A snapshot of life

Sunday, November 29, 2009
Scottsdale, Arizona
11:00 a.m.

The license tag of a vehicle in front of us at a local stoplight:




Really? That's the "noble cause" you're spending $25 annually on a vanity license plate in order to advocate - the banning of a common food additive that some people admittedly have a sensitivity to, but which is otherwise not harmful in any way, shape or form?

How about just not consuming the product if it isn't for you, but letting other free people decide for themselves whether or not they wish to put it into their bodies?

Really?

The President's actions bring up painful memories, even six decades later

Patricia Tiber of Prescott Valley, Arizona, hasn't forgotten who committed undeserved atrocities against her, her family and so many other innocent civilians during World War II, and points out just why it's so embarrassing for free Americans, who recognize no royalty or master, to have to watch our current President continually bow and grovel like a sycophantic lackey in front of every world leader he encounters:

"For those of us who still remember years of imprisonment in Southeast Asian Japanese concentration camps during World War II and who lost fathers, husbands, sons and brothers in that horrific war, it was a low blow to see the president of the United States bow to the Japanese emperor ("Kudos to Obama for diplomatic bow," Letters, Thursday).

Oh, yeah, I know, it has been more than 60 years and I should move on.

But no, I can't forget three years of suffering under the Japanese "culture and etiquette."

My mother, brothers and I had to bow deeply every morning to their flag and the unseen emperor. If we didn't, we were beaten with a bamboo stick and had to remain in the hot sun for hours!

President Barack Obama may be getting good at bowing and understanding Japanese culture, but I, for one, found it painful and certainly not praiseworthy!"

Powerful stuff.

Commenters to Ms. Tiber's letter correctly note that to this day the Japanese Government refuses to officially acknowledge or apologize for their direct complicity in events such as the Rape of Nanking, the Bataan Death March and the forcing of thousands of Korean women into prostitution.

Who, then, should be doing the bowing and scraping?

Sounds like a delightful place to get medical attention

Basildon University Hospital in Essex, England, not just a National Health Service facility but one that is "run by one of the supposedly 'elite' foundation trusts, which have greater freedom to manage their finances", apparently isn't doing such a good job at either medicine or finances:

"Appalling nursing care... contributed to a mortality rate that was more than a third higher than the national average.

At least 70 people may have died who should have been saved."

Here's just a few of the gory details of what was found at this shining bastion of "professional, competent, efficient and cost-reducing" government-operated socialized medicine, and pretty much the exact type of abattoir that the likes of Obama, Reid and Pelosi would force the American peasant (but not elites such as them, of course) to patronize:

"Unannounced visits by inspectors from the Care Quality Commission found blood spattered on curtains and chairs in the A&E ward, a catheter bag on the floor, poorly-trained nurses and patients treated on trolleys.

A commode was soiled under the seat, nurses were failing to feed frail elderly people and patients had pressure sores.

There was no paediatric nurse for most of the time so children were not getting the best care.

The mortality rate in the A&E ward was 6.1 per cent in 2008, more than a third higher than the national average of 4.4 per cent."

...

"Management of the A&E department was poor, with problems including lack of leadership, poor environment and huge delays.

There was no system to ensure staff could observe patients in the waiting room, meaning they could not spot if a patient's condition deteriorated.

Patients had little privacy, with curtains separating cubicles. Some were cared for on trolleys around the edge of the major injuries area and, in busier times, in the centre.

Arrangements for children were also criticised. There were no special areas for children in the major injuries area.

There were few nurses with psychiatric training and no consultant with a paediatric speciality.

The ward spent more time without a paediatric nurse than with one.

Basic nursing care was also ' inconsistent'. Complaints from patients showed nurses failed to monitor, feed and give drugs correctly.

Up to 20 patients in 1,000 had evidence of pressure sores - as against 11 per 1,000 nationally.

Local care homes repeatedly expressed concerns about residents coming back with pressure sores.

It was unclear who was in charge of the nurses, and those meant to be in charge lacked the 'professional maturity' required.

Inspectors also found that the trust was not effectively decontaminating reusable equipment or maintaining a clean and appropriate environment in the A&E department.

They found 11 out of 12 trolley mattresses were stained and two had a 'foul odour'.

It says: 'Nurses we spoke to were not aware that mattresses could be opened and checked.'

Blood pressure cuffs and suction machines for clearing airways were dirty and dusty.

Half the curtains that separated cubicles were soiled, some with blood - and the system for changing them was not working."

What an utter hellhole.

Frighteningly, the very same oversight body that made this spot check had rated the hospital as "good" in cleanliness only last year. Only last month's unannounced inspection managed to uncover these systemic problems, according to the story. If that weren't enough, not one management person there seemingly has yet to lose their job over this horrific dereliction of their duties, despite a massive outcry from the local peasants over the bosses' complete incompetence. They're government employees, after all, and everyone knows how hard it is to fire them.

This sorry excuse for a hospital is so terrible and so emblematic of the NHS as a whole that Daniel Martin, the author of the article, can't help but let a little editorializing slip into his coverage:

"It is the latest example of patients paying the ultimate price for Labour's failure to stamp out Third World conditions in the NHS - despite trebling taxpayer funding over the past decade."

Hmm. Pouring dollar after taxpayer dollar into a bottomless health care Ponzi scheme, and getting worse than abysmal results. Why can't our leaders learn from the failed policies of countries such as Britain and Canada, instead of insisting that we dive right in and repeat those nations' expensive errors?

This exact sort of crappy (pun intended) treatment will be what everyone in America will be forced to live with, if the liberal Democrats currently in Congress and the White House get their way and ram their health care "reform" bill through without our stopping it in its tracks.

Still willing to sit by and let that happen?

Please keep calling your legislators in opposition to this "scheme".

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

...are the police in Great Britain, collectively, as a "genetics watchdog" organization in that nation is accusing the bobbies of arresting large numbers of peasants for no other reason than to obtain samples of their DNA for the government's intrusive database of such information, and of targeting young men of a darker hue in particular for such treatment, if you catch our drift:

"The Human Genetics Commission, which advises the government on the social, legal and ethical aspects of genetics, called for a review of the database and said new laws must be passed to govern its use.

In a damning report, the commission said "function creep" had transformed the system from a DNA store for offenders into a database of suspects.

More than three-quarters of young black men aged between 18 and 35 are on the system, the report said."

The group's argument is that no constraints were ever placed on the government once the technology became available, and that the process has become a de facto way to permanently obtain and store genetic information on everyone who has contact with the criminal justice system over there, whether or not they're ultimately convicted of a crime.

"The report quoted an unidentified retired senior police officer as saying that 'it is now the norm to arrest offenders for everything' in order to obtain a DNA sample."

Another cowardly former administrator who loves to complain about a legitimate issue, but who is unwilling to put the power of their name behind his or her words, even though they are retired and presumably safe from possible retaliation. Don't hurt yourself agitating over this, sir or ma'am. Just sit back and anonymously carp from the sidelines, instead of actually publicly doing something about the problem. How useless of you.

"Opposition politicians and human rights groups said the report provided further evidence that Britain is becoming a 'surveillance society,' where people's personal details are stored and their movements constantly monitored."

"Becoming"? Hah. England's actually been there for quite some time, and it's only going to get worse for the poor subjects over there, at least until they finally wake up and take back control of their nation from the martinets who continue to impose more and more of these types of freedom-taking and privacy-sapping schemes on them.

Zero-tolerance, California-style

The Willows, California Unified School District has expelled 16-year-old high school student Gary Tudesko for having two shotguns with ammunition, as well as a pocket knife with a 3-inch blade, present in his truck while he was at school.

A fitting punishment? Maybe, that is until one finds out that the firearms were unloaded and that Tudesko's vehicle wasn't on school property, but rather was parked on a nearby public street after he had spent the early morning before class that day engaged in bird hunting:

"The incident began on Oct. 26 when scent-sniffing dogs detected something in a pickup on the street north of the tennis courts on West Willow Street. A Willows police officer did a search of the license plate and traced the pickup to Tudesko."

Why, pray tell, are police in that town performing warrantless searches, without any reasonable suspicion of a crime being committed, on privately-owned vehicles legally parked on city streets? That would seem to be the most pressing question in this story.

Ironically, Tudesko didn't drop off his firearms at home after hunting because he didn't want to be late for class. Yep, he's the kind of kid you summarily flush without a second thought.

"Tudesko came out to the vehicle and said there were two shotguns and shells in the pickup. He opened his vehicle for a search"

Never, ever, ever consent to a search of your person or vehicle. It almost always won't be to your benefit even if you are completely innocent of any wrongdoing, as Mr. Tudesko unfortunately found out, and the cops will simply go ahead and dig around anyway if they feel they have sufficient cause. Let them explain to a judge why they felt such a move was necessary. (Standard disclaimer: We are not attorneys, nor do we wish to be. This should not be considered legal advice.)

"Willows High Principal Mort Geivett and other district officials did not appear to dispute that the parking space was off school property, but they cited several justifications. One of them was the legal doctrine of in loco parentis — where school officials may act in place of a parent for school functions.

Geivett said the school was responsible for students traveling to and from school as well as during lunch. He said he believed that students should not possess weapons within 1,000 feet of campus.

Geivett said he believed off-campus parking around the school was under the school's jurisdiction, in part because it is primarily used by students."

Principal Geivett (mostly incorrectly) "believes" a lot of things, but it seems that a rational enforcement of his school's policies (especially considering that Tudesko apparently was neither arrested nor charged with a crime) isn't among them.

The story reports that Tudesko's mother is now planning to home-school her son. Good for her. Her son has already received enough life lessons from that particular place of "learning".

The epitome of chutzpah

Former Stoughton, Massachusetts police officer David Cohen, who was found guilty of making an extortion attempt while on duty and in full uniform, has decided to attempt to bill his former employer for $113,496, the amount that this wingnut's attorney estimates (try not to howl with laughter here) Cohen's out for time spent preparing for his own unsuccessful criminal defense:

"In the letter dated Nov. 4, Cohen is seeking $113,000, which includes 87 accrued vacation days, 125 unused sick days, 144 hours of compensation time accrued for not using sick time, 152 hours of supervisor comp time, 481 hours for court appearances related to his criminal case, 280 hours of overtime to prepare for his case, at least 61 percent education incentive pay for 2007, and 61 percent for accrued stipends and benefits."

What a complete tool. Cohen's "lawyer", Brian Simoneau, should himself be disbarred for even agreeing to make such a goofball request, much less actually following through and doing so.

Unbelievably, he's not even the first disgraced ex-Stoughton cop caught up in this scandal to make this sort of ludicrous request:

"Former Police Chief Manuel Cachopa was found guilty by a superior court jury in January of acting as an accessory after the fact to protect Cohen from prosecution. A judge sentenced him to 1,000 hours of community service and three years of probation.

Cachopa, through his attorney Robert A. George, slapped the town with a bill for $500,000 seeking payment for his criminal defense."

After he no doubt finished having himself a good chuckle, the town's manager has announced that he's going to summarily decline to compensate these crooks for having to defend their own bad behavior, according to the story.

We think the public safety hiring system Stoughton's currently using needs to be closely examined as soon as possible, seeing as how a pair of clowns like Cohen and Cachopa somehow made it through the process.

UPDATE: We thought the former chief's name rang a bell. Here's a post we did last February on this very same story, in which we congratulated Stoughton Detective Supervisor Robert Welch for professionally and impartially (and, ultimately, quite successfully) investigating and exposing the rotten shenanigans of his fellow officers, despite being improperly demoted for doing so. (Welch has since been reinstated.)

Question:

If the proposed health care Ponzi scheme "reform" bill is such a good thing for our country, and the liberal Democrats in both the House and Senate are indeed so honored to be ramming it through Congress, then why do all of the key votes keep taking place late on Saturday evenings, when the citizenry and the press are least likely to be paying attention?

In other related news, even reliably liberal columnist David Broder of the Washington Post is now pointing out the obvious:

"While the CBO said that both the House-passed bill and the one Reid has drafted meet Obama's test by being budget-neutral, every expert I have talked to says that the public has it right. These bills, as they stand, are budget-busters." (Emphasis mine)

On top of the trillion or so other dollars of budget busting measures recently imposed upon us by our "betters", don't forget.

In other words, Milton Friedman's truism that "there's no free lunch" is still valid, no matter what outrageous falsehoods the likes of Reid, Pelosi and Obama will tell you.

If this 2000+ page monstrosity passes, everyone will pay more money to receive lower-quality health care, and less of it to boot.

Guaranteed.

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.

Food for thought

A caller to today's Schnitt Show posed an interesting (paraphrased) question to host Todd Schnitt:

If a peasant was to flatly decline to purchase the insurance coverage that would be mandated for him or her under the proposed House Democratic health care "reform plan" that was rammed down our collective throats last Saturday night, and is subsequently fined and sent to jail (for up to five years!) for such a refusal to partake in such a blatant Ponzi scheme, will that conscientious objector then ironically be given free health care while they're in prison?

Go back to covering something you know something about, like the gridiron

Sports Illustrated magazine NFL writer Peter King regularly allows his tiresome elite East Coast liberal bias to seep into his online columns, which are purportedly about professional football (of which we are admittedly big fans). Here's today's installment:

"My heart goes out to the victims of the Fort Hood and Orlando shootings and their loved ones. Senseless, senseless incidents. I will not go quietly into the night on this one. America needs to do something about idiots with handguns. How many more Fort Hoods and Orlandos do there have to be before our political leaders have the guts to severely restrict access to murderous weapons?"

Tell you what, Mr. King. Let's begin by getting rid of your cherished First Amendment, which allows writers like you to freely spout your nonsensical rantings that forever agitate for taking away more and more freedoms from ordinary citizens, and then we'll talk about gutting the Second, which ironically is the last line of protection for the First (which itself arguably causes many deaths and injuries every year by allowing people to engage in inflammatory and hateful speech), OK?

The Bill of Rights is a synergistic package. You can't let the government begin to dismantle it without the population eventually losing all of their enumerated natural rights.

Is that concept clear enough for you, sir? If not, then please stick to opining on simpler subjects that you can more easily understand, such as schoolyard games being played for money by grown men.

Government as landlord? Sure, if one lives in England

The London Daily Mail notes that in fully 20% of all the households in Britain the rent is now being paid by the diminishing number of suckers over there who still work and aren't on the dole government.

This unfortunate development is the direct result of a decades-long Nanny-state mentality in that country, in which anything and everything is labeled a "right" and therefore provided by the subjects' benevolent masters (but ends up being paid for by other ordinary peasants, who are thus forced on pain of imprisonment to prop up all of the dead weight of their lazy brethren).

This is exactly where our nation is headed as well, should the likes of Obama, Pelosi and Reid continue to advance their radical socialist agenda.

What do you do with the drunken sailors? Vote them out, hopefully

The House Democrats, including our own Representative Harry Mitchell (boy, is he going to get an earful from us tomorrow morning), have taken advantage of a quiet Saturday night in order to spend 1.05 trillion more dollars that our government doesn't have in order to forcibly take over one-sixth of our free-market economy, all in the name of some misguided notion of "fairness".

Since our Treasury is currently very much in the red due to all of the other out-of-control spending (including unilateral takeovers of other industries) by our enlightened public servants, this development means, should the proposal also pass the Senate, that the funds for this program are going to come straight out of the peasants' pockets one way or the other, despite fevered vows to the contrary by the bill's supporters. There's just no other way to pay for all of the promised goodies.

Don't forget as well that this bill as currently written will require a person who declines to participate in this officially sanctioned Ponzi scheme government-run insurance program to fork over an "individual mandate tax" of 2.5% of their income or else face penalties such as fines of up to $250,000 or a prison term of up to five years. So much for the concept of "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness".

Finally, in case one's blood pressure isn't already high enough, remember that the good martinets on Capitol Hill have exempted themselves from the very "reform" that they're attempting to saddle everyone else with. If this is such a good thing for American citzens, why aren't they participating?

We saw this (paraphrased) statement the other day, but unfortunately cannot recall its author:

"If the Federal Government can require this of its citizens, then what can't it require them to do?"

That's a very good question.

Maybe it's time you started, then

"As a matter of practice, we do not carry weapons. This is our home"

Lieutenant General Robert Cone, commanding officer of Fort Hood, Texas, where one crazed jihadist (forget that asinine "not jumping to conclusions" statement from our useless President. This was a terrorist attack, plain and simple) managed to murder 13 people and wound 30 or so others all by himself two days ago, mostly because pathetic PC military commanders such as Cone simply refuse to allow trained professional soldiers to carry firearms on base for the defense of themselves and others. The personnel there were slaughtered like sheep until a single female civilian police officer showed up (far too late, of course, to protect the dead and injured warriors) and finally stopped the killer's spree.

Tam's absolutely right - soldiers in a war without borders are in danger no matter where they happen to be, and they should be prepared to fight at all times whether they're in Bert's Restaurant, on the front lines in Afghanistan or "safely" on a military installation.

"Now let's see Barack do Riverdance"

John Nolte of Breitbart's Big Hollywood has assembled a collection of no less than 11 online video clips, complete with lyric transcripts, of indoctrinated schoolchildren singing praises to Dear Leader President Obama. These clips, mind you, are all different from the ones we've previously commented about on this site.

Nolte's right - the last song, titled "No One's As Irish as Barack Obama" and performed by kindergartners, is absolutely surreal and worthy of Kafka. You simply must view it in order to fully understand the type of propaganda that's being regularly drilled into our nation's kids by government schoolteachers.

Don't eat beforehand.

The President's definitely having a bad day today

The top two headlines in today's print edition of the Arizona Republic:

"GOP wins signal trouble for Dems" (New Jersey and Virginia governor races both won by Republicans)

"Health reform snarled in Senate" (Senator Harry Reid announces that a bill may not be voted on until sometime next year)

It's too early to label these developments a complete repudiation of President Obama's odious attempt to turn our nation into a model of socialism, but things are definitely trending in the correct direction.

We bid an especially heartfelt adieu to "limousine liberal" New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine, who is by most accounts one of the bigger jerks currently occupying a state's top position (he's also quite the hypocrite as well).

Today's TASER Travesty

"At the same time Taser International is publicly telling police to avoid aiming at a suspect's chest, the company is privately telling police officers [in conference calls closed to the public and press] that there is virtually no problem aiming at a suspect's chest."

Then why did Taser bother to issue the training bulletin in the first place?

"Instead, Taser officials told police the bulletin is not about safety as much as it is about liability. By advising officers to avoid shooting at the chest, they are avoiding a potential controversy if a case ever goes to trial."

It's clear that the company's recent actions are much more about rear end-covering than a serious attempt to reduce the number of deaths and serious injuries resulting from misuse of their product (cops deploying the TASER as a compliance tool rather than a less-than-lethal weapon intended for the self-defense of both police officers and innocent citizens). This latest move from the company is right in line with some of their other actions in recent years, which also tend to contradict their official statements:

"Taser maintained that no officer had ever been injured during training exercises. At the time, police across the country were reporting injuries that they blamed on Tasers.

Taser said independent medical studies confirmed the safety of the stun gun. However, Taser officials were involved in many aspects of the studies and government researches said they did not look at stun gun safety.

Taser officials have said they welcome scientific debate about the stun gun. But the company has sued reporters, researchers, medical examiners and others who have raised questions about the stun gun's safety."

To cap things off, Robert Anglen, who authored the piece, reports that the Arizona Republic contacted Taser and openly asked to listen in on the conference call between the company and police agencies, even though the paper had been alerted to the call and was in possession of the means to monitor the conversation in secret. Taser declined:

"Note: The Republic learned about the tele-conference in advance and was provided access codes. Rather than listen surreptitiously to the conference, a reporter contacted Taser and asked permission to listen. Taser refused."

The more we learn about Taser International and their questionable business practices, the less we think of them. We're irritated that they share our current location in Scottsdale, Arizona, because we believe that their presence reflects badly on this city.

Sickening

Adams, Massachusetts Police Officer Alan C. Vigiard has been arrested on child-pornography possession charges. That fact is nauseating in and of itself, but the details of this particular case are truly disturbing.

Vigiard is accused of not only downloading the kiddie porn from a computer in the department's secure evidence room, but then masturbating to it right then and there while on the job. His reprehensible behavior was found out when the illicit stash (along with a video believed to be of Vigiard, who has a distinctive scar on his left hand, pleasuring himself) was somehow copied to a CD of evidence in an unrelated larceny case that was sent to the local DA.

" [Chief Donald] Poirot told state police the Adams Police Department is not properly equipped or trained to handle cases of child pornography so none should be located anywhere on the department's computers or network.

On Thursday, Poirot confiscated Vigiard's key to the evidence room, court reports state, adding that while state police were meeting with the chief in his office, network time stamps showed that Vigiard tried to delete additional files from the department's network from another computer. State police were able to recover all the files."

There has to be a special place in Hell reserved for a person, especially someone who was given "special" police powers of authority and is charged with protecting and serving the public, who would participate in such an abominable act.

We don't see a lot of sympathy being generated for this fellow

"Don't do the crime if you can't do the time"

- from the theme song of the 1970's TV show Baretta



Bernard Kerik, the disgraced former New York City police commissioner currently awaiting trial on numerous charges including massive corruption, cheating on his taxes (another one?) and lying to Federal officials (not to mention the reprehensible accusation that he callously took over an apartment, meant to be used for respite by 9/11 rescuers attempting to recover victims and bodies, in order to have a place to canoodle with his then-lover, book mogul Judith Regan), is apparently having a hard time adjusting to life in the slammer, which is where Kerik has been residing ever since he "had his bail revoked on Oct. 20 for giving a supporter sealed court records":

"Disgraced ex-top cop Bernard Kerik has been exhibiting psychiatric 'symptoms' behind bars and is considered 'at risk' by a jailhouse shrink, the judge in his corruption case revealed yesterday.

Sources who have known the former NYPD commissioner for years told The Post they weren't surprised that the fallen hero of 9/11 was apparently losing it in the slammer.

Kerik can't stand humiliation, the sources said, and was totally despondent after the 2004 debacle when corruption allegations derailed his nomination to head the federal Department of Homeland Security."

Poor widdle ex-commissioner. We suppose Mr. Kerik should have thought of his delicate, easily-bruised ego before he allegedly committed all of those crimes (for which he's facing as many as 142 years in prison if convicted on all counts), and then stupidly compounded his troubles by flagrantly breaking the judge's orders in his case.

And to think that a fine,upstanding man such as this was the "special person" in charge of the New York City Police Department (the agency charged with issuing handgun carry permits to the peasants who live there, and which usually declines to do so as a matter of policy unless the applicant is a celebrity, a politician or otherwise "connected" to the town's elites), and who came breathtakingly close to being put in complete charge of our entire nation's "security".

We as a nation are quite fortunate that Kerik was never confirmed as the Secretary of DHS, where he undoubtedly would have continued his seeming pattern of hypocritically flouting just about every law he came across, while at the same time using his newly-gained power and influence to cram ever-more intrusive rules and regulations onto the rest of us unwashed peasants, to follow precisely on pain of imprisonment.

Enjoy your stay in the Westchester County Jail, Mr. Kerik. It's but a mere preview of how you're going to be spending many years to come, if justice is served.

The latest zero-tolerance debacle

Jazmine Martin, an 11-year-old schoolgirl in Des Moines, Iowa, has been suspended from her sixth-grade class at Brody Middle School after she brought in a few empty shotgun shells from a Western show in South Dakota (where they were firing blanks, for Pete's sake) in order to show them to her science teacher "because he's into stuff like this.".

Well, the students at Brody can certainly rest easier, knowing that those evil discarded blank shells were found before anyone was somehow hurt by them.

"Principal Randy Gordon said the shells were considered ammunition even though they were empty, and were therefore against school policy."

Come again? A piece of plastic with a bit of brass on the end, unable to cause any kind of harm whatsoever, counts the same as live rounds? That definition just can't be right, and in fact it really isn't:

"A copy of the school policy shows that it specifically bans "live ammunition or bullets" but makes no reference to empty shells or casings. However, the policy says it is not limited to the items specifically listed as being banned." (Emphasis mine)

Under that sort of idiotic overbroad policy, Principal Gordon the Clueless Martinet in theory could decide that, say, a too-large eraser counts as "ammunition" as well, and throw out a poor student who has one of those as well.

Jazmine hopefully will soon be back in the classroom where she belongs, and will then be able to share her hard-earned nightmare lessons in intellectual atrophy, bureaucratic rigidity and reactionary overkill (all in the name of her "safety", of course) with her schoolmates.

Those precepts will probably be the most important things the kids will learn in school that day.

Off topic but interesting, at least to me

What's worse than having a ten-foot great white shark hanging out near a busy swimming beach?

Well, in this case it's the twenty-foot great white shark that bit the ten-footer nearly in half, and which is presumably still prowling the area off Queensland, Australia:

(Barcroft Media - pic is from the article)

Australia - is there a single plant or animal there that isn't somehow deadly to people?