The pecking order

Vox Day had a post today in which he commented on Roissy in DC's theories regarding male/female interactions. Vox quite correctly identified Roissy's world of Alpha men and Beta men as an invalid binary construct. He posited that there are a much larger number of categories into which men can be grouped. The categories, as laid out by Vox, are these (I'm paraphrasing his descriptions in the interest of space).

• Alpha. Leaders of men. Women want them. Men want to be them.
  


• Beta. The 'almost Alpha' men. Similar to Alphas in many ways, usually successful, attractive to women, etc. But Betas lack the character and confidence of Alphas.
  


• Delta. The ordinary man. Most men are Deltas. They have no "game", hence women aren't particularly attracted to them if attracted to them at all. Yet Deltas CAN succeed in life if they recognize who they are and make appropriate behavioral changes.
  


• Gamma. The obsequious ass-kisser. Mr. Nice Guy. Like Deltas, not attractive to the ladies. Distinct from Deltas in that they think they're doing things the right way.
  


• Lamda. Gay men.
  


• Sigma. The lone wolf. Very much an Alpha in every way except that they are not leaders and go to great lengths to avoid being thrust into leadership roles. The Sigma views interaction with other people as pure torture. Or, as Vox put it, "Suggestion: Entertain the possibility that other people are not always Hell."
  


• Omega. Losers. With a capital 'L'. Even Gammas despise them. They are social rejects. Women are creeped out by them.
  

Now, far be it for me to dispute the opinion of an Internet Superintelligence and someone who's writings have had a major influence on my views in life. But my view of the male hierarchy goes something like this.

• Alpha. These are the leaders, the achievers. Women want them. Men want to be them. On this one, Vox and I are in complete agreement.
  


• Beta. Pain in the ass wannabe Alphas. Their lives are a constant cycle of aggression and butting heads with any Alpha they come in contact with. When they come up against a real Alpha, a humiliating beatdown is in store.
  
  They tend to be bullies. They tend to be extraordinarily bad leaders. Women are attracted to their faux-Alphaness...and end up eventually divorcing them.
  
  No one likes them, not even other Betas. They can only be described as tools.
  
  Betas tend to work as salesmen, lawyers, or politicians.
  


• Gamma. Intellectual Alphas lacking the confidence and mojo to be a real Alpha. Gammas know who they are and behave accordingly. They are the true lieutenants - Vox's Betas - who work with, admire, and support Alphas in every way.
  
  Gammas have a natural enmity with Betas; they see through their phony BS right away. They will actively subvert Betas by any means necessary, including passive-aggressive subversion.
  
  A Gamma thrust into a position of leadership will either founder or do just well enough to get the job done. In either case, Gammas HATE being in leadership positions. It's just not in their personality to be a leader.
  
  Gammas won't score any 10's, but they'll do well with the ladies if they don't set their sights too high. They are great relationship material.
  


• Epsilon. The faux Gamma. These men are either ass kissers extraordinaire or total Mr. Nice Guy types. Unlike the Gamma, they do NOT support the Alpha, but seek to subvert him with passive-aggressive tactics. They will support a Beta if it serves their purposes; otherwise, they are as repelled by the Beta as everyone else. Women are definitely NOT attracted to the Epsilon.
  
  Epsilon men tend to believe in Global Warming and to support collectivist politicians.
  


• Omegas. The clueless losers. Not bright. Not talented. Not attractive to the ladies. God help them.

Now, I'll admit that my definitions are incomplete, and Vox has done a better job of filling in the missing types I've sort of glossed over. I particularly like the Lamda and Sigma definitions. They were not types I had considered before.

In my spectrum there are overlaps. Every Gamma will occasionally exhibit Epsilon-like behavior. It's a personality trait they have to actively watch for and nip in the bud. Every Alpha will occasionally exhibit Beta-like behavior. It's inevitable that their combination of intelligence, leadership, and confidence will sometimes give them the opportunity to be a jerk.

So, what do you think? Are you more in line with Vox's taxonomy, mine, or do have have one of your own that you like better? Comment on my friend!

Toyota troubles

Toyota has a reputation for building quality, reliable vehicles. Make that "had".

At least six deaths have been linked to faulty gas pedals. One safety firm says there are more than 2,000 reports of sudden acceleration in Toyotas.

How bad is the damage to Toyota and its corporate reputation? Bad. Really bad.

In a stunning setback, the automaker has stopped selling eight popular models in the U.S.
...
It's the latest move from the world's largest automaker in damage control: Toyota said it will take a hit to its bottom line by not selling the cars, even announcing it'll halt production in an effort to save lives.

Ouch! Never. Let me repeat - NEVER - has an automobile manufacturer had to resort to this drastic a measure. This is huge.

Can Toyota survive this? Probably. Since their previous reputation was so immaculate, they've got cred to fall back on. If this was, say, Chrysler having these problems, it would be "Turn out the lights, the party's over." That is, barring government bailout.

Does this mark the day that Toyota's manufacturing has fallen to the level of its products' drivers?

God, I hope not!

Something in the water?

What is up with South Carolina politicians? First Governor Mark Sanford "went on a hike" that turned out to be a 10,000 mile flight to Argentina to see his mistress. Then the Assistant Attorney General got nabbed in a cemetery with an 18-year-old stripper, a sack of sex toys and Viagra.

Now it's the Lieutenant Governor, Andre Bauer, who's wandered off the reservation.

Last Thursday, Andre Bauer commented at a town hall meeting, "My grandmother was not a highly educated woman, but she told me as a small child to quit feeding stray animals. You know why? Because they breed! You're facilitating the problem if you give an animal or a person ample food supply. They will reproduce, especially ones that don't think too much further than that.” Mr. Bauer was referring to govt. programs that assist the poor and disadvantaged.

Someone check the water in Columbia...I think someone's putting nutjob juice in it.

Are you serious? "Don't feed the strays"? That comment goes WAAAAAAY beyond any of the so-called "racist" comments made by other politicians that has caused them to get driven from office. It's even worse than Harry Reid's "light skinned" and "no negro dialect" comments. Dude! Are you frickin' serious?

I've seen some ass-headed politicians in my day, but this bozo takes the cake. And, not coincidentally, he also takes a well-deserved Wiener Award.

Ellie Light speaks!

The Ellie Light ("photo" at left) story continues to grow legs. Updates can be found here and here.

The latest count from Patterico's Pontifications:

65 publications in 31 states and the District of Columbia.
3 national publications and a Yahoo link
2 foreign publications.

A must read, also from Patterico's Pontifications, provides more analysis of this controversy.

One of the national publications, Politico - specifically columnist Ben Smith - tries to justify their place as the first guppy to swallow the Ellie Light BS.

While conspiracy theories about the emails seem to be abounding, there's no particular reason to believe that this was something more than one person's gambit. The letter got published (again and again) because it was pretty well done, but a lot of people can write.

Commenters weren't in a forgiving mood.

It still doesn't answer the question as to why you, Ben, felt the need to post "her" email here. I have rarely seen you post entire emails from "fans". Why this time?
Posted By: | January 25, 2010 at 09:53 AM

"(T)here's no particular reason to believe that this was something more than one person's gambit." This said by the first person to give Ellie Light a forum. This is obviously part of the astroturfing army that Axelrod put into action for President Obama. Forgive me if I don't believe you Mr. Smith.
Posted By: | January 25, 2010 at 09:56 AM

Gotta hand it to Ben, he's very good at ignoring the comments that point out he's full of crap.
Posted By: Eric | January 25, 2010 at 11:34 AM

Schadenfreude, sweet schadenfreude. But I digress.

The bottom line is that Sabrina Eaton has opened a can of worms and is to be commended. By doing the work of a reporter and...wait for it...INVESTIGATING, Ms. Eaton has committed an act of real journalism. Would that more "reporters" would follow in her footsteps.

Vulture Droppings - who is Ellie Light?

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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There's a viral story churning around the interwebs right now regarding a prolific letter writing grandmother by the name of Ellie Light. At least, "prolific letter writing grandmother" is the cover story for Ellie Light, an obvious pseudonym, since "Ellie" translates as "Light", and E. Lite looks a lot like "elite".

This edition of Vulture Droppings looks at the issue from three angles. First, the identity of Ellie Light - who is she/he, or is it an operative from the government or some group? Second, who is behind Ellie Light? And finally, why is this vacuous bimbo getting so much media play out of her insipid little letter when most people are lucky to get ONE letter to the editor published EVER.

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First, kudos to Sabrina Eaton of the Cleveland Plain Dealer, who brought this story to light.

Ellie Light sure gets around.

In recent weeks, Light has published virtually identical “Letters to the Editor” in support of President Barack Obama in more than a dozen newspapers.Every letter claimed a different residence for Light that happened to be in the newspaper’s circulation area.

“It’s time for Americans to realize that governing is hard work, and that a president can’t just wave a magic wand and fix everything,” said a letter from alleged Philadelphian Ellie Light, that was published in the Jan. 19 edition of The Philadelphia Daily News.

A letter from Light in the Jan. 20 edition of the San Francisco Examiner concluded with an identical sentence, but with an address for Light all the way across the country in Daly City, California.

Variations of Light’s letter ran in Ohio’s Mansfield News Journal on Jan. 13, with Light claiming an address in Mansfield; in New Mexico’s Ruidoso News on Jan. 12, claiming an address in Three Rivers; in South Carolina’s The Sun News on Jan. 18, claiming an address in Myrtle Beach; and in the Daily News Leader of Staunton, Virginia on Jan. 15, claiming an address in Waynesboro. Her publications list includes other papers in Ohio, West Virginia, Maine, Michigan, Iowa, Pennsylvania and California, all claiming separate addresses.

Altogether, Ms. Light had letters published in 62 publications in 29 states and DC, 4 national publications (including USA Today), and 2 foreign publications (hat tip to Patterico's Pontifications, where you can find the complete list of publications). Note that this is as of 7 PM Sunday night; the final tabulation will certainly be higher.

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It begs the question: who is this Ellie Light? A real person? A leftard with a lot of time on her/his hands? Or is she/he something more sinister - a government hireling? An ACORN operative? A DNC mouthpiece?

If you read the comments on Ms. Eaton's story, you see all kinds of speculation and postulates. The most common allegation is that Ellie Light is Ellyn Sunstein, the daughter of Cass Sunstein, the Obama administration's Regulatory czar who is a proponent of government infiltration of chat rooms and blog comments by paid flacks to undermine conspiracy theories (more here). Others suggest it is Mr. Sunstein's wife, the former Samantha Power. Power fits the model of Ellie Light in that Light seems to favor the British spelling of words rather than the American spelling (Power is Irish).

Others speculate that Ellie Light is an ACORN operative who is paid each time one of her/his letters is published. It does fit the ACORN model, and would explain why she/he doesn't bother to use a different name along with the different city of origin each publication is provided; after all, she/he can't get paid if they can't verify that she/he was the author.

A few wags have speculated that Ellie Light is just Il Duce himself trying to gin up some support for himself. Or Michelle Obama. Or Rahm Emmanuel. This site has a particularly amusing collection of theories.

Attempts have been made to use the originating IP address of the email to trace the source of Light's emails. One intrepid blogger traced an "Ellie Light" comment to an ISP in Saudi Arabia, although spoofing software could have masked the real source. The Free Republic fingers Obama's own Organizing for America website and its paint-by-the-numbers form letter generation software. Yet another blogger links Ellie Light to an international public relations firm.

It matters who Ellie Light is. It matters because if Ellie Light is someone on the government payroll, or even a DNC or ACORN operative, it further damages the already damaged credibility of Il Duce.

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One has to wonder: given the likelihood of a letter to the editor being published once, let alone in 72 publications - one THREE TIMES IN A WEEK - one has to ask oneself, what's up here? This stinks to high heaven. And it begs a question that has to be stated as two questions.

Who is behind Ellie Light, that she gets this kind of response?
What is it about Ellie Light that causes editorial page editors to look upon her letter with such favor?

This two-part question matters. It matters a whole hell of a lot.

If Ellie Light's prolific acceptance by 69 publications is a matter of someone powerful behind Ellie Light, then it's obviously someone with a whole lotta juice. Juice this strong points to interests that are, at minimum, engaging in disinformation; at worst, they may be breaking the law.

But if Ellie Light's prolific acceptance isn't due to someone with juice behind her...well, what does THAT mean? It means that liberal editorial page editors are swallowing whole a campaign to improve the public perception of Il Duce, and are doing so in a concerted effort to prop up his sagging popularity.

Need I elaborate on how malignant either of those scenarios is in terms of our trust in public institutions?

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It gets more interesting. Now there's evidence of letters to the editor published in various papers across the country that have identical content but different "authors".

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I'll be the first to admit that this may just be a tempest in a teapot. But it just might be something very, very big. I commend Ms. Eaton and The Plain Dealer for printing the story. I commend the Drudge Report for bringing it national awareness. And I hope with total sincerity that this isn't one of those stories that just goes away with the questions left unanswered.

State mottos

Some time ago I introduced you to the Maryland state motto: "If you can imagine it, we can tax it". But now I have learned that I was off by one word. The CORRECT Maryland state motto is: "If You Can Dream It, We Can Tax It". How do I know this? I know this because Theo Spark has published the official list of state mottos.

Check it out when you have a minute to waste. Some of my favorites (and some included just because I used to live there) are:

Alabama: Yes, We Have Electricity
Arizona: But It’s A Dry Heat
California: By 30, Our Women Have More Plastic Than Your Honda
Connecticut: Like Massachusetts, Only The Kennedy's Don’t Own It Yet
Idaho: More Than Just Potatoes. Well Okay, Not Really, But The Potatoes Sure Are Real Good
Maryland: If You Can Dream It, We Can Tax It
Massachusetts: Our Taxes Are Lower Than Sweden’s (For Most Tax Brackets)
New Jersey: You Want A ##$%##! Motto? I Got Yer ##$%##! Motto Right Here!
Utah: Our Jesus Is Better Than Your Jesus
West Virginia: One Big Happy Family – Really!
Wisconsin: Come Cut The Cheese
Wisconsin: Come Smell our Dairy Air
Wyoming: Where Men Are Men (And The Sheep Are Scared)

Enjoy.

Missed it by that much

Right about now Il Duce is feeling the sting of defeat. And the Vulture is enjoying the bliss that is schadenfreude. Why? Because health care legislation the forcible take-over of 1/7 of the American economy by the federal government has gone down in flames.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Thursday that she lacks the votes to move the Senate's bill through the House and to Obama's desk. Under a plan backed by the White House, the new law would be followed by a separate measure making changes sought by House members, such as easing the Senate's tax on higher-cost health plans.

"Air Force 3" lacks the votes? But...the American people demand government health care! Il Duce said so!

The turning point? No surprise there: it was the election of Scott Brown as Senator in Massachusetts.

Pelosi, D-Calif., spoke to reporters after House Democrats held a closed-door meeting at which participants vented frustration with the Senate legislation.

Many rank-and-file Democrats said the stunning defeat in this week's Massachusetts special election — in which Republicans captured the Senate seat held for decades by the late Edward M. Kennedy — meant it was time to seek more modest health legislation.

Let me translate. Team Donkey Congresspukes saw one of their own go down in flames in the most liberal place in America outside of Berkeley, and it occurred to them that their cushy gig in Washington would surely meet a similar fate if they were caught on the wrong side of the steaming legislative turd crafted by "Air Force 3" and Harry Reid.

One vote. One special election turned the tide. Pelosi and Reid and Il Duce were simply going to hijack 1/7 of our nation's economy, the people be damned. One vote saved us from that.

We missed this fate by the narrowest of margins (as Maxwell Smart would say, "Missed it by that much!"). We just missed having our very lives consigned to Der Staat, signed, sealed, and delivered. We would have gone from citizens to property overnight.

Now is the time to ponder whether Il Duce is a skilled politician or simply an ideologue who's in way over his head. As I wrote prior to Duce's inauguration, he can overreach and recover, like Clinton. Or he can overreach and expose himself as a simpleton W-A-A-A-A-Y out of his league, like Carter. Or - the worst scenario of all - he can go all Woodrow Wilson on us and unleash the deadly power of Der Staat against its citizenry.

Interesting times. Interesting times indeed.

Vulture Droppings - Il Duce's first year in office

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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It's been 1 year since Il Duce took his oath of office. 1 year ago, Il Duce put his hand on the Bible and swore that he would uphold the Constitution. And he has - if by "uphold" you mean "wipe your ass with it".

This special edition of Vulture Droppings is a look at the Obama presidency, year 1. And what a year it's been.

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The following is a list of Il Duce's greatest achievements from his first year in office.

* sound of crickets chirping *

Uh.....yeah.

Even the Associated Press expressed dismay with the lack of tangible achievements from the President's first year in office in a piece entitled "After year, hope turns into disappointment."

Forget "can," "change" and, above all, "hope." The new word echoing in the blogosphere and beyond as Obama enters Year Two: disappointment.

Disappointment may be the word of the day for supporters of the One World Socialist Utopia, but the rest of us are left jaws agape at the magnitude of overreach perpetrated by Big Media's (the BM for short) Chosen One.

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Where to begin describing the voracious magnitude of Il Duce's grasping? Here's the short list - I'm sure I've forgotten something.

• The nationalization of 2/3 of the American automobile industry
• The nationalization of a large number of financial institutions
• A cabinet full of tax cheats and grifters
• A racist Supreme Court appointee
  
• A gargantuan, monstrous stimulus package (read: corporate welfare)
  
• The decision to treat terrorists as criminals, complete with the rights guaranteed to American citizens
• A Nobel Peace Prize for.........hmmm, I STILL haven't figured that one out yet
  
• Cap-and-Trade legislation
• The Hopenhagen "deal" (non-binding, thankfully) for reducing greenhouse gases
  
• Escalation of the war in Afghanistan (breaking a campaign promise in doing so)
  
• Nationalized health care (read: the forced takeover by the federal government of 1/7 of the American economy)
• Trillion-dollar deficits as far as the eye can see
  

Now, in fairness, it must be noted the the nationalization of the automotive industry and financial institutions was simply a logical continuation of King George the Dim's policies. It must also be noted that Mr. Obama inherited Afghanistan.

But the rest of it is all Duce's - every last fetid, steaming, freedom-sapping piece of it.

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Il Duce's stunning affinity for the fascist (or corporatist) economic model has been breathtaking. Many mistakenly call Duce a socialist or communist. Oh no, not he! He is a National Socialist in the tradition of Mussolini, Franco, Peron, and, of course, Hitler.

Mind you, I want to make clear that Duce's comparison to Hitler is economic only -- at least for now. We'll see if he goes "Woodrow Wilson" on us as his plans for the reinvention of America begin to run into increased opposition.

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So what can we expect in the coming year? It's hard to say, particularly today, when Massachusetts (WHA-WHA-WHAT?!?!?!?!) has elected a Republican to Teddy Kennedy's seat in the senate. There have been more documented Bigfoot sightings than Republicans elected to the Senate by Massachesetts, for crying out loud! I didn't think anyone could top Bill Clinton's feat of losing the House of Representatives to the Republicans after 40 years of Team Donkey control; this may, in fact, be bigger than that.

The fallout has been stunning. Many Donkeys are running for cover, not wanting any part of the healthcare legislation that Scott Brown used as the fulcrum to pry Kennedy's seat away from the Donkeys.

Il Duce insists that he is going to stick to his agenda. Apparently, that would include even more nationalization of private businesses, starting with student loans. It remains to be seen if Donkey party members of Congress will play along after losing the People's Republic of Taxachusetts.

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So here's hoping that the DoublePlusGoodHopeChange we were promised dies a quick and painful death before our nation does. The 2010 elections can't come soon enough.

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Freedom is overrated?

It's a little bit mind-blowing to consider that ANYONE would say such a thing...but such a thing was said. In a segment of The McLaughlin Group in which the panel opined on what they consider "most overrated", Mr. McLaughlin chose freedom.

"The most overrated is freedom," McLaughlin said. "When faced with economic uncertainty, people don't want freedom. When they can't see their economic future, they want the nanny state."

And you wonder why the media holds the Tea Party protesters in such low esteem. It is unthinkable to the John McLaughlin's of this world that anyone would choose freedom (including the freedom to fail) over cradle-to-grave socialist utopia.

The mind of a smug, elitist, self-important tool is an ugly, ugly thing. But at least this rare ray of honesty from our talking class is instructive of what exactly we're up against in our uphill struggle to regain our Constitutional freedoms.

Weekend wrapup

Ah, the weekend that was! 50 degrees and beautiful on Saturday, 40 degrees and rainy on Sunday. And thank God it was 40 degrees! Had the temps been 10 degrees colder, we'd have had about 1 1/2 to 2 feet of snow!

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Boy can the Vulture pick 'em! I was wrong on EVERY SINGLE GAME played in the Divisional Playoffs this weekend. Thank God I'm not a gambler - I would have lost my shirt!

The Cardinals started it off with a thud by playing the absolute worst defense in playoff history against the Saints. Then the Ravens laid an egg. Then the Cowpukes dropped a cow pie. And then the Norv Turner Project once again did what the Norv Turner Project does best - choke away the big one.

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And while we're on the subject of "choke" - how about that Pro Bowl kicker, Nick Kaeding? He gacked away 3 - count 'em, 3 - kicks, including one that would have made it a one-score game. When you look at Kaeding, Neil Rackers, and Shayne Graham, and their "performances" in this year's playoffs, I think it's safe to say that we may have witnessed the 3 least clutch performances of the 21st century in one playoff year.

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Boy are the Cowboys a big bunch of babies! Keith Brooking took umbrage yesterday when the Vikings put up a late touchdown with the game already firmly in hand. Hey, Keith! As Lou Holtz once said, "It's our job to score points. It's their job to stop us from scoring points." So stop QQ'ing and man-up!

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Am I the only one who was damn sick and tired of hearing about Haiti every 15 minutes during the football games? Yeah, they had an earthquake. Yeah, they're butt-HURTing right now. We get it. Can we PLEASE watch the games - our escape from the real world - without getting your faux sensibilities thrust in our faces? Please?

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Team Donkey is really sweating this Massachusetts special election for "Ted Kennedy's" seat. Wassa matta, Donkeys? Afraid you won't be able to ram any more fascism down our throats without your supermajority?

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Monday. It's like a glass of ice water in the face. Bye, weekend!

Doofuses in the news (Wiener Award)

Are there two stupider people on the planet than Pat Robertson and Danny Glover? No, really! I'm not asking a rhetorical question here!

Robertson, who apparently can't let any disaster pass without providing aid and comfort to the anti-Christianity community, had this to say about the Haiti earthquake.

"They were under the heel of the French. You know, Napoleon III, or whatever. And they got together and swore a pact to the devil. They said, we will serve you if you'll get us free from the French. True story. And so, the devil said, okay it's a deal."

Uh huh. I guess if the devil said it, Pat Robertson, false prophet, would know.

Just by way of a little factual intervention, the apocryphal tale of Haiti's "deal with the devil" dates back to the 1790's. It was France's way of explaining away their mighty army's defeat at the hands of revolting slaves.

But Robertson isn't the only one making an ass of himself opining on the Haitian earthquake. Take it away, Mr. Glover.

We have to mount a much larger effort in the US. It's going to be a defining moment for this administration. Other countries in the region, they are Venezuela, Brazil, Cuba, and other countries have already stepped to the plate. What happened to Haiti is a threat that could happen anywhere in the Caribbean to these island nations, you know, because of global warming, because of climate change and all this. And we need to find -- we did what we did at the climate summit in Copenhagen. This is the response. This is what happens, you know what I'm saying? But we have to act now.

That Danny Glover! What a hoot!

To summarize, Pat Robertson posits that the earthquake and Haiti's poverty are God's punishment for Haiti's "deal with the devil". And Danny Glover posits that the earthquake is Gaia's punishment for the "failure" of the Hopenhagen summit. The Vulture posits that the earthquake was caused by the sudden movement of tectonic plates, as are ALL earthquakes.

What a pair of clowns!

Congratulations, clowns! You're Wiener Award winners!

Al Gorebells' thermometer

This is Al Gorebells' personal thermometer. No wonder he believes in global warming!

The H1N1 pandemic

As I write this, the world is being rocked by an influenza pandemic the likes of which hasn't been seen since.....what? What do you mean there's no pandemic? All the "experts" told us there would be a pandemic! They all urged (read: ordered) us to get our flu shots or we'd die!

Did I not tell you? DID I NOT TELL YOU?!?!?!?

Needless to say, the Quango (Quasi-Governmental Organization - hat tip to Daniel Hannan for the name) responsible for fanning the flames of flu fear is feeling the heat.

The World Health Organization is to examine its handling of the H1N1 pandemic, the group said on Tuesday, after accusations by some politicians that it exaggerated the dangers of the virus under pressure from drug companies.

The WHO's "handling" of the "pandemic" has certainly been a windfall for the pharmaceutical companies. But in places as diverse as New York state and the UK, stocks of H1N1 vaccine are sitting around unused as the public begins to wise up to the "threat" that this flu poses to its health.

Daniel Hannan, MP of the EU, expresses his exasperation.

How irksome, at a time when our national debt is rising by £5,000 a second, to learn that the Government has squandered a billion pounds on swine ‘flu vaccines. Having stockpiled 132 million doses, it is now giving the stuff away. Good news for Big Pharma, bad news for everyone else.

It’s all very well being wise after the event, you might say. Actually, though, quite a few of us were wise before the event (see here). You didn’t need any special expertise in epidemiology to spot an obvious boondoggle.

All the interested parties collaborated to talk up the danger. I mean, they would, wouldn’t they?

No government agency is likely to say: “Actually minister, the threat is minor, so we recommend that you disband our task force and axe our budget”.

No, indeed, Mr. Hannan. Never in the history of government has one of its organs EVER asked for anything but to be expanded and given more power.

One last note of perspective. WHO reports that over 13,000 people have died of H1N1. Compare this with US Government death statistics, which estimate 20,000 deaths from the common flu each year!

Please remember this the next time a perfect storm of Quangos, government, and media go on yet another scare spree.

McGwire comes clean, Vulture yawns

You may recall that a wrote a screed last week against Major League Baseball and the mouth-breathing writers who vote for the Hall of Fame. In that screed, I pointed out at least twice that Mark McGwire, currently being held out of the Hall in spite of being 8th on the all-time home runs list because of suspicions that he was a steroids user, had never been proven to have purchased or used any illegal substance during his career.

Life being the irony-fest that it is, less than 1 week later, McGwire came clean.

"It's time for me to talk about the past and to confirm what people have suspected. I used steroids during my playing career and I apologize," McGwire said in a statement released through the Cardinals. "I wish I had never touched steroids. It was a mistake. I truly apologize. Looking back, I wish I had never played during the steroids era."

Okay, he used. Does that change my opinion regarding his place in baseball's Hall of Fame. Hell no!

People forget in these wussified times in which we live what life was like in the 60's, 70's, and 80's for athletes. This was the era of the Lombardi legacy. "Winning isn't everything, it's the only thing." An athlete felt obliged and was even actively encouraged by coaches and trainers to do absolutely everything and anything to get an edge on the competition, regardless of the ethics or long-term repercussions. Winning NOW was all that mattered.

Of course athletes who grew up in that era used steroids! They weren't illegal in many cases until the 90's, and...wait for it...they WORK!

Old timers like Bob Feller are now bitching about McGwire being a liar and a cheater. Hey Feller! Go die or something! Nobody born since 1950 gives a rat's ass what you think! Of course the old timers are going to bitch! It's THEIR records being shattered by the modern athlete!

I stand by what I wrote about the mouth-breathers who comprise the Hall of Fame voters. These sanctimonious prigs just LOVED McGwire when he and Sosa saved baseball in '98. It's only been since steroids became an easy story line that they've turned on McGwire and professed shock - SHOCK! - that he could have been using! And, make no mistake, lazy-ass sports writers just LIVE for an easy story line. That it might destroy someone's career or legacy matters not one whit. I wonder, if you followed the Hall voters around, how many would be found to be alcoholics, or marijuana users, or cocaine users? Probably more than you think!

So baseball, and Hall of Fame voters in particular, why don't you join Bob Feller in my previously expressed sentiment? Drop dead!

Weekend Wrap-up

Welcome to the first edition of Weekend Wrap-up, a new kind of post serving as a catch-all for events of the weekend (read: a place for me to pontificate on NFL football and whatever else I feel like w/o having to do a full-blown Vulture Droppings).

Here are the things I picked up on this past weekend.

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The playoffs started this weekend. Three of the four games were either blowouts or were never in doubt. But the fourth and final game was a hoot! It was the highest scoring playoff game in NFL history, as the Cardinals (AKA the Niners' whipping boys) beat the Packers 51-45 in overtime.

Both quarterbacks - Kurt Warner (379 yards, 5 TDs) and Aaron Rodgers (421 yards, 4 TDs) - were outstanding. Both defenses were....invisible? Incompetent? Out to lunch?

There was a lot of QQing (read: whining and crying) on the radio and on various blogs about the final play of the game. Various folk are alleging that there was both helmet-to-helmet contact AND grasping the facemask on the final play -- why, a penalty should have been called!

First, there was no helmet-to-helmet contact. And second, while there was incidental facemask graspage (You like that? Just add 'age' and you have a new word!), it was of the old 5-yard variety, NOT the 15-yard personal foul variety. Now, aren't you Packers fans glad that the league eliminated the old 5-yard penalty? Cost you the game, didn't it?

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A sad note for you football fans out there. There are only 7 meaningful games left in the 2009 season. A moment of silence is called for. *silence*

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Can we all finally agree that Kurt Warner belongs in the Hall of Fame when he retires? He has had about a half dozen of the most amazing playoff performances in league history, including the 3 highest passing totals in Super Bowl history.

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Moving on to other subjects, you may have noticed that it was cold yesterday...no matter where you are. The colder it gets, the more the AGW crowd tries to shout down its opposition. If the weather patterns of the past two years continue in subsequent years, there won't be anyone BUT AGW Gaia worshipers clinging to their leftard beliefs. Oh, and our political class. Can't forget them. They'll never let go of AGW. They see it as a cash cow just waiting to be milked.

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Oh, and it WAS cold, and has been all winter; the temperatures for the lower 48 states for December were the 14th coldest since 1895. Put that in your favorite AGW fanatic's pipe the next time they blather on about "warming".

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Is it Friday yet?

Mocking Al Gorebells

Hat tip to Tizona Group and Toes for calling this masterpiece to my attention.


Look! It even spews carbon! Scary!

The back-story is found here. I like this quote.

"We don't agree with his theories -- we're suspicious of the financial motivation behind them," Compeau said.

It looks like smart people think alike.

The buck stops...well, certainly not HERE!

You gotta hand it to Il Duce. He's a stand-up guy [/sarcasm].

He says "the buck stops with me," but nearly a year into office, President Barack Obama is still blaming a lot of the nation's troubles — the economy, terrorism, health care — on George W. Bush.

Over and over, Obama keeps reminding Americans of the mess he inherited and all he's doing to fix it. A sharper, give-me-some-credit tone has emerged in his language as he bemoans people's fleeting memory about what life was like way back in 2008, particularly on the economy.

One is hard pressed to reconcile "the buck stops here" with "it's all Bush's fault". But when you have a lapdog media behind you, you try to sell it anyway. Fortunately, the people aren't biting.

A Gallup Poll near the end of the year found 25 percent of people — just one in four — feeling satisfied with how things were going in the United States.

"The president himself, not surprisingly, may feel quite satisfied with accomplishments in his first year," said Frank Newport, editor in chief of the Gallup Poll. "But we don't see signs that the American public is positive."

Maybe there's hope for this country yet...

TSSA in the news

The Transportation Security Administration (TSSA - two S's, because you can't spell Schutzstaffel without the second S) has had themselves quite a time of late. They whiffed - badly - on the Nigerian crotch incinerator terrorist who flew into Detroit. And now this.

A TSA agent was arrested on January 3rd in Terminal One at LAX, a source told NBCLA. He had just gotten off duty and was behaving erratically, saying, "I am god, I’m in charge."

My question is this: is this newsworthy because the TSSA agent was off duty, versus at their station? Because, IMO, that's the attitude they ALL have.

Wait. It gets better.

Meanwhile, a TSA Internal Affairs investigation turned up evidence of LAX TSA agents using drugs at an after-hours party.

I repeat my earlier question: is this newsworthy because the TSSA agents were off duty, versus at their stations? Just asking.

But be of good cheer, because the TSSA employees will soon be unionized, making them just like DMV and postal workers.

God help us.

A pox on baseball

The cartel known as Major League Baseball makes me want to puke. I grew up the hugest of baseball fans from around my 11th birthday right up until the 1994 season (and World Series) was flushed as billionaires and millionaires fought for more loot. That was it for me. Baseball just wasn't fun any more.

And for a couple of years after that, you couldn't pay me to watch a baseball game. Once my youngest son became a baseball fan around 1996, I would watch games with him. But that was it. Baseball was dead to me.

A lot of baseball fans shared these feelings with me. A lot. And then everything changed. Why? Because Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa staged a home run race for the ages in 1998. Suddenly I was reading the box scores again, just like in the old days. I was back. A lot of fans were back. That historic home run race saved baseball's bacon.

McGwire had been one of my favorite players on the A's during their late-80's heyday, and I always liked how he was the anti-Canseco. So naturally I rooted him on. He was my favorite player of the late 90's, and when he retired, so did I. I reverted to my pre-1998 form; baseball was again dead to me.

When McGwire retired, it was obvious that he had played a Hall of Fame-worthy career. 583 career home runs tend to get noticed by Hall voters.

But a funny thing happened on the way to the Hall of Fame. The steroids scandal broke. Players suspected of being "users" were paraded before Congress in yet another of their "try to make tonight's media soundbite" useless hearings.

McGwire came away from the hearings damaged. It was said that he was evasive and didn't answer questions posed to him by the crooks in Congress, making him look guilty. McGwire became the poster child for the steroids era. Mind you, there is no legitimate proof anywhere that McGwire ever purchased or used any illegal or banned product during the course of his career. No matter. The lazy a-holes who write sports columns for a living had their sacrificial lamb, and they flogged him relentlessly in their columns.

These are the same writers, mind you, who RAVED about how McGwire and Sosa saved baseball in '98. Hypocrisy anyone?

You might say, "So? Who gives a rat's posterior what those mouth-breathers think?" The problem is - those mouth-breathers are the voters for the Hall of Fame!

McGwire has been dissed on every vote since he became Hall-eligible about 4 years ago. The most votes he has received has been 128. It takes 405 votes (75%) to enter the Hall. So, out of 539 Hall of Fame voters, less than 25% will vote for a player who ranks 8th on the all-time home runs list, just because of the STILL UNPROVEN taint of steroids associated with him.

Since McGwire became Hall-eligible, these are the players elected to the Hall.

2007 - Tony Gwynn and Cal Ripken
2008 - Goose Gossage
2009 - Ricky Henderson, Jim Rice
2010 - Andre Dawson

Gwynn, Ripken, Gossage, and Henderson are legitimate Hall of Fame players. But Rice and Dawson? Are you effin kidding me? Neither of those guys could hold McGwire's jock!

To add insult to injury, Bowie Kuhn, the Commissioner who nearly killed baseball in the 70's, was elected to the Hall of Fame in 2008. Bowie Kuhn???? WTF?!?!?!

Those who vote against McGwire say he cheated. Excuse me, but Gaylord Perry admitted in his tell-all book that he threw an illegal vaseline ball for most of his career! That's cheating...but Perry is in the Hall.

They counter that by saying that McGwire set a bad example for our youth by using steroids. You want bad examples? Babe Ruth was a drunken womanizer, as were Mickey Mantle and Whitey Ford. Tris Speaker and Ty Cobb were virulent racists. Each of those individuals is in the Hall.

The latest bit of idiocy put forth as a valid reason for denying McGwire the Hall is priceless. A talking head on some stupid ESPN show (is that redundant?) said that McGwire wasn't Hall-worthy because "he only really had 6 exceptional seasons." Really? Sandy Koufax had 4. He's in the Hall. It could be argued that Jim Rice only had 5. He's in the Hall.

Hall voters, your idiotic and flimsy excuses for excluding McGwire are growing tired. Baseball is tired. Both of you should go away.

Congratulations, Hall voters! You're the recipient of the newly unveiled Wiener Award!

New Year, New Approach

Being the contemplative type (read: a navel-gazer), I tend to tinker with my blog's look-and-feel with some regularity. You may have noticed the progression. Light blue heading with textured background and gray side panel. This was followed by the Dark Blue with Vulture avatar, neon green text and trim, textured Gold sidebar. This was followed by the Fall colors Red, Yellow, and Orange, with a "real" lurking vulture logo. This past weekend I changed it up again, going with Navy and White as the primary colors, with Red subtext and with Gray-Blue as the side panel color. The "real" lurking vulture logo now resides on a white background.

"BFD", you say. "Who cares about the colors and layout? It's the content I care about." Which, it turns out, is the point of this post.

I've been ruminating (read: navel-gazing) about the blog and its content. As a result, the following changes will be in place for the new year.

• I have come to the conclusion that weekly and monthly Wiener awards is too much. I've decided to go with a single Wiener award, to be awarded on an ad-hoc basis (read: "as deserved") versus some sort of fixed schedule. Fear not: the Wiener of the Year award will live on. It's my favorite post of the year, every year.
  


• I've decided to forego my habit of chronicling every 49ers game for the entire 17-week NFL season. It's too much work for me and, frankly, bores most of you. I'm contemplating some sort of 'Weekend Highlights' post, which will be in style and format very similar to my 'Vulture Droppings' posts. I'll include some sort of game reaction blurb in the 'Weekend Highlights' as opposed to a long-ass full post.
  


• And speaking of 'Vulture Droppings', I plan to do more of those this year than last. It allows for a much better opportunity for analysis of the issues of the day.
  


• Lastly, I vow to FINALLY complete the 'Death Knell' series on the fraud that is AGW.

If there is any sort of feature you would find interesting or topic which you would like to see given more attention, let me know. I always aim to please.

Oh, one last thing. This is DEFINITELY the year that I break free of the constraints of Blogger to create my own free-form website. Hopefully, that will be the last time that I change site format - but, knowing me, I would warn you: don't count on it.

Wiener of the Decade

I've been awarding a Wiener of the Week since November of 2007. I've been awarding a Wiener of the Month nearly as long. I've awarded a Wiener of the Year three times as well. Now, in the year 2010, with the end of the nameless decade I'll call 'The Aughts', I'm presented with a rare opportunity for a new, first-time award: the Wiener of the Decade.

So many things happened during the course of The Aughts that negatively impacted our lives.

9-11 was an attack on America; what our President and Congress did in its aftermath -the Patriot Act, the creation of the Department of Homeland Security (DHSS) and the Transportation Security Administration (TSSA) [two S's required in each name, because you can't spell Schutzstaffel without the double S] - was an attack on Americans and American freedoms. That last sentence is sure to inflame True-Believer Republicans who are convinced that the aforementioned affronts were an important concession necessary for a nation at war with radical Islam. I dispute the benefit. The detrimental aspects of those actions, however, are beyond dispute. The worst part is that we've yet to see the Patriot Act exercised to its fullest by a mendacious, cruel ruler of the type that Il Duce has the potential to become.

The fraud that is AGW began to gather a head of steam in The Aughts. Al Gorebells, the chief propagandist for Big Warming, actually won a Nobel Peace Prize for his fraudulent over-the-top propaganda movie, An Inconvenient Truth. It was the single most outrageous example of the politicization of the Nobel Prize until 2009, when Il Duce was awarded his Nobel for.....uh....well, no one has figured that one out yet.

Two wars raged throughout the decade, in Afghanistan and Iraq. While American popular support for the war in Afghanistan was justifiably high, that support fell off in a hurry when the Iraq conflict because a quagmire where our men and women in uniform were left in an untenable situation.

Pop culture became more and more debased. The "reality show" became a staple of network television. Janet Jackson flashed a nipple. Bono dropped an F-bomb. The government responded to those two events in the only way government knows how: by further restricting freedoms.

Technology, particularly the exponential growth of the Internet, has made it possible for more and more voices to weigh in and, to a small degree, has broken the grip of Big Media (the BM for short) regarding "truth". The Dan Rather forged documents scandal was an example of bloggers - simple citizen reporters and opinion writers - fighting the BM and bringing out the truth. Rather was forced out by CBS as a result. Good riddance to bad rubbish!

Okay, enough with the history lesson. Let's review the also-rans first.

• Al Gorebells. Very few people had as much impact on the world in the past decade than Mr. Gore. His bald-faced propaganda, coupled with complicit "science" and an even more complicit media, have led to treaties and legislation designed to create global governance and to tax away the wealth of the West. Mr. Gore is a hypocritical enemy of freedom and a scumbag. Wiener-worthy, to be sure. But, alas, he's just an also-ran.
  


• Alan Greenspan. Mr. Fed fed the dot-com boom-and-bust, then turned around and drove interest rates lower and lower, creating first a credit boom, then a housing boom, both of which went bust. The current economic woes we are experiencing would have occurred sooner and would have been less severe had Mr. Greenspan just done...wait for it....NOTHING! Wiener-caliber? No doubt!
  


• Big Media. The BM called King George the Dim everything but a Child of God during the course of his presidency, then has the audacity to grumble about the "incivility" of politics now that their guy, Il Duce, is running things. And make no mistake, he is THEIR GUY; the love affair between Il Duce and the BM during the 2008 election was absolutely appalling. What occurred in that election cycle was nothing short of journalistic fellatio. Were they capable of shame, I would say that they should be ashamed. I wish I could give them the Wiener, but, alas, they too are also-rans.
  


• John McCommie. Not since Bob Dole has there been a Presidential candidate less appealing or more curmudgeonly. Not even the addition of Sarah Palin to the ticket could make a silk purse out of this sow's ear. And let's not forget First Amendment-shredding McCain-Feingold! Definitely a Wiener; just not the winner.
  


• Team Elephant. A dispassionate observer might well conclude that the Republicans threw the 2008 election by pumping a 70-something, nasty, borderline Socialist candidate as the "conservative" alternative to Il Duce. In my opinion the Republican party has spent the last 20 years trying to pay penance for Ronald Reagan. True Wieners, this crowd.
  


• Congress. What a collection of elitist, out-of-touch, officious douchebags. These collectivist bastards wipe their collective fat asses with the Constitution daily. Their contempt for ordinary Americans is breathtaking, particularly Nancy "Air Force 3" Pelosi. Bastile Day would be too good for those scumbags. Definitely Wieners. Definitely.
  


• The Supreme Court. Talk about judicial malpractice! These clowns actually ruled that McCain-Feingold was Constitutional! Are you effing kidding me?!?!?! WHAT is more indicative of the founders' insistence on free speech than POLITICAL SPEECH?!?!? Yet these fossilized crypt-keepers turned their backs on the Constitution and upheld that completely absurd and freedom-limiting POS. Wieners for sure!

That's quite a collection. I grudgingly omitted additional candidates such as "Judge" Barbara Walther and Prosecutor Mike Nifong since they were previously named Wiener of the Year. Their Wiener-worthiness is indisputable.

The Wiener of the Decade is the man who stood largest, for better or worse, throughout the decade. Indeed, one cannot think of The Aughts without thinking of the biggest ZERO of a decade of zeroes: George W. Bush, AKA King George the Dim.

If you look at the events of The Aughts, GWB's fingerprints are all over everything. While he was borderline brilliant in the aftermath of 9-11, pretty much everything he did thereafter was cover-your-eyes awful.

He was the force behind the Patriot Act and the creation of the DHSS and TSSA. He and his Neocon cronies pushed and pushed to get us a war with Iraq, and disingenuously made Iraq an extension of the war on terror.

He pushed for yet another government-provided "entitlement" with the Medicare prescription drug benefit. I said at the time that the Medicare legislation was the camel's nose in the tent, that King George had set the table for Hillary Health. Little did I know how right I was.

He pushed for the gigantic 2008 bailout of the financial sector ("They're too big to fail!!!"). He tried to appoint Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court. That woman isn't qualified to be a CLERK of the Supreme Court!

But the worst thing he did was to make Il Duce possible. It has been said for decades that it took Jimmy Carter for us to get Ronald Reagan. Conversely, it took 8 years of King George the Dim to give us Il Duce. Of all of the unforgivable things King George did, THAT is the most unforgivable.

Congratulations, GWB - you're the Wiener of the Decade.

Week 17 - 98-pound weekling redux

The Niners sleepwalked through 3 quarters. Then they finally played offense. The result was a 28-6 victory over the beyond-pitiful St. Louis Rams.

The game was a real snoozer, and quite annoyed was I, because, after all, it was just the Lambs, and they were keeping it close!

Michael Crabtree had a spotty game, dropping two first down passes in the first half. He played better in the second half. Still, his first season has, in my eyes, not justified his lofty self-image, his position as a #1 draft choice, or his lengthy holdout. He's just not all that.

Despite a pitiful first half, Alex Smith ended up having a decent game, passing for 222 yards and a touchdown. Frank Gore had a great second half, finishing the game with 107 yards and two touchdowns.

Special huzzahs to Vernon Davis, who tied the single-season record for touchdown receptions by a tight end (13) on a thrilling 73-yard catch-and-run for a touchdown.

Justin Smith and Dashon Goldson were the standouts for the defense, which played a monster game. 8 sacks were registered by the defense, with Justin Smith getting 3.5 of those to go with a team-leading 8 tackles, 4 of which were for a loss. Goldson had a sack of his own, and was all over the field.

The Niners finish the season 8-8, their best record since 2002. This team is improving under Coach Mike Singletary, but there are holes to fill in the offseason. Let's hope they get filled.

One last item. Three 49ers were named to the Pro Bowl earlier this week. Patrick Willis (of course!) and Vernon Davis were named to the NFC team as starters, and all-world punter Andy Lee was selected for the second straight year. Frank Gore is a first-alternate.

I was disappointed that Aubrayo Franklin didn't receive more recognition for his dominance at the nose tackle position. I was also disappointed that Dashon Goldston wasn't on the alternates list. Oh well.

Thus ends the 49ers season, to the relief of yodaddy, Toes, and Deadeye.

Wiener of the Year - 2009

It's time for the least prestigious unknown award currently offered on the old WWW - The Vulture's Wiener of the Year.

I started with a list of potential nominees I considered to be quite deserving. Toes made some suggestions of her own.

My nomination for WotY is the Prezbo. Second is a 3 way tie between Pelosi-Reid-Nepolitano. Can't forget Al Gore or the Nobel Committee

All good candidates, all deserving of the dishonor.

Before I name the Wiener, I'd like to give appropriate "props" to the also-rans.

• President Obama, Il Duce to you regulars. What an MCF of a presidency this guy has had so far! Stimulus dollars for his well-heeled buddies. The Fascist takeover of a large portion of the financial sector and 2/3 of the Big Three auto makers. Special deals for his "friends" buried in the disastrous health care reform Fascist takeover of 1/7 of the nation's economy. And let's not forget his participation in the grotesque charade that is the AGW myth. He's awful, and most deserving of a Wiener.
  


• Al Gore and his sycophants who comprise Big Warming. Not even the smoking gun of the leaked emails of faux scientists actively perpetuating fraud in the service of One World Socialist Utopia (AKA Climategate) has slowed Mr. Gore and his ilk from pursuing new ways to destroy the economies of the West and bring about their desired One World government. He's deserving of a Wiener; hell, he's deserving of a Lifetime Achievement Wiener!
  


• Pottawattamie County, Iowa, prosecutors. As I detailed last April, these execrable slimeballs deliberately hid exculpatory evidence that might have cleared two innocent men from prosecution for killing a police officer. For these lowlifes, winning the case took precedence over justice. They deserve to spend the same 25 years in jail that the two defendants endured. Wiener worthy? You bet!
  


• Congress. Where to begin? (I believe I used those same words for last year's detailing of Congress' Wiener qualifications). Ah, the accomplishments of this Congress! Nationalization of a large percentage of our nation's financial sector. Nationalization of 2 of the Big Three automakers. Passage of Cap and Trade. Passage of health care reform the fascist takeover of 1/7 of the nation's economy, pending committee resolution of the House and Senate bills. And let's not forget H.R. 4173, the "financial reform" legislation passed by the House earlier this month, which provides for as much as $4 trillion in emergency funding the next time Wall Street crashes. God help us when these avaricious clowns are in session. Most Wiener-worthy, particularly leaders Nancy "Air Force 3" Pelosi and Harry Reid.
  


• Big Media (the BM for short). These Il Duce-worshiping tools have been most successful at ignoring news that is inconvenient to his royal worship's dismantling of our economy. They've also managed to almost completely ignore Climategate. Virtually all news related to Climategate and its particulars has come from the British press. The BM should be ashamed. As I wrote last year, they are, collectively, as pompous, imperious, and out-of-touch a group of people as anyone on this planet outside of Congress. Their Wiener-cred is unchallengeable.
  


• Judge Barbara Walther (last year's Wiener). She has done everything in her power to steamroll through convictions against FLDS men accused of crimes in the wake of the militaristic (and questionably Constitutional) raid on the Yearning for Zion ranch last year. She has shown her true colors as an authoritarian who wipes her ass with the Constitution. She is worthy of a Wiener, but more appropriately deserves prison time for judicial malpractice.
  


• The Team Elephant establishment, who insist on marginalizing populists like Ron Paul and Sarah Palin in favor of Rockefellerite losers. There will be no two party system in this country so long as elitists run the Republican party. Wieners? You betcha.
  


• The Team Donkey establishment. The party of John Kennedy, Scoop Jackson, and Hubert Humphrey is now the party of Bill Ayers, ACORN, and Nancy Pelosi. This is NOT a party interested in advancing America or American interests. They are all about establishing a One-World Socialist Utopia. The only question is whether they are more deserving of a Wiener or to be brought up on charges of treason.
  


• Janet Napolitano. What a waste of oxygen! From the minute she took her position as the head of the Department of Homeland Security (DHSS - you can't spell Schutzstaffel without the double S) she has been an epic fail. Her handling of the latest act of terrorism was epic in its incompetence. She needs to be fired. She's a walking example of what the Wiener award is all about.
  

This year's Wiener was chosen because of the harm that people like these pose to a free Constitutional republic (or, in the case of the USA, what REMAINS of a free Constitutional republic).

The 2009 Wiener of the Year is shared by two blogs: Caput Penitus Culus and FLDS Texas.

These two sites exist solely as a meeting place for bigots where they can share their bigotry in a little echo chamber.

They are openly hostile to arguments that bring their bigotry into question. They engage in the worst sort of character assassination imaginable against those whose views are different from their own. I was actually called a pedophile for simply opining on the Constitutionality of the YFZ raid!

Commenters who persist in questioning their views - particularly if those commenters match venom with venom - are banned as "trolls". There is no reaching these people with logic, reason, or even baseball bats.

So what makes them a threat to our Constitutional freedoms?

These are the very sort of people who made the Third Reich possible. They are people who are more than willing to attribute the worst sort of crimes to people different than themselves. They are people who are more than willing to see these scapegoated outsiders punished to the fullest regardless of what kind of shady actions were taken by the government to secure those convictions. All that matters to them is that the outsiders are punished (or, preferably, expelled).

They willingly sell our freedoms - particularly the 1st and 4th Amendments - just to assure that the government can "get" the outsiders. Then, as if that weren't enough, they pronounce legal justification for what has happened!

They are too caught up in their hatred and bigotry to figure out that they have imperiled anyone who is "different" in any way to be a target of voracious agents of der Staat. They're too stupid to realize that they've imperiled THEMSELVES.

You may disagree with my choice for WotY; if so, have at me via comments.

Congratulations, bastions of bigotry! You're the Wiener of the Year!