Jay Carney's last day fluffing the President

White house spokespunk Jay Carney is stepping down, probably to take a lucrative job on K-Street as a soulless lobbyist.....the very people this administration swore there would be few of in the white house. Or maybe he'll end up pretending to be an unbiased member of the media like George Stephanopolous, rather than an admitted-partisan talking head, which former administration officials should be.

I'd like to think that Carney's ulcer, from lying daily to the press and the American people to protect Obama and try to make him look better, more competent, and knowledgeable than he is, finally got the best of him and he just couldn't do it any more, but the truth is, he probably didn't think twice about the misinformation, obfuscation, misdirection, and lies......few if any political hacks do.

My minimum-wage sentiments summed up in one simple graphic

I've been arguing this point for years. If you can't elevate your salary to above minimum wage after 6 months, if not before, on the full-time job, by being prompt, enthusiastic, courteous, willing to learn new skills, and a harder worker than your colleagues, then you are a lazy, miserable, good-for-nothing employee and don't even deserve the money you do make.

My take on Ed Snowden

Because I'm such a harsh critic of the federal government the way it's currently operated, including the last few years of Bush lest you think this is an anti-Obama screed, I had sort of sided with Ed Snowden though not whole-heartedly. But after watching his interview with Brian Williams, I came away more convinced that Snowden did what he did out of a sense of patriotism and idealism and not of malice or hostility toward his country, government, or employers. Here are the money quotes for me, from the interview.......[emphasis mine]
Snowden on government overreach......

"The problem — that we're confronted with, the — the challenge that — that we are facing is not the working-level guys — you know, some — some moustache-twirling villain who's out to destroy your life. It's the fact that senior officials are investing themselves with powers that they're not entitled to and they're doing it without asking the public for any kind of consent."

Snowden on the 4th amendment......

"The Fourth Amendment as it was written -- no longer exists. ... Now all of our data can be collected without any suspicion of wrongdoing on our part, without any underlying justification. All of your private records, all of your private communications, all of your transactions, all of your associations, who you talk to, who you love, what you buy, what you read -- all of those things can be seized and held by the government and then searched later for any reason, hardly -- without any justification, without any real -- oversight, without any real accountability for those who do wrong. The result is that the Fourth Amendment that was so strict -- that we fought a revolution to put into place -- now no longer has the same meaning that it once did. Now we have -- a system of pervasive pre-criminal surveillance -- where the government wants to watch what you're doing just to see what you're up to, to see what you're thinking even behind closed doors."

I agree that you can't sacrifice the liberties and privacy of the people in order to get more security. If preserving those constitutionally guaranteed rights that we enjoy means that we are slightly less secure, I can live or die with that. 

Pakistani's remind us why their country isn't worth a shit

This 25 year old Pakistani woman was stoned to death outside a Lahore courthouse, in broad daylight, by members of her own family. Her crime? Falling in love with a man, marrying him, and getting pregnant by him....but without the approval of the male members of her family. How is it that something as barbaric as stoning still takes place in the 21st Century? Oh, that's right, they're Muslims and culturally-validated barbarism and primitive brutality toward their women are all they have....it's a way of life.

Apparently 100's of these honor-killings take place, as a matter of routine each year, in this God-forsaken shit-hole of a country.

Remind me what the US gets in return for the $19 Billion in bribe money since 9/11, that we give Pakistan? We call it "foreign aid" but let's be honest, it's bribery to get them to behave in ways that are pleasing to us.

Steve Perry makes a comeback.....girls who were 15 in 1978 elated

Unless you're a 15 year old girl with teased hair and apple flavored lip gloss at a roller rink during "couples-skate", and it's like 1978 and that one creepy older dude who's already out of high school but still hangs around roller rinks is hitting on you and you're flattered by the attention, Journey is crap!

Apparently Steve Perry hasn't been in his band Journey for like 20 years.....who knew? I guess he stopped believing. Anyway, apparently he's making a comeback as a solo artist by dropping in on a gig with a band called Eels in St. Paul for a two-song set of old Journey favs. 

I'm shocked....snake handler gets bitten by snake

Some people never learn.

Jamie Coots was a delusional Kentucky pastor who to the surprise of nobody, died recently from a rattle-snake bite during a church service. His moron son replaced him as the head of the church and just this past weekend, to the surprise of nobody, got bitten himself.

I get that the Bible says something about the faithful picking up serpents, but the fanaticism required to do this, or belong to a church where this is done, defies logic and reason to me.

Here's a helpful picture of what a snake-handler might look like handling snakes....

Rachel Carson remembered fondly by Google

Yesterday Google paid homage to the hysterical moonbat Rachel Carson, whose idiotic book, "Silent Spring", led indirectly to the deaths of as many as 50million people, most of them Africans. Because of her dubiously researched conclusions, the most useful chemical every invented by man, DDT, was banned. By banning DDT, and thereby preventing its use in Africa to fight mosquitoes, William Ruckelshaus of the EPA, condemned millions to miserable deaths from malaria, cholera and other mosquito-borne illnesses.

Ruckelshaus didn't read a single scientific report or attend any hearings in which scientists defended its use....he banned it on his fatuous belief in Carson's stupid book and his questionable affiliations with various radical environmental groups.

White house "outs" CIA station chief in Afghanistan

Over the weekend, the white house sent out a briefing e-mail to like 300 reporters. It inadvertently contained the name of the CIA station chief in Afghanistan, probably the most dangerous CIA job in the world right now, and clearly putting the guy's life in real danger. The administration quickly backtracked by redacting the name and title of the guy and re-released the e-mail.....they trust the always ethical and responsible members of the press to be discreet and not publish the information.

Scooter Libby and Judith Miller did jail time(each for different reasons entirely) for Valerie Plame being outed. But she was just a desk jockey in Virginia somewhere and only covert on paper. There's been real damage done here.

I'll be sitting on the edge of my seat waiting for the white house to insist on the prosecution of the person responsible for this.

Kate Middleton's got a nice bum

The ridiculous royal family is feigning outrage over this shot of Kate Middleton's evidently-bare bum(no granny-panties for Kate) that got exposed by the wind from the rotors on the helicopter she just got out of.

Don't let them fool you: Kate Middleton and her spectacular rear are by far the best things that have happened to the royals since Diana coyly posed in that transparent, back-lit dress, and trust me, they know it. Kate's more popular than all of them put together, cooler than any female on Earth, and has raised interest in the royal family by a thousand fold.

Every time the wind "accidentally" blows her scandalously short dresses up and her bare bottom gets photographed, the royal accountants get back to work counting the new stacks.

Memorial Day is more than just a long weekend

For a lot of the men and women we've lost at one war or another over the years, there is a kid like this left at home. Try to take a minute to remember that as you stuff your face with ribs, potato salad, and beer.

Fast food workers demand more money at their own risk

If you recall, fast-food workers, mostly in big cities like New York, recently walked off their jobs a couple of times to form picket lines and demand the already absurd minimum wage be raised to a staggering $15/hour.

These entitled idiots should remember the thousands of elevator operators in New York who wanted to be paid more money too. Apartment managers invested in elevators with buttons that could easily be pushed by riders who didn't get paid at all, today there's no such thing as an elevator operator.

So go ahead morons, demand to be paid more money than your menial, thoughtless, entry-level jobs are worth, I'm sure McDonald's would never think of replacing you with tireless, efficient, easy-to-use, automatons with buttons.......

       

The administration of cluelessness

Obama claiming to have learned about everything that happens right under his nose, from the news, is about as believable as Hillary using, "I don't recall" when asked any questions about all the Clinton scandals.

I think the administration stumbled on this excuse and when it worked the first time, realized, "Holy crap, we can say this about every scandal, thereby insulating the President from ANY responsibility".

As pathetic as it is that the media buy this malarkey, it's equally pathetic that Jay Carney willingly trots out there each and every day to tell lie after lie to protect Obama. Absolutely pathetic.

 

College debate, street style

This is what passes for college-level debate now? It's nothing more than illiterate, grievance-based, Ebonic caterwauling......



I'm only guessing here, but it seems that which ever team uses the N-word more is awarded the victory for being more authentically black.

Grossest story of the year so far

Heh heh, gross! Up in Cullman, about 45min north of B'ham, there's an unidentified dark liquid leaking from a crypt at a mausoleum. An official from the health department described it as having "an awful smell", that it had attracted a lot of flies, but said it wasn't sewage. Ya think? It's liquefied human remains suspended in a putrid bath of years-old formaldehyde.

You know the cemetery crew and the health department guys are arguing over who has to clean this up......worst job EVER!

Of all the arguments for cremation I can think of, not assaulting future generations with your liquefied body would be at the top of the list.

Pat Sajak - thought criminal

Wheel host, Pat Sajak tweeted this a couple of days ago and now global warming lunatics want him fired for daring to deviate from climate-change orthodoxy.....

"I now believe global warming alarmists are unpatriotic racists knowingly misleading for their own ends. Good night.”

He's absolutely spot on here. Besides, when in America does voicing a political opinion equal hate-speech? As regular reader Bill noted to me the other day, global-warming alarmists are nothing more than socialists. Every malady that they imagine plagues the world has a Draconian, big-government remedy. I might add that they'd impose all manner of harsh remedies for the climate-change hoax onto the little people, but exempt themselves from the same. 

His "racist" charge might be because for every climate-change "remedy" there is a concomitant rise in energy prices to pay for it. This disproportionately harms poor people. But the CC lunatics don't care because they are children of wealthy parents and lead lives of idle leisure....a lifestyle that affords them the time to have dopey causes to fight for.  

Big news today

Well, it looks like the democrats will be taking the Benghazi hearing a little more seriously. By not appointing that retarded monkey-boy Alan Grayson, Pelosi signaled that they understand the seriousness for Hillary and Obama if the outcome is bad.

Of course the job of the democrats on the panel will be to insulate Hillary from whatever the witnesses might say that could make her look bad. Beyond that, I don't think they care if it makes Obama look bad or not.....he's essentially a lame duck at this point anyway.

In other news, Obama finally addressed the VA scandal at long last. With the scandal expanding to at least 23 states, and who knows how many deaths due to delays in care, and when John Stewart eviscerates you, Obama pretty much had to address it. He promised a thorough investigation, but I doubt if any heads will roll.

Lastly, the FBI director suggested that the bureau needed to hire like 2000 cyber-cops, but that because many of the most talented "hackers" liked to get high, he might have to relax the bureau's prohibition on hiring anybody who admits to any pot use, present or past.

I agree with this, the only problem is that do you then relax the rules for everybody in the FBI? You can't have two policies for the whole bureau but a different policy for the cyber-crime division.

Stairway to court for Led Zeppelin

So this band Taurus who used to tour with Led Zeppelin, is suing LZ for stealing a guitar riff lasting like 8 seconds, which Led then used as the opening, and immediately recognizable, riff for Stairway. Have a listen to this and see if you can hear the classic Stairway riff. I think I can.....maybe they have a beef.

 

Surely there's a statute of limitation on copyright infringement. I mean Taurus wrote this in '68 and Stairway was released in '71. Still, that's 43 years ago.

Barney Rubble makes a dick joke

Heh heh, Barney Rubble makes a dick joke. I thought I'd seen all the Flintstones episodes growing up....I guess I didn't get the joke back then.....hilarious!

                             

Our government gets more heavy-handed with each day

Is there any American who thinks it's reasonable for the imperial federal government to send heavily armed thugs to collect fees from citizens?

Whatever your opinion of rancher Cliven Bundy, was it necessary to send these guys to collect disputable taxes from him and/or round up and maybe kill his cows? We're seeing this a lot nowadays.

In another situation involving heavy-handedness of the feds(and they are too numerous to count), SWAT guys were sent onto private property to enforce a recently-passed local ordinance that prohibited a family from making a holding pond on their land without prior approval of the EPA. What in the hell authority does the EPA have on the land use of private property owners? NONE!

I discussed this with regular reader Bill, and I'd like to think that these agents are citizens too and wouldn't be too quick to use this kind of militaristic force against a fellow citizen exercising his constitutional right to dispute a tax levy, yet here they are.

hat tip to regular reader Dave for the heads up.

Human evolution in North America or simple diversity?

Regular reader Dave sent this story in this morning and I thought it was worth commenting on.

Apparently the skeletal remains of a teen girl, and some 30 or so other animals including a saber-toothed tiger, were found in a water-submerged cave and are thought to be 15,000 years old. There are physical differences suggestive of evolutionary divergence from North American natives, but DNA evidence shows that the girl came from the same genetic stock as other Paleoamericans rather than from other immigration routes as previously thought.

My problem is that humans don't evolve that fast....over 15,000 years based on environmental pressures. Moreover, how could the environmental pressures have been that different between what is now Mexico and what is not the US?

The article doesn't say what the physical differences are, but I'll bet they can be accounted for by simple physical variation among individuals in a population, not evolution.

Illegal immigrants - murdering and raping those that Americans refuse to murder and rape

Apparently the Supreme Court stupidly ruled that the feds cannot hold in detention, criminal illegal aliens beyond 6 months, if their home country refused to take them back. Seriously? So that's a perfect invitation for all countries to deport their criminals to the US, knowing that they'll never have to be bothered with them again because of our stupid laws.

Among the 36,000 criminals that were recently cut loose onto the streets were hundreds of murderers, rapists, and other violent gang types. When these guys start murdering and raping Americans, the blood of that will be on the hands of this administration that let it happen without the slightest protest.

Why does the USDA need sub-machine guns?

The USDA just put in a request for .40cal sub-machine guns with minimum 30-round magazines. Why does the USDA, or any federal agency other than HLS, need machine guns, or weapons at all for that matter?

Answer: Obama is fulfilling his campaign promise to create a domestic security force as well armed and financed as the US military, by hiding them in each of the malignant, bloated agencies of the federal leviathan so that Americans aren't alarmed by it. And given that the administration litmus test for promotion in the military now is the willingness to fire upon US civilians if ordered to do so, it makes sense to do it under the guise of "agency security".

If the administration had as it's #1 stated goal to collapse the US economy, I can't think of a single thing they'd do differently than get as many Americans as possible onto welfare rolls and punitively tax and regulate business to the point of crushing it. And when the collapse comes, the government will need a heavily armed civilian force to control the population.

Here's a typical USDA bureaucrat in your living room. "Is your hamburger 93% lean? It better be, or else!"

Skeevy lawyer Mark Geragos tries to cash in on Paul Walker's death

Regular reader Dave sent this story in. Apparently the money-grubbing widow of the moron who was driving this Porche Carrera GT in which he and Paul Walker died, is suing Porche. Her skeevy celebrity lawyer, Mark Geragos is claiming that the suspension was inadequate and the body not re-enforced enough to protect the men in a head-on collision, at high speed, with a tree.

I'm sorry, but her idiot of a husband was driving on LA surface streets at 90mph according to police reports. He deserved to die in a car crash. Paul Walker himself was an idiot for letting him drive that fast.

Stupidly, Porche has a history of settling, or quietly contributing to settlements, in which people killed themselves doing stupid things in their sports cars. So obviously Geragos isn't expecting to go to trial, he's just like all predatory trial lawyers, he threatens a law suit knowing that it's far cheaper to settle out of court for millions, of which Geragos will happily skip home with a third, after expenses, than to actually go to trial.

The real purpose of government "education"

This is how liberal democrats view the education system in the US. Each school is an indoctrination center where tomorrow's democrat voters will be molded into thoughtless worker drones whose sole purpose is not to ask questions, but to pay for the upkeep of the vast, ever-expanding derelict class who vote for a living. Together the worker drones and the derelict class can keep democrats in power indefinitely.

Do you have to be a smoker to qualify for VA benefits?

So B'ham VA hospital is literally across the street from my building here at UAB and when it's raining as it is now, it's convenient to skip on down to the VA-Canteen and grab a bite for lunch. They have a better than average deli, grill, salad, or meat&3 option.

In order to get there i had to hold my breath as I ran a gauntlet of about 30 patients over a half block, who were standing on the sidewalk smoking.....a third of them preposterously on oxygen. You can circle the block any time of day and outside every exit door to the VA stands/sits never less than a half dozen smokers in wheelchairs, on oxygen, etc.

Is it a qualifying rule that you must be a 2-pack a day smoker to get VA benefits? Or is it more likely that the aging veterans who're determined to kill themselves with cigarettes are mostly the ones who need the care precisely because of the cigarette addiction, so naturally that's who's loitering around outside the hospital in a cloud of smoke?

Morrissey pens the most grating, unlistenable song, ever

I was a Smiths fan way back when Steven Patrick Morrissey was sort of cool and made decent music, but now he's just a self-righteous, preachy vegan who writes utterly unlistenable "music" about world political issues and causes......as if he wants to be Bono or somebody.

Keep a garbage can handy if you decide to listen to the song and read along with the lyrics I've helpfully included....minus the chorus.

[World peace is none of your business
You must not tamper with arrangements
Work hard and sweetly pay your taxes
Never asking what for

World peace is none of your business
Police will stun you with their stun guns
Or they’ll disable you with tasers
That’s what governments for

World peace is none of your business
So would you kindly keep your nose out
The rich must profit and get richer
And the poor must stay poor

Each time you vote you support the process
Each time you vote you support the process
Each time you vote you support the process]

Michelle O. whitewashes Islam from the Nigerian story

Over the weekend, the militant Islamic terrorist group Boko Haram, released a picture of what are supposed to be the Nigerian school girls being converted to Islam and praying to the pedophile Allah.

At the same time, Michelle Obama devoted her weekly address to the Nigerian girls' kidnapping, but failed to mention a single time, Islam or the name Boko Haram. What is it with liberals who think that whitewashing evil by not naming it, somehow makes it less evil? Or that naming Islamic terrorists what they are, somehow castigates all of Islam?

You can't paint Islam in a way that makes it look less like the primitive, barbaric cult of savagery and misogyny everybody already knows it to be. Liberals like the Obama's think that by not naming Islam in a negative context(there is never a positive context to Islam) westerners will eventually accept Islam as a legitimate religion, parallel with Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism, etc., instead of the gang of illiterate, unevolved miscreants running around in dirty nightshirts we know it to be. 

Michelle responds quickly and decisively to the Nigerian kidnappings.....via Twitter

Well it's about time Muslim terrorists got on the bad side of the first family. Lord knows they haven't so far.

14 dead at Ft. Hood, 4 dead in Benghazi, actively promoting the Muslim Brotherhood(a terrorist organization) in Libya and Egypt, terrorist regimes in Iran and Syria suppress freedom and democracy and nary a peep of criticism of the terrorists from Obama. But 200 girls get kidnapped by their own countrymen in a country where we have not one single interest and Michelle flies into Twitter action by jumping on the viral bandwagon.

All they got was kidnapped. Muslim nations do far worse to women by the thousands every single day. Where's this phony outrage over that been?

For those girls' sake, I hope she's doing more than holding up a stupid hashtag sign.

A banal response to a serious matter.......that'll teach 'em, Michelle.

Predictably, the Interwebs were rife with photo-shoppers eager to point out the embarrassing truth about the First Lady's "outrage".

 

Should the US swoop in and save the day in Nigeria?

There's been a huge ground-swell of international support for the 270 Nigerian students who were kidnapped by the Islamic militant gang Boko Haram, and who might be sold into sexual slavery for $12 a piece.

The world is looking at the US with indignant "what are you waiting for" expressions. But can the US just swoop into a sovereign nation with paramilitary SEAL/Delta Force teams, and kill a bunch of militants to rectify what would be a local police matter in any other country? Should we?

Logistically it would be a nightmare. Those jungles are dense, vast, and it's easy to hide almost 300 hostages below the canopy where the never-blinking eyes of drones cannot peer.

-So finding them is problem 1(they've had 3 weeks to hide and/or disperse).
-Delivering a strike force sizable enough to accomplish the mission is problem 2.
-Cobbling together other nations so it's not just another unilateral act by the US is problem 3(who commands the force, for instance and will the French, Canadians, and Brits be OK getting killed for a US rescue mission?)
-But the biggest problem of all is getting an invitation from Nigeria to do this. Nigeria is the largest African nation in population and economy. They are our friends. Doing anything without their invitation and cooperation would be internationally embarrassing for a country that is trying to emerge and develop economically and shed the reputation for primitive lawlessness.

I've read today where they've finally accepted US assistance, but only in logistics and in finding the Boko Haram camp or camps where the girls are being held. The problem with that is, in addition to the Simbisa jungle issues, is the proximity to Niger, Chad, and Cameroon where some think the girls are already being taken. Then it becomes a multi-national operation.

See how this thing mushrooms into a huge international incident when the Nigerian police force should have taken care of it in week one?

Without an unlimited invitation, I just don't see where we have a role in this. The US can't be the doting parent to the rescue to every country where something bad happens.

Hippie moms annoy me

What is with these hippie moms who breast feed their mostly grown kids?

On the "The Voice Australia" last night, the camera flashed quickly for just a second to a contestant's partner breast feeding her "toddler" in the green room while he performed. If this wasn't purposeful, then why have a camera in the green room at all? I think the network is trying to gin up some buzz for the show by re-igniting the public breast-feeding debate.

For the record, I favor breast-feeding where ever you need to, just do it discreetly.

Once again, my problem is with the apparent age of this kid. Toddler? He's like 3 or 4. He should be munching on a hamburger, not nursing.

When you're old enough to ask for lunch, you're too old to suckle it.

Obama's army of fabulousness

Here's one possible reason Obama doesn't want to tangle with Putin's army over the Ukraine.....

Their respective armies have slightly different mission statements. Heh heh!

Reject federal-issued cyber ID's

You don't think in the era of Hope and Change that the jack-booted feds don't want to snoop in on every facet of your lives? Ponder for a moment the implications of this:

"National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyperspace"

The Obama administration is beta-testing this system in two states already. Ostensibly it is to allow every citizen to use a single ID scan device to securely access any and all websites without memorizing dozens of ID's and passwords, while maintaining identity protection. Sounds great, right? But how long before it morphs into monitored purchasing, bill paying, travel, etc? Everything you do would be accomplished using the one government-issued web ID.

Would you agree to a government-monitored life using what amounts to a federal mark-of-the-beast as your ID? If you would, you're a moron.

Maybe it'll be something like this, with all your credit card information for purchases encoded therein? Then the government would install passive bar-code sensors everywhere, with the claim that it's for your own safety and homeland security, but your movements, activities, communications, and associations would be tracked and known 24/7. 

New York contemplates Islamic monument at Ground Zero......preposterous!

Sharif El-Gamal, the same guy who tried and failed to build a mosque at Ground Zero, is now planning a 3-story museum of Islam in the same building. It is nothing short of grotesque to allow a Muslim to erect a monument to that barbaric cult on the site of it's bloodiest and most triumphant victory against non-Muslims.

I get that he has every legal right to build a museum under the law, but the citizen protests are what stopped the erection of the mosque, and that's what it'll take to stop this. 

How self-loathing and submissive are we to our enemies that our President, the former mayor Bloomberg, democrats in Congress, and the pathetic, dhimmi media favor this museum as they favored the mosque? 

When a nation starts erecting monuments to its sworn enemies, how much longer can it call itself sovereign, or even a nation at all? 

A little time away from politics

Sorry for the lack of posting the last few days, but I've been out of town doing traffic studies for my other
job. This sunrise was in Covington, Louisiana where I was middle of the week. And the picture below is when I was doing another traffic job over in Orange Beach, Alabama. I had a little time for lunch and headed over to Doc's where I enjoyed a half-dozen raw oysters, a soft-shell crab (Spider Burger) and washed it all down with a mug of crafted beer from the Fairhope Brewing Co. I'll be back home on Sunday and I should get back to blogging on Monday, if not before.