I was thinking about Roe v Wade on the ride in today (with the whole SCOTUS nomination deal)..

then Dale over at QandO goes and posts this. I am really getting sick of the whole abortion debate. They really do need to overturn Roe, and let the states debate and duke it out. A few states would possibly outlaw them, but then you could still just cross state lines to get one if you so wanted. But at least the people would be able to decide, not the folks in black robes. It would have some real interesting effects on the make up of the parties, I would think. But I am just tired of it being an issue. Get the Feds out of it, and let the states decide. Same with gay marriage.

Too Much Government

Oh well CRAP. Another career choice harpooned by bureaucracy. The lead-in for our Fox10 News at 9…

If you’re gonna take your clothes off for a living…
…you better have a permit.

…crushed every hope I ever had of breaking these chains that bind me. I was willing to leave my sash on again, too.
BASTARDS !!
sniff
UPDATE: Just overheard on Powerlunch on CNBC; an interview with Charles Gordon, CFO of Eli Lilly, discussing the company’s future prospects.

“Cialis is doing great! It’s the number one ED treatment in France…blahblahblah…
I think we can keep it up!”

And here I thought that was the idea the whole time…
Take it away, Bingley!

Word of the Day

smarmy \SMAR-mee\ adjective
1 : revealing or marked by a smug, ingratiating, or false earnestness
2 : of low sleazy taste¹ or quality
¹See “Bingley”

Let Me See If I Understand

1) Rene has a husband in El Salvador.
2) Rene lives with her boyfriend in Houston.
3) Rene’s boyfriend cheats on her.
4) Rene cuts off his John Thomas* with a kitchen knife.
Relationships can be so complicated sometimes…
*The name has been changed to protect the delicate sensibilities of a certain blogger.

London Updates

Andrew is keeping us updated.
(Thanks Emily!)

The Devil’s Foyer

Unbelieveable reporting by Michael Yon in Mosul. Go read it; all of it.
As the Blogfaddah says: “Really, this is war reporting of a caliber not often seen these days.”

Beauty, Eh?

Arthur Chrenkoff discusses a story from The Great White North, though I suppose one can’t use that melanin-challenged description any more, either:

Canadian Miss Universe Natalie Glebova was forced to take off her official sash at a local festival celebrating Thailand when Toronto authorities invoked a law against sexual stereotyping.
The winner of the international beauty competition held in Bangkok in May, Glebova was to open the festival last weekend sporting her official beauty queen’s regalia.
However, city employees invoked a regulation against activities which degrade men and women through sexual stereotypes or exploit their bodies to attract attention.

Amazing, really, that they pass and enforce laws likes this but have the cojones (or whatever the equivalent is for beavers-oops, more ‘sexual stereotyping’!) to attack the US for being so eeeevuul?
Blech. What do I know. I’m just a stupid redstate guy with a bluestate address.

Save Yourself The Commission Expenses…

…I’ll betcha any Average Joe could tell you, or make a damn fine start of it.

Muslims Demand Inquiry in London Bombings
Britain’s Muslim leaders demanded a judicial inquiry Wednesday into what motivated the four “homegrown” suicide bombers who targeted London, as Prime Minister Tony Blair proposed an international conference on rooting out Islamic extremism.

Especially since you know that somewhere in the excuses list would be the ‘you brought dat sh$t on yo self‘ line.

“The scale of disenchantment amongst Muslim youth is very clear to see,” said Inayat Bungalwala of the Muslim Council of Britain. “Various factors are at play: underachievement in education; a high rate of unemployment; discrimination in the workplace; social exclusion, and also the government’s own policies, especially in Iraq.”

And there it is ~ right on cue. How pathetic. And how dare they? Instead of looking inward at their twisted, repressive society ~ one which makes no effort to mesh with either the real world or their adopted homelands ~ they demand answers from the very people their hatred has victimized. The same Brits whose generous nature has allowed these newcomers to maintain the insular communities that spawn such monsters. Muslim leaders are looking to divert attention from the ugly truths surrounding them and the perversion that is the Islam they teach. Opposition to war is ever so easily manipulated into something else ~ a smokescreen, and canny mullahs will take advantage of every navel gazing bleeding heart. Liberals will be all too quick to take up the clarion call as it suits their purposes and, as time grows distant from the shock of the subway horror, the noise will drown out the truth. If they let it. All the while pudgy faced, well fed Islamic lads will keep trucking off to Pakistan for summer learn-to-kill camps.
Before British society turns its gaze on itself as a root cause of such evil, British society needs to point a lazer beam into Leeds and cauterize the festering wound there. British society should be the ones demanding answers from Muslim leaders, and not the other way around.
UPDATE: Well, well, well. Check out Drudge.

BRITON NAMED AS BOMB PLANNER; MET WITH BIN LADEN
Wed Jul 20 2005 20:20:53 ET
Terror investigators hunting the London bombing mastermind are to question a suspected Al Qaeda planner held in Pakistan.
British-born Haroon Rashid Aswad was seized at a religious school with a suicide bomb belt, explosives and GBP 13,000 in cash.

As I said, who should be demanding the answers here?
UPDATE II: Norm Geras at normblog has something to say concerning navel gazers in today’s Guardian. And does he ever say it.

One Skinny Old Bald Guy Speaks His Mind…

…Walmart looses theirs and the sh$t hits the fan. This column*, dated June 18th, by Pensacola News Journal columnist Mark O’Brien has the world of Walton all up in arms…

Wal-Mart mentality keeps us pinching pennies rather than building a future

…resulting in a corporate case of taking your ball and going home. The day it appeared, the News Journal disappeared from newspaper racks at local Walmarts. Now, in a 40 miles radius of our humble hurricane shelter, there are at least 11 Supercenters. 9 of those are within reach of a population of about 430,000 people and Wally World is in the process of building yet another just 5 miles from the one closest to us. Right down the road. Their miserable brand of market domination is pretty secure here it seems, so the petty panties-in-a-wad reaction was completely uncalled for, but completely in keeping with the paranoid behaviour that is Walmart’s SOP. The kicker is, O’Brien didn’t say anything that wasn’t true.
*reproduced in the extended section, as it seems to have mysteriously blipped off the PNJ’s site as well.

Read more »

“Beam Me Up, God-dy”

Scotty has died.
*Update: Everyone post their favorite Scottyisms.

No Unocal For China

They’ve decided to stick with Chevron, who’s apparently sweetened their bid. Alrighty, then.

More On China

They bear watching.

Pentagon warns of military threat from China
China could pose a future military threat to other Asian countries but its current ability to project power beyond its periphery was “limited”, the Pentagon said on Tuesday.
In its long-awaited annual report on the Chinese military, the Pentagon concluded that China was increasing its efforts to prepare for a conflict over Taiwan, including taking longer-term measures to defend itself from other countries who could get involved in a conflict over Taiwan, which Beijing regards as a renegade province.

Of course, the report has been subject to some ‘PC’ tweaking…

The report has been the subject of intense bureaucratic infighting as anti-China concerns mount on Capitol Hill. The State Department and National Security Council opposed an initial Pentagon draft, which they believed painted an overly antagonistic picture by signalling that China could emerge as a “strategic rival” to the US.

The ‘well, duh‘ quote?

The report also criticised China for the level of secrecy it maintains about its military strategy and expenditures.
“The outside world has little knowledge of Chinese motivations and decision-making and of key capabilities supporting PLA modernisation.”

As for our going to bat for Taiwan…

Raising alarms for the US navy, the report concluded that China was developing the capability to slow, or even deter, US efforts to defend Taiwan in the case of a conflict.
“The US intelligence community also believes China will consider a sea-denial strategy to attempt to hold at risk US naval forces, including aircraft carriers and logistic forces, approaching the Taiwan Strait,” it said.

Oh go ahead, what the hell. Sell them an oil company.
UPDATE: The Chinese have answered and they’re pissed.

The assessment was a flagrant mischaracterisation of China’s peaceful defence policy and reasonable military development, the ministry said in a statement. “This report ignores fact in order to do everything it can to disseminate the ‘China threat theory’. It crudely interferes in China’s internal affairs and is a provocation against China’s relations with other countries.”

Blah blah blah. Right.

I’d Be Horribly Remiss…

…if I didn’t ask for good thoughts and prayers from all for those in Hurricane Emily’s path. We’ve been on the receiving end too many times and had nothing but support, from family, friends ~ even folks we’ve never met ~ not to wish the best to someone else facing a nasty storm with a name. Not to mention our having the benefit of building codes and technology. The part of Mexico she’s aiming for is awfully rural and I’m sure the comforts of those advantages are sorely lacking. Hang in there, amigos.

Tonight’s Viewing

Why is it, when I so look forward to these few enough evenings alone, ~ the remotes and all they control are mine, mine alone and I am a chick flick Goddess basking in freedom to choose, with no Law and Order reruns allowed ~ that I freeze when the time comes to actually make a choice? Pffft. Alrighty, last night was a wash-out. Watched my one and only ever episode of Nanny 911 (what a hoot and there’s no way those children were real…right?) and reveled in the peace and quiet. Tonight, after a smattering of news shows for SCOTUS reaction (Best quote there goes to Jonathon Turley, regarding the search for a young nominee “They would have nominated a stem cell, if they could have.” Bwahahaha. Anyway…) I aim to plug in a cherished old favorite Captain Horatio Hornblower. Gregory Peck. Lordy, Lordy, Lordy Lords of the Admiralty! After that, should my eyes still function, it’s if I can figure out where Ebola spirited my copy to. Oh yeah. Glass o’ red callin’.
UPDATE: Can’t find it and it’s too late to start it anyway. No worries. There are far worse things to sleep on than heroic images of Gregory Peck. Hotcha!

Oh God…

…have your speakers on at their bestest settings and hanky ready. I’m blubbering like a baby, bless their hearts.

Of Mice (The Perdido Key Beach Mice, That Is)…

…(The Mouse) and men.

Rodents to Get Beach Property
A new home on Perdido Key could cost thousands of dollars extra, all to accommodate a rodent…
…Right now the mouse has free reign over the Gulf Islands National Seashore, the Perdido Key State Park and Alabama’s Gulf State Park.
But the U-S Fish and Wildlife service thinks the mouse should be able to commute between the parks, without encountering manmade developments…
…The fee would be 1 hundred 98 thousand dollars per acre and would only apply to the footprint of the building.
So… a 3 thousand square foot house would pay about 13 thousand 600 dollars extra.

And (since you knew, just knew there had to be one) the ‘WTF did he just say ??‘ quote:

Keith Wilkins/Neighborhood and Env. Services: “Instead of saying well 198 is too much but 98,000 is fine we can’t do that. We’ve got to say the species needs land acquisition or it doesn’t need land acquisition or it needs less land acquisition but still some.”

Holy crap. I’m moving.

As Someone* Pithily Points Out In the Comments…

…”Her superior, elevated morality didn’t stop her little ego fromm accepting that White House invitation did it?”

(*Insolublog)
I guess not, since Indra Nooyi had dinner with the Bushes last night. It’s a damn shame there’s no integrity in dissent anymore. These types foam at the mouth all over the world, but will wipe the spit off their faces faster than you can say ‘middle finger’ for a placecard at a White House table.
I hope she sat on her hands. Shameless cow.
Swill Salute to Powerline and Charmaine Yoest

Have You Tried Those New Tostitos Gold?

I knocked back a bag while reading this. Damn, they’re good!

Ah, That Neutral Press

Check out this photo and the caption.
Jeesh.

“The Catholic Church Is The Whore of Babylon…”

God, I’ve always loved that quote*. Almost drove off the US 17 in a laughing fit when I heard it read during an NPR broadcast of Whad’Ya Know. It was the gem contained in an author read excerpt (a most distinquished lady of letters, Mary Lee Settle) from her biography of her West Virginia grandmother. It also arrived at an opportune moment in my life, pondering the mysteries of ‘Christian‘. We were all baptized Roman Catholic, but have never ‘practised’ as such. Consequently, we’ve all wandered off to different degrees/expressions of ‘faith’, as it were. Granted I am the tree hugging mystic Druid of the bunch, but, for convenience sake, I’ve always just said ‘Catholic’ when asked.
But you know, I was never asked until I moved south of the Mason-Dixon line. Where ‘Catholic’ was as common as a nickel in your change in the Northeast and California (and where, hell, NO ONE would be rude enough to ask one’s religion as part of an introduction), in the South that answer became something viewed with suspicion and barely contained contempt by ‘Christians‘ and pretty much used as an excuse for the most miserable exhibits of ill-manners I’ve ever had the misfortune to endure. And that honestly bugs the sh$t out of me. To this day. Especially when it’s tacitly endorsed by Southern governmental agencies. Witness this gem, in Sunday’s (And how appropriate is that?) local fish wrap:

Christian adoption agency rejects Catholic couples because ‘faiths are in conflict’
JACKSON, Miss. — A Christian adoption agency that receives money from Choose Life license plate fees said it does not place children with Roman Catholic couples because their religion conflicts with the agency’s “Statement of Faith.”
Bethany Christian Services stated the policy in a letter to a Jackson couple this month, and another Mississippi couple said they were rejected for the same reason last year.
“It has been our understanding that Catholicism does not agree with our Statement of Faith,” Bethany’s state director Karen Stewart wrote. “Our practice to not accept applications from Catholics was an effort to be good stewards of an adoptive applicant’s time, money and emotional energy.”

The Statement of Faith that has caused the ruckus?

…all Bethany staff and adoptive applicants personally agree with the faith statement, which describes belief in the Christian Church and the Scripture. It does not refer to any specific branches of Christianity.
“As the Savior, Jesus takes away the sins of the world,” the statement says in part. “Jesus is the one in whom we are called to put our hope, our only hope for forgiveness of sin and for reconciliation with God and with one another.”

I’m confused. Sounds alot like what I remember, even when it was in Latin, from those knee-numbing days of my youth.

Sandy Steadman said she was hurt and disappointed that Bethany received funds from the Choose Life car license plates. “I know of a lot of Catholics who get those tags,” she said.
She added: “If it’s OK to accept our money, it should be OK to open your home to us as a family.”

I know this is a long one, but, like I said, it bugs the sh$t out of me, the pretentious, holier-than-thou twits. Sometimes I think Jackson or Jalalabad ~ what’s the difference?

Read more »

Your Groan For Today

Two little potatoes are standing on the street corner. One is a prostitute.

How can you tell which one is the prostitute?

Read more »

Ken out of town…

and this occurs.

Um, Isn’t It Their Job?

Maybe I’m missing something, but I really don’t get what the hoopla is about this:

FBI agents monitored Web sites calling for protests against the 2004 political conventions in New York and Boston on behalf of the bureau’s counterterrorism unit, according to FBI documents released under the Freedom of Information Act.

Well, ok, I admit I do know what this is about, as the next sentences explain it perfectly:

The American Civil Liberties Union pointed to the documents as evidence that the Bush administration has reacted to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States by blurring the distinction between terrorism and political protest. FBI officials defended the involvement of counterterrorism agents in providing security for the Republican and Democratic conventions as an administrative convenience.

Bushy McChimphitler! Look, the FBI is supposed to share information amongst its various sections so that there’s a better chance we don’t miss the next batch of flight students from a ‘friendly’ nation. And it is many in Academe and the MSM that have “reacted to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States by blurring the distinction between terrorism and political protest” by promoting the argument that the blood of those who died is to be found on the hands of Team America, as opposed to on the hands of the people who carried out the attacks.

“It’s increasingly clear that the government is involved in political surveillance of organizations that are involved in nothing more than lawful First Amendment activities,” said Anthony Romero, executive director of the ACLU. “It raises very serious questions about whether the FBI is back to its old tricks.”

What, is the Director a transvestite?

A Sept. 4, 2003, document addressed to the FBI counterterrorism unit described plans by a group calling itself RNC Not Welcome to “disrupt” the 2004 Republican National Convention in New York. It also described Internet postings from an umbrella organization known as United for Peace and Justice, which was coordinating worldwide protests against the convention.
“It’s one thing to monitor protests and protest organizers, but quite another thing to refer them to your counterterrorism unit,” said Leslie Cagan, national coordinator for United for Peace and Justice.

No, it’s not, shit-for-brains. I want the FBI to look at the information on the organizers and the protestors. I want them to refer that information to the Counter-terrorism Unit with the question “Is this something we should worry about?” And when the C-T Unit comes back with the answer “No”, I want them to to say “OK”, and move along to the next project…which is exactly what happened. Quit wasting government resouorces with your attention-whoring.

One way…

to fix a problem, I suppose.

Whew.

Long, long weekend of drinking and partying. I need a week off now…we had a wedding to go to on Friday, and a friend came in from Brazil for it on Thursday, so it was non-stop from Thursday night through yesterday afternoon.
I’m getting old…