Wiener of the Week

If ever a WotW were to need a subtitle, this is the one. I call it: California's Vultures have come home to roost.

ABC News has learned that tax refunds are now on hold in California for the first time in state history, according to the state controller's office.

"Unfortunately, we have asked the California Franchise Tax Board not to send over tax refund claims beginning today because we will not be able to process them and have them out the door by Feb. 1 when a 30-day delay in tax refunds goes into effect," Hallye Jordan, spokeswoman to California State Controller John Chiang, tells ABC News.

So...why exactly is this Wiener-worthy? Because in 2007 California -- in the midst of the housing crash -- passed a budget that was an increase of 11% over the previous year. It was chock full of the kind of BS legislative thumb-sucking that CA is famous for. Then last Fall, when the economy cratered, rather than pare back the budget to pre-2007 numbers, they reduced the budget by a whopping .006%! Now they're whining (QQing is how my boys would put it) and begging for federal bailout dollars. Meanwhile, they hold back citizen's tax refunds rather than address the root problem: their government is Leviathan in size and scope and needs to be pared by half.

Congratulations California! You're the Wiener of the Week.

The Gore Effect

Gore Effect -- The phenomenon that leads to unseasonably cold temperatures, driving rain, hail, or snow whenever Al Gore visits an area to discuss global warming. Hence, the Gore Effect.
Courtesy of The Urban Dictionary.

Al Gorebells, chief propagandist for Big Warming, appeared before Congress yesterday to hype his fraud. Of course, as alluded to in the quote above, the Gore Effect was in full force. We had gawd-awful weather -- snow, sleet, freezing rain, a plague of frogs (okay, I made that last one up).

Still, when you're the chief propagandist for Big Warming, you can't let a little inclement weather in one of the coldest winters on record get the best of you.

Big Media (the BM for short) was in full-fledged worship of the one they call The Goracle. Dana Milbank of the Washington (Com)Post was in full-blown journalistic fellatio.

Once Al Gore was a mere vice president, but now he is a Nobel laureate and climate-change prophet. He repeats phrases such as "unified national smart grid" the way he once did "no controlling legal authority" -- and the ridicule has been replaced by worship, even by his political foes.

Pardon me while I try not to throw up in my mouth.

Yep, the scam continues. Some of you might be saying, "Hey, Vulture! Weren't you supposed to be doing a series on the AGW scam?" Why, yes I am. But work is pounding me, and the research is daunting. More Big Warming asshattery is occurring all the time; it's almost too much for one bird to stay on top of.

But I WILL post my series of anti-AGW related bloviation, and you will understand at the end of that series exactly what is happening and why it is happening.

Exhibit A

As if you needed any further proof that the entire country is convinced that it is entitled to everything, here is yet another proof.

Imagine you need an MRI exam, but you can't get one because you're too big for the machine.

Carolyn Ragan has been through a lot since a tumor was found on her spine, including surgeries and paralysis. But she says nothing was as humiliating as a trip to the hospital to get an MRI two years ago.

She was told that at 5 feet and 275 pounds, none of the MRI machines would hold her. Carolyn says an assistant began searching for one elsewhere that would.

"So he suggested the Kansas City Zoo. I thought, I know I'm big but I'm not as big as an elephant," she said. "And my husband got mad."

So here's the deal. We have a woman who, at 5' tall and 275 pounds, is just a few pounds shy of being square. She can't fit in the equipment. So...what's my problem? Continue reading.

"They should have machines that fit most everybody," Carolyn said.

Ah, yes. No matter that MRI machines aren't exactly cheap. The hospital should have one "that fit[s] most everybody" because this hippo says so.

Where's the personal responsibility here? It's not her fault that she can't fit! The hospital is the bad guy because they won't spend the hundreds of thousands of dollars for a specialized machine for the incomprehensibly obese.

I have an idea! How about you lose 150 pounds? Besides allowing you to fit into the damn machine, it'll probably save you from dying at age 50 from heart failure.

Wiener of the Week

While it would seem that, given my lack of posting activity, I would be the candidate for the WotW, there is actually a more deserving recipient.

I want to know who in our wonderful governmental mess thought that this was a good idea.

The United States and the United Arab Emirates have hammered out a nuclear cooperation deal that would bring U.S. atomic technology and know-how to a site less than a hundred miles from Iran's shores, an envoy from the Persian Gulf monarchy confirmed Monday to state media.

Okay, I know that UAE makes sense as a counterweight to Iran. I know that the UAE has been a great ally for the past quarter century. BUT...the Shah of Iran was a great ally for a quarter century, too.

Does UAE seem like the kind of place that might abuse nuclear technology? No. At least not at the present time. But nuclear technology is like Pandora's box. Once it's open, there's no putting the genii back in the bottle. If UAE's government is ever overthrown by Islamic extremists, we'll have given birth to nuclear Jihad!

So, to whatever of Leviathan's moronic representatives dreamed up this idea, congratulations! You're the Wiener of the Week.

The DoublePlusGoodHopeChange era begins

Here we are, Day One of a new era. Hail King Obama!

After the election, I wrote a post speculating on what kind of president Obama would be. You might want to read it. It's one of my better posts, if I say so myself.

But if I were to write that same post today, I'd be less certain that Obama might fall into one of the four presidential categories I defined. Circumstances have changed. Obama isn't a stupid man; he knows that we are in the midst of an economic crisis that could have calamitous consequences if it gets too much worse. He's already starting to back off from some of his campaign promises (you know, the one's that would have added a trillion dollars in new spending). He's even talking about tax cuts.

I wish him well. He certainly wasn't my choice for president. But he's got the hardest job in the world and he's inherited a hell of a mess from King George the Dim. My prayer is that he would set aside his ideology and show wisdom in the choices he makes as president. Our nation's survival may depend on those choices.

Wiener of the Week

George W. Bush -- King George the Dim -- is destined to be the charter member of the Wiener Hall of Fame. But before he receives that dishonor, he needs to be named as WotW yet again.

What did he do this time? It's not so much what he did, which was the right thing -- freeing two border patrol agents from prison who were scapegoated convicted of the high crime of doing their jobs as agents charged with protecting America's borders. It's how he did it.

Bush didn't pardon the men for their crimes, but decided instead to commute their prison sentences because he believed they were excessive and that they had already suffered the loss of their jobs, freedom and reputations, a senior administration official said.

The action by the president, who believes the border agents received fair trials and that the verdicts were just, does not diminish the seriousness of their crimes, the official said.

Fair trials? Just verdicts? Bullshit! Those two guys were railroaded to placate Mexico, nothing more, nothing less.

What a colossal a-hole Bush is! And he's the Wiener of the Week.