Lawyers, Tigers and Bears

Overlapping Jurisdiction

2011-05-13T07:39:00.000-05:00

I have a cardinal outside my window at work that apparently doesn't like the challenge to his territory. Unfortunately, it is his own reflection, so all this week he has been fighting with himself. Cute at first, annoying after the first day. He has a lot of energy, I'll give him that. Peck peck peck at the window. I finally saw his wife, a plainish brown cardinal, who seemed to drag him home, as wives are wont to do.

At least it gave me a little peace, if only for awhile. Cardinals are my favorite birds (I like redheads), but enough is enough.

Hope he has a restful weekend, and you do too.

Madre Message

2011-05-08T09:39:00.001-05:00

To all Moms everywhere...happy Mother's Day!

Bin Done

2011-05-02T08:09:00.002-05:00

Guess that waterboarding works okay....heh.

Crown Royal

2011-04-29T22:10:00.000-05:00

You can be a Prince and have a hot Princess, but you can't run away from a balding head in your 20's...

Face the Music II

2011-04-29T13:08:00.000-05:00

Another thing--this Bob Schieffer thing--aren't we implicitly just marginalizing the term racist if you are going to say that checking out a President's background is racist? No journalist claimed any discrimination when John McCain had unfounded rumors printed about him and some woman, or about George Bush's National Guard service. Is it because you can't discriminate against white people? When you start using the race card (Whoopi) over nominal things, it loses its meaning. This isn't slavery, this isn't burning a cross, this isn't even denying a guy a job (since he got it)--if you are telling me we can't investigate public officials if they are black, then that is racist. Because you are saying they are lesser people, that they can't stand up to ordinary scrutiny and must be protected because they aren't able to handle the pressure or scrutiny. That is a hell of a thing to think about the President of the most powerful (for now) nation in history. When everything becomes racist, then we might as well turn out the lights--there will be no future for us. I prefer to be like Archie Bunker--I'm not racist, I just hate everybody....! Seriously--until everyone can quit thinking "was that racist?", we can never move on.

Face the Music

2011-04-28T15:14:00.000-05:00

Bob Schieffer calling Trump a racist is funny--

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Daily Mail--Yesterday Mr Trump called on the President to release his college transcripts. Reacting to the call, Mr Schieffer said: 'That's just code for saying he got into law school because he's black. This is an ugly strain of racism that's running through this whole thing.'

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Hey Bob--since when did inquiring about someone's qualifications for the most important job in the world (the job journalists *cough* like you are supposed to be investigating) become racist? I know how I got into college and law school--it sure wasn't affirmative action. It was through hard work and perseverance. Not mine, of course. I got in the old fashioned way--my Dad got me into school. I don't care how anyone got into school--but just admit it was affirmative action, or family ties, blind luck or, if you had them, really good grades. Just admit (and show) how, Barry, if you want to be a leader, not a king. And Bob--even though you were born in Texas, it was a stupid thing to say. Maybe it is time to go--you don't want to become some guy like David Brinkley that stuck around one show too long on Face the Nation.

Human Beans

2011-04-28T13:26:00.000-05:00

Well, certainly, some can't spell.....

Kung Fu Hustler

2011-04-28T11:19:00.002-05:00

This is why , if you get a call from the police, you shouldn't answer any questions....

**********************

(MSNBC) Police arrested a singer on racism charges

after a man reportedly of Chinese descent

complained about his performance of the song

"Kung Fu Fighting," according to reports.

Simon Ledger, 34, told Britain's The Sun

newspaper that he and his band were

performing the 1970s classic at the Driftwood

Beach Bar on the Isle of Wight off the southern

coast of England.

"We were performing Kung Fu Fighting, as we

do during all our sets," he told the newspaper.

"People of all races were loving it. Chinese

people have never been offended by it before."

But Ledger told The Sun an Asian man walking

by with his mother hurled an expletive and

made an obscene hand gesture at the

performers during the Sunday afternoon

performance, then took a photo with his cell

phone.

"We hadn't even seen them when we started

the song. He must have phoned the police,"

The Sun quoted him as saying.

The man claimed he was "subjected to racial

abuse," police told BBC News, and complained

to the police the same evening.

'I thought it was a joke'

Ledger told The Sun that police called him later

that evening — while he was eating at a

Chinese restaurant — to arrange a meeting. It

was at that meeting that police arrested him,

Ledger said.

The BBC report said police released Ledger

after his arrest, intending to question him

further at a later date.

"An investigation into this allegation is

continuing to establish the full circumstances

surrounding what happened," a Hampshire

Constabulary spokesman told the network.

London Not Calling

2011-04-27T09:20:00.002-05:00

I am glad to find out that Barack Hussein Obama II is Constitutionally qualified to be President. He really sucks at it, but glad to know that he was born in HI. Whee. Of course, he couldn't resist name calling during his press conference, calling it sideshows and carnival barkers, and doing his little giggle. He could have done this a long time ago, but decided he was a little too imperial. Same with his papers, transcripts, etc., which he still hasn't released. Whatever. I am sure you had terrible grades and were an affirmative action student, so no need to produce anything. I can guess what your transcript was like and why you got into Ivy League schools. Although it would be humorous.

Glad you can get back to your fundraising and apologizing for America. Maybe you can get back to some actual work when you can fit it in to your schedule.

He is just mad that he didn't get invited to the Royal Wedding. See, if you hadn't sent back that bust of Winston Churchill, you might have been jetting to London this weekend.

Pride of the Yankees

2011-04-16T11:50:00.019-05:00

Dear Chuck (and the NY Daily News),

Fuck You.

Sincerely,

The Citizens of Texas

P.S. Although thanks to NY for losing two seats in Congress for 2012. We picked 'em up and added two more on top of that.

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(NY Daily News)--A peeved Utah Congressman, joined by a bunch of poor-loser Texans, is mounting a campaign to yank the NASA shuttle Enterprise from the Intrepid Sea-Air-Space Museum.

Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) pushed a bill that would reshuffle the deck on where the four retired space shuttles will go. Under his plan, New York's loss would be Houston's gain. "I am seeking to restore common sense and fairness to the Space Shuttle retirement home debate," Chaffetz said. "Instead of relying on political guidance systems, these decisions must be steered by history and logic."

Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) had this reply: "Fughgeddaboutit."

"When people from Paris, Beijing, Tokyo and Amsterdam start saying they want to go to Houston, maybe then they'll get a shuttle," Schumer told the Daily News. "I'd say to Texas, don't mess with New York."

This week, NASA announced the retirement homes of its retiring shuttles. The Smithsonian Institution was awarded the Discovery, Cape Canaveral's Kennedy Space Center is keeping the Atlantis and the California Science Center in Los Angeles was granted the Endeavour.

Not Able To Operate

2011-04-16T10:42:00.000-05:00

NATO is a joke. And Barry wants us to let them lead on anything? This just shows what happens when you decide to become socialist countries more interested in social safety nets, vacations and state health care...you suddenly can't fight a war. Idiot Europeans. And Barry wants America to be more like Europe...

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(Washington Post) Less than a month into the Libyan conflict, NATO is running short of precision bombs, highlighting the limitations of Britain, France and other European countries in sustaining even a relatively small military action over an extended period of time, according to senior NATO and U.S. officials.

The shortage of European munitions, along with the limited number of aircraft available, has raised doubts among some officials about whether the United States can continue to avoid returning to the air campaign if Libyan leader Moammar Gaddafi hangs on to power for several more months.

U.S. strike aircraft that participated in the early stage of the operation, before the United States relinquished command to NATO and assumed what President Obama called a “supporting” role, have remained in the theater “on 12-hour standby” with crews “constantly briefed on the current situation,” a NATO official said.

So far, the NATO commander has not requested their deployment. Several U.S. military officials said they anticipated being called back into the fight, although a senior administration official said he expected other countries to announce “in the next few days” that they would contribute aircraft equipped with the laser-guided munitions.

Opposition spokesmen in the western Libyan city of Misurata, under steady bombardment by government shelling, said Friday that Gaddafi’s forces had used cluster bombs, and Human Rights Watch said its representatives on the ground had witnessed the explosion of cluster munitions in civilian areas there. The Libyan government denied the weapons had been used.

A spokesman for the Misurata City Council appealed for NATO to send ground troops to secure the port that is the besieged city’s only remaining humanitarian lifeline.

The opposition has also repeatedly called for an increase in NATO airstrikes. The six countries conducting the air attacks, led by Britain and France, were unsuccessful at a meeting this week in Berlin in persuading more alliance members to join them.

NATO officials said that their operational tempo has not decreased since the United States relinquished command of the Libya operation and withdrew its strike aircraft at the beginning of April. More planes, they said, would not necessarily result immediately in more strike missions.

But, they said, the current bombing rate by the participating nations is not sustainable. “The reason we need more capability isn’t because we aren’t hitting what we see — it’s so that we can sustain the ability to do so. One problem is flight time, the other is munitions,” said another official, one of several who were not authorized to discuss the issue on the record.

European arsenals of laser-guided bombs, the NATO weapon of choice in the Libyan campaign, have been quickly depleted, officials said. Although the United States has significant stockpiles, its munitions do not fit on the British- and French-made planes that have flown the bulk of the missions.

Britain and France have each contributed about 20 strike aircraft to the campaign. Belgium, Norway, Denmark and Canada have each contributed six — all of them U.S.-manufactured and compatible with U.S. weaponry.

Since the end of March, more than 800 strike missions have been flown, with U.S. aircraft conducting only three, targeting static Libyan air defense installations. The United States still conducts about 25 percent of the overall sorties over Libya, largely intelligence, jamming and refueling missions.

Other NATO countries, along with the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Jordan, have contributed planes to enforcing a no-fly zone over Libya to prevent Gaddafi’s use of airpower, but so far have declined to participate in the strike missions.

After the Berlin meeting, NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rassmussen said that 10 more aircraft were needed and that he was confident they would be supplied. A U.S. official said that Italy — which earlier in the week said it was not interested — may contribute planes to the ground attack mission, and that the Arab participants might also do so.

But with Gaddafi’s forces and the rebel army locked in a stalemate, Obama has resisted calls from opposition leaders, and some hardline lawmakers in this country, to move U.S. warplanes back into a leading role.

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and other have called on Obama to redeploy U.S. AC-130 gunships, which are considered more effective over populated areas.

Although the gunships flew several missions early in the operation, Gen. Carter Ham, who commanded the mission before it was turned over to NATO, said last week that they were frequently grounded because of weather and other concerns.

The slow-moving aircraft, which flew as low as 4,000 feet over Libya, are also considerably more vulnerable than jet fighters to surface-to-air missiles. While much of Libya’s stationary air defenses have been destroyed, Ham said Gaddafi was believed to have about 20,000 shoulder-held SAMS at the beginning of the conflict, and “most” of them are still unaccounted for.

Concerns that supplies of jet-launched precision bombs are growing short in Europe have reignited long-standing controversies over both burden-sharing and compatibility within NATO. While allied jets have largely followed the U.S. lead and converted to precision munitions over the last decade, they have struggled to keep pace, according to senior U.S. military officials.

Libya “has not been a very big war. If [the Europeans] would run out of these munitions this early in such a small operation, you have to wonder what kind of war they were planning on fighting,” said John Pike, director of GlobalSecurity.org, a defense think tank. “Maybe they were just planning on using their air force for air shows.”

Despite U.S. badgering, European allies have been slow in some cases to modify their planes and other weapons systems so they can accommodate U.S. bombs. Retooling these fighter jets so that they are compatible with U.S. systems requires money, and all European militaries have faced significant cuts in recent years.

Typically, the British and French militaries buy munitions in batches and stockpile them. When arsenals start to run low, factories must be retooled and production lines restarted to replace the diminished stock, all of which can take time and additional money, said Elizabeth Quintana, an aerospace analyst at the Royal United Service Institute in London.

Cluster Headaches

2011-04-15T13:25:00.000-05:00

"(NYT) MISURATA, Libya — Military forces loyal to Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi, who have surrounded this city and vowed to crush its anti-Qaddafi rebellion, have been firing into residential neighborhoods with heavy weapons, including cluster bombs that have been banned by much of the world and ground-to-ground rockets, according to the accounts of witnesses and survivors and physical evidence on the ground. Such weapons, which strike large areas with a dense succession of high-explosive munitions, by their nature cannot be fired precisely, and when fired into populated areas place civilians at grave risk."

*************************

Ha--the New York Times apparently likes shading the issue--while it is true, Libya is using such weapons, they fail to mention that the U.S. carries vast stockpiles of such weapons as well, and we haven't entered into any such silly treaty. War is war. While cluster bombs are indiscriminate, much of war is...not sure what the story is here...this seems pretty minor compared to firebombing Dresden or Tokyo or the burning of Atlanta....but Fridays can be slow news days.....

Full Metal Check It

2011-04-14T09:53:00.001-05:00

I wish I had more time these days....so much to discuss...I like Barry saying yesterday that this wasn't a great country until we had welfare programs--sounds like he and his wife believe big government is the answer to everything....like communists! Watching the video of Joe Biden falling asleep was funny....and even the CBO said, no, it isn't 38 billion of budget cuts, it is more like, oh, 352 million...the rest, accounting tricks of politicians. And, big deal, since just THIS YEAR'S budget deficit is 1.4 trillion. But let's raise the debt ceiling some more! Turns out women make 8% more than men, and have higher employment rates than men....the latest AP poll said that 54% of Americans think their tax bill is fair...which seems to almost coincide with the number of lower and middle class people that actually pay no taxes. Thanks, you guys, for letting everyone else pull your load. I'll bet you were the person in high school that just pretended to pull on the rope during tug-of-war during gym class....don't get sweaty! And if I hear one more person get on TV, famous or not, and say they would like to pay more taxes, then put your money where your mouth is--do it. You don't need a change to the tax code...you just need to write a check to the U.S. Treasury, they'll gladly take it. Quit trying to volunteer my money. I am okay with cutting out tax credits, deductions, all of it--but lower the taxes to 10 percent or 12 percent for most Americans. You could take 100 percent of all the wealth of every American making above $250,000, and you still would get close to closing the national debt gap. So, for half of America that isn't currently contributing, how about you start pulling your weight...And even the poor should write a check, I don't care if it is five bucks a month. Feel like an American! Do your part too! Join the team! I would go on--but I have to work to pay off half of our citizen's government benefits.

******************

[From Full Metal Jacket]

Colonel: Whose side are you on, son?

Private Joker: Our side, sir.

Colonel: Don't you love your country?

Private Joker: Yes, sir.

Colonel: Then how about getting with the program? Why don't you jump on the team and come on in for the big win?

Private Joker: Yes, sir!

Code Pink

2011-04-08T15:23:00.000-05:00

This is worse than Monty and Erwin chasing each other around north Africa in WWII. Kind of Keystone Cops.

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AJDABIYA, Libya — Libyan rebels painted the roofs of their vehicles bright pink on Friday to avoid more friendly fire casualties after a NATO airstrike they said killed five fighters.

"We are painting the trucks so NATO won't hit us," said Salam Salim, a 29-year-old rebel militiaman.

The strike Thursday hit a rebel tank column as it advanced on the disputed oil port of Brega, causing a confused insurgent retreat back from Ajdabiya, gateway to the uprising's stronghold in Benghazi.

NATO, which is enforcing a no-fly zone in Libya aimed at protecting civilians, on Friday acknowledged that its planes were probably responsible for the friendly fire incident, the second in a week. Officials noted that the alliance had no information that the rebels were now using tanks that once belonged to Moammar Gadhafi's military.

Rebels were still angry and jittery on Friday about the accident and scattered quickly when a volley of artillery shells from Gadhafi forces thumped around the western gate to Ajdabiya in the afternoon.

Ahmed Ignashy, a doctor at Ajdabiya hospital, said about six rebels were wounded in skirmishes Friday 12 miles west along the Mediterranean coast road.

He expressed the despondency in rebel ranks and impatience that NATO airpower has not been decisive. "I don't know what is happening, really. NATO struck us yesterday and today tanks from the Gadhafi forces. Where is NATO?"

Another NATO strike last week killed 13 rebels, including ambulance staff, on the outskirts of Brega.

"Twice they've hit us by accident now," grumbled Belgassim Awamy, a rebel volunteer near the western entrance of Ajdabiya.

"NATO is an alliance against the Libyan people," said Alaa Senudry, another rebel standing nearby.

NATO says Gadhafi forces are sheltering near civilian areas, making it difficult to hit them effectively from the air.

Some rebels insisted Gadhafi aircraft had staged Thursday's attack, despite the fact that his air force has been grounded by the NATO planes.

"That was Moammar, it came from the south," said Wanis Boumarie, a former policeman turned rebel volunteer, when another rebel blamed the attack on NATO.

Gummint Gone

2011-04-08T14:02:00.000-05:00

The sad thing is I don't think anyone will really notice the Federal government has shut down....

Barry Wary

2011-04-08T10:54:00.000-05:00

This administration is pretty cool--campaign on one thing, govern on another and blame someone else. Guantanamo Bay, terrorist trials, foreign intervention...and the press is a willing participant. GWB could not catch a break for MONTHS on Abu Ghraib, yet this same press has nary a whisper about the kill photos in Afghanistan. But, at least this shows the sheer hypocrisy of the press and this administration. Meanwhile, better get used to seeing that flag and our President bowing. We owe the Chinese more than we are worth, and even the CBO says we are due for complete collapse in 2037. And I wish I had more time to discuss Libya--even the rebels want NATO to stop since it takes eight hours to process an air strike request, and by then everything is different on the ground...war by committee. If I had to call in air strikes in that manner, you'd better lead the target by quite a bit. We have sold out our future to create some Utopian ideal, forgetting that it was capitalism, with all of its issues, that got us to our preeminent position. Socialism is what will kill us. Rome died, so can we unless we get the likes of Barry, Nancy, Harry and Eric and Janet out, gone for good.

Boom Boom

2011-04-04T15:30:00.001-05:00

Oh boy. Bet that was an unpleasant last 20 seconds of their lives. "Huh--wonder where that one went?"

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Islamabad, Pakistan (CNN) -- Fourteen Pakistani soldiers were killed when they fired a mortar to try and repel a group of militants but accidentally hit themselves, a government official said.

The incident occurred when the soldiers were traveling in a convoy of three vehicles Monday night near the village of Akakhel in Khyber Agency, said Roshan Khan, a government official in the agency.

Miltants fired on the convoy with machine guns and a soldier responded by firing a mortar. Somehow the mortar landed among the soldiers, killing them, Khan said.

Ivory Tower

2011-04-03T08:08:00.000-05:00

So, Barry, since we are in Libya to avert a humanitarian crisis, what about Ivory Coast? Hell, why not Mexico? Just admit you don't know what you are doing. They just killed 1000 people in Abidjan...is that a crisis?

Risk Management

2011-04-01T14:43:00.000-05:00

This is why I have always disagreed with the International Criminal Court at The Hague. See, one of its functions is to try war criminals, right? Sounds neato keeno, but the problem is it just keeps dictators in power. Created in 2002, it had lofty Star Trekian ideals (kind of like the U.N.)...only problem is, like the U.N., its practical application is bloated, expensive and ineffectual. Kind of like most government. For example, our boy Khadaffi (I am going to spell it any way I want, since everyone else does too) isn't going to go gentle into that good night. He would do what I figure I would do in the same circumstances--go down swinging. I mean, do you want to spend then next five to ten years being paraded about only to be executed later? I don't think so. (Besides, because of the Pharaoh Obama's dithering, the rebels are getting their asses handed to them. If we had imposed a no-fly zone when the Rebels were on the outskirts of Tripoli and the Loyalists were in disarray, the Rebels might have had a chance. But Rebels with machine guns they can barely operate are no match for even a small army that gets organized. Now, 30 days later, it looks like a drunk game of Risk, everyone chasing each other around. They'll end up in Kamchatka before this is over.) Before the creation of The Hague, bad boy dictators could go into exile and that was it. Now they fight until the end. You tell me--which is better for the people of that country?

Motor City Madness

2011-03-23T07:23:00.000-05:00

So, Detroit was the 5th largest U.S. city in 1950. Apparently a high union presence of overpaid workers really makes an impact...just not a positive one. And Michigan was the only state to lose population...

Barry's World

2011-03-22T15:33:00.000-05:00

Well, this is what you get when you don't lead. War by committee....

*********************

*Minister refuses to rule out use of ground troops

*Friction between allies as Italy brands command structure 'anarchic' and threatens to withdraw use of air bases

*Algeria calls western military intervention 'disproportionate'

*Gaddafi snipers on murderous spree in Misarata and guns turned on rebels in Adjabiyah

*Qatari jets joining no-fly zone nearly run out of fuel and have to land in Cyprus

**********************

*Tensions with Britain as Gates rebukes UK government over suggestion Gaddafi could be assassinated

*No-fly zone called into question after first wave of strikes 'neutralises' Libyan military machine

*Italy to 'take back control' of bases used by allies unless NATO leadership put in charge of the mission

*NATO baulks at taking over operation with Turkey and European countries unwilling

*Russians tell U.S. to stop bombing in order to protect civilians

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A war of words has erupted between the U.S. and Britain after the U.K. government claimed Muammar Gaddafi is a legitimate target for assassination.

U.K. government officials said killing the Libyan leader would be legal if it prevented civilian deaths as laid out in a U.N. resolution.

But U.S. defence secretary Robert Gates hit back at the suggestion, saying it would be 'unwise' to target the Libyan leader and that the bombing campaign should stick to the 'U.N. mandate'.

The infighting comes as a heated meeting of NATO ambassadors yesterday failed to resolve whether the 28-nation alliance should run the operation to enforce a U.N.-mandated no-fly zone, diplomats said.

Spring Into Spring

2011-03-17T18:21:00.000-05:00

My new hat!

I Go To Rio

2011-03-16T09:29:00.000-05:00

The Gridiron dinner, his picks for the Tournament on ESPN, then off to Rio to poke around...that is our boy President, fascinated with the sights and power, but not up for any real leadership. Middle East is chaotic (we have essentially, much like the Iranian students, abandoned the Libyan people), Japan on fire, prices jump for gas and food (some of the biggest jumps since 1974)...just glad he has time for himself. The only decent thing is that maybe, just maybe, it will be another 30 years before we decide to put race way above competence and experience when choosing a president--because it will take us that long to undo (if we can) the damage Barry is causing. But it might be too late already.

Slow Saturday

2011-03-12T14:29:00.000-06:00

Look what I found on the way to the bus. Its former occupant was not home.

Money Money Money

2011-03-12T11:42:00.000-06:00

Talk about a liberal elite from academia...I got the below off of a NY Times article about the NPR scandal. Yes, because federal funding makes everything better. WHERE DO YOU THINK THAT MONEY COMES FROM?? And if you think socialist governments are "leading", go live there. I am truly worried about my country. And Rodney, it is "whomever".

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This scandal wouldn't have happened if NPR weren't so reliant on "non-taxpayer" funds. What do you expect when NPR has to go hat in hand to whoever will give them money? What this incident proves is that NPR needs more federal funding, not less. As my NYU co-author Matt Powers and I show in our recent study, other leading democratic countries like Great Britain, Canada, Sweden, Germany, etc. fund their public media with public funds, and it pays off in consistently high quality, non-partisan programming - and a well-informed citizenry. These are examples we could learn a lot from...

See Nikki Usher's piece on our report for the Nieman Journalism Lab, "Funding Public Media: How the U.S. Compares to the Rest of the World."

http://www.niemanlab.org...

Rodney Benson

Hammertime

2011-03-12T11:31:00.000-06:00

Glad our little boy is having fun. Never mind Libya, or the economy, or the growing threat from unions, or even that little earthquake...Barry is a shah, and emperor, a pharaoh. An embarrassment. He thinks because he is black you can't be critical.

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WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama will speak at the 126th annual Gridiron Club dinner in Washington on Saturday evening.

The white-tie event is an opportunity for journalists to poke fun at public figures and political themes of the day.

This will be the first time Obama has appeared at the event. Last year, former President Bill Clinton stood in for the president who was preparing for a probable House vote on health care reform. Obama, however, did speak to the dinner via videotape.

Crocodile Cryer

2011-03-11T11:25:00.000-06:00

I think this is exactly what you should do when bullied...not hanging yourself, not cutting yourself, not whatever Barack Obama said...you turn it around. You can't be bullied if you take away their ability to control you. Have a good weekend!

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The day after Charlie Sheen issued a “half-apology” to his former “Two and a Half Men” co-star Jon Cryer for calling him “a turncoat, a traitor and a troll,” Cryer went on “Conan” Thursday night to issue his (humorous) response.

Sheen’s words were painful to him for many reasons, Cryer began, not the least of which because – pause for dramatic effect – “the fact is, I am a troll,” the actor admitted.

“It’s not something I like to talk about; my parents don’t even know,” he went on, “although I guess they do now.”

He’s been hiding his true identity all this time because “there’s not a lot of tolerance for people like me in Hollywood,” Cryer said. “To avoid ignorance and bullying, I’ve had to hide the fact that I’m a troll. You have no idea how much time and money I’ve spent on electrolysis and hair dye and reconstructive surgery so I can look like this.”

And he’s not the only one: Paul Giamatti, Helen Mirren and even “Conan’s” Andy Richter are all really trolls, Cryer revealed.

We guess since he was already on the topic, Cryer also took the opportunity to clear up some misconceptions: trolls, apparently, do not drink the morning dew from buttercups, and also can’t be found baking cookies in trees - that's what elves do.

“For the last time, we’re the guys that dangle from little girls' backpacks and sit on the end of pencils!” an exasperated Cryer said.

The 45-year-old ended his big reveal saying that perhaps he should be grateful that Sheen outed him.

“I’m finally free,” Cryer said. “To all the other trolls still 'living under the bridge,' especially you younger trolls, I’m here to tell you, it get’s better. Not gay better, but still, sorta better.”

It's A Bird, It's A Plane

2011-03-07T10:30:00.000-06:00

Okay--I think maybe it might be time to assist the Libyan rebels....this is their version of anti-aircraft fire...from the MSNBC website.

A Horse, Of Course

2011-03-05T09:08:00.001-06:00

For those of you that don't think living in Texas is a whole other experience, exhibit A. Sorry the pic is bad, but I was so nonchalant about it I forgot to take a pic until he was already some distance away. I was waiting for the bus on S Lamar here in Austin when a cowboy rode his horse right by on the sidewalk. He waited for traffic to clear, then crossed Lamar and tied his horse up at a bar. Ha. I love this place.

Oh, Barry, Hold On

2011-03-04T15:03:00.001-06:00

Journey fans aside, I am impressed. Barry O. FINALLY called for our boy in Libya to go. How long did that take? He always has a cute reason for taking a stance (or not), and meanwhile, nothing happens. That has been his M.O. forever. Maybe he was busy with Eric Holder planning dismissals against his people (Eric, "my people"? Thought we were all Americans...although I wonder about you sometimes...), or trying to figure out what summit he can send Hillary next. Oddly enough, Unca Joe Biden has been remarkably silent. I think Jimmy Carter is smiling, because he realizes he is no longer the worst president of all time.

So much for all those apologies, eh? Well, fine. If we don't want to be the world's police, no problem. But watch...we didn't want to be the world's police before WWI and WWII and look where that got us. Abdication of responsibility feels good for awhile (and is cheaper) but you pay for it in the end. And we won't be talking about an Iraq or Afghanistan where we are chasing sandmen around. We will be talking about a real war, with rationing, starvation and millions dead on all sides. So let's be isolationist and selfish, bitch about your union rights, and elect incompetents because it assuages our national guilt. Become socialist. Become France or England. In a straight up fight, and we are coming to one, you'll want the protection of American exceptionalism. Otherwise, I hope you know Mandarin or Arabic. The Star Trek Federation/U.N. Model will never exist until aliens invade, and even then, we'll kick their asses, then go back to killing each other.

Better pick a side while you can.

On a brighter note, have a nice weekend. But be vigilant.

Roman Holiday III

2011-02-25T05:40:00.000-06:00

This is one tin-eared administration....glad you can have fun up there in D.C.

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White House jams to the Motown sound

Stevie Wonder — the first lady's favorite — Smokey Robinson, John Legend, Seal, Jamie Foxx, Nick Jonas and Sheryl Crow among the performers

Housekeeping

2011-02-25T05:36:00.000-06:00

No, I haven't returned for my once daily entries, but I did do some examination of things I need to make more time for and this is one of them. It is one thing to be busy, but you can't cut out things you enjoy. Even by default. I would suggest to all to make a list of things they like about their lives...you will probably find lots of things you enjoy you have taken for granted and pass by daily without appreciation. Or things you used to enjoy but forget to keep up on. Try it--you might not be so apt to see greener grass on the horizon.

Now THIS Is Security

2011-02-24T11:42:00.000-06:00

A little bit like America these days.

Roman Holiday II

2011-02-23T14:48:00.000-06:00

Nice--from today. About the silence from Barry on Libya.

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"This is a scheduling issue. The president will meet with Secretary of State Clinton this afternoon. We will have something to say out of that meeting. If possible, the President will speak this afternoon or tomorrow," White House press secretary Jay Carney says about President Obama's lack of response to the crisis in Libya.

******************

People are dying trying to overthrow a tyrant, and we can't manage to find an open phone line. Pathetic administration. You want to make jokes about George continuing to read to the children for a few minutes after he heard about the first airplane strike on 9-11? This has been days....silence. Silence from the beacon of democracy in the world. Maybe we aren't exceptional after all. When is 2012? Mayans might be right.

Roman Holiday

2011-02-23T08:48:00.000-06:00

Talk about looking weak...America in serious decline. Barry runs around last year apologizing for us, says he will be the great bridge between us and the Middle East, and now....silence. No support for the Iranian protesters, zero to say while a civil war erupts in Libya. He is a little boy that hides in his closet when things are unfamiliar. We hear him support Wisconsin teachers, but people are trying to remove one of the greatest modern criminals in the streets of Libya, and nothing. C'mon, at least push for a no-fly zone over Libya to keep the loyalists from using helicopter gunships and jets on civilians. Not much from Hillary either. Hmmm. Well, this is the guy most of you wanted. For all his failings, at least they were scared of George Bush. But they are laughing at us now for our impotence. If nothing else, try to stabilize for our own security--wait until oil goes over $120.

And speaking of Tripoli, we ought to send Marines in to clear out some of these pirate havens in Africa. But Hillary says we will strengthen our partnerships, etc. Whatever.

Check under the bed for Barry...he has to be around somewhere. Well, we can always find his wife--she is usually living it up on some fabulous vacation.

Casbah Country

2011-02-22T06:34:00.000-06:00

I know I know...so much going on and so little time to talk about it. Barry looks pretty out of control, simply because he has so little to say these days. The Middle East that he thought loved him has started unraveling and not listening to anything he has to say. But the bigger lesson is that stability is fleeting. Any country can devolve quickly, and frighteningly so in this era of instant communications. For all our focus on gloabal warming, electric cars and baby seals, there is still the real possibility that you need to brush up on your basic skills. For all of our civilization, in the end, much happens based on who has the guns.

Oh, and the two Libyan Colonels that defected? I am not sure they are heroes. I think they should be commended for not firing on unarmed civilians, but heroes would have attempted to stop their fellow pilots--either by ordering them to stop or by interfering with their runs, even if it meant firing on the other planes. If they could. Maybe they weren't armed with air to air weapons, I don't know.

Meanwhile, we have Wisconsin teachers whining about their union packages and pensions. This country is going to quickly become not a class warfare country, but one of public v. private employees...and I can tell you which way it is going. When Washington D.C. is a boomtown, and public employees average over 100,000 clams in benefits, something is wrong. Too many people in the cart, not enough horses. Are the government services necessary? Many are, some aren't. But in the end, most government employees don't actually produce anything that other people want to buy. And that isn't a way to grow your economy.

Gotta go!

My Sharia II

2011-02-04T07:18:00.000-06:00

I don't agree 100% with everything in this article excerpt by Ari Shavit, but it is dang close. Barry stood by when Iranian students massed, but now the Muslim Brotherhood is on the rise, he embraces change. I think Barry is immature and inexperienced (Yay, we have a black President--this is historical!) but I always thought he was an American. But his actions will certainly bolster those that believe he is a closet Muslim, and indeed, not natural born. I still don't believe that--I just think he is a closet socialist with some kind of unrealistic United Federation/Star Trek let's-all-get-along world view. But the real world is gritty and dark with long knives out.

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"And yet, the West has maintained a sort of international hegemony. Just as no replacement has been found for the dollar, none has been found for North Atlantic leadership. But Western countries' poor handling of the Middle East proves they are no longer leaders. Right before our eyes the superpowers are turning into palaver powers.

There are no excuses for the contradictions. How can it be that Bush's America understood the problem of repression in the Arab world, but Obama's America ignored it until last week? How can it be that in May 2009, Hosni Mubarak was an esteemed president whom Barack Obama respected, and in January 2011, Mubarak is a dictator whom even Obama is casting aside? How can it be that in June 2009, Obama didn't support the masses who came out against the zealot Mahmoud Ahmadinejad [in Iran], while now he stands by the masses who are coming out against the moderate Mubarak?

There is one answer: The West's position is not a moral one that reflects a real commitment to human rights. The West's position reflects the adoption of Jimmy Carter's worldview: kowtowing to benighted, strong tyrants while abandoning moderate, weak ones.

Carter's betrayal of the Shah brought us the ayatollahs, and will soon bring us ayatollahs with nuclear arms. The consequences of the West's betrayal of Mubarak will be no less severe. It's not only a betrayal of a leader who was loyal to the West, served stability and encouraged moderation. It's a betrayal of every ally of the West in the Middle East and the developing world. The message is sharp and clear: The West's word is no word at all; an alliance with the West is not an alliance. The West has lost it. The West has stopped being a leading and stabilizing force around the world.

The Arab liberation revolution will fundamentally change the Middle East. The acceleration of the West's decline will change the world. One outcome will be a surge toward China, Russia and regional powers like Brazil, Turkey and Iran. Another will be a series of international flare-ups stemming from the West's lost deterrence. But the overall outcome will be the collapse of North Atlantic political hegemony not in decades, but in years. When the United States and Europe bury Mubarak now, they are also burying the powers they once were. In Cairo's Tahrir Square, the age of Western hegemony is fading away."

My Sharia

2011-02-04T07:02:00.001-06:00

I mentioned to a friend last Sunday that I thought Barry was handling this Egypt situation wrong, and while the Muslim Brotherhood was not directly behind the trouble, they were waiting for this opportunity. Our ally Arab nations are simply furious. Israel is livid. Mubarak was sort of a son of a bitch, but he was our son of a bitch. And he was a relatively nominal son of a bitch compared to others in the region. I blame our last several Presidents to some degree as well--if we had an issue with the way Mubarak ran things, we had time to ease him out and make things more orderly, or had time to influence how he handled things. But we apparently ignored it forever. So now I don't think that Barry has any choice but to continue to support Mubarak, yet we will not. And Egypt will likely fall to radical extremists, maybe becoming another Iran. Trust me, you really don't want this. Barry had a hard choice, but that is what happens when you are President. And he is picking the wrong one. I kind of like revolutions, being an American--that is how we started. But ours was based on Christian principles, and was about freedom. This will end up being about how to bring Sharia law and a theocracy to one of the worlds larger countries. Worse oppression. Barry, you are a child, and history will find you guilty.

Overload Principle

2011-01-28T08:28:00.003-06:00

The below study I think shows that this most recent generation has to deal with something previous generations didn't...too much information. Some people can handle it, some people can't. For those that can't deal with stress well, ignorance is bliss...and makes one's life stress free. Others grow calmer as they have more information and knowledge. It doesn't surprise me with being constantly glued to social media and various other forms of Internet interaction at all hours of the day that people become depressed, angry, stressed...you can watch real life carnage all over the world 24/7...but on your college campus too. Facebook postings about what everyone is doing, whom everyone is doing, why weren't you invited to something, etc....it is a constant barrage. And some people can't handle it. I disagree with the study below--are trying to attribute it to some economic factor, but I don't think that is the whole story. Hope you take it easy this weekend, and unplug a little!

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By Janice Lloyd, USA TODAY

College freshmen's emotional health hit an all-time low this academic year, reflecting the stress of wanting to succeed and the cost of acquiring a quality education during a struggling economy, a report from UCLA's Higher Education Research Institute says.

In the survey of more than 200,000 first-time freshmen at 279 colleges and universities, only 52% rated their emotional health high or above average, a drop from 64% in 1985 and down 3.4% from 2009.

The survey, released Wednesday, reinforces the need for college administrators to identify and help students who are struggling emotionally, researchers say.

"This is new for college faculty," says Sylvia Hurtado, one of the study authors. "They're used to dealing with students' cognitive abilities and not emotional.

"But colleges are responding. They're looking at emergency plans and giving information to faculty so they can help identify students having trouble."

Lower levels of emotional health can lead to poor judgment around time management, alcohol consumption and academic motivation, the authors say.

Female students were far less likely to report high levels of emotional health (46%) than male students (59%). This follows the current trend, Hurtado says, adding that "reports have shown men have better ways of working off stress than women."

Other findings:

•More students (71%) than ever before rated their academic abilities as "above average" or in "the highest 10%."

•More students (73.4%) reported receiving grants and scholarships than at any point since 2001, an increase of 3.4% since 2009. Hurtado says this shows more students are seeking better buys and relying on aid, with "fewer students going to their first choice."

•More students (72.7%) than ever before said "the chief benefit of college is that it increases one's earning power.

"They're wondering, how am I going to make all of this work?" Hurtado says. "The only way I can get a good job is to have a higher education."

•The percentage of students (5%) who reported their parents were unemployed was at an all-time high.

"This is the first time this generation is not sure if they're going to do better than their parents," Hurtado says.

FWIW IMHO

2011-01-27T10:24:00.000-06:00

Ha--I was wondering who was going to be the first to notice the acronym...Apparently, Barry's speech writers, nor Barry himself, did....

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(USA Today) President Obama's new slogan is "Winning the Future."

To Sarah Palin, it's "WTF."

Palin used the acronym at least three times last night in discussing Obama's State of the Union speech on Fox News. WTF is also a phone text-driven phrase used to avoid spelling out the f word; it stands for "what the (blank)."

"There were a lot of WTF moments through that speech," the 2008 Republican vice presidential candidate told Fox's Greta Van Susteren.

Palin used the phrase in reference to Obama's discussion of the federal debt, and his claim that the U.S. faces a "Sputnik moment" when it comes to technology and innovation challenges from other countries.

Palin also discussed fellow Tea Party favorite Rep. Michele Bachmann, which you can read about on our OnPolitics blog.

Obama used variations of "Winning the Future" several times throughout his speech. At one point, he said: "If we want to win the future -- if we want innovation to produce jobs in America and not overseas -- then we also have to win the race to educate our kids."

AP A-OK

2011-01-26T10:18:00.001-06:00

Well, I'll be a son of a bitch. I kind of fell asleep during the State of the Union last night. Wasn't anything new I heard except more check the box items ("we need to look at immigration reform") and more spending (called investments) like high speed rail and internet for all. Some nominal cuts, I think 400 million over 10 years...big deal, our budget over the next ten years is something around 45 trillion. Kind of a joke. Sputnik moment? Not really. But what really surprised me was the below from AP this morning...actual real reporting! I don't think I have ever seen anything like this before out of AP regarding Barry....I mean, it is pretty critical...

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WASHINGTON (AP) -- The ledger did not appear to be adding up Tuesday night when President Barack Obama urged more spending on one hand and a spending freeze on the other.

Obama spoke ambitiously of putting money into roads, research, education, efficient cars, high-speed rail and other initiatives in his State of the Union speech. He pointed to the transportation and construction projects of the last two years and proposed "we redouble these efforts." He coupled this with a call to "freeze annual domestic spending for the next five years."

But Obama offered far more examples of where he would spend than where he would cut, and some of the areas he identified for savings are not certain to yield much if anything.

For example, he said he wants to eliminate "billions in taxpayer dollars we currently give to oil companies." Yet he made a similar proposal last year that went nowhere. He sought $36.5 billion in tax increases on oil and gas companies over the next decade, but Congress largely ignored the request, even though Democrats were then in charge of both houses of Congress.

A look at some of Obama's statements Tuesday night and how they compare with the facts:

OBAMA: Tackling the deficit "means further reducing health care costs, including programs like Medicare and Medicaid, which are the single biggest contributor to our long-term deficit. Health insurance reform will slow these rising costs, which is part of why nonpartisan economists have said that repealing the health care law would add a quarter of a trillion dollars to our deficit."

THE FACTS: The idea that Obama's health care law saves money for the government is based on some arguable assumptions.

To be sure, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office has estimated the law will slightly reduce red ink over 10 years. But the office's analysis assumes that steep cuts in Medicare spending, as called for in the law, will actually take place. Others in the government have concluded it is unrealistic to expect such savings from Medicare.

In recent years, for example, Congress has repeatedly overridden a law that would save the treasury billions by cutting deeply into Medicare pay for doctors. Just last month, the government once again put off the scheduled cuts for another year, at a cost of $19 billion. That money is being taken out of the health care overhaul. Congress has shown itself sensitive to pressure from seniors and their doctors, and there's little reason to think that will change.

OBAMA: Vowed to veto any bills sent to him that include "earmarks," pet spending provisions pushed by individual lawmakers. "Both parties in Congress should know this: If a bill comes to my desk with earmarks inside, I will veto it."

THE FACTS: House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, has promised that no bill with earmarks will be sent to Obama in the first place. Republicans have taken the lead in battling earmarks while Obama signed plenty of earmark-laden spending bills when Democrats controlled both houses.

It's a turnabout for the president; in early 2009, Obama sounded like an apologist for the practice: "Done right, earmarks have given legislators the opportunity to direct federal money to worthy projects that benefit people in their districts, and that's why I've opposed their outright elimination," he said then.

OBAMA: "I'm willing to look at other ideas to bring down costs, including one that Republicans suggested last year: medical malpractice reform to rein in frivolous lawsuits."

THE FACTS: Republicans may be forgiven if this offer makes them feel like Charlie Brown running up to kick the football, only to have it pulled away, again.

Obama has expressed openness before to this prominent Republican proposal, but it has not come to much. It was one of several GOP ideas that were dropped or diminished in the health care law after Obama endorsed them in a televised bipartisan meeting at the height of the debate.

Republicans want federal action to limit jury awards in medical malpractice cases; what Obama appears to be offering, by supporting state efforts, falls short of that. The president has said he agrees that fear of being sued leads to unnecessary tests and procedures that drive up health care costs. So far the administration has only wanted to pay for pilot programs and studies.

Trial lawyers, major political donors to Democratic candidates, are strongly opposed to caps on jury awards. But the administration has been reluctant to support other approaches, such as the creation of specialized courts where expert judges, not juries, would decide malpractice cases.

OBAMA: Praised the "important progress" made by the bipartisan fiscal commission he created last year.

THE FACTS: The panel's co-chairmen last month recommended a painful mix of spending cuts and tax increases, each of them unpopular with one constituency or another, including raising the Social Security retirement age, cutting future benefit increases, raising the gasoline tax and rolling back popular tax breaks like the mortgage interest deduction. But Obama has yet to sign on to any of the ideas, even though he promised when creating the panel that it would not be "one of those Washington gimmicks."

Obama missed another chance Tuesday night to embrace the tough medicine proposed by the commission for bringing down the deficit. For example, the president said he wanted to "strengthen Social Security for future generations" -- but ruled out slashing benefits or partially privatizing the program, and made no reference to raising the retirement age. That left listeners to guess how he plans to do anything to salvage the popular retirement program whose trust funds are expected to run out of money in 2037 without changes.

OBAMA: As testament to the fruits of his administration's diplomatic efforts to control the spread of nuclear weapons, he said the Iranian government "faces tougher and tighter sanctions than ever before."

THE FACTS: That is true, and it reflects Obama's promise one year ago that Iran would face "growing consequences" if it failed to heed international demands to constrain its nuclear program. But what Obama didn't say was that U.S. diplomacy has failed to persuade Tehran to negotiate over U.N. demands that it take steps to prove it is not on the path toward a bomb. Preliminary talks with Iran earlier this month broke off after the Iranians demanded U.S. sanctions be lifted.

Associated Press writers Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar, Jim Drinkard, Erica Werner, Jim Kuhnhenn, Andrew Taylor, Stephen Ohlemacher and Robert Burns contributed to this report.

Duty Bound

2011-01-25T20:24:00.000-06:00

From the Wall Street Journal this weekend. Amen.

Dixie Dare

2011-01-22T15:29:00.000-06:00

I just think the name is funny. From the Rebel Yell Distillery. Ha. The South shall fall down again. But it will be fun.

The Long Drought

2011-01-15T10:45:00.000-06:00

Boy there is a lot to talk about...and I don't have much time to talk about it. I could fill several blogs about the ridiculousness of the left's argument about political discourse. (You always use the lack of civility card when you are losing.) Gun control (that horse left the barn about 1836)...extended magazines (the magazine in the shooter's Glock failed which is why they could tackle him. 10 round magazines would have done zero here, since it takes about .5 of a second to change mags)...the Paul Wellstone-like rally Obama held in Arizona (not all his fault, but still)....Cuts in the military (10 percent cut in the Marine Corps? And we give billions in social programs that are wasted? Let's look at priorities here. Can't have social programs unless you have a country)....our idiot Austin cops that apparently don't know a horse or mule is not a motor vehicle or device (and the DWI charges were subsequently dismissed--it wouldn't be the first time a drunk cowboy road a horse downtown)...apparently Chinese mothers are superior (or makes children unable to think for themselves--I can raise a kid to have perfect grades, then will melt down as adults when curves come their way)...MSNBC calls the Tuscon shooting a "massacre" but calls the Fort Hood shooting a "tragedy" (guess when you are a Muslim, you get better press)....it is rainy here in Austin, and coldish, but it gave me the opportunity to get out my scarf and great coat and several of my felt fedora hats.....hope you have Monday off, so you can go drink some beer and enjoy football on Sunday....take care and stay warm!!

That Hat II

2011-01-10T13:03:00.000-06:00

Well, I have worn the bowler several times, just on a Saturday afternoon for example. I have gotten a few odd looks, but I have noticed that when someone says something, it is a nice comment. I have had several people stop me and enthusiastically say, "Man, I like your hat!" It is different. I think about 20% of the women like it...I think they have bad memories of Laurel and Hardy or something. I look at it from an historical perspective...they were very popular among bankers and lawyers in the late 1800's and common folk often bought them to give themselves a little social boost. I tend to wear my bowler with jeans, a sweater, and some weather cowboy boots. I think if you try to wear one with a suit then you do become a dandy. I like the idea that if you wear a hat that is not totally in style, you are a character, colorful. Besides, when I started wearing fedoras some time ago, they weren't that popular, and look now. I can't turn around without seeing a fedora in this part of the country. I take credit. And when you see more bowlers, I will take credit for that too.....ha. I guess the key is that if you do something you like, then who cares what everyone else thinks? You are having a blast. Besides--everyone needs to lighten up a little. And hats are an excellent way to do it.

That Hat

2011-01-01T14:30:00.000-06:00

Happy new year! For this festive occasion, I bought a bowler hat. I thought I would get some looks, but this is Austin. I even saw a coonskin cap last night, so my hat was fairly ordinary. Ha! Hope you had a nice evening, and are looking forward to a great 2011.

Thinking Thursdays

2010-12-30T08:50:00.000-06:00

Been traveling, so I hope all had a nice Christmas! The bunnies were in my parent's back yard. It was strange, they traveled together...later, they spent the night under a garden table. It was a nice spot, out of the wind, but unless it is mating season, it was strange to see two together. Maybe one slept while the other one was standing guard! There has been a fox or two in the area. And a bunny would have been a nice Christmas dinner. Maybe they couldn't find their warren in the heavy snow. Or maybe, like some friends and family, they just wanted to spend the holiday together. They seemed to manage just fine. I got to see my family, and yes, four days is about enough. I want to miss them when they are gone! Although, who knows. My Dad is 80, my mother 76, and they very well could outlast me...they seem in fine health, and my sisters are doing well.

I hope you had a nice Christmas, and are looking forward to a little football this weekend. Happy New Year, too! Now I have to get used to writing 2011. My new year's resolution is that I am not going to work as much, and I am going to say no a lot more. 2010 went by so fast--I was constantly going from one thing to another, or in traffic, or was asleep. I don't want the rest of my life to be that way, a race to the end. I need some time to think, not just react, and I had precious little of that this year. Some of that was self-imposed, I admit, going back to school. But the graduate work was relaxing for me, and different. While some people like woodworking, or collecting, or gardening, or restoring cars, I enjoy the exchange of ideas, either in written form or through discussion. The main drawback is, while I find it interesting and relaxing, others find the disagreements frustrating. Additionally, it doesn't give you much downtime to just think about things in general, like you might when you garden. The only time I have some time remotely close to that is when I am on the bus. Not like being in your garden, but you can drift a little, nonetheless. I hope you find some downtime in 2011 if you feel too busy--and I know with this economy, it is easy to feel like you need to perform your job at its best! But killing yourself and hating your job isn't going to help you keep it.

Anyway, that went further afield than I originally intended. Have a great day!

Christian Nation

2010-12-25T02:40:00.000-06:00

Two beautiful bunnies hopped by. Merry Christmas.

Friday Freeze

2010-12-17T07:12:00.000-06:00

A cold snap hit Austin last night, after we had been in the 70s. Taking the bus today...and that half a mile or so was a breezy one. Sure, it was not that cold, only about 40. Why, I was just in Colorado, where it was 15 below. Still, waiting out there in the dark with the wind blowing chills you right down. And the thought that I'll have to return when it is colder tonight! In times like these when I am tempted to grumble a little to myself about why I just didn't drive, I think of the guys in the 101st Airborne and all of the men in the Ardenne Forest who on December 16th, 1944, were attacked by three German army groups during one of the coldest winters on record. With no real winter gear, little ammunition or food, and no heavy guns, they fought the massive onslaught to a standstill over a period of weeks. There are instances where American infantry at Bastonge used 75 mm pak low velocity howitzers to knock out German Tiger and Panther tanks. (Hint--you have to let the tank get reeeeal close and hit them just right, never a healthy thing to do.). I don't know I'd you have ever been near a tank before, but they are as big as a house, and anything weighing 45 or more tons will shake the very earth upon which you stand. Add the fact that there are usually MORE THAN ONE coming at you, firing cannons and machine guns, and it is impressive a freezing 17 or 18 year old American kid in the dark, far from home, with the woods full of German Volksgrenadiers would be able to hold his fire long enough to take that one-in-a-thousand shot from 50 feet away at German armor. But they did.

So, the bus stop seems a little less cold when you think of it that way. And the added bonus of not being shot at. Have a safe and warm weekend!

Brave Sir Robin

2010-12-11T08:00:00.000-06:00

Ha, Barry isn't even phoning it in now. In leaving the press briefing and letting Bill Clinton engage the press, who in the hell is running this place? "I've been keeping the First Lady waiting for about half an hour, so I'm going to take off." What a joke. Run along, Boy Wonder--no one needs you anyway.

One Term Wonder

2010-12-10T11:16:00.000-06:00

What a total idiot. I am embarrassed he is our President. It is all about him. He is about the biggest loser we have ever had as president in the last 100 years.. Well maybe ever. He is actually worse than Jimmy Carter, and that is saying a lot....

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(Washington Examiner) There was an extraordinary scene at the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo Friday morning. The prize went to imprisoned Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo, who was barred by the Chinese government from attending the ceremony. It was the first time since 1935 -- when the prize went to a winner imprisoned in one of Adolf Hitler's concentration camps -- that the Peace Prize winner or his repesentative did not appear personally to accept the award. Liu's absence was symbolized by an empty chair on stage.

So on this notable occasion, the White House released a statement from President Obama on the awarding of the prize to Liu in absentia. And this is how Obama's statement began:

One year ago, I was humbled to receive the Nobel Peace Prize -- an award that speaks to our highest aspirations, and that has been claimed by giants of history and courageous advocates who have sacrificed for freedom and justice.

Critics have often said of Obama that "it's all about him," that he has a tendency to reference himself no matter what subject he is discussing. Could he do any more to prove them right? But just to show that he is, in fact, humble, the president followed his opening sentence with this:

Mr. Liu Xiaobo is far more deserving of this award than I was.

In the rest of his statement, Obama writes that "We respect China's extraordinary accomplishment in lifting millions out of poverty, and believe that human rights include the dignity that comes with freedom from want." But of course, Liu wasn't at the Nobel ceremony in Oslo because of the Chinese government, so Obama adds, "Mr. Liu reminds us that human dignity also depends upon the advance of democracy, open society, and the rule of law. The values he espouses are universal, his struggle is peaceful, and he should be released as soon as possible." And then, before closing, the president makes one more reference to himself:

I regret that Mr. Liu and his wife were denied the opportunity to attend the ceremony that Michelle and I attended last year.

Indeed.

Boomer Sooner

2010-12-10T11:07:00.001-06:00

Speaking of .50 cals, I like this round listed in Wikipedia...I think this would be a great stocking stuffer.

"Cartridge, Caliber .50, Armor-Piercing-Incendiary, Mk 211 Mod 0

A so-called "combined effects" cartridge, the Mk 211 Mod 0 High-Explosive-Incendiary-Armor-Piercing (HEIAP) cartridge contains a .30 caliber tungsten penetrator, zirconium powder, and Composition A explosive. It can be used in any .50 caliber weapon in US inventory with the exception of the M85 machine gun. Cartridge is identified by a green tip with a grey ring."

BMG Is Right For Me

2010-12-09T15:32:00.001-06:00

So the army is going to send the XM2010 sniper rifle to Afghanistan, as you can read here...it has a 25 to 50% range increase over the current M24 Remington. Little wonder why...the venerable M24 uses a 7.62 x 51 NATO cartridge as I recall, a decent round...but those tend to fizzle out in the peaks of Afghanistan. The new XM2010 uses .300 Win Mags--it is a big bullet. But if you really need to kill everything in sight, and you want to lug the thing around, nothing like the anachronistic, old school Ma Deuce round, the .50 BMG. As you can see above on the left, it is a lot bigger. The problem is it will go through the bad guy, through the wall, then a half mile further into a village. But hey, it gets the job done. Old school is good school.

Ass-ange

2010-12-05T10:49:00.000-06:00

Part of a Washington Times editorial...very impressive--rest is here...

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Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. vows that he is looking into possible criminal charges against Mr. Assange. It is too late for tough talk. At this point, we are beyond indictments and courts. The damage has been done; people have died - and will die because of the actions of this puerile, self-absorbed narcissist. News reports say the WikiLeaks founder is hiding out in England. If that's true, we should treat Mr. Assange the same way as other high-value terrorist targets: Kill him.

Sashayer in Chief

2010-12-04T08:58:00.000-06:00

Well, as many people that hated George Bush, he sure looked more Commander in Chief-ish...Jesus. A size 38 leather jacket that still looks too big doesn't inspire confidence in the troops. And that is with wearing a sweater underneath! Truman, a little guy, looked like a struttting crow--at least he was fiesty. Barry looks like he is picking out drapes. No wonder the A-rabs aren't scared of us...

To Hell You Ride

2010-12-01T17:57:00.000-06:00

Sorry for the drought of commentary lately--not much time, traveling, studying, etc...everyone let's their lives get in the way, huh? I'll see if I can do a better job soon. Hope you had a great holiday and ate lots of good food! I was away for a few days, it was fun! Fuzzy cell pic...see you soon!

Hail Rome

2010-12-01T16:36:00.000-06:00

Mort Zuckerman isn't my idea of a guy I trust, but I was pretty impressed with his commentary, a paragraph of which is below.

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"The prognosis for America is especially discouraging. We have relied too heavily on surplus savings from abroad on top of running massive current account deficits. Until recent times, we ran deficits of this order only when we were engaged in a titanic war; otherwise we sought to achieve budget balances over a complete business cycle. But now we are running annual deficits of $1.4 trillion, about 10 percent of the total economy. We have compounded the deficits we accumulated over the last decade, so they now reach 61 percent of GDP. Only once before has the ratio of federal debt to GDP come in above 60 percent. That was after World War II. And our federal debt ratio today doesn't even take into account Social Security and Medicare. Total liabilities and unfunded promises for Medicare and Social Security were about $62 trillion at the end of the last fiscal year, tripling from the year 2000, according to the calculations of former Comptroller General David Walker. Sixty-two trillion dollars is $200,000 per person and $500,000-plus for the average household. As Walker put it, the problem with these trust funds is "you can't trust them [and] they're not funded." Therefore, he asserts, we ought to count them as a liability, which would bring the debt-to-GDP ratio to 91 percent."

Abrams Amen

2010-11-19T09:27:00.000-06:00

About damn time.

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Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, November 19, 2010; 12:12 AM

The U.S. military is sending a contingent of heavily armored battle tanks to Afghanistan for the first time in the nine-year war, defense officials said, a shift that signals a further escalation in the aggressive tactics that have been employed by American forces this fall to attack the Taliban.

The deployment of a company of M1 Abrams tanks, which will be fielded by the Marines in the country's southwest, will allow ground forces to target insurgents from a greater distance - and with more of a lethal punch - than is possible from any other U.S. military vehicle. The 68-ton tanks are propelled by a jet engine and equipped with a 120mm main gun that can destroy a house more than a mile away.

Despite an overall counterinsurgency strategy that emphasizes the use of troops to protect Afghan civilians from insurgents, statistics released by the NATO military command in Kabul and interviews with several senior commanders indicate that U.S. troop operations over the past two months have been more intense and have had a harder edge than at any point since the initial 2001 drive to oust the Taliban government.

The pace of Special Operations missions to kill or capture Taliban leaders has more than tripled over the past three months. U.S. and NATO aircraft unleashed more bombs and missiles in October - 1,000 total - than in any single month since 2001. In the districts around the southern city of Kandahar, soldiers from the Army's 101st Airborne Division have demolished dozens of homes that were thought to be booby-trapped, and they have used scores of high-explosive line charges - a weapon that had been used only sparingly in the past - to blast through minefields.

Some of the tougher methods, particularly Special Operations night raids, have incensed Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who told The Washington Post last week that the missions were undermining support for the U.S.-led war effort. But senior U.S. military officials involved in running the war contend that the raids, as well as other aggressive measures, have dealt a staggering blow to the insurgency.

The officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss specific tactics, said the combination of the raids, the airstrikes and the use of explosives on the ground have been instrumental in improving security in areas around Kandahar, a Taliban stronghold that has been the focus of coalition operations this fall.

"We've taken the gloves off, and it has had huge impact," one of the senior officials said.

Lefty Leanings

2010-11-14T09:48:00.000-06:00

Wow--I think that is the longest I have gone without posting. Sorry--I hardly have any time to myself these days. So, I'll make fun of an article I saw on CNN. Michael is one gay idiot. And that is offending gays. With an orange shirt and grey suit and badly yellowing teeth for such a young man, I will assume he abuses the local Starbucks and has a penchant for Camels. The sideburns need to go too. If he was a serious journalist, I might actually write enough to oppose his ideas. But since he isn't, I'll just laugh and move on...

CNN--Editor's note: Michael Wolraich is a founder of the political blog dagblog.com and the author of "Blowing Smoke: Why the Right Keeps Serving Up Whack-Job Fantasies about the Plot to Euthanize Grandma, Outlaw Christmas, and Turn Junior into a Raging Homosexual."

New York -- Creepy medieval puppets hung from the ceiling on the set of the "Glenn Beck Program" -- a conquistador, a squire, a witch, and a bearded guy who looked like a cross between Santa Claus and the Fiddler on the Roof.

"Make no mistake, we are watching a show," Beck gravely told his audience. That much was obvious enough, but Beck did not mean his own television program. "You have to see who's behind the puppets," he continued, "Who is choosing the puppets and the players? Who's the puppetmaster? George Soros."

George Soros is an 80-year-old Jewish billionaire. Born in Hungary in 1930, he survived the Holocaust and eventually immigrated to the United States, where he made a fortune as a currency speculator and became an international philanthropist. After the Iron Curtain collapsed, Soros donated generously to Hungary and other Eastern Bloc countries, funding scholarships, university endowments, and science grants.

In return for his generosity, anti-Semites in the new Hungarian parliament accused him of participating in an international Jewish conspiracy to bankrupt Hungary in order to restore communist rule -- despite the fact that Soros had been an ardent opponent of Hungary's communist regime

Anti-Sorosism first arrived in the United States in the late 1990s, courtesy of renowned crackpot Lyndon LaRouche. LaRouche has published a number of articles in his comically misnamed journal, the Executive Intelligence Review, accusing Soros of devious manipulations ranging from an attempt to start World War III to running drugs for Queen Elizabeth II's drug cartel.

But LaRouche's audience is small, and most Americans paid little attention to George Soros. In 2003, everything changed. Infuriated by the policies of George W. Bush, Soros sent his philanthropy homeward, donating $23 million to political action groups during the 2004 election. Suddenly, George Soros became the most powerful, evil mastermind in the world.

First, the influential conservative magazine NewsMax ran a story that cribbed LaRouche's conspiracy theories and accused Soros of secretly plotting a "regime change" in the United States. Then Fox News host Bill O'Reilly discovered that Soros' foundation had donated to the ACLU and therefore reasoned that the billionaire and the civil liberties organization were conspiring to destroy Christmas.

When former Republican majority leader Tom DeLay ran into trouble for ethics violations, he blamed Soros for masterminding critical coverage by the New York Times, the Washington Post, the L.A. Times, Time magazine, and Newsweek. And former speaker of the House Dennis Hastert insinuated to an incredulous Chris Wallace on "Fox News Sunday" that Soros got his money from drug operations. (Hastert did not mention Queen Elizabeth II, however.)

Glenn Beck, as usual, trumped them all. He told his audience that Soros has a five-step plan:

1. Create a "shadow government" under the guise of humanitarian aid.

2. Take control of the media.

3. Destabilize the state by building anti-government sentiment. (Yes, Beck attacked his opponent for building anti-government sentiment.)

4. Subvert the American electoral system.

5. Take over the world, of course.

Glenn Beck's conspiracy theories are no less bizarre and inflammatory than those of LaRouche, but his nightly audience numbers in the millions. Earlier this year, Americans voted Beck their second favorite television personality after Oprah Winfrey.

In consequence, he is far more dangerous. It must be a great sorrow to George Soros, who having survived the Holocaust now finds himself the subject of the same kind of conspiracy theories that the Nazis used to demonize the Jews.

The big bad "Jewish masterminds" of Hitler's day were the Rothschilds, a family of bankers who have featured prominently in anti-Semitic conspiracy theories since the 1800s. Like Soros, they have been accused of controlling the media, instigating war, overthrowing governments, and of course, taking over the world.

But in 21st century America, a popular television host cannot outright espouse anti-Semitic ideas. Thus, Glenn Beck took pains to present himself as a friend of the Jews. According to Beck, it was George Soros who was the anti-Semite.

Soros had survived the Holocaust by, at 14, pretending to be the godson of a non-Jewish Hungarian official. Since the official's responsibilities included confiscating Jewish properties, Beck implied that Soros had cooperated with the Nazis. This accusation too echoes Lyndon LaRouche, who has published articles calling Soros "a small cog in Adolf Eichmann's killing machine" and "a Nazi beast-man seizing Jewish properties."

Welcome to the "Glenn Beck Program," where Jews are Nazis and those who exploit ancient anti-Semitic conspiracy narratives are friends of the Jews.

Beck himself said it best,

"There are a few working parts to a puppet show. There is the puppet master. Here. There is a stage. There's the audience. There are the strings to each puppet. And then there's the story. There is also why? Why is the story? Why is the show happening? What is the puppet master? What is his motivation? Is it for the money? Is it for entertainment? Is it personal gain? What is it?"

What is it, Mr. Beck?

Housekeeping

2010-11-06T08:39:00.000-05:00

For those that still read this, I am sorry--with school and work and life, it has been very hard to keep up with the blog. I feel a little bad, because, not that I think many read this...but I think it is important to commit to things. I'll try harder. Some weeks I just feel worn out! So, hang in there, I'll do better.

Brave Sir Robin

2010-11-06T08:34:00.000-05:00

Barry is delusional. He really thinks that it was a lack of communication that drove voters to abandon the Democrats. No...it was this great lurch towards socialism. You don't get it now, Barry--but you will. One term, Jimmy Carter. I am already starting to focus on Rubio. This is an arrogance I have never seen. And if you still think Obama is a great President, I think you are kinda missing the point. Run off to India...where you might get some adoration.

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NEW YORK (CBS) — After suffering a “shellacking” in the midterm elections, President Obama acknowledges what many have seen as his chief weakness – failing to sell the importance of several legislative milestones to the American people.

“I think that’s a fair argument. I think that, over the course of two years we were so busy and so focused on getting a bunch of stuff done that, we stopped paying attention to the fact that leadership isn’t just legislation. That it’s a matter of persuading people. And giving them confidence and bringing them together. And setting a tone,” Mr. Obama told 60 Minutes’ Steve Kroft in an exclusive interview set to air Sunday.

“Making an argument that people can understand,” Mr. Obama continued, “I think that we haven’t always been successful at that. And I take personal responsibility for that. And it’s something that I’ve got to examine carefully … as I go forward.”

Hard To Starboard

2010-11-03T07:31:00.001-05:00

That is what I am talking about...while no final numbers, a huge turnaround in the House--at least 60 seats! Take that, Nancy and Barry. I'm not saying that Americans are giving Republicans a mandate, oh no...but they are saying they don't want the socialist model, they don't want runaway spending, they don't want big government. Sure, we didn't get the Senate, and the wily Harry managed to hold onto his seat in Nevada. A couple of good things about that. Even if the Republicans had taken the Senate, Barry simply would have vetoed everything in sight. Second, the Senate is largely powerless now, without a supermajority or a House to feed it spending bills. (I know, appointments, etc.--I don't have a lot of time...) Third, Harry Reid is a much easier target now, as he could barely hold his own state. Fourth, I wouldn't want to look at that sneering idiot Chuckie Schumer much less listen to him as Majority Leader in the Senate, although there is some question whether his fellow Democrats would either. Fifth, 40 Democrat Senate seats weren't even up for election versus only 23 for Republicans...come on, to take as many as we did was pretty impressive, we didn't have much leeway. And we still don't have word on a few. (Don't get cocky in Alaska, Lisa...just because the write in candidate was winning, a lot of those votes could be for someone else or tossed out in court.)

And that doesn't even count the 10 more Republican Governors! Along with the state legislature wins, the shift in population creating new House districts in Republican states, and the redistricting due to the census, it is a huge advantage to the Republicans.

It was a good night. And if you have read this spot for long, you know I never gave up, and I called for this possibility since Barry was elected. I have been confident for a long time. I'm not saying I told you so--I am saying just keep the faith. Never give up.

Lexington and Concord

2010-11-02T07:28:00.000-05:00

Well, today is the day. I always like voting on the day. Early voting is fine, but it doesn't have that feel of being a real citizen, the pageantry, the weighty honor...feels like an afterthought to getting your groceries. But not today.

And today is one of the most important days in a generation, probably since Jimmy Carter. Jimmy was just inept. The people in Washington today are actually out to radically change America from an exceptional leader to a European socialist model. Which is really cool for Europe--because they aren't, and haven't, paid any real bills since WWII. So, they get to pour cash into social programs, early retirements, long vacations...fun stuff. But not stuff that thwarts the Chinese, Russians, Islamic Extremists, Iranians, the list goes on. Not that long ago, Americans really wondered if we would be speaking Japanese or German. American will and strength prevailed.

But these days, Barry, Nancy Harry, Barney...they want two things, power for themselves, not America, and in doing so, create a socialist state where you simply can't fail. But you can't succeed either. Americans gave these people power for two years, and already we have a President that refers to Americans as "enemies", a first lady that spends vacations in Spanish resorts rather than Camp David, a Majority Leader of the Senate that calls Hispanics ignorant, the list goes on...these people are high on power.

Today, that ends. Are some of the Republicans a little rough around the edges? You bet--they aren't professional politicians. But their hearts are in the right places. This is little different than a bunch of farmers and patriots that got tired of the smooth talking fancy pants British--they risked their lives and fortunes to rid themselves of that tyranny. If Barry thinks we're enemies, fine. All you have to do is take a few minutes to get to a polling place. Every Republican vote today is like the squeeze on a trigger on a revolutionary musket--every pull counts. Even in areas like Austin where the Democrats will win anyway. I'll fire here to distract them--you go after them where it counts.

You know what to do. I'll see you tonight. We will be victorious.

Fancy Nancy

2010-10-30T10:07:00.000-05:00

Time magazine has always been leftish, but even the most minor details, like the below, are of a Democrat bent...describing poor Nancy Pelosi's "red-eye slog" trips back to California, please. She travels on an Air Force Gulf Stream jet, where she is the only passenger, that can get her there in four or five hours without refueling. And her Congress appropriated that plane, because she was tired of her old jet that had to make one stop for refueling. Millions for one woman's comfort. Having only flown twice in my life in first class, it isn't jealousy--it is pity I feel for such people. They are so delicate, so enamored with themselves, so pathetic. People walked out of the Chosin Reservoir or ate lizards on Guadalcanal and and thanked God because they were alive. Such liberal BS...feel sorry for poor Nancy.
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(TIME) As Nancy Pelosi goes, so might a generation of her colleagues.

If Democrats lose control of the House of Representatives next week, as most political observers expect, there is a good chance that the House Speaker will opt to spend time with her eight grandchildren rather than toil in the relative obscurity of the minority. Even if she wanted to stay on, it's not at all clear that she would win the position of minority leader: seven Democratic incumbents and several candidates oppose her leadership — on Wednesday, North Carolina Representative Heath Shuler suggested he might challenge Pelosi for the spot — and another 20 have refused to say one way or another. Pelosi is more likely to leave gracefully, trading the red-eye slog for the pleasant commute between her San Francisco and Napa homes, and leaving the caucus in the hands of majority leader Steny Hoyer, who has been chafing in her shadow for decades.

Joe Blow

2010-10-30T09:15:00.001-05:00

You remember this--these are the people running this country, and your lives. Vote next Tuesday--vote for the people that maybe you think aren't that bright, that are a little rough around the edges...because this is what embedded slick politicians are like...when the VP of the United States is saying such ridiculous and harmful things, this isn't the party of FDR or Truman--this is the party of Stalin or Castro. Pelosi, Reid, Obama, Biden...these people sicken me the way they have led this country into an amoral Wonderland. Vote all Democrats out...these people need to be stopped for good. Joe is actually saying, even though it isn't true, that he wished the American people would have suffered more, just so they would have appreciated him more--with Democratic politicians, it isn't about America, it is about them and how much power and wealth they can take. It is all about them. Tuesday, we'll show them it is all about us, the people.

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(CNN) - Vice President Biden equated Republicans taking over Congress in the upcoming elections with opium gang feuds at an event Friday, and he didn't stop there.

Biden warned the crowd at an Iowa rally of a pending Republican takeover.

"If these guys take over the House and the Senate this next time out… it will be a Tong War for the next two years," Biden said.

The Tong Wars were feuds among rival Asian gangs in U.S. cities over the opium trade in the mid-1800s and early 1900s.

Biden also said it would ultimately have been better for Democrats if the Bush-era policies had lasted longer.

"It would have been better to lose last time, have four more years of really bad, bad policy and have no doubt about why all this occurred and then had a decade of trying to bring America around," Biden said.

Iffy Iftikhar

2010-10-23T09:14:00.001-05:00

Figures the Communist News Network would have some kind of Al-Jazeera sympathizer write an opinion article for them. We have been at war with Muslims for a thousand years--one guy is honest and says he gets nervous on planes, and you want him fired? You people are pretty thin skinned, and way more racist that Juan. Next time I see a Muslim on a plane, I will buy them a drink, or a ham sandwich. And Arsalan, for a rights lawyer, you should be standing up for Juan, even if you disagree with him. And you graduated from law school in 2003 and now work for NPR (talk about a conflict of interest on your opinion article)--too young to really know what is going on, and blinded by the political correctness of your employer. Wide eyed kids these days, I hate new lawyers, out to fix the world...spend some time really practicing or in business, instead of being an affirmative action Muslim tea cup poodle of a bunch of bleeding heart liberals with guilt complexes. Get a real job.
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NPR right to fire Juan Williams
By Arsalan Iftikhar, Special to CNN
Editor's note: Arsalan Iftikhar is an international human rights lawyer, founder of TheMuslimGuy.com and legal fellow for the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding in Washington.

(CNN) -- Imagine for a moment that there was a prominent American conservative journalist who ignorantly disparaged an entire minority group on national television, got fired for it by the nation's largest public radio media organization and then still managed to pull down a $2 million payday with the television network where he made the remarks.

Man, it must be nice to be Juan Williams.

A quick recap: Williams, a National Public Radio "news analyst," appeared on Fox News Channel's "The O'Reilly Factor" on Monday to talk about Bill O'Reilly's recent remarks about Muslims on ABC's "The View;" the latter' shows co-hosts, Joy Behar and Whoopi Goldberg, had walked off the television set in protest.

When asked what he thought about the incident, Williams responded: "Look, Bill, I'm not a bigot. ...You know the kind of books I've written about the civil rights movement in this country. ... But when I get on the plane, I got to tell you, if I see people who are in Muslim garb and I think, you know, they are identifying themselves first and foremost as Muslims, I get worried. I get nervous."

When someone begins with the weak disclaimer that he is "not a bigot," you can probably bet the farm that he is about to say something pretty bigoted.

Soon after, Williams was terminated as an NPR news analyst -- a position he had held for 10 years -- for reasons that included his repeated opinion statements that have teetered on the brink of bigoted nonsense in the past.

For example, many African-Americans were rightfully shocked in January 2009 when Williams, who is black, said on Fox that the first lady "Michelle Obama, you know. ... She's got this Stokely Carmichael [of the black power movement] in a designer dress thing going. ..."

In her first interview after the firing, National Public Radio CEO Vivian Schiller told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, "There have been several instances over the last couple of years where we have felt Juan has stepped over the line," she said, citing the Michelle Obama remark and others. "This isn't a case of one strike and you're out. ..."

Additionally, during this week's Fox appearance, Williams kept referring back to the September 11 attacks in describing his uneasiness about people in "Muslim garb."

Sadly, this is where he should lose any objective argument with any reasonable observer out there.

As a historical fact, neither the 19 hijackers from September 11 nor the failed "shoe bomber" nor the failed "underwear bomber" ever wore any "Muslim garb" when committing their criminal acts of terrorism on an airplane.

Once Williams made that factually wrong statement, he then no longer continued being a "news analyst"; he had crossed over the line into simply voicing his paranoid and irrational fears to the general public.

"Juan Williams is a news analyst; he is not a commentator and he is not a columnist," Schiller told an Atlanta Press Club luncheon Thursday. "We have relied on him over the years to give us perspective on the news, not to talk about his opinions."

She added, "NPR news analysts have a distinctive role and set of responsibilities. This is a very different role than that of a commentator or columnist. News analysts may not take personal public positions on controversial issues; doing so undermines their credibility as analysts, and that's what's happened in this situation. As you all well know, we offer views of all kinds on our air every day, but those views are expressed by those we interview -- not our reporters and analysts."

As someone who has been an on-air NPR commentator for more than three years now, I can understand the difference between a news analyst and a commentator.

Just as I support NPR's firing of Williams, I also publicly supported both the firing of CNN's Rick Sanchez and Helen Thomas' forced retirement from Hearst Newspapers for their own bizarrely bigoted statements about Jews and Israelis. Both crossed any reasonable line for an objective journalist.

Glenn Greenwald of Salon.com correctly points out: "The Helen Thomas/Rick Sanchez incidents -- and countless others -- demonstrate how unequal and imbalanced our standards have become in determining which group-based comments are acceptable and which ones are not. ... If we're going to fire or otherwise punish people for expressing prohibited ideas against various groups, it's long overdue that those standards be applied equally to anti-Muslim animus, now easily one of the most -- if not the single most -- pervasive, tolerated and dangerous forms of blatant bigotry in America."

The First Amendment of our beloved Constitution allows all people to express racist or bigoted thoughts. However, it does not mean that a reputable, mainstream media organization (such as NPR) must give these people a continued platform for those xenophobic views.

Fox News is a different story.

As prominent right-wing figures such as Sarah Palin and Mike Huckabee publicly called for Congress officially to cut funding for NPR, Fox News Chief Executive Roger Ailes "handed Williams a new three-year contract Thursday morning," said the Los Angeles Times, "in a deal that amounts to nearly $2 million, a considerable bump up from his previous salary." He'll have a steady gig on the cable news network and a regular column on its website.

The sad moral of this story is that if you take a bigoted potshot against Muslims in the public media today, no need to worry. There is probably a certain "fair and balanced" news network that might have a $2 million check waiting for you.

Juan In A Million Redux

2010-10-22T12:38:00.000-05:00

So, I have been watching with some amusement the Juan Williams fiasco...and bear in mind, I have been the first to criticize Juan because of his liberal leaning comments. But National Progressive Radio...Public, ha. All Things Considered, indeed. To not even sit down and talk to him, to make comments about needing psychiatry--these people are out of control; they are the most disgusting elites. But it goes beyond that...Al Sharpton is nowhere to be seen, or Jesse, or Barry--he can go in front of the cameras over a Harvard professor that can't keep his temper, but God forbid a black guy goes on Fox News. Juan, I don't like some of your viewpoints, but I think you are starting to realize what the liberals are all about. At least you believe in what you say and are willing to listen. Come on over...our side is replete with stand up guys. We'll take you in.

P.S. If NPR's management is that stupid, pulling this stunt during fund raising season and elections, I'm a little unclear what that Harvard or Yale education got them, besides acceptance into the world of D.C. cocktail parties. But it just proves liberals really believe their own press. We'll find out in a couple of weeks....

Paralegal Passing Lane

2010-10-21T12:51:00.000-05:00

You know, this is a pretty good idea. I know when I practiced, there were many times when I had to have someone come by to pick up a check or sign something. And I had free surface parking--with a lot of downtown firms, parking and traffic is a total pain in the ass. Having a paralegal available is very good, and you can have extended hours. Hmmm. Now, for corporate law firms, this isn't needed--but if you have a lot of regular clients, this might be a pretty effective option for a firm.

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(NBC) You won't be able to get fries with your order, but you can use the drive-thru at Manchester's newest law office.

The Kocian Law Group opened for business this week inside a renovated building on Middle Turnpike West. You'd never know the building once housed a former Kenny Rogers Roasters, except for the drive-thru window on the side of it. And, the personal injury and malpractice specialists plan to put that drive-thru to good use.

"We have drive-thrus for ATMs and we have that customer convenience. Why not a law firm?" attorney Nick Kocian asked.

Kocian wanted to make things convenient for customers to easily drop off and pick up documents. He has been told this is the first drive-thru legal service in Connecticut and possibly the country.

"We represent a lot of injured people," Kocian said. "If you have somebody who's in a wheelchair or somebody who's hurt, it's convenient."

He also has several clients who visit the firm once a week to pick up workers compensation checks.

A paralegal operates the window, hands out documents and answers questions.

"They really love it. It's convenient for them," said Rosa Castillo, one of the firm's paralegals.

But, don't mistake the quick and convenient drive-thru for a firm that's short on giving customers attention.

Consultations and meetings with attorneys take place inside.

"If there's some advice or things like that that people may have about what to do with their papers, that will, of course, be afforded to them," said Kocian.

Besides the drive thru, they're also open nights and weekends. It's a menu offering legal service with a spin.

"It's really something that law firms should have done a long time ago," said Kocian.

Juan Gone

2010-10-21T08:22:00.000-05:00

I think NPR is the one that here that is racist.

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(CNN) -- National Public Radio said it terminated the contract of a news analyst after he said on a Fox News show that he gets nervous when he sees people with Muslim garb on planes.

Juan Williams had worked at NPR for a long time, but his other job as an analyst on the "largely conservative and often contentious prime time talk shows of Fox News has long been a sore point with NPR News executives," an article on NPR's website said.

Williams made the comments recently on Bill O'Reilly's show "The O'Reilly Factor."

O'Reilly, the Fox News personality, was seeking comment from Williams on O'Reilly's own controversial remarks he made on the "The View" about Muslims.

"Look, Bill, I'm not a bigot. You know the kind of books I've written about the civil rights movement in this country. But when I get on the plane, I got to tell you, if I see people who are in Muslim garb and I think, you know, they are identifying themselves first and foremost as Muslims, I get worried. I get nervous." Williams said.

Williams worked for 21 years at The Washington Post and hosted a national call-in show with NPR for a year along with being a news analyst for the radio company, according to his biography on NPR's website.

Housekeeping

2010-10-19T22:09:00.009-05:00

Someone noticed in my previous post (which I corrected) I used "to" when I meant "too"...got me--I usually don't have time to write much, let alone check my typos too closely these days...as you can see from my lack of posts....oh well. There will be other superficial errors...the substance doesn't change. Gotta go!

The Fixers

2010-10-19T06:52:00.001-05:00

At a liberal fundraiser in Massachusetts recently, Barry told his group, "part of the reason that our politics seems so tough right now,and facts and science and argument [do] not seem to be winning the day all the time is because we're hard-wired not to always think clearly when we're scared. And the country is scared."

Wow. He is actually calling Americans too stupid to think under pressure. I'll do the thinking for you, dear America, he says, because you have now retreated into a fight or flight mentality, some animal-like state where you won't be able to reason. This is our President? Superior Barry, who probably got a great LSAT score, yet somehow can't seem to lead, can't communicate without his "idiot boards" and doesn't know America. It is a big country out there, and BHO is about to find out how big it is.

Of course, it isn't a surprise to me, since this is the same guy that said "It's not surprising, then, they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them,"--while talking to a bunch of high end San Francisco liberals that were assuaging their white guilt by raising money and voting for him, and talking about small town America. Barry has now increased his disdain to all Americans.

More and more, he seems like the little kid that wants things his way, believes he is smarter that all the other kids, and now is throwing a fit. You people don't understand, he says. But I always have, and increasingly, more of America is too...we'll see if they show up to the polls to deliver the message that says, yeah, we made a mistake, but now we are here to fix it....

Corn Aggies

2010-10-17T08:50:00.000-05:00

Oh, and the Huskers suck. Go UT.

Hippy Hippy Shake

2010-10-17T08:37:00.000-05:00

Speaking of Michelle, when you wife wears bigger jeans than you do, it is really time to bulk up a little, Barry. Except for the gray hair, he looks about 14. And based on his behavior, maybe 12.

Free Friday

2010-10-15T12:26:00.000-05:00

It is a beautiful time of year in Texas. So beautiful, I decided to take the day off. Fuck you, job, see you next week.

Marry Barry

2010-10-15T11:20:00.001-05:00

I always knew Michelle Obama wasn't much of a lawyer and pretty obviously got into graduate school because she was black, but this really is ridiculous...I mean, she apparently can't read either, because every polling place I have been has really big signs about this very issue. But, she is too cool for school. And I guess she doesn't have Barry's equivalent of an "iReggie"--his manservant that carries his things and points him in the right direction. And she doesn't have a teleprompter following her around, which even Walter Mondale derided as "idiot boards". Go ahead, make fun of George Bush...but these people are missing some DNA. Including Gibbs.

*************************

Drudge Report--First lady Michelle Obama appears to have violated Illinois law -- when she engaged in political discussion at a polling place!

The drama began after Mrs. Obama stopped off at the Martin Luther King Center on the south side of Chicago to cast an early vote.

After finishing at the machine, Obama went back to the desk and handed in her voting key.

She let voters including electrician Dennis Campbell, 56, take some photos.

"She was telling me how important it was to vote to keep her husband's agenda going," Campbell said.

According to a pool reporter from the CHICAGO SUN-TIMES at the scene, the conversation took place INSIDE the voting center, not far from the booths.

Illinois state law -- Sec. 17-29 (a) -- states: "No judge of election, pollwatcher, or other person shall, at any primary or election, do any electioneering or soliciting of votes or engage in any political discussion within any polling place [or] within 100 feet of any polling place."

A top Illinois State Board of Elections official tells the DRUDGE REPORT that Mrs. Obama -- a Harvard-educated lawyer -- may have simply been ignorant of the law and thus violated it unintentionally.

"You kind of have to drop the standard for the first lady, right?" the official explained late Thursday. "I mean, she's pretty well liked and probably doesn't know what she's doing."

WHITE HOUSE DEFENDS ELECTIONEERING

When questioned about the brazen nature of Mrs. Obama's campaigning, press secretary Robert Gibbs defended the action.

"I don't think it would be much to imagine, the First Lady might support her husband's agenda," Gibbs smiled.

God Shed His Grace On Thee

2010-10-09T09:27:00.000-05:00

Here is how blatantly incestuous the Obama administration has become...the new national security advisor, Tom Donilon, replacing a Marine general, has zero experience. He is a lawyer. And a lawyer that graduated from law school eight years after he got out of college--people that go back make me nervous. Worse yet, he is a Joe Biden crony--his wife is even Joe's chief of staff, and his brother is 'counselor' to Joe Biden. He was also Executive V.P. at Fannie Mae during the run up to the collapse. Zero intelligence experience. Obama is running the place like Mao or Fidel would. When Michelle Obama said she was finally proud of her country when her husband was running for President, I am finally embarrassed. Being an American apparently doesn't mean much any more. Kind of like being French.

Depression Seat

2010-10-08T14:36:00.000-05:00

Talk about being in office too long.....from the Weekly Standard...discussing Rep. John Dingell, Democrat from Michigan....

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"Dingell was first elected in 1954--he took the seat over from his father who was first elected in 1932. So, on the upside, Dingell can always campaign on the compelling message: Are you better off now than you were 78 years ago?"

Pearl Harbor II

2010-10-07T07:49:00.000-05:00

This administration sounds like they want us to get attacked. Not deliberately, but kind of like the guy that doesn't wear his seat belt, saying, I can survive an accident. Just sounds like you might get kind of careless--except American lives are at stake. "What's three or ten or twenty thousand deaths? We have 300 million people! C'mon." Idiots.

**************************

US security official on Wednesday said the country was capable of withstanding another terrorist attack and bouncing back, saying Americans needed to put extremist threats in "perspective."

Michael Leiter, head of the National Counterterrorism Center, said despite recent successes there was no guarantee that intelligence and law enforcement agencies could prevent every attempt by extremists to attack the United States.

"We're not going to have a perfect batting average and its important that Americans understand that," Leiter told a conference on intelligence reform.

"It's important that we approach this with national resilience that in fact shows that this country is not going to be defeated by" extremists, Leiter said.

"We do have to put the threat in perspective," he said.

His comments came amid heightened US and Western alerts over potential terror attacks against European cities, and after a wave of arrests by France's anti-terrorism squad.

Leiter said security agencies faced the threat of "low-probability," large-scale attacks involving possible weapons of mass destruction as well as "high probability", smaller-scale attacks such as the shooting rampage at Fort Hood last year that left 13 dead.

But terrorist attacks should not be viewed as "cutting into the fabric of our society," he said.

President Barack Obama made similar remarks in a new book by Washington Post journalist Bob Woodward, saying the country could handle a potential attack.

"We can absorb a terrorist attack. We'll do everything we can to prevent it, but even a 9/11, even the biggest attack ever ... we absorbed it and we are stronger."

Good Sunday

2010-10-03T18:59:00.000-05:00

Weather was beautiful today in Austin.

Downer Days

2010-10-02T12:31:00.001-05:00

This makes me depressed...ha. One in ten Americans are depressed, huh? Well, you better get off your asses and do something about it. Because you are embarrassing yourself--there are people out there with real issues, real chemical imbalances...and I'll bet you aren't one of them. So things haven't gone that great. You lost a job or something bad has happened. Take stock, talk to your Mom or a friend, dwell on it a little. Then next week or next month, get up and get out there. Because I'm not paying taxes for you to sit around and feel sorry for yourself, be on welfare/unemployment/in state hospitals.
*********************
Nearly One in 10 Americans Depressed, Study Reveals
Updated: Friday, 01 Oct 2010, 8:37 AM EDT
Published : Friday, 01 Oct 2010, 8:36 AM EDT

(AFP) - Nearly one in 10 Americans is depressed, and one in 30 meet the criteria for major depression, with the rate higher among the unemployed and those who can't work, a study said Thursday.

Nine percent of more than 235,000 adults surveyed between 2006 and 2008 across 45 U.S. states, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, met the criteria for depression, and 3.4 percent for "major" depression, according to the study by US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Among people who classified themselves as unable to work, nearly a quarter -- 22 percent -- met the criteria for major depression, as did nearly 10 percent of those who said they were unemployed.

Although the survey did not ask respondents why they were unable to work, study co-author and clinical psychologist Lela McKnight Eily said they were probably disabled or suffering from illness.

In sharp contrast to the unemployed, only two percent of people with jobs had symptoms of major depression, according to the study published in the CDC's weekly Morbidity and Mortality report.

Participants were deemed to be suffering from major depression if they met five of eight criteria on a questionnaire that asked how often during the previous two weeks they had feelings of hopelessness or disinterest, if they had trouble falling asleep or if they slept too much.

The questions also inquired about respondents' appetite, concentration, restlessness, lethargy or feelings of failure.

The real rate of depression among adult Americans was likely to be significantly higher because key groups -- the homeless and the incarcerated -- were not included in the survey, McKnight Eily told AFP.

The survey also found that just under seven percent of people who had not completed high school suffered major depression compared to four percent of high school graduates.

Women were more susceptible to depression than men, young people were more likely than those over 65 years old to suffer from depression, and blacks and Hispanics were more likely than whites to be depressed, it said.

Depressive disorders are also "more common among persons with chronic conditions", such as obesity, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, asthma, arthritis and cancer, the study said.

"A person who has a chronic disease and becomes depressed may stop following the directions on their prescription medications and their condition could get worse, which might make them even more depressed," McKnight Eily added.

Depression was the third leading cause of disease burden -- a measurement of the impact of a health problem in an area based on factors such as cost and mortality -- worldwide in 2004 and it is expected to be second only to cardiovascular disease by 2020, the CDC said.

The findings were issued a week before U.S. National Depression Screening Day on October 7.

Nine Meters of Trouble

2010-10-02T09:49:00.000-05:00

Rick Sanchez of CNN got canned yesterday for making comments about John Stewart being a bigot. Well, that is what everyone is claiming, but it it really for calling out the Jewish controlled mainstream media, as you'll see below. Now, I never heard of Rick Sanchez before (because I never watch CNN--it is for half-wits that get distracted easily), but he does sound like a Cuban with a chip on his shoulder, and kind of an idiot...plus, anyone that say "bold-faced lie" has really got to read more. He makes Hispanics look like idiots.

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Washington Post--During the lengthy, gasp-inducing interview with Dominick, the subject of Stewart came up; the late-night host often ridicules Sanchez on "The Daily Show." On the Sirius broadcast, Sanchez told Dominick, "I've known a lot of elite Northeast establishment liberals that may not use this as a business model, but deep down when they look at a guy like me they look at a -- they see a guy automatically who belongs in the second tier and not the top tier," said Sanchez, who was born in Havana, according to the bio on CNN's Web site.

"Give me an example -- because you're Cuban American?" Dominick asked.

"I had a guy who works here at CNN who's a top brass come to me and say, 'You know what, I don't want you to -- ' "

"Will you wash this dish for me, Sanchez?" Dominick jumped in, offering a hypothetical insult.

"No, no, see that's the thing; it's more subtle," Sanchez responded.

"White folks usually don't see it. But we do -- those of us who are minorities and women see it sometimes, too, from men in authority." Sanchez paraphrased what he said a CNN executive had once said to him: "I really don't see you as an anchor, I see you more as a reporter. I see you more as a John Quiñones -- you know, the guy on ABC. . . . Now, did he not realize that he was telling me. . . . An anchor is what you give the high-profile white guys, you know. . . . To a certain extent Jon Stewart and [Stephen] Colbert are the same way. I think Jon Stewart's a bigot."

Later in the interview, Dominick noted Stewart is Jewish, which he said is "a minority as much as you are."

"Very powerless people," Sanchez said, with a laugh. "He's such a minority, I mean, you know. . . . Please, what are you kidding? . . . I'm telling you that everybody who runs CNN is a lot like Stewart, and a lot of people who run all the other networks are a lot like Stewart, and to imply that somehow they -- the people in this country who are Jewish -- are an oppressed minority? Yeah." In the audio, which circulated online Friday, Sanchez's sarcasm was evident.

During the Sirius interview, Sanchez told Dominick he was discussing Stewart because he was sick of "The Daily Show" host's repeated needling. One example of Stewart's derision came on March 2, when Stewart's show ran clips of Sanchez anchoring CNN's live coverage of a Chilean earthquake and the accompanying fears of a tsunami. In the clips, Sanchez is seen mistaking the Galapagos Islands for Hawaii and asking an expert to explain to him what nine meters means "in English." Stewart called CNN "the most trusted name in overcaffeinated control freaks," and Sanchez's photo was shown above an identifier that read "The Uninformant!"

"I just realized something," Stewart jabbed. "Rick Sanchez delivers the news like a guy at a party who's doing a lot of coke and traps you in a corner and explains really intensely how an ant is the strongest animal on Earth."

****************************

NY Post--"Deep down, when they look at a guy like me, they see a guy automatically who belongs in the second tier, and not the top tier," the 52-year-old said.

He then pointed out Comedy Central's Jon Stewart, calling him a bigot with “white, liberal establishment point of view" and accusing “The Daily Show” host of picking on Sanchez's on-air mistakes because of his race.

"Here's what they do. This is the game they play: 'I just picked on Fox News, because they just had a bold-faced [sic] lie about something -- dammit, that means I gotta find something on CNN. Oh, I know… wait, hold on, let me find, oh that Rick Sanchez, that little Puerto Rican guy. I'll make fun of him,’” Sanchez surmised.

Friday Traditions

2010-10-01T07:10:00.000-05:00

The weather has cooled off, and it is a Friday, so I decided to get up early and take the bus. Happy October! As you can see from the pic, it is still pretty quiet on the roads. But the bus still takes about 2 hours to get to my work, a little more now that they slightly changed my connecting bus. Oh well. Plus this is a funny time of year when some driver turn off the AC and just leave the fan on. When you have a packed bus, it gets kinda humid. The 630 bus is much more crowded than the 650.

I am going to try to get some studying done. School is going well. One class a semester is enough, I think, considering my often 10 or 11 hour work days and hour and a half or two in traffic. Add in the actual class and time to study, it is hard to see me doing two and being motivated. But we'll see. I could do a half assed job and get through more quickly to make sure my parents saw me graduate, but I don't think they would want that. So, I'll shoot for 2013 or 14, maybe a little earlier. I have to remind myself that most of these are Ivy League professors, this isn't a city college, so they expect more. Plus, since I have 20 years since I graduated from law school, I think I am under more scrutiny. Speaking of which, I better get to it. Have a great weekend, enjoy the weather, and go UT!

Payback

2010-09-29T15:38:00.000-05:00

It is amazing how much BS goes under the radar--I am sure Victoria Kennedy got some wine money too, but doesn't make it right. These people have to stop taking from the American citizens. Talk about an elitist and ruling class in Congress. Throw them all out. They are supposed to be citizen-politicians, with the emphasis on citizens. They aren't special, regardless of what they tell you.

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POLITICO--Byrd's family will receive remainder of his salary

The must-pass spending bill pending in the Senate includes a little-noticed provision that would pay the family of the late Sen. Robert C. Byrd for the salary he would have commanded in the next fiscal year.

The Senate handbook says that upon the death of a senator who had been serving in office, “in the next appropriations bill, an item will be inserted for a gratuity to be paid to the widow(er) or other next- of-kin, in the amount of one-year’s compensation.”

As a result, the bill calls for “equal shares” of the late senator’s $193,400 salary to be split between Byrd’s seven children and grandchildren.

The practice has been long followed by both parties and in both chambers, including in 2007 when the widows of the late Wyoming GOP Sen. Craig Thomas and the late Rep. Paul Gillmor (R-Ohio) each received $165,200 for the salary that the two men would have received.

Avast!

2010-09-27T08:59:00.004-05:00

This is why they shouldn't let lefties or children write the news. I read the headline, and I expected hundreds or thousands of weapons, something like the stockpile you see at a national guard armory. This guy had 20 guns. I know people that have 40 or 50 and that isn't unusual. "Vast"--scary stuff!!

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Vast firearms collection listed in indictment of former Dallas FBI agent accused of murder plot

12:47 PM Thu, Sep 23, 2010

Tom Benning/Reporter

(Dallas Morning news) A federal grand jury handed up an indictment this week against a former Dallas FBI agent accused of illegally stockpiling weapons and plotting the murder of his wife and another officer.

The indictment, which was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, offers a few more specifics into the case against Carlos Ortiz, a 21-year FBI veteran. Authorities said last month that Ortiz, 48, schemed to kill his estranged wife and Dallas' special agent in charge, Robert E. Casey Jr.

But the indictment fills out the description of Ortiz's vast weapons arsenal. Ortiz, who was allegedly addicted to the prescription drug Xanax, possessed 11 pistols, including three Colt .45s. He also owned seven revolvers, five rifles and two "stun-grenades," according to the document.

Pay It Forward

2010-09-25T20:09:00.000-05:00

And the left wonders why they are going to lose. Unbelieveable.

****************************

A testy U.S. Sen. John F. Kerry yesterday blamed clueless voters with short attention spans for the uphill battle beleaguered Democrats are facing against Republicans across the nation.

“We have an electorate that doesn’t always pay that much attention to what’s going on so people are influenced by a simple slogan rather than the facts or the truth or what’s happening,” Kerry told reporters after touring the Boston Medical Center yesterday.

Block Busted

2010-09-24T07:21:00.000-05:00

I always thought video stores were a stupid business model...but just based on the technology at the time, they worked for awhile. But think about it...a business that makes you feel anxious about being late or forgetting, penalizing you with ridiculous fines (including rewinding fines) and the inconvenience factor. Glad they are gone. Although Netflix's CEO recently calling Americans "self-absorbed" didn't help him.

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MSNBC--Blockbuster's decade-long downfall from video-rental powerhouse to has-been is a story of how shortsighted management and corporate arrogance helped turn a couple of brash upstarts into the new stars of home entertainment.

It probably would have been in a far better position had it taken a company called Netflix more seriously in 1999 when the upstart started taking DVD rental orders online and mailing the discs to people's homes.

Netflix added a twist that immediately appealed to Blockbuster customers longing for another choice: monthly subscription plans that allowed households to keep up to several DVDs at a time without incurring late fees.

The offer tapped into consumer anger because Blockbuster's fees could double or triple the cost of a video rental. And Netflix's flat-fee system also ended up killing a golden goose for Blockbuster. In 2000 Blockbuster collected nearly $800 million in late fees, accounting for 16 percent of its revenue. Last year, those late fees had plunged to $134 million, or just 3 percent of the company's revenue.

Blockbuster tried dropping its late fees a few years ago, but that didn't work out well because it kept the most popular DVDs out of its stores for long stretches.

And when Blockbuster finally tried to counter Netflix with its own DVD-by-mail service, its average revenue fell even further to just $2.79 per disc, nearly a buck below previous levels.

Even when Netflix started to gain enough traction to go public in 2002, Blockbuster's then-CEO John Antioco dismissed it as a niche service.

"The best analogy I can think of is that Netflix seemed like a buffet," said Securities analyst Michael Pachter. "While you could see some people liking the idea of having all you can eat for one price, you would never imagine it turning into a major competitor to McDonald's."

Blockbuster was the first rental service to serve billions and billions of home videos to a mass audience. It popularized the VCR and built up a chain of stories that peaked at 9,100 in 2004.

Later, it helped turn DVD players into household staples, opening new revenue streams for Hollywood studios. In the process, it drove hundreds of mom-and-pop video stores out of business.

"It was the big kid on the block," said Stanley Baran, professor of communication at Bryant University in Rhode Island.

Now, it's the weakling getting sand kicked in its face.

The company has cumulatively lost more than $4 billion since 2002, and suffered the embarrassment of being taken off the New York Stock Exchange. Leading up to the bankruptcy filing, Blockbuster's market value had fallen to just $12 million, from $4 billion eight years ago. Its shares will be rendered worthless if the bankruptcy plan is approved.

Yo-Yos

2010-09-24T06:54:00.000-05:00

This is why you wear clean underwear and learn how to spell...because you never know when your dumb ass is going to be on the news. A teller that always seems to be involved in bank robberies and a bank robber that speeds, has his getaway clothes still on and carries drugs.

****************

Texting Bank Teller Accused of Working With Robber

Texas Trust Credit Union teller accused of helping in bank heist

AP--On Sept. 1, a robber hid in the bathroom at Texas Trust Credit Union on East Pioneer Parkway in Arlington, the FBI said. He then emerged after closing time, confronted startled employees and forced them into a vault loaded with cash.

According to court documents, he ran out with $183,000, considerably more than typical bank heists.

Just four hours later, police in Fort Worth stopped Tyce Von Franklin for going 54 mph in a 40-mph zone. Officers then arrested him after discovering marijuana in his car, a large amount of cash, a gun and a surgical mask.

In his mugshot, he appeared to be wearing the same black t-shirt he wore in the bank robbery, the FBI said.

But the investigation was hardly over.

The FBI suspected Franklin had help -- on the inside.

Bank teller Kyle Lightner, who was working at the time of the robbery, appeared at first to be a victim. But investigators became suspicious because he had stayed at the bank past his normal shift and surveillance video showed he was sending text messages shortly before the robbery happened.

A search of his cell phone found he was texting Franklin, the FBI said.

"Don't forget yo sunglasses," court documents quoted Lightner as texting Franklin. Franklin responded: "Alrite."

Surveillance photos show the robber was wearing sunglasses.

The FBI is investigating whether Lightner and Franklin may have been involved in a previous, unsolved bank robbery in which an unusually large amount of money also was taken.

It happened at a Compass Bank where Lightner was also a teller, but the court documents do not provide a date.

In that case, Lightner appeared to be taken hostage and forced into a vault -- by a man matching Franklin’s description, agents said. Court documents reveal $148,794 was taken in that robbery.

Power Sour

2010-09-23T22:24:00.000-05:00

The Dems final and biggest mistake going into the elections. You guys have the Congress and the Executive branch, and you still can't do anything right. I am going to have some fun watching election returns.

***********************

WASHINGTON—Democrats abandoned plans to vote before Election Day on extending Bush-era tax cuts for the middle class while eliminating them for better-off Americans, spooked by protests from vulnerable incumbents and bleak prospects for passage.

With time running out to plan for 2011, the delay raises uncertainty for small businesses and individual taxpayers over their future liabilities. It also sets up a titanic battle over taxes after the election.

Housekeeping

2010-09-23T14:46:00.000-05:00

Blogger is using some new editor feature that makes the fonts look funny--larger and bolder, and when you reduce the size, it jumps down too small. Hope they fix that. Sorry if it isn't very pleasing visually.

Money Pit

2010-09-23T14:37:00.002-05:00

Big deal...this won't help drive one more customer into any business. And I don't see where the requirements are for small banks to loan the money, although I am sure there must be some. Lot's of businesses have cash now--they just aren't willing to spend it when the democrats threaten more regulations and taxes.

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NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- One week after the Senate passed a $42 billion bill aimed at helping small businesses, the House voted Thursday to send the bill to President Obama's desk.

The measure, which passed the House in a 237 to 187 vote, is aimed at creating 500,000 jobs, according to a Senate summary of the bill. The Small Business Jobs Act also is intended to make credit more available for Main Street and enacts about $12 billion in tax breaks.

The president is expected to sign the bill into law. Not only is Obama under pressure to create jobs, but he started talking about getting cheap capital to small businesses nearly a year ago.

The House first passed a version of the legislation about 3 months ago, but the bill met stiff Republican opposition in the Senate. After months of debate and significant pressure from the White House, the Senate finally passed the bill in a 61 to 38 vote last week.

What is in the bill: The Small Business Jobs Act authorizes the creation of a $30 billion fund run by the Treasury Department that would deliver ultra-cheap capital to banks with less than $10 billion in assets.

The idea is that community banks do the lion's share of lending to small businesses, and pumping capital into them will get money in the hands of Main Street businesses.

Another provision aims to increase the flow of capital by providing $1.5 billion in grants to state lending programs that in turn support loans to small businesses. The state programs have proven themselves to be efficient, targeted and effective, but with many states struggling to balance their budgets, the programs are going broke.

The bill would also provide a slew of tax breaks that will cost $12 billion over a decade, according to a preliminary estimate from the Joint Committee on Taxation. The breaks aim to encourage small businesses to purchase new equipment, to incentivize venture capital firms to invest in small businesses, and to motivate entrepreneurs to start their own business.

Kenya See It?

2010-09-22T11:32:00.004-05:00

It isn't that Barry is an empty suit, or that he leaves out references to "Creator" from his recitation of the Declaration of Independence, or that he says nonchalantly in Woodward's book that we can absorb another terrorist attack like 9-11, or that Barry throws out Winston Churchill's bust and snubs the U.K....it is all of it. He is a little kid inside. And people are starting to realize it. He is dragging the democrats down rather than leading them onward. Fine with me. Jimmy knows how it turns out. I don't think we have any more canals to give away.

Bellwether Bust

2010-09-21T14:40:00.004-05:00

Power really does corrupt. If city employees and elected officials of some dink town think this much of themselves, think about people like Barbara Boxer of Harry Reid or Barack Obama. This is why government jobs should be the lowest paying, not the higherst. A lot of them are going to half-ass it anyway, no sense in making them rich in the process.

***************

MSNBC--BELL, Calif. — Eight current and former officials in the blue-collar city of Bell, including former City Manager Robert Rizzo, were arrested Tuesday in a corruption investigation into bloated salaries and misuse of taxpayer funds.
Los Angeles County sheriff's spokesman Steve Whitmore said the suspects were booked into county facilities and will be kept away from other inmates for their protection.
He would not release the names of those arrested, but The Los Angeles Times identified them as Rizzo; former Assistant City Manager Angela Spaccia; Mayor Oscar Hernandez; Councilmembers Luis Artiga, Teresa Jacobo and George Mirabal; and former Councilmembers George Cole and Victor Bello were among those arrested.
The district attorney's office scheduled a news conference to discuss details.
The arrests were the latest twist in a scandal that emerged in July with the disclosure that Rizzo was paid nearly $800,000 a year — almost twice the salary of President Barack Obama.
Since then, authorities have been investigating allegations of corruption, misuse of funds, racial profiling and voter fraud in the city where one in six of the 40,000 residents live in poverty.
It also was revealed that former Police Chief Randy Adams was making $457,000 a year, and Assistant City Manager Spaccia was paid $376,288. Four of the five City Council members paid themselves nearly $100,000 a year for their part-time service.
Rizzo, Adams and Spaccia resigned and the council members reduced their salaries to about $8,000 following the disclosures and angry public reaction. The four council members are currently the target of a recall.
The city is under investigation by the district attorney's office, state attorney general and the U.S. Justice Department. Its finances are being audited by state Controller John Chiang's office.
Last week, Attorney General Jerry Brown sued eight current and former officials of Bell, accusing them of defrauding taxpayers by granting themselves salaries he said were far higher than warranted for the jobs they were doing.
The salary scandal sparked nationwide outrage and calls for cities of all sizes to publicly disclose what employees are paid.

Conti Countdown

2010-09-19T12:37:00.000-05:00

A nice suicide door convertible continental.

Give Him the Boot

2010-09-18T09:01:00.008-05:00

Ok, this is totally gay. A judge that thinks waaaay to much of himself. A municipal court judge. Like, he handles parking fines and traffic tickets. A necessary evil, but it doesn't take any mental giant to do that. And apparently, he isn't a mental giant, because he bans cowboy boots in his courtroom. In Texas. Then says he doesn't enforce it. Then why have the rule, genius? (By the way, this attorney that is trying to obviate the ban on cowboy boots is the same one that is in the famous pic below, in the hard hat--when he just showed up to the official ground breaking of the federal courthouse. It was hilarious.) Judge Kevin is also a volunteer fire fighter--maybe he should stick with that. Idiot.
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(AAS) In Texas, lawyers and cowboy boots go together like barbecue and beer.

You'll find lawyers — and judges — wearing shined boots under their suits in courtrooms throughout the Lone Star State, from federal and state trial courts to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals and the Texas Supreme Court.

But in the Municipal Court of Lakeway, a small city west of Austin on the shores of Lake Travis, a local rule bans lawyers from wearing boots in court.

Austin lawyer George Lobb called the rule "absurd" and said he is considering challenging it in some way before his first court appearance in Lakeway next week. As word of Lobb's effort spread this week on a statewide lawyers' e-mail group, the Lakeway rule has raised the ire of lawyers across the state.

"This is Texas," Lobb said. "I was born wearing boots, and I am going to die wearing boots."

Others share his sentiment.

"It's idiotic," said Austin criminal defense lawyer Dave Shapiro.

"Talk about un-Texan," said senior state District Judge Jon Wisser of Travis County. "I have worn boots to the courtroom every day since I became a judge ... in 1975."

Houston criminal defense lawyer Dick DeGuerin, who says he always wears boots to court, called the Lakeway rule "absolutely ridiculous."

"There's a thought going around that really we ought to show up (in Lakeway) with a bunch of lawyers wearing boots," DeGuerin said. "They can't throw us all in jail."

Lakeway Municipal Court Judge Kevin Madison, who wrote the rule, said he has never found a lawyer in contempt for wearing boots and he does not plan to.

"I don't think he needs to be afraid if he's wearing nice-looking cowboy boots," Madison said of Lobb. "But if he comes in with raggedy boots and spurs and blue jeans, there's going be a problem."

Madison, who — when he's not presiding over cases in Lakeway — is an Austin personal injury lawyer, said he has only held one person in contempt in his 21 years as a Municipal Court judge, about 13 of them in Lakeway. That was for someone who continued to use profanity in court after being warned.

Madison said he recently formalized a dress code in his court to "maintain decorum."

According to those rules, all court participants are banned from wearing things like shorts, low-cut blouses, sleeveless shirts or clothing that is dirty, too tight or too baggy.

Male lawyers must wear a coat and tie, and female lawyers must wear either dress slacks or a "skirt with hosiery."

"No blue jeans or cowboy boots will be worn by counsel," the rules state.

Madison, who earned his law degree in 1981 from the University of Houston, described himself as "a Texas boy." He said he owns cowboy boots and has worn them with a suit while on the bench in the past. He said no lawyer has ever told him they were displeased with the cowboy boots ban. "I am a reasonable person and would be open to discuss any type of change or exception to the cowboy boot rule," he said.

Generally, judges in Texas have the power to control anything that could disrupt or distract from legal proceedings.

Terrence Kirk, an Austin lawyer who has agreed to represent Lobb in the event that Lobb is disqualified from practicing in Lakeway, said he is looking into whether Madison has the legal right to enforce the rule. He said he is not considering a lawsuit.

"As a matter of common sense, it's ridiculous," Kirk said.

Lobb made national news last year when he mystified some federal judges in Austin by joining a line of dignitaries taking a photograph at the groundbreaking for Austin's new federal courthouse, which is under construction.

He practices immigration and criminal defense law and said he wears cowboy boots with his suits to court two or three times a week. "I'm well-groomed, and my boots are always polished and shined," he said.

He said he encountered the Lakeway rules after he was retained to represent someone going to trial on some traffic tickets in Lakeway.

He said he wants the ban on cowboy boots removed from the Lakeway court rules. Any assurance by the judge that if his boots are nice then he won't be found in contempt is "arbitrary and vague."

"We're in Texas," he said. "There is nothing wrong with wearing boots in court."

Gimme Gimme II

2010-09-18T08:46:00.006-05:00

Some people don't get it. Go home and get a real job. (Maybe you can be a municipal court judge like our boy above--she is a lawyer, a graduate of Willamette University College of Law. Maybe you can ban snowshoes or something.) Power really does corrupt. Talk about an Establishment candidate. Just because your daddy was governor doesn't mean anyone wants you around.
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(CNN) -- Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski, who lost in the Republican primary last month, says she will launch a write-in campaign to retain her senate seat.

"Today, my friends, my campaign for Alaska begins," Murkowski told a room full of supporters in Anchorage on Friday.
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"You call me up and tell me lies
to try to change my mind
but you're not the girl I'm lookin' for
so stop wastin' all your time

Now that I let you know
I got one more thing to say
how can I miss you
if you won't go away?

You follow me around downtown
like a dog without a home
and I'd do almost anything
if you'd just leave me alone

It's not gonna make it better
if I see you every day 'cuz
how can I miss you
if you won't go away?"

--The Huntingtons

Government Jobs Rule

2010-09-17T12:18:00.004-05:00

Yay for socialism!! I don't know how many more examples you need of government being about the most inefficient vehicle for recovery...either just start giving people money directly, or get the hell out of the way of free enterprise. The only thing government does well is self-replicate or bloat. Disappointed? Someone ought to be in jail for being so incompetent.
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Employment generation disappointing: LA City Controller
By IB Times Staff Reporter
The Los Angeles City Controller said on Thursday the city's use of its share of the $800 billion federal stimulus fund has been disappointing.
The city received $111 million in stimulus under American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) approved by the Congress more than year ago.
"I'm disappointed that we've only created or retained 55 jobs after receiving $111 million," says Wendy Greuel, the city's controller, while releasing an audit report.
"With our local unemployment rate over 12% we need to do a better job cutting red tape and putting Angelenos back to work,” she added.
According to the report, the Los Angeles Department of Public Works generated only 45.46 jobs (the fraction of a job created or retained correlates to the number of actual hours works) after receiving $70.65 million, while the target was 238 jobs.
Similarly, the city’s department of transportation, armed with a $40.8 million fund, created only 9 jobs in place of an expected 26 jobs.
The audit says the numbers were disappointing due to bureaucratic red tape, absence of competitive bidding for projects in private sectors, inappropriate tracking of stimulus money and a laxity in bringing out timely job reports.

Sky Is Falling

2010-09-17T07:37:00.004-05:00

This administration loves changing labels, whether it is for situations or people. Place is run by inept politicians and lawyers. You could just call it "natural environmental change" but then you couldn't tax someone for it.
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Fox News--From the administration that brought you "man-caused disaster" and "overseas contingency operation," another terminology change is in the pipeline.

The White House wants the public to start using the term "global climate disruption" in place of "global warming" -- fearing the latter term oversimplifies the problem and makes it sound less dangerous than it really is.

White House science adviser John Holdren urged people to start using the phrase during a speech last week in Oslo, echoing a plea he made three years earlier. Holdren said global warming is a "dangerous misnomer" for a problem far more complicated than a rise in temperature.

The call comes as Congress prepares to adjourn for the season without completing work on a stalled climate bill. The term global warming has long been criticized as inaccurate, and the new push could be an attempt to re-shape climate messaging for next year's legislative session.

Gimme Gimme

2010-09-17T05:42:00.004-05:00

This is nothing. It will get worse. Remember when KFC announced the free chicken giveaway, and there were heated public confrontations, police barricades, etc. When When American start feeling entitled to something, they get pretty ugly. And that was just chicken. When Barry starts his "free" medical care giveaway, there will be more of this. Those emergency rooms will become war zones. The reason socialized medicine is so orderly, if economically unfeasible, in Europe and Canada is because they are so civilized. Unless you get them around a soccer match (or a world war), they'll line up and behave themselves. Americans will trample Wal-Mart workers after camping out for three days for a chance at a discounted PS3 or flat screen. Animals.
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AP--BALTIMORE — A man who became distraught as he was being briefed on his mother's condition by a surgeon at Johns Hopkins Hospital pulled a gun and shot the doctor Thursday, then killed his mother and himself in her room at the world-famous medical center, police said.

The doctor, who was wounded in the abdomen, was expected to survive.

Summer Snacktime

2010-09-15T12:20:00.005-05:00

Well, I am glad it happened in Texas, not some Yankee state.
***********************
(Field and Stream) September 15, 2010

I sincerely hope the committee that hands out Nobel Prizes in the science fields have taken notice of one Texas chef who recently achieved a gastronomical breakthrough: deep-fried beer.
That’s right. According to this report: The beer is placed inside a pocket of salty, pretzel-like dough and then dunked in oil at 375 degrees for about 20 seconds, a short enough time for the confection to remain alcoholic. When diners take a bite the hot beer mixes with the dough in what is claimed to be a delicious taste sensation.
Inventor Mark Zable said it had taken him three years to come up with the cooking method and a patent for the process is pending. He declined to say whether any special ingredients were involved.
Zable will introduce the dish at a fried-food competition in Texas later this month. He’ll serve five of the ravioli-like bites for a very modest $5. This dish sounds like the perfect hunting camp side dish. But the question is, what wild game do you think it’d go best with? I’m thinking it’d taste mighty fine next to a slab of grilled backstrap. Any other suggestions? —Colin Kearns

City Sour

2010-09-15T12:12:00.002-05:00

I think this is pretty smart filing suit for breach of contract. You might get your $750,000 and attorney's fees as well. And you can continue your Federal civil rights suit in the meantime...

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Sanders family sues city, alleging breach of settlement agreement
AAS--By Tony Plohetski Wednesday, September 15, 2010, 09:10 AM
UPDATED WITH RESPONSE FROM CITY AND QUINTANA’S ATTORNEY
The parents of a man fatally shot by an Austin police officer last year sued the City of Austin in state district court this morning, saying that officials illegally broke a promise to settle a federal wrongful death lawsuit for $750,000.
The family of Nathaniel Sanders II said in the 10-page suit that city officials repeatedly told them during negotiations in June that council members wanted the case settled, that officials had the authority to do so and that the council had given them permission to enter into a “binding settlement agreement.”
Both sides reached the $750,000 agreement in July, but City Council members rejected the measure in a controversial 4-3 vote on July 29.
“A deal is a deal,” said attorney Adam Loewy, who represents the Sanders family. “The city offered $750,000 to settle the civil rights lawsuit and my clients accepted it… . They can now explain to a Travis County jury why they feel it is acceptable to lie to my clients and break a deal.”
A city spokeswoman said this morning that city staff would have no comment on the suit. Robert Icenhauer-Ramirez, who represents Quintana, said the suit is “absolutely baseless, absolutely absurd.”
“Adam Loewy is responsible for the deal falling through, and I look forward to defending this case,” he said.
Loewy was accused of making a public statement before the council vote that the city was taking responsibility for the shooting, but officials said they were claiming no such role.
Former Austin officer Leonardo Quintana, who is also named in the suit filed today, fatally shot Sanders in May 2009 in an apartment complex parking lot after officials said they struggled for a gun.
Quintana was suspended for 15 days for not activating his patrol car camera, but Police Chief Art Acevedo found that his use of deadly force did not violate departmental policy. Quintana has since been fired after a drunken driving arrest in January, but is appealing the termination.
The wrongful death suit said that Quintana violated Sanders’ civil rights, among other allegations. The city this year was dropped from the suit, which also named Quintana, but the city is still responsible for any damages against him.
The proposed $750,000 agreement prompted deep division in the community. Some, including officials with the Austin police union, said that the settlement would leave a public perception that Quintana erred in the shooting. Others said that a settlement was appropriate and would help foster trust in city government and promote community healing.
According to the suit filed today, city officials explained to the Sanders family that council members could not directly participate in negotiations because of open meetings laws and that they were acting for them.
According to the document, Assistant City Attorney Christopher Coppola told Loewy and the Sanders family that “on behalf of the Austin City Council, we are here to apologize for what occurred to your son and we are here to settle this lawsuit.”
Assistant City Manager Michael McDonald told them, “the city council has authorized us to settle this lawsuit and that is what we are here to do,” the suit said.
“During this entire settlement process, representatives for the city of Austin repeatedly told attorney Loewy and the (Sanders family) that city council approval was a ‘rubber stamp’ and a ‘formality,’ that they had a binding agreement and that the case was over,” the suit said.