Dumbest. Politician. Ever.

First there was Dan Quayle, a legendary dim bulb.  His heir to the thrown (no misspelling: he gets "thrown" by common logic) is, of course, Joe Biden, a man whose intellect, if measured in kilowatt hours, would barely register the energey expended by the refrigerator light.  When it's off.

But neither of those gentlemen has ANYTHING on this bimbo.  Ladies and gentlemen: I present Milwaukee County Executive Peggy West.

If this was Texas, which is a state that is directly on the border with Mexico, and they were calling for a measure like this saying that they had a major issue with undocumented people flooding the borders, I would have to look twice at this. But this is a state that is a ways removed from the border.

I sincerely hope this woman isn't allowed to drive. *shudders*

This is Democracy at work. The stupid and venal rule. Normal people need not apply.

AMF Tax Waster

A tax waster goes home to that great pork patch in the sky.

Robert Carlyle Byrd, the longest-serving member of Congress in United States history, who spent much of his career as a conservative Democrat and ended it by fiercely opposing the war in Iraq and questioning the state's powerful coal industry, died Monday. He was 92.

Showing the press's penchant for confusing terms, the linked news article refers to Mr. Byrd as a "conservative Democrat".  Conservative in what way?  What in the name of Zeus is "conservative" about a Senate appropriations chairman who has more than 30 public works projects named after him?  Think I'm kidding?  This page contains a list of some of the "public" projects/buildings/roads created in the name of Robert C. Byrd.  Citizens Against Government Waste has dubbed him the "King of Pork".  He also voted for ObamaCare.  That's hardly "conservative", wouldn't you agree?

Mr. Byrd lived a Teflon life, thanks mostly to a lapdog media that takes great care not to be too hard on folk with a "D" after their name.  Byrd was a bigot; his membership in the Klan and his reference to some despicable people as "white niggers" are case in point.  Yet Trent Lott was forced to resign the Senate for one flippant gaffe, while Byrd was sheltered.

Politicians like Robert Byrd are precisely what's wrong in Washington.  He was more concerned with "bringing home the bacon" to West Virginia than he was with the well being of the nation or with his Constitutional duty to protect the freedoms of US citizens.

AMF, normally "adios, my friend" has a different MF in this case.  We'll call it the Robert C. Byrd Memorial Sendoff.

Vulture inbox

Most of the emails I get regarding my blog are nastygrams from Deadeye regarding my attitude and profanity (what? so I swear a little - BFD) or from my father taunting me (which I regard as the highest accolade one can earn as a blogger).  But every so often I receive a nice email that makes me glad that I've stuck with this blogging thing in spite of my stagnant site hit numbers.

A young FLDS man whom I'll refer to as 'HR' wrote me a lengthy and much appreciated email.  He is 26 years old, single, and a computer programmer. Hey, what's not to like about him?

Here are some excerpts.

I found your blog from Hugh McBryde a month or two ago, but I haven't really read through much until today. I must say, that I'm very impressed by the way you explain things, and I want to personally thank you for your unwavering support of our Constitution. We need more people like you in this country. It's so sad to see so many people totally blind to their basic rights and freedoms being eroded away day by day.

Dude, you are SO right about that. The average American is WAAAAAY more concerned with Joren Van Der Sloot than with the encroachment of our government on our personal liberties.

I was reading through your older posts on your blog about our people. Even though you had been swayed quite a bit by the trash spewed forth by the Big Media about us, yet you still were willing to defend our basic Constitutional rights. It was nice to see how you changed your view of us once more of the truth started to be known. I just wanted to personally thank you for what you have done. Any act of kindness or friendship does not go unnoticed. Just imagine living all your life knowing that you, your parents, your loved ones, are hated. How people can allow themselves to be consumed by such hatred, I will never know. Maybe you already saw this piece that Bill Medvecky posted (a comment from the Gosanangelo rag):

“PLEASE hire contractors with no flds affiliation !!!! My husband & many of his friends have lost so much work in the last couple of years ! The flds can work for cheaper rates because they bring all their teen & preteen boys to do all the work. Please pay the little bit extra to NOT use flds. Tell Lowe’s & Home Depot that you do not want flds working on your things !!!"

Of course, "Grandpa Bill", as I lovingly call him, asks us what if that were posted referring to another group?

“PLEASE hire contractors with no NIGGER affiliation !!!! My husband & many of his friends have lost so much work in the last couple of years ! The NIGGERS can work for cheaper rates because they bring all their teen & preteen boys to do all the work. Please pay the little bit extra to NOT use NIGGERS. Tell Lowe’s & Home Depot that you do not want NIGGERS working on your things !!!”

Well said, my friend! I had to plead mea maxima culpa some time back when I was made aware of my initial bigotry in dealing with the YFZ fiasco. But what limited contact I have had with the FLDS has left me impressed. Much like FLDS Mom, you write well - much better than a young man your age is usually capable of in this age of the Internet and PS2. And you're much more aware of the situation regarding our personal freedoms than many of your maleducated peers.

I'm loath to categorize an entire people based on contact with just a few supplemented with the occasional gander at an FLDS-centric blog (BTW, 'HR' recommends truthwillprevail.org, a site I will be adding to my blog role). But I have to say that the FLDS with whom I've had contact have impressed me a whole lot more than the bigots and ignoramuses at Caput Penitus Culus, with their slavering fetish for "the law", could ever hope to achieve.

'HR', I'm glad to have you as a reader. You're an interesting and articulate young man. Come back often.

Even a stopped clock is right twice each day

Ron Reagan is dumber than a bag of hair.  Of this there is no doubt.  But the other night, when Deadeye left the room, leaving the TV tuned to CNN Headline News (She has this habit of leaving me alone with HLN.  I don't like it.  I can feel my IQ dropping by the second.), I caught the following comments from Mr. Reagan in an exchange with Joy Behar and insipid uber-leftist Janeane Garofalo.

GAROFALO: I would hope so, but there should had been regulation. You know, I mean, there should had been regulatory reform as he came into office.

BEHAR: When he came into office.

GAROFALO: Yes.

BEHAR: Yeah. Why didn’t, Ron, why didn`t he do that?

REAGAN: Well, because he`s a corporatist like all our other Presidents have been for a long, long time. That`s what`s being revealed here. Barack Obama is just as much a corporatist as George H.W. – or George W. Bush was. He`s a little less obvious about it. I think maybe his heart isn’t quite as in it.

I'm impressed. He gets it that Il Duce is the same kind of corporatist tool that King George the Dim and his predecessors were.

Of course, then he turns around and says some of the ass-stupidest nonsense ever uttered.

REAGAN: He`s not an actual oil man himself, but listen, he`s between a rock and a hard place here. He just proposed that we open up a lot of our coastline to deepwater drilling here, to offshore drilling. Completely ignoring the fact that any dependence on oil by America is dependence on foreign oil. That`s the thing that I think a lot of people don`t understand here.

Exqueeze me? Oil produced by America is dependence on foreign oil?  Do you even listen to yourself?

Oh well.  At least he gets that we're being ruled over by plundering Corporatists.  I suppose that counts for something, right?

Big Brother - curbside waste edition

Hat tip to xfloggingkylex.

On its surface, this article doesn't really stir the blood or rile the spirit.  I mean, it's simply touting the technology used to keep recycling bins...you know, the ones the County REQUIRES us to have...from being stolen.  Right?

After spending millions on new recycling carts, Frederick County is not going to let them disappear.

The county has radio frequency identification tags on each recycling cart. The electronic tags are scanned by trucks each time recycling containers are emptied.

If the Frederick County Office of Recycling is notified that a recycling cart has been stolen or is missing, staff are able to look it up and see where and when it was last used.

In some cases, they have found the cart somewhere else in the county and returned it to the original address, said Dawn Adams, recycling program manager.

"It was nice to see the system working like that," Adams said.

Nice, right? The County is being proactive in assuring that these bins don't get stolen.

But about halfway into the article, the tone changes.

The recycling office also hopes to use the tags to measure recycling participation rates. The tags will show how frequently residents use their carts and will provide targeted information on which areas of the county set out their carts the most and least.

Uh oh. I don't like where this is going.

The only information recorded is whether a container has been set out.

It does have an individual address associated with the cart number.

Ah! Money shot!

If you think for one minute that the RFID data won't be used to persuade coerce people to recycle, you're out of your mind.  Government only knows how to do two things: (1) get bigger, and (2) use force.  Be on the lookout for a County-wide campaign in the very near future "urging" us to be more diligent in recycling.  This will be followed later on by a campaign to assess fines against those who don't recycle.

Because in order to accomplish Objective 1 (get bigger) money is needed.  And our "betters" are finding more and unique ways to bleed us dry every day.

The "conservative" LA Times(?!)

Has there been some sort of seismic shift in the polarity of the planet?  Because there are grumblings about Il Duce emanating from a most unexpected place - the Los Angeles Times!

The Times' "bashing" of the Dear Leader has reached such magnitude that noted Lefttard Eric Boehlert felt compelled to go on a major whinefest to complain about the "conservative" Times editorialists and columnists and their mistreatment of his messiah.

But now, in the aftermath of Duce's first ever Oval Office address to the nation (First ever?  In June?  Of his second year in office?), yet another Times editorialist has teed off on Obama.

But watching the president and hearing him was a little creepy; that early portion of the address was robotic, lacked real energy, enthusiasm. And worst of all specifics. He was virtually detail-less.

After almost two months of waiting through continuously contradictory reports, an anxious American public wanted to know, HOW are you going to accomplish all this?

Even Obama's cheerleaders over at MSNBC were complaining. "Where was the How in this speech?" demanded Keith Olbermann. Seriously.

Yeah. Seriously.

Every day we hear about offers of assistance to help trap the oil, or to help clean up the mess, being given the "unvite" (for those of you over 30, that roughly signifies an awkward non-invitation given under duress).  Most vexing of all is the Administration's refusal to consider a waiver of the Jones Act, a steaming pile of 1920's era protectionist BS beloved by Big Labor because it prohibits ships and/or crews from foreign countries from engaging in business in US Coastal waters.  As a result of the Jones Act, Dutch vessels with expertise in dealing with huge oil spills sit on the sidelines, unable to assist in any way in the cleanup of what is easily the greatest eco-disaster of the 21st century.

I'm starting to think that my tin-foil hat conspiracy theory actually holds water!

So The Times is now a right-wing rag, and MSNBC is criticizing Il Duce as well.  What's next?  Pigs flying? 

A side note on the Times article.  Check out the photo of Florida Governor Charlie Christ piping (for those of you over 30, that means "staring intently at") the ass of a young hottie on the beach at the top of the article.  Dirty old man!

Happy birthday, Mauk

Happy 50th birthday to my brother Mark (affectionately known as "Mauk" by the family).

DAMN YOU'RE OLD!!!!!

I'm not the only one

Il Duce (the President) got that nickname from me because his policies reflect those of Il Duce (Benito Mussolini), the thuggish ruler of Italy during the 20's, 30's, and early 40's.

For a time I feared that I was the only one making the connection.  The blathering heads on the radio and on TV keep calling him a Socialist or a Communist.  He may be, ideologically.  But his governing style is all Corporatist.

But now I'm not the only one to make the connection. I've finally found someone else who correctly identifies the applied governmental style of Il Duce.

Today’s leaders of the Democratic Party are not at all progressive. In fact, their ideology is regressive – a throwback to an ideology popular in the 1920s and 30s and 40s. Their vision is that people they consider the “ignorant many” should be governed by people who see themselves as the “enlightened few.”
[...]
Nowadays, “fascism” is just an all-purpose insult. Few of those who call people they don’t like “fascists” know what fascism is. Fascism is an economic system. The name comes from an ancient Roman symbol, the “fasces,” a bundle of sticks – referring to how all sectors of society would be tied together by the government.

Back in the day, many intellectuals and other so-called progressives hailed fascism as a “third way” between communism and capitalism. Under fascism, private property does exist, but it is concentrated into big businesses, controlled by the government. Workers are also concentrated, into huge unions, again, controlled by the government.

“Fascism should more appropriately be called Corporatism because it is a merger of state and corporate power.”

“All within the state. Nothing outside the state. Nothing against the state.”

– Benito Mussolini

I couldn't have said it any better myself...except that I already said it better myself.  Corporatism is Oligarchy-friendly Socialism.

I'm currently reading a book called God of the Machine.  It was written 70 years ago, in 1940.  It reads like it was written today. I'll be reviewing it in the next week or two.  It boggles the mind to learn that the bailouts of 2008 dovetail perfectly with the bailouts of The Great Depression: the first recipient of Great Depression "relief" was none other than J.P. Morgan & Co.!

I would recommend that you get a head start on reading that book.  It's an eye-opener to the methods and madness of the collectivist.  Such as, well......pretty much our entire government.

Colin Quinn - role model

I was never a fan of Colin Quinn before.  I thought he was a big tool.  How wrong I was.  I just happened to catch the last few minutes of the Joy Behar show (a show I normally wouldn't watch on a bet) and witnessed this exchange (the subject being Jesse James).

BEHAR: I see, well he did have a little bit of a Nazi thing, he dressed up like a Nazi. But he`s just --

QUINN: Oh so what, I like the fact -- here`s how politically correct our country is. That he`s actually more horrified, the worst part is that people think he`s a racist. That`s how politically correct our country is. All the other stuff, like, whatever, but people might perceive me as a racist. I`m sick of it.

BEHAR: What are you sick of, which part?

QUINN: People acting like racism is the worst crime than murder in the (EXPLICATIVE DELETED) country.

MO ROCCA: Well he didn`t murder -

QUINN: That`s what I`m sick of.

MO ROCCA: Did her murder somebody?

QUINN: Well it`s funny you bring that up -

BEHAR: What are you saying?

QUINN: I`m saying did you see how he goes the worst thing of all is people think I`m a racist.

BEHAR: Yes, yes.

QUINN: Right. I`m saying this -- the culture that we live in, everything else is -- if you`re a racist that`s the worst thing in the country.

BEHAR: Well he`s saying it`s worst than being a philanderer. I agree with that. Don`t you?

QUINN: No I don`t.

BEHAR: Because racism causes more trouble than philandering.

QUINN: I don`t know about that, not in this country.

BEHAR: Not in this lifetime for you but other people in Arizona, for example, they`re having problems.

QUINN: You`re right, I can`t believe that -- that`s brutal, trying to get people to show their I.D.

BEHAR: Yes.

QUINN: Anyway --

MO ROCCA: should we be talking to Paula Abdul?

QUINN: That`s brutal.

BEHAR: OK speaking of "AMERICAN IDOL" --

QUINN: I had to show I.D. to get into this building.

That. was. AWESOME!  "I had to show I.D. to get into this building."  Priceless.

He's right.  He's absolutely right.  People view racism as worse than cheating on your spouse.  Worse than beating your children.  Worse than embezzling, fraud, or lying under oath. 

Notice how both host Behar and guest Mo Rocca kept trying to change the subject.  The truth tends to bring out that reaction in the politically correct.

Colin Quinn, I salute you.  You're an American Hero.

Liberals and atheists are smarter than us (and other popular myths)

As if militant atheists aren't annoying enough.  Now there is a study that purports to prove that liberals and atheists are more intelligent than conservatives (I suppose that includes libertarians) and people of faith.  This is a sampling of the paper-thin "logic" employed in this "proof".

Before reviewing the specific findings related to atheism and intelligence we should note that Kanazawa takes it as settled that, “it is evolutionarily familiar and natural to believe in God, and evolutionarily novel not to be religious.” Kanazawa maintains this based on recent research in evolutionary psychology that suggests a hyperactive perception of intentionality in the brain that is adaptively paranoid about unknown causes and thus attributes quasi- or supernatural causation as an explanation.

I presuppose it, hence it is true. Tool.

The great divide in intelligence between the "smart" group and the "stupid" group:

[A]dult subjects who identify as “not at all religious” had a mean intelligence as adolescents of 103.09 while the “very religious” had a mean intelligence of 97.14.

Uh huh. Allowing for sampling errors and standard deviation, there's about a credit card's width between the two groups.  And given that the "scientist" who conducted this "study" had a preconception going in - that atheists are more "evolved" than the religious - who's to doubt his "findings"?  [/sarcasm]

As Vox Day ably demonstrated in his excellent book The Irrational Atheist, which I reviewed shortly after it came out, atheists are not only NOT smarter than believers, but also tend to overestimate their own intelligence.  It is not unusual for an atheist of slightly above-average intelligence (IQ in the 115-120 range) to consider themselves highly intelligent.

Not to rub anyone's nose in it, but this libertarian Christian with a Mensa-eligible IQ of over 140 (tested) isn't impressed nor swayed by this idiotic excuse for "science".

Atheists aren't smarter than believers.  They're just more annoying.

The search for truth

During the course of my current work situation, where I find myself desperately in need of two or three clones at to handle the workload, this humble blog was visited by an individual identifying himself as Ontological Comedian.  I'll call him OC for short.

Apparently, OC got the idea from one of my posts that I was one of those goofball frothing-at-the-mouth "conservatives" who find in Il Duce all of the necessary attributes to conclude that he is the Antichrist.  His first comment post was very mocking and sarcastic in tone and content.

Rather than "go off" on OC like I might have done in the past, I tried to explain my perspectives and point-of-view in a more reasoned manner.  And much to my surprise, this approach resulted in an equally reasoned response from OC.

Though OC and I are never going to agree on much of anything, I find in him the same intellectual honesty that I found in Whateverman back in the day, before his grandmother died and he pretty much abandoned the blogosphere.  I have always been consistent in saying that there ARE honest, reasonable Left-leaning people out there - Camille Paglia being my "Exhibit A" to back that argument.  Though I have nothing but a hunch to back it up, I believe that OC falls into that category.

He blogs at The Real Truth.  You're not going to agree with everything he writes - God knows I don't - but he shows a certain fairness in presenting both sides of issues and seems to share my disdain for the Rush Windbags, Sean Hannitys, and other dirtballs of this world.  Give it a look.

Been a while

Life happens.  The past week has been a blur of activity.  I've been extraordinarily busy at work (we've temporarily gone from 12 to 3 full-time "units" as a contract transition is occurring).  My in-laws were up for the weekend - that was enjoyable, but also introduced it's own limits on the good old routine.

Right now I'm barely treading water.  I'll be back to blogging once the pace of my life gets a bit more "normal".  Of course, anyone who's read this blog knows that "normal" and I are rarely in close proximity.