in a real scandal...heard anything about that lately? Yeah, didn't think so. Must be the 'D' after his name...).

Or what about the Chicken Littles running around proclaiming economic apocalypse if we don't hand over the economic keys of the country to the Secretary of the Treasury?

Or the so-called "conservative" commentariat (particularly the female members) lining up to kill Sarah Palin when she's the only positive thing McCommie has going for him?

No, the Wiener of the Month is John McCommie. Good Lord, how in the world can you take a "bump" like the one McCommie came out of August with, where he was actually ahead of Obama/Hairplugs in some polls, and finish September 5-9 points behind?

The problem, in the humble estimation of this carrion-loving bird, is that McStupid hid Sarah Palin under a basket for the past month because he's been cowered by the scathing media witch hunt against her. As she proved last night against Senator Hairplugs, she's a big girl and can give as good as she takes. She was the only positive he had going for him, so what's the dumbass do? He sends her back to Alaska for a month and totally tanks his momentum. Way to go, asshat!

For torpedoing his own electoral chances for fear of the BM, John McCommie is the Wiener of the Month for September.

The sky is falling

You may be saying, "Gee, the Vulture has been awfully quiet about the whole financial bailout situation". If you're saying that, please get a life. :)

I did opine already about the build up to the disastrous bill that, thank God, flamed out earlier this week. Now, as Vox Day presciently predicted, King George the Dim and his bumbling Congress have employed the Brussels method to try to ram through their hideous plan to reward the very scoundrels who effed up the economy in the first place.

Now for the big do-over. House members get another chance to vote on a bill that many would like to avoid: a massive financial rescue plan that has infuriated millions of voters but is described by President Bush and congressional leaders as vital to keeping the economy from sliding into a deep recession.

This time, it comes back to the House loaded with billions of dollars worth of tax cuts and other sweeteners. They are meant to attract at least a dozen House members who voted against the measure Monday, when it failed, 228-205, triggering a record drop in the stock market.

Do NOT be deceived. This is NOT about saving the economy. This is NOT about helping the American people. This is about a group of out-of-touch elitists taking care of themselves and their well-connected friends. The rest of us can go pound sand as far as they are concerned.

One last FYI: the 25 Senators who voted "Nay" to this did so against the direction of their leadership, and party affiliation was NOT a factor. The breakdown: 15 Team Elephant, 9 Team Donkey, 1 "Independent" (it's Bernie Sanders from Vermont, who is technically a Democratic Socialist).

You'll note that both Senators from The People's Republic of Maryland voted "Yea" to this steaming pile. So did both "mainstream" candidates for president. I wish I could say that I was shocked.

Week 4 - not unexpected

I kinda expected it to go this way. The Superdome has never been a friendly place for the Niners, even during the glory years. Well, it WAS, for one beautiful, shining evening, host to the biggest ass whipping in Super Bowl history, when the 89 49ers destroyed the Broncos 55-10. Otherwise, it's been a most inhospitible place.

I didn't see the whole game. Mrs. Vulture had me planting shrubs and bushes all afternoon as SHE watched the game. Okay, she didn't so much watch it as she had it on in the background while she read. Still...there's something wrong with THAT picture, wouldn't you agree?

But I saw enough highlights and read the game recap, so I got the gyst of it. The offense played well at times, but there were too many turnovers. JT finally looked human.

But the defense...oy! 363 yards passing! I know Drew Brees is pretty good, a top echelon QB, but c'mon! And the run defense wasn't much better. The same old problem plagues the defense -- they can't get off the field on third down. Every week it's the same heartbreak with the third down conversions.

Most telling stat of the day: the leading tackler was SAFETY Michael Lewis with 11. When your safety is making 11 tackles, it means the front 7 isn't doing its job.

So now it's New England, fresh off their bye week. At least it's at the 'Stick and there's no Tom Brady. I'll be shocked beyond belief if we win this one, especially with NE coming off of that horrendous performance against the Fish last week.

That 9-7 I spoke of last week? Uh.......not feeling it as much this week. Still, there's improvement. Just not enough.