One man's misfortune is another's opportunity

Team Discovery just announced the release of team leader Ivan Basso. He is leaving to address questions stemming from the Puerto doping scandal from last May in which 50 riders were denied entry in the '06 Tour de France. This leaves open the door for Levi Leipheimer to lead Team Discovery. Levi won the Tour of California earlier this year, but 5 days riding around your hometown is different from 22 days riding around France. Basso was Lance's pick to lead Discovery in the TDF but I think Levi can handle it. He's a good time-trialer, a good sprinter, a smart team leader, and an excellent climber.

If any of you are interested in reading some more about American and world cycling, I highly recommend Endless Cycle, hosted by peloton Jim. He's got a cool site in which we discuss all the current goings-on in cycling from Floyd Landis, the Puerto doping scandal, to Levi taking the lead role on Discovery, to other larger issues tangentially related to cycling and sports. Really, you should check it out.

Fear and loathing in France

This tidbit of news probably explains a lot...

According to an opinion poll published Friday, the French dislike themselves even more than Americans dislike them, Reuters reported.

The survey of six nations, carried out for the International Herald Tribune daily and France 24 TV station, said 44 percent of French people thought badly of themselves against 38 percent of U.S. respondents who had a negative view of the French.

We should expect little else from a nation of people who willingly participate in their own cultural destruction. Muslims have been agressively colonizing France for decades, yet the French look the other way and pretend that political correctness will get the Muslims to be nice and like them. They are only feeding the alligator in hopes that he will eat them last. How little must the French think of themselves that they won't even breed to save their country? How dark must their outlook be that they won't even fight for themselves against foreign invaders?

Then again, somebody might make the same assessment of the U.S. We barely breed enough to replace ourselves and we certainly won't fight to preserve our culture, borders, or language. How far behind France are we? A couple of decades I'd say.

Confounded by their own stupidity

Not to be derailed by the truth, wacky environmentalists insist that bio-fuels are the answer to the imaginary menace of global warming...

European union green fuel targets will accelerate the destruction of rainforests in South-East Asia and threaten the habitat of endangered species, such as the orang-utan.

In March EU leaders agreed to set a binding climate change target to make biofuel - energy sources made from plant material - account for 10 per cent of all Europe's transport fuels by 2020.

But the European Commission has admitted that the objective, which aims to cut carbon dioxide emissions, may have the unintended consequence of speeding up the destruction of tropical rainforests and peatlands in South-East Asia - actually increasing, not reducing, global warming.

To Gaia-worshipping cultists like Al Gore and his witless European counterparts, it matters not that they will be directly responsible for destroying the world's rain forests by thoughtlessly demanding that the world convert to a bio-fuel economy. The only thing that matters is that they feel better about themselves and their stupid, hybrid cars that nobody wants, and can look condescendingly down their noses at the rest of us as evil, capitalist polluters.

This is what South-East Asian rainforests will look like after stupid environmentalists' demand for "bio-fuels" is met.


Hat tip to Telegraph.co.uk.

How much for that sheep in the window?

This scam is even funnier than Al Gore's carbon-offset swindle...

Thousands of Japanese have been swindled in a scam in which they were sold Australian and British sheep and told they were poodles.

Flocks of sheep were imported to Japan and then sold by a company called Poodles as Pets, marketed as fashionable accessories, available at $1,600 each.

That is a snip compared to a real poodle which retails for twice that much in Japan.

The scam was uncovered when Japanese moviestar Maiko Kawamaki went on a talk-show and wondered why her new pet would not bark or eat dog food.

She was crestfallen when told it was a sheep.

Seriously folks, I'm not making this up. How dumb do you have to be to not notice the hooves? And you'd think the constant baaa baaa would be a clue. How do you live your entire lives and not know what a sheep looks like?

This is what dogs look like to the Japanese.

The jig is up Al

You'll be shocked, shocked I say, to learn that The Goreacle has been scamming the world's idiots by selling them worthless "carbon offsets"...

Companies and individuals rushing to go green have been spending millions on “carbon credit” projects that yield few if any environmental benefits.

A Financial Times investigation has uncovered widespread failings in the new markets for greenhouse gases, suggesting some organisations are paying for emissions reductions that do not take place.

The burgeoning regulated market for carbon credits is expected to more than double in size to about $68.2bn by 2010.
The FT investigation found:

■ Widespread instances of people and organisations buying worthless credits that do not yield any reductions in carbon emissions.

■ Industrial companies profiting from doing very little – or from gaining carbon credits on the basis of efficiency gains from which they have already benefited substantially.

■ Brokers providing services of questionable or no value.

■ A shortage of verification, making it difficult for buyers to assess the true value of carbon credits.

You'll be just as shocked to learn that Al Gore profits from every aspect of the carbon-credit scam. The scheme is to swindle rich, stupid liberals by convincing them that they can pollute as much as they want as long as they buy forgiveness from Al's carbon credit companies. It is said, "A fool and his money are soon parted". Well, I guess that pretty much describes any dumb liberal who believes Al Gore and his cult of environmentalism, and nothing is funnier than watching dumb liberals getting screwed by one of their own.

Hat tip to Financial Times

Ham sandwich control

You can't make this stuff up folks. It is actually happening in our country...

One student has been suspended and more disciplinary action could follow a possible hate crime at Lewiston Middle School, Superintendent Leon Levesque said Wednesday.

On April 11, a white student placed a ham steak in a bag on a lunch table where Somali students were eating. Muslims consider pork unclean and offensive.

The school incident is being treated seriously as "a hate incident," Levesque said. Lewiston police are investigating, and the Center for the Prevention of Hate Violence is working with the school to create a response plan.

Placing ham where Muslim students were eating was "an awful thing," said Stephen Wessler, executive director of the Center for Prevention of Hate Violence. "It's extraordinarily hurtful and degrading" to Muslims, whose religion prohibits them from being around ham. It's important to respond swiftly, Wessler said.

There is so much stupidity in this story to ridicule, I don't know where to start.

How do you commit a hate-crime with a ham sandwich? Why did the story specify "a white student"? Would the paper have specified "a black student" if the kid had been black? I doubt it. According to the liberal template, only whites are capable of hate-crimes.

As an important, respected member of the alernative media, I have obtained an advance draft of the Ham Sandwich-Free Zone legislation currently before the Lewiston City Council:

Ham Sandwich-Free School Zone Act of 2007.

(a) Any person who possesses a ham sandwich in a place that the person
knows, or reasonably should know, is a school zone, unless it is with the written
permission of the school district superintendent, shall be punished

(b) Punishment shall NOT apply to the possession of a ham sandwich
under any of the following circumstances:
(1) Within a place of residence, business, or on private
property, if it is not part of the school grounds and the possession of the
ham sandwich is otherwise lawful.
(2) The ham sandwich is a mufaletta, panini, or other breaded lunch meat
capable of being concealed on the person and is in a locked container
or within the locked trunk of a motor vehicle.
This section shall not prohibit or limit the otherwise lawful
transportation of any other sandwich, including tuna, PB&J, chicken salad
or other pork meat sandwich capable of being concealed on the person, in
accordance with state law.
(c)Any person who violates subdivision (b) by possessing a
ham sandwich within a distance of 1,000 feet from the grounds of a public
or private school providing instruction to Muslims or sissified liberals shall be punished

Here is the police mugshot of the ham sandwich suspected of complicity in a hate crime against Muslim children.

Tony Blair...modern day Don Quixote

His country willingly participates in it's own death spiral as a result of aggressive colonization by militant Islam, yet Tony Blair decides to take a brave stand against traffic accidents...

BAD driving kills 1.2million people a year and is a bigger danger to the world than war or disease, Tony Blair said yesterday.

This is on par with the stupidity that is the global-warming hoax perpetrated by the Goreacle. Sometimes I think TB is a good guy, but then he goes and shows what a moron he is. His country is dying and he tilts against the traffic windmill!

Hat tip to The Mirror.

Geek Vader

What's more geekier than a StarWars fanatic? Answer: a StarWars fanatic who takes time out from his StarWars obsession to indulge his other hobby, hot-air ballooning.

Seriously though, this would freak me out if it came over the tree tops toward my house. I would definitely have to call the family out to see it.

Hat tip SciFi.com

I don't have a square to spare

Hollywood airheads Laurie David and Sheryl Crowe are touring the country in no less than three CO2-belching buses and three bio-deisel-guzzeling tractor trailers to tell us little people that if we just stop wiping our butts, we can save the world.

Sheryl shared her bizarre ideas after the tour ended in DC this weekend...

"I propose a limitation be put on how many squares of toilet paper can be used in any one sitting."

Crow has also commented on her website about how she thinks paper napkins "represent the height of wastefulness".

She has designed a clothing line with what she calls a "dining sleeve".

The sleeve is detachable and can be replaced with another "dining sleeve" after the diner has used it to wipe his or her mouth.

Need I state the obvious? Why doesn't Sheryl use her "dining sleeve" for both?

Over at TheSmokingGun you can find Sheryl's absurd tour demands, including specific booze demands for each day of the week.

Pardon the Seinfeld reference in the title of this post but the story demands it.

Reader comments

Reader martin c. cox thoughtfully pointed out in the comments section to this post concerning the VT shootings...

Murders with firearms by country:

Germany: 384
Canada: 165
Spain: 97
Portugal: 84
United Kingdom: 62
Australia: 59
United States: 8,259

(Source: Nationmaster.com)

We could say: See, these numbers show why we Americans need guns to protect us!

Or we could ask: If guns are the best protection, how come there's so few murders with firearrms in the other civilized countries - where the population almost have no guns to protect them with at all?

My argument begins with these sobering statistics from an article in ReasonOnline magazine...

Last December, London's Evening Standard reported that armed crime, with banned handguns the weapon of choice, was "rocketing." In the two years following the 1997 handgun ban, the use of handguns in crime rose by 40 percent, and the upward trend has continued. From April to November 2001, the number of people robbed at gunpoint in London rose 53 percent.

Gun crime is just part of an increasingly lawless environment. From 1991 to 1995, crimes against the person in England's inner cities increased 91 percent. And in the four years from 1997 to 2001, the rate of violent crime more than doubled. Your chances of being mugged in London are now six times greater than in New York. England's rates of assault, robbery, and burglary are far higher than America's, and 53 percent of English burglaries occur while occupants are at home, compared with 13 percent in the U.S., where burglars admit to fearing armed homeowners more than the police. In a United Nations study of crime in 18 developed nations published in July, England and Wales led the Western world's crime league, with nearly 55 crimes per 100 people.

Point 1: Even if you stupidly passed gun-conrol legislation, the guns are already here. How can you disarm the criminals without making the ordinary citizens vulnerable? If you disarm the general population, only the criminals will have guns and the murder rate will increase dramatically because we would be defenseless. You don't seriously think the bad guys would turn in their guns to the government do you?

Point 2: Those other countries do not have a second amendment to what passes for constitutions.

Point 3: Is it right for the State to prevent an individual from defending himself, his family, his property, or other citizens from harm? Really that is the only question that need be answered. Just think, if only one student or teacher at VT had the means of defending himself and others, think of the lives that could have been saved that morning. Can you look into the eyes of the parents and friends of those 32 dead people and honestly say you are still glad that VT was a gun-free-zone? I couldn't.

The mother of all fueds continues

This picture makes me want to gouge out my mind's eye...

DONALD Trump has unleashed a secret weapon in his feud with Rosie O’Donnell - a gigantic black undergarment she wore in the movie “Exit to Eden,” which Trump sent to Barbara Walters on Monday to hang on the office wall at “The View.”

The girdle-like outfit - variously described as “a bustier” and “a giant pair of panties” - was bought at a charity auction by a fan, who then had the relic framed under glass and delivered to Trump.

“I sent it to Barbara to hang in her office because I didn’t want it in mine. It was funny, except that it was really gross. It’s disgusting,” Trump told Page Six. “I feel sorry for [Rosie’s] wife. It can’t be pleasant.”

I just threw up a little bit in my mouth!

Bad policy yeilds bad consequences

Get prepared. The nutty environmentalists are driving the price of milk up by forcing ethanol into our fuel economy...

With milk already averaging more than $3 a gallon nationally, economists say the price could rise more than 30 cents this year.

Here's how it works: global warming zealots think ethanol will solve all our climate change problems so they get weak-minded legislators to go along with government mandates. Ethanol manufacturers drive the price of corn up and dairy farmers have to pay more to feed their dairy cows. The result is that the rest of sane America have to pay more for milk so that the Birkenstocks and granola crowd can drive around with pride that they are saving the world.

Ironically, some poor families will complain that they can't feed their children because milk is too expensive and the same weak-minded legislators who caused the price to go up in the first place, will pass laws taxing the evil rich milk drinkers in order to pay for free milk programs for the poor.

Your government at work ladies and gentlemen.

In a nutshell

This picture encapsulates what's wrong with a large slice of black America.

The perpetuation of the whole us verses them mentality with which rappers infest the minds of black youths is, I think, at the heart of the failure of many blacks to assimilate into mainstream America. The gang agenda dictates to them that a life of crime is better than being educated and employed a.k.a. "white". Rappers skulk behind "free speech" and "we're just entertainers" and "we reflect black reality in our music" as justifications for their rancid messages of hate and violence.

Rap star Cam'ron says there's no situation -- including a serial killer living next door -- that would cause him to help police in any way, because to do so would hurt his music sales and violate his "code of ethics." Cam'ron, whose real name is Cameron Giles, talks to Anderson Cooper for a report on how the hip-hop culture's message to shun the police has undermined efforts to solve murders across the country. Cooper's report will be broadcast on 60 MINUTES Sunday, April 22 (7:00-8:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network.

"If I knew the serial killer was living next door to me?" Giles responds to a hypothetical question posed by Cooper. "I wouldn't call and tell anybody on him -- but I'd probably move," says Giles. "But I'm not going to call and be like, ÔhThe serial killer's in 4E.'

You can't tell me this thug mentality isn't harmful to black American youth and to this country in general.

Prevention vs Reaction

In a comment to the original VT massacre post, Reid stated that this is not a gun-control issue. I agree that in terms of prevention, no law would have stopped this kid from slaughtering his classmates. So in terms of prevention I agree that gun control is not the issue. Mental health recognition and treatment may have affected enough change in this kid so as to avoid this killing, but who really knows?

Now what about reaction? As insensitive as it sounds, I've heard a few questions ask why didn't any of these kids fight back when faced with their own deaths? I think the phrase "paralyzed with fear" pretty much sums it up. And that's where my plan for reaction comes in.

Here is what I think would have prevented at least some of the deaths at VT this week:
1- Institute a campus-wide policy which states more or less, "Any faculty, employee, or student over 18 may be in possession of a firearm provided they meet the following criteria:
-the weapon is obtained lawfully with all appropriate competency and mental health background checks
-the person provides campus security with gun registration, serial numbers, proof of gun safety certification, and a plan for on campus safe storage.
-the person requalifies himself for weapons possession with campus safety officers each semester

I know what you're thinking. "But Ed" you whine, "we can't have every student walking around with a pistol strapped to their leg like the wild, wild West."

The wild West to which you refer was not all that wild. During the 20 years following the Civil War characterized as the wild, wild West, the crime rate was lower than every before. In fact, in any 10 year period, there were fewer gun killings than in a single year in NewYork city. Besides, noboby will be forced to carry a gun. That people are allowed to have guns on campus would give a would-be killer pause. How could he know which teacher, student, or custodian was armed and could defend themselves? Answer: he couldn't.

I believe that constitutionally, is it not lawful for the State to prevent an adult from defending himself if that State is not providing adequate defense?

The obvious solution to gun violence on campus is to give competent adults the rights to defend themselves.

What do you think?

In the wake of the Va.Tech. massacre, the hysterical rhetoric over the gun-control issue has reached critical mass...on both sides.

For the record, I am a strident 2nd ammendment advocate. There is not a shadow of a doubt in my mind that if even one responsible student was in possession of a firearm, that he/she could have stopped the carnage. I believe that it is unconstitutional for ANY government(local, state, or federal) to legislate away the right of an individual to protect himself or others against harm. I believe the idiotic notion of "gun-free-zones" is just that...idiotic. Look at most of the shootings in recent history, they all happened in gun free zones. Ever wonder why? Because the killers knew that they would meet little or no resistance. The nauseatingly feel-good term "gun-free-zone" is nothing more than an advertisement that says "Here is a fresh supply of defenseless victims--have your way with them". I believe that every school should designate at least one, if not allow all, teacher to be the first responder in the case of violence against the school. That person should carry a firearm and have been trained in it's use and safety. I realize that shootings like this are extraordinarily rare, but tell the parents of the victims of Va.Tech. that there is safety in a gun-free-zone. My step-son just turned 19. If he told me he wanted to carry a gun in his backpack to class at college, I would support it 100% provided he obtained it legally and took a thorough safety class. Nobody should be forced by the power of the State to be a helpless victim.

I know this is an emotional issue but I would like to hear from some readers about their ideas.

What's a zealot to do?

Here is a picture of the Gulf Coast, which thanks to global warming, may not be threatened by Katrina-like hurricanes again. This is bad news for crazed environmentalists who rely on weather-caused death and destruction to advance their harebrained theories on the evils of man's existence on Earth.

MIAMI (Reuters) - Global warming could increase a climate phenomenon known as wind shear that inhibits Atlantic hurricanes, a potentially positive result of climate change, according to new research released on Tuesday.

The study, to be published on Wednesday in Geophysical Research Letters, found that climate model simulations show a "robust increase" in wind shear in the tropical Atlantic during the 21st century from global warming.

Wind shear, a difference in wind speed or direction at different altitudes, tends to tear apart tropical cyclones, preventing nascent ones from growing and already-formed hurricanes from becoming the monster storms that cause the most damage.

The Goracle and his mindless followers now find themselves in the unenviable position of approving of global warming because it prevents death and destruction from hurricanes, or conversely, not approving of global warming because of the usual tired litany of imaginary reasons. Decisions, decisions.

A disarmed populace is a vulnerable one

In the wake of the worst shooting in U.S. history at Virginia Tech, the hysterical media are predictably pointing fingers of blame in every direction except the shooter's. Astonishingly, Va.Tech. parents are already calling for the President's firing. Why? What could he have done? In between grief counseling sessions, everyone's demanding to know why something wasn't done sooner to stop the killing. My wife sagely pointed out this morning that in our 24-hour news cycle, the anchors have not one shred of fact to report so they rely on conjecture, rumor, hind-sight, and Monday-morning-quarterbacking. All of which lead to irrationally blaming people who deserve none. Everyone will demand answers that make them feel better.

I demand of them: In a free society, what could have been done by any authority that would have prevented or stopped the slaughter?

The talking-head security "experts", politicians, weepy-eyed reporters, understandably hysterical parents, and news anchors will all mistakenly point the finger at two convenient things: Va.Tech administration for not locking down the campus sooner, and at the general availability of firearms.

If even one student in the area was in posession of a lawful conceal/carry firearm, most of these killings could have been prevented. It wasn't our armed culture that permitted these killings, it was our stupid belief that disarming ourselves makes us safe.

Ed's TV viewing tip of the day

You know when you're watching The Unit or The Military Channel and those FBI/SWAT/Navy SEAL types are using those ridiculous hand signals to communicate with each other just before they kill the bad guy? Well go here and see what each and every one of them really means.

No need to thank me. It's just my way of adding to your enjoyment of not spending quality time with your families.

Weather cleverly ruins another anti-weather rally

Ignoring reality as usual, literally tens of global warming cultists stupidly plod ahead with anti-weather demonstration...

More than two dozen demonstrators braved cold, wet weather Saturday in Reno to attend a rally designed to draw attention to global warming.
The event was cut short by heavy rain and sleet, said organizer Lisa Stiller of the Northern Nevada Coalition for Climate Change.
"It's kind of disappointing that the weather kept people away," Stiller said. "But, we still think it (climate change) is something that people should talk about."
The storm prevented the use of solar ovens for a potluck picnic, Stiller said, and caused the planned two-hour demonstration to break up after about an hour.

Nothing, nothing disuades moonbats from their determination to convince Americans to return to a 17th century lifestyle...solar ovens...I swear!

Optical illusion

This is a pretty cool illusion. Look at the picture. Then walk about 5 paces away from the monitor and look again....FREAKY!!!

Imus and the "Ho"s

Don Imus said something that is wrong. It was an abhorrent statement, however it is not the first time that the "original shock-jock"has made sensitive comments. I will not defend him at all. He made a stupid statement, and is being punished for it. However, it seems that the media is hellbent on distorting this controversy out of proportion. Lets examine that.

I have watched and listened to many different views on this situation, and believe that some people will not be satisfied until Imus' head is served on a platter.

The world we live in today is completely two-faced. In an interview with comic Patrice Oneal, he commented that it would be acceptable for him to use the same "nappy-headed-ho " comment in a stand-up routine. He could not or would not substantiate this. I find this to be wrong as well. If this verbage is wrong, it should be wrong for all people and at all times. How can we teach a new generation to trust and love each other, if they continue to hear bigoted comments from within their own heritage. In the movie Coach Carter, the coach tells his inner city team that they must treat each other with respect (referring to names) if they expect the "white"folks to do so. I agree with this point and think it is imperative that this message is purveyed forward. In both directions..

Al Sharpton got irritated with Imus when he referenced "you people". Rev. Sharpton felt like Imus was generalizing against the black population - again. Ironically, Sharpton has used the same choice of words many times in referencing the Caucasian population in past speeches and interviews. Neither usage should be tolerated and neither should be dismissed as acceptable. Until all parties guilty of negative comments are unilaterally challenged, this will not start to change.

Look at the '08 Presidential campaign, and you will find a T-shirt with the slogan " BROS BEFORE HOES". This shirt is supporting Barack Obama and dissing Hillary Clinton. I find it repugnant that Mr. Obama is allowing this to go on on both fronts. I feel it is demeaning to both he and Clinton. However, it seems that the double standard is alive and well here also.

I listened to the Rutgers team interview. These girls were demeaned by the comments. They do not understand why they were labeled, they want to sit down discuss this and put it to rest. After watching that interview I watched a quick video from a Spelman College class of Violence Against Women. Spelman is a traditionally black female school in Atlanta. Every woman in the class agreed that they had used this same comment about another person at some time. One student volunteered that when the word "ho" was used it violated gender; when "nappy headed" was added it violated race; if poor had been added it would have crossed an economic border. I agree, but wonder how the Imus comment differs from Mr. Oneal's - since both are public and attacking.

I do not intend any offense by this commentary. I do not assume to speak for Ed on this issue. I just think it is time for this to be said.

UPDATE: If anybody is interested in reading a really spot-on article by a black sports writer on this whole Imus thing, go here and read Jason Whitlock's take. You may remember him from his numerous appearances on The Sports Reporters on ESPN. I highly recommend this to you.

Doting parents do more harm than good

I just read an article about an Australian study that shows that playground injuries have not abated one bit since we began installing these boring, idiotic injury-proof jungle-gyms. It seems that kids take far more risks in pursuit of fun because the playground equipment is so boring when used as intended.

This brings up the question of are we protecting our kids too much? You see hysterical soccer moms ever day running around with hand sanitizer, long-sleeved swim suits, sports with no scoring, to name a few over-protective things. You've seen them too: people who won't touch anything in a restroom. They squat over the toilet, spraying urine everywhere, they turn on the faucet with their elbows, and the worst of all, open the bathroom door with their nasty, disgusting feet...leaving the facilities far more disgusting for the next person.

Not only are we protecting our kids from each and every skinned knee and sniffle-causing germ, we're preventing them from the very valuable life tool called fear. Our kids are so looked after and doted on, they never learn that running too fast down the street might cause them to fall and skin a knee or elbow because they aren't allowed to run. They never learn that hard work and perserverance are appropriate sources of self esteem because they are never allowed to fail at anything because parents prevent them from experiencing ANY form of discomfort or disappointment. Their immune systems are as fragile as hot-house orchids because mom cleans them constantly with sanitizer and they see her frenzied anti-germ hysteria every time they leave the house.

I grew up before helmets, pads, and hand sanitizer. I got hurt riding my bike, playing ball, running around the neighborhood, and I got sick from time to time. I learned quickly where my limitations were and what was OK to attempt and what was not worth the risk. My mom gave me general safety guidelines but she knew that I would learn those things the hard way and she let me go.

Certainly we should take measures to prevent head injuries and extreme infections, but you have to let kids learn that the world is a dangerous place and they have to be vigilant and careful. How will they learn those lessons if they never skin a knee or have a sniffle?

Moonbats...unite

Environmental cultists around the world are gathering this summer to praise themselves about what caring, humane, and wise stewards of Mother Earth they are...

London - US popstar Madonna is to head the British contribution to a global series of Live Earth concerts to be played across seven continents on July 7 this year, it was announced Tuesday. The pop diva will be joined by Genesis, James Blunt and the Red Hot Chili Peppers to front the show at London's Wembley stadium. Other groups include Foo Fighters, Duran Duran, Snow Patrol and Razorlight.

That nitwits like Madonna headline the activities is a testament to the lunacy that is the modern environmental movement. I wonder how the Goreacle justifies all the CO2 that will be injected into the atmosphere from all pot that gets smoked at these gatherings.

UPDATE: The hysteria continues full tilt, from where else....the bozos over at the U.N. BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) - Warming temperatures could result in food shortages for 130 million people across Asia by 2050 and cause potentially catastrophic problems in Africa, wiping out one of the continent's staple crops altogether, according to a U.N. report released Tuesday.

The danger is that at some point the abject stupidity of all this will reach a critical mass and they may actually succeed in doing something that devastates our economy. Afterall, isn't that the ultimate objective of the U.N....the crippling of the evil capitalists in the U.S.?

Sleep tight....

This is disgusting! I spend an average of 1-2 nights a week in hotels and this news is creeping me out...

Nearly eradicated in the United States 50 years ago, resistant strains of "super" bedbugs are infesting mattresses at an alarming rate. In what's being touted as the biggest mystery in entomology, all 50 states are reporting outbreaks of the blood-sucking nocturnal critters.
Pest control companies nationwide reported a 71 percent increase in bedbug calls between 2000 and 2005. Left alone, a few bedbugs can create a colony of thousands within weeks.
"We never treated bedbugs until 2002. Now we have a dedicated bedbug crew working on this every day," said Luis Agurto, president of Pestec in San Francisco.
Agurto's arsenal includes a vacuum, steam heat to cook the bedbug eggs and targeted spraying of insecticides. It takes three, eight-hour visits and about $500 to $750 to exterminate one room. A whole house would cost closer to $5,000.

I blogged about bed bugs here about a year ago. If you want to read an actual account of a bed bug attack, check it out.

I heard somebody ask this question yesterday and the more I think about it, the more sense it makes: is it possible that illegal aliens bring these infestations across the border?

According to the Spring issue of the Journal of America's Physicans and Surgeons, as a direct result of sick illegals invading America, diseases that were eradicated decades ago are making a comeback. Drug resistant Tuberculosis, malaria, leprosy, the plague, polio, dengue fever, and Chagas disease to name a few. If anybody has a reasonable argument that we should not slam shut the border between us and an honest to goodness third-world country, I would love to hear it.

Did I mention...THE PLAGUE?

Geraldo vs O'Reilly

Everybody's weighing in on the near fisticuffs between Jerry Rivers aka "Geraldo Rivera", and Bill O'Reilly on the impact of illegal immigration.

They were discussing the sad case of two girls who were killed when an illegal alien got drunk and hit them with his car. Geraldo maintained that it was just another tragic, drunk-driving case and had nothing to do with the guy being illegal.

Technically, Jerry has a point. To the families of the two victims, they probably don't care that the guy was illegal. Geraldo's point was that any person, legal or not, could have gotten drunk and killed those girls.

I tend to agree more with O'Reilly. This alien should never have been in the country in the first place. But for the incompetent DA and judges who refused to jail and/or deport this guy when he comitted previous crimes, he would not have been drunk on the road that night. Sure, we all assume a certain level of risk just by living our lives. At any time, somebody might do us harm, but, the level of risk goes up unnecessarily when you have 10-20 million unpunished lawbreakers running around the country.

If my wife or kid got hurt by an illegal alien, his criminal status would exascerbate my anger. That the immigration laws were ignored by sympathetic, political prosecutors and/or judges when this person should have been deported, would infuriate me.

Mrs. Silky Pony

You'd think that Elizabeth Edwards had more important things to worry about, but when you're the wife of the Silky Pony, even terminal cancer doesn't get in the way of hating republicans...

RALEIGH --
Elizabeth Edwards says she is scared of the "rabid, rabid Republican" who owns property across the street from her Orange County home -- and she doesn't want her kids going near the gun-toting neighbor.
Edwards, the wife of Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards, particularly recalls the time neighbor Monty Johnson brought out a gun while chasing workers investigating a right of way near his property. The Edwards family has yet to meet Johnson in person.

"I wouldn't be nice to him, anyway," Edwards said in an interview. "I don't want my kids anywhere near some guy who, when he doesn't like somebody, the first thing he does is pull a gun out. It scares the business out of me."

She is terrified of "some guy" who owns a gun, though she has never bothered to walk next door to meet him. I guess he's too poor and common for the wife of a millionaire, sleazball trial lawyer to associate with. This guy can't afford to pay for needed maintenance on his property, yet Elizabeth lies around her $5.8million mansion with indoor basketball and handball courts all day hating her neighbor for exercising his second amendment rights.

The Breck Girl is right, there really are two Americas....and the Edwards live in the nice one.

the sun has set on the British empire

How embarassing for Britain and humiliating for the families of these pitiful excuses for soldiers!

While the main-stream media are absurdly fawning over the released hostages and praising Iran for the peaceful resolution to this crisis, I have a few indelicate questions that nobody but people like me in the pajamas media seem willing to ask:

1. Why didn't the British sailors/marines defend themselves? (Can you imagine U.S. marines letting themselves get kidnapped without a fight?)
2. Why in heaven's name didn't the British destroyer blow the Iranians out of the water when they threatened the sailors?
3. In what British military sensitivity training manual does it allow soldiers to apologize on world-wide TV to kidnappers for crimes that weren't committed?
4. Do you think that the Iranians are more or less scared of coallition forces after seeing how the cowering British dealt with the kidnapping?
5. Am I the only one who's embarassed by Tony Blair's weak attempt at bravado once the hostages were safely home? Yet while they were being held, all he did was lick Ahmadinajad's boot like a sissy and bleat about "peaceful resolutions" and "Iran being an honorable and proud nation".

This whole situation was handled wrongly by every party except Iran...they handled it perfectly to suit themselves. Now they're emboldened to act further to test the resolve of the West.

Winston Churchill is spinning in his grave this morning.

UPDATE: Royal Navy personnel seized by Iran were blindfolded, bound and held in isolation during their captivity.
This is the headline today as these "soldiers" tell their tale of the unspeakable horrors of captivity. Blindfolded, bound, and isolated....OH THE HUMANITY!!!

Gimme a break!

Introducing Austin Powers' dentist

Well, this story will go a long way to explaining the long-held and disgusting perception that British people have bad teeth...

LONDON (Reuters) - A British dentist was found guilty Thursday of urinating in his surgery sink and using dental tools meant for patients to clean his fingernails and ears.

A medical tribunal said it was satisfied the evidence showed 51-year-old Alan Hutchinson, who "routinely" did not wear gloves or wash his hands, had risked the health of "himself, staff and patients" for more than 28 years.

I have one word to say about this...eeeewwww!!!

Wiiiiilllllbuuuurrrrr!

I shouldn't laugh at this but I can't help it....it's funny...

Rio's obese treated like horses
April 5, 2007 - 6:00AM

Rio de Janeiro hospitals have been sending obese people to share medical test equipment with horses at the local race track, drawing complaints from activists who say the practice is humiliating.

"When people weigh more than the standard equipment can support they have to be directed to the Jockey Club, which is the only place in Rio where they have the appropriate equipment," a spokeswoman for the Rio state health secretariat said on Wednesday.

Patients needing stomach reduction surgery require a tomography, or multiple X-raying of body sections, which is normally carried out inside a chamber.

Rio hospitals only have standard tomography equipment for people weighing up to 120-130 kg. Tomographs used on horses are sturdier and more spacious than common devices.

Each morbidly obese patient who completes a tomography session at the race-track receives a complimentary feed-bag, exactly like the ones worn by champion horses.

OK, I added that last part.

I always feel like, somebody's watching me, and I have no privacy

It's bad enough that sweaty, government voyers snoop and peer into the private lives of law abiding citizens in the UK. Now they can berate you for littering, jaywalking, or even girl-watching...

Talking" closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras which allow operators to shout at people behaving badly are to be installed across England, the government announced Wednesday.

The scheme lets local council workers in a control centre monitor pictures from the cameras and talk to them if they feel they are doing something wrong.

The cameras were piloted in Middlesbrough, north-east England, where they have been used to reprimand vandals and litter bugs, but now loudspeakers are being fitted to cameras in another 20 areas.

If Great Britain's surveillance society isn't a sign of the nanny-State times we live in, I don't know what is.

A slice of birthday cake to anybody who can name the artist from whom I stole the lyric in the title of this post.

Another day older and one step closer to death

Just in case anybody would like to wish me a happy birthday...today is it. I'm 45.

We celebrated this morning with German chololate cake for breakfast and my wife got me the coolest gift ever...a dowling jig. That's right, a dowling jig...look it up!

The story about Keith Richards snorting his fathers ashes and my BD prompted a discussion this morning about our plans for....you know....after. I don't have any desire to be buried and promptly forgotten. I am going to be cremated and have my ashes stored in a cool looking urn with a state-of-the-art holographic projection of me looking at you with those creepy eyes that follow you around the room.

Feel free to leave your plans for...you know...after, in the comments section. I'll post them later.

Dumb idea...putting children in close contact with wild animals

You can mark this down as one of those human/animal-interaction experiments that just has to end badly.

It seems the Indianapolis aquarium will soon feature a petting tank for sharks. Children, yes children, will be encouraged to put their hands into the tank with the man-eating sharks, and pet the sharks.

I look forward to ridiculing this hare-brained adventure in nature education, when some 10 year old reaches into the tank and pulls back a bloody stump where his hand used to be.

In other nature education news: Chuckie Cheeze plans to install venomous-snake appreciation pits, around which toddlers can ride tricycles, in all of their stores nation-wide.

SEC trounces Big10...again

I loathe the Florida Gators as much as anybody, but I have to say that I'm glad they whipped the Buckeyes for the second time in three months to win a national championship.

It's not because I like the Gators that I wanted them to win. It's an SEC thing. All the national sports media adore the Big10 conference, plus Notre Dame of course. They never give the SEC appropriate credit for being, by far, the most competitive conference in the country. So for that reason, I'm glad an SEC team clobbered another Big10 team. I'll go back to hating Florida tomorrow.

666

This just might be the scariest, and yet the most telling, picture of Hillary ever taken. It puts the image of liberal kool-aid drinkers in focus. You can just see her "flock" of mindless, democrat followers gazing blankly as she hypnotizes them with her evil socialist spell.

Dumb Europeans prove why they are a laughing stock

Of all the asinine measures the global-warming alarmists have foisted on the world, this may be the stupidest yet...

BRUSSELS, April 3 (RIA Novosti) - The government of Belgium's French-speaking region of Wallonia, which has a population of about 4 million, has approved a tax on barbequing, local media reported.

Experts said that between 50 and 100 grams of CO2, a so-called greenhouse gas, is emitted during barbequing. Beginning June 2007, residents of Wallonia will have to pay 20 euros for a grilling session.

The local authorities plan to monitor compliance with the new tax legislation from helicopters, whose thermal sensors will detect burning grills.

Did anybody bother to ask how much CO2 those helicopters produce while they are in hot pursuit of scofflaw backyard grillers?

Rosie's off her meds again

Just when you thought Ireland's favorite lesbian couldn't get any more deranged, Rosie O'Donnell managed to plumb the depths of the stupid pool a little deeper.

Parroting other Hollywood nitwits like Charlie Sheen, Rosie tried to convince her core TV audience, Valium-addled house wives, that 9/11 was a Bush administration conspiracy to A: destroy documents revealing crimes of evil capitalists, B: a controlled demolition to make Americans hate peace-loving Muslims, or C: justify attacking Iraq so he could finish the job his dad failed to finish. Astonishingly the answer is all of the above. She also bellowed that Britain purposefully sent it's sailors into Iranian waters this week, knowing they would be captured, thus justifying a coallition attack on the Muslims in Iran.

It's been reported that ever since the Rosie/Trump feud fizzled, the ratings for The View have steadily declined. Even idle soccer moms dont' want to hear Rosie attack the President day after day.

Perhaps Rosie should refill that dated perscription for Wellbutrin that's been sitting on her vanity for months. I hear Anna Nicole's doctor feelgood is available.

Pardon me

Sorry for the appearance of seemingly random page elements on this site. I'm in the process of adding some new features and I barely know what I'm doing. Stay focused on the content and not the look for now. Just because it looks a tad sloppy doesn't mean I'm cutting liberals any slack.

Thanks, Ed