Off topic but interesting, at least to me

The Quote of the Day  comes to us courtesy of Tam's deciding to lunch at a Mongolian barbecue restaurant:

"Like many a Mongolian-style restaurant, there's a moderately Genghis-toned theme to the place, leading me to ask my dining companions how many hundreds of years they thought it takes, on average, to make a really extroverted genocidal conqueror into a cute'n'kitschy sales motif. I mean, when are we going to see Wacky Adolf's House of Schnitzel? And can you imagine what the kiddie menu would be like there?"

Our favorite related restaurant name, from the comments - Pho Chi Minh for a Vietnamese soup joint.  Priceless.

The Jack-Booted Thug of the Week, Bonus Edition...

... is the Honolulu, Hawaii police officer who was one of at least five cops who pulled over without apparent reasonable suspicion a car containing three members of a public access cable show ironically (and amusingly) called "We Are Change Hawaii" (they're obviously misguided liberal supporters of Dear Leader, but they have rights as well).

The trio had been filming outside the barricades surrounding President Obama's vacation house hoping for a glimpse of their hero and had been told they couldn't stay, so they complied and drove off.  According to the story the group was then pulled over a few blocks away at a gas station where the aforementioned thug ordered producer Sativa Jones to stop filming him and then snatched her camera from her grasp, injuring her fingers and damaging the equipment in the process (video of the encounter is at the link).

"She said the officer appeared shaken by what he'd done and courteously showed her how to complain, writing his name and badge number on a card with contact information for the Honolulu Police Commission."

But he wasn't "shaken" enough to, you know, actually apologize for his criminal behavior.  We've interacted with those types of cops before.  They're never wrong.

Another member of the group apparently tried to lodge a formal criminal complaint with one of the other officers on the scene but she claims, predictably, that none of the other cops would take it.

"Asked if it was legal for police officers to stop someone from videotaping an officer in a public place, the department said citizens are allowed to video in public places."

Good to know.  Now prove it by disciplining your "officers" when they commit crimes against law-abiding citizens who are merely engaged in something they have a right to do.  In case you haven't realized it yet the peasants don't need to obtain your permission to be "allowed" to film in public.

Not too confident in their Leader's reelection chances, are they?

Via Slashdot, we learn that Dear Leader's supporters are already outlining a campaign to encourage Democrats and independents to cross party lines and vote for Sarah Palin in the 2012 primaries in the hope that she will present the easiest electoral opponent for President Obama to overcome and win reelection.

It's an amusing theory and one which illustrates just how far Obama's star has fallen among his faithful followers since 2008, when his ascension to the Big Chair was viewed as inevitable no matter who he ran against because of his overwhelming intelligence and wisdom, not to mention his personal charisma.  Of course that perception of his qualifications has been shown to be nothing more than a masterful marketing campaign, so some liberals apparently feel they have to resort to this sort of desperate gimmick to retain their hopelessly out-of-his-depth leader.

This may not even be their wisest course of action, oddly enough.  Ms. Palin enjoys incredibly broad popular support among us poor dumb saps who inhabit flyover country, and she has consistently been underestimated by the major media.  Time will tell if this gambit only serves to hasten the far-left wing of the Democratic Party's demise.

(And yes, we realize Rush Limbaugh advocated the same sort of cheap trick during the 2008 campaign to get Hillary Clinton on the ballot.  We didn't support those tactics at that time, either.  Run your top candidate and may the best person win.)

"Nominate the unelectable"

Well, we shall certainly see.  We wouldn't be making Inauguration Day 2013 plans quite yet if we belonged to this group.

The next "offensive" term to be purged from the lexicon by the propagandists in the media

A self-purported professional journalism group reveals its utter lack of objectivity by appealing to the media to censor a term that's nothing more than an accurate description of certain peoples' legal status in this country:

"The Diversity Committee of the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) is seeking to 'inform and sensitize' reporters nationwide about how 'offensive' the term 'illegal immigrant' is to Latinos."

Despite the fact that illegal immigrants as a group are ironically about as diverse a population as one can have - Chinese in San Francisco, Irish in Boston and Africans in New York City, to name a few examples.  Why, Dear Leader's own "Dear Auntie" Zeituni Onyango until quite recently was just such an individual, and there was nothing remotely Hispanic about her Kenyan background the last time we checked it out.

Sorry, Diversity Committee re-educators.  Your biased attempt to turn words you don't like into some kind of newly-created racial epithet in a desperate attempt to redirect the debate over "illegal immigration" (oops, we wrote it) simply isn't going to work.

Why I carry a handgun for protection, Vol. 41

Because, as shown by recent weather-related difficulties in New York City, a call to 911 does not guarantee a police response to a request for aid in a reasonable and effective amount of time.

City residents there have been unacceptably waiting up to 30 hours for a response to calls for service (why even have a government if they fall down on their most basic of responsibilities?), resulting in the death of at least one newborn as well as a woman's getting advanced brain damage from a stroke as a direct result of not being transported to a hospital in anywhere near a proper amount of time.  We can't imagine the wait times right about now for garden-variety victims of muggings and other violent crimes. 

Ironically, the Big Apple is one of the last remaining bastions in America of anti-gun ninnies who refuse to allow the peasants the means to defend themselves in public from predators, who are inevitably armed themselves because - surprise- criminals don't pay attention to those laws in the first place. 

It's you who is ultimately responsible for your own self-protection.  We don't wish to come across as preachy, but please take the steps to acquire the necessary training, knowledge and equipment (and help change the laws regarding allowing those steps in cities such as New York and Chicago) to effectively do so.

"Ruling" by executive order and bureaucratic policymaking instead of governing by simply following the law

Thomas Sowell has a great article out today on how Dear Leader's Department of Health and Human Services on January 1 is going to begin implementing a "Death Panel" component of Obamacare, notwithstanding the fact that Congress specifically left that provision out of the legislation after an avalanche of protest from the peasantry:

"[Congressman Earl] Blumenauer's office praised the Medicare bureaucracy's action but warned: 'While we are very happy with the result, we won't be shouting it from the rooftops because we are not out of the woods yet.'" 

What a perfectly transparent government President Obama and his minions have given us.  They're so proud of their sneaky little sleight of hand creation of yet another "rule" out of thin air, yet on the other hand they desperately don't want the likes of you and I to find out about it.  It's frankly quite maddening. 

As Sowell astutely points out, when are we as a country finally going to quit tolerating these types of bureaucratic machinations, ones that are nothing more than "end runs" around the laws that the rest of us are supposed to follow on pain of imprisonment?

Curiouser and curiouser

Even Dear Leader's biggest media suck-ups are beginning to wonder why he doesn't just cough up the $12.50 or so and obtain his long-form certificate to satisfy the 43% of Americans who believe he's hiding something about the circumstances of his birth.  After all, he's in the state right this minute - it would be the work of minutes down at the Department of Records.

Again, we're not by any means one of the "birther" crowd, some of whom apparently believe the Trilateral Commission or the Freemasons engineered a cover up beginning all the way back in 1961.  There is something really odd here, though.

The most plausible scenario, at least to us, seems to be that President Obama was indeed born in Hawaii but that the document confirming that event contains information that is personally embarrassing to him.  Perhaps he's really Frank Marshall Davis II?

Nope

 (click to enlarge)

Not after January they won't unless they have a very good reason to, thanks to incoming Ramsey County Sheriff Matt Bostrom. 

The odious practice of interrogating neighbors to scare up the flimsiest of reasons to justify a denial of a lawful firearm carry permit that was pretty much standard procedure under the dictatorial reign of Bob Fletcher will very soon be but a distant bad memory, along with all of the many other scandals that occurred under his watch.

The Jack-Booted Thug of the Week...

... is the arrogant and abusive Lincoln Park, Michigan police officer who curses out and threatens to arrest a motorist filming some apparently lazy public works employees simply because the activist politely refuses to stop recording his interaction with the cop (the first part of the vid is an audio summary; the actual footage begins at 0:46):



That's some fine public "service" on display right there.

Special mention has to go to the road crew who blatantly lied when they called in that the motorist was weaving in and out of traffic, even though he was parked on the side of the road the entire time.  Isn't filing a false police report a crime?

"Can we take him in for something?"

For what, not respecting your authoritah?

What a textbook abuse of power.  That first officer should be immediately taken off the street if this video is any indication of how he deals with the public he's supposed to be "serving" on a daily basis.

From the Department of Glaringly Obvious Headlines

"Gibbs:  'It's going to be a while' before Gitmo prison is shut down"

We will cheerfully donate $100 to the charity of Dear Leader's choice if that facility shuts its doors anytime before the end of his term in office (singular emphasized on purpose).

In other news, the press secretary finally admits in the article that President Obama is preparing to issue an executive order which will keep at least a few of the detainees warehoused somewhere indefinitely without trial: 

"'Some would be tried in federal courts, as we've seen done in the past.  Some would be tried in military commissions, likely spending the rest of their lives in a maximum security prison that nobody, including terrorists, have ever escaped from," he said. "And some, regrettably, will have to be indefinitely detained.'"  (all emphases ours)

But not at Guantanamo.  Which, of course, is a distinction without a difference.

Someone please explain to us how Obama's upcoming "new" policy on detainees will differ significantly from the one he so arrogantly (and naively) derided during his campaign for office:

"As president, Barack Obama will close the detention facility at Guantanamo. He will reject the Military Commissions Act, which allowed the U.S. to circumvent Geneva Conventions in the handling of detainees. He will develop a fair and thorough process based on the Uniform Code of Military Justice to distinguish between those prisoners who should be prosecuted for their crimes, those who can’t be prosecuted but who can be held in a manner consistent with the laws of war, and those who should be released or transferred to their home countries."

That's one amazing turnaround, to be sure.

We also haven't heard Dear Leader eloquently bleat about such topics as the "Geneva Conventions" lately.  As he is no doubt learning right about now to his consternation, real life situations will tend to wreck such pie-in-the-sky feel-good agendas.

Dirty car? Pull over there for the unconstitutional extra search

U.S. Border Patrol Agent Eric Morehead (sp?), apparently working at an internal I-19 checkpoint (that is, not at the border), asking to search a motorist's trunk because his "car is dirty":



We can clearly observe a calm and polite citizen whose simple exercising of his 4th Amendment rights manages to fluster several agents (who seem to be at a complete loss as to how to proceed once their "request" is flatly denied).

"Don't take my picture, man. What's wrong with you?"

Photographing law enforcement officers in the public performance of their duties now makes one a weirdo worthy of chastisement, at least according to these particular cops.

Smile and say "cheese", sir.


(via CopBlock.org)

We're going to have to start a new category to keep track of all of his broken pledges

Another solemn campaign promise from Dear Leader goes unfulfilled:

"The Obama administration is preparing an executive order that would formalize indefinite detention without trial for some detainees at the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, but allow those detainees and their lawyers to challenge the basis for continued incarceration, U.S. officials said."

You know, the Chimpy McHitler-created hellhole he solemnly vowed would be long-shuttered by now because it was such an affront to his sensibilities. 

We're starting to cynically think Obama only said all this stuff in order to get elected.

Hopefully his clueless supporters are keeping score as well.

(Link via Unc)

Even a broken clock is right sometimes

President Obama signs legislation allowing gays to serve in the military.

Good.  We don't care what people do or who they date in their private lives.  If they can do the job properly and honorably they deserve to serve their country.

Let them eat cake

"The decision by First Lady Michelle Obama to leave on schedule for her two-week Hawaii vacation and not wait a few days for her delayed husband will probably cost taxpayers more than $63,000 in additional expenses, according to a White House Dossier analysis."

...

"Mrs. Obama’s decision to go without the president forced her to take a separate plane, meaning two flights instead of one were needed to ferry the First Family to their vacation destination. Unless for some reason her plane was headed to Hawaii anyway, her trip involves substantial additional costs."

It's not like our government is trillions of dollars in the hole or anything.

We understand Mrs. Obama's insistence on getting a prompt start to her (10th?  12th?  who's counting?) vacation, though; after all, being First Lady is such hard work.

Another promise down the drain

Washington Post columnist Dana Milbank, certainly no fan of conservatives (he has been particularly critical of the Bush 43 administration) and usually a fan of President Obama's policies, admirably (and bravely) points out Dear Leader's even more atrocious record on "transparency" than those who occupied the Oval Office before him, despite the President's many flowery campaign promises to the contrary:

"The [Wikileaks] episode spotlighted Obama's surprisingly poor record on government openness. The administration has already undertaken four prosecutions of government leakers, more than any predecessor, in some cases using the arcane, World War I-era Espionage Act. At the same time, the administration stymied efforts in Congress to pass a "shield law" to protect journalists' confidential sources. 

Government-secrecy watchdog Steven Aftergood at the Federation of American Scientists reports that the administration has yet to produce recommendations for the "fundamental transformation" of the security classification system that Obama ordered a year ago. The government in the first six months of this year declassified only 8 million of the 400 million documents it is supposed to release by 2013. Over-classification is so prevalent that even the Pentagon Papers - leaked by Daniel Ellsberg nearly four decades ago - are still classified as Top Secret." 

When even your supporters in the media are pointing out that you have no clothes it's perhaps time to rethink your governing style, Mr. President.

Taking back their neighborhood

Twice in the last five days long-term business owners in the East End section of Houston have fatally shot armed gangbangers with long criminal records who had attacked them and their families while attempting to rob their stores:

"Robbers shot the owner, 52-year-old [jewelry store owner] Ramon Castillo, in the abdomen, shoulder and legs, leaving him in critical condition Sunday. Castillo shot and killed the three armed robbers, who had tied up his wife of 30 years."

What a brave individual.  Seems to be a pretty fair marksman under stress as well.  We salute Mr. Castillo's saving of his wife's life and wish him a speedy recovery.

What's even more heartening is that reluctant heroes such as Mr. Castillo, who were only defending the lives and livelihoods of themselves and their loved ones, appear to have the full support of the local police:

"These business people are fighters and survivors," [Harris County Precinct 6 Constable Victor] Trevino said. 'They will fight, do whatever it takes. If it means using deadly force for some of them, it wasn't their choice.'

'The one who made the choice are those suspects who robbed them. I think the ones who should be worried are the crooks. You've got to do what you've got to do, to stay alive. This time, the business people got the upper hand.'"

What a refreshing attitude for law enforcement to have.  Well, this incident happened in Texas, after all. 

(h/t to John Pierce at OpenCarry.org for the heads-up)

Oh come on

"At an all-day White House conference on "environmental justice," Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano announced that her department is creating a new task force to battle the effects of climate change on domestic security operations."

So this is how the liberal Democrats are going to advance their agenda despite the results of the recent election - ruling by bureaucratic fiat "for security reasons".  Just imagine the power they think they're going to wield by taking this tack:

Banning phosphates in dishwasher detergent - a Homeland Security issue

Protecting the endangered Northeastern speckled whateveritis - a Homeland Security issue

Pushing a tax-raising, business-killing "cap-and-trade" agreement - a Homeland Security issue

Draconian new hunting and/or fishing regulations - a Homeland Security issue

Pretty much anything under the sun they can think up that they wish to control - a Homeland Security issue

And so on.

Think we're kidding?

"The all day White House Forum on Environmental Justice also included talks by White House Council on Environmental Quality Chair Nancy Sutley, EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson, Attorney General Eric Holder, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar, Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis, and Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius."

That's a significant part of the current administration right there who are no doubt drooling over acquiring some wide-ranging new powers, all solely for protecting the environment, of course.

The possibilities are endless, and the we dumb chumps naturally will be lectured to shut up and accept these edicts "for our safety".

We wonder if this means that the peasants are soon going to have to go through TSA-style screening in order to enter our national parks.  Can't have some prohibited soap in the campsite, you know.

The Jack-Booted Thug of the Week...

... is Seattle, Washington police officer Ian Birk, for allegedly executing local Native American woodcarver John T. Williams on August 30 of this year for the heinous "crime" of walking down a public street while carving a piece of wood with a legal-length pocketknife.

Video from Birk's patrol car dashcam has been released, and the footage seems to show that Birk wildly overreacted to Williams's perfectly innocent whittling while slowly crossing an intersection in front of his cruiser by jumping out, ordering Williams to drop the knife and then shooting at him 5 times in rapid succession (in the middle of a crowded sidewalk with both pedestrian and vehicle traffic passing close by), hitting him 4 times in the right side:



Birk's first command to drop the knife comes at 0:17 in the video, and the first shot comes at 0:24.  A mere seven seconds, a period during which there has been absolutely no evidence that Williams made any sort of threatening move towards Birk, or anyone else for that matter. 

Williams, by the way, was deaf in his right ear and was apparently wearing headphones at the time, so he probably wouldn't have heard Birk's commands at all (or even seen the cop for that matter, since the autopsy proved that Williams wasn't facing Birk when he received his fatal gunshot wounds).  This innocent (of this "crime", anyway; Williams had a long record of nuisance crimes but certainly didn't deserve this tragic fate) person may have never even noticed the man who gunned him down for engaging in a perfectly lawful activity.

"Birk's badge was later pulled after a Seattle Police Department Review Board and Chief John Diaz reached a preliminary finding that Williams' shooting was not justified."

That's fairly obvious.

An official inquest into the incident is scheduled for January 10.  From all of the public facts released to date, it appears that it will be a very short one that leads to a charge of homicide for (hopefully ex-) Officer Birk.

Lunchtime strollers in Seattle, watch where you peel your apple or slice your pickle.  You just might get a lead dessert courtesy of the local gendarmes if you aren't careful enough.

From the Department of Glaringly Obvious Headlines

"City with strictest gun control laws has most officers killed by gunfire"

Anyone want to hazard a guess as to which town is being described?

That's right, it's good old Chicago, the city where only cops, politicians and felons (categories which all too often unfortunately intersect, Venn-diagram like, into the very same group of people) regularly carry firearms for self-protection:

"In this case, it would appear more restrictions on firearms do not equal a safer community."

Indeed.

Promises, promises

President Obama has signed the tax compromise bill that was approved by Congress barely fourteen hours ago, despite his solemn promise during his presidential campaign to post all such passed legislation for observation and comment via a link on the White House web site for 5 days prior to his taking any such action:

“When there’s a bill that ends up on my desk as president, you the public will have five days to look online and find out what’s in it before I sign it, so that you know what your government’s doing,”

We don't want to hear any weak arguments about this being some sort of "emergency", either.  There are 15 days left before the tax rates would have risen on January 1.  There was plenty of time for the White House to uphold their transparency promise.

This is just one more of the many Dear Leader pledges that he's thrown overboard once he got elected.  How's that Guantanamo Bay closing coming along, Mr. President?

Conflicted on this one

Army doctor Lt. Col. Terry Lakin has been sent to prison for six months and will be dishonorably discharged for refusing to deploy for a second tour to Afghanistan.  Lakin took this action because he wishes President Obama to produce his long-form birth certificate to ensure those deployment orders are indeed coming from a legitimate natural-born Commander-in-Chief.

Dr. Lakin appears to otherwise be an excellent doctor and military officer.  It's unfortunate that this situation has come to this.

We don't quite know how to opine about this case.  We understand the need for military discipline and order, but there certainly is an awful lot of obfuscation going on regarding Obama's official records, and not just his crappy birth certificate, either.

We're not necessarily lumping ourselves in with the "birther" movement (although a simple 5-minute check of our records confirms that our birth was attended by a Dr. William Wallace at Holy Cross Hospital in Silver Spring, Maryland.  Why won't Obama just spend the $12.50 or so and release his own set of birth facts rather than shell out upwards of 2 million dollars fighting people who wish to confirm them?), but we do admit that the sheer amount of Dear Leader's records which have deliberately been hidden from casual public view is nothing short of astounding:

"In fact, there is more than a certified, long-form birth certificate -- a lot more -- about Barack "Barry Soetoro" Hussein Obama that no one outside the hermetic world of sworn-to-silence hospital personnel, state vital records workers, and college bursar-level functionaries has ever seen.  A partial list would include, in addition, Neolani kindergarten records, the Obama-Dunham marriage license, the Obama-Dunham divorce records, the Soetoro-Dunham marriage license, Soetoro adoption records, the Punahou School application and records, Noelami Elementary School records, the Soetoro-Dunham divorce records, consistent selective service registration info, SAT scores, LSAT scores, Occidental College records, financial aid records, passports, Columbia University records, putative Columbia thesis on "Soviet Nuclear Disarmament," Harvard University records, Harvard Law Review records, any writings as president of the Harvard Law Review beyond one tough anti-fetus fragment, Illinois bar records, certificates of baptism or adoption, medical records, Illinois State Senate records from 1997-2004, Illinois State Senate schedule, law practice client list while at Davis, Miner, Barnhill and Gallard, University of Chicago scholarly articles, and more.  Oh, but we do have a document from the Fransiskus Assisi School in Jakarta, a Catholic institution, which shows him enrolled as Barry Soetoro -- as a Muslim and an Indonesian."

The Mystery Man remains unrevealed.  

One fact is undeniable, though - the liberal-dominated major mainstream media completely ignored its vital function of vetting this man during the 2008 Presidential campaign.

Off topic but interesting, at least to me

Michael Moore, the millionaire leftist filmmaker who purports to be a "man of the people" (he dresses like a slobby bum despite being able to afford much better clothes and signs his missives "Flint, Michigan" even though he hasn't lived there in years but instead resides in a lavish apartment in Manhattan) has checked himself into a fancy $4,500 dollar-a-week fat camp in Florida.

Call us, Mr. Moore.  We can recommend a fantastic local personal trainer who will work that flab off you in a hurry for a mere fraction of that outrageous price, unaffordable for most people.  You will both save money as well as help out one of the peasants you supposedly care so much about.

Cause the death of a man and yet only receive traffic tickets - if you're "special" enough, that is

Orange County, Florida Deputy Malinda Miller has been found to be 100% responsible by the Florida Highway Patrol for causing the traffic death of 91-year-old hospital volunteer Ed Soistman last summer. 

Miller was completely at fault because she was responding to a call at 86 mph (more than double the 40 mph speed limit at the site of the wreck) while not using her emergency lights and and/or siren (a violation of department policy) when her cruiser slammed into Mr. Soistman's Buick.  When interviewed at the hospital with minor injuries shortly after the crash, Miller declined to answer questions about the incident on a lawyer's advice, which of course is her Constitutional right.

Her legal sanction for her negligent homicide of Mr. Soistman?  She has received two traffic tickets, the result of which will result in the loss of her driver's license for at least six months. 

Her department sanction for refusing to cooperate in the official crash investigation?   She's under "internal investigation" but is still on paid duty, albeit at a desk position because she naturally is unable to drive a patrol car.

That's it.  That's all the punishment she has received to date for negligently causing the death of from all accounts a person who was obeying the traffic rules while on the way to donate his time to the less fortunate. 

Can anyone imagine a common peasant getting the same sort of consideration?

Well that explains a lot of recent events there

"N.J. doctor supplied steroids to hundreds of law enforcement officers, firefighters"

At least 248 of them, according to the above excellent and well-researched article from Amy Brittain and Mark Mueller at the New Jersey Star-Ledger.

Just what the citizens of that state need - a bunch of roid rage-prone thugs with guns and special powers let loose among them to enforce the very drug laws that the police themselves are breaking.

We especially enjoyed the photos that accompanied the story:

(Greg Pallante/NorthJersey.com)

Here's Officer Rafael Galan of the Passaic County Sheriff's Department, who apparently beat an official misconduct charge alleging he "tipped off the subject of a drug investigation" and so is a current member of that force.  We can't imagine Galan passing a drug test at the time this photo was taken, and wonder if he was ever given one.  

We pity the poor peasant motorist who has to deal with this sort of vain tyrant late at night on a dark road.

Quote of the Day

"Salutatory goals and creative drafting have never been sufficient to offset an absence of enumerated powers"

 - U.S. District Judge Henry E. Hudson, pointing out the obvious in his landmark ruling yesterday - that the Federal government has no constitutional authority to require citizens to purchase anything, whether the product is health care, candy or widgets.

What a hypocritical worm

Some good old-fashioned reverse racism in support of the DREAM Act from the supposedly "learned" professor Kent Wong, Director of the UCLA Center for Labor Research and Education (and previous staff attorney for the Los Angeles branch of the corrupt and thuggish SEIU, so our theory that he's a nakedly partisan liberal mouthpiece for the Democrat Party vote-getting machine seems to be well-established:



"'When that day happens, the young people of the DREAM Act movement, will go on to accomplish and do great things with your lives,' he said. 'You will go on to become lawyers, teachers, doctors and members of the US congress to replace those old white men... You are the hope and future of this country. You are hope and future of your generation.'"  (Emphasis ours)

How long does anyone think a conservative faculty member would last on that campus if he or she were to make a similarly biased public comment?

Mr. Wong must get a large amount of taxpayer dollars to indoctrinate educate young adults in his collectivist philosophy, because he sure lives in a large (glass) house for one who takes such delight in calling out others for their supposed racist and sexist statements.

A good cause

Clarification regarding Joel Rosenberg's legal situation:

A good friend of Joel's has personally guaranteed a line of credit in order to secure Joel's release pending further court action.  There is still a desperate need to raise actual funds so that generous person doesn't get stuck with the bill.  People who are so inclined can contribute in one of the following ways:

1.  At any Wells Fargo Bank branch by specifying the "Joel Rosenberg Benefit Fund"

2.  By check or money order to the following address -

Wells Fargo Bank, NA
C/O The Joel Rosenberg Benefit Fund
330 Clydesdale Trail
Medina, MN 55340

Also, the website for information about the case has changed to freejoel.com.

There has been an overwhelming positive response on behalf of our friend and mentor, and we thank everyone for their efforts.  The gun and freedom-rights community has been stepping up big time.

Now they want to control how you parent

First Lady Michelle Obama thinks all you helpless parents out there just aren't up to the job of properly feeding your kids without the benevolent government stepping in to help:



"We can't just leave it up to the parents"

What arrogance.  These two simply have to insert themselves into every single aspect of the peasants' lives, don't they? 

Perhaps Ms. Obama should take care of her own, ahem, wide caboose as well as Dear Leader's smoking habit before she presumes to lecture the rest of us about our health habits.

Hallelujah

As you've no doubt heard by now, federal judge Henry E. Hudson has (correctly, in our opinion) ruled that Dear Leader's Four Year Plan to require all citizens of the U.S. to purchase a product they may or may not wish to own is indeed unconstitutional.

This sets up an inevitable Supreme Court challenge over the issue, and we like our chances there.

Today's TASER Travesty

Two of the three 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals judges on a panel who heard arguments on this recent case have decided that it's perfectly fine for three Seattle, Washington police officers to TASER (three times!) a 7-months pregnant women whose sole "crime" was to refuse to sign a traffic ticket:

"The majority [Judges Cynthia Holcomb Hall and Diarmuid F. O'Scannlain] noted that the M26 Taser was set in “stun mode” and did not cause as much pain as when set on 'dart mode.'"

Well that minor distinction certainly changes the circumstances, doesn't it?

According to these learned jurists, it's not the misuse of a less-than-lethal self-defense weapon as a pain compliance tool but rather deploying it on too high a setting that makes it "excessive force".

"An officer was holding [Malaika] Brooks’ arm behind Brooks’ back while she was being shocked."

That sounds like unbelievable brutality to us.  She was already being restrained and would seemingly be unable to put up much further resistance due to her obviously gravid condition, yet these cops saw fit to continue to make her twitch and dance, leaving permanent physical scars, according to the story.

One wonders if these judges would have the same opinion if they were required to personally experience the  two settings for themselves.

Lazy, incompetent and abusive government officials- a Joel Rosenberg case update

Yep, the above descriptors definitely apply to you two, Minneapolis Police Lieutenant Michael Fossum and Hennepin County Judge Janet Poston. 

As blogger Popehat helpfully points out, in their haste to "get" Joel into custody these two pillars of government service (in addition to the many other things they seemingly deliberately ignored about Minnesota law in this odious incident) managed to clownishly trip over their own legal shoelaces when Fossum swore out a contempt-of-court arrest warrant for our friend and fellow activist Joel Rosenberg without bothering to fill out the part on the form where the allegedly contemptuous behavior has to be described and the date of the allegedly transgression recorded, which means that Judge Poston apparently rubber-stamped Fossum's request without taking 5 minutes to read the paperwork (click to enlarge):

It's very interesting to learn that DESCRIBE BEHAVIOR, especially when committed after the DATE OF ORDER, happens to be illegal.  Good to know.  We'll be extra-careful to not DESCRIBE BEHAVIOR on our next visit to the state.We completely understand that the good Lieutenant was in a hurry and all, since Joel's perfectly legal visit to City Hall had occurred almost a month earlier, and there was just no time in that entire period to do a little proofreading (or any law review at all).

One more detail from our reading of the warrant - Lieutenant Fossum writes that "The Hennepin County Sheriff's Office Court Security Office has no record of ROSENBERG providing notice of his intent to carry a firearm into the Fourth Judicial District Courthouse Complex." 

We know without a shadow of a doubt the above (sworn, we remind everyone) statement isn't true, as Joel knows full well the existence and importance of the notification process, something he both writes about in his book on legally carrying a firearm in Minnesota (which is listed as a resource by the Minnesota Legislative Library, by the way.  Oh, that these particular law-enforcement doofuses would avail themselves of a copy) as well as lectures to his carry class students, of whom we proudly count ourselves alumni.

We're very happy to report that another member of Joel's very large group of friends and supporters has generously posted his bail, and he is now safe at home and undoubtedly planning to legally eviscerate this gang of incompetent and power-abusing thugs.  If anyone is so inclined, they can donate to his legal defense fund through any branch of Wells Fargo Bank by specifying the Joel Rosenberg Benefit Fund.

The latest information in the case can always be found here.

Off topic but interesting, at least to me

The most adorable heavy metal lead singer ever:

Good enough for the goose...

Certain Latin American nations such as Costa Rica are being swamped by illegal aliens from even poorer countries, Nicaragua in this particular case.  In response, Costa Rica has built walls along its borders and begun deporting large numbers of people caught unlawfully residing there.

Sound familiar?

Those widely-panned immigration policies seem perfectly good enough for all other countries save America, strangely enough.  We wonder why?

Today's TASER Travesty

Just one more reason to stay well clear of the corrupt cesspool that is Chicago:

"According to the report, officers used Tasers on 683 occasions in the year ended Sept. 30, up sharply from 197 in 2009 and 163 in 2008."

The article notes that the approximately 200% increase in TASER usage is attributed to the fact that CPD is now handing them out like PEZ dispensers to pretty much every officer, despite the department's previously halting a plan to distribute them department-wide after several high-profile cases of alleged misuse.

The force has apparently also decided, according to the article, that it will no longer follow up on every incident in which a TASER is discharged, citing a backlog of other police complaints and manpower problems with its independent review board.

An enormous increase in TASER usage + no more review of that usage except in the most egregious of cases + a police agency famous for its many cases of abuse of power? 

Not a comforting thought, to say the least.

Who?

"Aaron Sorkin brands Sarah Palin TV show 'a snuff film'"

Because her show featured a hunt in which she shot a caribou.

"He described Palin as 'deranged', a 'witless bully' and a 'phony pioneer girl'."

Well, Mr. Sorkin, you're a crackhead who writes formulaic drivel that attempts to be creative propaganda but in reality only masquerades as quality entertainment.

Wow, cheap name-calling in the absence of a reasoned intellectual argument is really easy!  Thanks for the tip, Crackie!

The abusive dicators are already scared of what's going to be written about them

The corrupt, power-abusing brain trust down at the Hennepin County Government Center is already interested in learning what the blogosphere's got to say about their ordering the arrest of Joel Rosenberg just a short while ago (click for a bigger image):

Suffice it to say the reaction is not going to be good, fellows.

Literally thousands of people are now paying attention to your persecution of Joel and his family.  Quit it.  Now.

Breaking news

We've just received word that our friend and fellow activist Joel Rosenberg has been arrested by the Hennepin County, Minnesota Sheriff's Office on a felony warrant, signed by Judge Janet Poston, over his lawful carry of a handgun into Minneapolis City Hall on November 5 of this year (details here, video here)  as well as contempt of court for supposedly defying a judicial order banning carry in Hennepin County courthouses despite his plainly giving advance written notice to Sheriff Rich Stanek as required by law (actually it's wasn't required, since City Hall is not a courthouse and as such does not have security measures in place, which is also why Joel isn't in contempt of court, since a judge can no more designate a run-of-the-mill office building a courthouse than he or she can designate a pickle a hammer).

Joel had been on his way to another meeting with Minneapolis police to obtain some documents pursuant to FOIA requests made by him.  That's presumably when he was taken into custody.

Those are the facts as we know them at this time.  Now our speculation (and the following is our opinion only):

This is nothing more than the malicious prosecution of a man (who happens to be a 56-year-old hypertensive diabetic, by the way) who is rightly taking on the Minneapolis Police Department over (1)  the malicious arrest and recharging by the city attorney, even after the charges have already been already dropped once, of Joel's wife on bogus domestic assault charges over nothing more than her disciplining her daughter in public (the daughter herself doesn't allege abuse), and (2)  Joel's filing of criminal assault charges against Minneapolis Police Spokesman William Palmer for forcibly disarming him when he showed up legally armed at Chief Tim Dolan's office to pick up documents in person that Palmer illegally tried to charge Joel money for, then refused to send as required by the Minnesota Data Practices Act, forcing Joel to show up in person to obtain them.  If what Joel did was such an illegal act then why wasn't he arrested right there and then?  Inquiring minds want to know, as the old saying goes.

More details as they come in, including an upcoming statement from Joel's wife.

UPDATE:  The official place for news and updates about this incident is here.

Badged, drunk and armed is no way to go through life, son

Baltimore, Maryland police officer Gahiji Tshamba was leaving a local bar after a night of drinking while armed as per department policy on June 5 of this year when he became involved in a dispute with an Iraqi war veteran named Tyrone Brown.  The off-duty cop ended up shooting Brown 12 times with his duty sidearm, killing the unarmed man.  Tshamba is now being held without bail on a first-degree murder charge. 

Incredibly, this isn't the first time "Officer" Tshamba has shot someone while off-duty and apparently intoxicated (he refused a breath test after the Brown incident).  In 2005 he shot and wounded a 17-year-old boy while having a blood alcohol level of .12%, half again the level that would result in a drunken driving charge had he been behind the wheel of a car.  Tshamba wasn't charged with a crime on that occasion but was disciplined by the department (he really seemed to learn his lesson, didn't he?).  

Even more incredibly, despite Tshamba's history of poor judgment as well as several other incidents involving off-duty cops and alcohol, the head of the force is stubbornly refusing to change the requirement that officers be armed at all times while within the city limits, regardless of how much they may be intent on whooping it up: 

"Baltimore Police Commissioner Frederick H. Bealefeld III is considering changes, such as a restriction on drinking while armed. But he's reluctant to toss out a decades-old policy that he says helps protect the public." 

Yessir, sure sounds like the public is sure being well-"protected" by that particular rule, Mr. Bealefeld.  Go ahead and take your time pondering whether or not to change it. 

"An Associated Press review of investigative records shows that since 2005, off-duty Baltimore officers have shot people 15 times. In a dozen cases, the officers intervened to stop crimes or defend themselves. But the three shootings that led to officers being disciplined — and another instance when an off-duty officer was killed by a fellow cop — involved alcohol or took place around bars." 

So a local Bawlmer peasant out late at night apparently runs only a 20% chance of being wrongly shot by a drunken off-duty "special person".  Somehow those just don't seem like very good odds to us. 

We remind everyone that Maryland is a "may-issue" handgun carry permit state pretty much in name only as the State Police, which processes permit applications from citizens, pretty much requires a signed, notarized death threat to get off their butts and issue one to someone who isn't a celebrity, a politician or otherwise connected in some way to a person in charge.  That's most likely a good thing, you see, as the unwashed masses would only do something incredibly stupid like go get liquored up while strapped and shoot themselves into trouble... Oh.  Right. 

To sum up, law-abiding state residents are denied their fundamental right of self-defense while off-duty police are allowed to defend themselves from being crime victims even though they may be bombed out of their skulls.  That hardly seems fair, now does it? 

We're so glad we no longer are forced to comply with the freedom-denying policies of the martinets who run the state of our birth.

A good one passes on

Deputy Commander Ahuva Tomer, the chief of police in Haifa, Israel (and the first woman named to such a senior law-enforcement position in that country), has died of burns received while personally attempting to rescue people caught in a negligently-set forest fire that also caused the deaths of 42 police cadets who were trying to evacuate a local jail. 

Ms. Tomer was by all accounts that we've seen a dedicated professional who devoted her life to police work.  Our respect and sympathies go out to her family, friends and coworkers.

Amateur Hour

A helpful hint for the FBI:

If you're going to recruit convicted felons to infiltrate religious groups and allegedly attempt to entrap members into planning violent crimes against other Americans, you might want to caution them about doing too enthusiastic of a job:

"In the Irvine case, [Craig] Monteilh's mission as an informant backfired. Muslims were so alarmed by his talk of violent jihad that they obtained a restraining order against him."

Mr. Monteilh received $177,000 of peasant-supplied money (tax-free, to boot) to play Super Spy for 15 months and the only person arrested (besides Monteilh himself, on yet more theft charges unrelated to his stellar informant work) in the operation had the charges against him completely dropped by prosecutors once the case went south, despite the Feds previously claiming that the defendant was an imminently grave threat to national security.

We theorize that the formidable comic talents of actor Jim Carrey will be necessary to properly portray the role of Mr. Monteilh in the inevitable big-screen adaption of this debacle.

From the Department of Glaringly Obvious Headlines

"Barack Obama's 2-year pay freeze misleading"

Turns out this much-heralded "freeze" is nothing but a suspension of cost-of-living adjustments (has anyone in a private-sector job gotten one of these lately?).  Scheduled step increases (based on time in the job and not merit) will continue as normal as will bonuses for senior (highly-paid) workers, albeit at 2010 levels, and the COLA hold applies only to some federal employees. 

The most notable exception?  Legislative branch workers.  Gotta keep those Hill drones happy churning out the myriad new laws required to further burden the peasantry.

Only in D.C. can a "freeze" be anything but.

At least major news outlets are finally becoming unafraid to openly dissect Dear Leader's pronouncements to uncover the falsehoods that usually lie within.

Then how could such an offense be committed?

"U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer introduced a bill Sunday that calls for punishing anyone who misuses full-body scan images by up to a year in prison. They could also face fines of up to $100,000."

But... but... the TSA has repeatedly and forcefully avowed that such images "cannot be stored, transmitted or printed".  How, then, could someone possibly "misuse" those images?

Unless, of course, we've been lied to all along and those pics can in fact be saved, forwarded and/or printed, which would make perfect sense because, after all, the images are ultimately evidence.

Which is it, Senator?

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

... are the members of the Kansas City, Missouri police department who elected to conduct a "no-knock" raid, complete with a flash-bang grenade, on a house which contained an 84-year-old invalid woman as well as a 2-year-old child.

The highly dangerous situation that necessitated such an immediate high-risk action on the part of the tacticool-clad ninjas?  They were looking for the cell phone of a homicide victim which allegedly had been used by a family member who hadn't lived there for four months, and who was currently in police custody.

"A Jackson County Circuit Court judge signed the search warrant that allowed police to enter [JeTuan] Jones’ home Nov. 3. But police did not request — and the judge did not grant — permission to barge in unannounced. Police usually give a judge specific reasons for conducted a 'no knock' entry."

"Special people" don't have to follow the same laws as the rest of us peasants.  Ms. Jones should have been well-aware of that apparent fact, seeing as how she is a former police dispatcher.

"After barging in, police realized her brother did not live there and left without searching, Jones said."

And without apologizing, and without offering to pay for the damage to her house, estimated at thousands of dollars. 

"Police say they don’t usually pay for damage if it is considered 'reasonable.'"

Nothing about this incident appears to be "reasonable" on the part of these clueless cops.

Upcoming: Spice control

Apparently many of the precious little snowflakes out there have begun smoking and/or eating large amounts of nutmeg in order to get high.  Accordingly, we're on the lookout for upcoming emergency legislation to outlaw common baking ingredients to "protect the children" from their own stupid selves.

We know one thing - if these brats ruin our enjoyment of pumpkin pie we're going to be royally ticked off.

(Thanks to dear friend Pei-Pei Heikkinen for the link)

What he doesn't tell you

The local Chicago TV piece that Dear Leader's nominee for ATF Director would no doubt prefer you didn't view:



What Andrew Traver doesn't disclose in this execrable propaganda piece is that new sales of fully automatic weapons have already been banned in the U.S. since 1986 and that used ones, if and when they become available, are only sold by specially licensed gun dealers to citizens who must meet stringent requirements.  Our local Class 3 dealer has a Kalashnikov AK-47 similar to the one demonized in the story available for sale.

For 15,000 dollars.  Hardly within the budget of your average gangbanger, even if they could pass the background check required to purchase such an item.

This interview alone should disqualify the lying weasel Traver from assuming his nominated position.


(Thanks to Robert Farago at The Truth About Guns)

From the Department of Glaringly Obvious Headlines

A few quick hits:


"High Court questions broad use of FOIA exemption"

By President Transparency's open administration, of course. 

"Obama may delay Hawaiian vacation over tax fight"

Don't strain yourself, sir.  Fret not; we're sure you'll still be able to score some prime tee times.

"U.S. Rep. John Conyers says he's sorry, will repay government for son's use of congressional vehicle"

Darn skippy he will.  In other news, an expensive 2010 Cadillac Escalade SUV apparently is a perfectly valid choice for a run of the mill "government vehicle".  An identical size but less-tony hence less-expensive Chevy Tahoe just wouldn't do?  It sure is nice to be one of the overlords who control the purse-strings.

"John Conyers III, 20, had worked in a $15-an-hour part-time job for his mother, Monica Conyers, a Detroit city councilwoman, before she pleaded guilty to federal bribery charges."  (emphasis ours)

Christmas dinner this year is sure going to be interesting in that particular household.

"Democratic Leader Says Will Force Vote on Dream Act" 

He doesn't have the votes; it's merely pandering to his base.  

Bring it on, Mr. Reid.  A failure to pass this amnesty bill during the lame-duck session will hopefully make it go away for a good while at least, as forever is probably too much to hope for.

Odd, isn't it?

For a country that is so reviled on the world stage by so many other supposedly "enlightened" quasi-socialist nations, the U.S. sure does become popular when those same snobby governments come hat in hand begging us to bailout their bankrupt economies.

Let 'em go under.  It's the only way they're ever going to learn that Collectivism Lite, just like its big brother Communism, simply doesn't work.

The inevitable result of Communism

(Video is compromised.  Go to the below link to view.)

Horrifying.

Hey hipster kids, this is what the dude depicted on your oh-so-chic Che shirt considered a dream society.

Still think Communism is cool?