I'm not the only one...

...who thinks that NWA was right.

When the police are shooting military vets with MBAs in public and pregnant women in their own bedrooms, the war is not on drugs. It is on the American people.

Disregarding the people's wishes

xfloggingkylex sent me this via email.

Link

This is a pretty interesting read, especially since Oct 1 these laws go into effect in MD. Looks to me like government doing what it does, a view that contradicts their views gets presented and is then criticized, and government keeps on doing its thing. I can't believe the guy is calling the study flawed just because it goes against his campaign... actually I can.

xfloggingkylex is absolutely right: this is government being government.

Are texting bans working?

Road deaths due to texting behind the wheel, a topic widely reported on in recent months, has taken a new twist.

In a report released Tuesday, the Highway Loss Data Institute (HLDI), an affiliate of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, found that texting bans are not reducing crashes.

The claims that the anti-texting laws do not reduce crashes touched a nerve with U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood, who responded harshly to the report, calling it misleading and flawed.

“Last Thursday, I blogged about misleading claims from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) disparaging the effectiveness of good laws and good enforcement in our campaign to end distracted driving,” LaHood wrote in his blog “The FastLane,” this morning. “Unfortunately, they're at it again today with another misleading ‘study,’ ” LaHood continued. “There are numerous flaws with this ‘study,’ but the most obvious is that they have created a cause and effect that simply doesn't exist.”

The question needs to be asked: WHO is it who has "created a cause and effect that simply doesn't exist"?  Seems to me that it's the folks seeking to ban text messaging and to force the use of hands-free devices in order to use your cell phone in the car who have done so, NOT the IHS.  The nanny state WILL tell us how to behave, and we WILL like it!

But that's just Vulture being Vulture.

Pledge to America is lame

Nearly assured of a massive victory at the polls in November, Team Elephant did what it does best: it undermined its own chances for success.  Their chosen mode of self-immolation this election: Son of Contract With America.

This propaganda masterpiece, called  A Pledge to America, is a real head-scratcher.  There is no reference to nor acknowledgment of the Tea Party.  Why would the Elephant elites give any credit to people they both loath and seek to discredit?

A lot of slick pictures accompany the propaganda piece.  These are images meant to elicit an emotional, patriotic response from the reader.  It made me sick.

The document is divided into sections tailored at issues the elitists think are important to ordinary Americans. The promise in the preface to "honor the Constitution" and "those precepts that have been consistently ignored – particularly the Tenth Amendment", is broken right away in the Foreword, where they state that, when it comes to spending cuts, "common-sense exceptions for seniors, veterans, and our troops" will be made.  Business as usual, anyone?

Here's the worst from each section.

Section 1, Job Creation.  Job creation.  Job creation.  They still think the GOVERNMENT creates jobs.  Nevertheless, the steps they propose to take, while hardly representing job creation, do at least improve the business environment to where employers MIGHT consider hiring.

Grade: B

Section 2, Reduce the Size of Government.  The people who gave us King George the Dim's War Without End are trying to sell us reduced government spending and the size of government?  That's rich. 

They promise to "act immediately to reduce spending" (yawn).  They promise to cut government spending to "pre-stimulus, pre-bailout levels".   Hey, how 'bout that? [/sarcasm]   Pre-bailout levels?  That's it?  WTF!  I think the American people -- and particularly the people who make up the Tea Parties -- want more than that.  Much more.  This "promise" is a joke.

They want to put "limits" on the growth of Government.  Limits?!?!? On growth?!?!?  Are you effin' kidding me!  A real plan would seek to reduce the size of government by at least 15% JUST FOR STARTERS.

They plan to hold weekly votes on spending. Hey, how 'bout that? [/sarcasm] And this dog and pony show will achieve what exactly? 

But it's the last "promise" that really set my teeth on edge.  "We will make the decisions that are necessary to protect our entitlement programs for today’s seniors and future generations".  You can't make this stuff up. 

Grade: F

Section 3, Health Care.  They promise "repeal and replace".  70% of Americans support repeal.  But replace? 

Part of what constitutes "replace" is to "ensure access for patients with pre-existing conditions."  I kid you not.

Grade: D-

Section 4, Reform Congress and Restore Trust.  I laughed my ass off when I read that.  Seriously?  Among the promises in this section is a promise to "adhere to the Constitution".  How, precisely, do you plan to do that AND "ensure access for patients with pre-existing conditions" AND "maintain entitlements", neither of which is Constitutionally permitted?

Grade: F

Section 5, National Security.  I can summarize this in two sentences.  Spend more money on defense systems like missile defense.  And continue the War Without End.  There is also a hollow promise to "enforce our immigration laws".  Nobody believes that.  Nobody. 

Grade: F

Section 6, Checks and Balances.  The shortest section, this is yet another attempt by the Elephant elites to sucker us.  I can sum this section up in two words: "Trust me".  The right answer -- No way!

Grade: F

There you have it.  Aren't you impressed?  Doesn't this steaming POS make you just long to rush to the polls to vote for the guy with the 'R' by his name?

Now, if you'll excuse me, I think I'll get a shower.  I feel dirty.

What am I, chopped liver?

For those of you keeping score in the ongoing blogwar between the forces of good (The Pharisee, Ye Olde Journalist, and Free the FLDS Children) vs. the forces of evil (the Mall Cop a Palos, et al), yet another shot has been fired across the bow in the form of a cease-and-desist order from the wannabe lawyer to the aforementioned forces of good (see full text here).

I have just one question.  How come I wasn't included in the cease-and-desist?  What am I, chopped liver?  I've also been quite vocal in my disgust and disdain for the Mall Cop a Palos.  Is it because ole Greggie views me as small potatoes, since I get a fraction of the site hits that the bloggers ordered to cease and desist get?

C'mon, Greggie!  Where's the love for the Vulture?

Fraud? Not a problem!

Deadeye was reading the Frederick News-Post yesterday and found this news item that made her more than a little miffed.  She told me that I absolutely MUST blog about it.  When Deadeye speaks, Vulture listens.

The long and short of it?  Crime pays.

Ignoring calls to scrutinize troubled contractors, the U.S. military has awarded a portion of a $490 million contract to an American corporation that's under investigation for possible fraud.

The Army Corps of Engineers awarded the contract to Louis Berger Group, a New Jersey-based company that federal prosecutors have acknowledged is being investigated for allegedly overbilling the U.S. government.
[...]
Two months after the government learned of the employee's allegations, the U.S. Agency for International Development tapped Louis Berger to oversee another $1.4 billion in reconstruction contracts in Afghanistan.

Court documents reveal that the Justice Department is negotiating a deal that could "aid in preserving the company's continuing eligibility to participate" in federal contracting in Afghanistan and elsewhere.

The obvious question that springs to mind here is: WTF?

What exactly does a crooked company have to do to merit exclusion from future government contract work?  Overbilling the customer is the #1 cardinal sin of government contracting.  NOTHING else comes close.  Most companies lose all of their current contracts and have zero chance of being awarded any future contracts if found guilty.  Most.

So what is it about this company that they're allowed to skate?  It's a New Jersey company...does that mean it's skating due to Union ties?  Mob ties (JUST KIDDING!!!!!!!  I DON'T LIKE CEMENT OVERSHOES!!!!!!)?  "Help" from congressional arm twisting?

It's yet another demonstration of the principal ill affecting the USA at this point in its decline.  There are two systems of Justice.  The first one, for the Mundanes, inflicts punishment without regard for common sense or human decency.  The second one exists to exonerate the Elites when they get caught with their hand in the cookie jar.

Moral victory? Still, it's 0-2

Whoever said there are no moral victories in the NFL must have had last night's game in mind.  Following a cringe-inducing loss to Seattle last week, I gave the 49ers zero chance of posting even a respectable showing against the defending world champion Saints.  Then the Niners go and post a showing that was WAY beyond respectable: they tied the defending champs at 22-22 with 1:19 to go, only to lose on the last play of the game, 25-22.

I really don't understand the NFL.  At all.  How the deuce could the 49ers look so cover-your-eyes gawd-awful against the mediocre Seahawks (who were trounced on Sunday by the equally mediocre Broncos) and look so damn good against a Saints team that wiped the floor with the Niners last year?

Oh sure, there's a LOT of room for improvement.  The Niners went down 9-0 right away because David Baas thinks Alex Smith is 7'9".  Honestly, that snap over Smith's head was the absolute worst I've ever seen.  But then, seemly having gotten the jitters out of their system, the 49ers turned around and played near flawless football for the rest of the game.

Let me amend that.  Near flawless except for the four turnovers.  Four.  You just can't do that.  The offense moved at will, but a pair of tipped balls ended up intercepted.  Dulaney Walker, fast becoming one of my favorite players, made a costly fumble inside the 10 yard line with the team driving for the go-ahead score.  Phillip Adams muffed a punt inside the 15 yard line.

The defense played very well.  Patrick Willis put on a show, including a crushing sack of Drew Brees and a tackle of Reggie Bush that had Bush's head whipping around like a bobble head doll.  Twice the defense held the Saints to a field goal after they advanced the ball into the red zone.

Even the "turd twins", Michael Crabtree and Nate Clemons, made plays.

Frank Gore was amazing.  Alex Smith played the game of his career.

And yet.  Yet.  It still shows up in the 'L' column.

Damn it.