March 2nd 2010 Republican Primary Voter's Guide

You didn't know it, but there is an election in Texas this Tuesday, March 2nd.

It is a primary election. You get to pick what flavor of lizard you want to see on the ballot in the General election this November. If you didn't like McCain for President, this is your chance to have your say in who you actually get to vote for. voter turnout is usually astonishingly low in primary elections, so you will probably be voting for at least five, maybe as many as twenty or more of your fellow Texans. For crying out loud, if you care, VOTE!

It took me about three hours to figure out what you are about to read. The sample ballot for Travis County is here (link is a .pdf file).

If you live in Travis County, and especially if you live with me in District 222, and you don't want to take the time to do your homework, vote like me. My intention is to vote as follows in the Primary this March 2nd:

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District 10, United States Representative
Joe Petronis - Talks the Talk, let's see if he can walk the walk. The other challenger unfortunately died during the campaign. Incumbent McCaul has started getting closer to talking the talk lately, but it's a change in tune for him. McCaul has been there long enough-OUT!

Governor
Debra Medina - Talks the Talk and how! Hutchison is a 'wobbly' at best, and Perry doesn't respect property rights OR care for a smaller government. Plus he's been there long enough-OUT!

Railroad Commissioner
Victor Carillo is doing the job, knows the job, and should keep the job. Porter should be an also-ran by this time next year.

Place 3, Justice, Supreme Court
This is likely to go to a runoff election, so I'm posting my notes in full, for my own future reference as well as so that my readers can see where I am coming from on this one.
Rick Strange - the name almost killed the candidate before I even looked into the race. Then I looked into the race. He looks like the best choice to me.

Other candidates for this position:
Jim Moseley - already HAS a job as an elected Justice. Let him run for THAT when his term runs out. It speaks poorly of him that he is willing to quit what he was elected to do, to be elected to do the same thing with a fancier title. That said, if he were up against anyone but Strange, I'd say go for Moseley over the rest of these candidates.
Rebecca Simmons - has crazy eyes. I can't tell you how many times that first impression has proved to be a very accurate warning signal.
Jeff Brown - also has crazy eyes, even closer to sides of head than Simmons.
Debra Lehrmann - looks like a stone-hearted b*tch, which is exactly the kind of woman I want, if we have to get a chick Justice. Negative points for being endorsed by the Austin-American Statesman.
Rick Green - sorry Mr. Rock Star, but you have to be SOME kind of a judge before you can be elected to SCOTX!

Place 9, Justice, Supreme Court
Eva Guzman - had the good fortune to be appointed to the position, knows the job, may as well keep it and not screw up the case load by transferring it to another new judge.

District 10, Member State Board of Education
Rebecca Osborne

District 50, State Representative
Ryan Lambert - aside from some typographical errors ('cuz I'm uptight like that), I could have written most of his campaign positions.

Place 4, Justice, 3rd Court of Appeals District
Melissa Goodwin - Precinct 211 Chair Dan McDonald said it already at least as well as I could.

The Republicans are running some ballot propositions, which are non-binding party line type statements. I understand that the Democrats ("party of the people" indeed!) are running NO propositions on their primary ballot.

Ballot Proposition #1: Photo ID
"The Texas legislature should make it a priority to protect the integrity of our election process by enacting legislation that requires voters to provide valid photo identification in order to cast a ballot in any and all elections conducted in the State of Texas."
No - we need to have a strong requirement for registering to vote, and no ability for anyone to vote twice under any normal circumstance. You register, you show up at your polling place with your registration card (or, as it stands currently, with your drivers licence with a photo on it) and you vote. You can't vote anywhere else. The Democrats HATE this one-location polling by the way; can't vote 10x if you have to do all your voting in front of the same group of poll workers!

Ballot Proposition #2: Controlling Government Growth
Every government body in Texas should be required to limit any annual increase in its budget and spending to the combined increase of population and inflation unless it first gets voter approval to exceed the allowed annual growth or in the case of an official emergency.
Yes - Texas voters love to approve additional spending, and getting a spending measure on the ballot is almost a guarantee of getting it approved. We should at least give lip service to making the effort though, so Yes.

Ballot Proposition #3: Cutting Federal Income Taxes
In addition to aggressively eliminating irresponsible federal spending, Congress should empower American citizens to stimulate the economy by Congress cutting federal income taxes for all federal taxpayers, rather than spending hundreds of billions of dollars on so-called “federal economic stimulus”.
Yes - the best way to cut income taxes is by fully implementing the Fair Tax, and failing that to at least leave us alone to spend our own money as we like. This seems a feel-good rah-rah proposition, but Yes.

Ballot Proposition #4: Public Acknowledgment of God
The use of the word “God”, prayers, and the Ten Commandments should be allowed at public gatherings and public educational institutions, as well as be permitted on government buildings and property.
Yes - The people who made our Constitution (without creating a the 'wall of separation between church and state' by the way) prayed in Jesus' name in the very first Congress. This is a no-brainer unless you hate God for what the people in your life have done.

Ballot Proposition #5: Sonograms
The Texas Legislature should enact legislation requiring a sonogram to be performed and shown to each mother about to undergo a medically unnecessary, elective abortion.
No - Some of you will be surprised by this one I'm sure. This is an unfunded mandate and not an inexpensive one. Would it save lives? Yes, it definitely would. Is it the business of the State to jump in between the murderers and the babies? Not until we are willing to declare it murder! I'm for making it easy for Operation Rescue and the like to persuade women to choose life. Print a booklet with pictures of babies and give them to women. Maybe even make a film they have the option to see, showing a sonogram. Give them the option to see a sonogram at the murderer's expense even . . . but this sort of mandate is an ugly step too far, in the middle of an ugly subject. It would also make it hard on the women trying to kill their inconvenient children, but I'm actually FOR that.

Feel Free To Donate A .22LR Revolver To The Cause

Unless somebody pops tall and gives me a revolver to help out with my new shooter classes (see "Let me take you shooting" on the right side of the page) then I'm probably going to end up buying a Ruger Single Six for the purpose.

A low power handgun is a great way to introduce newbies to shooting . . . you know you don't shoot yours that much anyway . . . c'mon it's for The Cause . . . !

You Just Pissed Away $15200000000

The treasury will be adding another $15.2B to the national debt because Fannie Mae lost it. This is your problem because your Elected Heroes have removed the limit on how much "we" are willing to steal from our children in order to keep Fannie Mae afloat.

Congratulations, and sleep well.

USA = Greece?

"the same sort of financial shell game that has brought governments like Greece to a crisis point."

That's what they're starting to say about the things WE are doing with our budget. It's like what the huge banks did when the recent real estate bubble was being blown. It's why our credit rating is in danger. There is one critical difference between the USA and Greece, however:

NOBODY CAN BAIL OUT THE USA

If somebody decides they actually want to be repaid a few Trillion dollars of US Treasury debt, what will they do? Do you think for a minute that China wouldn't go to war over a trillion dollar theft? How about Japan?

If the USA goes down like Greece could soon do, it's sink or swim for every nation in the world. I am thinking a lot of Sink will happen. Also, I don't find USA mentioned in the Biblical discussion of the end of the world.

Greece appears to be trying to fix itself, and it is being thwarted by public unions. Will we be able to fix ourself?

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Hat tip: Michael Savage

OFA Recruiting Talk Show Callers For 'Healthcare'

Is it really appropriate for the President to have a national "community" organization devoted to himself, instead of to the country?

Well he does.

Is it appropriate, given that he does, for him to try to influence the national debate on pending legislation by subterfuge? OFA has started sending seminar callers to radio talk shows, complete with talking points. I have heard a couple already. Just as with the Presidential campaign, there is heavy emphasis on personal anecdotes and inaccurate, empty talking points. Nobody else but Savage has mentioned this yet.

Another Worthy Place To Put $5

A man who should be hailed as a hero rots in a military prison. The end of his story is not written. Listeners donated, and Savage just contributed in their name, $50,000 to the defense fund of Lieutenant Michael Behenna.

This guy was railroaded. Contribute if you can.

Women Playing Men's Sports

Overheard @ my house during the hockey game last night.

My Darling Wife: Womens' Hockey?
VFD: (also confused) No. (sees too many ponytails & begins to doubt)
DW: Yes.
. . .
DW: Do they have to play every mens sport?
VFD: Yes.
DW: Why?
VFD: Because, two generations ago, they all lost their daddies. Also three generations ago.

We are suffering the aftershocks in our culture, of the 8.2 earthquake in our population caused by World Wars one and two. Whole generations of women reared without the best and bravest men our country had to offer, with pictures instead of fathers. I am not sure we can recover from this. With God's help we could, but call me a pessimist at the prospects of a revival in America. But keep praying . . . Nineveh staved off destruction for a full century by turning to God from their wickedness.

Parenting Pro Tip: Bedtime

DO NOT give your 2 year-old chocolate cake before bedtime. Trust me on this.

Bleg: What Is The Golden Eye?

Col. Cooper made a passing reference to something called "The Golden Eye" as a standard evaluation of a shottist's skill. I can't find what this consists of with an online search. Do any of you, the Orange Gunsite Family, remember?

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I was going to make this a post about standard smallarms skills evaluation courses of fire, but that has already been well covered by Fr. Frog, here. Note: the Golden Eye isn't included in his list.

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Update: Fr. Frog says he thinks the Golden Eye was a long-range visual target acquisition thing. Mark me and my decade-old glasses down for a failure on that one then. Oh well.

SeaWorld Waiting For Death #4

After killing three humans, they are not killing or releasing the orca that killed its "trainer" the other day. I guess a KILLER whale is harder to come by than a marine biologist.

The Most Ethical Congress EVER . . .

. . . caught breaking the rules again. Quelle surprise.

Republicrats Fall For Rope-A-Dope

The GOP had thoroughly defeated Obama's pet socialized medicine bill. IF Steele were any sort of a leader, they would have advanced even MORE publicly their own incremental reforms that would lead to eventual righting of the listing ship SS USHealthInsurancePlan. IF. They don't have good leadership, however.

The Demicans said the GOP wasn't bipartisaning* enough. This is always a sign that the Democrats are on the ropes and can see that they are about to be completely defeated. The Republicans like to fall for this ploy. So, the Republicans went to the "healthcare summit" with the President today. As predicted, nothing was accomplished at the summit. The President refused to scrap his bill or include any of the things that the republicans have already proposed (that the President voted against as a Senator) which could actually make the system better.

Now, because they have failed to yield their principled positions to his majesty, Obama can come out and trumpet to the government-educated via his sock-puppet dinosaur media, that the Republicans aren't bipartisaning enough. Now he has no choice but to proceed without them. That is to say, reading between the lines of the things which will be announced quietly on Saturday, the Democrats are going to try to force 'healthcare' through by the reconciliation process.

When the Republicans used reconciliation to get budget matters taken care of, it was a wicked power grab. Now it is the morally-righteous last resort of a President faced with a group of Republicans just out to spite him. Obviously they don't want to reform health care insurance in America, or else they would have given some ground at the summit, right? riiiiight?

I'm going to have to run for office, if this sort of stupidity is kept up. SOMEbody has to have some damn sense to see through stuff like this. If the Republicans don't offer endless amendments and use continuous stall tactics to prevent 'healthcare' from passing via reconciliation, America is well and truly done. As my Pastor says, we'll just be waiting for the fizzle.

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*Bipartisaning: doing what I want you to do, and the hell with what you want or what is good for the People/the country.

Real Estate: Second Verse, Worse Than The First?

No, not US new-home sales numbers which "unexpectedly" dipped to a record low (as predicted) and no, I'm not talking about the December -16.8% off-a-cliff numbers. There was still some wind-down from the first time homebuyer credit then. Now we're seeing the REAL pop of Obama's housing market demand minibubble.

No, we're not talking about that right now. Right now, we're talking about several hundreds of banks that were safe from going Tango Uniform during the residential real estate crash, going Tango Uniform as a result of the commercial real estate (CRE) crash.

What crash, VFD? CRE may be slow but it isn't in the news. Nobody's talking CRE crash!

Not yet. . . . Ask me again next year. And the year after that. You know, when you are out of a job because your company can't borrow any more money.

It is good to know my company works on a capital basis, vs. a credit basis. It is bad to know that we may shut our doors, when everyone else has to shut their doors also, when the economy collapses.

Time to start laying by stores of food and ammunition: maybe right now. I hope not. We'll see. Worst case, you eat it and laugh at me in 4 years. If we make it that far.

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. . . It's not that I'm a pessimist . . .
. . . but I just saw a hand appear out of nowhere one day and start writing on the wall . . .

An Ugly Economic Feeling

Consumer Confidence Plunges.

Unexpectedly.

Read some of Mish's comments and see if you like where this is going. If you thought 2008 was rough, you ain't seen nothin' yet.

ACLU Honors Van Jones

So the ACLU calls Van Jones a national treasure. And? One group of far lefties scratches the back of a far out lefty.

Ai Mi Cabesito

I almost left work 2.5 hours early, I have such an headache. Allergies. I have them. Too much tiredness floating around in the air. Or something. Argh.

Objective Reportage Not Required For Progressives.

A reporter made the mistake of insisting that there is an objective reality which can be reported on in an objective fashion. He was fired. Click that link and read the things the APN stands for, compare them with the things the Obama administration is pushing hard for, and then consider the reason this reporter was fired.

Is this the change you were hoping for?

Another spiked story from: Moonbattery.com

Who Goes To Jail For This?

"Somebody" tried to bribe Joe Sestak into not running for Senator against Arlen Specter. They tried to offer him the job as Secretary of the Navy. This is illegal, apparently, so in the REPUBLIC of the USA:

WHO GOES TO JAIL?

Somebody better get arrested here, because this isn't Chicago and you can't just make stuff like this go away. Especially when this is the SECOND FRIKKEN TIME a Democrat politician comes out and says someone at the white house tried to bribe them out of running for the Senate, FIVE months away from an election.

Is this the change you were hoping for?

Hat tip to: Moonbattery

Ride In A B-17 Flying Fortress . . . For $430?!

A B-17 has been restored for the inflation-adjusted number of dollars ($3.5M) it took to build her in the first place (approximately, according to the calculator I got from thin air next to my desk).

They gussied it up like the Liberty Belle, and you can take a ride in it. For the low-low admission price of $430. Ouch, but how cool is that? Can you imagine the experience of a man who was a nose gunner over Europe a million years and two lifetimes ago, to be able again to look out of that turret and see the world spread out below him? Can you imagine that view yourself?

There's no way in H-E-doubletoothpicks they'll ever make a plane like this again. If I had the money, I'd ride the heck out of it.

Take Not Council Of Thy Fears

~or~ Go FASTER in the wet, People!

I know this is a foreign concept around here, and somewhat more difficult to understand because huge, fluffy snowflakes are falling on your car, but come on now: If you are splashing WATER on the car next to you as they pass you on the right, you need to either move over, or speed up, or both.

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It snowed in Austin and all the surrounding area today. Actual makes-perfect-snowballs snow, along with some sleet and freezing rain. By lunch there was some accumulation and I made a snowmonster on the front lawn at work. The snow looked like about an inch and a half deep, plenty enough to make up . . .

Algore the Abominable!!!!1!



Because I work with a valiant bunch of lads, by the time I came out from the shop at the day's end, Algore there had taken a pretty nasty shanking to the head, with a kitchen knife as long as he is tall, and plenty of ketchup-gore for effect. Also he had sprouted a huge penis, because they are young males, after all.

There was reportedly a snowball fight between the General Manager and Maintenance Dude. One of the drivers waited 10 minutes but the attackers held out, and eventually he was ambushed by 4 snowball laden men when he got out of his truck.

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Did Al Gore come into town? What's the deal with all the global warming on the ground then?

Shooting At Luke AFB, AZ

A couple of people in a stolen car tried to run the main entrance gate at Luke Air Force Base in Arizona. This turned out better than one might hope: one dead, one injured. Too bad an insurance company is going to have to pay out for the car, but at least the world's population has been thinned-out by one car thief. The other lives yet, I hope soon to roll on his partners in crime and turn state's evidence.

I shake my head at the people on the Internet who seem to genuinely want this to be an act of terrorism. Do you people really want to be the next Israel? Really? If so, feel free to go over there and see if you like the atmosphere, with armed guards literally all over the place and the constant threat of the Religion of Peace trying to blow you up for not submitting to their stone. It wouldn't surprise me if the car thieves had yabba-dabba names. It also wouldn't surprise me if they were just a couple of car thieves who thought it was 'only' another Policeman, not an Air Force Policeman, who was ordering them to stop.

Congratulations to the AFP at Luke for above-average marksmanship. Reports have both occupants of the car shot, one fatally. Bravo Zulu.

GET IN THE HOLE!!!1~

You expose the masses of rough people to sports requiring gentility, this is what happens.

You know what you get for crying because you got jeered when you were trying to make a shot? More jeering. Welcome to North America baby, get used to it. And if you are still trying to maintain your innocence and delicacy after you CHOKED on that 10th shot, for the love of Pete don't turn on the pay-per-view cable menu!

BBL: Because You Can't Sent Mail Bombs.

We sold a Cisco switch for $18 on day 1.
It shipped on day 2.
On the 9th day after the sale we got a negative feedback saying we wouldn't email the customer, and the unit had a loud fan.
. . .
That would be, AFTER we talked to them on the frikken TELEPHONE on the 7th day. They called & said it wouldn't power on, and it magically did alluvasudden when we were on the phone with them.

Go ask the buyers of the one hundred ninety six other ones of these that we sold, about how unhelpful and uncommunicative we are. And welcome to the Blocked Bidder's List, jerky.

Let Me See If I Have This Straight . . .

. . . according to the Democrats' new healthcare system destruction bill which costs $200B more than the $800B Senate bill:

Kathleen Sebelius gets put in charge of a government body that says when and how much medical insurance rates can be increased.

The government also says what insurance plans must pay for.

The government plan also won't let the insurance companies turn away people that already have the medical problem the plans must pay for.

1300+ private insurance plans must run at a profit or be shut down by shareholders/boards of directors/whatever

1 government plan will be able to run at a loss forever, or until the shooting starts, whichever comes first.

. . . and this is somehow supposed to be NOT a naked attempt to force the country into a single-payer socialized medicine plan, how?

Fairness and competition are their truest aims. Right.

Quote of The Day 02/22/2010

"Who needs a dog in Washington when you've got Colin Powell? -Laura Ingraham

Colin powell must need a jobby-job or something. You don't hear such strong support of Barry O. from much of anyone anymore. Except in the lamestream media. Hey, maybe he is gunning for an MSNBC commentator position . . .

Austin Schools Facing Budget Emergency.

Earlier this year, a few weeks? months? ago, I was shaking my head at the Austin school district people. They were talking about hiring an additional teachers and spending like $50M for a dual-language program. I wondered how they could possibly do that sort of thing in the middle of a depression. Turns out, much like the guy down the street from you who lost his job a year ago and didn't tell you he isn't paying his mortgage, they can't afford it.

The radio news this morning said they are looking to see how AISD can declare a state of fiscal emergency so they can lay off a bunch of people to make up for a $46M budget gap. The problem, if you haven't been paying attention to Michael Shedlock, is not the number of teachers. The problem is the teachers' union. Nobody has to be fired, if some would take a pay cut. Nobody would need a pay cut, likely, if they would all agree to a cut in their medical/dental/pension benefits. Unions like pissing in the pot until the pot is kicked over, however, and so they're going to be getting some of their members fired.

Why would they do that?

Because, as Michael Savage told us, liberalism is a mental disorder.

Happy Blogaversary To ME!

This makes VFD officially 2 years old. Once again I'll take the occasion to repeat the disclaimer that would not have been necessary 50 52 years ago:

Nothing on this blog is intended to be hateful. If you see it and think you are seeing something hateful, you are reading it wrong or taking the wrong meaning. Just because I may disagree with and denigrate you, does not mean I hate you. It just means you are wrong.

If you perceive a threat of violence, your perception is wrong. You may be mistaking a warning or a promise for a threat.

Some of the things discussed may be dangerous. Do not attempt to do the things I do.

If you think I told you to do something illegal, you are reading it wrong. Always obey the law.

This disclaimer is subject to change at any time without notice.

Save Your Pennies . . .

My birthday is coming up fast, only 7 more months!

That interim should be sufficient for each of you to save up $300-ish to purchase either a Modelo 1927 or a Modelo 1916, from JLD for me. Feel free to also include a case of cartridges for it as well.

(heck, I wouldn't pistol-whip you with it, if you were to get me a Ballester Molina)

Spotting Frauds In Martial Arts

~or~ I Can't Believe I Read The Whole Thing!

At the things worth believing in, you may go and read a (very) long article on the subject of discovering a fraudulent martial art instructor. It is also valuable for the thinking man, as a source of wisdom in dealing with people generally. Go read the whole thing. It is long. It is worth it.

Senator Lautenberg Has Cancer

Finally couldn't stomach the partisan wrangling, eh? Oh, nevermind, the stomach-related jokes can go on ad nauseum. ;)

May I advise this genuinely old man, that perhaps a lower-stress career is in order?

Tiger Woods

Enough already with the Tiger coverage. He needs Jesus just like the rest of us. Until he gets saved, expect him to continue having difficulty keeping it zipped up. I'm glad he lost a brazilian dollars of endorsements to play a gentleman's game, for not being one.

/coverage.

If You Drive Like This, You STINK!

This morning was foggy. Less than 1 mile visibility. Sky: light gray. Road: light gray. Median dividing wall: light gray. Color of car belonging to idiot driver on highway 35: light gray.

You will please recall that Austin drivers tailgate like it was a frikken NASCAR race, constantly.

This morning, I had to get on the highway. Everyone traveling 60 miles per hour, and the traffic is 15 feet between each pair of bumpers in the #3 lane. Great. Sometimes, because they tailgate so much around here, the Standard Operating Procedure is "Ya gotta git in where ya fit in" and you just insert your car into the 1.5 car-length hole between the cars next to you.

Turn signals can be counter-productive, as in the case of this morning. I put on my turn signal when I was in the blending lane. Dude in the light gray car starts to close the gap. From my blind spot. In a car that is nearly invisible under the current weather conditions.

So I did what was for me a first-ever: A Blind Man's Merge at 60 miles per hour. With a foot and a half of my car in his lane, this cat decides to advance. He passed me as I was sitting directly over the dividing line! Wow. The real kicker was, he wasn't even coming up on his exit. He just REALLY wanted to be right behind THAT car instead of MY car. As I proceeded to the #2 and #1 lanes, I saw this cat continue tailgating within < 1 car length behind the truck in front of him, past two exits.

The Blind Man's Merge

Blind Man's Merge is the name I coined for a driving maneuver I developed in Southern California traffic. I very rarely use it here in Central Texas. This page is a definition, for future reference. Click any picture to see it 4x larger.

The blind man's merge is a technique for merging and/or changing lanes in a city where drivers do not know how to queue up properly when the number of lanes of traffic are reduced. It was developed by careful experimentation at a point where six lanes merged into two. It is theoretically high-risk but I have successfully performed it at least several hundreds of times. It is successful largely because people value their cars more than they value their place in line. Most of the risk is eliminated when your car's mirrors are set up properly.

The Blind Man's Merge is performed as follows:

When you are entering the merging zone, take careful note of the cars around you. This is the most important part of the maneuver. If you don't think you will be able to do it, just wait for a gap in the traffic to appear. Better late than wrecked. The second-most important part of this maneuver is that, while observing traffic around you, YOU DO NOT TURN YOUR HEAD. Just use your mirrors and peripheral vision. Plan ahead of time what you will do, including how far you will let this (essentially) game of chicken go, before you yield.

Set your turn signal to continuous-flashing mode.

Advance at a constant, slow rate of travel.

Do NOT make eye contact with the jerk who also wants to be in the lane you are headed for.



If you gun the gas and jab the brakes, you are running a risk of a collision from any direction. Not only might you hit another car, the cars around you might run into you. The most likely crash is a rearending when you slam the brakes. Don't be that guy. Continue NOT looking at the driver you are trying to get in front of. If they are slightly behind you, this is likely the point at which they will fall back and allow you to go ahead. If they are more than a foot or two in front, don't be an ass. Wait for them to pass and jam the front of your car in front of the one behind them.



At some point, and it varies from driver to driver, the light bulb comes on. The bulb in the stop lamp housing on their car. When a certain threshold of "zOMG too close TOO CLOSE!!!1!" is reached, the other driver will do one of two things. The more likely (in my experience) is that they will stop or slow enough for you to pass ahead of their car. Usually, you will have well over a car-length of free space. Some people will give you single-digits of feet. I have yet to encounter a driver who was willing to run into my car, just to get ahead in line. The other possible outcome is that they will make a jackrabbit start and lurch ahead several feet. If they do that, they aren't yielding. Also, remember, your speed is constant. By lurching forward, they have put their car ahead of yours. That would be the time you "lose" this contest. Yield the right of way to a car that is obviously ahead of yours. Jam your front tire in the gap between their car and the one behind theirs. The car behind will very likely slow enough to let you in. Otherwise they will have run into your car and be at-fault when the Police show up. In the image below, the preferred first scenario is playing out as usual:



When you see that they have yielded the right of way, continue "not seeing" them. Act surprised if they honk or yell. Remember, you "didn't see" them. You might even apologize if you feel like it . . . but do NOT stop and yield unless they are waving a gun or a badge, or unless you just feel like going after them. This is the point where the less brazen or more mannerly people attempting the BMM will yield. Wave the other driver ahead if you are going to let them pass you. Then jam your car in behind theirs with single digits of feet between your front bumper and their rear. You let one guy pass. The next can fall in behind you. The fellow in the green car has successfully completed the BMM. The fellow in the red car is slightly pissed off and confused. As long as nobody got in a wreck, that's fine with you!

You will possibly have to go buy a big set of brass balls before you try this the first time. Ladies tend to not try this sort of thing . . . they aren't playing chicken, they really just didn't see you (too busy putting on mascara or w/e). NOTA BENE! If you try this on a woman driver, or a driver talking (or texting, dumbass!) on a cell phone, it will not work. You have to have perform the Blind Man's Merge against a driver who is paying attention to the world around them. No offense ladies.

Enjoy.

How To Properly Set Up Your Car's Mirrors:

Does your car have a blind spot? Probably not, actually, but you may have to move outside your comfort zone in order to eliminate the blind spots around your car. With this setup, on both of my cars, there is not a space where a motorcyclist can be invisible as they go around either side. A car or truck is plainly visible at all times.

The rear-view mirror: set it so the view in the mirror is centered on the backlight. You don't need it to see your children, your hair, your makeup, or your driving companion. Your rearview mirror on the front windscreen is to allow you to see clearly out the back of the car. Center the mirror side to side and top to bottom, so that it shows as much of that back window as possible.

Side mirrors: These are not to show you a view of your own car. You should already know where that is. They are not to show you the lane markings on either side of your car. These are to show you the stuff happening in the blind spots on the sides of your car. Go to a flat parking lot or level stretch of road. Set the side mirror vertical adjustments so that the horizon behind the car is in the middle of the mirror. Then rotate the mirrors out, away from the car. Rotate them out horizontally until you can't see your car AT ALL. Then rotate them just a little bit back in, so that if you move your head an inch or two to the side, you can see the side of your car in that mirror.

If you really need to see what's happening on the ground when you park, or if you find that this is not enough mirror action, get a couple of stick-on fisheye mirrors and put them on the side view mirrors in accordance with the instructions on the package.

The other adjustment is to your neck. When you are about to change lanes or back up, turn it. Look around. "I didn't see her" doesn't bring back a little kid you just ran over.

To most people who are unused to having their mirrors set this way, this will create a very unnerving driving experience for about a week. Then you will find that you have become accustomed to not having blind spots around your car. Congratulations, you are now a safer driver.

5 More US Muslim Soldiers Waging Jihad

Five soldiers were arrested very shortly after the Ft. Hood shooting. These were trying to poison their brothers-in-arms. The link between Ft. Hood and Ft. Jackson?

Islam.

But our SecDef doesn't want to go there. Maybe that's why only Michael Savage has said anything about this story to date: Can't have the politically-privileged criminals being reported-on eh?

China Still Teetering on a Precipice.

Another gem from Michael Shedlock. You should read the whole thing if you can't figure out why he concludes his article as follows:

" . . . central bankers assume the global economy is in recovery. In reality, the global economy is in another speculative binge fueled by reckless global stimulus, with China at the head of the pack.

"Meanwhile, global imbalances grow with most eyes on Greece and Spain. Let's not forget the massive property bubbles in Australia and Canada, and massive speculation in China. In the US, cities and states are on the verge of bankruptcy.

"Something is brewing alright. That something is "trouble", and not just for China."

"Unexpectedly" More People Without Jobs In A Depression.

First time jobless claims unexpectedly higher.

Airplane Crash In Austin @ 183/Mopac

~or~ "That dude was Weapons-Grade Crazy!"

At an office park directly across the street from where I used to live, is my "It's A Small World" linkage. At least 2 other men where I work, also used to live there.

The narrative coming from callers to the morning radio shows who claim to be witnesses, friends, and neighbors, says this is what happened:

There was a 'domestic disturbance' at a house in Scoffield (near Georgetown, Texas) last night. Husband went bonkers, tearing up the house. Wife left with her daughter to a hotel for the night.

This morning, a friggen CAT and a house were set on fire and the dude that lived there took off in his car.

His car was found at the local puddle-jumper airport, and his Piper Cherokee was not.

A Cherokee flew into building 2 of the Echelon office park, apparently striking a 2nd-floor break room at a time when everyone was in their morning meetings. Out of 199 employees in the building, 1 is reported missing and 2 are hospitalized with injuries. There are supposed to have been IRS offices in the building.

JJ, who used to work with me, works in the same office park making LED billboards. He said the building where he works was shaken by the blast when the plane hit, and the explosion with accompanying 50-foot fireball blew out car windows in the parking lot.

The FBI has a field office of some sort in one of the other Echelon buildings, and they were on the scene immediately interviewing witnesses.

The building was destroyed by fire, but the fire was quickly contained.

Fun reportage: a woman stuck in traffic saw the plane ~50 yards directly in front of her, banking hard right over the highway.

Various government agencies report that the house fire is being investigated as an arson, and related to the plane crash.

A neighbor claims that the house exploded and glass was found littered around the house

I took the time to read the rambling screed the killer/pilot put on his website. The message I took away from it is: "Wah wah, poor poor pitiful me, the government made life too hard on me and I chose poorly when I picked a career path. My accountant screwed me over so I have to go kill as many people as possible." No wonder this guy was twice failed in business and once in marriage: he was apparently a perpetual victim-by-choice as well as a whiny bitchbaby. Good riddance to bad rubbish, and thank God he didn't kill as many people as he wanted to do.

Side note: the FBI accepted the prerogative to investigate the case according to Police Chief Acevedo. They got the original manifesto website pulled down but the Internet never forgets. Also, within 5 hours jokes were being made about this event where I work. The dude tried to die valiantly for a cause, trying to bring down the system, and after lunchtime, his life's expenditure was already reduced to a laughingstock. In death as in life:

Fail.

"Vivid Pink" 5 Carat Diamond Sells for $10.8M

A natural pink, nearly flawless 5ct diamond sold for a record $10.8M
It's pretty, and the largest of its kind ever sold, but $11m? Seriously?

Ukranian Holodomor

For in much wisdom is much grief: and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow. -Ecclesiastes 1:18

This filthy little kulak deserved what he got!


********

Holodomor translates from Ukranian Голодомор to "murder by starvation."

I mentioned this to a brother at church, in passing. I mentioned it after asking if it were King Solomon (the wisest man ever to walk the face of the earth) who wrote the verse at the top of this post. It was. He asked me what I was referring to.

Before I visited Moonbattery the other day, I had never heard the term holodomor. Having read up on it a little, it seems like you can get to 60,000,00+ dead innocents pretty quickly this way. You hear talk about the holocaust of the Jews during WWII, but have you ever heard of the terror of famine in the Ukraine?

In Ukraine, in 1932, there was a very large crop of wheat. Much, much more than was needed to feed the population. In Ukraine, in 1932-1933 somewhere between 2,000,000 and 20,000,000 persons (depending on whom you ask, most say 10,000,000) perished from starvation.

Wait, what?

That's right. Starved to death, tens of millions of people. Why? Because the State said they should. Stalin said "Ideas are more powerful than guns. We would not let our enemies have guns, why should we let them have ideas?" Ukranians had this funny idea about Ukraine being its own State when Stalin had a different idea. 83%-ish of the people who died in the Holodomor were Ukranians. Coincidence?

At Moonbattery, I found a link to the Holodomor Website. There, I was able to read charming personal anecdotes from people who were children at the time. Really lovely, heart-warming stuff like:

"Hungry people at night tried to dig out potatoes planted on the vegetable gardens. There were cases, when these “thieves” were dying on the somebody's field. . . Once I went to the school garden (nearly 300 meters from home) to cut linden leaves. I saw dead man on the road in front of the garden. It was very terribly and scary picture. . . It is hard to say how many people died in our large village, because at that time I was only eleven years old."

It could never happen here!

Really? Do you honestly think the soon-to-be-dead people of Ukraine would have believed it, if you told them in 1930 what would soon befall them? Learn a lesson, my friend. The people of Ukraine had no guns. If a farmer saw that he had just a bit less than enough food to feed his children until the next harvest, and the government agents came around poking the earth to find his hidden food stores, and he had a rifle, what do you think he would have done?

The only ones with guns were the ones stealing the food from the people -in accordance with national policy.

********

It's a bit LATE for that NOW, isn't it!

Overheard @ Work.com

I was carrying about a thousand dollars worth of stuff, and it made a pair of arms full. GJ saw me coming through the room and said to me:

GJ: Don't drop that Dave, it's expensive equipment.
VFD: (speaking ebonics) I'll drop it if you trip me, so don't be trippin'.
GJ: LOL

I'm A MOOCHER!

~or~ Thanks Everybody!

Specifically, thanks to my boss and all the other evil, disgusting, filthy, rich people out there. Im fairly certain that this would qualify me as a Moocher, according to Neal Boortz.

When it came time to e-file (free online Intuit TurboTax madd props!) the bottom line was several thousands of dollars coming back to me. That would be, several thousands including a couple thousand I didn't send to the Treasury in the first place. The net result for my household last year is that we paid less than zero federal taxes and only around a thousand dollars in State taxes.

We still don't get to say where the money that's supposed to go to our childrens' educations goes, but at least the thousands of dollars we paid for local school taxes were refunded to us. We are effectively not paying school taxes, due to our 'refund' from the federal taxpayers of our state taxes, in an amount that allows us to buy the materials required to school our children. Cold comfort indeed.

Note that The Fair Tax eliminates all of this chicanery. There would be ZERO forms to fill out. NO filing, e- or otherwise. NO waiting for refund checks. You get a "PREbate" under the Fair Tax. People (like us) who are on the low-end of the pay scales would basically pay no tax still. People who buy lots of flashy stuff would still pay lots of flashy taxes. Aside from politicians' unbridled lust for sheer power over the lives of men, I can see no reason why The Fair Tax is not already law in the USA, today.

Tolerance Extends One Unit Fewer Than This Far.

A Jehova's Witness or a Mormon, when they come to my door, politely, during the daytime, I politely but firmly divert the conversation from me and my family, and our religion, to them having a nice day and continuing to travel past my house.

I can say 'get a job' to a bum who asks me for change, and keep traveling myself.

If a Christian church were waking people with its bells before dawn, they would be chastised for it (by me) likewise. The difference is, Christians would probably stop. I hope not, but suspect that this may be the start of a protracted battle, because the history of islam is a history of NOT doing what your neighbors want, when what they want is for you to leave them in peace. If I can help it, Pflugerville, Texas is not going to be the next Hamtramck, Michigan

I suspect it is likely** either the North Austin Muslim Community Center* or else the Islamic Ahlul Bayt Association.

At approximately 05:50 this morning (my clocks all have different times within a few minutes) my Darling Wife and I were awakened by what she thought was a siren, but what I immediately recognized as the Adhan or Iquama. I recognized it because I have subjected (get it?) myself to the unpleasant study of the made-up religion known as Islam. I recognize the takbir when I hear it, and I heard it repeatedly, as I lay there in my bed.

It was coming over loudspeakers from somewhere downstream (to the South), faintly. It was barely audible over the wind and the creek near our house, but the noise is intentionally penetrating. It was intended to jar the followers of mohammed out of whatever productive activity they were engaged in, and submit to his call to prayer. If we didn't have cheap single-pane windows on our house, it might not have disturbed our rest. We do, and it did.

Tolerance is not measured with any sort of units, which is too bad. If it were, I could tell you that my level of tolerance for the religious activity of my neighbors is at -1 right now. If they want to submit to a made-up religion but not do what its inventor did (kill your neighbors for not submitting) then that's one thing. But when you wake my happy ass up at oh-dark-thirty and holler at me to come pray to your made-up god, that's a step too far.

********
*see that funny foreign-word pair beside "start time"? The place where it says "Iqamaa/Jamat?" Here is Jamat for you.

**Update later in the day: You know, come to think of it, those muslim centers are kinda far from me. To reach all the way to chez VFD, they would have to be REALLY blasting it out. I wonder if somebody is getting jiggy with the call to prayer in their HOUSE and I just need to complain to the po-po instead of to city hall. . . .

Another Church Shooting.

I wrote this up yesterday but forgot to post it . . .

IF you go to a church that is a "Gun Free Zone" please consider the following from Yahoo! News

RICHMOND, Calif. – Police were seeking a hooded gunman who horrified the congregation of a San Francisco Bay area church when he paced the aisles then pulled out a gun and shot two teenagers.

"Some of us" hang out near the back of the church packing heat, in case just this sort of thing might happen. After all, it's happened before.

The gunman flanked by two companions in hooded sweatshirts walked into the church, scanned the pews and fired about five shots, hitting a 14-year-old boy and a 19-year-old man in front of about 100 people, Richmond police Sgt. Bisa French said. The 14-year-old was hit in the shoulder and the 19-year-old was struck in the leg, French said. Both victims, whose names haven't been released, were hospitalized and were expected to survive. There were no other injuries.

??? Five shots, resulting in two minor injuries? It is fortunate that nobody teaches street thugs to shoot properly, I suppose.

"It's terrible when you come to the house of the Lord and start doing this," Miller said. "It's just something you don't do."

No, pal, it's something YOU don't do. These jokers obviously did.

A handful of congregants returned to the church after police processed the crime scene and finished the service. "We went on and had church anyway," Miller told the Chronicle. "We were giving thanks that nobody was killed. We wanted to go and serve the Lord anyway."

Sounds like my church . . . except there would be an additional part in the article where the suspects had been shot Dead-Right-There by several congregants. I'd hate to call anybody out by name, but I suspect that the forensic investigation into the shooting of the shooter would be . . . complicated.

Carry your guns, people! And remember, Texans, a CHL holder may legally carry a concealed handgun in Texas unless the premise is posted in accordance with the law, or there has been specific verbal disallowance of carry in that church (in which case, you should be going to a different church anyway).

Oh, and by the way, here is my bet: 95% odds these cats were either young black males and/or gangbangers or else members of the religion of Peace. That may also explain why this is the first you heard of this story: Politically-incorrect criminals (only white men are bad, donchaknow)

Hard to Keep Me Down

I was in a pretty ugly (for me) mood this morning, from working on an expensive thing I never wanted to work on in the first place, that blew up (literally, like a gunshot) a little bit when I went to turn it on. Stupid thing.

Anyway, I took a break and went to wash my hands in the head. Warm water. I went from being ambivalent-to-negative to praise-the-Lord happy, just because I had hot water to run over my hands. Somebody who can find joy in such simple details, it's hard for me to stay in a foul mood for very long. Thank God.

Back Of The Line Is Right.

Is it a coincidence when, in a land headed straight for a socialist state, the citizenship guide (for the test to become a subject) has instructions on how to stand in line?

Hat tip to Uncle

Debra Medina 9/11 Truther Non-Controversy

The local radio talk show folks were still going this morning, on Debra Medina's comments on the Glenn Beck show last week. She was asked if she thought the government was involved in the 9/11 attacks. Her first answer was a squrimy politician's non-response that was, to euphemise, badly received by some Texans. Then she was asked about the possiblity of a campaign staffer being a troofer, and she gave a positively beautiful answer about not wanting to be the "thought police." A few hours later she came out and for the record and announced that she, herself, isn't a troofer and (leaving aside any question of government involvement) the attacks were definitely carried out by "Muslim terrorists." This necessary clarification has got her branded as just another politician by the people who want to see somebody else in the Governor's office. It has also got her well and truly branded as a troofer.

Hold on there.

Regarding the government's involvement: perhaps she tripped, mentally, over all the exipred Visas not followed-up on, and fraudulent Driver's Licences issued to the 9/11 attackers by _________ (rhymes with hoverment). Perhaps she was thinking about the policies that prevent private citizens from carrying guns on planes, which were put in place by __________ (rhymes with covered mint). Her answer sucked, sure, and it was definitely not "troofers are stupid" like it seems everyone wanted to hear. What it was NOT, is "Yes, Glenn, I am a 9/11 Truther and you should totally go to prisonplanet.com if you want to read the real deal holyfield man, it's an inside job!" Or was it? Should we go back and review the tapes again?

What she said about a campaign staffer being a troofer was just FINE. What does it matter what someone thinks privately, as long as they work toward the goal of getting her elected and keep their crazies to themselves? Is it a flip-flop when you come out and expand on your earlier words but don't contradict them?

Think about this next question for a second. I mean, really THINK about it:

Do you REALLY want a Governess of Texas who does think she should be The Thought Police?

. . .

. . .

yeah, me neither.

********
I also don't want the apparently-crooked Farouk Shami as Governor. When Shami was asked about this little dust-up, he said (and I quote, I heard this with my own ears): "the jury is out" on what exactly happened on 9/11. Hello? Sure, there may be some questions about the details, but you don't say "the jury is out" when the other guy (gal) just got egg on her face for saying something similar to that! What are you, pandering to the troofer demographic? You also don't say we should go soft on hiring illegals because it would hurt employment at your factory, or openly bribe one of your chief competitors in the race for Governor, to drop out of the race. Farouk for Governor Private Citizen!

Austin To Become a "No-Kill" Animal Shelter City?

Austin, like every other city, has a bunch of adorable former-pets with nobody to care for them besides the State. The animals are basically worthless, or they would not be on the table getting lethal injections. NOBODY wants these animals. They have as little as no redeeming value at all. So, of course, some bleeding-heart animal lovers want to feed and water them, and force them to live out the remainder of their worthless lives in deplorable living conditions, without the love of a family. Am I the only one reminded of the various "Death Row" type prisons in our nation?

Well, at least Austin Pets Alive tries to reform these animals. They are the folks who take the pound puppies out in front of PetSmart stores around town trying to guilt you or entice your children into adopting one. They are a not-for-profit group and they want to take over the Town Lake animal shelter.

Take the burden of feeding these animals off the taxpayer? Where do I sign us up for THAT? Go for it!

Knife Steels Explained

If you have ever wondered what difference it makes to make a knife from a different type of steel, click here and read the whole thing.

I found this looking up the 1095 in a Ka-Bar and found the ubiquitous 440/440C, the slightly rarer M2 and ATS-34, and a bunch of other stuff that I've seen but wondered about.

Now you know.

Happy Jimmy Carter Day?

I don't observe Presidents Day. I refuse to celebrate the likes of Jimmuh Carter, Bill Clinton, and Barack Obama alongside such great men as George Washington and Theodore Roosevelt. Of course, we used to observe Washington's birthday as its own holiday (Lincoln's, too) but now we have this oh-so inclusive Preeeeesidents Day

[Deleted] Presidents Day, you can keep it.

Madness @ Work!

In the room where I work, the lights are on three circuits. To replace a ballast on one of the fixtures, a whole 1/3rd of the room lighting has to be shut off. Our maintenance guy takes, shall we say: shortcuts? sometimes with his own safety. Today, 1/3 of the room went dark. It was dark for a couple of minutes, then the lights came back on. The following conversation immediately ensued, between Maintenance Guy and Cleaning Dude:

(lights come on)

MG: CD! WOULD YOU MIND TURNING THAT OFF!?

CD: Sorry!

(lights off again)

We can laugh now, because nobody got hurt. So of course, we laughed. I messaged one of the guys across the room:

VFD: Lockout tagout Fing FAIL

TS: I want to see MG glow, so I can call 911

Nice, very nice. MG said later that he was standing on a ladder with stripped wire-ends in his hands at the time.

My Boy The Stinkbug

#1 and #2 are about half-grown and (being mine) they like to spar. The latest fun move they like me to do on them is the figure 4 throw. No kidding, they like it. When #1 was telling Mama about this incident (after #2 got finished telling it) she wanted me to demonstrate. On the tile floor in the bathroom.

Anywho. Mama had to be told about this incident because she was still on her way home from Church tonight when it happened. After supper, I was demonstrating (again) the way to break an armbar and the way to counter a broken armbar (fig. 4 throw). I put #2 in the fig. 4 and he just folded straight to the floor. It was on carpet but a carpet pad only helps so much when you go down fast. He got a 'konk' on the back of his head. As I was helping him up I noticed a world-class stench came up with him. He had passed gas when he hit his head. I made a joke about him being a stinkbug that stinked when I squished him, and all of a sudden he was laughing and he stopped feeling sorry about his hurting melon.

I don't care who you are, that's funny right there. Maybe you had to be there but it was classic.

"Disaffected Youth?" I Didn't RIOT When I was Disaffected!

If you missed illegal alien muslims rioting in the streets of France and burning thousands of cars a while back (and still continuing but no longer newsworthy) then you were really asleep at the switch. I did mention that the "disaffected youth" had also started being disaffected in the streets of Sweden.

Now they're rioting and whatnot in Italy as well.

Just like with the 20-odd wars around the world right now, there is one common denominator here, and it it is called Islam. Click that last link and read the book. Educate yourself before it's too late.

Taliban Booby Traps Entire Town . . .

The civilians were warned to evacuate the city, and they did. We told T that we would be coming, and they believed us. Between the time John Q. Public left and G.I. Joe showed up, T was busy booby trapping everything in sight. Fortunately for our men, we have a world-class EOD program.

Huh . . . you mean . . . bad guys can take advantage of the delay between announcements of offensive actions and the start of the actions? Who would have thought . . . oh, wait. . . .

There is no good way to fight a war. This is another bad way. What are we doing in Afghanistan, again?

Meet The New Boss . . . .

. . . figuring out The Old Boss may have been doing things right, after all.

Now, President Obama is not only unsure of where to hold the trial for KSM, he's not sure if it should be in a civil or military court setting.

I shake my head at now naive this man is. He shares the state with all his fellow ivory tower socialist-leaning "progressives" in the universities of the USA, but (fortunately for their blood pressure levels, and unlike them) he has to actually deal with cold, hard reality.

This Is A Shell Game: Nuclear Energy Loan Edition

The spin begins.

LOANS FOR NUCLEAR PLANTS tied up in the cap and trade bill.

Do NOT be buffaloed here. Remember I told you already what their strategy is. Let's hope they play this too heavy-handed and it flops like so many other things the Obama has wanted to do.

Time To Renew Calls For On-Campus Carry?

Another on-campus shooting, this time in Huntsville. What is that, three in a week? Is it time to start pushing again to allow the card-carrying good guys to pack heat in "gun free" school zones?

Does it help or hurt the cause that the Knoxville shooter was a teacher without a carry permit? Maybe the lefties in academia really are losing it. The shooter in Huntsville appears to have also been a professor who was denied tenure. In spite of the headline, I'd say this was probably not a person who needs to have tenure at a university, in light of their -shall we say unusual- way of expressing unhappiness.

Define "Reasonable."

The Obama Justice Department has argued that you have no reasonable expectation of privacy with regards to your own personal whereabouts.

This is just one more reason I have always refused to have a cell phone. I saw this coming back in the day when phones didn't yet have GPS transceivers in them. If for some unforeseen reason I end up carrying a mobile phone, it's going to live in an aluminum box when I am not calling someone. Incoming calls will be missed, and nobody's a-trackin' me, thanks.

You have EVERY right to expect that your location will be private. That it makes the Only Ones' job harder in a rare circumstance is not an excuse to oppress most of the people in the WORLD! Infringing your right to privacy has no end once begun. So what, if it makes law enforcement easier. You know what else would make law enforcement easier? A DNA, fingerprint, retina scan, and blood storage database, collected at birth. That could be tied to a GPS tracking device implanted in all newborn children after passage of the law requiring it. Existing people would be FELONS if they didn't get the implant. The Only Ones could know where everyone is, at all times, and have a way to positively identify everyone. Do you object to that idea? What's the difference, besides scale of intrusiveness?

Where is the cutoff point?

The worse question is, who decides?

Iran Declares Itself A Nuclear State

Let's say you know a fellow with a history of being in and out of jail for murdering people he didn't like. That fellow hates, and has said he wants to kill, you. He is out of prison again. He has just called you on the phone and told you he bought a gun five minutes ago from a crackhead on the street. He hasn't said he is coming to kill you right this minute. You call the Police and they say they can't do anything until he actually makes a threat. They say they can't find a record of him having a gun, and it would be illegal for him to get one anyway. They don't believe you that he is armed and wants to kill you.

What are you going to do about it?

This is the situation in which Israel finds herself. Iran says they are -->.<-- this close to being able to wipe israel off the map. The international community says we need to verify the claim and the global police force (the USA via the UN) says they don't think the Iranians are a serious threat. Israel has previously bombed nuclear weapons research & development sites in Iraq and Syria (Islamic states dedicated to the destruction of the hated jooooo, like Iran).

Stand by for "unexpected" news of Israel bombing the everlovin' shit outta the nuclear facilities of Iran. I say good on them for it and more power to 'em.

Disclosing My Bets

I have about (mumble) dollars in a 401(k) plan with a very good investment house. Zero of them are in the stock market as of a couple of days ago. That's how much upside potential I see in the stock market near-term. The tax penalty being what it is, the next-best alternative to pulling it out to pay off debt* is to leave my money in investment-grade bond funds.

*We ran the numbers. It's within a couple hundred dollars of a dead wash, paying off debt as scheduled, versus cashing in this retirement account and using it to pay down debt. We still might pull it out yet, depending on what the economy does going forward.

More Global Warming News

Because the USA is heating the entire plant so rapidly, we managed to do something nobody knows if it has ever been done before. Today is possibly the first time, ever, that there is snow on the ground in 49 of the 50 States.

Yo Dawg!

We heard you like the internet and you like xzibit, so we put xzibit in yo internet so you can . . .

Oh, just click here. It's funny to me. Well some of it. Some of it will knock your socks off for offensiveness.

Overheard @ Work

VFD: So they hired 3000 people to make sure the stimulus money was spent properly, and already they've spent $190M just on salaries & overhead
MM: WTF is wrong w/ these people?
VFD: Well if I ruled the world . . .
CD: (Who had just walked in) . . .We should all run for the hills.
MM & VFD: LOL
VFD: Not you, I like you
CD: Okay then. I'm in your back pocket
VFD: LOL

We're All Podunkville, Now.

There is no way this sort of thing can fail to go to the supreme Court. One can only hope it will be overturned there, or at least reversed and remanded.

Jurisdiction A says a photo of a beluga whale is offensive and bans it. A person in Jurisdiction Z takes a picture of a beluga whale. A different person who wouldn't know the photographer from Adam views the photo over the internet, on a computer in Jurisdiction A. Jurisdiction A then prosecutes . . . the PHOTOGRAPHER? WTH? Any judge who thinks this is a good ruling needs to retire, because they obviously have no idea what this whole 'series of tubes' is about.

On This Day In History . . . Nelson Mandela Walked Free.

20 years ago, a black who refused to know his place in white South Africa was freed. I wish I had time to expound on the significance of the event but I gotta rush off to work. I didn't want to let the day pass without comment, however, so here you go.

Obama Says Unemployment Rate Will Keep Growing

Note that the made-up BLS official unemployment number will keep falling if they want it to. The actual number of unemployed people will continue to climb, according to the President. What he actually announced was a growth rate of 95,000 jobs/month. Steady employment rates require >150kjobs/month, however, so he is saying in effect that we keep losing jobs.

Note: this is in spite of his best efforts, which have already caused 7 million jobs lost and zero created or saved. The best thing our Elected Black Hero could do is get out of the way and stop trying to FIX something he doesn't have a clue about (the US economy).

More Inspired Imagery From Moonbattery.com

If you don't already read Moonbattery every day, you should start. If for no other reason, than you will see stuff like this:

What Do You Expect?

There has been announced a new $10 Billion federal initiative to combat childhood obesity in the USA. No, not the President's Fitness Council - that was started in 1958. No, we have to have a new one because the Obamas are historic.

The radio news said that the local teachers are all for the new "Let's Move" program.

Well, you really wouldn't expect government school teachers to express disenthusiasm for the government doing parents' jobs, would you?

Mercury Is Not Toxic.

To be quite clear: some forms of mercury are extremely toxic. Some are not. Your body can deal with small amounts of the more common types of Hg pretty easily, and you piss out what your kidneys remove from your blood at a rate that would either astonish or confuse your Elected Heroes (depending on how smart they are).

If you would like to know what I'm talking about, click here and scroll down to the "Mercury as a Poison" section.

I tripped over this while trying to find the price of mercury for a work-related project. I also found a fellow named Hickston who used liquid mercury to build telescopes the optical equivalent of glass mirror-based, at 1/100th the cost. He worked his way up to a three-meter scope, for about a million dollars (vs. $100M). Parts of the 3m telescope were re-used when it was scrapped to build the current 6 meter Large Zenith Telescope, which is on the short list of the largest telescopes in the world.

Wow.

Iraq Orders Blackwater Employees Out Of Country

We are paying more civilians than soldiers to be in Iraq. We pay the civilians WAY more than we would pay a soldier to do the same jobs. In previous wars, we didn't have such a light (political) stomach for having a large mobilized army. In this war, we are using private companies to do soldiery things, and when we piss off the nation we saved from tyranny, they are free to tell those civilians to beat feet.

Why, again, can't we have buck-privates pulling gate watches and KP duty?

"Unexpectedly " Hits Social Security

"Things are a little bit worse than had been expected," says Stephen Goss, chief actuary for the Social Security Administration. "Clearly, we're going to be negative for a year or two."

To rephrase: The Sacred Trust, the one where you dole out over 12% of your gross pay into a by-god LOCKBOX, and the government will give it back to you with interest at the time of your retirement? You know the one? Yeah, it's out of money.

What? How can it be out of money? I didn't even retire yet!

The money you pay, that is supposed to go for your retirement, is spent before you pay it. It goes to current retirees as well as welfare brood mares on the public teat. The Social Security Administration is set up so your precious retirement funds go straight into the General Fund of the Treasury of the United States, where it is instantly spent to buy votes for your Elected Heroes.

NOBODY is saving your Social Security money for you. When you get to retirement age, it will not be there. And, starting this year, we are going to be borrowing money at interest from China to pay current retirees. There is officially LESS THAN NOTHING left of your retirement money.

What are you going to do about it?

You Don't Get To Say What You Will Do In Congress.

President Obama says, regarding his socialist medical agendum:

"I am going to be starting from scratch in the sense* that I will be open to any ideas that help promote these goals . . . What I will not do**, what I don't think makes sense... will be another year of partisan wrangling around these issues, another six months, or eight months, or nine months worth of hearings in every single committee in the House and Senate*** in which there is a lot of posturing... Let's get the relevant parties together****... My hope is we can find enough overlap***** that we can say, 'This is the right way to move forward," even if we don't get every single idea that I want.******"

*I will not be starting from scratch in the sense that I am open to any ideas that do not promote socialist medical reforms, specifically I am not open to any of the TWENTY Republican-advanced reform ideas that I, as Senator Obama voted against during my 150 days vast experience in the Senate.

**What I wish those doody-heads in the people would let me not do

***I know, as a legislator, that this is the normal course for any legislation, let alone legislation that is going to change 1/6th of the world's largest economy. I don't like the normal course of action. If it looks like I have to cram it through the reconciliation process I'm going to dam-sure try to. I'm conveniently ignoring until I can demagogue it and make the republicans out to be the bad guys for doing it, that this will lead to endless parliamentary stall tactics that will take at least a year, or until we can bribe somebody enough to switch sides.

****Let's see if we can't get some Republicans to accept a bribe like we almost sneaked by with last time

*****And by overlap, I mean any necessary combination of bribes and minor, inconsequential compromises that may be required to get my pet bill baby through the Senate and House of Representatives

******I said I was a fan of a single-payer system. It looks like the proletariat isn't ready for that just yet. Don't worry. I'll sneak it into a Defense Appropriations Bill or something, and get exactly what I wanted, later.

********

You have to read between the lines with characters like this Obama. I did it during the campaign season and tried to warn you, just like Savage, Limbaugh, Ingraham, Boortz, etc. did. You didn't listen then. Are you listening now?

What are you going to do about it?

Quote of The Day 02/08/2010

Government schools are for people who will work for other people who went to private schools -Neal Boortz

God Is Mocking President Obama.

The President announced the new National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Climate Service today. He held a press conference. It was supposed to be at the National Press Club, but it was a phone conference, instead. Nobody could get into the Press Club because there was 28" of fluffy, white "climate change" covering all the roads in DC.

There is a God. He is chuckling at you fools who insist on calling weather "climate change." Remember: climate change is what happens when GLOBAL WARMING EVERYBODY PANIC!!! turns into GLOBE NOT SO MUCH WARMING BUT STILL PANIC!!!

Murtha Refuses To Apologize STILL!

Apologies for his baseless accusations against our fighting men will not be forthcoming. Not that he was in such a big hurry to apologize anyway but there's no chance now. Congressman John (alias Jack) Murtha is dead.

Good riddance. He was a jerk. The country is better off without Statist traitors to brothers-in-arms like John Murtha. He has enhanced your childrens' chance at a prosperous future simply by dying and removing himself from the legislative process (except for voting in Chicago elections).

No it's not respectful. I'm glad he's gone. I hope he got to Heaven but wherever he went we're well shut of him here.

Nothing Important Happened Then Anyway.

I mean, they didn't even have electricity during the first 100 years of the history of the United States. Why should North Carolina make an attempt to teach your high-school children about the reasons for the struggle for independence, or the war between the states, or any of that old rubbish?

I mean, it's not like anything bad happens if we, as a nation, forget our history, right? Surely the kindergarteners' lessons about the relative merits of independence versus tyranny were sufficient. There shouldn't be any problem with picking right up in high school at oh, about 1950, eh?

As Neal Boortz tries to convince people who listen to his radio show:

WHY would you expect a school that is funded by, attendance to which is mandated by, where the curriculum is chosen by, and whose employees are paid by, the State to teach your children the value of independence and small government?

Note To Talk Show Hosts who Use Twitter:

If I were interested in your tweets I would look them up myself. Find some original content for your on-air radio time please. kthxbye

What Liberal Media Bias?

Sarah Palin is a person with a uterus and non-aborted children, so the mainstream media hates her right off the bat. She's also mostly a conservative, and outspoken, so she is downright vilified.

Nevermind that the President has to resort to the use of (multiple) teleprompters when addressing a group of 11 year-olds. No, it's the worst thing EVAR and it shows that she is an outright dumbass because Palin had a few words written on her hand, and from them delivered a 40-minute speech.

Hannity had a knee-slapping funny 30-second-ish soundbyte compilation of at least a half-dozen newsreaders saying the same negative things about Palin's talking points/crib notes/cheat sheet. I sometimes can't stand his show but that bit was brilliant.

Do I really have to point out what it says about their boy Barry, if they mock Mrs. Palin for using a few written talking points? Non-"progressive" types have been chafing at the blatant double standard in the 'mainstream' media for a long time, which is why fox is on top (by a lot). Usually, the disparity isn't quite this obvious, but then, Sarah Palin is de debil, so there you go.

w-wh-WHAT!?

I knew it was bad, but this goes past bad to downright ugly.

Disclaimer: you have to be able to read and think, to follow this post about why mortgage-backed securities were the "good" part of the good/bad/ugly housing bubble. Hint: it involves pretty much everyone in the USA not operating on a cash-on-the-barrelhead basis going out of business, worst case.

Also, the government agency that publishes the "official" unemployment numbers is making the numbers up. I already told you about that. I didn't realize that their shenanigans are going to "unexpectedly" give us 11%-ish unemployment this MAY.

Unions Continue Pissing In The Pot

The US automobile manufacturers were driven to bankruptcy and takeover by the State, because the labor unions refused to give. The unions demanded ever-more and the companies gave ever-more. The companies collapsed. Now the unions are demanding ever-more again, but this time it is not so trivial a thing as car makers who are under pressure. What will happen, do you think, when municipalities are driven to insolvency (well, when they recognize existing insolvency) because of the greed of a few hundred or a few thousand policemen, firemen, and schoolmarms?

Greece is paying 51% of its budget to unions due to a lack of political will to stand up for sound economic principles. Probably hundreds of cities and counties as well as several states in the USA are in a similar pickle. Still the unions continue to demand more and more from the increasingly impoverished public paying for their benefits packages.

When you are taxing poor people 2% on groceries so a teacher can have a gold-plated 'defined benefit' pension, something is Bad Wrong.

Don't Send Me E-Cards, People.

I have yet to get a virus on my home computer. I aim to keep it that way. I will never - but - never open an e-card, e-greeting, or anything with a title like that. I will never open anything from anyone with no title. I will never read email with a title that says "yourname has invited you to fillintheblank." Ever. I will ping you with a confirmation email before I open anything with an attachment unless I asked you to send it. I don't click on links to other webpages in emails.

If you want me to read an email, the surest way is to let me know you are sending it by some other means of communication. Make the title something that doesn't say FWD:, RE:, or any combination of the two. If it is important enough for you that I read what you send, take the time to hit backspace 4x and get rid of the FWD: in the title, mmkay?

I just deleted 200+ unread emails from ONE of my inboxes, and that's just the first page.

That is all.

Overheard @ My House

(talking about household laundry chores to be attended in the next few minutes) My Darling Wife said to me, that I should . . .

DW: Take out the whites and put in the colors.
VFD: That's racist!
DW: LOL

Things That Don't Happen In Homeschool: One More

I made my 1 year-old son scrub some pencil markings off the wall the other day, using a wet rag.

A twelve year-old girl was handcuffed and taken to the police station for a few hours for using erasable marker on her desk.

What is the policy of your child's school?

In Case You Were Sleeping At Night

On the off chance that you are able to get a good night's sleep with all the bad news you find out there, just remember:

The US federal government looks as if it is preparing to use the standing national army to crush your resistance and do as it likes to 'restore order' after the sh*t hits the fan.

Food for thought.

Keep Waiting, The Double-Dip Is Coming.

And it's going to be ugly.

Housing markets in the following countries are in bubbles similar to (or much worse than) the one that led the USA and then the world into a Depression (a.k.a. the Great Recession):
Australia
Canada
China
Spain
United Kingdom
plus a handful of smaller ones.

China, a communist command economy, is very shortly going to blow sky high. Trillions of dollars in unrecoverable loans are in default in China. Not even a communist dictator's rifle can make this go away.

Greece, Portugal, Spain, Italy, and a few smaller nations are pushing the entire concept of the Eurozone to the brink of destruction with their sovereign debts not looking so good.

And if you think the USA is headed out of the woods, consider that, with the economy basically stalled and our sovereign debt levels increasing something like $1.8T this next year, Moody's is warning that the USA's credit rating may be headed for a downgrade. That means it would cost us more to borrow money, which Obama seems to love to do, which means our children will owe even more than they are already looking to owe.

I, like Michael Shedlock, look for some Very Ugly Numbers (he calls it a crisis) before they are old enough to take over, but there is another generation growing up. They will realize, whether government educated or no, that their lifestyles suck. If it is because they owe a few trillion dollars their parents and grandparents pissed down the toilet, they will be the ones running the show, and they will be saying "Why the hell should I have to pay that back?"

So. Standby.

Unemployment Rate Falls Break Out Your Party Hats!

~or not~

The reason President Obama wasn't trumpeting to high heaven how his economic plan isn't obviously saving the country when the "official" unemployment rate came in at 9.7% is that he probably has a clue.

A clue about how the agency that reports on the unemployment numbers is completely fudging the numbers.

Funny how, when you only count what you want to count, you can get any result you please.

Senator Shelby Gets Partially Deserved Bad Rap

To listen to the press tell the story, Senator Shelby put a hold on 70 perfectly-fine candidates for various public offices because the White House didn't deliver on the pork projects.

To read the quote from his spokesman, Shelby is so concerned with national security he has to take drastic measures to draw attention to a decade-old need that is still unfulfilled.

The truth lies somewhere in the middle, I'm pretty sure. I'm also pretty sure that, if Obama picked them, we're going to be better off, the longer these nominees remain unconfirmed.

The fun part about being the President is that you get to have your spokesman dance around the whole story, by saying “The president will look at all his options.” when asked if you are going to make recess appointments to fill those positions. Remember recess appointments, how they were the worst idea EVAR back when BUSH was making them? Well, meet the new boss. . . .

Pray For ME

Possible food poisoning

feel terrible

please pray for me& my Darling Wife

thanks

********

Update: around 13:00 I felt better-enough to go to work for half a day. Black tea (Earl Gray to the rescue again!) for icky south-end symptoms, water, salt, honey, orange juice for dehydration & low blood sugar. Sleep to help it all work. Pitiful sick-man moaning & lots of prayers were also mandatory parts of the whole mess.

She needs to get herself a belly bra to hold up #4, it's riding low and throwing off her balance/back.

Thanks for those who took the time to pray.

Either I'm A Heartless Bastard

or else my Darling Wife is off due to being-pregnant hormones. Or both.

5 minutes ago I told her about a boy in UK who went to do some laundry in the middle of the night and the washing machine twisted his arm off. His brother helped him out with first aid but neither of them thought to go wake up mummy. Back to bed.

In the morning, when the family woke up, he apologized to his mother that his arm was off.

My Darling Wife is still crying.

Lingerie for 9 Year-Olds: Sure, Why Not?

Miley Cyrus' little sister has a new fashion line for children her age. Her age is nine years. The fashion line is lingerie, and it is marketed as such.

Lingerie has ONLY two purposes:
1) to make women wearing it feel sexy
2) to a much lesser extent, to make the men about to [deleted] women feel horny

Why the [deleted] did Billy-Ray think this would be a good idea, where is the mother and/or legal counsel and not-just-NO I'm not linking this one for you because the images are child porn if you take away the context and pricing. It's up to a federal Attorney General whether they are child porn even WITH context and pricing.

Wrong. Just no. [deleted] what's WRONG with you people!

Hat tip to The Jeff Ward Show on AM590 out of Austin

IRS Needs Close-Quarters Battle Weapons For . . . ?

Because the tax system is voluntary in the USA

The IRS has ordered 60 short-barreled shotguns of a type that is convenient for use in confined spaces (cars, houses)

To help you want to "volunteer" to do your taxes properly, I suppose.

I heard this one on Boortz' show, but moonbattery has the story too (unsurprisingly).

Cuba to Confiscate Register More Guns

Cuba wants to offer an amnesty. Not for illegal capitalists, but for illegal guns. The funny-if-it-weren't-so-serious quote of the day:

There was no explanation for why the drive to legalize unlicensed weapons is coming now, though the state-run news agency Prensa Latina said the move grew out of a November 2008 law regulating possession of guns and ammunition.

Hello? The people of Cuba have personal, first-hand experience with this. What do you mean, "no explanation?" They will deny guns to the politically incorrect, and later they will create a reason to confiscate them from the politically correct.

The only reason to register guns is as a pretext for confiscating them from the law-abiding.

If you read the linked article, two political opponents of the Castro regime died while you were reading it. Why do YOU think they don't want civilians to own guns? Oh, by the way, democrats in several US States are gunning for (or have got) laws "regulating possession of guns and ammunition" . . . why do you think that might be?

Hat tip: Uncle.

This is Not A Tough Vote.

House faces tough vote on $1.9 trillion more debt

Excuse me for noticing, but this is only a tough vote if

You have no idea how economics work and therefore should not be in Congress
or

You are beholden to special interest groups and therefore should not be in Congress

Sorry for making such a lengthy, intellectually difficult post for you people first thing in the morning.

A Gentle Lesson Indeed

I know that God has a way of teaching people some lessons the hard way, so I pray for my lessons to be easy on me.

My recent lesson, I thought, was going to affect the household budget to the tune of about 1/2 day's pay. Then the utility bills came last night. They add up to about 1/2 day's pay less than usual.

Thanks Jesus!