A large part of the problem - no responsibility and no accountability

Via Boortz, here's a picture from one of his listeners that infuriatingly illustrates exactly what types of things that people on welfare (using responsible citizens' hard-earned tax dollars, confiscated from them on pain of imprisonment in order to "redistribute" to the "less fortunate") are allowed to purchase, apparently with the full knowledge and approval of the benevolent overseers who run these types of government benefits programs:

Waste, fraud and abuse - the hallmarks of pretty much every government program in existence.

Is everyone prepared to sit by and watch this kind of foolish nonsense to be extended to our country's health-care industry as well?

A snapshot of life

Thursday, November 19, 2009

Phoenix, Arizona

2:10 p.m.

We ducked into a local pharmacy to buy a newspaper, and ended up standing in line behind a young, fit-looking fellow dressed in yoga-type clothes and carrying a messenger bag embossed with an "Herbalife" logo.

His purchase? Marlboro cigarettes.

Why even bother with all of the other healthy lifestyle stuff, then?

The original race pimp is still keepin' it real

"'We even have blacks voting against the healthcare bill,' ["Reverend" Jesse] Jackson said at a reception Wednesday night. 'You can’t vote against healthcare and call yourself a black man.'"

Says who? A supposed "man of God" who cheated on his wife and fathered a child out of wedlock with a subordinate employee, then paid her off with funds from his organization? Someone who was caught labeling New York City "Hymietown"? A person who has made a comfortable living for decades by shaking down corporations for "donations" in order to hypocritically absolve the firms from accusations of racism, even while he regularly gets caught spouting embarrassing epithets of his own?

Jackson, one of the premier radical liberal Socialists in this country, yesterday chose to basically call a black lawmaker (a fellow Democrat, by the way, who happens to genuinely opposes the President's proposed Ponzi health-care scheme) an Uncle Tom. Who, then, is the real racist?

Keep on being the epitome of class and grace, Jesse. We'd expect nothing less from the likes of you.

They got another one

"A 90-year-old former member of the Nazi SS has been charged with 58 counts of murder over the killings of Jewish forced labourers in Austria, officials said today."

It's never too late to bring these sorts of brutal thugs, who committed horrific government-sanctioned atrocities under the weak justification of "we were just following orders", to account for their actions.

Never forget. If it happened once, it could all too easily happen again. That's one of the primary reasons why we labor so diligently to help thwart our own government's ever-increasing power grabs and attempted infringements upon our freedoms.

Today's TASER Travesty

Ozark, Alabama Police Officer Dustin Bradshaw apparently saw fit to TASER a ten-year-old girl, pretty much solely because the child refused to take a shower before bed:

"'Her mother told me to tase her if I needed to,' Bradshaw wrote."

Well, then everything's just dandy then. Tell us, Officer Bradshaw - would you have smacked the girl upside the head with your baton or worse had the "mother" asked you to do that instead of shocking her daughter senseless? Come on now, sir, you're supposed to be a voice of reason when responding to these types of domestic disturbances, and not end up becoming a participant in some sort of Redneck Games.

"The child was 'violently kicking and verbally combative' when Bradshaw tried to take her into custody"

For what? Felony tantrum-throwing and misdemeanor dirtiness?

It's bad enough that TASERs are regularly used as pain-delivery devices to force citizens to comply with police orders (whether lawful or not), instead of their designed function as less-than lethal self-defense tools for the protection of cops and other innocent people. For a cop to end up doing the exact same thing to a very young child is simply unconscionable.

The Jack-Booted Thug(s) of the Week...

... are L.A. County Sheriff's Deputy Richard Gylfie as well as his fellow partner in crime Deputy Bayes (no first name given), for exhibiting complete ignorance of the very laws they're supposed to be enforcing, as well as for juvenily threatening serious retaliation to a citizen simply for invoking their constitutionally-protected rights:

Bravo, sirs.

(Thanks to loyal reader Tim Honl for the heads-up. Tim reports that even a liberal family member who works as a photojournalist is outraged at this mistreatment. Funny how all of a sudden subjects like this suddenly become very important to the likes of Obama supporters when it begins to affect their lives. )

Why I carry a handgun for protection, Vol. 25

Because brutal sociopaths like Vincent Scott, Gary Solomon and Marcus Solomon roam the streets of the metro area where we currently reside. These "men" beat and robbed a man simply because they felt a need to "get out some aggression", the trio apparently told Mesa, Arizona police.

The total haul this group of feral parasites on normal society gained from this unprovoked attack on an innocent pedestrian, which left the victim with multiple injuries?

"Fritos, bean dip, M&Ms and a Kit Kat bar".

We certainly hope those tasty snacks were worth the years in prison these scumbags are facing for their senseless act.

No amount of proactive policing could have prevented this assault, and the cops certainly weren't around to interrupt these animals in the middle of carrying out their random, spur of the moment crime. If the victim had been legally armed with a handgun, the odds certainly would have been changed in his favor, and he just might have been able to successfully fend off his attackers before suffering injury.

Tell us again how firearms never benefit polite society at large or are simply of no use to victims of violent crime, Ms. Brady?

How rude of him

Washington, D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty apparently enjoys the exercise benefits and social camaraderie of being on a competitive bicycle team. That's all well and good, until we find out that Fenty's official police escort is allowing Fenty and his cycling buddies to piggishly take over roadways that they have no right to be using, and then openly helping them to ignore the very same traffic laws that the mayor expects his peasants to follow to the letter, on pain of punishment:

"Over the past several months, WTOP videotaped the mayor and his team on multiple dates as the team - escorted by D.C. Police motorcycle officers - rode on parkways where bikes aren't permitted, ran red lights and stop signs and created traffic backups wherever they went"

...

"Fenty's cycling has a major impact on traffic. The teammates generally ride three or four abreast, taking up one or more lanes of traffic.

Several times, traffic along Rock Creek Parkway, MacArthur Boulevard, and other major roads became snarled with as cars stalled behind the caravan of bikes.

At times, the police officers were seen riding on sidewalks and bike lanes as well as driving into oncoming traffic trying to keep pace with the mayor"

Sounds like a really responsible way to govern, Mr. Mayor, especially given the infantile tantrum you apparently threw once you found out your antics were being videotaped:

"According to sources familiar with the mayor's security detail, Fenty became furious after he spotted WTOP videotaping a recent bike outing."

If only the mayor could do something about that pesky First Amendment, everything would be just fine, it seems.

"Why, oh why, does the press bother me so?"

Because, sir, you're in charge of America's capital city, and are supposed to be setting a good example for city residents, not selfishly using your office to skirt the rules just to make your little jaunts more convenient for you. Duh.

Not only does this odious practice create traffic bottlenecks and hazards, it wastes valuable and scarce police man-hours as his detail sits around for hours waiting for the workouts to be over:

"In many cases, the officers would escort the team from the mayor's home or from a Georgetown cycle shop along Rock Creek Parkway to Hains Point, where the team would spend an hour or more doing laps around the park. All the while, the police officers sit and wait, and then escort the team back to the starting point."

It's not like there isn't any other police work the cops could be doing in a city with such a high crime rate, instead of baby-sitting His Honor and his playmates.

Naturally, the D.C. police chief , Cathy Lanier, does her best Sergeant Shultz impression and claims to have seen "nossing" when asked about the mayor's blatant misuse of her official police resources:

"'For the mayor to have a security team when he's out riding his bike is not unusual. It's not uncommon,' Lanier tells WTOP. 'I don't look at their daily agenda of where they go or what they do. I don't know about running stop signs and stop lights and things of that nature.'"

Well, maybe it's time you did, ma'am. Stop hiding your head in the sand over this issue. It doesn't become a so-called "professional" of your supposed caliber.

Look, we have a little bit of sympathy about Fenty having to restrict his lifestyle somewhat. That unfortunately comes with the job. The President can't just take a stroll down the Mall to get an ice-cream cone, either, but we don't see Obama shutting down the entire city in order to get a rocky road fix.

Shame on you, Mr. Fenty. Why don't you try leading by example for a change?

So much for attempting to do the right thing

This story is really and truly outrageous, even for the worst Nanny-state hellhole on the globe.

Former British soldier Paul Clarke found a black plastic bag in his garden, and discovered that it contained a sawed-off shotgun and two shells. He immediately turned in the weapon to the local police, who promptly arrested him for possession of a firearm:

"'I thought it was my duty to hand it in and get it off the streets.'"

In a sane nation it would have been, Mr. Clarke. You live in England, however, and so the rules of a rational society unfortunately don't apply.

Unbelievably, Mr. Clarke has been convicted of that charge, and now faces a minimum sentence of five years in prison:

"The court heard how Mr Clarke was on the balcony of his home in Nailsworth Crescent, Merstham, when he spotted a black bin liner at the bottom of his garden.

In his statement, he said: 'I took it indoors and inside found a shorn-off shotgun and two cartridges.

I didn't know what to do, so the next morning I rang the Chief Superintendent, Adrian Harper, and asked if I could pop in and see him.

At the police station, I took the gun out of the bag and placed it on the table so it was pointing towards the wall.'

Mr Clarke was then arrested immediately for possession of a firearm at Reigate police station, and taken to the cells.

Defending, Lionel Blackman told the jury Mr Clarke's garden backs onto a public green field, and his garden wall is significantly lower than his neighbours.

He also showed jurors a leaflet printed by Surrey Police explaining to citizens what they can do at a police station, which included 'reporting found firearms'.

Quizzing officer Garnett, who arrested Mr Clarke, he asked: 'Are you aware of any notice issued by Surrey Police, or any publicity given to, telling citizens that if they find a firearm the only thing they should do is not touch it, report it by telephone, and not take it into a police station?'

To which, Mr Garnett replied: 'No, I don't believe so.'

Prosecuting, Brian Stalk, explained to the jury that possession of a firearm was a 'strict liability' charge – therefore Mr Clarke's allegedly honest intent was irrelevant.

Just by having the gun in his possession he was guilty of the charge, and has no defence in law against it, he added."

And so now an honorably discharged veteran who volunteered to serve his country in wartime is going to be given years of hard time for attempting to do the right thing, even while thousands of "yobs" in that joke of a nation get slaps on the wrists for their truly society-endangering intentional evil behaviors.

Special contempt has to be reserved for the judge in the case, who seems to be suffering from the same "zero-tolerance" disease that's currently afflicting many school officials here in America:

"Judge Christopher Critchlow said: 'This is an unusual case, but in law there is no dispute that Mr Clarke has no defence to this charge.

The intention of anybody possessing a firearm is irrelevant.'"

A law-abiding British subject would now have to be nuts to even think about contacting the "authorities" should they notice illegal behavior or a suspicious situation, lest they end up just like poor Mr. Clarke.

We suspect this case's outcome will be the act that finishes off the last shreds of what was once a decent country over there.

From the Department of Glaringly Obvious Headlines

"111,000 criminal migrants ID'd through ICE program"

The Feds finally decide to stop shirking their duties and get serious about evicting the many illegal aliens in this country who go on to break even more of our laws once here (by installing a program that allows local police to access ICE records to determine if a criminal arrestee suspected of being here illegally is guilty of that crime as well), and because of this renewed focus on their long-ignored responsibilities are actually getting some pretty decent results.

Who'da thunk it?

You see, despite the outraged screeching from the apologists for illegal immigrants, the admittedly big job of sending people home who aren't here legally can be done. It just takes dedication, willpower and smart cooperation among law enforcement agencies.

Apologies

Personal circumstances have forced us to blog more lightly than usual. We hope to be back up and running by Saturday, November 14.