New Tizona Post

Occupy….Frederick?!?!?

How do “Frederick, MD” and “Occupy” end up in the same sentence? Behold, Occupy Frederick!

Read more at The Tizona Group.

Vulture Droppings: Electoral Defeat

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.

---

Some of you are going to read the title of this point and come to the conclusion that I've finally gone around the bend.  You're going to assume that I've completely LOST IT.  While you may, in fact, be right about my failing sanity (until you've lived a workload like I've had for the past 4 months, you have NO IDEA what insanity really feels like), I am speaking from the heart here.

This edition of Vulture Droppings deals with my analysis of the 2010 elections, which are, thankfully, finally over.  If I had to watch one more ad for Candidate A in which Candidate B was painted as Hitler's more evil twin, followed apace by an ad for Candidate B in which Candidate A was painted as worse than Stalin, I think I would have stuck a pencil in my eye.

---

It is said that a pessimist views the glass as half full, while the optimist sees it as half empty.  So what does that make me?  I see the glass as nearly empty, leaking, and what little water remains in it is polluted.

What most so-called conservatives are touting as a major electoral victory is nothing of the sort.  Team Elephant won the House - hey, how 'bout that?  "Oh come on, Vulture!  Even you have to concede that the historic taking of the House is a major victory!"

No.  No I don't.

The House will make for a nice, boisterous legislative soap opera for the next two years.  But the Senate is still under the control of Harry Reid (more on that later), and the White House is still in the clutches of Il Duce.  Good luck getting anything constructive done in the next two years.

---

What constitutes victory? What defines defeat?  Let me take a stab at it.

• Victory would have included a major purge of Team Donkey leadership.  

See Harry Reid?  Still standing.  See Nancy Pelosi?  Sure, she's no longer the Screecher of the House...but she's still standing.  See Barney (Elmer Fudd's evil twin) Frank?  Still standing. Team Elephant might not have had a legitimate chance at taking down "Air Force 3".  But that senile old fool Harry Reid was ripe for the taking.  And Barney Frank was extremely vulnerable, given his cozy relationship with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.  But the elitist snobs that run Team Elephant (into the ground, I might say) weren't about to lend any material support to a commoner like Sharon Angle.  She wouldn't fit in at a Washington cocktail party at all!  Neither was there any real effort on the part of the Elephants to take down Frank.  You leave Harry Reid and Barney Frank standing -- that's not victory.

• Victory would have included a change in the kind of candidates elected by the Elephants.  

Set aside for a moment Rand Paul's win in Tennessee.  See anyone else "different" winning anywhere?   I don't.  And, no, Marco Rubio doesn't count.  I think he's every bit the faux conservative that John Boehner is.

Sharon Angle?  Joe Miller?  Christine O'Donnell?  They were undermined at every turn by the Elephant elites.  Face facts, conservatives: your side threw the game.  They were happier with losing those races than with dealing with commoners in their midst.

But don't worry.  John McCommie won reelection.  Yeah....

• Victory would have set the stage for the dismantling of Obamacare.

You can't roll back Obamacare with just the House.  Face facts -- we're stuck with it.  In 2 years, even if the Elephants win the House, the Senate, and the Presidency, they'll throw up their hands and say that Obamacare can't be rolled back because too many people are dependent on it.  That's Washington DC Realpolitik.

---

You're going to think I've lost my mind, but I'm actually sorry that Russ Feingold lost his Senate seat in Wisconsin.  Yeah, he's a big Lefty.  But he's an HONEST big Lefty.  And he was one of the few in Washington willing to stand up to the abuses of the DHSS (you can't spell Schutzstaffel without the double S).

---

One final observation on the election.  No matter the political climate.  No matter the economic parameters.  Even if the very survival of the human race were at stake, it just wouldn't matter.  The People's Republic of Maryland will vote Democrat.

The Elephants didn't even bother to field a candidate against Senator-since-Reconstruction Barbara Mikulski.  Yeah, there was some guy's name with an 'R' next to it on the ballot.  But I wouldn't recognize him if he was standing in my kitchen carving the turkey at Thanksgiving wearing a sweater with his name embroidered on it.

6 of 8 Congressional districts went Donkey.  The 2 that didn't?  Frederick County and points west, and the Eastern Shore, both heavily agricultural.

Martin O'Malley, quite possibly the worst governor in the State's history, won in a crushing landslide against former governor (and RINO) Bob Erlich.

Yeah, I'm ready to move.  You can't live in Libtardia for 20-plus years and not have it affect you.

---

The Great DC Earthquake

It was, shall we say, not exactly on the scale of the Chilean earthquake.

A 3.6 magnitude earthquake woke the Washington metro region Friday, rattling homes and startling people.

The U.S. Geological Survey says it happened at exactly 5:04:49 a.m. about 3 miles under the earth's surface.

Officials warn there could be aftershocks in the coming days.

Aftershocks?  Where I come from, 3.6 IS the aftershock!  If you're lucky.

Not to be too jaded or anything, but I slept through the entire thing, as any former Californian would have.  A 3.6 is a pimple on a real earthquake's ass.

One intrepid DC metro area resident took photographs of the devastation.  You've got to see it to believe it.

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.

A Toyota attacks Frederick

It's happened again - this time right here in Fredtown.

A man said his 2010 Toyota Corolla accelerated out of control on U.S. 15 North just south of the West Patrick Street exit shortly after 4 p.m. Friday.

Taneytown resident Frank Santoro, 62, said he was in the middle lane in bumper-to-bumper traffic. The Toyota started accelerating as he pulled into the fast lane.

"The first second or two it wasn't bad, (but) then it took off," Santoro said. "I was going to hit the car in the front of me, so I veered into the left shoulder."

The speed shot up to around 60 mph and he couldn't slow down for about 15 seconds, he said.

"The whole time I had my foot on the brake," he said. "It didn't feel like the brake was doing anything."

Santoro said he passed cars in rush-hour traffic until the engine eventually returned to normal, and cruised to a safe stop.

I have a question for Toyota drivers. Have any of you dipwads ever heard of the concept of shifting the vehicle into neutral when the engine accelerates? Toyota needs to start a national advertising campaign that simply repeats these words over-and-over: Put the effing car in neutral!

Honestly, I think xfloggingkylex's Toyota drivers hypothesis is being proved as accurate more and more every day.

Vulture Droppings - stuff that ruffles my feather

Vulture droppings is a semi-regular feature of this blog. It's a kind of "Random Thoughts" post in which I try to quickly summarize a particularly large event or series of events. Think of it being sort of like what a vulture leaves behind after devouring a horse. You don't get the whole horse, just highly processed leftovers.

---

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

---

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

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

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

---

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

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

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

---

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

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

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

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

---

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

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

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

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

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

---

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

---

Update: high drama in Frederick

As I mentioned on Saturday, my "mole" at Fort Detrick was less than certain that Bruce Ivins was really the anthrax murderer. They aren't the only one. It seems like everyone is in agreement on one thing, though; the FBI investigation was W-A-A-A-A-A-Y over the top.

Before killing himself last week, Army scientist Bruce Ivins told friends that government agents had stalked him and his family for months, offered his son $2.5 million to rat him out and tried to turn his hospitalized daughter against him with photographs of dead anthrax victims.

The pressure on Ivins was extreme, a high-risk strategy that has failed the FBI before. The government was determined to find the villain in the 2001 anthrax attacks; it was too many years without a solution to the case that shocked and terrified a post-9/11 nation.

The last thing the FBI needed was another embarrassment. Overreaching damaged the FBI's reputation in the high-profile investigations: the Centennial Olympic Park bombing probe that falsely accused Richard Jewell; the theft of nuclear secrets and botched prosecution of scientist Wen Ho Lee; and, in this same anthrax probe, the smearing of an innocent man - Ivins' colleague Steven Hatfill.

In the current case, Ivins complained privately that FBI agents had offered his son, Andy, $2.5 million, plus "the sports car of his choice" late last year if he would turn over evidence implicating his father in the anthrax attacks, according to a former U.S. scientist who described himself as a friend of Ivins.

Ivins also said the FBI confronted Ivins' daughter, Amanda, with photographs of victims of the anthrax attacks and told her, "This is what your father did," according to the scientist, who spoke only on condition of anonymity because their conversation was confidential.

The scientist said Ivins was angered by the FBI's alleged actions, which he said included following Ivins' family on shopping trips.

---

Dr. W. Russell Byrne...who retired from the lab four years ago, said FBI agents interviewed him seven to 12 times since the investigation began - and he got off easy.

"I think I'm the only person at USAMRIID who didn't get polygraphed," he said.

Byrne said he was told by people who had recently worked with Ivins that the investigation had taken an emotional toll on the researcher. "One person said he'd sit at his desk and weep," he said.

Innocent until proven guilty? Or literally hounded to death? Given that we STILL haven't been presented with any evidence that Ivins was guilty of anything except working for USAMRIID, we may never know for sure.

Naturally, the Feebies claim that the investigation was all on the up-and-up.

FBI official John Miller said that "what we have seen over the past few days has been a mix of improper disclosures of partial information mixed with inaccurate information and then drawn into unfounded conclusions. None of that serves the victims, their families or the public."

The FBI "always moves aggressively to get to the bottom of the facts, but that does not include mistreatment of anybody and I don't know of any case where that's happened," said former FBI deputy director Weldon Kennedy, who was with the bureau for 34 years. "That doesn't mean that from time to time people don't make mistakes," he added.

No mistreatment? I wonder how Richard Jewell, Wen Ho Lee, and Steven Hatfill feel about that. Not to mention the Ivins family, which has been shattered by the suicide of a husband and father.

High drama right here in Frederick

After years of stumbles, bumbles, and fumbles, the FBI finally managed to accomplish something in their search for the anthrax murder. That accomplishment, unfortunately, was the suicide of the prime suspect.

In 2003, the Defense Department gave Bruce Ivins its highest civilian honor for his work on an anthrax vaccine.

Friday, the government had little to say about him, following his apparent suicide and media reports that the FBI was preparing to charge him with the 2001 anthrax mailings.

Ivins was a Frederick resident who worked at the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases...

I have an insider at Ft. Detrick (a mere 15 minute drive from my house -- ain't it comforting to know that all of the major toxins and biological agents known to mankind are such a short drive away?). My source knew both Ivins as well as Steven Hatfill, the original "person of interest" in the case. My source said that it was ridiculous to ever consider Hatfill a suspect; in his line of work, he would have never had access to anthrax. I mean, it's not like people can wander into any old area of the research labs and grab up a smallpox sample or a cup of ricin.

So what did my source have to say about Mr. Ivins? They told me that, given the constant harassment he was under for the past two years from law enforcement, it's not surprising that he offed himself. They didn't come right out and say that they didn't think he did it. But they didn't express the same certainty that the media has expressed.

Naturally, the Frederick News-Post is all over the story, in case you want to get the "local" read on it.

It's certainly been more spotlight than Frederick is used to, that's for sure.