Dems Kill Gitmo

Congress deals death blow to Guantanamo closure
Obama was overheard to plaintively inquire, "Et tu Brutii?"

Harrah Reid Tries To Slip Poker In Back Door

Harry Reid tries to add online poker to tax bill

Already, the online poker proposal has exposed the Nevada Democrat to charges of flip-flopping on a controversial issue, as well as using his Senate leadership position to repay big casino interests that helped him win reelection in a hard-fought campaign against Republican Sharron Angle last month.

Reid, who has previously opposed online gambling, declined to comment Monday through a spokesman.

PAYOLA!

Why Can't We Get Rid Of Fed Depts Like The FCC & The DOE

Now the FCC wants to do for the Internet what the DOE has done for education. A dumber, slower, more expensive, govt controlled Internet is not the answer to our problems, but a more nimble electorate might help some of our problems by eliminating both the FCC and the DOE. Actually, both DOE.

To NYT Charles Blow, Who Cares If You Won't Mention Sarah Palin?

She Who Must Not Be Named
By CHARLES M. BLOW

When will you, Mr Blow, write something readable?

Tea Party Nation: Saul Anuzis For RNC Chair

Good call.

Rebuffed by Sarah Palin, tea party group picks Saul Anuzis

Technology, smarts, focus and he is neither part of the 'club' nor a press hog. Anuzis should be supported by all real conservatives.

Besides Bill Gates, Who Isn't Down & Out In Obama's Economy?

I once had my son do what he thought a simple (and stupid) project. One evening I gave him a new notebook of paper and some pencils. I explained that the next morning I would awaken him and he was to start filling the pages with things that he saw that were taxed.

Down and Out on $250,000 a Year

The next morning, as promised, I woke him up, but I brought him some juice and cereal. I told him to enjoy his breakfast before he started logging in taxed objects.
 
As I left for work he had filled out two pages. By the end of the day he was tired, cranky and had a look that said, "Don't say I told you so." He had run out of pages, but he looked at me and said, "I know of something not taxed!
 
"The AIR!"
 
I handed him a copy of the EPA's rules, regulations and cost to the taxpayer and went and made a strong drink.
 
I didn't know if I had created a thoughtful conservative or a child hellbent on a life of crime. He's not in jail. Yet.

The Weight Of Water And Murder On Smuttynose Island

The Hontvet House on Smuttynose Island

The "murder" house on Smuttynose Island is long gone, ravaged by 19th century souvenir hunters who literally carried away blood spattered bits of wall and floorboard. Today the bodies of Anethe Christensen and Karen Christensen lie in a quiet Portsmouth, NH cemetery, ten miles in from their island home. A few streets away in a glass case an ax with a broken handle, the one most experts agree Louis Wagner used to carve the life from the two Norwegian immigrants, lies on mute display.


I used to go to Monhegan Island as much as I could. Smuttynose is right next to it, but I only went there a few times. Like so many islands along the Maine coast Monhegan and Smuttynose not only have a long and interesting history, they are also beautiful. And rugged.

Murder, Mayhem & Bad Sex. WikiLeaks Leaky Love

Honeytrap? Boy already guilty of murder gets caught for rape bad sex.

The Wikileaks sex files: How two one-night stands sparked a worldwide hunt for Julian Assange

The Stockholm police want to question him regarding the possible rape of a woman and separate allegations from another Swedish admirer, with whom he was having a concurrent fling. But there remains a huge question mark over the evidence. Many people believe that the 39-year-old ­Australian-born whistleblower is the victim of a U.S. government dirty tricks campaign.
 They argue that the whole squalid affair is a sexfalla, which translates loosely from the Swedish as a ‘honeytrap’.
 One thing is clear, though: Sweden’s complex rape laws are central to the story.

This boy's life is sad on so many levels. The Left's take on life is also sad and it is also ironic as they pounce on each other in a fight to be more politically correct without appearing to be so.

Sarah, a  ‘campus sexual equity officer’ had sex with Julian and then when she found he had had sex with another she flew into action using her previously posted program of revenge:

Entitled ‘7 Steps to Legal Revenge’, it explains how women can use courts to get their own back on unfaithful lovers.

Step 7 says: ‘Go to it and keep your goal in sight. Make sure your victim suffers just as you did.’

Both girls are furious at being hurt, Julian is mad about being outed and hurt, but none of the 3 are ashamed at the hurt and murder they have caused.

Now may we call this the case of the Leaky Leaker Weepy Over Leaky Lipped Lovers Not Murder & Mayhem?

Deceit And Destruction At Pearl Harbor

December 7th, 1941

USA : 218 KIA, 364 WIA.
USN: 2,008 KIA, 710 WIA.
USMC: 109 KIA, 69 WIA.
Civilians: 68 KIA, 35 WIA.

TOTAL: 2,403 KIA, 1,178 WIA.

Battleships
USS Arizona (BB-39) - total loss when a bomb hit her magazine.
USS Oklahoma (BB-37) - Total loss when she capsized and sunk in the harbor.
USS California (BB-44) - Sunk at her berth. Later raised and repaired.
USS West Virginia (BB-48) - Sunk at her berth. Later raised and repaired.
USS Nevada - (BB-36) Beached to prevent sinking. Later repaired.
USS Pennsylvania (BB-38) - Light damage.
USS Maryland (BB-46) - Light damage.
USS Tennessee (BB-43) Light damage.
USS Utah (AG-16) - (former battleship used as a target) - Sunk.

Cruisers
USS New Orleans (CA-32) - Light Damage.
USS San Francisco (CA-38) - Light Damage.
USS Detroit (CL-8) - Light Damage.
USS Raleigh (CL-7) - Heavily damaged but repaired.
USS Helena (CL-50) - Light Damage.
USS Honolulu (CL-48) - Light Damage..

Destroyers
USS Downes (DD-375) - Destroyed. Parts salvaged.
USS Cassin - (DD-372) Destroyed. Parts salvaged.
USS Shaw (DD-373) - Very heavy damage.
USS Helm (DD-388) - Light Damage.

Minelayer
USS Ogala (CM-4) - Sunk but later raised and repaired.

Seaplane Tender
USS Curtiss (AV-4) - Severely damaged but later repaired.

Repair Ship
USS Vestal (AR-4) - Severely damaged but later repaired.

Harbor Tug
USS Sotoyomo (YT-9) - Sunk but later raised and repaired.

Aircraft
188 Aircraft destroyed (92 USN and 92 U.S Army Air Corps.)

Voinovich Proves His Career Is A Lie & Sides With Obama To Raise Taxes

What will Crying George Voinovich's legacy? A back-stabbing traitor might sum it up.

Retiring Sen. George Voinovich to oppose any extension of Bush-era tax cuts

Voinovich has bucked his party on the tax-cut issue before. He was the only Republican senator to oppose the cuts when they were first proposed in 2000. Three years later, he joined with Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) in opposing President George W. Bush's proposed $700-billion tax-cut package, eventually succeeding in bringing the price tag down to $350 billion.

Voinovich went on to say that he is doing so because there is no linkage to tax reform. His idea of tax reform would make Milton Friedman cry. We should tell Voinovich that if he wants linkage maybe he should scream from the Capitol Dome that there has to be similar cuts in spending to pay for letting tax payers keep more of their money.

Nah, we don't want to make him cry again.

Apropos: Geithner As Rube Goldberg

Brand new high tech $100 US bills. They are useless because of the over complex production process which results in flaws, ie, the process renders the result useless. To complete the fun these new worthless bills are the first to have Geithner's signature on them.

The Fed Has a $110 Billion Problem with New Benjamins

The redesigned bills are the first $100 bills to feature Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner’s signature. But to stave off a cash crunch as existing $100 bills deteriorate and can’t be replaced, the Federal Reserve has ordered renewed production of the current-design $100 bills, which feature Bush Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson's signature and do not have the new security features.
 
Rube Goldberg is somewhere smiling. An actual printer and founding father of our nation, Benjamin Franklin, is not.

Obama's Dept of Kafka Orders No WikiLeak Reading By Workers

Government Workers Ordered Not to Read Wikileaks Cables

I have it on good word that the Obama Administration will next order that government workers will not be allowed to read Walt Whitman. After all officiousness is a problem when mentioned. To liberals.
 
Of course, it is convenient for the administration that so few people read main stream media so they won't have to have roving bands of enforcers enforcing ridiculously stupid laws against those without the required security clearance or authorization who are reading newspaper publications of classified material on their Metro ride to work.
 
Who hired the morons at the Office of Management and Budget who ordered such a stupid and illegal order.
 
The demons who tormented Franz Kafka are now the bureaucrats who issue such orders in this our nation. This is now our trial.

The Salacious Madam X By John Singer Sargent

One of my favorite paintings (I have many) is Madam X. I knew of the scandal which swept Parisian society over the painting, but was not aware of the back ground.

JSS Gallery has a very well written piece about the background and history of the painting.

As seen today

As photographed in the Salon 1884

Sargent was a master painter. You will find more of his work HERE.

Sissy Boy Julian Assange Blackmails US Over His Illegally Obtained Leaks

Julian Assange, a boy to look up to, is blackmailing the United States and the governments of other nations. The main stream media, desperate for any readership, is whining freedom of speech and renaming Assange's crime as "insurance."

WikiLeaks Ready to Release Giant 'Insurance' File if Shut Down

Is this two-bit punk for real? My 4' 11" grandmother knew how to handle punks too big for their britches whether they were 6' 2" or a little sex offender like sissy boy Assange. She slapped them down.

Obviously the mental giants of the Obama Administration need my grandmother. Of course a person with a moral compass and some spine scares them which is why they feel more of a camaraderie with the likes of a creep like Julian Assange. More likely, Obama and peers are scared of him which is even scarier.

The Deep Moral & Political Corruption And Hypocrisy Of Harry Reid

Latter-day Saints reject all forms of gambling as a pernicious evil to society.

Reid pushes bill to allow for online gambling

Reid's office would not answer questions about the legislation.
...
Casino companies were among Reid's biggest campaign donors in the last election. MGM Resorts International, through its employees and political action committee, donated $192,000 to his campaign, the most of any single company, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. Meanwhile, employees and the PAC at Harrah's Entertainment chipped in an additional $83,100. Harrah's recently changed its name to Caesars Entertainment Corp.

And

According to a February 9, 2006, Associated Press story by John Solomon, Reid wrote letters and had "routine contacts" with lobbying partners and clients of disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff. [17] Reid's actions aided the interests of Abramoff's Native American clients. Reid has acknowledged receiving $61,000 from clients or collegues of Abramoff, much of which was given to Reid by indian tribes after Abramoff was hired. [18] Reid collected donations around the time of each action he took to help Abromoff's clients. Ethics rules require senators to avoid even the appearance of a conflict of interest in legislative matters regarding campaign donors. While some politicans have returned contributions they received from Abramoff or his clients, Harry Reid has steadfastly refused claiming the Abramoff matter "is a Republican scandal."

Mormon elders and Bishops own casinos and maybe they believe that since they are not gambling (being a casino is no gamble) they are not sinning and they are just making money. It appears that Harry Reid is making money in the same way except he is bypassing the gambler and getting money straight from the casinos. In return he gets legislation for them introduced. That is pure corruption.
 
Harry Reid's moral and political corruption is now complete. His lack of shame is the shame of Nevada and the nation.

Pelosi's Tax Increase: House Dems Still Don't Get It

They are so lame that the have a president who has thrown them under the bus and an electorate that just 'shellacked' them at the polls, but even though they still have a majority they are hiding behind Republicans because they are gutless.

Menendez Likens Tax Fight to Negotiating With Terrorists

Senate Democrats lashed out at Republicans on Friday, accusing them of holding the nation’s economic prosperity hostage for the benefit of the wealthy and likening the GOP to a terrorist organization.

If anybody has mentioned that President Obama's name sounds Arabic, Dems run in a circle screaming like little wusses shrieking "racist", but when they have to finally show some guts they run around in circles like little wusses shrieking that Republicans are "terrorists."

Remember when they tried to campaign on "acting like adults"? Yeah, it cracked me up too.

They still don't get it, but if they want to play with people's livelihoods because they want voters to think they might know what 'standing by our principles' means, put it to a vote.

If the Dems saw a real terrorist they'd run in circles screaming like little...

Yeah, their act gets tiresome.

Dear Mayor Bloomberg, I've been Abroad. So What?

Mayor Bloomberg thinks we're beneath him. We kan't reed. Wer tu stoopid tu travell. We ain't frum nu York.

I witnessed Romans yell racial and vulgar words at a Chinese man trying to save a bus seat for his wife and baby still attempting to enter a bus. All because an Italian woman wanted the seat. I watched two Parisian women sitting in a subway car beneath a 'No Fume' sign puffin' away as if 'Smoking in the Boys Room' soundtrack was blaring away in their heads. And nothing says foreign intrigue like observing a Japanese man doing a two knuckle nose pick just before his 2:00 AM drunken debut as a Karaoke performer to impress his peers in shady Osaka "bar."

“If you look at the U.S., you look at who we’re electing to Congress, to the Senate — they can’t read. I’ll bet you a bunch of these people don’t have passports.”

I am sure Mayor Bloomberg panders to a better crowd both foreign and domestic. A crowd that, say, thinks his billionaire words are actually worth listening to, but then who is pandering? Bloomberg isn't just a billionaire mayor, he is a "brilliant" buffoon billionaire mayor who has once again made NYC an economic and cultural joke with his liberal/progressive mommyesque policies.

Foreign travel is entertaining, educational and, for many such as me, emotional, but, if you are an American, seeing one's own country is inspirational. Maybe Bloomberg should do those things that has inspired so many foreigners that visit or choose to move to the United States.

Has Bloomberg stood in a Southwestern American desert at night to look at the stars, smell the air and desert and realize just how small a man can be? Has Bloomberg walked the streets of a small Maine village to taste the wonders coming from restaurants, bakeries and the back of a farmer's truck bed of produce? Does he recognize and understand the local dialect? Would he find it crass that he would need actual cash because many don't accept credit cards?

How many times has a Bloomberg stood the bloodied grounds of an Antietam hearing the howls of pain and rage as long lost cannon and guns fire and bayonets plunge into bodies of men willing to die for what they believe? Does a Bloomberg even really know why those men from the North and the South fought? He won't find the answer while dining at The Harvard Club in Manhattan nor in the salons of Paris.

Has Bloomberg ever stopped to feel the power of the Ohio, Mississippi or Colorado rivers? Has he pondered his fortune due to pioneers such as those who founded the K. K. Bene Israel (1824) in Cincinnati or the United Hebrew Congregation (1837) in Missouri or Temple Aaron (1881) in Colorado? His fore bearers walked the walk. Insufferable snobs like Mayor Mike just chat the chat.

How about the vistas of wheat, corn and chickpea that feed their cities? The small towns that supply the military for their protection? The vast forests that supply the paper, medicines and products for their lifestyle? I'm sure they have seen the stunning salt deposits and mines that produce a life sustaining product they so shun.

Has Bloomberg a 'passport' he has used in America?

So, yeah little guy, I can read, I have a passport and I have traveled the world, but seeing my 50 states in all their wonder has always been more important to me. Feel good when you look down at people like me. I will look at you with sadness for all that is missing in your pathetic elite club, the hatred for those that scare you because they are different and the shallow vision you have of this life.

I'm sure you will find a nice little salt and smoke free Cathay restaurant where they will worship you. Or throw your arrogant and ignorant butt out.

You're a putz, only smaller and dumber.

Ref: Acknowleging God Is Unsportsmanlike Conduct

Are the refs interpreting the rules on their own or are they being told to do this. I go with the latter because God has been pushed out of every other corner of education. Acknowledging God is probably offensive to the nuanced minds of educators. After all, their are just scientific enough that our children keep falling behind the rest of the world. They must be so proud.

1959 Ford Fairlane: My 1st Car

It was a battle of wills. I had my eye on a shiny new showroom car. My mother had her eye on me buying a car with my own money.

So, I did.

I bought a 1959 Ford Fairlane from (I think his name was) Butch Bowman for $40. It was a beautiful two tone, brown and baby diarrhea tan with a Micky Mouse mystery shifter on the tree. There were stickers all over the rear window and a reverse opening hood over the engine. The reverse opening hood allowed the oil leaking from the head to jauntily streak down the sides of the car in place of painted flames. It belched smoke and sounded like a broken tank.

I parked it right in front of the house for 2 weeks.

On week 3, when I observed that my mother was unmoved, I upped the ante. I parked it right next to my mother's shiny new showroom car downtown every chance I got. With shiny Hubert Humphrey for President bumper stickers. On both front and back pitted and chrome peeling bumpers.

I got parking tickets and she didn't. I got tickets for safety violations, but, alas, she didn't.

Week 4 started with bad news. Mel, "my" local automotive repairman informed me that Butch had evidently added some saw dust to the engine to reduce the knocking of bad parts. I believe this was called an enhancement to sell said vehicle to an unsuspecting automotive dummy. That's be me.

During the rest of week 4 (and all through week 5) I caught up on mowing our rather large lawn, cleaned leaves, gutters and other household chores which my mother had promised to pay me for months before. With $85 burning my pocket I paid Mel, "my" automotive expert repairman, for the repairs on my $40 beauty. He also informed me of the need of a new transmission, muffler, tailpipe and shocks. I knew about the shocks because I had been informed that their squeaking could be heard a block away.

My mother, quite pleased, reminded me that, according to her math, I could have purchased a $125 vehicle if I had only completed the work when she had originally asked me and avoided such needs as new transmissions and mufflers. She expected my further work would raise the necessary capital to make those repairs in a timely manner. She had math skills and a memory for detail like that.

Week 6 brought me good news from Mel. He had recently found a $65 used transmission and a $20 muffler and informed me that with proper application of Coke cans I could extend the current tailpipe. To show independence I instead used Vernor's Ginger Ale cans I got from our local beer (Schlitz, PBR, etc) and wine (Gallo) retailer who went by the Spot due to the rather large discoloration on his left cheek. With another $85 (in parts), $9 in fluids and $159 in labor (Mel also had an eye for detail and math skills like that) my $40 car was sounding, but not looking, better. For the current $378 spent I thought it should.

Week 7 brought me a note from the high school principle that my vehicle was banned from the school parking lot because of the smell. Mel was furious at the slight, but continued to look for leaks.

Week 8. Bummer. My "girlfriend" mentioned that she couldn't actually attend the prom with me as she had inadvertently accepted the kind invitation of a kid named Andy. His father, a mere dentist, had bought him a new Ford Mustang. I vowed to have another dentist complete my dental braces work. My mother said that for pride alone this was a good thought, but since his father was the only dentist in town and my Ford Fairlane couldn't make the 30 mile trip to Columbus I should reconsider my pride.

Week 9 our local Barney Fife, Smitty, gave me a speeding ticket for doing 35 mph in a 25 zone. He informed me I had an out if I took a photograph to court when I appeared. All I had to do was show the judge and he would rule that there had been a mistake because it would be obvious to him that my car was incapable of attaining 35 mph. That Smitty, quite a joker he was. My beautiful speedster cost me $57 in fines and court costs and another $50 dollars for a AAA "Safe Driving" course. $485.

Week 10. End of the school year! Even though I was totally available for prom and other celebratory events dotting my calendar I chose instead to investigate the countryside surrounding our community. $39.50 for the tow back to town, but with summer upon me I was now open to do lots of work around the neighborhood to meet my mounting costs.

Week 11 was really cool because Mrs. Lewis told me that I had done such a good job on her yard that I needn't waste gas money driving to her place. She would pick me up and let me use her lawn mower. What a sweetheart.

Week 12 was one of education. Not knowing what a rotor cap was I was surprised to find out mine had failed causing quite a bit of damage. Mel also informed me that my Maxwell House Steering column needed repair. I began to understand economies better as I realized Maxwell had diversified into other products besides coffee. Mel said I had a lot to learn, but he'd give me a discount on the repairs. Add $185.

To augment my lawn income I took on the responsibility of life guarding at Eckles Lake. Mr. Eckles was kind enough to assist me in stalling further paint failure on my vehicle by allowing me to park behind a stand of trees at the far end of the parking lot. That kindness and the extra $11 per week was fattening both my pride and my wallet.

Week 13. The number alone should have warned me. My Ides of March in automotive history. Exiting a convivial place of community called the Surrey Lounge where I had just played my first band job (an additional $6!) I found my vehicle slanting to one side in the parking spot where I had left it some 3 hours prior to my debut as a rock n roll star. Luckily no patrons other than a local of alcoholic fame named Flowers had attended our show so there was no one to see my embarrassment. Mel listed the repair as "ball joint", "strut" and a "Beemans brake drum". I learned that Beemans not only made my favorite gum, but brakes as well. My mother kindly reminded me that it wasn't March, that I wasn't Caesar and that ides was Latin for 15 which I should have learned as a freshman. Point taken. Add $123 for parts and labor.

Week 14. As I pulled into Mel's repair shop I couldn't but help admiring his new (as in shiny showroom new) International Harvest pickup truck. As he showed me the interior including the push button radio (My beauty had the hole, but lacked the appliance as Butch had said that the radio, when on, had dimmed the headlights. It must have been a really powerful radio!) I told Mel of the strange noise coming from beneath my vehicle. With out even blinking Mel told me he had been worrying about my "trans-national axle". I queried the need and the cost. Mel said that it could be a life and death decision and that the part(s), while fairly expensive, were but a small percentage because of labor costs such as the extra men to hold up the car as he worked underneath plus the added insurance costs due to the danger. $303.

I told him I had to check my bank account(s). With the addition of my Christmas account I found myself only $253 short. Time to get an advance on my pay!

Week 15. The car is gone to a far better place. My mother gently said that maybe I shouldn't hang around Mel's anymore because she had heard "some things".

Week 16 was looking up as I had acquired employment at a local pizza parlor. The owner said that I could use his vehicle (a brand new Caddy!) for deliveries and that all my friends could all come out to his new (and big!) house for a party after my first Saturday as he was leaving for a short trip to Mexico on Sunday. Unfortunately, the job didn't materialize. My mother said he had been arrested for something called cannabis. I didn't even know that cannibals were still around.

Even though that summer was really boring I still remember my first car. BTW, I really blew it. I just saw a 1959 Ford Fairlane for sale on the Internet for $16,995.00! I could've made a fortune.

Are You An Althouse Hillbilly?

Jay Retread said...

Thanks again Ann for your one sided fanning of partisan hate. This crappy band according to Wikipedia has trashed on stage every president since Reagan, also John Kerry, Hillary Clinton and Al Gore. But don't let the facts get in the way of throwing more red meat to your Althouse Hillbillies. They might just buy a toaster on Amazon for you!

Golllllee! Miss Mabel just drove her cute little Audi over here and dropped off a paper on constitutional law and Federalism. Then we sat and jawed on the front porch right next to that old washer, drinking some sweet tea and gnawing on some creek crackers and red meat tartare. Don't need no damned toaster.

It were fun.